What a week it has been

November 10th, 2008 | Filed under Blog, Politics, Quotes

I’ve been thinking all week about how to talk about Obama’s election. A combination of relief, pride, sadness, elation and disbelief only begin to define every moment I realize that the guy I believe in won. And won big.

I almost thought of not posting anything about the election, figuring what could I possibly say that hasn’t been said by the national news media 4 billion times. However, every time I turned on the news I never heard the most compelling story of the entire campaign. The fact that I was right.

Now I’m just kidding, this post isn’t about how I made Obama my guy back in 2005 and how I posted (link) about him running for president in January, 2006. It is about the fact that the American people finally got up off the couch and elected an intelligent man who has managed to rise above all the political nonsense that we have been subjected to for the past 14 years.

I’ll admit I had my doubts about Obama around October-Novemeber of 2007. He was flailing around trying to figure out a consistent message to present, and had been doing pretty badly in the huge snow white and the seven dwarfs* style debates. But then one Saturday afternoon I tuned into a town hall meeting with Obama hosted by MTV and a bunch of college kids. I’d been upset with Obama and frustrated with his response to questions and not presenting himself as the smart, quick witted guy I knew him to be from his podcasts, speeches and books.

He then proceeded to remind me why he was my guy. He spoke honestly, he spoke with authority, and when necessary he spoke in an educational tone that reflected the intelligence of his audience. The fact that he managed to get his point across without treating his audience like a bunch of idiots jump started the audience and you could tell he was hitting his stride in terms of policy and its presentation.

You can watch the whole thing on the poorly implemented MTV website here on mtv.com.

It was this moment specifically, as I chilled out on the couch probably snacking on something, that I was shown that this guy was going to stand up and take the Presidency from all the candidates that felt it was “their turn” to win. For me he did so that weekend and never looked back. He did it all, I feel with this quote from the end of the discussion. It is what I feel truly defined his campaign. Not his race, or name, or family, or upbringing, or education, or friends, or religious beliefs. It was this simple statement that ‘I want people to be for something.’ That was an idea that I don’t think the American people has truly heard since Kennedy. And history has now proven that they were ready to hear it. Here is the rest of the quote.

“I’m not interested in just rallying people around being against something, whether its George Bush or one of my opponents. I want people to be for something. I want, especially young people, to feel that at the end of the day, we still have the capacity to rally around the country. That were not just a collection of red states and blue states, or politics is this petty partisan trivialized business. I want people to feel that, you know what, we’ve got some big problems and you guys are part of the solution. You can make a difference.” - Sen. Barack Obama, Oct. 29 2007

Now I can’t wait for January ‘09 when I can enjoy another January of relishing my Obama fanhood.

*Reference to the West Wing tv show.

I ♥ Colin Powell

October 21st, 2008 | Filed under Blog, Politics

Regardless of your political or religious affiliations the following line was the most important thing about Colin Powell’s announcement this weekend.

“Well, the correct answer is, ‘He’s not a Muslim, he’s a Christian — he’s always been a Christian.’ But the really right answer is, ‘What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?” -FMR Sec. of State Gen. Colin Powell

As Teressa and I enjoyed out Sunday coffee and political-talk-shows, we both cheered when Powell made that very simple comment. I was planning on a big rant about this, but for now I point you to my favorite news source. The NPR.

The Great Pumpkin Patch

October 13th, 2008 | Filed under Friends, Life, Photos

Well, after years of false starts and bad scheduling on our part we finally made it out the great Buchanan pumpkin day. My friend Ryan’s fiance, Joah, and her family host a fantastic pumpkin picking and carving day every year and this year was no exception.

Tradition has it that Gary, Joah’s dad, will buy everyone’s pumpkins out at the Schaake Pumpkin Patch‎ if you can carry them off the field. Although, I think we loaded most of them onto a tractor-hay-rack but hey, who am I to argue with the Pumpkin Patch tradition keepers.

Anyway, it was a great day of enjoying the Buchanan’s hospitably along with hanging out with friends. Here is a link to the rest of the photos on flickr.

Teressa makes pretty things

September 19th, 2008 | Filed under Blog, Life, Photos

I’ve been wanting to post about this for months now, but I’ve been holding off in order for her battle-station to become fully armed and operational. I didn’t want it to be mistaken for a small moon.

Okay really, I setup a post about Teressa’s new project with a Star Wars reference? Well, lets just say that’s what has been on the brain for the last month or so. More info when I can post more…anyways…

Teressa has started a weblog and Etsy store!! After much deliberation about the name (foodfabricandpaper.com), design and what exactly to begin selling, Teressa has began a swift business of handmade custom Macbook sleeves as pictured here.

For those that don’t know, Etsy is a website that provides an infrastructure and community for people to sell handmade crafts and clothing. It has millions (or at least thousands) of items for sale every day, and I dare say that Teressa’s are some of the most well designed and constructed on there.

Not only does her photography look great, which I can take no credit for, but people are really enjoying her designs and she’s made quite a few people happy Macbook sleeve totting individuals. So if you are looking to get one for yourself check out the store here.

And yes, I’m fulfilling the Jon to Dooce role in the relationship. This makes for many a “why does this not look EXACTLY like I want it to stupid not really a web-designer boyfriend” comments as I have very limited coding skillz. But it just makes me stronger right?

Next step is to ramp up production on some seriously cute purses, but we wanted to let the universe in on our little secret thus far. We are headed to my Iowa for my cousin’s wedding this weekend so expect more than a few pictures of family with my new frakinstien camera rig when we get back.

The Weblog Lives

August 31st, 2008 | Filed under Blog, Life

So, hello Internets. I could turn this whole post into a swan song on blogging and my lack there of, but I think we know that no one really cares and would rather just skip ahead to what has been happening.

For starters, I hope you like the new look. I’ve been messing around on and off with a new theme for the site, and I think I’ve finally settled on a new more information rich look. We’ve got the twitter feed up above by the navigation, the flickr and last.fm feeds on the right and my delicious bookmarks rounding things out. One of the main reasons I’ve been remiss in blogging is I feel like when I do post they should include well thought out statements about things. The total opposite of that last sentence. However, the twitter and delicious feeds let me do a little more life-casting style stuff, without cluttering up the main blog feed.

Also, a bit of good news is that I’ve become more and more involved in the Pixel Corps and their ‘Teams’ division. Long story short, I get to work with fantastic artists and supervisors who critique my compositing work on a photo-real level. Not only that but we get the chance to work with feature film content and clients. So far it’s been fantastic, but my first big review will be on Wednesday so wish me luck. Unfortunately, I can’t really talk about what we’re working on right now, suffice to say that it’s really exciting and I am incredibly humbled to be given the chance to work on it. More info when it’s available, but trust me its great.

Anyway, that should wrap things up on what’s been going on with life. There are still a few bugs to squash throughout the site and few features I need to add but I like the general feel so far. I’ve also got a post in the can about what the wonderful, delightful girlfriend has been doing but that will wait until another day….when we officially launch the latest project.