Award for Best wedding picture goes to...

Joseph is the Man for taking this picture
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Joseph gets the prize for my favorite wedding picture of all. Over Christmas I got to see a bunch of pics I hadn't seen yet and that was fun. Between peoples' digitals, the disposable cameras at the reception, and the photographer Matt & Kristi's wedding was very well documented. There is a whole bunch of stuff that's great fun. Still, I think this photo is just amazing. I took some liberties with the original that Joseph sent to Matt, opting for a landscape rather than portrait layout, and turning it into a B/W pic whereas it was color in the original.

I hope you enjoy it, and Happy New Year to everybody.

Cheers.

+ John

TerraPass

Okay, so here's the quick version of follow-up on yesterday's last post:

TerraPass, it's something worth checking out. My brother spotted the TerraPass on the back window of my car while I was leaving after Christmas to head back north. It looks something like this:



A quick conversation followed between Matt, my mom and me about some specifics. One of the best questions was, "so... what do you get for the $$" which is a pretty good question.


The answer is that there are no tax benefits right now. There are no real perks except peace of mind, really and um... a cool doodad to stick on your car. But the general idea is that you can buy a patch and some credits that are supposed to counterbalance the amount of CO2 that your car emits in a year. TerraPass purchases the credits in a couple forms, details provided here. As I posted yesterday, there's a pretty comprehensive study of carbon offset providers available here. By comprehensive, I mean to say I still haven't read it because it's pretty long.

The long-and-short of this little post is that I'm happy with TerraPass, and somewhat happy with myself for getting one. I'm not posting to brag, but because I hope others might find the carbon offset idea appealing. After a couple years of not owning a car, I was thinking a lot as I went out to buy the one that I picked up this fall, and offsetting the emissions made me feel a little happier about the fact that I have chosen to live, for now, in a place where public transportation for work is just not possible.

All that said, if you have more details or want to weigh in, feel free. Until then, happy third day after Christmas. Ho ho ho.

First Non-Flickr Post in Awhile

Hey, So I have been thinking for awhile that I'd like to start highlighting some stuff I think is cool on this here blog-o-mine, and without realizing it I started that just a few moments ago (I know... I know... that post ended with, "good night." So that was a lie. But only a small one.

I'm really posting myself a reminder. Tomorrow I'll post something brief about carbon offsets, because I think they're cool, but I also think my knowledge of them is minimal. I'm working on learning a bit more and I already bought one only days after I purchased the second Honda Civic of my life. That being said, my knowledge is still limited. On WorldChanging.com I ran across a report somebody did on overall quality and comprison of various offset providers. I have yet to read it, but if you have time and feel curious, check it out here. Now, really, good night.

'Tis the Season for a Gorillapod

'Tis the Season for a Gorillapod
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... I was home for a very quick visit and took a bunch of pictures... most involve cats in some sort of activity because my brother and his wife, Kristi came up from Savannah with their two cats so the house was quite full of furry things.

I managed to occasionally deploy my Gorillapod, here you see where I latched it onto a floor lamp to take a photo of the Christmas tree so I didn't have to stand on my head.

More photos soon, but for now Merry Christmas, Jolly Festivus, Happy New Year, Zippy Kwanzaa, and a very extremely Contented Chanukkah (which I've almost certainly misspelled, while I'm fairly sure I managed to get Kwanzaa. Not sure what that says about me, but regardless... goodnight!)

Two photos I really like

wreath lineup
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is the second. I posted both now because this one is so festive. I like the similarity between the two. It makes me smile.

I hope it does the same for you!

Two photos I really like

ladies hats
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Each has similar composition. This is photo number 1... photo 2 to be posted momentarily.

Merry Christmassssss!!

pinecone wreath
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Happy happy happy Christmas to everybody! I'm leaving work in the next 20 minutes, getting a haircut, running home to pack up some stuff quickly into my car, and then Lyndsey and I are coming on down South to Philly, Yo!

Yeah!

I'm so happy that the long holiday weekend is finally here, and while I wish I could take all of next week off, I'm excited to be able to spend some time with the fam. Best wishes to everybody for a warm, healthy, happy, fun weekend, and there will be much more fun, happiness, good photos, and rediculous bits of news and stories to come on the blog in the near future, so deck the halls with boughs of holly fa la la la la la friggin la la la!!!!

Happy Thoughts

Lyndsey & Sugar Bear
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... it's Monday, and I came into work early, and I'm feeling under the weather... but none of that will prevent me from having happy thoughts! None of it!

This picture makes me smile because Sugar Bear... the puppy in the photo was such a puffy little cloud of a dog. We met him while in St. Augustine and he was out for a walk on his first adventure ever out on a leash.

Thoughts at the end of the week

Indy
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

For those of you who haven't met her, this is Lyndsey's Parents' cat, Indy. She's a sassy lady and a bit of a huntress. She's starting to get a little old to be able to hunt and continue dropping off kills on the doorstep, but she still loves to spend time outside. The other day I came home for lunch and snapped this photo in my ongoing macro madness mode.

Meanwhile back at the office this week has been hell on wheels. The work doesn't ever seem to be achievable within 8 hours or 10 or... who knows how long, so I'm looking forward to my tiny slice of holiday time off and the larger slice of time when my boss will be out of the office.

Hopefully the quiet will bring productivity and relaxation. Wish me luck.

Lyndsey and I are going into NYC tomorrow to a Christmas party and to hopefully also see some of my friends who live in the 5 boroughs. If you're part of that constituency, feel free to give me a ring. I have no idea what time we're heading in tomorrow but I'm lobbying for early, and I have no idea what time we're leaving Sunday but I'm lobbying for no earlier than mid-afternoon.

We'll see how good of a lobbyist I am. Yes, I had to spellcheck lobbyist... what an odd word.

In other news, Lyndsey's brother and his family are playing the holy family in their church's christmas play. It's awesome because baby Jesus is actually named Caroline and she's well... an awesome pick for the son of God. She has very long fingers and toes.

I'm hopefully close to done my Christmas shopping. My goal: to do abotu 75% of it online... but somehow I miss finding random stuff in shops. If you're looking for a great place to donate over the holidays, my brother recently told me about something awesome, kinda dorky, but awesome nonetheless. One cool piece of it is that you're giving directly to a kid... kinda like when you adopt one of the angels that the Salvation Army provides gifts to around the holidays. That all being said, if you're curious, check it out. It's called Child's Play. I posted this through Flickr so I can't hyperlink it, but the site is www.childsplaycharity.org

Happy Friday everyone, and I hope that you have an awesome weekend. Indy hopes so too.

I see you lookin at my blog

eyeball
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

sorry... this is a completely silly post, but I like this picture so I had to figure out some reason to put it up.

Ahhhhhhh

Ahhhhhhh
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... it's been one of those weeks. Sorry I've been away from the blog a good bit. I'll write more soon, but for now I just thought I'd continue the macro madness wiht this photo self-taken this evening.

Happy Wednesday, my friends. Happy Wednesday.

Wedding Slideshow

Okay... I know... I know... I should have already send a disk full of photos to you, Matt... and you too Mom... I know! Sorry! But in the meantime while I'm still working on that you all can check out a bunch of photos I've recently uploaded to Flickr via this slideshow. I hope you enjoy. And the disks will be in the mail soon. I promise.

New and Improved!

Sniffing the Reader Gift
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Check out the new festive colors of the blog! Ooooo... I used a nifty new template and doctored it up with some spiffy festive colors. I... um... don't have anything more to say about that for now.

The picture above is Lyndsey inspecting her happy reader gift at the rehearsal dinner for Matt & Kristi's wedding. I thought it was a fun image to connect to the nifty new look of my site... so take a look around and inspect... just as Lyndsey sniffed her products in this picture. Let me know what you think.

Outrage! UGH!!

Sorry, but this news piece bothers me. Bother isn't maybe strong enough... troubles... disturbs... concerns me... basically, I'm annoyed. After 6 years of bunking up what the EPA does, now the Bushies are taking the politics and putting them into parts of the EPA's processes where previously there had been only scientific discussion. They call it "streamlining" is this more Orwellian fun with PR speak? Maybe I'm just jaded at this point, but read the story yourself and let me know what you think.

In more hopeful news, check out this fun piece on WorldChanging, my new favorite website. Oh, and I'll be pulling over a happy new flickr picture for the day soon too.

Fly like a turkey vulture

turkey vulture soar
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

... to the sea?

I've been home sick from work the last few days. I actually went in yesterday but ended up coming back home early and I'm hoping that today will be my last day under the weather.

While home I'm trying to focus a little more on future planning. I've been trying to conceive of whether or not it's possible to apply for graduate schools for start in fall '07 especially considering that I'm now more focused on architecture than education. One thought is to re-shift gears and apply to ed programs. If you've got ideas about architecture, school, etc. feel free to send them my way. I would appreciate any and all input.

Until input, I'll share that this photo is one I took on Saturday as we were out Christmas tree shopping. There was a veritable flock of turkey vultures circling around the tree farm where we went and this is one of a few pictures I managed to catch.

'Tis the Season pt. 2

poinsettia
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Just a little festive picture before I shut down my computer and go to bed! Good night everyone, and happy holidays!

'Tis the Season

wreath1
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Today Lyndsey, Chuck and I went wreath & tree shopping. I took along my camera for some documentary and macro fun. This wreath picture is my favorite that came out of the morning, but there are many others if you click the picture and a bunch that really like.

It's still rediculously unseasonably warm up here and sunny in a way that makes for some awesome photo opportunities. This picture has two traits that I really particularly like:

1. The reflections in the golden balls... I think they add a completely new dimension to the picture when you realize that they're there. You can see the bright blue sky behind me in the top one.

2. The ribbon and the way its highlights and shadows make it really jump up off the wreath. It catches in the light in an amazing way that I love.

Enjoy and happy holidays blog friends!

Oh... and this is interesting too

Christian Coalition's next leader drops out of the running for that post because he was told that poverty and the environment, "are fine, but they're not our issues..." very very telling and interesting stuff.

Awesomeness

I love this article. Great news for the Colorado peace wreath... great story all around.

Berries

berries
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Wednesday just after noon... not much to say today. Just grooving along... trying to be productive here at work. Above is another installment from my macro adventures this weekend.

Autumn

light leaf2
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So one of the fun adventures I set out on this past weekend was taking some photos of leaves that caught light. In this case, I caught the sun itself shining through a hole at the top of this dried out cragley leaf. I really like the way this photo came out a lot.

Holy Crossblogination!

So I was on my friend Liz's blog today and I read something she had up about Katrina Cottages and that got me running around reading up on the ongoing debate they have spawned. Thanks Liz! Now there are three new links to your right one shows designs from the original (I think) Katrina Cottage 1 designer, another takes you to the Congress for the New Urbanism... an interesting organization whose site I'm just starting to explore (curious about what New Urbanism is, check a great definition on Wikipedia here), and finally there is The Not So Big House... a site I think looks really fun and exciting... but again I've only started looking around.

Enjoy, and happy week after thanksgiving.

Macro Black Friday

light leaves
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

More from our walkabout this morning... experiments with a macro setting.

Happy Black Friday!

crazy lady belly
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

To celebrate I thought I would share this picture of a happy huntress. This is indie... in her first appearance on my blog. She is happy to meet you all and she sends tidings of comfort and joy, etc.

Before the holiday weekend

I just wanted to post a little something. It's been a bit of a hectic week for me between normal work stuff, cleaning up from last week's website launch, and gearing up to be out of the office for a long weekend. Now, Wednesday has arrived and I can't wait for tomorrow.

Interesting week out in the world. I think that the whole Iran, Iraq & Syria summit news is one of the most significant pieces of news to come out in awhile. I don't imagine it is necessarily a completely positive thing, especially when you consider the other ways Syria has arrived in the headlines this week. Still, it seems like there are some reasons to feel hopeful there.

Meanwhile, George Bush was in Asia wandering around in a silk dress and somehow it didn't make many waves over here in the US. It sounds like the whole journey has been a lukewarm endeavor with few headline results and meanwhile the political scene over here could be described in the same way. Glad to see that the whole push-Bolton-through plan isn't playing out as it was supposed to, at least not yet.

All in all... lots to ponder as we all head off to a long weekend of tryptophan, football and fun.

Enjoy, I might be posting pictures, and I'll definitely be back in action next week!

Yo... Yo

With Philly heritage and the prominence of Yo around my hometown, I couldn't resist grabbing this news story (that I found posted on Fark) and tossing a link up here. Enjoy an awesome and very short story about an awesome event. Did you know that the yo-yo was originally a bird-hunting device?

The photo at right is from the 1866 patent application for the Yo-yo. Thanks Wikipedia!

Wedding Photos Series Pt.3

Laughter Photography
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

At the rehearsal dinner for my brother's wedding there was a lot of laughter, and a lot of flashes going off! I think this picture captures some of the goofyness that was going on.

This is one moment of many where multiple cameras were in motion, multiple people were smiling... all was right with the world!

Stagnant!

My apologies to anyone who has stopped ye olde blog in the last week or so because man... has this place been boring!!!

I've gotten into a posting funk... no new info for too long. Today, that will all change. Stay tuned, and my apologies for the silence.

While all has been silent on the blog front a number of things have happened. I have uploaded a new version of my employer's website (www.habitatcfc.org) and I had the opportunity last weekend to travel home to Philly to celebrate my mom's 60th Birthday!

It's been a busy time but for good reason. Happy Thanksgiving week everybody... more soon, I promise!!!

Wedding Photos Series Pt.2

Andy and Ray
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is another picture from the rehersal dinner. My camera snapped just as Aunt Andy looked away, but the flash did something very cool with Uncle Ray's glasses. The effect makes it look like he's got an amazing glint in his eye!

I think this is just a fun nice picture. Like so many of the others I took, it is somewhat random, but I hope you enjoy it.

The Moon & Antarctica

This morning I accompanied my happy drive to work (read the previous post for more details) by listening to Modest Mouse's classic and excellent album the Moon & Antarctica. This CD is riddled with goodness, and while Good News for People Who like Bad News really took Modest Mouse to a rediculously new level of fame and fortune, this CD remains, to my mind, the definitive album by this band. If you have no idea what I'm talking about or are unfamiliar with this album, it is very much worth your time. Notable great tracks include Tiny Cities Made of Ashes, I Came as a Rat, and 3rd Planet. This morning I was also enjoying the song Wild Pack of Family Dogs... one I never paid tons of attention to before, but a fun and short little tune. Pitchfork review of this album.

Bluejay of Happiness

I had a very colorful start to my day.

Just before leaving for work, I found Lyndsey getting a final few minutes of rest before hopping on a phone interview. She was in bed and OJ, her wonderful orange cat had his head on her leg... because he knew that she wasn't feeling well and he has a habit of taking care of sick people.

I walked out the door to get into my car and the first thing that I spotted was a tree full of very yellow leaves. There were yellow and brown leaves all around it on the ground, and the sunlight made it all look pretty amazing.

I hopped in the car and got out onto the road, and about two minutes into my drive a bluejay flew across the street about 10-15 feet in front of my car and swooped down just beyond a fence on the far side of the road. This vision was pretty amazing, and definitely put a smile on my face.

Later as I was about to hop onto I-95 for the ugly highway stretch of my drive, I saw a brilliant red tree. I know I've alredy hit the whole colorful tree thing. Anyway, this was not intended to end up as a primary color-themed post, but I put this all up by way of saying that it seemed to me that this morning, in spite of the gray sky, the world was trying to tell me that it was going to be a good day.

Democrats unveil new direction for Iraq

Today it became clear exactly what Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer etc. have planned when they talk about a, "New Direction" in Iraq. What they really mean is Chuck Norris! That's right, the man who can win a game of Connect 4 in three moves is going to straigten everything out in Baghdad, Fallujah, etc. No worries folks. It's all taken care of. Whew.

In other Chuck Norris news: Chuck Norris will attain statehood in 2009. His state flower will be the Magnolia.

Wedding Photos Series

Gorillapod Matt
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is the first in a series of wedding photos I'll be posting over the next few days. This is another like the first I posted that I took with my nifty new Gorillapod the evening of the rehersal dinner. This is my favorite one that Matt appears in. It's pretty low-light but when I pulled it into photoshop I didn't want to make it too much brighter because color just went crazy as soon as I started playing with levels on this one.

Anyway, that all aside, I think this is a fun, great picture of my brother on the eve of his wedding.

Happy Monday!

Laughter

Laughter
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... I'm glad to hear rumblings about other pictures being available via the internets from Matt & Kristi's wedding because I, as usual, took lots of random pictures. There are more to come because I've got a bunch up on Flickr right now, but this is one I really liked. Sure... neither of the subjects is actually looking at the camera, but who needs to bicker about such details!?!!?!

Look, it's my happy auntie Melanie and my happy bro on the eve of his wedding. What a great and fun time we all had down in Florida... perhaps we should just all go back down this weekend! Any takers?

Grrreat Distractions

Last night Lyndsey and her mom, Jane, and I went to the movies. It was early in the evening and we all felt we could use to avoid about 2 hours of non-news about the election, so we went to see Running With Scissors. Now, I have started reading the book but I got distracted by the whole being-in-Florida-for-my-brother's-wedding thing so I haven't gotten very far, but the movie is GREAT! It's strange and funny and intensely sad on many levels, but it's really very good and I highly recommend it.

Also, recently, we went to see the Prestige, which is also AWESOME! It's captivating, well done, and ultimately a bit of a puzzle to top it all off. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I recommend both.

HOLY GUACAMOLE!

So... a little under 30 hours ago I was at a polling station here in CT and I was voting my heart out... er... what the heck does that mean? Anyway, I voted and it was great. I got to use of of the old chunky lever machines... exactly as satisfying as it seemed when I was a kid. It made big "Chunkity-chunk" noises when I pushed tabs or pulled the lever at the end. When I went inside to start voting it closed a curtain around me with a clinging bell. Good stuff. Now, 30ish hours later... what do we have?

Let's pretend it all happened in the voting booth itself, so before hand I'll go "cling" and the curtainc closes...
House: Democratic (please note the cheesy music and goofy animation... love it!)
Senate: Looking more and more blue
Rumsfeld: Gone
"Chunkity-Chunk..." and for now, we're done! More to come in the next few days, I'm sure... but HOLY GUACAMOLE!

What comes next? I can't believe it's raining up here in Connecticut because today's results feel like a weight lifted to me... like clouds parting. I'm beside myself wiht hope for the future. That and very dramatic prose.

Honestly, though, I'm really happy. I hope you all are too. Great day. Great results... good times to come! I can feel it.

Awesome!

I just saw this great article on 8 Important Lessons Learned from 80's Cartoons on Fark. I never realized that the Smurfs were responsible for my lefty comunist leanings... but it all makes a lot of sense now. I'm sad the Gummy Bears weren't on the list of influential cartoons.

Joseph Matt John

Joseph Matt John
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

It's funny... about a year ago I went up to Philly for Joseph's sister Kristen's wedding and we got a pretty great picture of Joseph, Matt & I, and this is one from Saturday night after Matt's wedding. I was down in Florida this past weekend for my brother's wedding, and I think it is truly fair to say that a good time was had by all. Joseph was in the US from Japan and it was amazing and awesome to see him.

It was also amazing to see his Neice Kassidy who is beautiful and wonderful. As if such things were not enough there was an amazing and joyful gathering of friends and family, beautiful weather, a perfect setting, and just all around a happy and great handful of days. I only wish we could all have stayed for another week and kept enjoying the surroundings, the great company, etc.

Beyond the social events there were also dolphins flopping around out in the waters off St. Augestine, there were happy doggies walking around in the streets. There were tasty pastaries to start our days, and wonderful dinners to help us wind down in the evening. I could go on and on, but for now I'll leave it at that. More photos to come!

I'd buy an $8 ticket for this one

I'm actually more-or-less echoing my friend Nate when I call your attention to the fact that Mike Judge's (Office Space, Bevis & Butthead, etc.) new movie is being bulldozed through theaters with no fanfare by Fox. The movie has gotten some great reviews, and sounds like it will appeal to basically everyone who has gobbled up copies of Office Space to such an extent you can now buy it in varying forms at any given Target store nationwide (the super Flare edition, "get a room you two" edition, "Nagheenanajar, it's not that hard to say" edition, "why should I change my name he's the one who sucks" edition... okay so I may have made these up but you get my point). Anyway, Nate covered this ground pretty well so feel free to visit his comments here, or the LA Times' review here.

Mile-high Railway

Saw a very cool article about the train to Tibet in today's SF Gate. Interesting read. I'm actually still working on finishing it myself, but felt like sharing right away! Here it is.

Back from Flordia!

Lyndsey and Kristi
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is one of a handful of evening flash-less pictures I took while Lyndsey and I were down in Florida for Matt & Kristi's wedding. I used my happy new Gorillapod (groomsman gift from Matt!)... a tripod that's posable and flexible so that you can use it sitting on a flat surface or wrap it around something... it's very cool. Anyway, I thought posting a picture of these two lovely and happy ladies was a good way to mark getting back up North in one piece!

Happy WORLD VEGAN DAY!

Who knew??? I did not, but here it is. Check it out. Enjoy a day of meatlessness... you know, if you didn't already unveganize yourself today. If not, perhaps you can belatedly celebrate tomorrow. I unfortunately already had a whole bunch of cheese. Maybe I'll try and catch up tomorrow.

Indian City's name changes back to original, more fun name

So... Bangalore is officially changing names back to it's more proper, original name, Bengalooru. I'm impressed because it seems both proper that they would remove the anglicized spelling pluse Bengalooru seems like a much more fun name. Don'tcha think??? Read more!

UGH! Incompetence

So... remember the plot that surfaced this summer and caused everyone to remove any gels or liquids from carry-on baggage going onto any kind of flight. Remember??? Well, the two brothers supposedly responsible for planning it... yup... they are out because there wasn't enough evidence to try them.

Yay for Camera Phones

Yay for Camera Phones
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is the first camera phone photo I've ever uploaded. It's interesting to see how this came out... I'm relatively pleased with certain aspects... not wowed by others.

I took the picture this morning while out for a stroll with Lyndsey and the dogs. Lincoln was feeling very frisky and energetic this moring, so we had a good walk. It was a sunny and warm morning for autumn in Connecticut, and the sunlight was beautiful.

As an added bonus, one of the nearby houses had a jack-o-lantern that I found hilarious. I should have taken a picture of that, but I did not... so you'll have to take my word for it.

Strange & Interesting

So... the Washington Post did a pretty interesting profile of Katherine Harris and her sputtering campaign for Senate in Florida today. The article is a very interesting read. I recommend it if you have a minute or two.

Bush Scares Babies

What else do you really need to say... he scares babies and makes them cry... apparently parents as well. Maybe the kid realizes how scary and crazy the recent smear talk is.

Democrats want the terrorists to win?!?!?! It makes me sick. It makes babies cry. Click the picture to see it up close.

Thanks AmericaBlog fort his pic!

Daylight Savings... Friggin Awesome

I'm just going to put this out there... I'm serious... I'm going out on a limb... I'm putting myself completely behind the following statement:

Daylight savings is friggin great. How wonderful is it that it gets light out earlier so that in the morning you feel all leasurely and whatnot. How much better is it that in the evenings it gets darker earlier so that you get the creeping feeling that you need to leave work right around 5pm rather than delaying and staying until 6 for no real reason.

Alright, it's fair to say that I might just be revealing tiny details about my own quirky time sensitivities. It's also probably fair to say that these effects will be fleating at best.

Still, I'm loving the whole daylight savings thing this week. It makes me happy. I feel like my mornings are very calm and bright and happy. I feel like the end of my work day stays a little more honest thanks to the darkness outside my office window.

All in all... it's like nature is keeping me in balance. Thanks nature and... um... the whole changing the clocks thing... which isn't so much nature as a social construction. Anyway, who cares, back to the beginning now, say it with me folks:

Daylight Savings... Friggin Awesome!!!

Kickball Field

Kickball Field 2
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Today I was looking through some older pictures on my computer, and I found some from around when Lyndsey and I moved to DC. This picture is actually one I took the day that Lyndsey was moving into her group house in Mt. Pleasant.

I was down in DC for the day interviewing, and so I hung around and wandered while waiting to help her move in. I took random pictures around the area not knowing how these places would later connect to our lives.

Now I know this place as the home of many kickball games... the ugly and pockmarked field where many many people slightly twisted ankles and at least one person left mid-game in an ambulence due to an injury resulting from the crappy, completely uneven and outright dangerous playing surface.

I really love this picture for historical reasons, but just as much for artistic reasons as well. I like the urban/organic feeling it gives me... it's got rusty chain link fence, a run down field, poles and other very city things but all framed in by vines and leafy green trees. I hope you like it too.

Kevin, this one's for you!!!

Kevin This ones for you
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Sometime in the past year Lyndsey and I gave, I think, one of the most amazing birthday gifts ever, and received one of the most amazing responses I've ever seen to gift giving.

One weekend evening, we got together with our Mustardite friends having just come back from Tyson's Corners Mall and we celebrated Kevin's birthday. All seemed relatively normal there was poker being played, there was cake being eaten, and eventually it came time for Kevin to open his gifts.

Lyndsey and I had decided to bestow on him a pair of bright read moonboots. He was bowled over. We were very pleased with how much he liked his gift. I think he was speechless for a remarkable amount of time.

This weekend, while in Boston, we came across a pair of super mini bright red moon boots, and Lyndsey posed for this picture on one condition, that I make sure Kevin saw it. Well... "The best way..." visitor, you join Kevin in witnessing the beauty of the moonboot. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Tuesday... or should we call it Moonday... like the one with two o's comes after the day with one.

Boston Trike Kid

On Sunday we were getting off the T at Harvard Square and we saw the kid pictured above. He and his dad got off the train and the kid immediately hopped on his tricycle and peddled down the platform. As they encountered stairs or obstacles, dad would take the trike, and the kid would go on foot until they got back to level ground.

All of this happened with no words exchanged, and it was awesome. I managed to get three reasonably good photos of the whole thing. They're above. Enjoy!!!

Revenge of the Wilford Brimley

Update... if you saw my earlier post and decided not to visit the Diabeetis website, you should, but more specifically you should visit the videos section here, and scroll down to the bottom.

Amazing. That's all I can say. Friggin amazing.

Wilford Brimley

Did anybody realize that Wilford Brimley was in the Ewok movie?

I know that I sure didn't. If you would like some more Wilford Brimley information, click on his picture above to visit his Wikipedia article. To summarize things you may not already know other than his Star Wars involvement, Brimley is a supporter of cockfiting, and he has popularized a mispronunciation of diabetes ("Diabeetis") to such an extent that it has spawned its own website. Great stuff.

More Boston Photos

Here are some more happy weekend pictures... and more to come soon!

Trapped by Condiments

Trapped by condiments
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This time yesterday, I was sitting in the Rosebud diner in Boston, trapped by condiments, sipping my coffee. It's true. It's hard to eat when you're completely surrounded by salt, pepper, syrup, katsup, and all sorts of other shakers, tubes, caraffes, etc. Somehow, I made it through okay.

So, it's Monday, and I'm back with a bit of a buzz from a great weekend in Boston. Lyndsey and I got up there in record time on Friday evening, with even enough time and energy after our arrival to hop on the T and grab a drink with some friends before crashing for the evening and resting up for the next day's pumpkin-related activities (more pictures to follow... or go to my Flickr page for more).

Saturday we woke up bright and early... hmm... well, it was bright outside by the time we woke up, perhaps it's not fair to say it was early. We slowly made our way over to this cool bluesy bar that had grrreat brunch (asparagus and smoked gouda omlet with amazing hashbrowns and fresh-squeeezed OJ).

That jump-started everything and we followed up brunch with a visit to a punk-rock craft fair all before hopping in the car to drive up to Keene NH and see the pumpkin festival.

Now, I just read on Yahoo News that Boston actually unseated Keene as the world-record holder for number of jack-o-lanterns in one place. That made me sad, but I was happy to read in the same article that Keene had more pumpkins lit in town than the total number of residents in Keene... quite an accomplishment if you ask me.

The pumpkin festival displayed over 24,000 lit jack-o-lanterns, various foods and pastries, live music (including about a duo that was much like the White Stripes except that they were both roughly 10) and fireworks.

Sunday, we wandered a bit, grabbed some more good brunch (photo above) and visited the Head of the Charles, a large rowing extravaganza on the Charles River.

Rosebud Diner

Rosebud
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... my last post showed some mid-weekend pumpkin action, and this post is designed to give the second half of a quick Sunday-night update.

The Rosebud is where Lyndsey, Meghan and I had breakfast this morning. I had a great little scramble with broccoli and cheese... the ladies had burgers... all were very satisfied with the experience. The weekend up North was good fun, a quick trip, and generally a great time. More stories to follow, but for now, let me say this:

The weekend involved (in no particular order) superhero powers, photobooths, gourds of various sizes, apple donuts (they're probably not what you think), neon O'douls signs, head of the Charles, the Argyle Mall (many times over), Asparagus omlets, witches and many other random things.

Keene Jack-o-lanterns

Keene Jackolantern
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Lyndsey and I went up to Boston this weekend with two goals:

see some good friends
get up to Keene NH for the Jack-o-lantern Festival

Mission Accomplished! Above is a very very very small snippet of the pumpkin-crazy festivities up in Keene... more to follow.

Fun was had by all.

Chest Hair With Mousy 1

Chest Hair With Mousy 1
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This one is back by popular demand... there are more photos to come from this little portrait session... but for now here's number 2

Pool Periscope Baseball

Pool Baseball
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... with the post season upon us and a great series beween the Mets and Cardinals reaching its conclusion this evening, I thought I should post something baseball related on the olde blog.

Above you will find a fine example of a sport that was created this summer down in Hilton Head called Pool Periscope baseball. The version you see is the original form, where the pitcher tosses from the pool and the batter stands just beyond the steps into the shallow end.

Later adaptations shifted to place the batters box on the steps into the shallow end, and later the batter even moved further forward on the floor of the shallow end, with basepaths being set up around the periphery of the shallow end of the pool.

Other particulars include necessary equipment: 1 spongy soft small pool ball, and one periscope-type device that is at least 1.5 to 2 feet long for batting. Sun is also required. Games are not rain-or-shine... they really only work in very bright, direct, happy sunlight.

I hope you get a chance to play or observe a game one day for yourself... it really is pretty amazing. Until then, I hope that you're having a happy Thursday. If you ask me, any Thursday that includes Pool Periscope Baseball can't be bad!

Swelling

Giant Feet 2
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Just after finishing up my work in DC mid-August, Lyndsey and I headed south to Hilton Head for a week off. We met up with her family, and my brother and Kristi, his fiance came up for the day as well.

Unfortunately soon after arriving, my left foot swelled up as though it belonged to the incredible hulk (see photo above). Luckily Lyndsey's nephew Andrew had the same problem so we muddled through the week with our rediculously large feet together.

Um... or we got up a few minutes after this picture was taken and our awesome giant sand-feet crumbled.

Which story is true? You be the judge.

Blue Sky

The Sky
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

It's Tuesday morning and another week seems to be grinding along quickly. Yesterday was a fun and low-key evening around here. I worked out while Lyndsey and her mom watched Inside Man. I caught the very end. I need to watch the rest sometime soon.

I also watched some West Wing while working out and then Studio 60 later, so it was quite the Aaron Sorkin evening.

This morning I'm excited for another good day, plus tonight is bargain night at the movies! If that's not a reason to be excited, I don't know what is.

Chest Hair in Love

Love
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

As an immediate more up-beat follow-up to my last posting, let me share the above photo, which shows, in my humble oppinion, the purest form of love. Kitty, fresh off killing his mousy cat toy and his mom, proudly looking on. Notice that Chester has thumbs. His mom is very proud of his thumbs

Dead Pineapple

Dead Pineapple
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... I suppose tropical fruit plants and October in Connecticut don't exactly mix. It is with sadness that I post news of the death of my pineapple plant. I am hoping to try again soon. I am very sad.

Chainsaw Lyndsey

Chuck and Chainsaw Lyndsey 2
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... it's Saturday and I just documented a truly excellent event, Lyndsey's first experience with a Chainsaw. She was truly a natural. I don't know what else to say. This photo shows the celebration after she finished up her first cut, creating two distinct pieces of fire wood for some day later this autumn.

It was quite a scene, and I'm happy to share it with you.

Any plans for your weekend??

Cuppage
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

I know that at this point it looks like I'll be volunteering with Habitat on Saturday morning, possibly fending for myself plans-wise Saturday night because Lyndsey will be attending her neice's girls-night/slumber 7th Birthday-party... that's a mouthful right?

Perhaps I'll go visit an antiques store or a thrift shop and search out odd objects like animal relics.

What about you? What will you be doing this weekend. I hope you'll be having fun, and perhaps we can all play some games... I've got a good weekend game idea... I call it, "Guess the next scandal to hit the Republican party." Any ideas???? If so, drop me a comment.

My guess as to the next scandal is this: Dick Cheny is, in fact, a robot. The scandal will break when some water spashes on him and he short-circuits, starts shooting innocent civilians with some sort of lazer beam (or perhaps with bird shot... just for old-times sake). Anyway, that's just an idea... I didn't really think about it very much or anything, so if you've got a better idea or story... like I said, post away, and have a GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Why Media Matters Rocks

First we saw Wolf Blitzer actually confronting people and asking hard questions on air, and now Media Matters goes and puts together a pretty great inventory of GOP Foley-related claims and attempts to smear Democrats and how many of these claims have gone unquestioned or investigated on-air. Interesting stuff. Also interesting is Fact Check's look at the Clinton Fox News conversation.

Overeager Smiling!

Funny Bar Group 2 BW
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Somehow I always end up with a goofy smile or expression in photos. I'm sure that I'm not alone in this universe in feeling that this is the case. In fact, I'm quite sure that most people feel that they've got funny looks on their faces in most photos. Perhaps it explains why people seem to react to a camera the same way they might react to having a water pistol pointed at their face. They duck or scrunch or put their hands up to cover their faces.

The thing that cracks me up about the pictures I'm in is that most often I'm smiling in a rediculous huge way while everyone else in the frame has nice, normal, composed-looking smiles. It makes me laugh because invariably the first thought that comes to mind is, "whoa... what was I so happy about???"

The real treasures to me are the photos where this is not the case. They are the strange and rare photo where I actually look like a normal non-crazed human being. They also, however, include the even rarer photo like the one above where I'm in a group of equally smiley crazy people.

Thanks Loren and Lyndsey for helping me out in that department. You both are amazing, wonderful, beautiful and at least for the instant captured here completely overeagerly smiley ladies, and I love you both for it. (and for lots of other stuff too)