
Macworld Expo and San Francisco Sightseeing, January 4-11, 2009
250 Photos
The last time I visited San Francisco was July 1998. 10½ years later, I was thrilled to be back in 2009 to attend my very first Macworld Expo, including admission to the Keynote, even though Steve didn't deliver the address, plus it was Apple's last year of Expo participation. The San Francisco sightseeing, however, was superb!

Epcot Scenery and Fireworks, January 24, 2009
118 Photos
This set includes unaltered uploads directly from an Eye-Fi card used in a Nikon D90. The purpose was to test the card for review purposes, as well as some long exposure shots for fireworks. Alas, there are no open access points in the Disney parks. Moreover, because Eye-Fi relies on open access points to calculate geotags, none of the photos were automatically geotagged. I tagged them manually.

Samsung LN46A850 Unboxing, February 1, 2009
3 Photos
Swapped out the 30" Toshiba CRT HD television for a 46" Samsung LCD. SWEEEEEETTTT!!!!

Apple TV Unboxing, February 23, 2009
4 Photos
I love this thing. I was deciding between it and setting up a Mac Mini instead, but the easy ability to browse content online with just the remote has confirmed I'm very satisfied with this purchase.
2015 Update: I've far outgrown this first-generation model's usefulness. I want a new one. I had been waiting for whatever Apple releases as a fourth-generation model, but that seems it'll be quite a ways off since they've now dropped the price of the third-generation model from $99 to $69.
Honestly, aside from 4K, I'm not really sure the Apple TV needs a hardware refresh, so I will be looking for the funds to buy the current model ASAP.

Florida Hospital Campus Tour, March 10, 2009
49 Photos
This year's annual spring advisory was held in Orlando. The director arranges various tours each year. In addition to visiting Full Sail University), we toured the still brand-new Ginsburg Tower at Florida Hospital and the recently remodeled College of Health Sciences (known today as Adventist University of Health Sciences).

Full Sail Tour, March 10, 2009
55 Photos
The Full Sail University complex has grown exponentially since I last saw it. Back then, it occupied a portion of a single building. It has since bought and filled both buildings in the original complex where they started, as well as *two* strip mall shopping centers along S.R. 436—*and* has built a backlot for outdoor set filming. The place blows your mind to see.
Since I wasn't sure whether they would want cameras on the tour, I left mine behind, but a colleague, Licci, brought hers (a Nikon D90 just like I use at work). With the exception of several iPhone photos and a couple where I borrowed her camera, most of the shots in this album were taken by Licci.

Space Shuttle Launch, March 15, 2009
33 Photos
Spectacular launch just after sundown. After a few moments, the orange beams from the sun illuminated the upper portion of the smoke trail, and then turned white as the shuttle climbed even higher.

Mac Pro Unboxing, March 21, 2009
8 Photos
Brand new 2.66 GHz Nehalem Quad Mac Pro.

Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival, April 10 & 12, and May 16, 2009
182 Photos
Somehow I sense the Festival has been more visually stunning in the past, but I still saw some very pretty floral areas this weekend. This album comprises pictures taken on Friday with my friend Jeff and his family (celebrating his grandmother's 100th birthday), and my solo return on Sunday which ended in a couple shots over at Magic Kingdom. This album also has shots from one last trip to the Festival a month later in May.

Chattanooga Sightseeing and Southern Adventist University's Strawberry Festival, April 17-19, 2009
206 Photos
A long weekend trip up to Southern Adventist University to see what had become of the end-of-year multimedia show after about 20 years. The trip also included a visit to the Bluff View Art District and Tennessee Aquarium.

Cool Jacksonville Hotel Floorplan, April 24, 2009
4 Photos
A quick view of the room I'm staying in—too bad only one night. It's a very nice floorplan.

Florida Botanical Gardens, May 9, 2009
40 Photos
For Mother's Day weekend, the family had an idea to visit these gardens which was previously part of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art until its closing in January 2009. It was pretty, but so hot this particular day.

Space Shuttle Launch, May 11, 2009
11 Photos
Perhaps not as visually stunning as other launches I'd witnessed, but I think this is the only one where the Shuttle, tank, and boosters were clearly visible in my photos.

Independence Day Fireworks at Magic Kingdom, July 3, 2009
77 Photos
Disney had a special Independence day show on the evenings of both July 3 and 4. I joined friends on the shore at Polynesian Resort, looking at the show from across the lake. Silly me, I went and sat where a tree obscured part of the view, but I still pulled off a few nice shots. I also noticed the flags and stars in the foreground have motion blur. That wasn't me. My camera was locked down on a tripod. The blur was the result of the boat drifting slightly during the five-second exposures.

Independence Day Fireworks at Orlando's Lake Eola, July 4, 2009
139 Photos
Somehow, I think Disney's show the night before was a bit more thrilling, but Orlando did a good display, nontheless. It was crowded, and I couldn't get a more clear view. I suppose some day, if I wanted to, I could either crop out, or even Photoshop out, the light pole on the left side of these shots. 🙂

United Kingdom iPhone Photos, July 9-20, 2009
34 Photos
This set contains my iPhone photo uploads during the trip. Better photos taken with a Nikon D90 are in a separate album.

United Kingdom, July 10-20, 2009
613 Photos
It was rather short for my very first trip away from North America, but I still managed to see a lot of sights and thoroughly enjoyed being there. I'm itching to go back some day.
IMPORTANT NOTE if you are viewing this album via photos.albj.net—Flickr imposes a 500-item limit through the API. This album is bigger than that limit, so to view items after the first 500, you’ll have to visit the Flickr album at: flic.kr/s/aHskawrJnT

Another Plunge, Seven Years Later, August 15, 2009
99 Photos
Summer 2002, my friend Luis and Marisol were engaged. Since they love silly pictures of themselves, one day I took portraits of them underwater with a cheap, ratty little disposable camera for something fun to add to their photo table during the reception. Now armed with a digital camera that's waterproof, we decided to take more that were bound to turn out much better quality. Calling these photos and videos hilarious would be a gross understatement. (Giving notice, this album is pretty much unedited because some of the outtakes are among the funniest of the batch.)

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, August 30, 2009
5 Photos

Trip To Camp Kulaqua For Family Camp Portraits, September 5-6, 2009
11 Photos

Epcot Food & Wine Festival, October 3 & 16, 2009
9 Photos
Shots of various dishes I sampled and bands I heard.

Birds at Animal Kingdom, October 10, 2009
51 Photos
An afternoon trip for some bird photography in the two aviaries at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert, December 5, 2009
14 Photos
Awesome concert. Want to go again when I can and figure out how to get floor seats!!

Christmas Eve At Parents' House, December 24, 2009
10 Photos

Miscellaneous 2009
118 Photos
Miscellaneous/random shots taken in 2009 which I did not include as part of any other set of photos.