Archive for April, 2008

[04.28.08] Monday Night Recap
- April 28, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] FINAL NOTICE! April’s challenge of “symmetry” is coming to a close. Get your submissions in ASAP!
  
• [lensrentals.com] Just wanted to give a quick shoutout to LensRentals. I wanted to try out the 70-200 before purchasing, so I rented it for the weekend. Quality condition, and extremely fast shipping (2 days!). I am very impressed. Oh, and here’s an image of what I was dealing with:
  
  
  
  
• [Deb and Cabin Preview (and #25)] This past weekend I went out to St. Louis (next bullet point) to second shoot the wedding of Deb and Cabin with Kenny Nakai, which was a great time to try out the 70-200. I had a blast, and Deb an Cabin were an absolutely gorgeous couple (they made my job so easy)! Here’s a little teaser as I start going through the images…I’ll blog a bit more as I get through all of them. Be sure to check out Kenny’s blog as he’ll be posting soon too! (And #25 of my ‘28 in 2008‘ list has been completed- second shooting with someone)
  
  

  

  

  

• [1 of 5 States (#6)] …And that also helped me completed part of #6 on that list. I’m not much of a traveler, so going to 5 states in one year is a lot for me. Being in St. Louis, MO was state number 1. We were literally there for less than 24 hours, so not too much sight seeing or visiting friends, but it still counts!
  
• [Never Eat Alone (#7)] This post is long overdue, so I figured I’ll just throw it in here. My book for March (I know…I’m a month late…sorry!) was “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi. Its an interesting read, covering his life and view of the world around him. He stresses the importance of networking, and more so the value of your network. By providing various case studies (many from his own life), he shows just how important we can be to the people around us (and them to us). By looking at relationships and networking with an unselfish motive, it provides the greatest benefit to all.
  
  
  
  For April, I purchased 2 books, and started one of them: “How To Win Friends and Influence People”. It’s a classic and a good foundational book, which is mainly repeating many of the standards and views I was taught growing up. A long read though, which I won’t finish this month. Ah well, I will still read at least 12 books (and purchase 12 books) this year.
• [The Office] I don’t believe I blogged about this recently, but The Office has been back with new episodes for the past couple weeks! I love Thursdays again! If you’ve never seen it, go and watch them, and set aside your Thursday nights for this. I’ve been impressed/entertained greatly with the new episodes…have you?
• [Leadership Meeting] On Sunday, my church had a meeting among the leadership body of our youth/young adult ministries. It was good for us to re-connect and start progressing in standards of leadership. I’m excited to see the growth and change that is going on, and look forward to what’s ahead.
  
  

  

  

  

  
  

  
  
• [Chicago Weather] Who wants to complain with me? This is what see today from my Google weather:
  
  
  

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

natemathai | filed under: Personal, [MNR], wedding

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[04.21.08] Monday Night Recap
- April 21, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] There’s about a week left in this month’s challenge (symmetry). Get creative and get your responses in!
• [Michael Clayton] My girlfriend came home for less than a day this weekend (woo hoo!), so we rented Michael Clayton. Was anyone else as confused as as I was? I mean, it seemed like it had great potential, but I kept getting lost every other scene. Maybe it’s just me. I feel like I needed to focus a lot more to get it.
• [Weekend Wedding] I had a friend’s wedding this past Saturday, which is the first of like 42 (exaggeration…more like 8) weddings that I’m invited to as a guest this year. Liju and Stacy’s wedding was held at the St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church in Lombard, IL, and the reception was at the Belvedere Banquets in Elk Grove Village. Congrats guys!
Some coaching for the flower girl…



Seriously…got to love the white socks…





Ring bearer with some pre-wedding reading…









And here’s a little ‘details’ spread for you…



• [BBQ #1] To celebrate the first sign of consistently pleasant weather, we had the first (un)official BBQ! BBQs were the ‘thing to do’ for us last year, so we’ll see if history repeats itself. I’ve snapped some pics of our shopping spree and such, but figured that wouldn’t be as interesting for you all, so here’s something you can take home with you. What’s an important thing to do at parties? NAME YOUR CUP. Everybody gets the same looking cup, puts a liquid in it, takes a few sips, then gets up and walks away. Now you have 15 cups on a table, with nobody knowing whose is whose. So now, when you enter a party, grab a sharpie and label your drink!



• [Facebook Chat] For those who haven’t noticed, facebook has rolled out a chat system now. When you log in, at the bottom of the screen you’ll see a chat bar (which you can pop out), and if your friends are on facebook, you can chat with them! What do you think? Worthwhile? Useful? I’m not sure I want another chat open, but if Adium supports Facebook in the future, I’ll like it. Let me know what you guys think of it.
• [Spam Comments] Woo hoo! I got my first one! I feel like I’m starting to make a name for myself! (one of the reasons that come year-end, we’ll have a whole new look!)


• [Cubbies] They are on fire! Number 1 in the NL Central, and pulled off another win today against the NY Mets, 7-1! You know how we do. It might have taken about 100 years, but now’s the time. Anyone want to take me to a game this summer? Let me know when, and I’ll free up my schedule. :)

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

natemathai | filed under: Personal, wedding

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Some More Madelyn…
- April 19, 2008 -

It’s been some time, and she’s transforming a lot, so here’s a quick glimpse as to what she’s up to now:

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

natemathai | filed under: Personal

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Baby Vivek’s Baptism
- April 17, 2008 -

I posted some preview images of baby Vivek’s baptism last week, so I just wanted to get a bunch out more to you guys. Have I mentioned how much I love photographing children? Oh… Enjoy!

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

natemathai | filed under: event

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[04.14.08] Monday Night Recap
- April 14, 2008 -

• [Cubbies] An off day today, but we’re still above 500! It’s the little victories that keep me going…it’s still early. I still haven’t seen a game yet (not even on TV!), but that’s why its a 162 game season.
• [Photo Challenge] We’re halfway through the month! Keep taking those pictures and get your images in for the photo challenge!
• [UIUC] So this past weekend I made my last trip of the semester down to U of I to visit my wonderful girlfriend (and all the others). It was a rather busy time for everyone, so I wasn’t able to make my visits and such like I normally do, but I still had a blast. It’s always great to go back…my home away from home.
• [CFC] I got in Friday night, and caught the end of large group at Covenant Fellowship Church, the church I attended during my undergrad. Although I’ve been gone for over a year, it still feels like I’ve been there every week day in and day out. On Sunday, Pastor Min game a message on our dual natures which makes me want to go back and hear the podcast from last week’s message (since this was part two). A little something-something that caught my attention:
• Don’t be too impressed with the greatness of people, and don’t be too surprised by their sin
• Growth is not a weaker propensity of sin, but just a stronger ability to fight
• [ICF] My other ministry on campus was the Indian Christian Fellowship, and I was able to hang out with a select group on Friday night. A quick game of catchphrase followed by a rousing time of the bowl game kept us busy until the wee hours of the morning. Good times!



• [Bloomington] On Saturday, Nithya and I took a trip out to Bloomington to visit my good friends Jason and Susan, and their little one Isabelle. One thing I love about Bloomington: the price of gas was $3.20. That was about 20 cents cheaper than what was at U of I, which is a few cents cheaper than up here! It was a fun catching up with them and spending some time with Isabelle. She’s quite the character!






And here she is getting ready to enjoy her long awaited dessert:




• [Colbert] Anyone watch the Colbert Report today from Philly? He sang the National Anthem with John Legend. I must say, he did surprise me…he’s got a decent voice.
• [Delayed Posts] Keep an eye out, as I’ve fallen behind on quite a few posts that I wanted to get out. Things like an S&P on TaDa Lists, a book review on ‘Never Eat Alone’ (I’ve started my new book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’…it might take me over a month to finish though), and some photography tips are just a piece of what to expect. Sorry for the delay!

be sure to visit the contact page if you’re looking for a chicago wedding photographer, available nationwide.

natemathai | filed under: [MNR]

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