Orent comes today!

Hey everybody! Have you heard? Orent the little 8-week-old yellow lab puppy comes TOMORROW! Tonight, Max and I are driving up to Long Island to pick him up from Canine Companions for Independence. We'll raise him for 14-16 months, and then send him along for more training on how to be the best service dog he can be.

We've been getting ready for weeks. As you can see, Orent's lil friend Giraffe can't wait for him to show up.



We stretched the gate...



and locked it...



across our very, very steep stairs that the puppy is not allowed to go up. That's Robot's area.



We laid out the funny green brush...



and the collar and leash (and biodegradable poop bags). The nametag, however, got lost in the shuffle.



And how does Robot the cat feel about this whole adventure?

Well, she loves to scratch her face on the gate.



and she adores her perch from above, where she can watch us but the puppy can't come get her.



My guess? She's a bit freaked out



...and maybe even worried.



But at the end of the day, she'll make a great guard cat to keep our puppy safe!



Tomorrow - photos of Orent for my first day of the new 365 project! Check back then!

June's free wallpaper is here!

Well, it's almost the end of June. Guess that means it's time for another one of my fancy free wallpapers for your laptop or iPhone or computer (or iPad or netbook or real book, theoretically).

Click here to download the one that's right for you. And the one from May is still up! So if you missed out last month, you can still get that one, too.

Here's what I wrote about the inspiration for this background:

You know the song, "Taking it to the Streets"? I love that song. Because to me, getting people out on the street demanding justice is what it will take to really improve people's lives. So, this month's background is the street - literally. It's one of my favorite photographs, and I've really enjoyed having it on my iPhone for a few months as the background. Its a constant reminder that getting out on the street isn't just an option - it's one of the best tools we have to make our lives better. I hope you'll find the same inspiration. See you on the streets!


In other news... I'm going to restart my 365 project. I'm probably going to do mostly iPhone photos, and do my best to edit them in my phone (unless the photo needs more salvaging than a simple iPhone App can handle). I've been impressed with the quality of the photos it takes (see examples here and here).

So, starting July 1st (when our new puppy comes!), I'll be posting a photo a day. Exciting, isn't it?

Pride!

My flickr friend Holly hooked me up with a gig photographing Pride for Metromix, an events and entertainment website in Philly. So Max and I went, and I got some pretty fun photos. 

Pride is always a blast to shoot! It's colorful and exciting and people are having a great time. Plus, almost everyone agrees to get photographed. Well, except for one guy, who told me he couldn't have his picture taken b/c his boyfriend didn't know he was at Pride... oh dear! 

Anyway, here's one of my favorites. Click it to get taken to Metromix's website to view the rest.

Philly Vacation

So, I'm back from vacation and back at work. A new part time job as the Director of Casino-Free Philadelphia and my other part time job with Training for Change is ramping up. But, I managed to find a few hours to edit photos from vacation. Here are some highlights:

On Memorial Day, we went to Asbury Park, NJ, home of the Boss (Bruce Springsteen). We had a great time since we got to the beach early, before all the other Philly and NYC people descended for a gorgeous day. We spent the day at the beach, and went to the Pinball Museum where we got unlimited play on 50-year-old pinball machines for an hour, for $10!

Turns out Asbury Park has more than just the club Bruce Springsteen got his start at. It's also got a beach!

Then we headed out on a party boat with a crew of Rutgers researchers who were studying black sea bass. We fished and fished and fished and tried to catch anything, but to no avail. Even the experienced folks weren't getting any fish. Guess they just weren't biting!

Casting our first lines