The Serpentine Walls, only one brick thick, are one of my favorite architectural features at UVa. There have been many postcards made of these distinctive walls over the years, and for some reason I'm particularly fond of this one, from 1952. (Can you imagine today's UVa students wearing coats and ties to class every day??)

Interestingly, the image of the Serpentine Wall has been appropriated by groups as diverse as the Darden Private Equity Network ("Jefferson realized that by building a wall that curves, one uses 25% fewer bricks as compared to a straight wall. The curved wall can support itself while being only one brick thick instead of two. Jefferson's ingenuity and his prudent, economical and careful use of resources correlate with the skills needed to become a successful investor in the world of private equity") and the Serpentine Society, UVa's LGBT alumni association ("Serpentine walls are not straight, and neither are we"); the wall was also recently cited by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as an analogy for the tortuous line between church and state in this country. This is clearly one multi-talented, sinusoidal, crinkle-crankle stack of bricks!

We've gotten a bit of a news dump regarding Charlottesville City Council lately. First, Kendra Hamilton announced she will not seek a second term (Daily Progress, 2/23/07). This was followed by Democratic Central discussing who will run. And Waldo picked up that blog post and ran with it on CvilleNews.

In all this talk about how many seats might come open and who might be on the November slate, I'm not hearing jack about what makes a good Councilor--just who everyone likes or doesn't like. Maybe I need to turn my hearing aid up a bit. If I had one, I would.

There have been a handful of elected officials I have genuinely liked, and many more than that for whom I have voted. IMO, "like" shouldn't come into the equation nearly as much as "respect" should.

There are some things I believe are self-evident regarding people who run for public office. One of those things is that everyone who runs for public office has an agenda. They have issues they feel strongly about, changes they want to make. That's the freakin' common denominator among anyone who bothers to vote, let alone campaign.

Once the ballots are counted, that person takes on a job, and every job has a job description--duties that must be fulfilled. If you do not think a candidate has the ability to perform the duties, does it matter whether you agree on the issues or whether you like him/her?

IMO, not so much. There are some basic personality characteristics I look for: Integrity ranks high, as does responsibility. I want a candidate who balances principled conviction balanced with flexibility of mind, so that conviction doesn't become an excuse for arrogance or laziness. Beyond that, it comes down to what each candidate brings into the office.

So, here are my criteria for the job of City Councilor:

Understanding of and dedication to the actual job of being a public servant;

Willingness to do the background research into the issues brought before the dais, so that each vote made is informed as much by hard knowledge as it is by personal belief in "the right thing to do";

Desire to go beyond the parameters set by staff, which necessarily entails doing more analysis than just reading staff reports, although those are an important tool in decision-making;

Active solicitation of opposing points of view on any potentially controversial issue, and not just from friends, or at public hearings, or through the charlottesville.org e-mail inbox;

Ability to identify and prioritize the greater good;

Knowledge of structural/organizational systems, and how to work within one to change it; and

Time management, time management, time management.

That's my wish list, and I'm hoping our November slate has people who, individually or combined and working together, possess all of them.

PACEM is proud to sponsor a community presentation by Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health and subject of the best-selling 2004 book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, on Sunday, March 11, at 7:00pm at Holy Comforter Catholic Church (208 East Jefferson St. in downtown Charlottesville).

Dr. Farmer will be talking about his inspiring and path-breaking efforts to fight poverty, hunger and disease both internationally and in the U.S. (including street outreach work he's done with the homeless). The event is free to the public, but a collection will be taken to benefit PACEM.

On the following evening, March 12, Dr. Farmer will speak at UVa as a guest of the Center for Global Health to share his extensive experience in providing complex health interventions in resource-limited settings, including the treatment of HIV/AIDS and MDR-TB. That talk will be at 6:00pm in the McLeod Hall Auditorium.

Dr. Farmer is associate chief of the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham and Women's Hospital; Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School; and a founding director of Partners In Health, an international nongovernmental organization that provides health care to, and undertakes research and advocacy on behalf of, the sick and poor. Dr. Farmer is a 1993 recipient of the prestigious "Genius Award" from the MacArthur Foundation and is the author of numerous books and articles on the plight of the world's poor.

OK! OK! I said “daily updates”. But you see, had I updated over the weekend, it would have been a blog entry consisting of me copy/pasting the following:

I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS. I HATE ARKANSAS.

After the New Orleans show, the band headed home or wherever they go because we had two days off! Woo! So the bus became “The Crew Bus” and we lounged around and watched TV and ate all the food we could. (In a matter of 2 hours, while watching Crank Yankers, I, alone, ate a bag of turkey jerky, half a bag of tortilla chips, a small box of cocoa krispies, 2 sodas, 2 waters, and a brownie) From New Orleans, LA to Fayetteville, Arkansas (our next destination) it’s a 14 hour drive. So even when I fell asleep at around 4:30 in the morning on Saturday…I woke up around 11 and we were stopped at a Wal-Mart somewhere in central Arkansas. We stopped a truck stop soon after and me and Brian, one of the crew guys, made a mentos-coke bomb. If you don’t know what that is, YouTube it as soon as you’re done here. You’ll thank me.

We finally arrived in Fayetteville and we all got hotel rooms to hang out for the rest of our “off time”. Wanna know what I did for the next two days? Watched TV. The end. Oh well, atleast I got to shower for the first time since before I got on my first plane. Ew? Yes.

Finally yesterday decided to show up. I couldn’t have looked forward to working more than I did yesterday. The venue was like 8 blocks from the hotel. I could have walked and made it there before the bus did. We set up, and my friend Sarah (along with her friend Tyler), whom I know from The Early November Message Boards, came and visited!

(click on an image to see a larger view!)

Guess where we went to dinner? Here’s a hint:

(click on an image to see a larger view!)

And in case you live under a rock, didn’t have a childhood, or are just lame, here’s a better hint:

(click on an image to see a larger view!)

CHUCK E. CHEESE’S

F00LZ!!!! Take that! PWNED!!1! We ate pizzas that were about the size of our hands and then went and played nothing but Skeeball for the next 45 minutes. I spent $8 in tokens on skiball. I ended up with 126 tickets. I think Chuck E. served me (holy crap I should be on The (white) Rapper Show). I bought a giant rubber spider and a plastic ring for Jenna with my tickets. And then guess who came out of the back!!! CHUCK E. CHEESE HIMSELF! Check out these creepy pictures.

(click on an image to see a larger view!)

This Chuck E. Cheese was a complete throwback. The prizes. The games. THE ANIMATRONIC BAND! It was package deal in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They even had a crane game for ICE CREAM SANDWICHES! WTF?! I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve grown to like Arkansucks. Many thanks to Sarah for that one.

(click on an image to see a larger view!)

I got Sarah on the guestlist for last night’s show. She hung out with me ALLLLL night at the merch table. What a doll. We talked and danced a lot and ate candy. It was a good night. Can’t say the same as far as merch goes. I’m down to ONE (ugly) green RRFB shirt and one track jacket. As well as some other odds and end, but c’mon…ONE shirt? Local bands from Charlottesville have more than that. The good news is I’ve been campaigning for new merch since last tour, which WILL arrive to me by our next shows in Colorado on Saturday.

Today I woke up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is OFFICIALLY the farthest west I’ve traveled in my life. Everything here is flat and…flat? Tulsa’s a quiet little place with like 2 1/2 skyscrapers a lot of theatre and show life going on. It’s nice here. Just…with the flatness…c’mon.

Show’s about to start. The band and crew fly out tomorrow morning for some private dates. So Steve (our bus driver) and I have the bus to ourselves. PARTYYYY!!! And by party I mean watch TV and sleep during the 10 hour drive to Boulder, Colorado. W00t.

Leave some comments. Check out my deviantArt. Have a nice day!

And look how awesome me and Sarah are:

(click on an image to see a larger view!)

I just had a curiously strong experience of discovery… Earlier this evening, Kathy sent me video clips of a cool “wind catcher” and a “water scooper” from Sedona, AZ, which reminded me of a previous conversation in which I was relating my penchant for sonic art. In that conversation, I referred to an aeolian bamboo organ [...]

I was recently invited to participate in a group show at the Piedmont Virginia Community College here in Charlottesville. The theme of the show was "Alters." I came up with this piece sort of spur of the moment. These sort of conceptual pieces don't come naturally to me so it was a bit of a challenge to find a direction that contoured to the theme of the show while staying true to my own taste. The piece here titled "Empire" accomplished that dual goal. The piece, constructed of tin, brick, rope and various other materials was the final composition of many variations in the theme. The title came from the word "EMPIRE" that is stamped into the brick wrapped in rope. The metallic sphere that is resting on top of the brick was originally a toilet tank float. You can click on the image above for a close look.

For those within the UU Church, it is often true that no group of people is often more scandalous than the Neopagans. They are often the ones pushing the edges, or challenging established doctrine. For example, within my own congregation our group's decision to challenge the flyer program was somewhat controversial. A few people felt that we violated the same boundary of Church and State that we sought to defend, and others felt that we didn't submit to the right church procedures before engaging in such a radical piece of activism. While I might disagree with those folks, I love them as part of my community.

Truth be told, most UU Pagans are far more moderate than many other outside groups. For example, it is not terribly unusual for some Pagan events to be clothing optional, but I think its rather clear you'd never see that sort of thing at a UU Pagan group. Nonetheless, the same ideas espoused by Walt Whitman and other Transcendentalists are still quite radical today, and while other UU's might find them interesting reading or philosophically worthwhile, they may not be willing to follow them as literally as many modern Neopagans do. In fact, if you review many of the beliefs espoused by Whitman, then you'll still find these ideas to be quite radical in practice within a UU Congregation. If that's not enough, UU Congregations have leaned increasingly Humanistic over recent years. Pagans are often not only theists but polytheists. We also don't make any apologies for anthropomorphizing nature, indeed we almost flaunt it.

Back in the day, well known Transcendentalists like Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Theodore Parker were kicked out of Unitarian Churches because of their radical ideas about abolition and women's rights. As a parallel, I've witnessed several CUUPS Chapters have a falling out with their parent congregation then disolve. Apparently, the problem is big enough that CUUPS even has a whole guide published on how to maintain a good relationship with your congregation. Our group, NatureSpirit, has done a reasonable job over the six years of our existence of avoiding conflict; however, our success has also made us more daring. I think when more of our members are more willing to take on works of activism and publicly speak their views, then life may get a little more challenging (especially for me, since I'm usually the one serving as moderator during such times!) Of course, I'm also learning that conflict isn't always something to be avoided. Sometimes it is only in conflict that we can be truly honest with each other. I can only hope that like our Transcendentalist ancestors that Neopagans can somehow find a way to maintain our connection to UU's, and that our fellow UU's will be patient with us until we figure out how our thealogy can be truely reconciled.

Now that the weather has warmed up a bit, the second round of landscaping in Ballard Field has begun.  Crews have been out over the last few days planting trees in and around Ballard Field.  All in all, 400 trees will be planted before Spring.

One of my favorite moments as an admission officer came after only a week in the field. Like most rookie counselors, I was sent to a summer conference for new professionals put on my the regional NACAC. The week was full of sessions, some good and some bad, but the best part was probably meeting a few hundred people starting their admission career.

On the last day of the conference, a representative from the College Board came to give us a presentation about the SAT and how great it was at predicting academic excellence in college. I don’t think she counted on the crowd getting a little feisty.

One of my new friends, who was starting off at a private, liberal arts school in New England, raised her hand during the presentation and asked what the representative had to say about recent research that said the test had a cultural bias. The room erupted in applause. The CB rep was flustered. After all, admission officers for years had held the SAT in high regard. Suddenly, a new generation of admission officers was questioning the exam. The rest of that conference session was pretty fun.

Anyway, The Chronicle of Higher Ed has a story today about a similar conference session happening at a regional NACAC meeting. I hope that we actually see some changes now that more and more admission and guidance officers are voicing their discontent with the format and administration of the SAT.

I have been getting complaints about the lack of posting. I know, I know, I've been bad. However, I really don't have much to post about. I've already stated my case about the new alcohol policy at the Libel Show, bitched about the family crap going on, and all the other mundane things in my life that are going on and continue to go on. But there really isn't much else going on.

I've been sick for a couple of days and am about ready to sell my soul to the devil to make it go away for my upcoming trip to Spain. I have a whole to do list for that trip too, which I am not doing in favor of screwing around on facebook (damn you to hell, facebook!!!). Also I am doing my typical thing when I have a trip abroad and waking up in a cold sweat once a night after I've had a dream in which I show up to the airport without my passport. But, still, all pretty typical.

So, I'm sorry for the lack of posting. If you are really bored and looking for something to do, you can come here and clean my bathroom. It's one of the many things that needs to be done pre-my-leaving-the-country that is not getting done as I sit at the computer screwing around.

An Open Poem To My Mother’s Mother


Elizabeth, I took your name for every Sunday we sat
in the front pew, your mouth blistered with cancer.
Father John halting before the altar blessed you
with an imaginary cross, fingers like invisible markers
as if he were a surgeon instead, mapping the way for
incision and removal. All the people behind us
in the cathedral waiting-room hushed peace be with you,
and I knew they meant it. You and I, beneath the stained
glass spotlight every Sunday. I wonder now how all
the attention must have bothered you. You, with your
animal lips and stapled chin. No matter though— Jesus
was closer than anyone else. His palms pardoned
from the cross smoothed your sin, and you loved
his body because it required no teeth for consumption,
because you knew there were no doctors or Gods
who could make you pretty again.

Oh boy! Feline Foster Mom dusted off some old pictures of us when we were little bitty babies! It looks like we were a duo even back then!

I am going to Sudan in less than a month, though I need your help in getting there. I am going to be working on a photo project with the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America). My brother and I will be taking photos of refugees in camps in the surrounding countries. We will be listening to them as well, with the theo hope of coming back to the states to do a number of projects that will raise awareness and money for the people to start new lives back in the war torn country of Sudan.

If you would like to read more, please go here. Thee is a blog post, telling about the trip.

If you would like to learn more about the EFCA, go here. 

If you would like to make a donation to help me get there, go here. I need to raise $5,000. So far I have $550. Please consider giving... Awesome things will come from this trip, I just need to get there.

This picture is from Ft. Worth. I went there this past weekend for a photojournalism conference. It was amazingly beautiful. I learned a lot. 

My post on the use of printed reference works vs. Ebay elicited a nice comment recently. In his post the author said: There is one special issue though about Ebay versus Greenberg. Due to Ebay the prices of truely desirable items rises (much demand, little supply) and of normal rolling stock is dropping.True indeed, and that too adds to the danger of relying solely on Ebay as a source of

I have been so busy working that I’ve not posted at all in months. Well, to be honest, it’s been more than just work. For one thing, I started another blog, one that is private, and only accessible by me, my PI and anyone else (my wife, for instance) I give a password to. I post all sorts of methods, musings, charts, graphs, formulae, results, et al there, and so I’ve been left with less material to share here.

As a result, I imagine my readership has dwindled from three or so to none, which is a huge drop, percentage-wise.

That was a joke, by the way.

I’ll be attending the Fly meeting in March, at the Marriot, with my PI. That will be exciting. I already have an outfit picked out, here, that I think will be just the thing.

Can I just say it really chaps my ass how much these damned conferences cost? If I’m a professor, the department sends me, but I, being just a student, have to chase down travel grants (that cover about a third of a hotel room at best) and fork over dough I don’t have, just to get to go. You’d think science would be a little kinder to us poor people. Oh well.

I’ll have a poster, snappily titled, ****** mutants display altered cocaine responses, circadian rhythmicity, and startle responses, (****** is the super-double-top-secret gene) and I’ll be manning it, answering all questions (probably as many as I have readers for my blog). Hopefully I won’t embarrass myself.

I am going to try to write more, but we’ll see if my resolution sticks. :0

Last week, in a professionalization seminar in my department (yeah, the idea of sociologists acting professional is strange to me, too), one of my professors said something absolutely amazing. It was even more amazing coming from this guy, as he is pretty much the current authoritative voice in his field. We were talking about dissertation writing and he said:

“Don’t let perfect kill adequate

The old maxim of business that nothing happens until a sale is made holds true, but force of reality isn’t always enough to make truth ubiquitous. An impassioned counter claim from a technologist caught my attention. The point is simple enough and not so controversial. Business people need technologists to implement systems and solutions — that much is clear — but engineering fulfills one part of a total business endeavor.

I like what Guy Kawasaki said, in a list of his top ten lies from engineers:

My theory is that for version 1.0 of a product, the maximum allowable distance between the engineers and marketers is thirty feet.

Marketing and engineering have a torturous relationship. Marketers distill product capability into language suitable for customers and salespeople occasionally promise features or deliverables which frustrate engineers. On the flip side, engineers hedge about building new functionality and infrequently describe systems in useful terms for marketing.

Because sales and marketing have a potentially better grasp on the customer interest it only makes sense for their vision to direct software projects. Unfortunately the attention span of the marketplace is more fickle than most development cycles, so marketers often refine, revise or scrap a product design. This is supremely frustrating for engineers, but building the wrong system or finishing one that won’t sell has no value.

My point is that technologists need business people. They sell stuff and put lipstick on the pig for investors and a host of stake holders. As a career programmer turned IT manager, I’ll readily admit that customer focus is hard to maintain when building the guts of technology. Looking back on my entrepreneur days I see better my blind spots. Ignorance — not knowing or not caring — about the customer is common, but it is almost the rule among technologists.

As an illustration, I’m fond of Ron Garrett’s list of ten geek business myths. Several of the points could be summarized as “my ideas matter” whereas successful ventures are aligned with the goals of the customer.

I still haven’t finished Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World. Everytime I read a few pages, I get mad and frustrated and sad.

I’m going to have to finish it now, because I was invited to a gathering of women in Charlottesville, Women United in Philanthropy and I feel some hope.

The topic was local poverty, especially as it relates to families. Most of the presentation just reconfirmed what I’ve been learning through the affordable housing research committee of IMPACT.
- 15,000 below poverty in C-ville MSA
- self-sufficiency standard for VA says family must earn twice the level of poverty just to meet basic needs (housing, food, power, transporation, childcare & healthcare)
- that equates to 2 full-time workers earning $11.51
- average wage for low income worker is $7.07
- 18,700 people (point in time) on public assistance
- public assistance program is TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and many at just above 100% of poverty don’t qualify for this assistance

While these are depressing stats, the encouraging thing is that more people in the community are becoming aware of the problems and want to do something to address the injustices.

This January I was lucky enough to acquire a copy of Switchfoot’s new album, Oh! Gravity. I’ve given it a few spins, and it’s not bad. With that being said, I find myself missing their old stuff. New Way to Be Human, Learning to Breathe, even The Beautiful Letdown all have a markedly different sound and feel to them in comparison to Nothing is Sound or Oh! Gravity.

You won’t find the guitar distortion typical of Switchfoot’s current sound in these previous albums, but you will find beautifully crafted rock with inventive, quirky instrumentation and catchy hooks. I recently grabbed New Way to Be Human off of Amazon.com, rediscovering an album that is solid from cover to cover. It’s interesting to see a band meld music that’s fun to listen to with lyrics that make your head spin. “Amy’s Song,” “Only Hope,” Let That Be Enough,” even “Something More (Augustine’s Confession)” — there’s a depth to the words Jon Foreman pens that leaves you breathless. Off of Learning to Breathe, check out these lyrics from “Economy of Mercy”:

These carbon shells / These fragile dusty frames / House canvases of souls / We are bruised and broken masterpieces / But we did not paint ourselves / And where will I find You?

That’s one of my favorite lyrics out of any song I’ve heard, and I bought this album back in high school; it’s poignant and paints a vivid picture of the human condition. Words like that don’t just fall out of the sky. The Beautiful Letdown also doesn’t disappoint with its content, though there are a few songs I feel were hit-and-miss. That album was Switchfoot’s first taste at mainstream success, and the world hadn’t heard anything quite like them before.

Personally, I think Switchfoot deserves all of the acclaim it’s received thus far - there are few songwriters today that can craft songs the way that Jon Foreman can, especially in the arena of rock and roll. I do feel, however, that Switchfoot has lost sight of their roots, lost sight of part of what made them such a wonderful band - the accessible …. you see it in “Dare You to Move,” you see it in “24,” you see it in “Beautiful Letdown,” and you see it in their live shows. But, to a degree, on the last few albums their poignant art has found itself somewhat obscured by the overpowering nature of the rock and roll sound they seem to be developing. The words are still there; they’re just harder to see through the noise.

I still have high hopes for Switchfoot and their messages of hope and redemption in a world found lacking. I’m sure Oh! Gravity. will grow on me, but if you’ve never heard Switchfoot’s older fare, you’ll be doing yourself a huge service by grabbing a copy of Switchfoot’s retrospective The Early Years: 1997-2000 over at Amazon.com. You won’t be disappointed.

Per the Waynesboro News Virginian, some protected wetlands may be paved over to build some houses.  The county ruled against the developer (Countryside Investments) but they were given more time to come up with a better arguement.  Poor drainage and increased flooding are prime concerns for the project. In a shocking development, neighbors are opposed to the new construction.

A couple of facts I didn’t know:

• City officials cannot take the value of the wetlands themselves into consideration when evaluating development plans
• Permitting wetlands construction is a power left solely to state and federal authorities

So much for local control.

I wore my suit twice over the past three days, and neither occasion was for church!

On Saturday, I produced the ICCA South region’s third quarterfinal. It was a pretty good show, and certainly my best produced. I’m finally starting to get the hang of how to run these shows. Looks like I won’t be able to make my own Semifinals, though, so Rosa has kindly volunteered to run it for me! Which is really cool.

We awoke to the phone ringing on Sunday morning. Surprise! Church was cancelled. This wasn’t such a big surprise, given that the weather reports were calling for nearly an inch of ice to cover the area. Nasty. So after hanging up the phone, we ran to the window, only to discover that there was no ice, and barely any snow. The snow wasn’t even sticking to the grass! Charlottesville is definitely the most paranoid city I’ve ever lived in, when it comes to cold weather. I think the city has like one plow.

And Monday, I did my off-brief oral argument for the intramural Lile Moot Court. That’s my final argument, this round of Moot court is over! If I advance, that would be incredible, since only the top 1/4 of the teams from this round advance. And it would also mean I get to put “Quarterfinalist” on my resume. On the other hand, if I don’t advance, I don’t have to write another brief! I’ll find out my fate on March 31. ‘Til then, I think I’ll just enjoy this post-ICCA, post-symposium, post-Moot Court break.

Time for a nap.

This is good stuff.  DailyProgress reports that the Albemarle County Republican Committee is seeking a substantial decrease in the county’s real estate tax rate, now 74 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The Republicans’ argument hinges on a Virginia law that requires localities to hold a public hearing if property assessments go up more than 1 percent. If localities do not hold the public hearing, the tax rate cannot be set higher than the rate that would account for the increase in assessments.

In this case, Albemarle County Republicans say the rate would fall to 58 cents per $100 of assessed value to account for the rise in assessments. That amount would give the county slightly more in real estate revenue than what it had last year - that’s the point of the law, proponents of the Republican’s view say.

This was originally going to be a Kids in the Hall Monologue Video Tribute Post, yet YouTube has taken down almost all of my favorite Kids in the Hall monologues. Instead I'm just going to post some videos, but I will start with the two good KITH speeches that are left.

Dave Foley on Communism:



Bruce McCoulloch on working at a bank:



and some other stuff.

The Michael Showalter SHOWalter, episode 1:



Dana Carvey Show, Skinheads from Maine:



The State, Nazi War Criminals:



Michael Ian Black recites a poem:

Adhering to today's standards of crappy journalism...

As of noon today, I shit you not, this was a headline on cnn.com:

--
Crappy grades get minority kids acceptance
--

They've already changed it to "lousy", but is there something wrong with "poor"?

My friend showed me clips from the film Idiocracy last night, I'm starting to think Mike Judge was optimistic...

I was just reminded by an email exchange this morning that our dog has his own website of sorts. :) We adopted Nute in 2002 from the local SPCA. They, in turn, have a Happy Endings page on their website, that people send stories to about the pets they've adopted. Here's the link to Nute's Happy Ending. We've enjoyed training him using clicker training. Here's a site that describes the basics

The boy is Ethan, son of Josh Havens. Josh is in the band, The Afters. Ethan though rocks out on his guitar and sings songs by his dad as well as songs by Jars of Clay. He is pretty talented. The woman holding him is his grandma, who is the mother of Josh and Esther.

I went to Ft. Worth this past weekend for an awesome photojournalism conference. I learned lots of great things, that will hopefully help me a lot with my trips that are coming up quickly.

Here are some photos from the weekend. 

Have a great week. 

Busy: My show is up, and will be open to the public tomorrow morning.

Book: Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Definitely one of the best books I've read in the last few years.

Photos of Barack Obama, taken in Richmond, 17 February. The rest are here.