The beauty of Louisville shined though the gray overcast morning as we wandered the streets. Knowing our next destination, Nashville, was only three hours away we decided to take some time to explore before rolling out.

First things first we head over to the Louisville Slugger factory to get the tour. We were suprised to find they also have a mini Norman Rockwell exhibit there as well and we spent some time learning about both baseball and art.

From there we made a stop off to Cake Flour bakery for a quick bite to eat and suddenly we found ourselves caught in a torrential downpour. We watched from inside as the street began to flood and it began to look like the dead of night at 11 am EST and decided it as our cue to get out of town ASAP.

Sure enough we passed right through the storm on the road but otherwise the trip to Nashville was uneventful. Turns out the Nashville beer festival was sold out so we met up with my friend Robin and decided to grab some BBQ then head over to Arrington Vineyards for a wine tasting. We sat beneath the trees overlooking some gorgeous Tennessee hills sipping wine and talking about video production and laughing like idiots.

After some sobering up we blared some pop music and drove towards the city to show James Yazoo Brewery. Yazoo is a local Tennessee beer company with a wide variety of beers and an excellent brewpub. We relaxed there sampling beers as the sun went down sharing old stories and laughing at dumb jokes.

From there we head downtown where Robin described the damage of the flood that hit Nashville last year and we met a homeless gentleman, Ernie. He told us about swimming in the river and hopping fences. Somehow it came up that we were headed to New Orleans and he told us that is where he’s from originally, he then launched into detailed suggestions of things to do there, specifically citing that the French Quarter is overhyped and we need to make sure we explore the whole city.

After wandering the strip for a while we ended the night in a dueling piano bar off of Broadway before heading back to Robin’s place for the evening. All in all it was a laid back and carefree day. I couldn’t have asked for a better time.

We’re now solidly on the road to Birmingham for lunch and New Orleans this evening. Until tomorrow true believers, enjoy the photos!

To me the defining moment of a Yankee world series game always came down to one moment, one moment of bottled up intensity that sent the crowd into a fever, it was excitement exemplified and it came at the bottom 8th inning…

—-

Enter Sandman hits on the PA, and the crowd rises to their feet as Metallica’s anthem begins to pump through their veins like the fuel injection of a car.

“Now pitching for the New York Yankees… number forty two Mariano Rivera.”

—-

It was Bob Sheppard’s voice.

Bob’s presence is the perfect contrast to Metallica’s it reminds the fans that this is class, this is prestige, this is the New York Yankees, the greatest sports franchise of all time.

Bob’s voice is that brand, it is the Yankees. Thank you for all the memories Bob, may you sleep soundly.

Of all the places I’ve spent my time. No place has as many fond memories for me as Yankee Stadium.

I shot this image almost exactly two years ago at the 2008 MLB All Star Home Run Derby. This would be the second to last game I would spend with her.

I only just now finally getting the chance to assemble it in Photoshop and Aperture. This is my tribute to the most important stadium in all of baseball and my one true home.

May she rest in piece.

Hey friends, sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated routinely. Back in December my apartment got robbed and it’s taken me until just now to finally replace everything. Unfortunately this has prevented me from having access to my full Aperture library for some time and has made doing photo work a chore.

Hopefully now this will be a thing of the past, I just got a brand new iMac and I’ve been reunited with my library and workflow. I’ve gone ahead and posted a bunch of new photos on my Flickr account and plan to post many more in the coming days.

So what have I been up to in the last few months? Well…

In March I went to Austin for the South By Southwest Interactive conference with a bunch of friends, had a blast, learned a ton and made lots of new contacts.

In April I took a trip home to visit friends and family, while there I caught the opening of the new Yankee Stadium.

A few weeks ago I went to the Chicago Red Stars home opener with the Chicago Local 134 in support of the team and my friend CEO Peter Wilt.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go with Aki and Mark to play “Journey To The End of The Night”, a city wide street game akin to manhunt/tag/hide and go seek.

I’ve also taken over PR / Marketing and Brand Identity for Long Pork and we’re having a blast with it. Right now we’ve got a show running every Saturday at the Apollo Studio Theater at 8pm through the 23rd. You should check us out.

Some of my photography is now part of a local collective called NMA Artists an unofficial group of artists, writers and photographers who happen to work at a certain major retail store on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Lastly I’ve had the pleasure of consulting on the Chicago Tribune‘s new ChicagoNow project. I can’t wait for the site to launch, it’s going to be big.

That’s all for now, life is pretty good, I hope to get the chance to update more often. Thanks for reading!

Some of the less educated front runner fans will look at Torre and point the blame for the Yankees’ failures in recent years. But what they don’t remember is that in 12 years Joe brought us to the post season 12 times. Before Joe the Yankees hadn’t won the series since 1978 and even been there since 1982. The problem is in perception. Joe’s the best manager in the biz, I firmly believe this.

Joe Torre is not the problem with the Yankees. The Yankees are the problem with the Yankees.

I’m bitter right now about this but I feel in my gut this is the wrong move, though I’m glad it was ultimately Joe’s decision. My co-worker Frank said to me the other day that though he hates the Yankees, he loves Joe Torre. Joe really is the best and he’s an all around class act, Frank said it well: He deserves to work for an organization that really appreciates him.

I’m a Yankee fan for life, but today is a sad day and one where I really am at odds with the team I love so much.

Good luck Joe. Go win another ring.

I’m going to have the most awesome home theater setup in the freakin’ world when I get to Chi-town.

Living Room:
40″ Samsung HDTV capable of 1080p
Apple Airport Extreme Basestation with 802.11n
Nintendo Wii via composite wired to basestation
Microsoft XBox 360 via component wired to basestation
Sega Dreamcast via VGA with 2 keyboards for typing of the dead.
Sony PS2 via composite
AppleTV via component wireless 802.11n
Apple MacMini via HDMI with eyeTV Hybrid for recording. MacMini is modded to have 802.11n instead of g! MacMini has a Nyko AirFlo hooked up to it via USB and will be loaded with Emulators.

Last but not least:
Namco TV games Ms. Pac-Man / Galaga. via composite.

In the other room:
PowerMac G5 with a 500gb harddrive, wired directly to airport base station. Drive will be filled with movies, music and TV shows eventually to stream to the AppleTV!

and my favorite part:

At my parent’s house:
SlingboxAV hooked up to digital cable and eithernet to stream TV from NY… to Chicago.
Definition: Free NY cable in Chicago! More importantly – Free Yankee Games in Chicago!

All i need now is the Slingbox and the Wii network adaptor.

Note about the wireless: The MacMini is modded to 802.11n from 802.11g because it’s my goal to have only n wireless devices in my apartment, meaning: really fast data transfer rates between devices. Doing so voided the warranty but that’s besides the point.

My Laptop, the Mini, and the AppleTV all have n. g will be disabled. Hence why the Wii will be hard wired instead of wireless. Any g device on the network brings the whole speed down to g instead of n. Only downside: no online PSP… but I never use it anyway.

I am such a huge fucking nerd. But I know you’re jealous.

My apartment is going to rock! It’s like a mecca for consumer electronics whores like myself. Now I need surround sound… haha