315 Park Row is a monstrosity left over from urban planning’s bad old days. Sandwiched between city hall and cinatown, it seems to have been caught in someone’s confusion about what to do with that kind of location. I don’t think the architect had any illusions about the fact that it was going to be a walrus. From there, I think, the plan was to protect what could be nice about the place. Maybe that’s where the idea of the curves came in. If the building was going up next to that ugly rectangular nine volt battery, then at least it was going to have something to make the air seem a bit lighter. If there are curved hallways inside, I’m sure they make for fun passage in the Spring.

I’ve had this bad-boy since college, but it wasn’t until recently that he lost the original creases. It always gives me pleasure in a reggae song when one person refers to another as a lion of Judah. It’s a compliment we should all aspire to.

“John, you’re a lion of Judah. I want you to be the best man at my wedding.” How great would that be?

ps: this is the second shot I’ve taken with the new camera-phone — nevermind the stupid timestamp.

On my fourth consecutive day of working until daybreak, I snapped this photo of the morning sun as it alighted on the wall. It’s probably my favorite of the photos that I’ve taken with my camera-phone. I even snapped a few pictures with my regular digital camera for good measure, but this one is from the phone. A minute later, that golden strip of light was gone.

I posted the photo immediately to my blog, and put my head down to rest. Little did I know that later that night my beloved camera-phone would succumb to the voluptuous backseat of a new york city taxicab. So, with this post, I say farewell to the Motorola A630. I spent a couple of hours online last night researching phones, and there isn’t one available in America that has the same mix of features and small size as the A630 — which is no longer available.

In fact, it is because of the photo and qwerty keyboard capacities of that phone that I started blogging in the first place.

With the passing of my phone, I also mark a second milestone in my blogging adventures: moving from the incorrigible Blogger, to the more stable WordPress. And while the nerdy details of how I bring these pictures to the web is of little significance ultimately, those same details were the ones that caused me to spend four consecutive nights burning the mignight oil. “Basic Missive” is the name of the theme that I designed for WordPress in that time, it is available for anyone at: raafirivero dot com slash missive.

So, this is the launch of my new Blog, and a requiem for my fallen A630. So long buddy.

The code breaker likes his coffee black these days. And no, the code breaker isn’t me. He’s the little guy imprisoned behind all those pixels that’s trying to get out. And right now he needs another fill-up. But I’m going to sleep instead. It’s almost dawn (again) for chrissakes.

This little dun rode the bus with me this morning. Two young teens taught him how to ride the back of the bus and be cool. The three of us marveled at how such a small smile could fill such a large space. His young mother must have enjoyed it too.

Good old-fashioned ingenuity. Even at 2 a.m. at the all nite bakery. Someone decided that the stirrers would stay in place better if the cup was turned upside down. And I’m sure that person was right.