photos

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4 April 2005
I've stopped putting my new photos here. You'll find them here, at flickr, and also sometimes here, in the blog, instead.

7 November 2004
A photo of yours truly at the Experimental Mathematics conference organized by David Bailey and Jonathan Borwein.

1 September 2004
Wet Paint.

19 August 2004
I went for a run this morning in San Francisco from the loft to the Embarcadero, returning via the financial district.

3 August 2004
From Palo Alto by train to SBC Park to watch the San Francisco Giants.
Barry Bonds hit two homeruns—his 686th and 687th.

19 June 2004
Some of Cole's 3rd grade Spectra Art projects.

15 June 2004
I attended a Mathematics conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

April-June 2004
Palo Alto Little League Opening Day. Just after everyone made their entrance onto the field, it started to rain. A few weeks later, I took some machine pitch game photos.

1 May 2004
Palo Alto May Fete.

22 Apr 2004
San Francisco Fisheye. Jim drove my car from South of Market to Clement street while I pointed the camera up at buildings. Here's more—we went to the Khan Toke Thai restaurant, on Geary, and took more fisheye photos.

25 Mar 2004
Kamimoto String Instruments.

24 Mar 2004
Owen played YMCA basketball.

17 Jan 2004
The new kitchen. Compare with the old kitchen, just before demolition.

20 November 2003
Cole and Gloria on a 3rd grade field trip to Los Trancos Open Space Preserve

9 November 2003
Chicken McNuggets Sauce Policy
small big

31 October 2003
Pumpkin Globes
Or Jacks o' Lantern

7 October 2003
After my mother died—the funeral
Lots of people brought over food.
Cole and Owen met their second-cousin Tom.
Outside the church before the funeral, I posed for a photo with my Dad.
We were facing the hearse, just ahead of us.
My dad's older brother Loren in the Presbyterian church sanctuary.
Left to right, more relatives: Loren's wife Sandra, my father's younger sister Margaret, Dan Lovgren (my cousin), and Jim McFerren (my uncle)
My dad's twin sister Verlene (third from left).
Family members waited in the church library as others arrived.
The gravesite, just after the ceremony, and just after everyone had departed.
Then back to the church for tea and cookies:
Lee Sanks
Mike (and his mother Pat, seated) Munro
Extended family Plambecks
Surviving family
Letterboard sign message on garage at my Dad's house
Back home, my dad walking in the backyard.
After the last visitors had left—my dad and a fruitbowl.
24 September 2003
Scootering

22 September 2003
A visit to the new Palo Alto IKEA store.
I couldn't take my eyes off the weird Swedish names on the tags.
KAFFATORP...GLASHOLM....SKRUVBY...MAGIKER...ARV IDYLL...

15 September 2003
UNL Reunion

5 September 2003
New Kitchen Update
ConcreteWorks visit and installation.

29 August 2003
New Kitchen Update
The appliances arrive.
The refrigerator looks about 9 feet tall.
That's no problem for Colleen and Gloria because it's Todd's problem to install it.

10 August 2003
Backyard bagels and scootering on the Stanford campus with Stefan Plambeck, Sharon Arad and Liam Plambeck. We paid $11 for the seven of us (4 adults, 3 kids) to ascend the Hoover Tower elevator. In the lobby, the same video I remembered from a visit 5 years earlier—a black-and-white Herbert explains the virtues of Lou Henry's Chinese porcelain collection to an overly polite interviewer. I would guess the video was made in the mid to late 1950s. Lou Henry died of a heart attack about 7pm on 7 January 1944 after attending a concert with friends. Herbert lived to age 90, and died in 1964. The video ends with the elderly Hoover gesturing off camera and saying, "Well, let's sit down." It's then possible to start the video over again by pressing a large green button. I took some photos of the Stanford campus.

Compare photos of Cole atop Hoover tower in February 1998 [#1 #2] versus August 2003.

8 August 2003
Dragons and Dinosaurs, and some other kid's art projects at the Palo Alto Junior Museum.

5 August 2003
While the finish on the kitchen floor dried, Owen and I took Caltrain to San Francisco.

1 August 2003
The New Island just installed, not yet properly panelled or topped.

27 July 2003
The Modelmen

19 July 2003
Simultaneous haircuts, President's Barbershop, University Ave, Palo Alto
Note added 5 Feb 2004: Read about the barbershop (Palo Alto Daily News).

17 July 2003
Wheelbarrow and bricks

10-12 July 2003
Kearney, Nebraska
Singleshots:
Archway Monument over Interstate 80, with Platte River at upper left.
Dogs, front yard, 2214 5th Avenue, and a larger version
Never Ready Ranch and haybales, near Riverdale, Nebraska
Mysteriously tall farm vehicle prowling near cornfields
KGFW radio building
Kern Heaton selling an aquarium in his pet store
Love Birds for sale
Palm Garden Lounge building
Albums: [Harmon Park] [Trouble] [LSN's motorcycle]

5 July 2003
Stanford Sierra Camp, 2003.
Three albums: #1 #2 #3

26 June 2003
Painting & cabinets for the new kitchen.

21 June 2003
Drywall still life with stepladder and Wet Dry Vac.

17 June 2003
Sunscreening for the first day of summer day camps.

15 June 2003
Disposal of Old Couch at the Palo Alto Dump

12 June 2003
Cole getting his hair cut (big photos: #1 #2) at the Presidents Barber Shop on University Avenue in Palo Alto.

11 June 2003
Owen in my office
#1 #2 #3 #4

6 June 2003
New kitchen update: drywall
A team of four guys #1 #2 finished the job (except for the cleanup) in about one hour.

31 May 2003
New kitchen update: insulation
Four photos taken immediately before the shear walls went in.

25 May 2003
Peddlers Fair, Oakhurst, California

23 May 2003
Lupine at the Yosemite house
Favorite: small larger huge

18 May 2003
Bay to Breakers, with Kim Muth

15 May 2003
No Exit
Experimenting with Adobe Photoshop 7's 'Action' macros and 'Batch' processing tools, I took a bunch of boring freeway photos and turned them into moody watercolors with a few clicks.

11 May 2003
Broomball

8 May 2003
Some more photoshopped views of San Francisco from the 280 elevated freeway.
[#1] [#2] [#3] [#4] [#5]

3 May 2003
A visit to the "Feats of Clay" exhibition at the massive Gladding McBean clay works in Lincoln, California, northwest of Sacramento.

29 April 2003
Downtown San Francisco (photoshopped), taken from the front seat of the Volvo as I descended the Sixth Street off ramp this morning.

27 April 2003
Owen and I captured the shadow of the Stegosaurus as it prowled a stairwell handrail.

23 April 2003
A no parking sign on Ritch Street in San Francisco, near PacBell Park. Bacar, Bizou, and a thin building are nearby.

21-24 April 2003
Kitchen Demolition
This morning the old kitchen was forcibly removed by these gentlemen. By the end of the first day some of the drywall was off and the pantry had a big headache. By the end of the fourth day, the courtyard wall was mostly missing [#1] [#2] [#3]. Cole wanted me to take photos that made it look like he was tripping [#1] [#2].

19 April 2003
Backyard photos at the Yosemite house.

18 April 2003
Kitchen wall decoration, then playing with marbles. The resulting art.

17 April 2003
The final days of the old kitchen.

12 April 2003
At the Dixon's
It was a rainy night. I tried some more low light experiments when we got home.

7 April 2003
Driving on Palo Alto's Cowper Street with Owen in the back seat to meet Gloria at the Tied House Brew Pub in Mountain View, I took a photo of the inscrutable dashboard controls of the Volvo by mistake. The precise principles of operation of the air conditioner and heater are still mysteries to me. Holding the camera aloft through the open sunroof, I took photos backward forward and out the side.

6 April 2003
Today I took the old front gate to our house to the dump. It had languished on death row in our courtyard for a few months, as I considered whether to mount another repair attempt. In 1994, when we bought the house, I thought it was charming, but its sliding wood peg latch soon failed. Twice I took the gate apart to repair problems or hammer new nails into it. Today it reached the end of the line. Another photo.

3 April 2003
Cole's List
He writes (and reprioritizes) a list of potential activities on the whiteboard in my office, trying to get me to stop messing with Mathematica and do something with him, or at least approve one of his preferred activities.

2 April 2003
Two ducks stood watch over our roof this morning [ #1 #2 #3 #4 #5]. They're volunteers who take up their positions after springtime rains—but in April 2000, they patrolled our sidewalk instead. Back then, I made a poster honoring their service to our neighborhood. I have to say I don't feel much safer with them around, but do I support their efforts.

23 March 2003
Keoki's Paradise
The first forty-eight hours of a Hawaii vacation as viewed from a taxi, an aiport, and two restaurants.
[More Hawaii vacation: Hanalei Kiahuna Turtle Cove Chickens at Spouting Horn ]

20 March 2003
School Events
Owen (top center) in the bleachers at his Spring concert tonight at the Covenant Children's Center, with Cole in the audience; then Cole again, (facing camera, center) the next morning at Walter Hays "Hat Day."

18 March 2003
A walk in the San Francisco financial district
Along Kearny Street and up high into 555 California, where we spy the pyramid.

16 March 2003
San Francisco
mao on market st
fell st at van ness
united meat
jump rope

5 March 2003
Owen's birthday 2003
Endlessly fascinating Star Wars figurines

1 March 2003
In the front yard
Neighborhood kids

25 February 2003
Dance Class
There's a video, too.

23 February 2003
Twilight on Tasso Street
Some experiments taking photos in low light with a tripod. Cole ran out of the house during one photo, leaving a ghostly image.

20 February 2003
Self portraits in my office
[#1] with Bluetooth-enabled "desktop" printer wirelessly relegated to a far corner
[#2] with the tentacles of a cellophane jellyfish threatening from above—will it sting?

19 February 2003
Feynman Fish
While waiting impatiently for Gloria to finish reading her email on my laptop, I noticed that a sticker fish on my copy of the Feynman Lectures on Physics had naturally adapted to its newfound habitat.

18 February 2003
Winter in Yosemite
Vernal Falls, Curry Village, Yosemite Falls, the Yosemite Lodge cafe, and the Ahwahnee Hotel. Not much snow, but it did rain at night—the thunder resounded on the valley walls. I took three short video clips on a hike.

8 February 2003
When an electrical extension cord dreams, this is what it wants to be. Owen and I posed one of his Lego Bionicle toys. Photoshop did the rest.

7 February 2003
Chinese Painting
From Cole's 2nd grade art class.

3 February 2003
Waverly & University
Downtown Palo Alto. The first couple were taken at Waverly & Hamilton. I got myself a double non-fat latte at Torrefazione Italia then drank it as I took the rest.

30 January 2003
Photos taken at our San Francisco loft space by Jim Hsu. Apparently I spend my time staring at my laptop, Zome models, or Grand Theft Auto.
[#1] [#2] [#3] [#4] [#5]

1 February 2003
Cartwheel Study
With Cole acknowledging his audience.

January 2003
Tule Fog
I took the photo just up the mountain from Cathey's Valley, California, not far from Mariposa. Here's what it looks like from outer space. Or simply read about it.

January 2003
Sledding Photos, Goat Meadow, near Yosemite
owen cole owen cole owen

16 January 2003
Sixth and Bryant
San Francisco

11 January 2003
Owen

11 January 2003
Señor Taco
A frequent lunch destination.

11 January 2003
Strange Potatoes

10 January 2003
At Starbucks
Where I get my morning coffee, typically, despite other options.

December 2002
Christmas Card
Near the Stanford Mausoleum.

December 2002
Hopper the Rabbit
A story by Cole Plambeck (age 7).

1983
College Scrapbook
A scrapbook I kept during the 1983/1984 school year at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Photos of Thane Plambeck, Jim Hsu, Matt Anderson, David Thompson, Bruce Oberg, Stephanie Vandenack, Lisa Swanson, Jane Moul, Katie Schekirke, ...

1 November 2002
The Home Office

Thanksgiving 2002
Lincoln, Nebraska
Photos taken by Mike Braun
#1 Scott, Nick, Owen, and Cole
#2 Fine dining.
#3 In the room.
#4 A mom and her kids.
#5 And with the dad included.
#6 Cousins on the couch.
#7 Thane, Vern, Marlene, Alison.
#8 Another in the room, with Gloria.
#9 Owen

30 October 2002
Halloween Concert
Owen (#1, #2) dressed as a lion (top center). The crowd contained Cole.

27 August 2002
First Day of School
Cole and O ham it up. With chalk drawings visible on the flagstone.

25 August 2002
Tasso Street Block Party
Featuring Michael Goldeen & Leonard Susskind with red and blue hair.

22 August 2002
Tasso Oak
The 125+ year-old oak across the street from our house in Palo Alto, considered from a sequence of increasingly artistic viewpoints.

1991
Whitewater
Thane and Gloria (wearing black hats) on a whitewater river rafting trip on the American River in Northern California. This trip was organized by Derry Kabcenell, at that time a Vice President of Oracle Corporation. Moments after this photo was taken, Mark Porter (seated in the middle of the left side of the boat) fell out. We hauled him back in.

July 2002
Stanford Sierra Camp, 2002

June 2002
Squirtgun Preparation
Cole, Lucy, and Haley

10 June 2002
Solar Eclipse
Today's late afternoon solar eclipse cast thousands of images of itself onto the streets of Palo Alto through the leaves of its trees. Here's one amazing photo.

19 Sep 2002
Thane with Jim Hsu Bizou Restaurant, San Francisco
Thane at SF Loft Taken by Jim Hsu

Singleshots
Cole (Sep 2001)
Owen (Jul 2001)
Gloria (Jul 2001)
Family (Jul 2001)
Cole & Haley (Sep 2001)
Cole & Lucy (Sep 2001)
Cole (Sep 2001)
Cole (Sep 2001)
Cole (Sep 2001)
Cole (Sep 2001)
Owen (Sep 2001)
Owen (Sep 2001)
Owen (Sep 2001)
Owen (Sep 2001)
Savannah, Mae, Cole, Lucy (Sep 2001)

20 April 2002
Cole and Owen visit a Honolulu photo booth.

10 March 2002
YMCA Basketball
Cole playing basketball.

Mar 2002
SF Loft
Photos taken inside and standing on top of our San Francisco loft space on Harriet Street south of Market.

Sep 2001
Bodie, CA
Photos from a visit to a high Sierra ghost town with Raymund Jones.

Nov 2000
Cole

Mar 2000
Owen

25 Dec 2001
Christmas 2001 Gloria, Cole, and Owen wearing crowns at Colin & Evelyn Dixon's house.

Dec 2000
Christmas 2000 Cole and Owen in the obligatory pose.

Oct 2000
October 2000 Cole, Owen, and Gloria at the kitchen table, mostly.

May 2000
Brooms Cole and Owen with brooms in our courtyard, our poppies before being removed by the landscapers, and a cool orb spider web on the house.

May 2000
Indian Rock Road The house we bought in May 2000 near the the south entrance Yosemite National Park.

April 2000
Ducks This pair of ducks visited our house after a late spring rain.

March 2000
Cole and Owen playing in the street Call it bad parenting if you like.

March 2000
More street playing Owen, the Anderson boys across the street, and Sandy (their dog). Also some of Owen at "Mental Park."

Feb 2000 First shots on the 2.5 megapixel camera Cole and Owen on a rainy day in the street in front of our house, Beth Dawson's snakes, and Greg Whitehead.

Late 1998 & 1999
Mostly of Cole and Owen, ages 2-3 or so These aren't quite as good because they were taken with Thane's older digital camera.

1997 or 1998
Five photos of Cole at age 2 or 3, some of them messed with using digital photo mungers.

1998-2000
Mostly Owen, ages 0-2 or so The 'woodcuts' were bitwhacked in 2000. Owen's birth announcement.

Summer 2000
Indian Rock Cole at Indian Rock and in the stream below it.

May 2000
Filoli Gardens A visit to Filoli Gardens with Vern Plambeck, Marlene Plambeck, and Rose Spitler.

June 1999
Swim class Only Cole in the water, sorry O!

February 1998
Hoover Tower at Stanford These were taken the same day that Cole and Thane went to the top of Hoover Tower.

August 2000
The Brauns Thane's sister Alison Braun and her family (Mike, Nick and Scott) visit Palo Alto. Owen playing with a football. Also some (largely unsuccessful) attempts to photograph soap bubbles on Zometool models.

2 April 2000
At Sam's House Taken at 575 Quartz Street, Redwood City, CA. Sam, Wes, and Marc Goldburg and Liz Noerdlinger.

June 1999
Half Moon Bay A trip to Half Moon Bay, California with Rose Spitler.

1997-1999
Photos ca. 1997-1999 Including a larger cast of characters than just our family.

Autumn 1999
Signio The Signio offices were located at 1600 Bridge Parkway, Redwood City, CA. Signio was acquired by VeriSign in December 1999.

Autumn 2000
Halloween Cole's Kindergarten class at Walter Hays Elementary.

January 2001
Snowplay at the Mariposa Grove With the Dixons (Emma, Lloyd, Colin, and Evelyn). Cole scores a lucky hit on Lloyd with a snowball.

Summer 1999
The Game, June 1999 Thane flew to New York City in June 1999 to compete in this extravagant, 28 hour high tech treasure hunt organized by employees of Microsoft. We (Team Purple) finished fifth after having had the lead in the middle of the night (damn!).

Spring through Winter, 1998
The Renovation In 1998 we added a second story to our house at 2341 Tasso St, Palo Alto, California. You can view the wreckage, innards, plans, and artistic interpretations. Everything is available, except of course good photos of what the house looked like before everything started, and after everything completed.

(Note added Aug 2002): I just found a tasteful pen and ink drawing of our house as it looked in 1994 on a realtor's postcard.