From left to right... 1. Mushy card from the wife 2. 2009 Los Angeles Lakers Championship Hat 3. One of a kind, custom made coffee mug, signed by the artist aka "Jack" 4. Custom "favorite memoriies" card (2nd edition) that has a rare photo of Jack and I on the outside and his favorite things on the inside: "Dear Daddy, Here’s the 2nd edition of my “Father’s Day Favorite Memories” card. You can see how some of my interests have changed through out the year and how some haven’t changed that much at all but I always enjoy all of our times together and I hope you do as much as I do. xo Favorite things to do with daddy: Our morning trips to Peets to get banana bread, coffee and read the sports page with Uncle Darren; going to Whole Foods to visit Johnny and all my friends; visiting the ladies and going to happy hour at the Daily Grill; talking walks on daddy’s shoulders; reading The Basketball Book before bed and of course watching LAKER games!!!! Favorite games to play: BASKETBALL..... blocking shots, rebounds, stealing the ball; baseball and soccer too; lots of “tickle time”; boing boing on the bed; looking for garbage trucks and buses Favorite silly things: The “naked run” before bath; pretending to drink daddy’s beer; jumping on the bed to the “BOOM BOOM” song; refer to myself as Wacky Jacky Favorite things daddy taught me: The names of about 20 of the NBA players, first and last names; lots of silly basketball slang; how to draw hoops and balls; three types of kisses, Eskimo, Butterfly and Regular Kisses; how to make yummy omelettes; how to be a die hard Laker fan and that mommy’s favorite things are “chocolate and champagne” Favorite things to eat: Mini hamburgers, hot dogs, tomatoes, peppers, pasta and Poppy’s famous meatballs, pizza, olives, pretzels, blue M&M’s, ice cream, cup cakes and CHOCOLATE Favorite things to say: “Want some of this” “Nice shot Kobe” “Let’s go go go Lakers” “knuckle sandwich” “Not in my kitchen” “I missed by a mile” “Maybe we can see Madison and Brandon play basketball this weekend” Favorite toys: Thomas trains; trucks; balls; Ellie, Cuddle Bear and Bunny Rabbit; building blocks; tricycle; garbage truck Favorite TV shows: Thomas and Friends, Sesame Street and Laker games, and videos of myself Favorite places to go with daddy: The farmers market every Sunday; going to the park; visiting the choo choo trains; going to the car wash; watching Madison and Brandon’s basketball games; the pier and aquarium; the VA farmers market to visit the birds, look for lady bugs and get a cookie or an ice cream cone with sprinkles Favorite time of day with daddy: BOYS time when mommy’s at work; story time at night My favorite thing about daddy: When daddy holds me and kisses my boo boos and makes them all better; and when I’m sad he always can make me laugh and he always takes awesome photos of me Thank you for being the most amazing dad and for always loving me and taking such good care of me. I know I’m still the luckiest boy in the whole world. I love you soooooo much! Xoxoxoxoxoxox Jack" Good thing the photos got a mention at the the end there...I was thinking of ditching all my gear until I read mention of that! 5. A greeting card from Jack with signed Laker artwork on the inside by "Jack" Great beginning to an AWESOME day!

My friend Steve and I, and his little boy Ryder, went to SFMoMA on Tuesday to see the Georgia O'Keeffe & Ansel Adams "Natural Affinities" exhibit, as well as Robert Frank's "The Americans." (We also explored the new rooftop cafe* & sculpture garden, which is a lovely addition to the museum -- and it was a particularly glorious afternoon!) Since yesterday I have been thinking about the photographs I saw and pondering some of the questions they brought to mind. While I have always loved and admired Ansel Adams' photography, I found Robert Frank's images to be so much more compelling, and I'm trying to figure out why... Is it because RF was photographing [mostly] people? And because, therefore, his photographs tell --or at least hint at-- larger stories? Is it because RF was shooting with a smaller, hand-held 35mm camera, which gives the images a more intimate feel -- more immediacy...? Is it because RF's images are just a little bit more contemporary and therefore, somehow more relevant to me? Is it because I've simply seen Ansel Adams' images too many times and my visual world has been over-saturated with his imagery? Is [black & white] landscape-still life photography more 'a thing of the past'...? And if so, what is left to photograph? Or how does a contemporary photographer make a name for him/herself if the unadorned natural world is no longer a viable, interesting subject? (I'm not saying it's not! Personally, I still love taking these kinds of photographs, and I still love looking at them, too... I'm just musing on yesterday's museum experience and some of the thoughts it provoked.) Are contemporary photographers 'obligated' to shoot people? Celebrities? Set-ups and concepts? Must we find new visual frontiers? Start photographing outer space? Have all the great, truly original photographs already been taken??? All I know is I don't have any answers -- only nascent thoughts, and lots of questions... *We sampled Blue Bottle lattes (in Heath Ceramics cups, which we were tempted to steal), the cookie plate (yum), and the ice cream sandwich (yum) in the shape of a dog, which may have been a poodle...I'm not sure. We did not try the pudding cup, but it looked real good too!