Declan's Blog

We tried a new place for lunch yesterday called Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot (address: 4718 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92117). It was very niiiice!

Phelan (@imagium), a BarCampSD buddy, had requested a while back that when we declare a BarLunch on Twitter that we pick somewhere in the Kearny Mesa area, closer to him so he could join us. Being a good manager, I put the work back on him and he suggested this great new place.

Here’s Phelan and surprise guest luncher Erika!

Paige was there too, but we kept her under the table.

First, they bring out a big pot of soup (original, spicy, or a split pot with both) and set it to boil on a hot plate in the middle of the table:

Then they bring out a platter of thinly sliced meat, vegetables, tufu, noodles, string mushrooms, and monkey brains.

Ok, maybe not monkey brains – fish balls and meat balls.

Then you cook. Yer own lunch. Why do we have to pay if we’re doing all the work?

Mmm! It was very good! Gabe give’s it a thumbs up:

Even the boy liked it!

Nathan was promoted to Brown Belt in Kajukenbo last weekend:

Lots of cool action shots:

Let’s hope he uses his power for good… 😉

Congrats to Nathan (on the right – his buddy Gerry is on the left)!

Nathan graduated from Westview High School yesterday. Grandma came out to see:

And Diardra and Doug flew out too!

Erin was thrilled to cheer on her brother:

After the ceremony:

(Can you spot Nathan? 😉

We went to Adams Avenue Grill for some nom:

Of course, since I borrowed a killer lens from Patrick (thanks dude!), I got a few nice shots around the restaurant as the sunlight was fading:

Here are lots more:

Yes, I’m too young to have this going on:

First we got up and had some presents:

The we joined some buddies and had some Dim Sum!

We have an 18 year old boy! How’d that happen?

Mom got up and made apple pancakes. Dad got out the camera. 😉

So, after the drama of Nathan’s hit and run, guess what happens next:

Less than 2 hours after getting the car back from the shop, as he was driving four of his friends to ComicCon, Nathan was hit on the side by an 18 wheeler and the car rolled 2 times into the median.  One of the kids got a deep abrasion on his arm.  Otherwise, they all walked out unharmed.  All of them were wearing seat belts.  The 18 wheeler never stopped.

Scary stuff.

Last night, Saturday, July 21, sometime between 9:50 and 10:50 pm, an unknown car hit our son’s green 1998 Honda CR-V, which was parked on the south side of the 13000 block of Sparren Ave. This is in Penasquitos.

They scraped the left rear side bumper, twisted the rear axle, and left a large part of their car behind on the road. They left skirting, tire guards, and some type of blower from the engine in addition to lots of plastic and glass on the road just behind and ahead of the Honda. There was no one in or near the Honda at the time of the accident, so, thankfully, there were no injuries to anyone we are aware of.

A white Mazda hatchback was seen in the immediate area soon after the hit and run was discovered. The Mazda was weaving across lanes and dividers along Carmel Mtn. Road, and passed the group looking at the Honda’s damage on Sparren, narrowly missing the bystanders. That group heard the flap of a flat tire as it passed. No license plate was taken, but a good samaritan had been following the car at a distance when he noticed the driver’s erratic behavior and stopped to give the make and model information to police in case that was the car that had caused the damage to the Honda.

Even if this Mazda did not cause the damage to our Honda, the driver was obviously impaired and needs to be questioned.

PLEASE call the San Diego Police Department’s non emergency number, 858-484-3154, if you have any information about a white Mazda hatchback (or any car) with fresh damage and missing parts on the front passenger side, or information about the hit and run on Saturday night. Please also feel free to distribute this to anyone else who may have information.

Thank you!!!!

Elaine, Declan, and Nathan Fleming

Click here for more pictures of the car.

Click here for more pictures at Meteor Crater, AZ!

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Nathan and I are heading back west from our Spring Break trip.  This involved crossing a lot of New Mexico on a very dark road – NM285.  The stars were out in force, and there was a tiny sliver of Moon accompanied by a very bright Venus.  Here’s my first 30″ shot from the moving van:

Ok, it’s silly, but turned out kinda neat.

We pulled over and I grabbed the tripod and set up for more stable shots.  Here’s my first attempt:

Hmm, what’s that shadowy crescent between Venus and the Moon?  We’d just come north from Roswell, so I figured that it was a UFO with a cloaking device.  Turns out it was my lens cover – so I screwed that off and got clearer shots:

I took a series of shorter exposures until I got that one above.

This one was a longer exposure that shows a little horizon.  The red light is a radio tower in the distance, and the slight light bloom is Albuquerque.  I bet I could do some interesting HDR stuff with these images…

I also shot some star fields at varying times and apertures.  I SO need to take a class in how to do this right.

If you go to Flickr by clicking here, you can see the whole set with all of my exposure setting experiments.  You really need to see the full sized images to get the full effect.  I think you need a free Flickr account to get the option to see full sized imaged.  Once I’m home, I’ll put them on my server as well, but Flickr is faster.