[06.30.08] Monday Night Recap - June 30, 2008 -
- [Photo Challenge] As today is June 30th, get your submissions in NOW for the June Photo Challenge! I’ll post the next challenge later on this week (…oh, and if you have any ideas/suggestions for challenges, feel free to leave them in the comments).
- [Cubbies] After sweeping the Sox last week at Wrigley, they repaid the favor be sweeping us in the Cell this weekend. I’ll give them credit…it’s not like they’re a bad team, they’re leading the AL Central. What do you think…too soon to call a Cubs-Sox World Series?!?!
|ETQ| The Cubs OWNED the Giants tonight in San Fran 9-2! DeRosa had 2 home runs (a grand slam in the 8th after they walked 3 straight batters to load the bases) and 6 RBIs…now that’s how you swing it back in the right direction!
- [Summer League] I can’t believe its almost here! The second annual Summer League is starting this coming Sunday (draft on Friday), and I am OUT OF SHAPE! I tried ballin’ with guys last week and was winded after 1 game. We played again today and I at least had better endurance…maybe playing indoors well bring me back to true form…maybe?!?!
- [Abigail] On Saturday I did a shoot of baby Abigail. Im not sure of what I’m supposed to call her…she’s my Dad’s-uncle’s-wife’s-brother’s-son’s-daughter. In any event, she’s family. Here’s a glimpse:
- [Jiju and Soumy] While I was there, I did a fun little portrait session of Abigail’s parents, Jiju and Soumy. They’ve been married for over a year, but had their wedding out in India and didn’t really have many relaxed portraits of just the two of them, so we made sure to get some there. Another glimpse:
- [Busy Schedule] I thought June was a busy time for me, but July is even busier! I’ve still got to get some dedicated posts up about Dianna and Joe’s wedding, Alexis’ Birthday, and now baby Abigail and Jiju and Soumy’s session. And looking ahead, I’ve got an engagement ceremony this Saturday, a wedding the week after [more details to come], a basketball tournament the week after that, and then my sister’s wedding on the last weekend! (I’m standing in that one, but maybe I can pull off a few snaps without getting in the pro’s way
) I’ll be hard at work so please be patient if it’s a little quiet on the bloggin’ front or responding to e-mails/comments- I’m definitely reading everything and planning on getting back to all of you soon! Back to work!
natemathai |
filed under: [MNR]
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Cleaning and Reminiscing - June 25, 2008 -
As my sister’s wedding draws closer (July 26th), my dad seems to be finding more and more home improvement projects to do. I thought the big thing was painting our family room…boy was that a silly thought. I believe his main thing is cleaning out our basement. He’s been wanting to finish the basement completely for awhile, but we’ve never got around to it. Although we probably don’t have time to do it now, he t least wants to clean out all the junk and what not that’s been piling up over the years.
The last time I remember being down there with people was after my oldest sister’s engagement party…like 7 years ago. Since then, I basically only went down there to store boxes or whatnot…which is what everyone in the family did. But now, we must clean. So I went down there today to start organizing things a bit to make it easier to sort through, as well as do a quick grab of my stuff. There’s so much more to go…
Here’s a small corner of the basement…
The evolution of phones. I found a couple more (including a few cell phones) as I started to unpack boxes. And yes, that is a rotary phone. I believe it still works, too.
A vintage vinyl record player. We have no more records; the needle is broke. Yet we kept this thing for years.
And you obviously need some speakers to go with. I actually brought these to U of I during my senior year and we hooked up our TV to it for some quality sound during movie nights (or when were bored and wanted loud noise).
As my parents seem to keep many unnecessary items for years, I think it’s made its way into my genes on the tech side. here are a couple printers and a scanner (mind you I currently have an inkjet printer and a printer/scanner/copier in my room).
And here are 3 monitors. Note: During the last week of school, make your rounds to the apartment buildings around campus…many people throw away perfectly good stuff as they are moving out because they don’t want to pack it all up. I think we picked up 3 monitors from there. And that has helped me to have, between my room and the basement, 4 CRT monitors, 1 LCD monitor, 3 PC towers, and my Macbook Pro. I really need to figure out what to do with this stuff…I just can’t let go!
And you might think you know religious people, but look at here. These are ‘extra’ bibles in our basement. Personally, I think I have another 6 bibles on my shelf in my room (not counting my regular use one). And that doesn’t include what the rest of the family has scattered around. Is it just me, or is it really hard to get rid of a bible?
As I unpacked some boxes I started to stumble upon some old stuff of mine, which got me into a reminiscent mode. To start:
This was my first digital camera. In 2002, I bought this HP Photosmart digital camera off ebay, and people quickly got annoyed of me (that was the beginning of my photographic life).
Yep…you are reading these things right. That’s a 2.1MP camera with a 4x digital zoom. Man I thought I was cool. I had the only camera around. And I tortured it a lot, as you can tell. I can’t count how many times this thing had been dropped.
One of the goals on my 28 in 2008 list was to organize my card collection. When I went off to college I moved all of this from my room to the basement, and I wanted to go back and get it all back together. I started collecting around 1990 (if my memory served me correctly) and only did it for a few years. But I was hardcore then, constantly checking the value of the cards in Beckett. I haven’t taken great care of these,a s you can tell, but I wonder how much all of this is worth now. I guess step 1 in the process is bringing this all out of the basement.
Another thing that I collected very briefly was newspapers. There were a couple papers that I thought ‘In the future I’m going to look back on these and be glad I kept them.’ And I look at them now and think the same thing…it’s a small thing right now, but looking 20+ years down the line, this will be fun to reflect on.
[Thursday, April 25, 1996] Bulls 4th Championship run (I also have the papers from the 1st, 3rd, and 6th titles)
[Friday, February 27, 1998] Harry Caray’s passing
[Monday, March 12, 2001] Illini’s first major run in the NCAA Tournament (my junior year of high school)
[Wednesday, September 12, 2001] September 11th
That last one hit me a bit. Almost 7 years ago. The big tagline during that time was “We will never forget.” Sure, I think we all remember it. But does it impact our daily lives? Life is short. Ultimately, our time on earth is out of our hands and has already been decided for us. Are we making the most of it? Are we living purposefully able to be ’satisfied’ with this day being our last?
I don’t recommend you guys keeping clutter and stuff for years, but if you already do it…take some time and go through it all. It might be a good thing to help bring you back for a bit and put current situations in perspective again. It’s interesting just thinking of how far I’ve come even in the past 5 years…
natemathai |
filed under: personal
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[06.23.08] Monday Night Recap - June 23, 2008 -
- [Photo Challenge] 1 more week for this month! Remember, this challenge is about composition, and giving your keeping your subject OUT of the center of the frame.
- [Cubbies] We had tough break getting swept by Tampa last week, but we just owned the AL Central leading White Sox in the crosstown series! (For the record, I’m not a White Sox hater…but am a MUCH bigger Cubs fan). Surprisingly enough, I was busy enough that I didn’t get to see any of the games…how sad is that!? Ah well…
- [ABDC] I was very disappointed in America’s Best Dance Crew last wek…the people who killed it the season premiere dropped the ball, and the average dancers really put on a show. One thing, though…I don’t like there are these “Best…” shows that do not bring back previous competitors. It would have been better if you had like that top 3 from last year come back and defend…I mean, seriously. JabbaWockees, Kaba Modern and Status Quo should have to prove themselves year in and year out (of course, they’d obviously own the competition…but it’d still be fun). Just a thought…
- [Ben & Anee] On Saturday, another set of friends got married…yep, it happens A LOT in my community. I think this is the 3rd set this year where both the bride and groom were from my home church! I’ve known both of them for awhile and have served alongside them over the past year. It’s so exciting to see two people get together with such a great vision for the future.
Showing up as a guest, I let the paid photog’s do all the work :). But here are a few I grabbed… - [Alexis' Birthday Party] Happy 3rd Birthday Alexis!! Wow…my niece is now 3! Today is her official birthday, but yesterday we had a Luau party for her and her friends at the house…my goodness all these kids are growing up so fast! I’m actually able to have a bit of dialog with them, which makes them more entertaining for me (I mean, they’re cool when they’re younger, but this is the age I like). Here’s a glimpse of the party, with a recap to be posted later:
- [Reflections] On my train ride to work, I was listening to a podcast by Ravi Zacharias entitled ‘The Lostness of Man”. Here are a few quotes that really hit me that I felt like sharing:
- The fact of the matter is that man carries on this game of pretense into many, many arenas of his life. He is attempting to build civilizations when he does not know what it means to be civilized. He is trying to be a philosopher when he does not know who the master philosopher is. He is portraying his artistic perceptions, he does not know the master artist. He moralizes on life, but he does not know the moral law giver.
- (quoting Dr. John R.W. Stott) Many of the happenings of civilized society would not exist if it were not for human sin. A promise is not enough, we need a contract. Doors are not enough, we have to lock and bolt them…Law and order are not enough, we need police to enforce them. All these things and many others to which we have grown accustomed that we have taken them for granted are due to our sin. We cannot trust each other, we need protection from one another; it is a sorry state of affairs.
- …until [we] understand the heart of man, [we] will never understand the justification by faith.
Ben walked his mother down the aisle…
Anee taking a breath before beginning her walk…
This cute little girl had her doll with her in this exact same position every time I saw her…
The details! The cake (v1)…
And here’s version 2…
In lieu of wedding favors, Ben and Anee made a donation to the Binil Samuel Memorial Fund on behalf of each guest…
For the past few years this used to be me - I was a part of the ‘wedding dance’ crew who would dance at many receptions. It seems like the guys get older and broken down much faster than the girls do, because my generation of guys seemed to all have retired. We used to dance with these girls…and now they just got the new crew of males to step up…I think we should battle one day
So there’s a glimpse into what I contemplate during my days…enjoy! Happy Monday everybody!
Lenie & Namratha’s E-Session - June 20, 2008 -
I knew Lenie and his family growing up, but then awhile back they moved out to Atlanta. After graduation, he found a job as a Math teacher in the Chicago Public School which brought him back around, and we re-connected since I came back from U of I. Lenie and Namratha met while they were in college, and have been doing the distance thing for a bit as she is still out in Georgia, but she was able to come down for a recent weekend so we made sure we got a session in for them. We took a stroll around downtown Chicago in some great weather (though the weatherman told us we’d experience rain…silly weathermen). The wedding is going to be out in Atlanta on July 12th, so it’s right around the corner!
Now I don’t do many images with textures, but I knew I had to with this one right when I snapped the picture…
And I love this set…It’s great when my clients are willing to stand in the middle of the road just before a truck comes at them…
Lenie and Namratha, I had a blast with you guys and wish you all the best on your wedding day and married life to come. See you guys back in Chicago in the fall!
natemathai |
filed under: e-sessionBaby Seylah - June 20, 2008 -
Baby Seylah was born a little bit ago, and I had gone to take a few portraits of her for the birth announcement. Normally it’s a bit tough to take these portraits because the kids can get a bit fussy over tme, but she seriously did not mind the pictures AT ALL! Here’s a few more from the session:
Big brother Jaden…
And this one’s to show that he really does like her
natemathai |
filed under: portrait
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