More DC Fun

Very Cool Accidental Picture
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is a random accident photo, but I like it a lot!

Tyler and Loren, you're both making great faces in the background, and I love that the focus is so strong on the plastic cup.

Enjoy, and visit my flickr page for more pics of Lyndsey and my recent trip to DC!!!

Habitat Annual Appeal Card Artwork

Habitat Annual Appeal Card Artwork
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

I made this drawing/digital image for the front of Habitat's Annual Appeal card. I'm pretty happy & proud of the work. I stayed up too late last night doing it and it ended up still needing tweeking today, but all-in-all it was a fun process. I'm hoping it helps bring in some good donations for the organization, and I certainly had a great time making it.

So... I was in Washington DC this weekend

Scary Helmut John
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

... and We had some fun.

It's not every visit to friends where you get to see good movies on a rainy Saturday, witness the Eagles in top form, and wear a helmet crafted out of an exploded water polo ball. No no folks... this trip to DC was quite some visit. Click on the photo to visit my Flickr page and see some other pictures from Lyndsey & my superfun trip back down to our Nation's Capital.

Back Up North

Oh, DC... what fun we had. This weekend Lyndsey and I visited DC and it was great fun. I was amazed by the number of people we got a chance to see in a scant 2.5 days. To everybody down there, thanks for putting us, putting up with us, and generally showing up and having fun. I am really very pleased that we made it back down so quickly and I really hope we can do the same again soon.

In the meantime I'll be uploading pictures from the trip soon and I'll probably photoshop some to make them all happy, clean, and whatnot then I'll upload to flickr. Once they're up I'll be sure to blog at least one over to here. Keep your eye out for that. Also, I learned of at least one friend in DC who has a blog coming along so hopefully I'll soon have even more info in the Friend Links section at the right of my blog ramblings. I'm pretty excited about that because I've been working to make my links section a little more interesting, full, and... um... nice. I hope you like it. New additions today include Matt & Kristi's wedding website, Liz Hamby's blog, Media Matters, Fact Check.org, RH Reality Check (Tyler's Employer) and um... I think that's it.

I think getting my blog connected to various stuff will help me stay interested in loggin on here and writing more. For now, I'm gonna get some lunch.

Mmm... Lunch.

Current Soundtrack: WFUV (Fordham University Radio) It's pretty great, generally speaking. Today I'm almost fed up with fund drive, but if I get completely fed up, I'll just switch back to Pandora where I was listening to Otis Redding Radio earlier.

DC or Bust!!

... and Lyndsey and I are heading down to DC any minute now! I'm all packed, and she's working on packing. It's pretty exciting to get ourselves back down to see friends so quickly.

We're both very pumped, and once the weekend is over, hopefully I'll have some good photos to post here.

In the meantime, my day was crazy! I updated the website for my organization, including changing the overall formatting such that I had to go in and fiddle with each and every page. It was time-consuming but fun. I'm looking forward to doing it again real soon.

Also, we polished off a grant that's been in the works for a few weeks. That was e-mailed out by me at the end of the day... then I shut down, called it a night, and hit the road.

.... more soon!

Happy FRIDAY!!!!!!!!

The Boys from Georgia Tech... They're CRAZY!!

The Boys from Georgia Tech... They're CRAZY!!
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is a photo I really like. It's from storytime at the winery. Geoff, Lyndsey, Bob and I were kicking back with a glass of wine and my brother's school triggered a great story of skydiving spring breakers... okay, so maybe it's hard to do the whole thing justice if you weren't there. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the picture, and remember, the Boys from Georgia Tech... They're CRAZY!!!!

Sam Cooke Radio

Today is supersunny here in CT, I'm reading tidbits about the Washington scandals, working away on getting set up for some fall fundraising stuff, and generally enjoying the happy light outside.

I'm also listening to Pandora, specifically a station I made that I seeded with just Sam Cooke. It's great. I highly recommend it.

Lyndsey's job hunt is cranking up and that's pretty great. I'm thinking of shifting my blog into a slightly different mode soon with maybe some fiction or basically more writing and less news of the day.

Other excitement: Lyndsey and I have everything booked to go down to Florida for my brother's wedding next month! That's right, next month! I need to start dreaming up a best man speech. Hmm... feel free to share some thoughts in the comments section!

- John

Tin Bar

Tin Bar
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is a picture of Bob, Lyndsey and I outside Ernie's Tin Bar in Petaluma, CA. We were there in June as part of our festive baptism weekend. The folks at Ernie's were nice enough to serve us a sauce even though it was after closing time for them (6pm, I believe). It was a beautiful day in wine country.

New Music!!!

So... this weekend I picked up some new music. First, I got a copy of Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome the Pete Seeger Sessions. It's pretty great, and lots of fun. It's pretty folky all around, but at times it's got some fun cajun feel, and is generally a likeable good time of a disc.

I also picked up Yo La Tengo's new CD I Am Not Afraid of You and I will Beat Your Ass. Admitedly, it's a funny title for an album, but there are some good tracks. I'm not convinced that I love this CD but the tracks I liked and that caused me to buy it in the first place are generally pretty fun, and I'm willing to give it a few more listens to see if I made a mistake or if I change my mind.

In other music news, I'm trying to gather my thoughts to suggest songs to my brother and Kristi for their wedding reception. I'm excited to help in this regard, but I keep putting it off. It's one of my goals for the week.

Feel free to submit ideas via comments!

Alright... well... it's a rainy day in Fairfield and Lyndsey and I are off to the movies tonight. Tonight's selection is Last Kiss, which I've been thinking of as Garden State Part II. I hope to not be disappointed!!! Last movie we saw was Black Dhalia on Friday night, and oh, was that disturbing! Holy crap! I do not recommend unless you're looking to be deeply troubled. Also, it was too long and the ending was very muddled. Okay... enough for now, more tomorrow.

Phillies Take Two!!

From the Braves, no less. Good deal. That makes me happy.

This morning I listened to a little Flaming Lips on the way to work, and last night I listened to some Velvet Underground. I think it's time to change out the CDs in my car and get a new batch of goodness.

In other news, it's rainy here in coastal CT today. Rainy and somewhat dreary, but that's okay. The weather's not gonna get me down! Plus, it's been getting cooler and all autumnal up here. That's great, as far as I'm concerned.

Thought of the day: Vision, I've come to believe it needs to be constantly cultivated. I was thinking last night about politics and feeling like the Dems need to keep working build vision rather than bickering with their opponents. Today, I find myself thinking that everyone should follow this path. It's pretty easy to coast, perhaps why we all like the song Float On so much, but I digress. It's easy to coast, but we do ourselves a disservice when we float because everybody deserves to be, feel, and act dynamic, visionary, individual, and inspired.

Park Rd Bridge Ahead

Park Rd Bridge Ahead
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This is one of my favorite pictures. I took it soon after moving to DC, so it feels appropriate that I would post it on a blog soon after leaving DC. I hope people will visit up here to camp and enjoy the woods. There's lots of trees here in CT!!!

Wilco AM Drive

This morning I drove to work listening to Wilco's A.M., a classic. (Wikipedia)


There a many many good songs and very few not-so-good ones. John Rating: 4.5 stars, highly recommended.

In other news, there is an AmeriCorps NCCC team that is working for my Habitat affiliate right now and that fact alone makes me smile. I kinda want to hang out with them. They swung by the office earlier to see our Volunteer Coordinator and It cracked me up to see them trundling out of the van in their BDU's. If this last piece is completely incomprehensible, that's okay.