Goes to Twelve » photos

Tour de Brooklyn – June 6, 2010

Mark — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:12:55 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of participating in the second annual “Tour de Brooklyn.” It’s not a bike race; it’s a group ride sponsored by Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit that advocates for bike/pedestrian/transit friendly policy.

And by “group ride,” I mean about 2,500 bike riders:

Bikes as far as the eye can see! It was pretty intense riding with such a large group, both due to congestion but also due to the angry motorists who crossed paths with the Tour. We had partial police escort, which drivers obviously respected, but they were less keen on respecting the authority of the volunteer marshalls who had to do a bulk of the traffic enforcement. It was certainly an interesting case study in human behavior towards authority and New Yorkers’ behavior towards anything that slows them down by even a little bit.

As you can see by this map, the tour went through many busy Brooklyn neighborhoods:

I emerged unscathed at the end of the 18 mile ride and scored a snazzy t-shirt:

Cyclists: if you ever get the chance to do something like this, I highly encourage it.

Photos: Prospect Park, Brownstones at Sunset

Mark — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:34:12 +0000

May 16, 2010, was a lovely spring day in Park Slope, Brooklyn:

Baseball in Prospect Park. The game as God meant it to be played: under a gorgeous blue sky, on crisp green grass, flanked by majestic leafy trees. Love it.

Prospect Park Lake. I live a 15 minute walk away from this beauty. I’m a lucky guy.

Looking west down 9th Street from Prospect Park West. I love how the last sunlight of the day kisses the architectural accents on top of the row houses.

The soft light of sunset lights up the brownstones on 9th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue. I see almost this every non-cloudy day, and it never gets old.

One last look at brownstones at sunset on 9th Street.

Recently, statistician Nate Sliver devised a complex methodology for ranking quality of life in New York City neighborhoods, and Park Slope, Brooklyn, came out on top. Which is all fine and good, but I think these pictures say far more about what it’s like to live here than any dataset possibly could.

Brooklyn Bridge Park – From Above and Within

Mark — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:53:19 +0000

Two different views of the new Brooklyn Bridge Park:

The first is from the lawn, looking at the Bridge…

…and the second is from the bridge itself, looking down upon the lawn:

It’s a curious yet wonderful oasis of green amidst the stone, concrete, and water. It’s so rare that we get a brand new public space like this here in NYC that it’s quite the experience to step into the lawn for the first time and take in a view that didn’t exist until a few weeks ago.

Photo Album: Family in Golden, CO

Mark — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:22:45 +0000

I was in Golden, CO, in mid-March for my niece Maren Wall’s baptism. I’m happy to report that Maren and her parents are doing great!

These pictures are from Golden, CO, and nearby Boulder, CO.

Christmas in Colorado

Mark — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:32:24 +0000

I spent the week before Christmas visiting my sister, her husband, and their cat in Golden, Colorado. As before, my only method for image capture was my cruddy iPhone, so apologies for low quality and graininess. Not pictured, but important parts of the weeks’ festivities: Korean BBQ on Christmas Eve and Avatar on Christmas Day.

Thanksgiving in Chicago

Mark — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:56:53 +0000

So my iPhone takes cruddy, cruddy pictures, and I wish I’d lugged along my DSLR to capture some better pics, but at the saying goes, “The best camera is the one you’re carrying.”