It’s the end of another year, another revolution. So far we’ve abstained from posting the usual Best Ham & Swiss Sandwiches of 2006 type of lists that most bloggers employ this time of the year, but that all changes today.

After checking out MSNBC’s Year in Pictures, I felt a pang of motivation to scramble through my own photo archive and pick out the 10 best shots I took this year. This exercise taught me that I’ve got an unsteady hand and I’m not a great photographer by any means, but I still think there’s a bumper crop for youse.

Let’s start with the best, and nothing tops the most inconceivable happenstance of a photo I’ve ever taken in my life. I figured my first trip to San Francisco would be a smashing success after bumping into the former keyboardist for the popular rock band Phish and a former geographically excitable presidential candidate: Page McConnell and Howard Dean, Chairman of the Boards and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, standing there like tourists waiting to be photographed together like old chums. Dean likes Page’s new shirt:

You never know what you’re gonna find in Washington Square Park. Sometimes it’s the acrobatic and comedic black twins doing flips and jumps and jokes simultaneously, sometimes it’s the French juggling unicyclist in the unitard, and sometimes it’s the old hippies that all meet up to sing Teach Your Children Well and pine for the days where longhairs ruled the world. And sometimes, or maybe just one time, it’s former Spin Doctors frontman Chris Barron belting out Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong with Buzz Universe (click that link for a video):

Read on for the rest of My Year In Mostly Crappy Photos (w/ a few gems)…

Two parrots appear to be pecking at Umphrey’s McGee lead guitarist Jake Cinninger during the band’s show on Vanderbilt Avenue outside Grand Central Station as part of the Green Apple Music Festival in April:

I wasn’t meant to take this photo, but I did anyway. Either the Oakland A’s White Elephant is a newly deputized Border Patrol agent or he’s just posing with this nice lady while her sister snaps el souveniro. Interestingly, I took this shot a few innings after Barry Bonds crushed #714 into the McAfee Coliseum stands, tying Babe Ruth’s mark. The crowd cheered the villainous Bonds’ accomplishment, but I surmised we were cheering for another reason altogether:

Before his notorious run-in with the law, Trey had his lucid moments this year. One of them came when he joined Cactus’ Ramble Dove outfit in New York at the end of May, conspiring with his former partner to Phish up the honky tonk. I snapped this shot as the pair discussed how fucking awesome it’d be to dump Fishman and Page in favor of The Duo. “Oh definitely,” Trey whispers, “they suck.”

Shampoo…now for terrorists! They tell me it makes the hair as soft and perky as the budding breasts of 72 virgins:

If you’re ever just over the Delaware River in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, Dianna’s Place will serve you a most delicious breakfast that you’ll remember for a lifetime (and shit out in 10 minutes). I call this “Needs More Bacon”:

Even better than Dianna’s…if you ever get a chance to stand less than five feet away from Joe Russo in action, take it, just take it and hold onto it tightly like the Golden Ticket to Wonka’s factory ’til you get all the way home and show that leech Grandpa Joe. The human octopus is a show unto himself, and unapologetically hovering over him for an hour while the band played nothing but Zeppelin tunes (on a boat circling Manhattan, no less) was one of the cooler musical experiences I had all year:

The stork brought me a nephew in March that I will one day take to Yankees’ games and hippie concerts. I love this shot, if only because he’s dressed like a dignified septuagenarian in a cardigan and pinstriped pants, yet he’s sporting both a bib and a smattering of strained food all over his face. Gerber owns his face:

Eleven hours inside the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden in Astoria yielded the following: “…at least 15 pitchers drank, three World Cup games watched, four enormous sausage platters devoured, two large sections of hooaagie (Philly spelling) eaten, two rock hard bagels picked at, and three packs of smokes and a bunch of one-ys inhaled.” Now that’s an all-bets-are-off kinda day:

Anyone got some pictures to share with the rest of the class, something from the Photobucket or ImageHost archives of which you’re particularly proud? Considering everyone I know has a digital camera with them at all times, there’s gotta be some amateur shutterbugging goin’ on aroun these here parts. Whip ‘em out…

(In the interests of full disclosure, parts of this post can also be seen on Slack LaLane)