To England for today’s Top 200 Photo.

photo #131 is:

I had the good fortune of being sent to England on a work trip. Danielle was able to take some time off from work to join me for a week. We took day trips and weekend trips throughout England whenever I was off from work. One of the places we went to was York - partly because Danielle is from New York - so I thought she should see “Old” York. While there we saw York Minster. That was so much fun because it was so beautiful in there and also because York has such a rich history.

To Florida for today’s Top 200 Photo.

photo #132 is:

I don’t think I could describe this any better than I do on the flickr page:

I walked into my parent’s bathroom on the last day before the end of the final spring break of my life. I saw this beautiful image coming through the windows, the rest of the bathroom as just as dark as the picture portrays. It took some fiddling with the shutter speed and aperture to get the camera to record what my eyes were seeing, but I was amazed at the beauty of a sunset where I couldn’t even see the sun.

Final Fantasy X (36 hrs) - I started playing this game again to get away from computer games.  It was hurting my back to sit at the computer.  I could just stand in the guest room, where the PS2 is. I hadn’t played for months or maybe even a year, but I hadn’t gone that far in the game, so I wasn’t too lost.  (Unlike when I finished FF7 and didn’t even remember what the point was) I’m still not done, but it’s already knocked Assassin’s Creed II from long-time position as my #6 most played game raptr.  It’s already taken me longer than Final Fantasy IX.  There’ll be a review once I finish.  I’m so close, but the final boss keeps kicking my butt.  I may need to do some more grinding.

If I have to sum up Portal 2 in one word: brilliant!  I really enjoyed the first Portal a lot.  The sense of not knowing what’s going on and GLaDOS’ obvious demented nature made for a dark video game the likes of which I’d never experienced.  It was an artform as much as any other movie or book.  And the puzzles were great fun and really got my brain going.  But I wasn’t hooked.  In fact, there was a two year gap between when I started and finished the game.

A social question for today’s Top 200 Photo.

photo #133 is:

I did this 365 photo to ask the question of why there’s SO much attention to breast cancer and barely any to prostate cancer.

Once again to Chicago for this Top 200 Photo.

photo #134 is:

I now know this is a red-winged blackbird. At the time I just thought it was an awesome-looking bird that let me get really close to it for a photo. The most unsettling aspect of this photo is that the beak doesn’t hinge where it seems that it should so I think it looks creepy.

Back to Cornell for this Top 200 Photo.

photo #135 is:

I took the source photo for this on the footbridge that leads to College Town. Then I threw it into Photoshop and started messing around. I arrived at this look by accident, but I really liked it.

This month’s calendar is from Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.  The Dolles Salt Water Taffy place is in nearly all the postcards and other media for the city.

[caption id=“attachment_4375” align=“aligncenter” width=“400” caption=“May 2011 - 1024x768 for Square Monitors”] [/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_4376” align=“aligncenter” width=“480” caption=“May2011 - 1680x1050 for Widescreen Monitors”] [/caption]

An avian photo for today’s Top 200 Photo.

photo #136 is:

I enjoy all the birds in my backyard, but nothing beats the thrill of identifying a new bird. It’s hard to get a good enough shot to be able to ID it because enough birds look similar enough that it can be hard for the novice birder to identify them.

Another 365 entry for today’s Top 200 Photo.

photo #137 is:

I got this idea during the swine flu epidemic. I’d heard that some people in less-educated countries were afraid that you could actually catch the swine flu from pigs. The truth was a bit more complicated - the original strain that could infect humans did come from a pig. But that was just one mutation of the virus. It only existed in that one pig. But people were boycotting having pigs in zoos and all kinds of stuff. So I thought of this idea. The title is “You Told Me You Were Clean”