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!