Today was a major breakthrough in terms of my photography skills.  Jeff the Intern, put this photo in your pipe and smoke it:

The funny thing is, this butterfly wasn't even that impressive in person.  He (or she... I didn't check) wasn't even that big--maybe about an inch and a half across.  But, I got the camera right up in his grille and snapped one off.  I'd say it is probably the best photo I've ever taken.  I guess you just have to take a lot to get a good one.  I just bought a new memory card for the camera, so be prepared for a lot more.  I'm going to start posting all the originals on a site.  I've seen Ofoto.  Valarie Cooper suggested Snapfish.  Does anyone else have any suggestions?

So, yesterday, we basically tooled around the city.  I think it was just as much an excuse for me to take lots of new photos as it was to explore the city.  One thing I'm realizing about taking pictures...   it gives the best moments of your life a longer shelf life.  We all have boring or sad times in our lives, but when you flip back through the pictures you took of the best parts, it tends to dwarf the times you'd rather forget.

First stop of the day was the Haight-Ashbury district... SF's equivilent to the Village I suppose.  I only took this picture to show that I was there, but I didn't feel comfortable snapping off a lot of pics like a tourist in and around the tattoo shops and used clothing stores.  I felt like they could smell my recent vote cast for the red team and didn't want to get the scarlet "R" branded on me.  (Although, if I wanted an R branded on me, there's a shop there that would do it.)

These pictures are from Buena Vista park.  The church is St. Ignatius Church at USF.  Gotta get the Jesuit stuff in somehow.  The first pic was a close second I think for the pic of the day.

So, as we're leaving the park, I spot this random mound thing.  I was curious, so we went over there for a closer look.

There's a sign that labels this thing as the "Randall Museum."  I'm not sure I understand exactly how this is a museum, but it was fascinating nonetheless.

I took pictures from the top of the "Randall Museum".  These were difficult to take, because I'm pretty damn scared of heights.  The good thing is, I'm better with looking out  than I am with down.  This is where I took the butterfly pic.

This is the Palace of Fine Arts...  the architecture is impressive, but the turtles proved equally as interesting...  for 10 minutes, Carrie my patient tour guide and I watched one the closest turtle to us in this pic get a worm off his  back leg.  For you and I, a worm on our leg isn't a big issue, but imagine if you were a turtle.  You can't reach your leg with any other part of your body and you can't really shake it out too quickly to dislodge the little critter.  It took a while, but he finally kicked the worm off. 

I have more pics, but its taking too long to upload.  Note to Six Apart...    you should let people post multiple pictures at a time.  The interface is really good and it lets you cut and paste very quickly once its uploaded, so I wouldn't mind being able to just upload the whole group of pics I plan to post at once upfront.  For now, I'll finish with this one.  I don't know who these people are, but they were sitting by the water in Sausalito and I thought it made a good Hallmark moment--certainly picture worthy.  Sigh.