Random Stuff

Final Pics of the Day

2009-03-19T22:46:00.004-05:00

Well, I made it for 2.5 months. And then I got sick. So I am taking the opportunity to re-evaluate the way I spend time on the Internet. Since Mom is now a Facebook member, I am likely to spend less time developing this blog, and more time on Facebook. I can upload photo albums and blog from there. I also need to spend more time updating my leadership blog.

In any case, here are the final few days of my "Pic-of-the-Day" project.

I'll keep this blog up for now, and may still use it, but I'm taking a break. See you on Facebook!

Don't Panic

2009-03-11T15:47:00.002-05:00

For those of you wondering where I am and what the status of the pic-of-the-day is, no worries. I remain on track with actually TAKING a pic a day, I just have not edited and uploaded for a few days. It's been a very busy week, but I'll be back by this weekend sometime with the updated photos!

Pic of the Day - March 4, 2009

2009-03-04T13:14:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - March 3, 2009

2009-03-04T13:13:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - March 2, 2009

2009-03-02T12:58:00.005-05:00

Snow!

Pic of the Day - March 1, 2009

2009-03-02T12:56:00.004-05:00

The fire in our fireplace

Pic of the Day - February 28, 2009

2009-03-02T12:53:00.003-05:00

Our University of Richmond class on final day of "History of Human Expression".
On the front row are our instructors, Ted Maier and Rebecca Mulwee. On the back row, L-R are, Patrick, Laurie, Crystal, Marcella, and Annette.

Pic of the Day - February 27, 2009

2009-02-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

More Symphony Pics

2009-02-27T08:41:00.006-05:00

I took pics of the GWHS Symphony players yesterday during their rehearsal. Here are a few of the random shots I liked.

Pic of the Day - February 26, 2009

2009-02-26T19:38:00.004-05:00

The George Washington High School Symphony Orchestra. Jacqui is the cellist at front-center. Click the image for a larger view.

Pic of the Day - February 25, 2009

2009-02-25T14:06:00.002-05:00

Any guesses?

Pic of the Day - February 24, 2009

2009-02-24T19:12:00.001-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 23, 2009

2009-02-23T17:21:00.002-05:00

The Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization is one of our United Way partners. Today, MBA students at Danville's Averett University delivered over 100 back backs for the "Littles." The class raised the funds and bought the back packs. Cool stuff!

Pic of the Day - February 22, 2009

2009-02-22T16:53:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 21, 2009

2009-02-22T11:54:00.007-05:00

Danville held a Mardi Gras party last night, and I was the photographer extraordinaire. The guy with curly blond hair is Johnny Fairplay. Some of you may know him from Survivor. Anyway, here a few pics.

Above is Tracy Powers (Mary's Curves Trainer) and her husband

Above, Johnny Fairplay, Anne Moore-Sparks, and what appeared to be Johnny's date!

Johnny Fairplay's entourage

Johnny again

Stephanie Ferrugia, our University of Richmond Weekend College Coordinator

Pic of the Day - February 20, 2009

2009-02-22T10:59:00.003-05:00

My picture today was taken of a guest speaker we had in our University of Richmond class Friday night. The class is the History of Human Expression, and the content this night could not have been more appropriate. Our speaker was John Guzlowski, who read some of his poetry to us and fielded some questions. I bought two of his books, and they are amazing.

His story is absolutely memorizing. Instead of trying to introduce him to you, simply read his own introduction from his blog.......

"I was born in a refugee camp in Germany after World War II, and came with my parents Jan and Tekla and my sister Donna to the United States as Displaced Persons in 1951. My parents had been slave laborers in Nazi Germany. Growing up in the immigrant and DP neighborhoods around Humboldt Park in Chicago, I met Jewish hardware store clerks with Auschwitz tattoos on their wrists, Polish cavalry officers who still mourned for their dead horses, and women who walked from Siberia to Iran to escape the Russians. My poems try to remember them and their voices. These poems have appeared in my chapbook Language of Mules and in both editions of Charles Fishman’s anthology of American poets on the Holocaust, Blood to Remember. Since retiring from teaching American Literature in 2005, I've written two new books about my parents. My new poems about them appear in my books Lightning and Ashes (Steel Toe Books, 2007) and Third Winter of War: Buchenwald (Finishing Line Press). Third Winter was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Literature."

His blog can be found at http://everythings-jake.blogspot.com/

The blog about his parents can be found at: http://lightning-and-ashes.blogspot.com/

Thanks John for such a memorable evening!

Pic of the day - February 19, 2009

2009-02-19T17:58:00.003-05:00

This is the daughter of our United Way Community Impact Director. She's always so accommodating!

Monumental Photos

2009-02-19T13:50:00.002-05:00

I put these on Facebook, but not everyone has a Facebook account, so I'll put them here too. They aren't very high-quality pictures. I was traveling light with my point-and-shoot camera. I'd love to go back with my good camera and get some real shots! Anyway, Mary went with me to DC for a United Way meeting, and we spent a couple of hours Tuesday evening driving around and seeing the main monuments at night. We couldn't get anywhere the whitehouse by car, so we didn't attempt a picture. It wouldn't have been worth looking at. I know everyone sees pictures of these landmarks all the time, but it's still pretty cool to see them up close and personal, especially at night.

Pic of the Day - February 18, 2009

2009-02-19T13:08:00.003-05:00

I was doing some homework last night online. Our University of Richmond classes are physical classes, but there is an online component as well. This is a shot of my laptop screen with just a few of the assignments for this week alone in our History of Human Expression Class.

Pic of the day - February 17, 2009

2009-02-17T23:18:00.001-05:00

I am at United Way of America this week meeting with the National Professional Council. Today, we had a guest speaker -- Mort Kondrake from Fox News Channel. I've watched him many times on the Beltway Boys and on Brit Hume's panel. I was sitting in the seat next to the lectern, so I grabbed this pic with my phone.

Pic of the Day - February 16, 2009

2009-02-16T16:55:00.003-05:00

It's rare that I get to mark everything off a daily task list. I use a whiteboard in my office for such a daily routine, and today, I had a productive day. I took this picture at 4:50 p.m. Nice Monday.

Pic of the Day - February 15, 2009

2009-02-16T16:16:00.002-05:00

Another shot taken by my other company photographer, Laura. This was the day after I shaved my face clean!

Pic of the Day - February 14, 2009

2009-02-16T16:12:00.003-05:00

Spent the day at the University of Richmond campus. Of course, I brought my camera. Here are the shots. Today is a bonus day, multiple pics!

Pic of the Day - February 13, 2009

2009-02-16T16:08:00.002-05:00

Mary was out driving around with Jacqui when she saw a rainbow over the sun. She called me at home to check it out. By the time I got my camera and got to a spot where I could see the sun, it had all gone, except this patch of clouds that had all the colors of the rainbow in it.

Pic of the Day - February 12, 2009

2009-02-16T16:04:00.003-05:00

Sorry this one is small. I take the Rotary pictures in small size for website purposes. Each week, we buy raffle tickets and have a drawing. There is a drawing every week. The winner gets one third of that day's pot. Another third goes to the Rotary Foundation, and another third into a "Jackpot." If the weekly winner draws the JOKER from a standard deck of cards, they win the jackpot that has been growing from week to week. The card drawn is removed from the deck so that the next week's deck is smaller. I have drawn it before and won nearly $900. Thursday, Rob Snead drew it and showed it to the camera before he peaked to see what he had drawn. He won over $500.

Pic of the Day - February 11, 2009

2009-02-12T15:14:00.001-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 10, 2009

2009-02-11T07:38:00.002-05:00

Ok, I know these are really supposed to be pictures I take, but I was busy! At least they are taken with my camera. It's my resolution, and I can execute the plan however I choose! Our chamber president took this of me at our Leadership Southside Program, looking pensive and intelligent if not handsome. I took some pics too, but none of them turned out this good...I mean, come on!

Pic of the Day - February 9, 2009

2009-02-10T07:52:00.001-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 8, 2009

2009-02-08T12:09:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 7, 2009

2009-02-08T12:08:00.004-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 6, 2009

2009-02-08T12:08:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 5, 2009

2009-02-08T12:07:00.000-05:00

Pic of the Day - February 4, 2009

2009-02-04T09:27:00.003-05:00

Ok, two pics again today. The first one was taken right after I got out of my car at the office this morning. I had my hands full of stuff (including my cheap camera), and dropped my keys. They landed on this frozen puddle, so I took their picture!

The second one was actually taken last week, but I'm putting it here. I took this of a wall in a systems room at a Danville manufacturing company that moved its production to India, has gone bankrupt and closed down. I just thought there was some irony in it. I was there buying some used furniture from the abandoned offices. The company was a staple of our community for many years, and a huge supporter of United Way. Sad for all the dedicated employees....thousands of them.

Pic of the Day - February 3, 2009

2009-02-03T10:50:00.002-05:00

Gotta get these winter pictures when I can. It doesn't snow much here!

Pic of the Day - February 2, 2009

2009-02-03T10:48:00.001-05:00

Identity Crisis

Pic of the Day - February 1, 2009

2009-02-02T12:19:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 31, 2009

2009-02-01T09:17:00.001-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 30, 2009

2009-01-31T12:09:00.000-05:00

No, this is not my creation.

Pic of the Day - January 29, 2009

2009-01-30T07:18:00.002-05:00

Jacqui's Driving

2009-01-29T09:42:00.003-05:00

So this was our first day out on the road with Jacqui behind the wheel (Mary had taken her out already, but this was my first day with her). I have to say she did a great job! I was very relaxed .... even enough to take pictures!

Pic of the Day - January 28, 2009

2009-01-29T09:23:00.003-05:00

I took these last night while riding around with Jacqui. I'll post some shots of her as well, but I'll call these my "Pic of the Day." You get a real bonus here, because you get 4 in 1. It was a spectacular evening following a full day of dreary rain. Roads were still damp, but the sun was gettin' its flame on. You'll get a better look on each one if you click the picture...especially the last one. In the larger version, you can see the train tracks, which is really what that photo was about.

Pic of the Day - January 27, 2009

2009-01-27T19:32:00.002-05:00

Here is a shot of the floorplan for our new United Way office downtown. We expect to move this summer. Haven't sealed the deal yet, but we're getting close! You'll have to click for a larger view. Sorry for the poor quality.

Pic of the Day - January 26, 2009

2009-01-27T08:21:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I promised her I would make this my pic of the day, and then realized I might want to edit the photo a bit. Bottom line is......my Bear is driving!

As for the second photo, that's just a bonus for today. Two pics in one! What a deal! The second shot is of our girls, Jacqui and Acacia.

Pic of the Day - January 25, 2009

2009-01-25T17:59:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 24, 2009

2009-01-24T13:43:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 23, 2009

2009-01-24T13:40:00.002-05:00

I attended a bluegrass concert for school (human expression class). Sitting a couple of chairs down from me was this couple who were singing along with every song, and holding hands the whole time. I had to snap their picture with my Treo cam.

Pic of the Day - January 22, 2009

2009-01-22T18:32:00.002-05:00

I took this picture at our Rotary Club meeting this morning. This is Linda Green, Director of our Small Business Development Center. I love photographing Linda, because this is always her smile. It is fixed. I have never seen a different expression on Linda's face. Does it brighten your day or what?

Pic of the Day - January 21, 2009

2009-01-21T18:57:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 20, 2009

2009-01-20T07:38:00.005-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 19, 2009

2009-01-20T07:38:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 18, 2009

2009-01-18T15:38:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 17, 2009

2009-01-17T13:02:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 16, 2009

2009-01-16T18:07:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 15, 2009

2009-01-16T10:26:00.001-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 14, 2009

2009-01-14T13:22:00.001-05:00

Ok, this might be cheating a bit -- I did not take this picture, but I delegated the task with my phone camera. This is a shot of me this morning with two friends and colleagues about to conduct a TV program interview for Star News in Danville.

Pic of the Day - January 13, 2009

2009-01-13T20:25:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 12, 2009

2009-01-12T07:46:00.002-05:00

Ok, this one is for Laura, who wanted to see me add some perspective to my moon. I took this shot just after 7 this morning, with the moon sitting atop one of the three Dan River smoke stacks. No Photoshop here! You do have to click these pictures though to get rid of some of the JPEG pixelation junk.

Pic of the Day - January 11, 2009

2009-01-11T18:35:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 10, 2009

2009-01-10T23:09:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 9, 2009

2009-01-10T09:38:00.002-05:00

Leadership Opportunity

2009-01-08T12:38:00.002-05:00

I am very proud and honored to have been selected to serve on United Way's National Professional Council. Below is an article that ran in this week's local paper.......

STAR TRIBUNE - CHATHAM, VA

United Way President Selected to National Council

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 9:29 AM EST

United Way of Danville-Pittsylvania County President Patrick Jinks has been selected to serve a three-year term on the National Professional Council (NPC) of United Way.

The National Professional Council is an advisory council of approximately 60 United Way CEOs across the country.

The group provides direction for a movement of nearly 1,400 local United Ways as well as the United Way of America president and staff.

National Council members are nominated by their peers and then either elected by the council or appointed by United Way of America President Brian Gallagher.

Jinks' selection was one of the presidential appointments.

A majority of National Council members represent metropolitan United Ways such as Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, but the council ensures that some smaller city leaders are included for their perspective.

Jinks was selected because of his work in leading the local United Way through the successful development and implementation of a community impact business model.

Jinks also serves as adjunct faculty for the Center for Community Leadership at United Way of America in Alexandria.

Jinks is entering his eighth year as president of United Way of Danville-Pittsylvania County.

The revitalized model of community impact allows the organization to do much more than raise campaign dollars to support health and human service organizations.

While that is still a major part of their work, United Way also leads community-wide efforts and initiatives about financial stability, early childhood education, volunteerism, and grassroots leadership.

Under Jinks' leadership, the organization has improved its financial stability, achieved measured success in improving lives, and increased total community program support, despite a declining campaign in a challenging economy.

Jinks' term of service on the National Professional Council begins Jan. 1, 2009.

Pic of the Day - January 8, 2009

2009-01-08T10:10:00.002-05:00

The Dan River during a very rainy week.

Pic of the Day - January 7, 2009

2009-01-07T08:04:00.002-05:00

This is just a quick snapshot take outside my office at 7:45 this morning. This rain is getting old.

Pic of the Day - January 6, 2009

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Pic of the Day - January 5, 2009

2009-01-05T09:01:00.002-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 4, 2009

2009-01-04T16:15:00.001-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 3, 2009

2009-01-03T11:23:00.001-05:00

Pic of the Day - January 2, 2009

2009-01-03T10:31:00.002-05:00

Photo of the day - January 1, 2009

2009-01-01T13:37:00.002-05:00

Ok...I am not sure how long this will last, but I'm going to give it a try. The goal: Take a picture a day, and post it. I may not always get to actually post each day, but the photos will actually be taken every day, for the next 365 days. We'll see. Here's the first one:

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:32:00.006-05:00

We had some friends over as well as the Millers. The kids had some friends by throughout the night too, and we all counted down the new year with the TV, watching the ball drop in NYC. Had a great time -- Happy New Year!

Drums

2008-12-26T16:13:00.002-05:00

This is Clayton playing the digital drum set he got for his birthday. They really sound pretty amazing! I'm addicted to playing them as well!

Father-Daughter Dance -- Twilight Style

2008-12-25T00:13:00.002-05:00

Pre-Christmas

2008-12-23T10:05:00.003-05:00

Here are a few shots from the past couple of days around our house and the Millers' house.

Dad

2008-12-20T12:45:00.001-05:00

This was not an easy picture to restore! But it's a classic of my Dad. Had to post it.

Gloomy Weather

2008-12-19T08:56:00.002-05:00

It could be worse. No ice storms or tornadoes. But this yucky rain all week has gotten old. This wet tennis court is a terrible sight to me! I wanna play! Today is just foggy and wet. I did get this sarcastic smile from Jacqui this morning though, as I dropped her off at school this morning!

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-06T12:17:00.006-05:00

Here are pics I have already posted on Facebook, but not here. Just a few shots from our fun day of games.

2008 Christmas Concert

2008-12-06T10:18:00.006-05:00

Jacqui played beautifully (as did the entire symphony) at this year's Christmas concert. Here are a few pics from the evening, including Clayton's amazing levitation. To see larger versions of each image, just click on them. The full symphony shot is better if you see the larger version. Most of these were taken in dim lighting with no flash, so the larger versions are a bit better.

Random Living Room Items

2008-11-26T15:30:00.004-05:00

Homework

2008-11-25T14:25:00.000-05:00

Jacqui was "doing homework" by the fireplace last night.

Nothing Like Fall and Football

2008-11-25T14:23:00.001-05:00

I remember hours upon hours of throwing football with friends in the street when I was a kid!

More Randomness

2008-11-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

Ok Gene......what is this?

The Stones

2008-11-17T00:04:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pictures I took of David and Joy Stone (and Sydney). Joy is our Community Impact Director at United Way.

Random Stuff -- Like the Blog Title Says

2008-11-17T00:03:00.002-05:00

2008-11-09T20:03:00.004-05:00

Here are some shots Laura Ashworth took of us!

Photo Shoot

2008-11-09T19:33:00.005-05:00

Here are some pics I took today of Steven and Laura Ashworth. You might recall them from their bridal and wedding pics I took this summer.

Beautiful Day!

2008-11-05T15:15:00.002-05:00

Mobile Posting -- Today is gorgeous in VA, so I threw the top down and ran some errands!

Almost Heaven

2008-11-05T08:24:00.004-05:00

James, Kathi, Mary, and I took a Sunday drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway, and stopped at a few spots along the way, like Mabry Mill, where we had a feast for breakfast. This was one of the funnest days in a while!

Foolin' around.

2008-11-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

I just figured out to post directly to this blog from my Treo, so I can post from it's camera directly. Low quality pics, but convenient!

2008-11-04T13:14:00.001-05:00

2008-11-04T13:11:00.000-05:00

I voted.....for McCain!

2008-11-04T13:10:00.001-05:00

First Indoor Wedding

2008-10-27T07:26:00.003-05:00

A friend and colleague at the Chamber of Commerce got married this past weekend. The wedding was supposed to be outdoors, which made me comfortable taking the job. But it rained, so the ceremony moved inside. It was a very small wedding, but very nice. here are a few shots.

God's Country

2008-10-20T19:43:00.003-05:00

My good friend John Meeks and I play disc golf courses all over the country. Finally, we are designing our own course! The Boy Scouts of the Blue Ridge Mountains Council have invited us to use part of their 16,000-acre property in the Blue Ridge Mountains to design a championship course. We went up this weekend to check out the property for the first time. We'll design over weeks if not months. Below are some pics I took up their this weekend. The building is the Scouts cabin where we stayed. Awesome weekend, and awesome place. We're gonna have an awesome course!

2008-10-10T07:47:00.000-05:00

LIVE UNITED

2008-09-29T17:05:00.001-05:00

Speaking to my Rotary club about United Way.

Rainbow

2008-09-28T17:02:00.001-05:00

I didn't have my camera with me, so I grabbed United Way's cheapo and took 5 pics and stitched them together. Of course, you had to be there.

University of Richmond

2008-09-21T18:37:00.004-05:00

University of Richmond is a prestigious, small, private university with only 3,000 students. I and a few others are taking advantage of a unique opportunity to earn a degree from this school through a weekend college program. In 2010, we'll walk away with a degree in Liberal Arts (Interdisciplinary Studies) for a fraction of the cost of the traditional student.

While our coursework takes place mostly off campus, we did visit the Richmond campus this week, and it is beautiful....

Here are some shots of the campus, and some of my classmates.

NOTE: The old book being held with the white gloves is an 11th-century monk's prayer book, housed in the rare book section of the library.

Clayton and Me On the Porch

2008-09-11T14:52:00.002-05:00

Does this Need Explanation?

2008-09-06T17:52:00.002-05:00

Picnic

2008-09-01T14:54:00.004-05:00

Jacqui and Acacia went across the street to the elementary school they went to 6 years ago and had a little picnic.