Beirut, specifically.

But a State Department Travel Warning put an end to that trip. Now, on the day I was supposed to be going to the Beirut Airport to begin my travels home, I see why the trip was called off.


Here’s the important part:

Lebanon is in turmoil again today, but this time the turmoil is clearer than it has been in the past. As things stand right now, members of Hezbollah are thugging their way through the streets of Beirut, setting fires, fighting, and dumping piles of dirt and trash in the roads in order to shut down the city. Most importantly, Hezbollah has closed the highway that connects Beirut to Lebanon’s major airport. (emphasis mine)

So bottom line is, God is on His throne, and I’m just fine following His lead.

Gabby eyed the Sexy Super Girl but decided against it. A friend at her Catholic school had worn that costume for a Halloween parade and pulled the already short miniskirt way up to cover her tummy. “That didn’t look very good.” But Gabby did like the Aqua Fairy, a vampy get-up with a black ripped-up skirt, black fishnet tights and blue bustier that comes in medium, large and preteen. A medium fits a child of 8.

No.

How about the Funky Punk Pirate Pre-Teen, with an off-the-shoulder blouse and bare midriff?

No.

Gabby pointed to the Fairy-Licious Purrrfect Kitty Pre-Teen, which, according to the package, includes a “pink and black dress with lace front bodice and sassy jagged skirt with tail. . . . Wings require some assembly.”

Cheryl Cirenza shook her head in exasperated disbelief. “This is all so inappropriate. It’s really disturbing,” she said, eyeing a wall of such girl and preteen costumes as Major Flirt in army green, the bellybutton-baring Devilicious and a sassy, miniskirted French Maid, pink feather duster included. She’d just turned down her 13-year-old daughter’s request for a Sexy Cop outfit. “When I was their age, I was a bunch of grapes.”

The positive thing about this is that there are parents who are saying no, but apparently there are plenty that aren’t. What are my daughters going to face in 6 years? Hopefully the culture is shifting back from the unlimited permissiveness of the last generation of parents.

State report concludes Texas has too many reports.

me, originally uploaded by workspacevan.

So a guy had his iMac stolen. That’s bad. Lucky for him, the criminal turned himself in in a most unusual fashion. In case you don’t have the pleasure of being a Mac owner, all Mac computers have a built-in camera, and a nifty software called “Photobooth” that takes photos with it.

The criminal was playing with Photobooth, as we are all wont to do, but he happened to title it and click an “upload” button, though he didn’t know what it uploaded to. Turns out it was a software that automatically uploads photos to the rightful owner’s Flickr account. Imagine the theft victim’s surprise when this photo appeared in his Flickr stream.

Of course, the image and story made it all around the web through Digg and Boing Boing, and before long, Flickr provided the IP address that the photo had been uploaded from. Eventually, the Big Dumb Idiot turned himself in, claiming that he got the computer from a friend of a friend.

Of course he did.

Blue, originally uploaded by philputnam.

Been a few weeks, but I got out last weekend and found my muse again. Bluebonnet season in Texas was great this year, and I got a few shots from a weekend shoot at magic hour.

It’s a cliche kind of shot here in Texas, Bluebonnet photos are standard fare, but most of them don’t have women this beautiful to do them justice.

As usual, you can see more pictures at my photo blog. You can also check out my Flickr page.

Abigail 6 months, originally uploaded by philputnam.

My youngest turned 6 months old this week.

El Morro, originally uploaded by philputnam.

In Old San Juan Puerto Rico, this fort has guarded the harbor entrance since the 1500′s. I applied a fake lomo effect in post production.

See where this picture was taken. [?]

Don’t forget to check out my photoblog where I (mostly) regularly post new pictures, and my Flickr page.

Have a great weekend!

Grand Canyon, On The Tonto, originally uploaded by philputnam.

I know, I know. Been a while.

This was from the Grand Canyon Royal Arch loop that I (barely) hiked 2 years ago. I went through some of the shots from that trip, and this one was pretty dull, but had potential. A little Photoshop magic, and we got ourselves a photo.

Look closely for a little white dot in the middle right third of the photo. That’s a helmet on the back of one of my hiking companions.