End of July?!

So I just looked up from my annoying work and noticed that it was already the end of July...
blink, blink - What the deuce??
Has it already been 30 days since the last post? Talk about losing track...

Things here are good, though too hot for our comfort. Stace is packing or stuff after throwing a dart into the middle of Vermont on our US map. "Sounds good", she said. She's not one for the heat either.

Good news - our friends Sandra and Matt Clancy had their daughter this weekend! Not sure about the details yet, but that's just wonderful as they are great people. In case you do not recognize the names, I mentioned Matt came in third at the White Lake Sprint triathlon in the Spring. Third. That's like 2 behind First. He wanted it under an hour but missed that mark by 6 minutes.

Other good news - My brother in law, Lee, and his wife Melissa, are having a boy in the Fall - very exciting! My nephew Cooper turns 1 in August and is probably running around under his own steam by now. My lil pup Porter is a mere 100lbs or so and seems to be very happy though he could use another shave down already. Oscar is cranky that he's not sleping in the bed any longer, but he's at a healthy 17 or 18lbs. We (I) FINALLY got the pot rack up in the kitchen and it's fabulous.

Stace and I met a few of her friends last night at the Blumenthal Theatre where we thoroughly enjoyed "Avenue Q". http://www.avenueq.com/broadway/se2.htm . We forget how much we enjoy the Blumenthal and are vowing to make it a larger part of our lives.

In the darker news, we lost my Great Uncle Lonnie Friday night. The details are unclear however it is my understanding that he took his own life. All I can say is that I truly hope he is in a better place. Please send prayer to the surviving family and friends in this dark time.
Also close to home, a gunman killed 2 people and wounded many others in a church close to my childhood community and where my parents still live. One of the men who helped to subdue the shooter was the father of a family down my street. http://www.knoxnews.com/ . Of course my father was called out by the Red Cross to help deal with the victims and general aid. I wish the Red Cross had a stronger emotional/mental support system for their volunteers... I wonder if we can write someone regarding that.

Well, after that where do you go... Should I give the darker news first? I'll try that next time.

"Picture pages, picture pages, time to get your picture pages...." In my world of photography there is a bit going on - still working on finishing the polos and biz cards. I recently shot a free concert in the neighborhood and had some positive results from that. Several of the bands were very taken with my work and posted some shots on their individual sites. The New Familiars headlined their Myspace page with one of my shots - always neat to see - and are using a couple other individuals for their own pages. The Carolina Live Music Society approached me to possibly do some work with them - always good for networking and they introduced me to a new site that seems to be able to integrate pricing with postings: kinda like Flikr! with a Buy Now! option. Smugmug.com is the site and I will be checking it out shortly and creating my own gallery to post to. I suppose I'll do an "Introduction to Me" type gallery and post my favs from the past?

What's Stace into? Working, that's what. The girl is all over the place bringing people in to get these teams together. Makes me tired just reading her To-Do list. But she's doing a great job and her people really love her. MAYBE she'll write an entry here herself one day! :)

Well, I've got a few systemboards to replace - gotta go.

Be safe,
J.