Progressive Field | Cleveland Indians / October 8, 2016 by Harold Brown

I had not been to a baseball game in several years and decided to head up to Cleveland to Progressive Field to take in an Indians vs Minnesota Twins game.

I debated on taking my Nikon D7100 or Sony NEX-6 but had just gotten the new Samsung S7 phone and decide to try out the S7's camera. Our tickets were along the first base line and just three rows back from the field. The camera shots ranged from evening, twilight, sunset and night so I was able to take in a full range of lighting conditions. As a plus the Cleveland Indians won the game so how could it get any better? Enjoy the pictures below which also include panoramas that were done by stitching individual photos and not the panorama features of the camera phone.

Overall I really like the new Samsung S7 and its camera and Progressive Field look great in the S7 pictures. The phone has really come a long way and the camera does an impressive job with lowlight photographs. I will leave all of the technical reviews of the camera to the experts, but I will say that I find the camera perfect for these types of events and capturing the fun and excitement of the game.

Westin Hotel Mindspace / December 12, 2015 by Harold Brown

We have stayed twice at the Westin Hotel Mindspace in Hi-Tech City, Hyderabad. The Westin is a 5 star hotel and a great place to stay while visiting Hyderabad. The hotel was only open for one month when we first stayed there in January 2010. India film stars stay at the hotel, there are 4 restaurants, spa, lounge, and the internet access is great. Here are a few pictures of the Westin Mindspace that I have taken during our visits.

Looking east toward the Westin and the outdoor pool

Chef Srikanth

More Pictures of the Westin Mindspace

Hyderabad Golconda Fort Post

Time to Capture More of India / November 28, 2015 by Harold Brown

It was almost 6 years since we had last traveled to India and although we have enough pictures from the original trip to still last the next couple of years I wanted to get out onto the streets more this time around. This time we spent all our time in Hyderabad and saw more of the city and surrounding area.

First stop on the way was Washington Dulles and Emirates Airlines. The gate was right next to South African Airways and my wife was tempted to trade-in her ticket to head home and visit her family in Joburg.

Geeta stands under the South African Flag in Dulles Airport

Flying Emirates Boeing 777-300 to Dubai and then onto Hyderabad

**I watched "Mission Impossible Rogue Nation" and "Spy" on the way to India**

Just like last time we were flying during warnings of terrorist attacks, this time we left just after the attacks on Paris.

**14 minutes away from the Dubai International Airport**

Washington Dulles

Dubai

Old Stone Joe on R539 in Mpumalanga, South Africa / November 7, 2015 by Harold Brown

On our way to Kruger National Park from Johannesburg we came across "Old Joe" on R539. I have blogged about this before but I thought it was worth talking about again. Old Joe is actually a giant rock dug up by a road crew in the 1920s. It is named after Joe Barbas who was the supervisor of the road crew that built the road. The road crew recognized that the rock looked like a man and it was placed as a mile marker along the road. Over the years the tradition of painting the rock started and now tourists stop and checkout Old Joe when driving to Sabie and/or Kruger Park. In 2009 it was a safe place to stop by to take pictures, if you are headed on safari and near the area stop by and see how Old Joe is painted today.

Old Joe is one of those rare finds while traveling that many people will drive by without realizing what they are missing. Old Joe has decades of tradition, don't miss it.

Cartoonists/painters are sent to repaint Old Joe from time to time so his appearance is ever changing. These pictures were taken in March of 2009 while on our way to Kruger Park.

Building Our Patio / November 7, 2015 by Harold Brown

Just over a year after building our sun room we decided to finish the area below it with a basic concrete square block paver. The area had always been troublesome and we tried a few things over the years but decided to go with the pavers. Once we did that we were able to do some finish mulch work that that was desperately needed. While we were at it we finished the white stain and added a second and in some cases a third coat of stain to the the steps and landing of the sun room. There is always next year to finish up the backyard and we have been thinking about trimming down the two big maples. A little bit each year. Here are a few pictures of the patio before and after.

Austin Mini 1000 Mk III / November 2, 2015 by Harold Brown

I spotted this car in July 2011 at the Brunswick, Ohio Laurel Square Shopping Center car show. It was a very nice car with aftermarket side mirrors on the fenders and the gas filler cap upgrade. Although I had taken several pictures of the car I never did anything with them until this past week when I looked at the car and tried to figure out what exact year and model it was. There are so many variables and history with this car it took a couple of hours of research to decide it was 70's Austin Mini 1000 MK III. Once I did that I did a little editing with Lightroom, Photoshop and Photo 10. Hope you like the pictures.