Archive for the 'friends' Category

New Year’s Eve Proposal
- January 1, 2009 -

Congrats to my good friends Sijin and Jaimy for getting engaged!  A little tease with more to come:

…oh, and here’s the beauty that is the Chicago skyline at night on New Year’s Eve that I grabbed waiting for the happy couple to arrive.

Happy New Year, everyone! Make this year BALLER!

natemathai | filed under: engagement, friends

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[09.02.08] Monday Night Recap
- September 2, 2008 -

• [Ummm...] Yes, I know it’s Tuesday.  Yes, I know its Tuesday night.  I’ve been near perfect (if not perfect) about getting these up on Mondays since I started last year.  Oh well…better late than never, right?
• [Photo Challenge] August is over, so get your submissions for that challenge e-mailed into challenge(at)natemathai(dot)com.  I’ll post the next challenge within the week and get these submissions up as well.
• [Cubbies] After some dramatic, come-from-behind victories last week (Aramis with a grand slam in the 8th, Soriano with a solo-shot to take the lead in the 7th the day after), we had a rough weekend.  Even still, we’re 4.5 games up on the Brewers, and I think the magic number is around 20-something…we’re coming down the home stretch!
• [Liza and Shibu] On Saturday, I shot the engagement ceremony of Liza and Shibu at the India House Banquets in Schaumburg, Illinois.  Here’s a little tease for you all:



• [College Friends] Two years later, and we all still hang out…that’s a good sign, right?  11 of us got together on Sunday (missing one in Atlanta) for some fun times of freeze tag, water balloons, and volleyball in the park, followed by pizza at Barnaby’s.  No pics…I wanted to avoid getting yelled at for bringing the camera everywhere
• [Blogging Friends] I’m a blog junkie, where in addition to my own blogging, I follow 25, 50, too many blogs, many of other photographers, others on finance, business, marketing, technology…and the list goes on.  I decided I should give a shout out though, to a couple of my non-photography friends’ blogs that post regularly so you can go check them out.  Not listed?  You haven’t posted enough!

1. {Rincey}  It’s 100% personal.  But she’s an amazing writer and completely knowledgeable about all things pop culture and beyond (she’s a journalism major).  She’s been blogging for quite some time to (longer than I have I think) so she’s very well-seasoned.  One of the few blogs I read all the copy to.
2. {Jason}  A more recent blogger and long-time friend, he’s started one to document his families current move back to the Chicagoland area from Bloomington/Normal, as well as his journey in starting his insurance agency.  And more than just personal info, he’s dropping some good info on finances here and there, so definitely check it out.
3. {Sibi}  My brother-in-law is trying it out now, and already has some quality information up there.  He’s a Mac/Tech addict so you’ll definitely gain knowledge on quality products and apps coming out.  He’s also occasionally giving some wise financial tips as well.
4. —>  I have a couple other friends who have blogs, but don’t update regularly, so they don’t get posted.  Oh well, such is life.

• [Google Chrome] So it seems Google is launching its own web browser (a-la Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer).  I’ve tested it out for a couple of hours earlier today, and its very bare bones (they wanted it minimalistic).  It’ll take some getting used to, and I’m sure there will be much more to come since this is just the first beta release.  The one thing I do like:  Most Visited Websites when opening a new tab.  Each time you open a tab, thumbnails of your most recently sites appear in a grid for you to click to go directly to it instead of having to type the address in.  More than the browser itself, though, I feel like if this browser can surpass that of Firefox/Safari in usability, Google’s Android begins that much stronger of a force.  Just my musings…awaiting for the release on OS X.
• [Budgeting] In planning for a wedding/future, I’ve begun the budgeting process with my fiance, which leads me to the following poll.  Please humor me by selecting your current ’state of budgeting’, and if you’d like explain why you’re in that situation in the comments below.

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natemathai | filed under: Photo Challenge, [MNR], engagement, event, family, friends, personal

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4th of July
- July 4, 2008 -

Another national holiday means another chance for my college friends to hang out. We weren’t able to get 100% attendance again, but got a good majority to celebrate and catch up.

The food:

Here’s a cake shaped like a hamburger! (nobody really ate it, but it sure looked cool…)

In addition to the 4th, we were celebrating 6 birthdays (one from January, one from February, 2 from June, and 2 in July), a welcome back to our friend who is in London the past year, and a ‘congrats on a new job’ to a friend who wasn’t even there today [but at least we caught up!]. My girlfriend asked to borrow my camera (literally took it out of my hands) because she wanted to take the picture of myself and Ekta (the July birthdays) blowing out the candles on our cakes. She still hasn’t grasped the concept of the back focus…

Hers was actually a set of cupcakes…

My cake had these basketball candles on it…getting me hype for summer league (rosters will be posted tonight!)…

And this is what everyone actually looks like when we have our conversations…

Happy 4th everyone!

natemathai | filed under: friends, 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…

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








• [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.

So there’s a glimpse into what I contemplate during my days…enjoy! Happy Monday everybody!

natemathai | filed under: [MNR], event, family, friends, wedding

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[05.12.08] Monday Night Recap
- May 12, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] April’s is posted…got anything yet? Have FUN with it!
  
• [Busy] Yep, another busy week ahead. Wedding planning tonight (I know…a year and a half away…madness), physical fitness test tomorrow (so someone will officially tell me I’m overweight), family time on Wednesday, birthday party on Thursday, wedding Saturday…hmmm…I think I have a break on Friday? That’ll fill up, I’m sure.
• [Diversity Day] Have you guys seen the ‘Diversity Day‘ episode in Season 1 of The Office? HILARIOUS! I bring it up because I just had a diversity training meeting thing last week at work, and I couldn’t help but smile. It was more like the guest speaker than the way Michael ran it, but entertaining nonetheless. I did get this nice book of different actions/words that can trigger the buttons of others…I’m thinking of trying a few out soon I wish I could go through all of them, but here’s one of my favorites…has this happened to you?



• [Cubbies] 12-3 tonight. I love it…we’ve won 4 straight at home…how can you NOT love it?
• [Kids] On Saturday I went over to my girlfriend’s place to visit since she’s finally back from U of I for the summer, and there were a handful of children under the age of 3 there which was entertaining. (the one in the Old Navy sweatshirt is not under 3, just so you know…)








• [Goodnight] I wish I had more to post for you, but I’m tired. Got anything you want me to post about? Let me know!

natemathai | filed under: [MNR], friends, humor

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