Thursday, July 19, 2007
June 19, 2007 Jackson and Miss Nicole
Sunapee, NH . A little field trip occured on June 19 when Nicole and Jackson and I went mountain biking around the Sunapee area. In the photo below, we pulled over at a really cool stream and we jumped in for a swim. Nice.
Hey, here's the happy couple enjoying a few well-earned brews after the field trip. I say well-earned because we were out biking for, like, 5 hours. Granted, we were goofing around 1/2 the time.
Later, we went out to dinner. I swear to you on a stack of Bibles, we had the best pizza I've ever had. It was at a little restaurant on Sunapee Harbor in Newbury, NH. The place was called Bellissima Brick Oven Trattoria. I failed to take a photo of the restaurant, but below is a photo of the parking lot - right on the Lake. There's my trusty Ford Explorer with 2 of our bikes up on the roof. 
Labels: Jackson + Nicole
Monday, July 16, 2007
June 17, 2007 Lisa LeBlanc, Softball Champion
Lisa LeBlanc is an awesome softball player. On June 17, her league held a tournament in Lowell, Ma., so Julie and I went down with Lisa to watch the games! Lisa is an incredible pitcher, and also center-fielder. Below is Lisa and me before the tournament started
Below is Lisa and Julie
Here's Julie and me
Here's Lisa up at bat. She is a dangerous hitter
The tournament was of a sudden-death style, 3 games. Lisa's team, the Diamond Gems, won 3 straight games to win the tournament that afternoon, and they were awarded trophies !
It was an awesome afternoon, and Julie and I had a great time watching Lisa and her teammates win!
Below is Lisa and Julie
Here's Julie and me
Here's Lisa up at bat. She is a dangerous hitter
The tournament was of a sudden-death style, 3 games. Lisa's team, the Diamond Gems, won 3 straight games to win the tournament that afternoon, and they were awarded trophies !
It was an awesome afternoon, and Julie and I had a great time watching Lisa and her teammates win!Labels: LeBlanc
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
June 14, 2007 Chuck & Mike.................
In June, Mike Duda was here visiting from Germany. One day, June 14, I had to drive Mike up to the Manchester, NH. bus station. He was taking a bus up to Rutland, Vermont to attend his sister Shelley's wedding. Anyway, we were getting kind of bored waiting for the bus, so we decided to get some photos of ourselves, but we needed someone to actually take the photos.
I looked over toward the bus station and there was this really pretty girl sitting on a bench, alone. I had major trepidations about actually approaching her, but I figured what the hell - but I'm thinking to myself - what girl in her right mind is going to go off with two older, mischievous-looking guys at a bus station? Ah, that would be Catherine. She takes one look at me as I'm overly-pantomiming the use of my camera in an effort to convey my request for her to take me and Mike's photo, and (I can only assume) immediately realizes that, although I'm clearly a looney-tune, I'm harmless, and in all likelihood Mike is my caretaker.
So, she not only agrees to come take our photo across the street , but takes all of her luggage over to us.
After we goofed around for a while, she admitted that what was going on was that there was this actually creepy old guy, drunk, who had been pestering her and following her since she had arrived at the station. She was, in fact, so freaked out by this guy that she welcomed our request, because she was now "with us."
So, we hung out for a while, and she told us all about her bus travel plans. Actually she told us all about what was going on with her. It was a fun meeting. Catherine was really cool. Then, her bus came, and she got on the bus and it drove away.
So, i couldn't decide which photos to show, so i'm just posting all of them. They're small, but you can click on them to make them big.
..........meet Catherine
..........meet Catherine
Labels: Duda, Ridiculous Stuff
Thursday, June 28, 2007
June 5 - 7, 2007 Harvard Commencement
Working at a college is kind of surrealistic, compared to working at an industrial business. The thing is that 1/4 of your students leave automatically every year. But what an accomplishment for the graduating Seniors! It's just a bittersweet experience for those of us left behind. I really like the students a lot, they include beautiful African singers, ROTC guys, great athletes, young adults with various handicaps, great people from all over Asia, smarty-pants types, drinkers, flirts, musicians- I could go on. So, I always attend Commencement events each year to celebrate mostly, but also to reflect on the passage of these amazing young people who I, somehow, have stumbled into having the great privilege to learn with. The scene below is actually the class photo for the Harvard College Class of 2007 taken on June 5. There's about 1600 or so graduates, most of whom are all crammed on the steps of our main library, Widener Library. The camera guy (just right of center in white shirt) was pretty well-equipped. He had a panoramic camera mounted on a little servo-motor which swept back and forth, taking these amazing panoramic photos. So my photo below, is a photo of a photo being taken. 
Here is the actual photo:
The day before graduation is called Class Day, and it is also the day of the Commissioning for the ROTC students. Below is one of my great students from this year Rob Huefner. Rob was in my Social Psychology section last fall and was also a resident of Lowell House. He's a 2nd lieutenant in the Army now, and will be trained to be an intelligence officer. The photo below shows Rob and me just after his commissioning on June 6:
Bill Clinton was the featured speaker that afternoon.
I was reminded that Clinton totally rules. Here's an excerpt of what he said to the graduating Seniors in his Class Day Speech:
I was really impressed with Clinton. Speaking of impressive people, Here's a photo (below) of my buddy Mike Daris. I snapped this little rehearsal shot the night before graduation while Mike was trying on his Cap and Gown.
Hey, below is my buddy Peter O'Malley who, like me, is a Crusader from one of the greatest undergraduate liberal arts colleges in the world. Well, now Pete is a Crimson Crusader because he received his Master's Degree from Harvard Extension School on June 7.
Below is Coach Crompton and me. Hey we're both planning to graduate in 2008 - Sarah, you are too!
Here is the actual photo:
The day before graduation is called Class Day, and it is also the day of the Commissioning for the ROTC students. Below is one of my great students from this year Rob Huefner. Rob was in my Social Psychology section last fall and was also a resident of Lowell House. He's a 2nd lieutenant in the Army now, and will be trained to be an intelligence officer. The photo below shows Rob and me just after his commissioning on June 6:
Bill Clinton was the featured speaker that afternoon.
I was reminded that Clinton totally rules. Here's an excerpt of what he said to the graduating Seniors in his Class Day Speech:
"So with this Harvard degree and your incredible minds and your spirits that I’ve gotten a little sense of today, this gives you virtually limitless possibilities. But you have to decide how to think about all this and what to do with your own life in terms of what you really think. I hope that you will share Martin Luther King’s dream, embrace Mandela’s spirit of reconciliation, support Bono’s concern for the poor and follow Mother Teresa’s life into some active service. Ordinary people have more power to do public good than ever before because of the rise of non-governmental organizations, because of the global media culture, because of the Internet, which gives people of modest means the power, if they all agree, to change the world. When former President Bush and I were asked to work on the tsunami, before we did the Katrina work, Americans, many of whom could not find the Maldives or Sri Lanka on a map, gave $1.2 billion to tsunami aid. Thirty percent of our households gave. Half of them gave over the Internet, which means you don’t even have to be rich to change the world if enough people agree with you. But we have to do this. Citizen service is a tradition in our country about as old as Harvard, and certainly older than the government. "
Here's a link to the complete transcript of his speech.
Here's an article about the speech, taken from the Harvard Gazette
I was really impressed with Clinton. Speaking of impressive people, Here's a photo (below) of my buddy Mike Daris. I snapped this little rehearsal shot the night before graduation while Mike was trying on his Cap and Gown.
Hey, below is my buddy Peter O'Malley who, like me, is a Crusader from one of the greatest undergraduate liberal arts colleges in the world. Well, now Pete is a Crimson Crusader because he received his Master's Degree from Harvard Extension School on June 7.
Below is Coach Crompton and me. Hey we're both planning to graduate in 2008 - Sarah, you are too!
Bill Gates made the Commencement speech. He credited his mother with informing him that “from those to whom much is given, much is expected.” Here's a link to the transcript of his speech. 
Below is a picture from dinner with the O'Malleys.
On the left is Peter's wife Jodi Simpson, and on the right is her friend Fiona Tucker. Fiona lives in London. 
Below you can see Rick, Peter, and me. We all went to Holy Cross. Thus, we rule. Peter (red shirt) and I shared a similar experience at Holy Cross: we both lived in Wheeler 109. That is, we both lived in the same room, albeit 18 years apart.
Labels: Harvard, Jodi + Peter
Monday, June 18, 2007
May 26, 2007 Katie & Ted get Married
Katie is my niece and on May 26, she and Ted Miller got married at St. Ann's Church in Quincy, Ma. That's the lovely couple below
I told these guys to "make faces" for the picture. Consequently, the photo below is my fault.
Below is a photo of Paul and Marybeth Kelly, who provided the amazing music for the ceremony. They were up in the balcony, so you couldn't see them, but our investigative cameraman managed to obtain this unauthorized behind -the- scenes image.
There were about 3 receptions following the wedding. First, we all went to the Neighborhood Club in Quincy for the main reception. I played a little cocktail-party piano here:
After the real reception at the Neighborhood Club, we went back to the Quinn homestead. After that, a bunch of us went over to the Marriott in Quincy
A fun time was had by all....
Above is T.J. , Kathleen, and Brianne
Above is my Dad (Chuck Jr.) and my older sister Mary
Above is Sam and Zach Houston-Read, my nephews. Again, the facial expressions were my idea.
This guy above rules. That's Declan Quill, cousin of the groom Ted Miller
Above are 4 gorgeous nieces of mine -L. to R.: Abigail, Megan, Mary, and Becky
Above, two more gorgeous nieces (and sisters of the bride)That's Liz on the left, and Ellen on the right
Labels: Family
Monday, May 28, 2007
May 19, 2007 Another Saturday Night at the Compound
We begin this post with a nod to Tracy and Paul, proprietors of Grady's Pub. A clearly amazing couple . Look how cute they are! oh, pullllllllllllease ! !
In the photo below, you see L. to R. John, Rita, John and Kathleen. At least in the foreground. If you click on the photo to enlargen, and then look in the background, you will see Vinnie doing a blatantly intentional "Nicky-get-in-the-picture," a technique obviously made famous by my youngest brother Nick. It involves randomly appearing in the background of photos of other people.
John Rita John Kathleen Hey below is a good photo of MacGyver (Tails), i mean Steve, and Kat obviously deep in discussion.
AWWWWWWWWW look at the Jamester, the Jamerama, Jameserini, the Jamenator and of course Shan
below is Tails and Chuck. Tails is sporting his summer look and is clearly drinking whiskey. Apparently, I was unaware that I had a large amount of dryer lint fastened to the left side of my face. 
At one point in the evening, Rita and the boys from Clinton showed up without warning. Below, from left to right, it's Mark, Kevin, and John
In the photo below, you see L. to R. John, Rita, John and Kathleen. At least in the foreground. If you click on the photo to enlargen, and then look in the background, you will see Vinnie doing a blatantly intentional "Nicky-get-in-the-picture," a technique obviously made famous by my youngest brother Nick. It involves randomly appearing in the background of photos of other people.
John Rita John Kathleen 
AWWWWWWWWW look at the Jamester, the Jamerama, Jameserini, the Jamenator and of course Shan
below is Tails and Chuck. Tails is sporting his summer look and is clearly drinking whiskey. Apparently, I was unaware that I had a large amount of dryer lint fastened to the left side of my face. 
This is a special "antique" version of "paul and tracy in hats" by the reknown photographer "chuck" . Actually they were standing directly under a lightbulb in the ceiling, and it gave a yellow, old-fashioned tint to the photo. Tracy appears quite proud of that hat. Hey it does look cool on her !
Labels: Family
Thursday, May 17, 2007
May 17, 2007 Gary Rice
Hung out with Gary Rice today. Gary's an amazing bike guy. Case in point, he and his wife Chris own Cycle New England, a wicked amazing bike tour company that operates out of Sutton, Ma. So anyway, he's the bike guy, and I guess that makes me the hike guy. So, mr. bike and mr. hike went out today..........on bikes!
Gary's idea was to meet at the Lexington Battle Green and then ride up and down the Minuteman Bikeway. It really ruled. We rode from Lexington down to Alewife Station in Cambridge, and back. We were out for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. When we got back to the Lexington Battle Green, we took the photo up above, using the timer on the camera. The monument where we are standing marks the spot where the Revolutionary War started - the first skirmish on the Lexington green on April 19, 1775.
Then we went out to a great little place called Mario's Italian Restaurant right on Mass. Ave. in Lexington. I have to say there is a special enjoyment of lasagna and Amstel light after a long bike ride. This place was hilarious, too in that the service was ridiculously good. Plus, they encourage you to buy your own beer across the street and just bring it in and drink it, which is what we did. It's actually a BYOB restaurant. We got some chicken parm too.
Labels: Gary Rice
