Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween



Halloween has always been celebrated at our house ever since I was too young to remember. And aside from Christmas, our house was decorated more than any other holiday-- to the point that I can remember being scared to go in. Sometimes I still am.

But it wasn't the ghouls and goblins that treated us, rather it was because my dad was born a while ago today. Instead of birthday cake, we ate pumpkin pie and instead of "happy birthday" we played Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. And we scared the pee out of not a few kids and even more moms.

So Happy Birthday Dad and Happy Halloween.

Going to Press


Yellow Leaf, originally uploaded by notashamed.

I'm to a point where I need to print some more of my photos. So in an act of shameless self-promotion, I extend this offering to you. Some of you have asked so, I'm not too ashamed.

4x6s will run at $3.

8x10s at $6.

Any bigger please inquire.

I haven't priced shipping so add a couple extra bucks for that. Try to let me know by Friday so I can place the order over the weekend-- drop me an email, send me a message over facebook, or whatever.

mark.grapengater [at] gmail.com

Vintage Sights and Sounds

I find it interesting to see what people collect, catalog, and build a website to display their glorious collection. In that interest I have two sites I've been to and found interesting:

The first one comes from my dad and is dedicated to Penny Postcards. The post card was patented in 1861 by John P. Charlton of Philadelphia and for a while only the USPS could produce them. Wikipedia says the above, but then says that the first postcards in the US were made to advertise for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Soon, though, the cards were able to be produced by anyone and this gave rise to the versions that we see today, although then the sold for only a penny-- thus, penny postcards. The site is arranged by state and has a pretty thorough collection. One of my favorites.

Our second site is Midwest 45s. Scott Harlow is a friend of mine at Grace and every Saturday morning he heads South to the old pawn shops on the South-side and digs around for Soul, Funk and Gospel 45s from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. After he finds them he digitizes them onto his computer, puts up their album art and lets your ears pulsate to the long forgotten beats. He has quite a collection going on but of all that I've listened to, I really dig this one.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Me

I figure since I haven't been blogging in a while I should probably update as far as me. So as much as I can, I will.

I have two great roommates that moved into the apartment with me for my last year of Seminary. Both blog also. Chris is working on a MATS degree. Luke plays frisbee-- oh, and is M.Div-ing it.

School's wrapping up nicely. I had my End of Studies interview yesterday and I think they're going to let me graduate. Ephesians and Colossians is by far my favorite class this semester and maybe of all Seminary. I find Paul's use of language ever amazing and how he lays it down by saying things like "But God..." (cf. Ephesians 2:1-10). As Klyne asked in class today, "Can it be this good?"

I got back from Kansas City about 2 weeks ago now. Kevin and I had a great time together getting to see the city. We had so much BBQ on Saturday that I thought it was coming through my skin as I lay down to sleep that night. Today during class I zoned out for a good 3 minutes as I thought about my Z-man and fries. I also got to see a lot of friends from K-State and on Monday I was able to head over to Manhattan to see my grandparents.

I went on a date.

I'm going on another date.

Different girls.

I was notified today that one of my photos is going to be printed and featured at the Chicago Public Radio's Community Gallery. Pretty exciting!

I'm still involved at Grace Chicago. I'm heading up the coffee, which I may have mentioned before, but I'm thinking about changing providers. Don't tell anyone, though, I haven't checked into it yet.

I leave you with this nice video I saw earlier today.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Friday Photo


Well, to kick off me starting to blog again, I'm publishing my Friday Photos again. It's been really nice not to worry about writing anything for a bit, but I'm getting some good learning in and need to share it some. Look for a few changes and regular postings.

For now, though, I offer these two recent photos for your visual pleasure. The first is a friend's daughter, Olive, who I caught outside playing on some of these beautiful fall days we're having here in Chicago. The second is a bright red leaf that I placed on the gazebo on campus. You know I don't know why North Park has a gazebo, but it made a great photo anyway.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Friday Photo v2.0


Hancock, originally uploaded by notashamed.

Friday Photo


Murcielago, originally uploaded by notashamed.

So I'm feeling guilty because the six of you that are faithful readers haven't even gotten a Friday Photo in a couple of weeks. I've been busy, sure, but I've also not taken the time to post the pictures up here. There's a ton over at Flickr for your perusal, but here's this week's installment.