The Return of Politics

It's been awhile since I've blogged about anything political. Today, with the long-called-for and much-anticipated resignation of Alberto Gonzales, I've found reason to bring some political content back. Here's the first of what may be many:

In discussion of possible plans to replace Gonzales, one name that has come up is some dude who used to be Bush's chief of staff in Texas when he was Governor. The idea is not that he would become AG, but instead that Michael Chertoff would, and this dude, Clay Johnson III, would take Chertoff's place. So the funny thing is that it has been reported in the NYT that Mr. Johnson keeps an action figure of George Bush on his desk.

Now, if that isn't bizarre, then I don't really know what bizarre is. What would you do if you had a co-worker or friend who kept an action figure of their boss on their desk?

Happy Monday folks, hope your week is full of good action figure stories... or at least some reasonable action of some sort.

The Return of Josh Ritter

He wasn't gone for long... in fact, not gone at all, but one of my favorite artists all around has returned with a stellar new album (from what I've heard so far). I'm actually judging from the handful of tracks I've heard all the way through. I'm planning on buying it today, so watch here for a more lengthy review later. Until then, if you don't know Josh Ritter, check out this nifty little basement video of one track from the new Album:




Enjoy!

Back from the beach

off on a beach walk, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Well, we're back up north, and Connecticut has gone along with the way it feels to go from the beach back to work and provided a grey and rainy backdrop for our return! It feels like it's October around here. Seriously, what's the the deal with that???

Anyway, the sun and sand was fun... a zillion pictures and a camera that's malfunctioning once again.

More soon!

Making Friends, Beach Style

Lucy and Mr Pinky 02, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Lucy found a wee little crab who she named Mr. Pinky down on the beach yesterday. She hung onto him for quite awhile and introduced her new friend around. After about 10-15 minutes, when Mr. Pinky fell off her arm, she found him scooting around the sand and couldn't convince him to climb back on. She moved on to sand castles. Luckily we got a little documentation of the friendship with Mr. Pinky.

Rockin Out Down South

Lyndsey Guitar Hero, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Wow, it's getting pretty crazy down here... just check out Patrick's Guitar Hero worship in this photo I snapped yesterday. I think this was taken mid-afternoon even... so the evening hadn't even begun!

Good golly.

Out Come The Geysers

Geyser Action 01, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

A little more superfast vacation photoblogging here... check out one of the most popular pool toys this year: The Gushing Geyser, basically it's a plastic dunce cap with no tip (about a 1" diameter hole at the tip end of the cone) that you thrust downward into the water to shoot out a nice big stream of water.

Many fun games like target practice on the side of the pool and general rain-shower attacks have resulted. Good times. Ah... vacation!

Goin Fishin

Goin Fishin, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

We're down at the beach! She sunshine is awesome... days are quite hot... all is well!

DEPARTURE!

John YEAH, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

What's so special about today, you ask? Well, I'll tell ya.

Today we leave for vacation! Yeah! Sure, bowling is fun, especially when you knock down some pins (as I did before the photo above was snapped).... but even more fun is a week full of beach and lacking any work.

Wow, even typing that inspired a huge sigh of relief. Man, I've been looking forward to taking some time off, and here it comes. Departure is set for 2pm today!

I'll likely be blogging away from the road, if I think about it... but then again, maybe not!

Ninja Cow, it's the new Spider Pig

Ninja Cow 02, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Ok, it's Thursday, I'm having a pretty busy work day and I don't have much to say, so I decided to throw up a picture that speaks for itself. Who doesn't love Ninja Cow? His adversaries, that's who.

Seriously, that's all I've got.

Enjoy your Thursday, and my Ninja Cow picture. Click him to see other entertaining Bowling adventures.

Bigger Pictures, Smaller Title

Recently I've been increasing the degree to which I use my blog as a photoblog, and I started getting a little frustrated that the images I post were smaller than I wanted. So, I decided to just start posting bigger images. You can always click on them and hop over to my flickr page, see versions up to sizes you could use as desktop backgrounds, etc.... but from today forward the images will be slightly larger on the blog itself. So enjoy being able to see slightly more detail right from the start. It's been fun doing a little more with pictures, and I'm hoping to keep it up. Don't be surprised, however, if it dies down a bit next week when I go on vacation. I've got no real blog plans for beach time. Much rather say... spend that time out on the beach!

An Ode to Randomness

thanks for not doing what you are doing, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

I like randomness just as much as the next guy... ok, perhaps a bit more than the next guy. Anyway, whatever the next guy thinks of it, I'm a huge fan.

Over the weekend we were at a local shopping center where I encountered the delicious irony of the sticker on this trash can. Thank you for not overfilling? Littering? WOW! Eureka, if the irony weren't potent enough, I think the dramatic splatter of the orange liquid (is it juice? is it a smoothy of some sort? Is it even organic?) drives it all home.

Moving on, last night was another study in randomness, starting innocently enough with a trip out to grab pizza with Lyndsey, her coworker Liz, and Liz's husband Tim. The pizza was great (always nice to discover a new good pizza joint), we had a good discussion of movies we need to revisit soon (Spaceballs, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Encino Man... ok, maybe not so much on Encino Man)... and then the plan was to meet up with Jill for a drink.

Well, hours later we were hanging out and talking to a local musician about how he has tried to steer clear of the mafia, how he wants to move to Asheville, NC, and upcoming gigs. All-in-all, it was an enjoyable and bizarrely unplanned evening.

Hooray for randomness, irony, music, and Spaceballs.

Happy Wednesday!

Summer Fun

tons o fun, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So, it's a BEAUTIFUL day in Connecticut today, and I just walked outside to drop something in the mailbox and was absolutely blown away. It's been unseasonably cool in the last few days, and today is no exception. The sun is shining, and all is right with the world.

This weekend I did a fair amount of random picture taking, and this collection of wiffle balls and bats is a result of that larger project. Spotting this box of wiffle sets outside a sporting goods store I couldn't help but think about the many days of spring, summer and fall when Matt and I would wander down to the Roland Community Center (the "Rec" which I always spelled "wreck" in my head) and play wiffle ball on the field that now houses a playground. Before we moved up to the rec field we used to play in the Lafferty's backyard, with the back 8 feet of yard or so being, "homerun terrritory."

There was the time that Matt needed stitches after sliding into a rock at 3rd base. There were many many homeruns on the rec field. There was the constant bickering with the Halft family over balls hit into their yard. Ah... wiffle ball.

Perhaps we'll play some at the beach next week!

Inspiration

Lyndsey Bowling 01, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So Lyndsey and I went bowling Saturday night with a good sized group of friends, and I have to say... a bunch of great pictures came out of the evening.

This picture of Lyndsey is one of my favorites and I've got a crapload of work to do in photoshop to get them and a bunch of other stuff uploaded, but anyway, it was tons of fun, and should make for good blogging material. All in all, the experience made me want to watch the Big Lebowski, join a league, and bowl with friends on a regular basis.

The fun was large enough that it almost completely drowned out the fact that I scored somewhere between the 50s and 70s on each game. Not my proudest bowling outing, that's for sure.

Strange Group

Yard Sale 06
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Last weekend I was home in Philly to visit my Aunt who's in the hospital. While I was down, I helped my mom take a bunch of stuff to a yard sale and hung around for a couple hours, taking random pictures here or there. These guys where hanging out in the 10 cent bin or quarter bin or something like that. I thought they made for a pretty awesome little group shot, and a fine question:

Who will be snapped up first? The Squishy Monkey? Crang, the evil brain? The really creepy cadaver from X-files? Or the Gordon's fisherman candle who looks to have gotten pretty beaten up on his way to the sale. Honestly, I doubt any of these guys are going to fly out of the bargain bin anytime soon, but they do make for a nice Friday visitor.

Have a great weekend!

Least Appealing Farmstand Ever

Least Appealing Farmstand Ever
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

These signs have been up around the neighborhood lately and they crack me up, because everytime I see them, they make me think of farmstand signs. I'd give an explanation of what they're really up for, but that wouldn't be any fun, now, would it?

Happy Wednesday Randomness!

+John