ANTHONY R. VIZZARI | ARCHTOGRAPHIST

We're about ready to head back to Madrid. I had no idea that Gaudi was hit by a bus... During the biggest comission of his life, and greatest monument in Barcelona... he is hit by a bus. That just sucks.

A Door in Barcelona, Spain: Eqyptian Queen... Skullman: A doorway in Madrid, Spain... A Shop Window: Madrid, Spain... A Different Shop Window, Madrid, Spain... 2 years ago this week, I recieved my official diagnosis via a dry phone call. So, I've made it this far. The last two years have been overwheling. We've traveled to mutiple countries, expanded the business more than twice, bought a second home, and had a major surgery. It's absoluately amazing all that has happend in a short amount of time. When I have chance to get away a visit a new place, I can breathe and think. I know that it's time, once again, to regroup and take up the cancer reins again. For 4-5 months, I felt as if it were gone. But the reaity is, it is still there. Things may get worse before they get better. However, I will continue to move forward with a passion and pursuit for discovery and new exepriences. There are many more walls and streets and doorways to meander. Madrid was exciting... and ...

...this is a icture of a two headed calf that has nothing to do with this post... After getting to Berlin, we spent most of the day catching up on sleep. In the evening, we had a nice long stroll, followed by some good Indian food (lots of veggies). After last time, we learned if looks traditional German, or uses "brat" anywhere in the name, it's not for us. Also, we stay away from places with oversized beer mug signs and "little chef boy" motifs. We are headed to Weimar via train. Tomorrow is the big day at the clinic in Bad Berka to see what happens next. It will most likley be a LONG day.

I took a bunch of shots on my drive back from Connecticut to Chicago this week. I recently upgraded to the iPhone 4. The new camera is MUCH better than the 3G. I've never been a big fan of all the camera apps, but I must admit, I've been having a little fun with them. Adobe Photoshop has a decent app... Camera Bag and Hipstamatic are also OK. The filters are a bit over the top, but I do like that " instant " look like the old Polaroids. -It sure as hell is cheaper.

There was snow... there was rain and ice.... there was plenty of cold and trees and lots of Andy Warhol! I had meant to post earlier, seeing as though these images are now almost 4 weeks old. I packed crappy shoes and had to buy boots... I also got a sweet hat. All in, we had a great time tooling around AK. Andrea says, "Alaska is how America looked like 100,000 years ago..." I'm not sure if she's right, but it sure felt that way.

The Statue of Liberty: A perfect symbol of freedom, long journeys, and triumph over struggle. This a photo post card I found a month ago... now part of the collection. Well, we are headed back to Chicago tomorrow (Tuesday) morning! We met with Dr. Botha this morning and he gave me the OK to take off, if I felt up to it. Well, I'm ready to get home. We're not out of the woods, I'm only running on 30% of a liver and my WBC is high. He's not worried though. We just need to keep an eye out for ascites (excess fluid build up in the body cavity...). If this were the happen, I've have a fever, a ton of pain, swelling and general badness. The fix is basically being admitted to a hospital to drain the area. This happens in about 10-15% of patients, but if it were to happen, it can easily be treated in Chicago. I won't have my next set of scans for a few months when we will look at how the liver grew. Immediately, I'll just need to monitor labs and take it easy. T...

The "kidney protection" drip... this thing lasts forever! The beautiful adornment... My hospital room in the ward... not too bad. After a relaxing day with Andrea (fueled by room service and general doing-nothingness), I checked into the hospital on Sunday afternoon. At which point, Andrea and I were eventually forced to part ways. I am not allowed visitors in the hospital ward, be it before, during, or after treatment. On Monday, I started a battery of different tests which consisted of much poking of needles. One test was to examine kidney function. At around noon, after a physical examination, my treatment began with an IV drip of “kidney protection” medicine. After about 45 minutes, the PRRT treatment was started. The treatment was short, maybe 30 minutes or so? I felt ok during treatment, but right after I started to feel very anxious, had a headache, was kind of dizzy and generally irritated all over. It was as if I could just not stay still or get comfortable (I beli...

Berlin Photoautomat Chemical Booths: From our "grand tour" of Berlin. Location 1-7 (8 was not open in the winter.) Back to back booths in a Berlin neghborhood (loccation #9). Even though it was midnight, and 25 degress, people were still using the booths non stop! Me, Andrea, Carole and Siobhan (from London's Photomovette). Our Lady of Sorrows: Pedro Roldan Circa 1670: Bode Museum, Berlin After a few great, albeit very cold and snowy, days in Berlin we are now back in Weimer. In a few hours I will be headed to Bad Berka for my in-patient check-in. According to my schedule from Dr. Baum, I am supposed to start the PRRT treatment tomorrow (Monday). I will then be stuck in the hospital ward for a little stretch! We saw much of Berlin and toured nine photobooth locations throughout the city. Our friends from London came to visit with us for a few nights, which added to the fun. It was spectacular to catch up with them and see friendly faces. Via taxi, train, and many mile...

Somewhere, just outside of Germany... view from the plane, obviously. We arrived this morning in Frankfurt. It was a very easy flight and a fast train ride into the city. We caught up on a few hours of sleep, then took the time to wander the streets a bit... we finally ended up getting some great Indian food. We also ended up, by accident, walking through a small "red light' district that definitely was an interesting cultural experience. Tomorrow we make our way to Bad Berka via train.

1947 Memphis Studio: Taken with what I beleive was a P.D.Q Camera... similar to photobooth technology... somewhat. The blog has been silent this last week. Things have been beyond hectic trying to get my act together to disappear for a while (even if it is only for a week, or two?) I wish I had some great parting thoughts... but alas, I really don't. I don't even have any great German (found) photos? But I did recently find this image(above), which I love! All I can say right now is, I'll keep you posted!

My 3oth B-Day Candles Andrea and Sylvie: Bedroom @ the Highland house... in progress. A vintage chemical photobooth we installed last week at a new location, The Charleston Pub, Chicago, IL: Michael is checking out the booth.... Farmscape: Highland, WI. Highland, WI sign: Entering the town. Andrea threw me a small, albeit great, 30th b-day party for me on Friday at our house in Oak Park. Afterwhich, we skipped town and headed up to Wisconsin... we went to Mineral Point, then to our "cottage" in Highland. After 3 days of no phone service and limited email, I was starting to get a little stir crazy. (At&t is the worst up there!!) The house is coming along well. We still have a lot of work to do before we can start deocrating, but we're making progress. We did some painting and worked out some of the floor finishes. The bathroom is almost done too! Our friend Sylvie just moved to Madison, WI for 6 months and she came out to meet us in Highland. She was our first guest ...

Photo: We've finally started to get the ball rolling (at least on the web) for our new integrated photo studio ("312photo"). I'm building a dedicated page as well, but for now, check this one out. These are Paul's photos, and maybe even some of Michael's? We're going to be changing these images a bit in the next pass. I've also been doing some work over the last few days on the email and print collateral to get things moving along. The 312 blog has been much neglected, as well as our Facebook and Twitter accounts. There's much more to be done, but I'm excited about it. It makes sense, why can't we offer some "Zany" photography services along with our photobooths? Hence the "Outside the Box..." For those who don't get it, you know, out side the box, that is, the photobooth! More to follow on this venture in the future... I'm hoping somehow we can integrate more classic and alternate photographic mediums into th...

(A cropped image from our photobooth at "Berlin" Nightclub in Chicago. I thought is was fitting for the post... You know, Germany and all! Note the "Crazy Eyes...") I have an appointment for the 68 ga scan & consult with Dr. Baum in Bad Berka, Germany for February. We're looking for tickets now... I think we'll try to fly into Frankfurt and out of Berlin. This way, we can see the city, and the trip will feel a little less "Cancer-y" My informal budget calculates that the trip will cost about $9,000. Ouch! This includes the scan ($4,300), airfare ($1,600), trains, food, lodging, and a modest photo budget (of course). Another patient told me that the scan was 1,800 EUR, which is closer to $2,700. I'm still waiting on the exact amount from the finance department. The number they gave me, initially, was a loose figure of 3000 EUR. So, -TBD. Read this... Changing role of somatostatin receptor targeted drugs in NET: Nuclear Medicine’s view