Donald Trump graces Green Bay with his presence

Donald Trump – The Donald – came to Green Bay on Monday to make a big announcement as the new owner of WWE wrestling's "Monday Night RAW."

Landing at Austin Straubel International Airport, Trump was greeted by the WWE Divas who apparently had dressed for the unseasonably warm temperatures.


The hair really is that bad...


We Press-Gazette folks got an exclusive with Trump and WWE Chairman "Vince" McMahon... it did me little good other than afford me the opportunity to get a nice photo of Kendra interviewing a celebrity.


Trump announced that in addition to that evening's live show of "Monday Night RAW" being commercial-free, he would refund every ticket-holder's money. He made a grand appearance during the show much to people's delight.


The people were behind him... he could have run for office...


He and McMahon got into an "altercation" (certainly scripted) ending with Trump slapping McMahon in the face. Kendra wrote in her column a hillarious observation:

"My favorite “Green Bay moment’’ during the broadcast came when Trump and McMahon were in the middle of their verbal smackdown. Behind them you could see a fan come back to his seat after making a beer run: two bottles for himself, two bottles for his buddy."

The rest of the evening I made some pictures of the action for no reason other than simple practice and experience of photographing something new.

Obama pages...

Just posting to share our most recent A1's showcasing our Obama coverage... been pretty impressed with the design the past couple days that's broken out of the mold... kudos to our Designer/Graphics dude Eric on that.

Anticipating POTUS' arrival...
The strong vertical is a design challenge because all of the action is on the bottom part of the frame... run it too big and that all falls below the fold (and all you'll have visible to the newsstand buyer is sky... how exciting!)... run it too small and it loses its impact. This page, and the page below, they tossed the rail on the left and pushed some of that info to the bottom to open up more space above.

And the day after POTUS was here...

Hello and goodbye, Mr. President

President Barack Obama visited Green Bay today for a town hall meeting focused on the issue of health care. It was an early day... up at 4 a.m. to get presentable, drive to Green Bay at 5 a.m., pre-set (claim your shooting spots and setup) in the gym from 6-7, breakfast at McDonald's while Secret Service sweeps the school for roughly two hours, and then hurry up and wait for the President and dignitaries to arrive at 11:45.

President Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting in the gymnasium at Green Bay Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, June 11, 2009.

My shooting position was "in the buffer"... the divide between the President and the crowd occupied by the Secret Service and select media photographers (usually only a few local press.. majority are AP, AFP, Getty, etc.). TV lights are hot and the floor is hard (no standing baby...)

My head hurts.

Camera flashes light up the gymnasium as President Obama takes the stage.

A few more of him speaking...


President Obama is charismatic... I'm not sucking up or promoting the guy... it's just a fact. I knew that something unique would happen today. It was just a matter of recognizing it and being ready for it.

Obama wrote an excuse note for Kennedy Corpus, the daughter of John Corpus who asked the President a question during the town hall. The 10-year-old girl had missed school to attend the town hall with her father. He walked down off the stage and hand-delivered it to her.

And I missed it...

Well... you know... you win some, you lose some. I had the wrong lens on my second camera at the time, and by the time I had switched lenses, the other pool photographers had created a huddle that I just couldn't break into.

I should have anticipated the moment better, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it, because later I was able to get a detail photo of it in Corpus' hands after the event... and I'm satisfied with it. I think it tells the story a little better than what the media stampede captured... they didn't have the luxury of sticking around.

Obama's penmanship is exceptional considering he was listening to a question and talking at the same time he wrote it. Click the photo to view it larger so you can read it... cute...

And then the President left. Goodbye, sir. It was nice while it lasted.

Obama is here, today!

Bobby Georgia, a college helper for Green Bay Public Schools facilities, helps clean up the marquee at Green Bay Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wis., Wednesday morning, June 10, 2009 in preparation for tomorrow's town hall meeting at the school with President Barack Obama. Later today, a school official says, the white background will be replaced, and the letter changed to red, white and blue.

Kelly Heppner, left, department chair of special education, and teacher Erica Smith, right, hang student artwork in a hallway near the gymnasium at Green Bay Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wis., Wednesday morning, June 10, 2009 in preparation for tomorrow's town hall meeting at the school with President Barack Obama.

Wet weather...

I think the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary should be renamed Green Bay Wildart Sanctuary... walk around for a couple hours and you're bound to make a picture to fill some space. Well... getting "wildart" for the paper isn't so much of an issue in these days of shrinking newsholes.

Today's assignment was to go out and get some pictures that illustrate the fact that the first eight days of June have already provided the Green Bay area with more than half of the allotment of rain it typically receives in the whole month.

I was pretty happy with this first image, and then got the obligatory hydroplaning photo...

A young Canada goose takes a drink from a puddle-filled parking lot at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wis., Monday morning, June 8, 2009.

An automobile blasts through standing water on East Walnut Street at Clay Street during a heavy rain shower in Green Bay, Wis., Monday afternoon, June 8, 2009.

Guess where I was...

This is a frame (unedited out of camera) from a recent assignment...

Here are your clues... 1/2-second shutter, panned horizontally during exposure.


...the winner doesn't win anything but I'm just curious if anybody can guess...

I think it's a neat accident... looks kind of Saturny or spacey....

Packers tent sale

Every year, the Packers Pro Shop at Lambeau Field does some spring cleaning, selling off a lot of old merchandise for substantial discounts. Fans bring boxes and 55-gallon trash bags to pillage the goods.

Green Bay Packers fans sort through team apparel at the Packers Pro Shop Tent Sale at the Lambeau Field Atrium in Ashwaubenon, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2009.

The wildlife sanctuary

Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary is Green Bay's largest city park and one of the largest animal rehabilitation sites in Wisconsin. Last year they treated 4,131 animals.

A kestrel with a broken wing is one of many animals in rehabilitation from injuries and illness at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wis., shown Monday, June 1, 2009.

A litter of rambunctious young raccoons bounce around their cage at the sanctuary.

Graduation Day...

In a way, graduations are like shooting fish in a barrel. Parents are happy... kids are happy... everyone's happy.

Brenda Munn waves to her son, James Munn, during the processional into the Kress Events Center at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus for Green Bay East High School's Class of 2009 graduation in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday evening, June 4, 2009.

But a problem came up this time. I kneeled down in the center aisle as the graduates walked off the stage with their diplomas. I got this nice frame below... great smile... diplomas... hopeful eyes...

I snuck into the row behind the girl as she returned to her seat and got her name: Carlie A. Bradley.

Or so I thought.

When I returned to the office to input the photos on deadline I referred to my graduation program for a correct spelling on Ms. Bradley.

Scanning down the list...

Danielle C. Boex
Sarah L. Bossell
Carlie A. Bradley
Lyndsey Bradley
Tyler P. Brennan

Oh... oh, s#!%. So there's two Bradleys in the program. Now a river of doubt is inundating my brain... are they twins? Cousins? Did I approach the wrong girl?

I look through my entire take, going through one-by-one all of the overall photos I took from the balcony hoping the two Bradleys are in one of them and further hoping that one of them looks like an alien from outer space in comparison to the other, as to make my initial assertion immediately and undeniably obvious that this girl above is indeed Carlie A. Bradley.

No dice.

There's only one overall photo with only one of the two Bradleys in it on the very right edge of the frame.

I can't be sure and I have to scrap the photo. I simply cannot as a journalist risk an attributable error (and subsequent correction) to my name. As my friend Joel said... when your gut is telling you something's up, something usually is...

In a pinch, I had to use my backup frame (no offense to Dustin, below)...

Dustin Paluch of Green Bay East High School's Class of 2009 hugs associate principal Lori Frerk after receiving his diploma.

So in closing to this post... I'm sending out an APB (all-points bulletin) to all the Green Bay Bradleys. Write in... comment... call... let me know somehow... who is this girl? Is it Carlie (as I had thought) or did I save myself a reaming from my editors because it's Lyndsey?

Gorge

Before my flight back to Wisconsin, we took a drive along the Columbia River for some sightseeing...

Portland food tour

I know, I know. I'm a freak. I can't get enough of the walking food tours.

We started off at the landmark Heathman Hotel. Here we're looking down on the Tea Court just outside of the restaurant where executive chef Phillipe Boulot works his magic.

I could be wrong, but I don't think it was Boulot slaving away on making our deviled eggs. Yep.. those are shrimp.. local shrimp.

Slipped next door to Cacao for a drinking chocolate. I'm pretty sure it's in an espresso cup... this isn't Swiss Miss... high single-origin chocolate content, whole milk, and cream, people...

Falafel with tahini from the food-stand district... really exceptional... made from scratch (most falafel is bought by restaurants as a mix) and the tahini is creamy with the consistency of tartar sauce instead of the kind of paste form that's so common.

Time for raw food! (Raw foodism – or rawism – promotes the consumption of un-cooked, un-processed, and often organic foods... it's supposed to retain more nutrients) Here we have a flax cracker with cashew hummus from Blossoming Lotus. The cracker is basically seeds that stick together... there's some pepper in there, too, for a little kick. The cashew hummus... I had my doubts, but I was quickly won over.

The rest of the tour focused on cheese, more chocolate (not complaining), wine and spirits. Rogue makes some great stuff. We learned how gin and rum is made! And of course we got to try it. The choices? Hazelnut Spiced Rum (which is infused, not flavored), Spruce Gin, Dark Rum, Pink Spruce Gin, and Dead Guy Whiskey (so-named for its ease of consumption).

Hello, Portland

I've been in Portland for a few days now. Today I'm tramping through the city then later – guess what – culinary tour!

Fountain at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland, Ore.

Ballgame at Citi Field

Went with Steve, his girlfriend and his dad last night to see the N.Y. Mets play the Washington Nationals in the brand new Citi Field that opened this year. Mets won...

The Jackie Robinson Rotunda

Sunset at Citi.

Steve lays one on Lauren between innings.

Now I'm off to Portland, Ore., to see my sister, brother-in-law, and the little ones. Thanks Steve and family for a great time!

The culinary walking tour: Chinatown

I've been hooked on culinary walking tours ever since my experience on the near North Side of Chicago last September. I appreciate good food, and furthermore, I appreciate learning about regional or ethnic food. So when I found out there's a culinary tour of Chinatown, I had to do it. I'm not very cultured when it comes to Chinese food, so this was a good opportunity to learn some stuff.

The party started at Dim Sum Go Go near Chatham/Kim Lau Square with a sampling of steamed Dim Sum (stuffed dumplings). I can't quite remember which dim sum is which... but I think we've got a shrimp and chive dim sum in there, a duck dim sum, a crab meat dim sum, and one of them is vegetarian. We also had a roast pork bun that was to die for.


Outside at Kim Lau Square, Memorial Day festivities were beginning with a parade.


It was a busy day in Chinatown.


Off to the Peking Duck House (no relation). It was amazing to learn about the incredibly meticulous process – nearly scientific – of raising and preparing the ducks for the dish. To read more about Peking Duck, go here... some of the information (regarding the treatment of the ducks) is a little disappointing to learn, but it goes to show the strict approach to preparing this traditional dish... and on a cultural level, I can accept that.


It was one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. It's served whole (at your table by the chef), and sliced (at your table by the chef). It's usually rolled up in a tortilla-like pancake with hoisin sauce. Nearly every piece of the duck is used in the meal. The scraps and bones are taken back by the chef and made into soup for the end of your meal – there is an implied investment in time... it's not your 1-hour dinner out.


Ginger root anybody? This was the cheap bulk barrel stuff. There were pieces behind glass going for hundreds, even thousands of dollars.


Modeled after a Swiss roll, it's a tiger cake! Chinese "desserts" are generally not sweet... in fact, most don't in the slightest bit resemble Western and European treats. The sweetness of this sponge cake with a bit of chocolate filling was very, very subtle.

A day in the city

I would doubt that you see this everyday coming off the Staten Island Ferry... I dunno... maybe you do.

The beautiful subway.

Running through Chinatown trying to make it to the culinary walking tour on time...