Big City Baby

What's that? You want to see more pictures of The Gates? Here's my contribution. There's not much that hasn't been said about the installation. I will say that it's something everyone should try and see. I know if it weren't for The Gates, I'd probaby never wander through Central Park.

When I travel to Cleveland, I spend a few days working at ProPress, a small advertising/creative services agency. Before I moved to New York City almost seven years ago, I worked as a graphic designer here. ProPress was so small at the time that it was actually just me, Jason, and the two principals, Steve and Teresa.

I'm staying at the Hampton Inn Downtown Cleveland on East Ninth Street. The hotel is built on the site of the former Regency Apartments, where I lived (with my cat Cricket) after I graduated from high school in the early '90s. At the time I was paying $325 a month for a studio apartment, and it was hell trying to come up with just that every month. I ended up breaking my lease and packing all of my things up into a shower curtain, but that is another story for another time.

After putting in a few good hours at ProPress, I met up with my former roommate Raymond, and we had dinner at Sushi Rock in Cleveland's Warehouse District.

I lugged the very heavy QuickTime VR equipment with me to New Orleans. Saturday morning Anthony Freeman (link) and I went out shooting. The first five QuickTime VR cubical panoramas were shot in St. Louis #1, a cemetary near the French Quarter. Cemetaries in New Orleans were built above ground because the city itself lies below sea level. The very wet ground actually forced caskets up and out of the ground. It was not uncommon to see them floating down the Missippi river.

Tony and I went to the Canal Street dock at Riverwalk, where we rode down the Missippi River on the Creole Queen paddlewheel. It was a nice ride, but it was really cold and neither one of us packed appropriately.

In the middle of the Creole Queen paddleboat cruise, we got off to tour the site of the Battle of New Orleans. There isn't much to look at but a monument, and lots of grass.