Oh, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night.

I am calling this blog a wrap, its been roughly six months and I don’t think I have enough interesting stuff to say anymore.  Besides Africa, I probably overstayed my welcome.  With more staid activities increasingly taking over my life this ‘what hijinks have Mark been up to lately’ thread is going to become even more barren.

I did about a year of public sharing in 2006, which was interesting because I moved across the country and was doing a bunch of remote work, when telecommuting was more novel.  It also was from a time when personal updates from a mobile phone was not just novel, it was downright rocket science.  (Sentence removed so as not to offend readers)

But its time to quit here and now.  I feel it.

This blog is more sophisticated than my last one, and has some usage statistics.  I can tell that about 10 – 15 people come here.  I have no idea who you are or how you found me.  But if you want updates and you know me, shoot me an email, I will make a forum for it if we don’t already regularly catch up the correct way, which I hope we do.

Meanwhile, I did promise some more Africa pictures,  over the course of several presentations (Denver friends, ex-co-workers, etc) these have been the crowd-favorites, which cheats you out of some promised photos.  Regrets.

I have the other highlights and would be happy to share them if you ask.  I have them printed out (old school) and available digitally.

Seriously, this happened every day, it was barely worth the picture (the giraffes, not my b-team, laundry-day get-up)

Seriously, this happened every day, it was barely worth the picture (the giraffes, not my b-team, laundry-day get-up)

This on the other hand, was rarer, a good shot if I do say so myself

This on the other hand, was rarer, a good shot if I do say so myself

Everybody likes this picture.<br> Even though it could have been taken in Nebraska

Everybody likes this picture. Even though it could have been taken in Nebraska

This is the set up for the most popular picture, hands down.

This is the set up for the most popular picture, hands down.

A Great White Shark in the middle of the Ocean. Terrifying. Fun. A good way to go out.

A Great White Shark in the middle of the Ocean. Terrifying. Fun. A good way to go out.

Africa Pictures Part 1

Swimming with Penguins at Boulders Beach, Simons Town, SA

Capetown at sunrise from base of Table Mountain

Dassie's from top of Table Mountain

These first three pictures were taken during my time in and around Capetown, which is a beautiful and cosmopolitan city.  One of my favorite adventures in Africa was swimming with Penguins, there were hundreds of them marching home from “work” an hour before sunset to their nests.  The water was freezing cold, about 15 degrees celsius (59 f), but the penguins didn’t mind!  That swim was in the Atlantic and pretty close to the Cape of Good Hope.  My swimming here, in Gansbaii, and in Jeffrey’s Bay (Indian Ocean) was way, way South.  You have to go to Antarctica to get much farther south.

I really enjoyed Table Mountain, besides the day-hike I did from the Garden District of Cape Town, up to the very top, three times I did runs up to the base of the mountain from the city, a 3.5 mile climb.

There you have it, a few of my Africa pictures, and more to come.

Africa – By the pictures

I am back from Africa (AMAZING) and life seems pretty mundane in these parts, comparatively.  I have reintroduced myself into popular culture with a Green Day concert and that new movie District 9–filmed where?  South Africa, of course.

Sometimes getting a good photo is dangerous, keep this picture in mind when you see my Lion pictures

I have a this teaser photo as the title pic to a series I will share with you, “My top 10 Africa Photos”.

Here is the teaser text:

I have 4,724 photos from my five week visit to Southern Africa (South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia that my passport shows, and Lesotho/Zimbabwe it doesn’t). I reduced it to 770 photos, and then tried to pick my favorite 10 and came up with these 31. I hope you enjoy them.

The photos show me swimming with Penguins, observing Dassie, swimming with Sharks, surfing the Indian Ocean, hiking the Drakensberg, riding an elephant, seeing Lions, Hippos, Buffalo, Elephants, Rhinos, Giraffes and Leopards, and hiking/running/rafting/relaxing in Zambia by the biggest Waterfall in the world.

And here, as Jon Stewart would say is your moment of Zen …

Lucky Baboon is in Zambia, just over the bridge ... Zimbabwe

I will start the fun next week … stay well friends.