Calabama

Anyone out there?

calabama — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:27:55 +0000

I noticed that the title of our last post was “Bad Bloggers.” Well, one year later …

Anyway. I’m reviving the blog myself in the hopes of communicating with other Etsy sellers, as well as a way to force myself to shoot more. Oh yeah, plus there’s that little trip to Paris coming up in March …

For those wondering what happened in the house saga, things have finally settled down (knock on wood). After firing our painter, hiring a pest-control man, landscaper, maids, and sanding and re-painted two rooms ourselves, it finally appears we are living in a normal dwelling.

We got our first snow (my first snow ever in AL) this morning:

Light dusting in the neighbor's backyard

To get in the holiday spirit, and because Kevin wanted one so badly (ha. ha.) , we bought our first Christmas tree this week.

The running tally stands:

(2) Tree bases purchased
(3) Cat climbing attempts
(2) Near-falls
(1) Bloodied arm

But hey, it looks great!

The masterpiece

Enjoy your weekend, folks!

Bad bloggers

calabama — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:06:47 +0000

Well, we pretty much haven’t blogged at all since we started this thing, although nothing extremely exciting has been going on since we last updated. Kevin came to California last weekend for a long-ish trip (four days!), and we pretty much just hung around San Jose. We tried to get up to the new Cal Academy of Sciences, but arrived just before closing time.

Instead, we took a trip up over the Golden Gate to the Marin Headlands right around sunset. Neither of us have ever been, and it’s absolutely stunning. A bit scary if you’re afraid of heights, and if your girlfriend is more focused on the view than the windy one-way road.

Later that night, we had dinner with the lovely Allie and Eston at Mangarosa, a delicious little Brazilian-fusion eatery in North Beach.

Highlight of his visit, though? Pumpkin carving! We ventured to Half Moon Bay (pre-Pumpkin Festival), and Kevin kindly humored me while I fed some goats at the patch. Here are the masterpieces:

Many Sharks fans enjoyed watching us stage this classy photo as they walked to the Tank. Watch for that Mercury News “M” pumpkin in your Halloween newspaper!

-Ashley

Buy my stuff

calabama — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:07:30 +0000

Tonight I embarked on a journey I’ve been trying to push myself toward for many months now. A journey which I probably don’t have time for, but a task which I will undertake anyway. I finally opened my own Etsy store! So please, go buy some stuff I made.

Mainly, I’m using it as a place to sell photos from my Flickr account, but occasionally I’ll put some paper goods or other random prints up there….like right now. There are eight items listed, some of which have actually received quite a few hits since I uploaded them an hour ago. But so far, no sales.

You can get there by clicking on the photo or clicking here.

-Ashley

Wasilla, Alaska? Yep, been there…

calabama — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:42:45 +0000

Twice!

Sarah Palin is John McCain’s vice presidential nominee. She’s governor of Alaska. And, she was mayor of Wasilla (where she lives).

I was up in Wasilla (about 45 miles north of Anchorage) twice in 2006 working on a redesign of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (based in Wasilla). The first trip was during the Iditarod start, which was pretty sweet. The redesign was part of MG (Mansfield-Goldman) Redesign.

Anyway, here are a couple pics of the area. I seem to be missing my Iditarod photos (woof!), so will try to find them. But this place is SMALL. I’m more impressed Palin can survive up there, which has to be far more difficult than being mayor of the town.

-Kevin

Day two

calabama — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:50:47 +0000

This morning, I met up with the Merc’s political reporter, Mary Anne Ostrom, to help her with some video to accompany a feature running in tomorrow’s paper. We headed down to The Big Tent, which is basically a two-story, 500-person base for bloggers (some DNC-credentialed, most not) sponsored by Google, complete with free burritos, beer, couches, massages and smoothies.

I was lucky enough to meet Craig Newmark (Founder, craigslist) and Markos Moulitsas (founder, The Daily Kos) among many others, and grab some video to go along with Mary Anne’s story.

Here’s the video:

I’m going to try to meet back up with her later this week to get inside the Pepsi Center and shoot more video. Uploaded some more shots of downtown Denver on Flickr as well.

Tonight was pretty difficult, design-wise. There was a lot of breaking news, including a clash between protesters and police right outside the Post building. I believe one or two Post staffers were pepper sprayed, and I think A/C was shut off to our building for a while to avoid sucking in the fumes.

Here’s a photo from the aftermath (you can see that the police had cornered the group at this point):

More tomorrow. I’m exhausted.

-Ashley

DNC ’08

calabama — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:07:56 +0000

So I made it … finally! And yes, Mom, I am alive. Most of today was spent inside The Denver Post’s newsroom attempting to learn yet another new pagination system (Hermes, this time). I’m lucky enough to be working with a great group of people, and have already met many interesting folks such as a delegate from abroad on the rental car bus, and many of my Bay Area News Group colleagues who are also working at the Post this week.

Needless to say, the Post building is pretty amazing. It’s smack in the middle of Denver’s civic center area, and therefore in the middle of all the DNC action

Here’s a view from the balcony of the Post building (which also houses the Rocky Mountain News and Media News Group’s headquarters):

There’s one other photo on my stream from the protests this afternoon. I’ll have many more tomorrow, as I’m meeting up with the Merc’s Mary Anne Ostrom to help shoot some photos/video to go with her upcoming story.

So that’s all for tonight. I’m here at my fantastic host home, with the nicest kitty in the world sleeping on my feet.

By the way, follow www.twitter.com/politicswest for breaking DNC news round the clock.

-Ashley

Hello world…

calabama — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:41:44 +0000

OK… In theory, we’re up and running. Ashley will take the lead with tales from the DNC…