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)

Death of Habeas Corpus

Keith Olbermann is amazing. He offers the best commentary I can find, and his show makes a habit of digging into issues and... actually investigating/reporting details and facts rather than simple sound bites. That general statement made, I was struck by a recent piece on Habeas Corpus. They do a pretty great dissection on why it's so troubling that recent legislation passed with even Democrats voting yea. UGH! That's my vote. Here's the link.

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.