external monologue

vail

it has been a very long and thought provoking weekend. the vine conference was, in many ways, not at all what i expected. this morning we're wrapping up with one final gathering, and the general atmosphere is somewhat similar to the feeling i used to get on the last day of summer camp. i'll give a more detailed update once i'm home and have a bit more time.

vail has been incredibly beautiful. we got 3 inches of snow on saturday night and then bright sunshine all day long yesterday. this is a shot i got on the first afternoon here while driving around the vail village.

back to colorado springs this afternoon for lunch with the stuarts and then jake will be dropping me off at the airport for a 6pm flight. tomorrow at the office won't be pretty...

lil eli

no time to write just now, i'm walking out the door to vail. just wanted to share this photo of eli, the youngest stuart.

hattie-bug

it's somewhat difficult to pick a single photo of hattie to post on the blog because i've gotten so many great shots of her since being here. she's a real natural in front of the camera, and her big eyes make almost any photo pretty striking. on tuesday evening we walked down to the park where she and her little brother eli climbed all over while i took pictures.

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we spent most of the day yesterday walking around the colorado springs zoo with the kids and jake's parents. it's a pretty impressive zoo, especially this new african safari section they have. i don't think i've ever seen so many giraffe's in one place. i'll try to post a photo from there later.

in the afternoon we sat over at rockledge inn, the B&B that jake's parents own. i had a very interesing conversation with jake's dad about his vision for the inn and the property. he'd like to get a l'abri style community started there with a handful of students working on the B&B in the morning and studying in the afternoon. the property seems really ideal for his plans and it will be interesting to see how they materialize.

last night we took it pretty easy here at the house, and i got caught up on the sopranos (wow) while the stuarts got family portraits made. today we're headed in to check out downtown colorado springs.

travel day

this morning i scrambled out of bed a bit late and tim dropped me at the downtown marta station where i caught a train to the atlanta airport. security is still pretty tight down there, even at 8 in the morning, and i arrived at my gate only 10 minutes before scheduled take-off. granted, we sat on the runway for nearly an hour, but once we got in the air the trip was quick and painless.

i have a feeling that my fellow passengers must have thought me a little strange as i was continually shooting photos out the window. my row was empty however, so its not like i was leaning over anyone's lap, or shoving a zoomlens in their face. i did however get some pretty great shots of cloud formations. i think they're best right after you take off and you catch the roof of the first layer of clouds. this one looked a bit like a raging sea with some mythical beast rearing its head.

we touched down right on time, and i've been with the stuarts all afternoon. i toured the house just after arriving and then read to hattie before she went down for her afternoon nap. since then i've been playing catchup on some work for coptix. its just like old times programming across the room from jake.

i always forget how much i love colorado, and even when i do think of it, i often only think of its snowier climes. its truly amazing in the spring though. on our ride back today i couldn't take my eyes off the landscape around us - its so open and clear. clear is the word that keeps coming to mind as i walk around here. its like everywhere else is a little out of focus, and i never notice it until i'm here. and then it feels like someone tweaked the focus and suddenly everything seems crisp and sharp. its hard to explain, but it makes me just want to sit outside and breathe deeply.

well, elk steaks and homemade french-fries are on the menu for dinner, and i've been in front of a computer for far too long on a vacation day, so, until tomorrow...

resolutions review

first things first... for all of you interested brady's condition, if you've been keeping up with the comments you know that it is much improved. the latest i've heard is that he's awake and alert and in good spirits. the problem with his lungs appears to have been resolved. he's no longer in the intensive care unit nor is he on the respirator and has his own private room now. they are, however, worried about infections because of the removal of his spleen and the numerous surgeries that will be necessary in the next weeks and months.

please continue to pray. i have been greatly encouraged by how useful this website has been in spreading the word of his fall. i have been receiving comments, emails, and instant messages from people, literally, all over the world (china, switzerland, pittsburgh, etc.) who all say they're praying for him and thinking about him. its great to see the church come together in this way.

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some of you may remember the new years resolutions i made this past year. well, i'm proud to say that i have finally accomplished one of them - and even that only partially. my goal, in expanding my appreciation for the history of rock and roll, was to purchase 5 beatles albums before buying any other music. while i have picked up numerous other albums along the way, i did get albums #4 and #5 at mckay books on saturday - the white album, and sargeant peppers lonely hearts club band. you can see my meager collection above.

i also picked up a copy of the chronicle's of narnia which i've been wanting to reread for a long time now. i had no idea you could get all seven books in one volume. should make for good travel reading this week.

speaking of good reading: a NY times editorial for those of you who love rock and roll and nick hornby.

tonight i head to atlanta and fly to denver in the morning...

for brady

if you have been following the comments on yesterday's post, or if you heard from somewhere else, you know about brady king's fall yesterday. i still don't know too many details other than that he fell from the radisson in savannah while doing high-rise window cleaning. the grittier details can mostly be found in anna's comments yesterday, but the last i heard he's stabilized for now but has many more surgeries to come. i know that he and his family appreciate everyone's prayers and thoughts, so please keep it up. it looks like we're working on getting a card and some flowers sent over, so if you'd like to be a part of that you can contact kiko or charity (their email addresses are in the comments from yesterday); and isaac and i are talking about making a road trip to savannah in the next few weeks to see him.

for those of you who don't know brady, that's him on the left in this photo from last st. patty's day in savannah. he's one of the kindest and most genuinely enthusiastic people i know, and if past experiences are any indicator, he'll be back kite-surfing and skateboarding long before any doctor's expectations...

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friday-mp3-of-the-week: this weeks song, old fasion morphine, comes from a fairly new singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist named jolie holland on anti records. this song reminds me distinctly of someone, but i can't figure out who - perhaps the squirrel nut zippers?

no big weekend plans, just gearing up for the week in colorado.

wheland comes down

i'm a bit frustrated with today's photo, because i really think it could have been so much more interesting. for weeks john sweet has been bugging me to start taking daily or even weekly pictures of the deconstruction of the old wheland foundry. they went out of business maybe a year ago and the factory has been slowly coming down piece by piece. the last week or two has seen some major changes with certain buildings actually beginning to cave in and the industrial innards spilling out. even though i expect that it will be replaced by a city park or something as ecological, its almost sad to see it come down (especially next to the shiny new sign they got about a year before going under...). anyhow, the frustrating part is that i tried to go on the property to take pictures and was quickly escorted out by a security guard. apparently i have to get written permission to be on wheland property, and without my zoom lens this is the best i could do. hopefully its only a taste of things to come - i fully expect to have some more detailed photos once i get back there with a better lens.

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i missed the of montreal show last night - anyone have a report?

i don't think i've mentioned it before, but i'm going to colorado all next week for the vine's national meeting. they're one of our clients and have invited me out to find out more about their organization. i'm pretty excited about the whole trip, as i'll get to spend some time with jake and his fam too in colorado springs, not to mention some good discussion about christian ecumenicism at the conference.

the gospel comes to hardees

yesterday mesh and i went to this at the hardees in hixson... and it was downright incredible, literally. i mean, i actually had a hard time believing it was all happening. we showed up around 6:30pm to find the hixson hardees already packed to the gills with the geriatric league, not to mention a handful of eager youngsters. we spent the first 20 minutes interviewing and photographing various local gospel "legends" such as millie goodman, sister of vestal goodman of "the happy goodmans." then we strolled inside to a packed house of cheering, clapping, footstomping gospel singing... or "sangin" as most people seemed to pronounce it, usually at the end of each song and stated emphatically: "now that's sangin!"... wow.

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of montreal plays lamar's tonight, probably a show worth catching.

bottle bottoms

another photo from the north georgia photo-day - also from the roadside junk shop i believe. hopefully i'll have more current photographs before long.

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some recently discovered links:

the secretly canadian record label mp3 page: i was digging around yesterday trying to find some june panic mp3s and found this page. there's some decent stuff there. (thanks to mat for the headsup on june panic.)

your god is too small: a book review from the books and culture website. still reading it (the review) myself, but it looks to be an interesting, though highly ironical view of the god of the old and new testaments.

beyond this point...

i've really got to get back on the horse here with the photoblog. the last week or so has been fairly consuming between coptix work and photography side jobs, not to mention a weekend men's retreat, that i've not had much time for personal photography. this image, and perhaps some of the others i'll use this week are from a saturday photography trip sean loftin and i took a few months ago; something i need to do again soon. this part of the country is full of incredible images. i think this photo came from a junk shop that we stopped at on the side of the road: a close-up of an old rusted out warning sign.

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overall i had a pretty incredible weekend. no shortage of meaningful and challenging conversations with a number of my friends. all of which meshed well with the central message at the "balaam's ass" men's retreat that i went to up at covenant. which finally was all capped by a heart-rending sermon from pastor bob last night at cornerstone. put simply it all revolves around the depth of one's own selfishness and how that can twist one's calling in the kingdom. it gives one much to think about...

4711 Tennessee Ave

i did something pretty impulsive yesterday. i was driving down tennessee avenue in st. elmo when i noticed this house that really stuck out to me - a nice house on a big corner lot. it surprised me that i'd never noticed it before, or at least that it hadn't struck me, and then suddenly i realized there was a 'for sale' sign in the yard. so, even though i'm not really looking to buy any time soon, i called the realtor up and did a walk-through yesterday. and it really is a pretty amazing house. fairly small, but the trim and the hardwood floors are beautiful. the trim is all original, and either has never been painted (doubtful) or has been stripped and stained and polyurethaned. i don't know that i'll actually move any further on it - it's pretty pricey - but i had to see it.

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you've probably heard me mention my boss' kid teddy on here in the past. well, now he has a blog: The Every Day, Every Week, Every Month Inventor's Blog.

friday-mp3-of-the-week: man, i nearly forgot to post this... i picked up the iron & wine ep, the sea and the rhythm, as a graduation present for aaron mesh last week. unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) he already owned it, so i just kept the copy i had bought, and i've completely fallen in love with it. one of my favorite songs, jesus the mexican boy, can be found here.

(sorry about not posting yesterday. i was quite busy all day and didn't really have any interesting photos to share.)

cubicle yardbirds

at some point in the process of moving chairs and workstations over to the new offices yesterday a few desk chairs ended up sitting in the cross' yard. i thought they looked somehow very creepy - the juxtaposition of the corporate world and the organic - so i asked josiah and stephen to pose for a moment. i also got some with just the chairs by themselves, but they're really spooky. perhaps i'll get this one printed and hang it here in the new office space.

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which reminds me... we're finally in. there's cat-5 cable lying everywhere, and the place looks more like a hacker's den than anything else, but its wired, so we're workin'. it's kind of strange to all be in one big room now. no more private conversations (except over IM) and a strange quiet has fallen over the entire office. i'm sure it will wear off with time, especially once we get some dividers hung, but for now the hum of the A/C (and josiah shmoozing with clients on the phone) is all i can hear.

more rockin'

more photos from the saturday night "bacchanalia" at the blue frog. compared with his brothers' more frenetic gyrations, david totten has a calm on-stage that one usually associates with rock-and-roll bassists. but he's the steady lead guitar in the corner who keeps two feet on the ground so everyone else can keep their heads in the clouds.

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ever since the arts/ed council indie film series ended over at the bijou, we've been catching other mainstream films on monday nights. last night we saw mean girls, the first comedy screenplay written (and acted in) by SNL head writer tina fey. since its a story about high school girls one might be tempted to think that its appealing only to a small audience, but the smart humor and the level of self-awareness it exudes give it a much broader appeal, i think.

with any luck, we'll actually be working in the new offices by the end of the day...

Mesh graduated. We rocked.

aaron mesh, of Wired Mesh fame and my number one co-conspirator at the Pulse, graduated from covenant college on saturday. in the midst of the mass hysteria that the lobby became following the ceremony, i was able to snag him for a quick kodak moment. his family was all in town and his mom held an open house up at our place in the afternoon. it being the first really warm weekend of the spring, we played tag football in the field across the street... two days later my entire body still aches.

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saturday night the baccalaureate bacchanalia at the blue frog was a complete success. four bands, which i'll have photos of tomorrow, the best live rendition of "hang on sloopy" ever, and a huge turnout, all devoted to the graduation of one aaron mesh. this was the first live show at the blue frog, but i really think that place may be in the running for the new lamar's. the world of difference between the locals playing pool upstairs and the hipsters rocking downstairs is downright hilarious, and the sincerity of the owner's mullet is almost worrisome.

mojo the manager

today, i give you josiah roe, possibly the cutest project manager coptix has ever... wait a minute, i mean... this is another photo from our first moving day to the new offices. josiah was practicing giving orders and shuffling around papers at his fancy new 1960's hipster desk. this was a color photograph originally that i've converted to black and white. i'm trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to find the best way to do this with photoshop that still brings out the more elegant qualities of black and white film.

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friday-mp3-of-the-week: hmmm... its been kind of a slow week musically, and i don't feel like i've discovered too much. at least, not too much that has free mp3's online. i've been listening to the new loretta lynn disc, which is pretty fantastic, but there's nothing to give away. i did find this band, the broken family band, last week that i've been enjoying. they have a few mp3s here, and one in particular that i like called song against robots. enjoy...

z-boy

once again, i give you zachary cross, possibly the cutest 5 year old in the world. the other day when we started moving desks into the new office space he and teddy ran around finding all sorts of old office junk to play with. i have no idea what this sheet of clear plastic is, but for Z it was endlessly entertaining... especially after i pulled out my camera.

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a few announcements...

some of you may have caught references in the comments yesterday to my upcoming change in status from merely brother andy to uncle andy. yes, my older brother jesse and and his wife angelica are pregnant! i've known for a few weeks, and have been itching to announce, but jess needed to tell a few people firsthand. now, of course, the word is spreading like wildfire. so, the baby is due in mid-november, and they don't know yet whether its a boy or a girl (and i don't know if they're going to find out prior to birth?). but you know, i have to be honest, i really can't picture them having a little girl. i mean, i don't have any conception of a girl montgomery having grown up with only brothers. of course, there's my mom, but then i never knew her as a kid. such a strange thought... either way, i'm stoked, and can't wait to be an uncle. (you can contact/send congrats to jess and gel .).

also, jeffrey (my boss) asked me to plug this for jeff rogers (the potter). you can pre-register here.

winter sailors

every now and then i like to push the photography of other montgomery family photo-enthusiasts. this is a shot my dad caught up in rhode island while visiting RWU with my brother joel. this image combines two of his favorite things, sailing and photography. perhaps you begin to see where i got my interest and abilities in photography from. in many ways i really do owe my dad a big debt of gratitude when it comes to photography. he always provided cameras for me as a kid, and was very interested in explaining how it all worked. for high-school graduation he got me my first real SLR and ever since i've been snapping away relentlessly. anywho, i thought you might appreciate seeing some of his work.

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today is a big day - i have my first paying gig with the new camera. i'm doing portraits for some of the execs at a certain christian college in the chattanooga area. hope everything goes smoothly...

slideshow

one of the cool things about shooting digitally, and especially with a fast digital SLR like the nikon d70, is that you can fire one shot after another without having to worry about wasting film. and since this camera is so fast and seems to be able to keep up even with my fastest trigger finger, i've taken to shooting continuously sometimes until i get the shot i want. sometimes however, like in this case, i end up with a handful of shots that i like, and can string them together as a slideshow. be patient, its an animated gif, and its pretty huge (~400K) but its worth the download if only to see brent at his most, well, animated. (sorry about the image quality - gifs aren't nearly as good for photographs as jpgs so it loses some detail).

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looks like we begin moving the offices today. with the amount of stuff we have and all the hookups that need to happen it'll be a good week before we're functional over there, but its happening finally.

a link for film buffs... i found this article over on books and culture on the films of Krzysztof Kieslowski, one of my favorite directors. if you've not seen any of his stuff, heaven, written by kieslowski and directed by tykwer is a good start.

self-portrait II

it being the first blogging day of the month, its self-portrait time again. i'm realizing that if i plan to keep this monthly self-portrait thing up, i'm going to have to get pretty creative. a monthly shot of my scruffy mug could pretty quickly become monotonous, not to mention narcissistic, so perhaps i'll try to find ways to take interesting photographs that somehow include me in them. this month's is a poor example i guess, but at least its less of a mug shot than april's.

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i have many more photos from the weekend, with a special little something coming up for tomorrow. friday night we had a surprise birthday party for tommy galpin, something i couldn't mention on friday in my weekend plans. but it went off pretty well. we hosted it at our house, and had quite an eclectic turnout: anyone from mccallie profs to highschool seniors.

and saturday, well, i pretty much puttered around the house all day long, which was a surprisingly pleasant way to spend a day. wrote a few emails, cleaned a bit, but mostly just read, drank coffee, and sat on the porch. it's been a long time since i've done that, but with the weather turning so pleasant it may become more of a routine. oh, then saturday night i watched zoolander with a few friends and, even though i'm not much of a ben stiller fan, i have to admit it was quite funny.