Panorama

Received my Nodal Ninja pano head on Friday. Stayed up much too late last night sorting things out. This is the 10 shot stitched 360 panorama of my front entryway. Click to see larger version.

This is 8 shots around the 360 horizon combined with one shot up (zenith) and one shot down (nadir). You can see the tripod squished along the bottom of the image.

Taking this into another program I was able to generate this 3D interactive panorama. Click your mouse into the image and hold it. Then move the mouse around to scroll through the scene:

Click here for the full sized version

I’m having way too much fun!

#8 Bogle 2007 Old Vine Zinfandel

Wine #8 in the $100 Wine Challenge

Winery: Bogle Vinyards
Vintage: 2007 Old Vine Zinfandel
Price: $9.91

Cynthia’s Review:

First- a confession: We actually drank the Bogle one evening, and then forgot to do a review, so we had to sneak into the Specs near us and purchase another replacement bottle so that we could do a proper review. I really liked this wine. I drank this (second bottle) with a dinner of eggplant Parmesan and pasta and it was delicious. I thought the wine had a nice aroma and a fruity, spicy flavor that went well with, but did not overpower, the food. (And drinking the second bottle caused me to remember that I really liked it quite well the first time around !) This is my first experience with a Zinfandel, and I truly enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to some additional Zinfandel recommendations from our wine Sherpa. This wine receives a resounding “Yay” from me !

Jay’s Review

I was not going to mention that we had the wine and forgot to post a review. But I guess Cynthia let the cat out of the bag. I do recall I liked the wine but could remember no real specifics. This was probably due to the overall good experience when we consumed that first bottle and not due to the wine being less than memorable. After sneaking into our alternate Spec’s to secure our re-do bottle we headed to our fave Italian restaurant to give the attention it deserved. I found the Bogle to have a good, full flavor and to be quite smooth. There was a certain pep to the wine, not really what I would call spicy or bitter, but a “zing” if you will, Nothing overwhelming. The wine combined well with the panini I had for dinner and I enjoyed it immensely. As time goes by I find I may be becoming a snob for wines from overseas so it was notable to me that I enjoyed this California Zinfandel and also the previous 2007 Ca’ Momi so I hope to explore more California wines with the help Gerald. And who knows? We may even make the pilgrimage to Napa Valley some day as part of our travels. Definite “yay” from me!

Westchase Park

Out here on the west side of Houston, most of the developers seem to lack any sense of style or creativity. One ugly uninspired office park after another lines Beltway 8 from I-45 South to I-45 North with a smattering of cheesy chain restaurants and extended stay motels sprinkled in for extra yawn appeal. It is fairly bleak and only inspires you to press a little harder on the accelerator to move on through. The one and only reason to intentionally go near the beltway (other than using it to flee the west side) was the Cinemark Tinseltown movie theater but even that became a place to avoid and was eventually closed down.

Recently I noticed that the Tinseltown had been demolished and construction had started up for a new building. Swamplot reported that they had received a demolition permit in January of 2008 so it wasn’t a total surprise. I didn’t pay much attention as it was going up but over the last few weeks I did see that it was nearing completion. From what I can tell, it’s called the Westchase Park and it looks like it is nearly ready for its first tenant.

There’s a water feature in the front of the building that sports a metallic sculpture which sort of reminds me of the contraption from the movie “Contact.” It’s by far the most interesting piece of architecture I have seen out here on the west beltway.

The building itself is glass and chrome and glints in the daylight. I was kind of hoping the sculpture was a corporate logo of some kind and that this was going to be to world headquarters of some up and coming conglomerate or something. Alas, it is simply a business park and will soon be selling office space to those looking to setup shop in the Westchase District.

On the plus side, it looks pretty cool at night.

2009 International Quilt Show

Cynthia and I made our annual pilgrimage to the International Quilt Show. This event attracts 10’s of thousands of visitors from all over the country…maybe even the world. I don’t know that I would travel far to attend myself, but since it is held here in Houston it’s an easy drive to and from for an opportunity to shop for some unique fabric and see the quilts that are on display. Many of the quilts have signs on them that say “No Photography.” On top of that, I have not found a consistent way to make photos of quilts interesting.

Of note this year were two rock and roll quilts, one of John Lennon and another of The Rolling Stones.

I made the comment that “yes, indeed, the rock and roll generation is now old enough to quilt” which earned me the shushing of a lifetime by group of women viewing the display…

Also on display was the Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt which is made up of 32,000 hand signed 2.25-inch fabric squares. Very interesting to look at, both close up and at a distance.

Cynthia emerges from the “Quilt Matrix” …

#5 – Ca’ Momi 2007 Rosso Di California

Wine #5 in the $100 Wine Challenge

Winery: Ca’ Momi
Vintage: 2007 Rosso Di California
Price: $7.99

Cynthia’s Review:

We selected this wine as the next wine in our challenge in response to Gerald’s answer to our review of Wine # 3 -the Reserve Del ’Aube Syrah Merlot. Our wine # 3 did not pair well with spicy food, despite the promise of the label. The Wine Sherpa suggested that this Ca’ Momi would hold up well when paired with a strong food, and he was right. I enjoyed this wine with a spicy pizza, and it was just perfect. The wine was not overpowering when sipped ahead of the meal, or with the cheese and crackers which have become our defacto appetizer course, and still stood up to the challenge of the spicy pizza flavors. I had to admit to a certain prejudice surrounding wines with screw tops instead of corks (sorry to all the Australian wine lovers out there !) but this wine was good enough to help me overcome that. I am somewhat confused about exactly what type of grape went into this wine- other than an indication that this is a California red wine, there is no hint on the label regarding what kind of grapes might have been used. Can someone enlighten me about this? Is this lack of detail because this is an American wine, or because it is just an inexpensive table wine? I did read, with interest, about the ghost of the previous owner of the winery, Momi Dea Bionda, who is said to still haunt the property. All right.. haunted wine, and right before Halloween too ! This wine receives a “yay” from me !

Jay’s Review

With the red screw top I somewhat expected to hear a “psst” when I twisted off the top. My meal was some left over pot roast with BBQ sauce and this wine paired with it very well. A very smooth wine with a full, rich flavor that stood up well to the heavier meal without overpowering the taste buds and blowing away the flavor of the main course. As Cynthia mentioned, it also stood on its own very well and also played nice with some mild cheese. In looking online I see this is a blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Zinfendel, 15% Petite Sirah (one of my all time faves!) and 5% Merlot aged 8 months in 75% French and 25% heavy toast oak barrels. I enjoyed this wine immensely, not only for the way it complimented the meal, but also for the rich character of the wine. It is mind boggling to me that the wine was less than $10. I give this one a hearty “yay” and ask our wine Sherpa to PLEASE hold on to a few bottles of this for when we revisit the store!

#3 Reserve De L’aube Syrah-Merlot


Winery: Père Anselme
Country: France
Vintage: 2007
Price: $6.99

Wine # 3 in the $100 Wine Challenge.

Cynthia’s Review

I was really prepared to like this wine, especially after enjoying the Pére Anselme Rose ( wine # 1). Building upon our previous experiences, I actually read the label prior to drinking the wine.  The label contains the following recommendation: “Enjoy with barbecue, pizza, simple foods”. Perfect ! We were headed out to one of our favorite local restaurants, which charges a modest $1 corking fee, and I knew that I was going to order one of their specialties- spicy eggplant pizza- so this wine seemed like it would be a perfect fit ! When we first opened the wine, I had a few sips, and it seemed quite nice.  I was prepared to enjoy it with my meal, but sadly, the flavor kind of fell apart when paired with the spicy peppers and onions of the pizza.  I can’t imagine why this wine would be recommended with pizza- or anything spicy for that matter.  As a “stand alone” wine- just to have something to sip, or with something like a bland cheese and crackers, I guess this wine would be fine, but paired with anything strong, it just didn’t stand up.  Sadly, I think I’m going to have to vote “nay” on this wine.

Jay’s Review

I was intrigued by the blend. I like Syrahs well enough. I wasn’t all that certain about the Merlot aspect though. The first sip was nice. The wine was not overly aggressive. Quite smooth, in fact. But the story rapidly changed once I took a bite of my salad. Things got very agitated very quickly. I dismissed it as a likely consequence of the oil and vinegar dressing. I had a piece of bread and things settled down again. On to the main course, some chicken with pasta and spinach. Again the wine just didn’t want to cooperate. I think this is my first experience with a poor pairing of wine and food. It was just not meant to be. By itself, a pleasant wine but with food of any character whatsoever it’s not so enjoyable. I think if drank as a stand alone, or with some mild cheese and crackers it would be just fine. I give it a “yay” with a warning to steer clear of anything but the mildest of flavors in pairing with food.

Danish Kroner

We’ve traveled to the U.K. so we’re familiar with the GBP aka Pound Sterling (£) and we’ve been to Europe a few times so we quite familiar with the Euro (€) but our upcoming trip to Copenhagen, Denmark will be our first adventure in Scandinavia. In Denmark they have not adopted the Euro, though this may change in 2011. For the time being, the currency in Denmark is the DKK aka The Krone (kr) and it’s our first time dealing with this currency.

The current exchange rate is 5.06648 DKK to 1 US Dollar. So that means we’ll be doing a lot of dividing by 5 to figure out just how much money we’re spending while on this vacation. Should prove interesting. We have pre-ordered some DKK so we have money when we hit the ground as is our usual modus operandi. There is nothing worse than trying to convert to some local currency after 15-20 hours of travel time.

Since I blog everything about the trip I of course had to photograph the kroner for posterity. When pulling the image into Photoshop to resize it for the blog an interesting thing happened.

The same thing happened when I photographed the Euros for our trip to Belgium last Christmas, but it still kind freaks me out a little.

I did my best to adhere to the posted rules regarding the legitimate reproduction of DKK linked in the warning message.

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