Taffy turns 5 years old today. I can't believe she's that old already. Her diminuitive form makes her still look like a puppy. Toni and I love her so much. Happy birthday Taffy! :)

On a recent trip to Hoover Dam with the Los Angeles Flickr Group, I discovered this delicious Snapple Apple Plum White Tea. It had a yummy flavor and was so refreshing after exploring Hoover Dam on a warm Spring day.

The thing is, why do I find these really cool foods, or in this case, drink, during my travels, but then am not able to find it when I get back home? This happened to me before with Snapple Kiwi Tea in Hawaii. I guess it's just one of life's mysteries! Hehe

This Friday I'm going on my first out of state Flickr meet. A small group of photographer friends I know from Flickr will be going with me to Las Vegas for a weekend of shooting and fun.

The group organizer has a full itinerary for the weekend. During our stay, we will be taking photographs of Hoover Dam, the Boneyard, the Strip at night and Red Rock Canyon. I'm sure I'll get in some photos of my friends and the food we eat.

I'm going with my friend Judy and her daughter Sandra to Disneyland tomorrow! I'm really excited to show them a good time at my favorite place. Judy and her daughter share the same birthday, so they both get in free tomorrow. Yay!

I'll be sure to take them to City Hall to get their personalized birthday buttons so they can get special attention from everyone. It's been a while since I've been to Disneyland, so it will be fun to enjoy the time there with my friends. The weather is scheduled to be sunny and cool. It's gonna be great! :)

I recently tried a restaurant in Palm Springs, California called Cheeky's. Cheeky's is open for breakfast and lunch. They have a menu which changes weekly with an array of freshly prepared breakfast and lunch items including the Grass-fed Burger and Pesto Fries on a Brioche Bun shown above. The burger was delicious!

Cheeky's has a way of spicing up ordinary food items like adding pesto to their fries or using jalapeno bacon for their BLT sandwich. They have innovative sandwiches with yams and persimmons as ingredients. Their salads are nicely presented. I'll have to take a photograph of one next time I go. They also serve buttermilk corn pancakes and wonderful looking eggs benedict.

Next time you're in Palm Springs, give Cheeky's a try. Just makes sure it's any day other than Tuesday, because that's the one day they're closed.

I'll be at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. I'm scheduled to arrive late Thursday night and am staying until Monday. I'll be lodging at the Venetian resort during my stay. CES will be informative and fun and grueling and tiring at the same time.

Of course it would be a lot easier if I left my camera at home, however I'm a glutton for punishment, so I'll have my camera and at least one lens and flash in tow.

I really don't like the drive to and from Las Vegas, especially when I do it alone. Therefore, I'm not looking forward to the the trip there and back, but looking forward to the being there. I'll also miss Toni, Erin and Taffy very much.

Last night, Toni and my friend from work, Martin, went to Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California to see Neil Diamond in concert. We have all been fans of his music for some time, so we were very excited to see him in concert.

We ate at the Hat at Victoria Gardens before the concert. The Hat has been famous for their pastrami sandwiches for over fifty years. Toni and I shared a pastrami sandwich slathered with lots of mustard and pickles and a monstrous order of onion rings. Martin had pastrami and a small order of french fries. This was the largest order of onion rings I have ever seen! Everything was quite yummy.

Then we rode together to the concert in my car. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no parking fee at Citizens Business Bank Arena. I can't remember the last venue that had free parking.

Well, as for the concert, I can say Neil Diamond is a wonderful performer and singer. He sounded and looked fantastic. What a showman! I love his unique voice. His vocals were deep and clear, a true joy to hear in person. We had a great time and have gained a renewed respect for this classic singer.

I love my current desktop background. It's a graphic from the good folks at Vladstudio. This is a Christmas themed graphic, but they have many others as well.

They have a bunch of screen resolutions to choose from for each background; most likely one that will work great for your monitor. What's really cool is you can download lower resolution samples with their logo for free to try out. If you love them like I do, you can pay a modest fee to have access to their library of great backgrounds.

If you want the high resolution ones with no logo, you can buy a 3, 6, 12 month subscription or until December 31st, you can buy the lifetime subscription for $19.99 like I did. Whether you get the free backgrounds or buy a subscription, I'm sure your desktop will be changed for the better!

The really cool part is the $50 gift card can be applied to upgrading to a Premium Annual Passport or adding parking to your Deluxe Passport. If you add parking, it's normally $50, so you effectively get parking for a year for free. Or you can upgrade to a Premium Passport which includes parking for an additional $70 making the net cost $339 instead of the normal $389.

Another tip is if you upgrade either way to include parking, take your parking slip to the ticket window and they will refund the price of parking for the day!

Many people swear they get the flu when they get a flu shot. Medical experts say that's not possible. I haven't experienced flu symptoms after a flu shot. I'm not sure who is right, but I suspect the symptoms are coincidental.

In a promotion entitled "What will you celebrate?" every guest gets in free to a Disney park on their birthday.

The offer is valid on the guest's birthday in 2009 and can be used to gain free admission to one Disney park at Disneyland or Walt Disney World. Valid identification and proof of birthdate are required.

Guests with annual passports can choose from a single day park ticket good for one year, a four attraction Fastpass for a party of four or a voucher for merchandise equal to the value of a one day park admission good only on their birthday.

So be sure to mark your calendars so you can cash in on this great offer to one of my favorite places on Earth! You can get more details and submit your birthday to get a reminder when your birthday is approaching next year.

Then we went to Joe's Italian Ice to get an ice for dessert. Toni had the blood orange flavor and I had watermelon. The watermelon ice comes complete with watermelon seeds! Joe's Italian Ices are very refreshing and fresh tasting. Thanks Christy for a great recommendation. :)

From there, we said goodbye to Christy and Cheng and left for the Honda Center to watch the 2008 Tour of Gymnastic Champions. It was so cool to see Olympic Gold Medalists Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson in person. The Olympic Bronze Medal winning men's team was on hand as well. It was a fun time for us.

Last Sunday I went with my friend Anna to Sherman Oaks so we could see her new granddaughter Hannah for the first time. Hannah was born at 10:31 am on September 12, 2008. She was 6 pounds, 6 ounces at birth. I took these pictures of Hannah and her proud parents when she was just 2 days old.

It was the first time meeting Hannah's parents, Christine and Neil. I had heard a lot about them from Anna and it was pleasure getting to know them and their newborn baby girl. Hannah was so cute. It's only been a week since I met her, but I miss her. I look forward to seeing her in the future as she grows up. :)

While Anna and I were in Sherman Oaks, we stopped at a Gelson's Market. I really enjoyed looking at all the yummy foods there. Their chicken looked so fresh and tasty. I wanted to take some home, but didn't have an ice chest to keep it cool.

On the way home, we stopped for dinner at Earthen Restaurant in Hacienda Heights. We order a bowl of beef noodle soup, green onion pancakes and steamed pork dumplings. It was all delicious and such a bargain as well. We also bought goodies at RJ Patisserie to take home and enjoy later. Anna really liked both places and said she would bring her sisters there someday.

The other aspect I love is this is the first time I've watched the Olympics on a high definition television. HDTV is wonderful, especially for sporting events. It's almost like you're right there at the venue.

The Opening Ceremony was absolutely amazing. I think it's the most spectacular one I've ever witnessed! I will have those awesome images indelibly engraved on my brain forever.

My Hotel del Coronado photograph is featured in the inside back cover of the new 2008 Coronado Visitor's Guide.

You can download the complete 2008 Coronado Visitor's Guide at the Coronado Visitor Center website.

I'm so pleased about this because Coronado, California and the Hotel del Coronado are two favorite places of mine near where I live. I am about an hour from San Diego. There's something special about San Diego and Coronado that makes me feel so good whenever I visit. :)