Friday, February 19, 2010

Volunteering Day 8/9 - W/ Side of Artsy Inspiration

These 2 days at Nathaniel Witherell have been quite busy. There were lots of patients that needed to be brought to the physical therapy room, only problem is that a few refused. I can't force anyone to go, so it's a funny situation when I come back to the room and tell them, I had no luck with the patient. Thursday, I was 0 for 4; they were just not having it. Because most of the patients refused, I didn't really interact too much but the small interaction I did have allowed me to get a few smiles out of them.

Whenever I get a chance, I always go and say hello to my fellow Mets fan. He's an older gentleman who has lots of Mets memorabilia in his room. He has a great personality and is very welcoming. I make it a point in my day to try and stop by just to say hello.

For the Inspiration side of this post, I took some pictures of some Valentines Day balloons that got tangled in a tree when I was up in Burlington and it got me thinking. I'm not one to celebrate Valentines Day just because my personality and my look on love says that I don't need a holiday to express my feelings toward someone. I feel you should tell them every day but that's me.


This picture is something that kind of resembles what I have been thinking since January. When things aren't going well, things pile up, things just take a bad turn, you tend to look at the negative in your life and focus on that. I did the opposite, which is what this picture resembles. When things are looking bleak and negative, you need to push through and focus on the positive. If you don't think there is something positive in your life, then you are mistaken. Everything can be a positive just like everything can be a negative.


This next picture is the same picture just edited differently. It's supposed to simulate the journey of "love." This is where it gets artsy so having given you fair warning, here it goes.

Everyone is a tree. You fall in love with someone and everything is amazing, then something happens and, well, it ends. The love for them is still there and will never leave as demonstrated by the fades balloons. But there is always someone else that will bring your spirit up and making you feel amazing. You never know when you will find your "true love" so until you do, you are going to just keep adding balloons to the tangled mess. The brightest balloon represents the hopeful spirit that the next one will be the one, there will always be a bright balloon if you allow it.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Volunteering Day 7 - Vermont Weekend

Today wasn't one of the usual busy days for me. It was quite the opposite. Instead of interacting with patients and seeing the happy side of things, I was reminded of the sadness. It was a very tough day for me to say the least, but it doesn't deter me from coming back. On the bright side, I found out that all the things we had put aside to be taken to Haiti had been sent. That made the day some what better; knowing that i had help prep things for others to use. But like I said, today wasn't really a busy usual day so there isn't much to mention.

On another note, I took a trip up to Vermont to visit the best couple I have ever come to know during my years at Champlain College. I met them when I was a Resident Assistant and have been friends ever since. It was a pretty fun weekend. I was able to reconnect with some people I hadn't seen since my graduation as well as others who really mean a great deal to me. I did end up having a lot of free time just cause plans didn't work out the way I wanted them to, but it gave me time to think of whats important and take some pictures. I forgot to head downtown at night so I plan on doing that next time I go up. Well here is what you've been waiting for. The pictures from my travels.

Lake Champlain, on a cloudy cold day.


Ducks enjoying the icy water.


Lot's of ice. Come March, all this ice will be overflowing the lake.


Lake Champlain.


It truly is a great view.






I was trying to get more light streams but I guess the day before V-day most people want to be inside or at bars.


Champlain College at night. Lonely but safe.


The most walked area at Champlain College.


I spent most of my senior year here in this building.


Wick hall, I've only had 1 class in here but I always enjoyed that staircase at night.


This is a new addition to the campus. You can't tell but the lake is in the direction of where its pointing.


Windy Burlington


One of the people I came up to see is a good friend of mine. We went out to breakfast to talk about some things that had been on my mind and vice versa. One thing lead to another and we started talking about random stories. She brought one up about how she had seen these heart shaped balloons stuck in the tree. She said, "I can picture it now, a poor guy getting out of his car and having all his balloons just fly out. And having a very disappointed look on his face." Well She told me where the balloons were and so here is the picture.


Thats all for Burlington, VT but more to come when I visit again.

As for the drive home, I was told that it was going to snow so I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Only thing stopping me was saying my good byes. Twelve O'clock came around and had no time for some other things I wanted to do, because that was my on the road time. Well it was all going well until I got to Windsor, VT when I started to see some snow. Let's just say, 7 hours later, I was home. Here are some pics I took as I was driving down.

All fine as of now.


Not too bad just a little flurry.


Here is where it got interesting. Snow had already been falling down south and well the roads were getting slippery. Bad thing was, I wasn't using 4x4 yet.


A couple of miles after this shot I came up to a truck. The truck was being follow by a slower vehicle so I said, " I'm making good time, I will just go around these 2 and continue with my cruise." Little did I know the car was following it because the road wasn't touched yet so there was quite a bit of snow on that side. Still in 2 wheel drive, I started to go down hill and with a slight touch of the breaks, I started to slide a bit. The sliding didn't bother me, I can handle a little fun, it was the huge truck to the right of me that got me worried, more so cause at the bottom of the hill it curved left, and since I was unable to turn I figured I'd be going right in to the truck. Was a good time.


After that scare I stopped, put my 4x4 on and was good to go.


Others were not as lucky as you can see.






When I was driving up, I stopped to get some gas at what I thought was a gas station right off the high way. I was wrong. I took a 5 mile detour in to some unknown place. Well my luck should have it, I did the same thing but on a different exit. Luckily I came across this bridge, which looks pretty cool. Here are my detour pictures.






Back on the road.


Trucks can crash too and usually it's a little harder for them to get back on the road.






Like I said, it was a 7 hour drive down but I didn't mind. I had some music to listen to, some good thoughts going through my head, and I was taking pictures, what more can I ask for? Yeah, probably not the safest thing to be doing behind the wheel but then you wouldn't get these pictures to look at. I believe this is Hartford.




Thats all. Stay tuned for more.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Testing out the new backdrop

Now that I have disposable income, I am looking to further my photography. I am still a beginner but I want to have some fun with portraits. I bought myself a gray backdrop to use, but with no models to test it out on, I had to use myself. I asked my sister to help me with the first picture so she is the female. Something to consider of course is don't judge me on these pictures.

Need a new avatar picture for one of your social media accounts? Maybe you need a more professional looking picture for one of your online profiles? What ever the reason, I am currently looking for anyone in the Greenwich, CT area to pose. I will be taking free pictures for anyone interested. I just want to get better with portraits.













Snowy Greenwich, CT

When I don't find myself reading Marketing trend articles, applying for jobs, writing cover letters, fixing my resume, and twittering useful job search articles that could help others land a job, I find I need to address my creative side a little more. And thus, I go and take some pictures

As it turns out, the snow storm that hit the Midwest came over to the East Coast to say hello. I decided to greet it the best way I knew how. Pictures! When I was going to go out and take pictures a friend of mine called me up and asked if I could take some of his car in the snow, since it was a Subaru and they are awesome cars, I agreed. And we were off on our adventure. We were in search of a road/driveway where the snow wasn't plowed. Being Greenwich, we had to go pretty far back country to find one of those roads. Back country is where all the big/private estates are. It's pretty far away from the center of town but there are some nice looking houses back there. Well, we took a ride out to investigate and here are some of the things I found. Side note: Nothing we did was illegal.


























Hope you enjoyed. Comments welcome.