Hopefully more coming soon! Enjoy.

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.

Source

Geneva and I in Williamsburg near the Domino Sugar Factory.

Yes, I used to have a fairly monster beard. Well, maybe not monster but it was burly and big. It was well kept, as well. Worth documenting it here as people still talk about it.

Much of my time as a late teenager and into my early twenties was spent here.

Seems ages ago but I still remember a lot of what happened here. Too many late nights to recall.

Best last minute decision I ever made.

I waited, and waited. And then, through a friend, find a number to get the tickets at face value only days before the games. A friend described it as the Super Bowl of the NHL – and it certainly lived up to the hype and buzz.

And, to make it even better, the New York Ranges won 3-2!

So, I was able to get a pair of tickets to the NHL Winter Classic between the Rangers and the Flyers on January 2nd. And I managed to get them at face value. I’ve watched the game the last few years, but I probably would have kicked myself for not going to a Rangers’ Winter Classic.

I’m stoked. And I’m off to get more long underwear…

Meeting my niece, Aven, for the first time.

View the entire Flickr set.

Tuthilltown Distillery & Tantillo’s Farm

More photos here.

Celebrated with shopping, walking, eating and enjoying family. Followed by beach and seafood. Great start to the vacation.

It was Geneva’s birthday in Friday.

We celebrated by having a night at the Chelsea Hotel. It went into the very early morning. Early enough we headed home before check out to rest.

Geneva and Brad doing a bit of photo fun on Saturday night.

Everyone seemed to have the same idea on how to deal with the rain yesterday.

Jon Saunders is making large life changes. Kreg and I took him out to Lucky Strike for a few frames to relieve him from the stress of dealing with adult concerns.

The night ended on a fire breathing note courtesy of Reina, who has always been a fan of Jon.

Geneva brought home some doggy stairs for Bowie. Now he can get on the bed by his own paw-power.

Not sure if that’s a good thing for us!

Got some of the boxes shifted to the other side of the room. This let me slide the dining table (yes Mom, a dining table!) out from under its tower of containers. And it’s in a useable spot, too. More than likely the finally spot but may twist and turn about while we get through the rest of the pile!

Iman and Bowie like this, too, since they can have more space to run indoors.

Bedroom is coming but still needs work, including a paint job on the floor. Goodbye blue floor!

The office/dress space is coming along too. I can’t believe we got an exercise bike in their as well!

The truck.

And the living room.

View the whole Flickr set.

Our new little dogs. One girl, one boy. She is 5, he is between 3-4.

GenevaOnTheRun.org

Please take advantage of this easy way to make a contribution to America’s VetDogs. Go to www.vetdogs.org and click “Donate Now” on the left side tool bar. Click again on “Donate Now,” then select the appropriate item and make multiple orders to give the exact amount you had in mind. For example, to donate $52 to VetDogs, order “Donation in increments of $1,” and fill in 52 as the number of items. All donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.

Please note: you will be able to indicate honorariums during the final stage of the donation process. Please note your gift is in honor of “Geneva’s Run“.

View the entire Flickr set.

View the entire Flickr set.

View the entire Flickr set.

View the whole set at Flickr.

View the whole set at Flickr. Photos by Jonathan Saunders.

View the whole set at Flickr.

View the whole set at Flickr.

Greetings Family & Friends,

I hope you are all well.

I am writing to you today because I need to ask you all a favor. My beautiful mother Isabel Richter is fighting for her life against Large Cell Lymphoma Cancer in Maine at the York Hospital, and as of 2:00pm EST they have begun to administer a very hardcore, industrial strength dosage of chemotherapy. Please send her some prayers, positive vibes, or whatever you feel is appropriate to help her out in this very difficult time. For those that know my mum she is a fighter, and even in her weak condition she is determined to try to beat this cancer. So please, if you have a chance close your eyes for one moment and send some good love to her. She is a wonderful person & I hope that the Lord does not decide to call her just yet. And maybe if you all send some energy she might be able to stick it out a bit longer and try to enjoy the remainder of her life here on earth.

I thank you all for taking the time to read this & appreciate the love & prayers that many of you have already sent and will be sending.

Many thanks,

Alexander

PS- Please let your loved ones know how you feel about them. Family is so fragile and you never know when life will throw you & them into the challenge of your life.

If you are interested. Here is a link to some photo’s of my mother and her battle with cancer.

Photographs above by Alexander.

As mentioned in previous posts, my friend’s daughter, Marissa, was diagnosed with infantile spasms about 17 months ago at the 2 months of age.

From time to time, he asks me to help him out with spreading the news of events or activities in her honor or ways to support and spread the awareness of the condition.

Currently, there is a fundraiser in the form of a raffle. There are many, many prizes but it’s really about supporting Marissa and spreading the awareness.

Perhaps you remember Marissa, a 19 month old baby girl who was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms when she was a mere two months old. Her stuffed bunny Fairfax travels the world, sharing not only Marissa’s story but also spreading awareness of the serious pediatric epileptic condition that she, and other young children, suffer from. Approximately eight months ago we pulled together for a community project titled Fairfax ‘n’ the Chief in honor of her father (who is a fellow Halo fanatic). Today I’m proud to announce The Fundfax Fairraiser, a very special fundraising effort that will benefit sweet baby Marissa and those that are helping her through this very difficult fight.

The Fundfax Fairraiser gives you, the passionate gamer, a chance to win some absolutely incredible video game-related prizes. For every $1 you donate, you will receive one virtual raffle ticket that gives you a shot at winning everything from a Kotobukiya Steel Spartan 12” Figure (covered in more Bungie autographs than you could ever begin to count) to an EA Sports Pack to an autographed copy of The Godfather II to one of dozens of games spanning across the various platforms. So, you are interested in trying to win some cool stuff while helping out a worthy cause? Let’s take a gander at the things you just may find yourself the proud owner of when this is all said and done, and then we’ll get down to the nitty gritty details of it all.

Enter the Fundfax Fairraiser.

(post shamelessly copied from JeffJ since, even verbatim, it’s all still applicable!)

Kill Everything. Touch Nothing

My good friend and former partner in crime se7en has gone and released an iPhone game. It’s called Circuit Strike One and it’s a shiny mix of Asteroids and Geometry Wars.  If you dig a little deeper than the surface visuals it’s more than that though.  It’s an iPhone shooter for people that really like a serious challenge.  I’ll be honest, if you are looking for something mindless this is not your game. It has a very robust control scheme that takes a bit of learning. Once you’ve got a feel for it though, this game is unlike anything else I’ve played on the iPhone.

It’s visually stunning and driven by the thumping beats of yet another friend named Devo.  He’s one half of the electronic duo 3L3TRONIC. The soundtrack here is phenomenal.  It speeds up and slows down as it reacts with gameplay and keeps your adrenaline solidly in the red zone.

Clearly I have busy friends.  Go to the App Store now and give them your money.

Circuit Strike.One:  (site)

Circuit Strike.One: (iTunes)

More photos on Flickr

Lauren Farmer posted on her blog a couple of weeks ago asking if anyone was up for having their photo taken. Being the adventurous type and wanting some new photos for my sites, I figured I’d inquire. After a few back and forth emails we decided to venture out to Coney Island this past Saturday. It’s one of my favorite spots in the city. It was really fun and exciting to do. She has a very unique view of the world around her and I’m very glad to have taken her up on this oppurtunity. Thanks Lauren.

I had to put the photos to music, as I often do. The track is The Funeral, from Band of Horses. The photos are also on Flickr.

My friend Jon Saunders was honored with an Official Honoree award from the 2009 Webby Awards.  This is something he should be very proud of. Hell, I’m proud of him! This is HUGE. Congratulations Jon…

I got an email today at 4:32pm letting me know this site, I Like To Tell Stories, was one of 12 Honorees in The Webby Awards – BLOG-Culture/Personal Category. Among my fellow 12 Honorees: Anderson Cooper, NPR, Top Chef and Cute Overload. I am among greatness and it really feels wonderful. The 5 nominated sites are quite amazing as well, I just explored and added several to my RSS, you should too.

This was not just a photo competition or even a photography only category, it was open to all blogs of a cultural or personal nature. I am truly humbled to have my images and stories included in such a wide open category among so many diverse websites, it really is an amazing thing to realize.

I called my father, emailed a few friends and 2h later, haven’t stopped smiling.

I’d like to thank the Academy (yes, it’s an academy) and everyone along the way that let me photograph them or otherwise let me share my part of their life……

Shooting the Beretta Urika II for the first time at LVSC in Coplay, PA.

This is no April Fools Day hoax.

In the latter part of 2007 this story began. I applied with the City of New York to own a shotgun. No small feat some of you may know. The process typical takes up to 4 months. Being my atypical self it took nearly 16 months. It was due to various holes in systems. Some dating back as far as 1994. In the end, January 2009, the city authorized me to own a shotgun.
Yesterday I had the money saved to finally purchase the shotgun. A Beretta Urika 2. Only to find those previously mentioned holes hadn’t been completely filled. As part of the purchasing process the verify you and your background with FBI and ATF.

This put me in the waiting game, again.

Because the amount of time it took before, I had visions of this really escalating. Including me visiting the state of New Hampshire to discuss expunging certain records. My friend commented how little enthusiam I expressed afte buying the shotgun. I told him it was because I still did have it “in my warm living hands.” Joking aside, it really was because I still had nothing to show for all this effort.

However, today it changed. The Beretta Gun Gallery called me and literally said, “The FBI loves you, you can come pick your gun whenever.”

After about 18 months, I am now a proud licensed owner of a shorting shotgun.

Nice going Jon.

Happy Holidays Everyone. May it be pleasant and festive and safe.

Se7en talks art, inspiration and techniques. Also heavy drinking and marathon Clockwork Orange watching.

Skulls… sweet.

With the release of the new album, Beyond Colossal, Dozer has updated their website.

It’s cool to see my artwork reused for all kinds of purposes.

Dozer – Beyond Colossal – Pre-order Now Available!

Yup. A full month before the album comes out… Dozer, Beyond Colossal. In iTunes Plus format. Go and get it!

Apparently, Noah Holt as a blog – http://noahholt.com/blog/ – definitely cool.

Busy last few days.

On top of trying to get better (it seems the cough is starting to fade more and more), I wanted to try and enjoy the weekend instead of sitting on my ass doing nothing. My weekend probably started Thursday after I got my first Rx for the new medicine. Friday was a relatively easy day at work. Easy doesn’t mean I was sitting around, just that I was on my game and shit was getting done. And getting done right. I had to stay late, but it was well worth it knowing it wouldn’t be there come Monday morning. Friday night J and I made dinner at my place and watched the Dark Crystal. We were pretty pooped and barely made it through the whole thing.

Saturday was pretty chill, but still full of doing. Or, going. Hit up a few shopping places, so suburban and domesticated (thanks Stella!). Did laundry. Stopped at Duff’s. Ate at San Loco. Watched some TV. Just a bit of running around. J and I stopped at her place to pick up doggie who stayed the night last night. I think she was pretty comfortable because within an hour or so the pooch was on my bed! Ha. She’s just a great dog. Reminds me of Nina, but only of canine behavior. She adores everyone who gives her attention, and is chill in almost any situation. And super quiet. We got, what is for us, an early start today. Got showered (both of us) and took doggie for a walk all before 1 in the afternoon. Meet up with K&K around 1:30 or so, and headed off to the McCarren Park to do absolutely nothing. Well, we did mumble mean things under our breaths on several occasions, but it’s hard not to do that in this neighborhood now and again. It’s probably the last time I’ll see K&K before their family increases by one person here in the weeks (or days) to come.

This was probably one of the top weekends of the summer, so far. I’m still looking forward to the end of summer chill weekend in New Hampshire and Maine come Labor Day weekend.

Dozer - Beyond Colossal

Click to the image to check it out.

Here is probably what will be the final cover for the upcoming Dozer album, Beyond Colossal.

I had a lot of fun… thanks everyone.