Archive for the '[MNR]' Category

[12.01.08] Monday Night Recap
- December 1, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] November is complete, so get your submissions in for last month’s challenge.  I’ll post the last one of the year later this week!
• [Mumbai Attacks] It’s been all over the news, but in the last week there were some crazy attacks that occured in Mumbai, India, at major tourist locations.  Although my family is primarily out of southern India, my churches missions team was currently up north, and they were about 1 hour away from the major attacks.  They were actually scheduled to return home the following day, and luckily were able to make it home safely.  I ask for continued prayer, though, for all those in India, as well as for the remaining members of our missions team who will be coming home later this week.
• [A Model] So a friend of mine seems like he’s interested in doing some modeling and asked me to take some pictures for him.  He caught me a bit off guard when I showed up, saying he was specifically looking into hand-modeling…but who am I to judge?  So what do you think, does he have what it takes? 





• [Family Thanksgiving] On Thanksgiving, I had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s place.  They kill two birds with one stone by having both sides of the family over, which is nice.  My job was making the punch (of which I did a mighty fine job in, I must say)…and later got blindsided by having to do the dishes.  Ah well, I think I did a mighty fine job with that as well.  Here’s a couple pics of my youngest niece celebrating her first Thanksgiving - she still seems very surprised about everything:




• [Black Friday] It’s turned into an annual tradition (this is year 2) going out for Black Friday.  I wasn’t too interested in picking much up so it wasn’t too big of an event.  We hit up TigerDirect (I waited outside for about 45 minutes as they did the smart of think of only letting in roughly 50 people at a time to avoid a mad rush and tramplings) to start everything out.  Surprisingly I technically didn’t buy anything for myself.  The picture below shows what I picked up (less a GPS system I got for my dad).  All these are actully for all of you!  It speeds up my processing time as well as gives me even more backup confidence with the precious images I take for you (pictured is a 4GB memory upgrade for my Macbook Pro, 1TB hard drive, and a casing for 2 internal hard drives).



• [Inlaws Thanksgiving] On Friday night, I made my way over to my fiancee’s place for the second Thanksgiving dinner.  Another great time of feasting, and I also helped set up their Christmas tree.  Here’s a little family picture of them.  Also, my soon-to-be brother-in-law just got a Canon XSi and here he is putting it to good use (…this is generally what events start to look like once parents get a dSLR…its AWESOME!)




• [Michelle and Suresh] On Saturday morning, I shot the engagement ceremony of Michelle and Suresh, who will be having their wedding next May.  Here’s a little teaser for you:



• [Turkey Bowl] My church held our first annual Turkey Bowl- a touch football game between the older and younger guys.  And as expected, us older guys won it 13-6.  I caught the extra point that put us up 7-6 in the first half, as well as helped hold down their offense (once I showed up, they were shut out the rest of the game).  Although it was touch, I did get my lip busted by getting hit in the face, and lack of stretching has caused some back pains, but its slowly getting better.  Ah well, it was worth the W.
• [506 Thanksgiving] After the morning festivities, my college friends got together for our seasonal dinners.  This was quite possibly the longest/latest we’ve hung out since we were actually in college, as I think I went to sleep around 3am (and my roommate lives like 5 minutes from my house).  As always, it’s a great time for us to just catch up with what’s going on in everyone’s lives, play some games, and definitely great food (as always).  It’s crazy how we’re all growing up and moving to different stages in our lives…my how things have and will continue to change, but it’s always great re-connecting.  Also, a week ago I helped redecorate/rearrange my roommates place, and we finished it off by framing a couple of my Chicago pics for his wall…don’t you just love framed art!?







• [Bears] We started out well, not letting AP run all over us.  Then we got stopped with a drive inside the 3 yard line on four straight plays, and then gave up a 99-yard TD pass to former Bear Bernard Berrian.  And that was the last we heard of the Bears offense in that game.  We’ve dropped our standing atop the NFC North and have a tougher road to finish the season than the Vikings, but I still think we can make a playoff run.  Here’s to hoping…
• [Fantasy] This will be my last update, as my season our officially over (I finished with a win though!)  I end off the leage in a sad 9th place.  It’s been a great season- what you all have missed out on, though (for those who have been following) is the message board- it’s been quite fun talking trash week in and week out.  I also had been doing weekly predictions of our matchups since about Week 8, and I’ve been above .500 so far.  All in all it’s been a fun- playoffs start next week for those remaining, and we’ll see how it all plays out.

natemathai | filed under: [MNR]

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[11.24.08] Monday Night Recap
- November 24, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] Just a reminder that there’s about 1 week left in this month’s photo challenge so get your images in!
• [Guys Night Out] Last Friday, my fiance went to Phoenix to visit her sister, which meant time for a Guys Night Out!  It started with a couple of us getting a dinner at La Tasca in Arlington Heights, a tapas restaurants.  Afterward, we headed over to Pinstripes in Barrington for some good old bocce ball!  I went and played bocce a week earlier for the first time, which got us hooked to come back again.  It’s a pretty fun/relaxing game.  Well after that for an hour, we ended the night with a little Quantum of Solace.  I was never a huge Bond guy, but it was a pretty decent movie.  I was getting very tired though as it’s seriously been awhile since I watched a midnight movie.  All in all, an entertaining night with the guys.  Here’s a couple pics from our bocce game:









• [Zachariah Family] On Saturday morning I headed out for an early morning mini-session.  They wanted to get a couple ‘formal’ pics taken for Christmas cards, so we did a quick session in the morning and will be doing a full portrait session with them a little bit late.  Here’s a quick teaser of the kids:



• [Ecumenical BBall Tournament] In Chicago, there are quite a few Indian churches in the area, and every now and then we try to set up various types of meetings and events to bring the churches together, and this Saturday there was a 1-day basketball tournament, with each church setting up their own team.  I swung by for a bit after the session as a bunch of my church friends were playing (as well as a bunch of regulars from Summer League) to check it out.  If anyone knows the outcome fill me in as I left pretty early, but here’s a couple images from the start of it all…















• [Bears] Finally, an easy victory.  Our defense was finally able to get pressure on the QB with a couple sacks and pulled off some picks as well.  The downside:  Hester still doesn’t know how to return kicks (and hasn’t made it up on offense either).  I still believe he’ll return at least 1 punt or kickoff for a TD before year end.
• [Fantasy] Even though I’m already knocked out of the playoffs, my role this week was to play the spoiler.  Sadly, it didn’t happen.  Now I’ve got one last game next week to save my pride and keep from being the worst player in the league.  This always happens when I play fantasy sports.  Ah well, here’s to next year.
• [Norwegian Recycling] I’ll finish it off with an awesome mashup that I found.  This guy goes by the name Norwegian Recycling and does an amazing job with mashups of a lot of pop/rock/rap songs.  It brings me back to my slideshow days…I never mixed like this though.  Enjoy this one:

natemathai | filed under: [MNR]

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[11.17.08] Monday Night Recap
- November 17, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] Just a reminder that we’re a little over halfway through November’s challenge, and the weather (at least here) is changing drastically into winter so be sure to get your “Fall” pictures taken!
• [NavJeevan] The NavJeevan Centre is an organization in India that my church is connected with, which helps children of women who are in the Red Light District.  For the past few years, we’ve been able to send a team out every year for a few weeks to serve out there, build relationships with the kids, and things like that.  This past Friday, most of the team members took off for two weeks, which include my sister and brother-in-law.  In total, its a team of 8 that will be out there spanning 4 weeks.  Keep them in your prayers, for both physical and spiritual protection.
• [Winter] I’m not sure what the true definition is for the change in seasons, but this is how I know:





• [Bears] For the first time Lovie’s career as head coach, we lost to the Packers…and it was to Aaron Rodgers too!  It was an extremely sad game to watch.  Our defense got owned, and our offense played like…our offense.  Not a good combo.  If we don’t make changes fast it’s going to be a fast fall from the top.
• [Fantasy] It’s official…I’m knocked out of playoff contention.  I had some poor management yet again with my RBs, but even if I picked the best lineup and my opponent made the worst choice, I’d have still lost - it was just one of those weeks.  All well, it was a fun 11 weeks so far, and for the last two I’ll just play the role of spoiler.
• [Snuggies] For some reason, I seem to be stumbling across a bunch of infomercials as I flip through channels.  And the latest one that scared me was for “Snuggies“…I seriously thought it was some sort of cult-ish outfit when I watched.  Would anyone of you guys wear this?  Or more importantly, do any of you already have it?  (And if so, please disregard the “cult-ish” statement )  The big question:  Have you purchased anything off an infomercial, and did it live up to the hype?
• [MammothMen] So a little while back a group of 6 awesome photographer friends got together for a week away for Snowboarding and fun times in Mammoth, and its become a regular occurence now.  They have now doubled in size, and are on version3 of their trip, which is being fully documented on their blog.  So if you’re looking for an overload of awesomeness, be sure to keep up with them.  If Indians enjoyed cold weather sports, I would so be looking for my own set of Mammoth Men.  But alas, we do not…but is anyone looking to just get away for some fully documented fun times!?!?!  Let me know!
• [Wish List] Christmas is right around the corner, so I guess its time to start thinking about what I’d like to get (that’s reasonably priced and not photo-related).  Any suggestions?  What was your favorite Christmas gift and why?  What are you looking forward to getting this year?  Help a brother out!

natemathai | filed under: [MNR]

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[11.10.08] Monday Night Recap
- November 10, 2008 -

• [Presidential Election] Unless you were stuck under a rock for a week, you probably heard that Illinois senator Barack Obama won the recent presidential election in a landslide (based on the electoral college system).  At the last election, I remember staying up until 5am following the polls because it was just so tight!  This one was decided by around 9pm.  It’s really only just the beginning - Bush is still in office for a little bit longer, and then we’ve got 4 years.  Don’t expect everything to be spun around overnight, but here’s to hope and change!
• [The Office] It’s finally getting back on track!  The first few episodes were funny, but not to the same extent as previous seasons, but its starting to pick up again.  Loved the halloween episode.  I love looking forward to Thursdays…
• [Black Friday] It’s coming.  Are you guys ready?  Care to share your plans?  Last year I was up around 4am to wait outside Best Buy, and I think we’ll be starting around the same time again this year.  What are you guys looking to pick up this year?  Let me know if you know of any amazing deals too!
• [Bears] I almost get an ulcer every game.  Going in I wasn’t really expecting a win.  But then they tease me by playing just good enough to give me hope, but just bad enough to lose the game.  It’s surprising that we’re still #1 in the NFC North…I’ll take what I can get.
• [Fantasy] This was quite possibly my worst managed week of the year, and probably knocked me out of playoff contention (I’m clinging to a thread over these next 3 weeks).  I left 50 points on my bench between two running backs and a wide receiver (the running backs I started barely got me 5 points total).  BLASTED!
• [Nieces] You probably remember Izzy from the family session I did a short while ago.  While her mother and my sister took a weekend escape of sorts and left the fathers to babysit, so I went over to hang out on Saturday.  I got there just in time for their dinner…pizza and green beans.  They had a contest to see who would eat the green beans the fastest too!  I love how kids can make a competition out of anything.  I wonder when we grow out of that.  Enjoy the pics…








• [Coming to an end?] As we close off the year, I’m pretty impressed with myself, as I have been keeping the MNR going for over a year now (That’s a lot of Mondays!).  I’m thinking it’ll be coming to an end soon though.  The good thing, though, is it’ll hopefully get me blogging more regularly as I’ll spread out the topics throughout the week (hopefully).  Also, I got some interesting stuff that I’m *hoping* to get up and running soon too, that will most likely keep you all entertained.  (Again, if there’s anything you’d like to see/hear about, feel free to leave it in the comments)

natemathai | filed under: [MNR], family

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[11.03.08] Monday Night Recap
- November 4, 2008 -

• [Photo Challenge] For those who haven’t done it yet, I’ll give a bit more time to get your submissions in from last month’s challenge (self-portrait).  I’ve just posted the November challenge, and here’s the image to get your thinking:



• [Fantasy Basketball] In the middle of last week I realized I joined a fantasy basketball league with some kids from my alma mater, and I finished the first week with a 6-4.  I also realized why I don’t do fantasy basketball or baseball anymore - it requires way too much time!  Unlike football where it’s a once a week thing, these sports have games pretty much everyday.  It’s still fun, but I realized I don’t have time like I used to to keep up with it…but we’ll see how it goes!
• [World Series] Yeah, I didn’t care that much either.  But for those who do care enough but didn’t hear anything…the Phillies won.  Woo.
• [Chicago Sports] The Bears have the best record in the NFC.  Do we think they’re Superbowl winners?  Nope.  The Bulls have started out pretty strong.  Are we expecting them to go deep in the playoffs?  Not Really.  Why?  In recent years, Chicago teams have now been consistently good during the regular season (see: Cubs 2007-2008, White Sox 2005-2008, Bears 2003-2007…) yet haven’t been able to finish.  So I guess we’re a bit spoiled with consistency and now need  big finish.  So which team will do it first?
• [Bears] We pulled out the win, yet it was really sad.  Detroit hasn’t won a game all season, yet were up 23-13 in the 3rd.  Adding insult to injury:  Orton is hurt, Mike Brown is hurt, Vasher is hurt, Hester has forgotten how to return kicks.  Next week will be a huge game though…Grossman’s first full game back, going up against the undefeated Titans.  Should be fun! (or very depressing)
• [Fantasy] 1.32 Points.  That’s all I needed.  If I knee McGahee wasn’t playing I would have played Pittman, which would have done it.  Or if Leftwhich would have thrown a 15 yard pass to Washington at any time during the 4th quarter, I would have won.  But no…this is depressing…
• [Vote] you’ve got a few hours to learn about the candidates to figure out who you agree with the most.  Then for those who didn’t vote early, go out and vote tomorrow. And then we’ll see what the next 4 years look like…
• [Should I go?] Downtown Chicago is going to be buzzin’ and crowded like none other.  Should I schlep my gear and try to see how close I can get to Grant Park during Obama’s party, or save myself the time, worry, and pain and just watch the polls with some friends?

natemathai | filed under: [MNR]

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