Past the Lamppost

Chloe turns 11 tomorrow. Tuesday isn’t really a very conducive time to have a birthday party. Most people are working or living their lives, and far too busy to spend any real time just hanging out and enjoying the company of family and friends. I guess in a perfect world it would be different, but this is the world we live in so, we celebrated her birthday Sunday when everyone was available. It was a very nice time. The rain largely stayed away so the day was beautiful and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I took a bunch of pictures during the party, here are a few of them.

Today Chloe and I went out and did a little shopping. we stopped at the mall and at Toys R Us to redeem a gift card she’d gotten recently, and eventually made it to Border’s Books. My intent at Border’s was as it usually is, to give Chloe a chance to look thru some books while i read a magazine or some book that doesn’t require my brain, and have a cup of coffee. i was just walking past a display at the front of the store and noticed a book that had a cover that made it look like a package being mailed in brown paper wrapping. Stamped across the front of it looking like some official marking was the title. “The Secret Life of Men and Women. -a Post Secret project”. Intrigued, i opened the cover and started reading. From the introduction, here’s the gist. In November 2004 this guy prints out three thousand self addressed postcards inviting people to mail a personal secret to him, anonymously. He handed them out to strangers and left them in public places to be discovered. From those original three thousand post cards, he received back about 100 artful secrets. He thought that to be the end of the project. But to this day he continues to receive secrets from all over the world. He has filled 4 books with the secrets written on all kinds of creative post cards.

Then i started to read the post cards.. the actual secrets. within 2 or 3 postcards, i stopped and headed for the coffee counter. i knew i had found what i was looking for. Over the next hour i read the entire book…. it was amazing. Funny, sad, silly, serious, forgiving, and at times heart wrenching. at one point i had to consciously stop myself from crying. I have never read anything like it.. the premise was cool, the execution was poetic, but the thing that made it all work so well were the secrets… i think because they were anonymous people were so honest… and really wrote what was in their hearts. Most secrets weren’t pretty, but let’s face it, who’s secrets are? Follow this link to his website if you’re interested in reading more, but quite honestly there is no substitute for going to the bookstore and reading the book.

Sounds like a sports channel, or an acronym for the Excecitive Business school at Southern California. But no, it’s the initials for the newest Camara. Although with four names, I don’t see how they missed my vote. I mean, once you have four, what’s five? Apparently Elias Benjamin Samuel Fred Camara is too much, but Elias Benjamin Samuel Camara is just right? I guess. If I had any advice to you Eli it would be, listen to your parents, take care of your brother as he will surely take care of you, (that’s what brothers do even if nobody knows it) and make good choices. Anyway.. Welcome to the world nephew.

Ok, so the new iPhone is here… i’ll admit, i’d been waiting for it’s release…. so last Friday was day one. What to do? what to do? …. should i wait until the buzz dies down a before trying to get one? Last time i got one the first day… i told myself i’d just go by after work and see if they had any left in stock and when i got there they did. So i bought one and never looked back. This time was going to be a bit different, and I knew that early on. First off, i really liked the original iPhone, It did so much so well that I knew I wouldn’t be holding off for long. Secondly, the original iPhone attracted so much attention by the phone buying public, and was such a hit, the new version’s debut was likely to have a much larger draw than the original release… the thought of going to the Apple store after work to get one only to find out that they ran out was just not going to work for me.

So, what did i do? I took the day off from work, went to the Apple store early… like 6am early, and waited in line like i was getting Paul McCartney tickets. The morning wasn’t without it’s challenges… first there were the people.. i was there at 6:00, there was already a line of 50 or so people. A line that would grow in the next hour to between an estimated 200 and 300. Then all kinds of activation issues.. sure they straightened them all out, but i think even the mighty Apple was surprised and a little unprepared by the turn out.

Anyway, i know it’s all a little gay, but i’ve had a thing for Apple stuff for a few years now, and i have to admit, it’s not going away any time soon. I have my new iPhone and i like it every bit as much as it’s predecessor when it was new. That’ll last till they make a new one, then you’ll see me standing in line waiting. I’ll be the guy with the “I Heart Steve Jobs” t-shirt.

it’s summertime…. i know when i was a kid the summer was soo wonderful… sleeping a little late…. not having to be anywhere on a schedule… like school. Now i’m older, summer’s here, but it means different things to me now. On my day off it means i get to spend a lazy day with Chloe. Today was just that… we hung out at the house for the morning doing what we do best, which was nothing… then off for a few errands.. and we ended up at one of my favorite places, Barnes and Noble.. Chloe shopped for a while in the children’s section then sat down and read through a few of her choices.. as for me… i got a magazine, a cup of starbucks coffee, sat and quietly enjoyed some peace… it was nicer than i can express here…

Ok folks, happy to announce that after much deliberation Maggie and Jake have indeed picked a name for the newest Camara. Although Aaron and Jeremiah had made the short list they have finally settled on Fred. Please join me in congratulating M & J on an excellent choice. Fred Camara… has a nice ring to it, right?

Every once in a while you stumble across something new. A truly original idea. Some of you may have seen the slightly more famous Frozen Grand Central mission. This mission shown here is “No Pants 2k8″ and shows a large group of “agents” taking the subway in New York in their underwear but otherwise acting as if this activity was totally normal. Check it out.

The group is called Improv Everywhere. There are quite a few “Missions” they’ve put on. Many extremely funny, all very original. Definitely click the Frozen Grand Central link above, if you’ve never seen it, it is pretty cool.

Like many people I’m sure, I have an errant hair or two growing in places I’d rather they didn’t grow in. Don’t misunderstand, this isn’t a crazy hair growing catastrophe. But it’d be okay with me if certain places on my body were hair free. My ears for one. I don’t know what was behind the idea of hair growing out of the ear, but I’ve got plenty to spare. I trim it when I think of it (usually when it’s more noticeable than my sideburns), or my barber does when I get a haircut. But the craziest one, and I do mean one, is this single hair that grows straight out from between my eyebrows. First of all, it’s thick. Like coaxial cable thick. Second, it grows like a weed. I’m pretty sure it’s the point hair for an invasion that can only lead to the unibrow. Like it’s job is to grow out and see if the coast is clear.

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to grow out as far as you can. When you get an inch long, if you  don’t get plucked, we’ll send reinforcements.”

For now I’m staying ahead of it, but I’m sure one of these days I’m going to let it get just a bit to long and whammo. I’m going to wake up looking like the taller half of Ernie and Bert.

I’ve added a few pages here, a couple are waiting for content, but I’ve dropped a list of songs on the Playlist page, so check it out.

Last day of vacation. Anything I could say here just sounds like whining so I’ll keep it short. It’s Saturday night and I have to go back to work tomorrow (Sunday). I’m not sure if it’s just cuz I’m getting older or of it’s cuz I hadn’t had a vacation in a couple of years, but I surely do not want to go back to work tomorrow. It was awesome spending all day everyday with Candy, we rarely get that kind of time… and I never get to spend multiple days in a row with Chloe, she’s so cool and fun to be with. It really struck me how fast she’s growing up. Unfortunately I’ll never get this time with her back. It’s too bad so much of my time is spent on things that must be done rather than on the things and with the people that are truly important.