theparkerfamily.org

Month: July 2011

  • found: bigger than my head

    ECPA20110731_7522.jpg

  • out: mattress testing

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    mattress testing, ikea, college park, md

  • anthony bourdain on d.c.

    just saw anthony bourdain’s treatment on the District, and it’s pretty spot on for someone who hasn’t spent much time here — especially his closing bit on how badly the city is misunderstood by outsiders:

    D.C. is not just a city of dead presidents and cold marble monuments.

    The people we see working here on our television screens, in the halls of power, in the plush seats of Sunday morning punditry, often have as little to do with the city itself, and the people who actually live here, as any creature from another universe.

    This is a city filled with actual living, breathing, eating Americans. Not vessels for one ideology or another, or empty suits with empty ideas. They have hard lives, hard struggles and have taken long roads to get here.

    Maybe at the end of the day a delicious bite, a laugh, a warm welcome from somebody you didn’t know before, is as much as we can reasonably hope for.

    Maybe our kids will get it right.

    Maybe.

  • out: walk

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: walk

  • firsts: duplo

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    firsts: duplo

  • red sox cap

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    photo of the week // twenty-one months
    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    red sox cap

  • found: shoes and socks

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  • out: pizza park

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: pizza park

  • the rock collector

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    the rock collector

  • found: fifth gear

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  • video: king of anything

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wtLK_6dhVQ

  • dolls

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    dolls are starting to follow us everywhere.

    sparklet puts diapers on them. walks them in their strollers. puts them down for naps. pretends to feed them. makes them watch plaza sesamo when she’s tired and just can’t deal anymore — you know, the works.

  • found: watercolors

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  • photos: headshots

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    i’m on my third proposal at work, and i had forgotten that you need headshots and bios for this sort of thing.

    so i had to break out the camera this morning, perch it on a file cabinet or two, and take pretentious, thoroughly awkward headshots of myself posing like an idiot.

    not exactly my favorite part of the first week, needless to say.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    photos: headshots

  • books

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    her favorite book right now is a russian-english dictionary.

    seriously, at least twice a day she takes it off the shelf and flips through it, along with “My Life as a Furry Red Monster” the autobiography of the puppeteer behind Elmo. the latter has a big picture of Elmo on the cover, and you can almost see sparklet thinking each time:

    “i know the book will have pictures THIS time — they’ve got to be in here somewhere.”

  • “no, i trust her — why do you ask?”

    [bff]

  • blackberry

    I’ve changed phones, again — temporarily.

    With my new gig, I’ve been issued a Blackberry Bold — a newish model Bb with most the bells and whistles, but a step below the fancy-pants, big/touch screen models you see being pushed on TV.

    so, I’ve packed away my Android and I’m going cold turkey for a month to see what having a Bb is really like. (trying to keep my personal phone going while i learn a new platform is just a recipe for frustration.)

    I’ve actually never had a Bb before, which in itself is amazing. I had an iPhone for two years, and then the HTC Incredible. Bb’s were just becoming a thing when I left the Hill, but at that point only the Members and Chief of Staffs had them — unlike now, where they give them out like candy.

    No reason to panic if you’re trying to reach me — I’ve already forwarded my old phone number, all the texts that may come in, and I’ve setup the Bb to check my person email address to boot. It’s all good.

    I’m strangely excited — we’ll see how it’s going in a month.

  • video: ipad

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9TfkNHnvzo

    as a pre-emptive thank you gift, i bought the lady sparkler an ipad — mainly for the near-term pain she’s going to face with me switching from a 35 hour/wk job to one that’s more like 50 hours/wk.

    (she wants it to satisfy her horrible taste in tv/streaming video. the ipad is admittedly much more fun to watch on the couch than watching hulu plus on the computer at a desk.)

    turns out, we had the thing for a sum-total of 72 hours before sparklet learned how to turn it on, navigate to the main menu, load up the photo application, select a photo from the index, and start flipping through the pictures.

    i’m starting to wonder if we’ll ever see it again.

  • fonz, state farm saves the kids farm!

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    The kids farm lives!

    In a move that doesn’t surprise anybody who has ever been associated with non-profit fundraising, a corporation (state farm) has come up with a couple of million dollars to keep the kids farm at the national zoo open.

    My theory all along is that this was all orchestrated — that the budget cut announcement was just the opening salvo of a major donor fundraising effort for the petting zoo.

    At the “we did it!” celebration at the zoo this morning, I actually ran into the Executive Director of FONZ, who was very clear that they started absolutely from scratch when the cut was announced. So if this was orchestrated, they seem to have left out the people involved.

    Regardless, congrats to The Friends of the National Zoo for pulling this off, and to State Farm for recognizing and incredible opportunity and stepping up to the plate to take advantage of it.

    As a result, it looks like we have many more years of our baby girl and her animal friends in store.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    kids farm celebration, national zoo, washington, dc

  • found: chipmunks in the backyard

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  • out: national building museum

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: national building museum

  • cooking: guacamole

    Ingredients

    • 2 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
    • 1 lime, juiced
    • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
    • 1/2 medium onion, diced
    • 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
    • 2 clove garlic, minced

    Finishing Ingredients

    • 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
    • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

    Instructions

    1. Put first group of ingredients in bowl. Mash.
    2. Top with finishing ingredients. Serve.

  • finger painting

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    finger painting

  • shuttle

    i was a shuttle baby.

    my brother grew up with a photo of the dave scott and the apollo 15 lunar rover tooling around on the moon. (the landing happened on his birthday. for the record, the evacuation of saigon happened on mine.)

    The apollo program was long since gone by the time i was born — but the first launch of the space shuttle Columbia happened a week after my sixth birthday, prime timing for me to become a space junkie.

    By the time the challenger disaster happened — my generation’s analog to the “where were you when Kennedy was shot” question — I was 10 years-old, and well aware of what was going on in the world.

    To answer the “where we’re you” question, we had gotten four inches of snow the night before, so school was cancelled and I was home for the day. my brother and i had just come in from sledding, and had sat down to hot chocolate and the 11:30am showing of “Scrabble!” on NBC when the dreaded “we interrupt this program…” broke into the television.

    i say dreaded, not because we dreaded the news of the disaster — but we dreaded the interruption. at the age of ten, it seemed like the networks were always breaking into my tv shows to cover some boring, only-adults-would-be-interested news event or the other.

    And I remember saying as much when they broke into the programming, closing my mouth just in time to see that twisted, y-shaped smoke trail that came after the explosion. even as a snotty 10 year old, i stopped complaining pretty quickly.

    by the time the second (Columbia) disaster happened, i was just as checked out from the shuttle program as everyone else. the space shuttle was now (wrongly) dismissed as just an elaborate, expensive fedex truck shipping goods between earth and the international space station, and logistics missions weren’t considered news anymore.

    (not to mention, that week I was neck deep in a divorce, selling my home, and moving into my boss’ basement in the city. It was a tough week.)

    that said, by this week i had enough sentimentality to shed a tear while I watched the last launch from my computer at work — with a bunch of 20 year olds who didn’t know why I was so emotional about something that should have already been in a museum.

    I was pretty worked up this morning for the landing, too. I had forgotten it was happening, until I woke bolt upright at 5:45 am, and wondered why I was awake. After a few minutes, I ran downstairs just in time to catch the last glide in towards the last shuttle landing ever.

    If I have a regret on my bucket list, it’s that I never got to see one of the 135 launches or landings in person.

  • found: new threads

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  • girard splash park

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    girard splash park, washington, dc

  • found: view

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    (the view from my new office…)

  • the last flexday

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    i’ve got a bit of a “found” day today.

    my last day at the Conservancy was supposed to be today, but i ended up working about 12 hours over the weekend and skipped my flexday the week before, so i think we’re just going to call it even.

    sparklet and i got up early and hiked along the potomac in cabin john, maryland — which she loved, especially the part where we were hiking under the landing path of national airport. being the dad that i am, i then one-upped myself by taking her down to roaches run, to show here what it’s *really* like being under the flight path of an airport.

    we finished up with lunch, and a run through the fountains at columbia heights — i have to say, days like these are going to be one thing i’m going to miss about my old gig.

    i might have to take a friday off now and again, just to pretend like it’s a flex day.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    columbia heights civic plaza fountain, washington, dc

  • flexday: national airport

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    national airport (roaches run), washington, dc

  • flexday: cabin john, maryland

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    hiking, c&o canal towpath, cabin john, maryland

  • dancing w/ aunt melissa

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    dancing w/ aunt melissa

  • women’s world cup

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    sparklet got her first introduction to the horror that is watching the u.s. national soccer teams play in the world cup, watching the team take the lead twice (and having 80% of the chances) before losing in penalty kicks.

    fortunately, it didn’t seem to phase her. she cheered when the u.s. took the lead in the 69th minute, and cheered when japan answered ten minutes later. she cheered when the u.s. took the lead again at the mid-point of extra time, and cheered even harder when japan equalized minutes before the end of the match.

    (we didn’t let her watch the penalty kicks, for obvious reasons…)

    but maybe she is the one who has the right approach here — if you root for everyone, you’ll never be disappointed. that’s sage advice, especially when the Americans are playing.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    women’s world cup

  • artwork: three hands

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  • mrs. potato head

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    mrs. potato head

  • thank you 🙂

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  • found: stickers

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  • found: wonder how that fell out

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  • grant “poppa” roberts

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    grant “poppa” roberts, williamsburg, virginia

  • williamsburg

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    williamsburg, virginia

  • found: playin’ possum

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  • the fourth

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    bubbles, fourth of july weekend, washington, dc

  • “drink your rum like a good girl.”

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  • the next horizon

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    after six and a half years in conservation, i’ve got a new job.

    starting july 19th, i’ll be the vice president for digital at a pr-firm based out of boston. (in the non-profit industry, they’re best known for their work on american cancer society’s more birthdays effort, which is more or less the gold standard for a cause-based marketing campaign right now.)

    on the off chance you have questions, here are some answers in no particular order:

    • no, we’re not moving — the firm’s headquarters are in boston, which means i get to visit often, but their digital team is are all based in DC as it gives them access to a lot of the government/non-profit/corporate clients they have and hope to grow.
    • no, i won’t have to wear a suit and tie — i wore a tie for my interview with the president/ceo and was ribbed mercilessly for it. during my final interview, my direct boss was wearing flip-flops.
    • yes, my wife and i will now be competitors in the same field — and, yes, i’m not sure that’s such a good idea either because i know how competitive she gets too.

    so, i’m everything you’d imagine right now — i’m excited, i’m terrified. mostly, i just want to launch one last campaign for the Conservancy (more soon) and then hit the ground running.

    it’s such a great opportunity, and sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun — albeit, a lot of work, too.

    in an odd coincidence, the above photo was featured as the Daily Nature Photo on my.nature.org this week. in an even stranger coincidence, it’s the first time i’ve ever been featured on the site even though i conceived/built/launched it myself.

    it’s just more proof that good things happen all at once.

  • found: purple

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    we’ve gotten more than enough commentary about sparklet’s swimming suit-slash-burka — especially from the conservative christian wing of our collective circle, ironically — that i’m pleased to announce a second bathing suit has been acquired. and it’s purple. thank you. that is all.