I wonder if this mosquito carries West Nile virus.

A kaleidoscope of Vespas

I don't know these kids; I was just the creepy person taking pictures of them.

Got crabs?

Which is the real Pong???

Sophie enjoyed a beach day.  However, her attempts to bury her ball in the sand earned her a trip to the doggie bath.  

Blueberries are consistently listed among the top ten "super foods" due to their antioxidant power.  Antioxidants retard oxidative damage associated with aging.  I am testing the hypothesis that megadoses of blueberries will cause me to age backwards.

Did you know that pugs are innately curious creatures?  They spend most of their time pondering the mysteries of the universe.  Here, Ping contemplates what lies at the bottom of the barrel.  

Here is my self-portrait.  If my current career plan doesn't work out, there's always the circus.

Sophie is the world's first flying golden retriever!  If you put a tennis ball in her mouth, her ears become wings.  

Did you know that "ribbit" is actually a mating call?  Why does it always have to be about sex?

This statue glares at me every morning while I'm eating breakfast.  Sometimes, when I'm all alone, I look up at her and say, "Mmm.  This cereal is really good.  Do you want some?  Oh, right.  You can't have any because you're an inanimate object."  And she doesn't respond.

This sundial was donated by the Class of 1877.  Did you know that sundials don't adjust for daylight saving time?  They also don't work at night.  It sounds to me like the Class of 1877 got ripped off.

Don't jump!!!

This is the Doe Memorial Library on the UCB campus.  As legend has it, President Wheeler basically twisted Mr. Doe's arm to cough up the dough (no pun intended) for this library.  This beautiful structure houses an impressive 52 miles of bookshelves.  But don't assume that students come here to read books.  One popular activity is "studying" in the Morrison Reading Room.  It would be more aptly named the "Morrison Napping Room."  During finals week, the students wake up and go streaking through the stacks.  Mr. Doe is probably rolling in his grave.

Some people claim that the Bay Area will be underwater by 2100.  Neat!  Here is a preview.  

In case you haven't been mooned lately...

I wanted to showcase this fine eating establishment located at the gateway to Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto.  Whether you're attracted by its chic decor or you hope to rub shoulders with its upper crust clientele, this eatery epitomizes the fine dining experience...  You want fries with that?

My camera's automatic face recognition feature successfully identified the face in this tree trunk.  It kind of reminds me of the painting The Scream.  

Today is a special double pic day!  This is because I have another squirrel pic as a follow-up from yesterday.  Apparently, the squirrels here think humans = food, so they can be quite aggressive.  This guy thought my camera was a big, shiny nut or something, so he (and I think it's safe to call it a "he") kept coming after me.  I'm not sure what this stance means, but I took this picture right before he started running toward me.  And I started running as well :)  So much for nature photography.

The second pic is a car or, more correctly, some of a car.

This squirrel was trying to hide from me in the grass.  He thought I was nuts for taking his picture.  Get it?  Nuts! ...

This is a sculpture of a Smilodon (also known as a saber-toothed cat) outside UCB's Earth Sciences Building.  If you haven't seen a Smilodon recently, it's because they're all dead.  They lived between 2.5 million and 10,000 years ago.  

I left work late today, so I had to deal with a photon shortage.  The sky was pretty, though.

(P.S. Dad adjusted the exposure and increased the color saturation.  It looks better!)

Dad did some cropping and digital manipulation to vastly improve my pic from yesterday.  It looks really nice.  You can see why I'm just a novice and he gets paid the big bucks :)

Thanks, Dad!

Continuing with the campus architecture theme, this is Wheeler Hall, which houses the UCB English department.  It was intended to represent the "City of Learning."  I feel smarter just looking at it.

I knew I would have to resort to the good ole Campanile eventually.  Here are some fun facts: (1) Some of the tower's thirteen floors are used to store fossils. (2) In 1981, metal anti-suicide bars were installed.  Let's hope those aren't related.

This was my lunch today.  Look, Mom!  I'm eating foods from (almost) all the major food groups!

I saw these two chickens strolling through our backyard today.  It looks like they're having a conversation here.  Maybe it's one of those "Why did the chicken cross the road?" jokes.

Happy 4th!  Dad suggested I try some close-ups today, so I found some flowers near the west entrance to campus.  It took a few tries, but I finally got this bee in focus.  I'll keep this picture for my grandchildren in case we can't avert the honey bee crisis...

(Digital manipulation courtesy of Creative Dialog studios)

This one reminds me of those cell phone commercials with the "more bars in more places" slogan.  These trees make me feel like I'm in California, which makes sense because I am...

Here's the second installment in my pic-a-day blog, so for those who bet that it would only last one day, you were totally wrong!  This picture was taken of the side of the Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies on UCB campus.  It catches my attention whenever I walk down the hill.  I really like the cobweb-like pattern, and I was trying to capture the layered textures here.

Dad said this is some type of succulent.  Maybe Mom, who is a Master Gardener, will know its name.  I walk by this on my way to work and, while looking for my first subject, was struck by the deep purple color of the leaves.  It seemed like the green leaves radiating in the background gave some good color contrast.  The flowers reminded me of concave artichokes.