Ben Alman 

finally!

january 1, 2009. mark this day in your calendar, people. for this is not only the first day of the new year, but also the day that jeremy finally ordered up that D700 that he's been talking about, pretty much constantly, since it was announced six months ago. but this day, jeremy isn't the only happy one, as you can see from the photo..

why is kristin happy? well, because she now gets a substantial camera upgrade, replacing her aging once-owned-by-jeremy D70 with the substantially more awesome up-until-five-minutes-ago-owned-by-jeremy D200. and just as he replaced his D70 with the D200 a few years ago, now kristin gets to do the same. the cycle is complete, the prophecy fulfilled.

so, jeremy is happy, and kristin is also happy. but you may have noticed that they aren't the only smiling faces in this photo, no sir! robyn and craig (and i) are also happy. if you're thinking "why, ben? why are they also happy?" i'll tell you! we're especially happy because we don't have to listen to jeremy talk about how he really, really needs to buy the D700 anymore. double-yay!

but seriously, we're all happy for both kristin and jeremy. this is like, on the office, when jim and pam finally get together after awkwardly dancing around each other for three seasons.. except without dwight, and with cameras (yes, i know that the office is filmed with cameras. stop being pedantic. that's not what i meant, and you know it)

i just wish that i had brought my D300 to take this momentous photo, although the canon sd880 performed wonderfully, so i can't really complain

sarah and craig (and robyn)

craig brought his special lady friend sarah over for the new year's eve festivities. i hear she's really good at wii, but that's just the word on the street. to be honest, i wasn't really paying attention when people were playing, i was too busy boozing it up and eating all of kristin's awesome puff-pastry appetizers. anyways.. sarah, are those like, gang signs?

dan and michelle

well, from left to right, it's really michelle and dan.. but you know how, when you think of a couple, you always say one name first? at least i do, i always say dan and michelle, never michelle and dan. you know, i wonder if robyn says michelle and dan. i'll go ask her... ok, i asked, and she says dan and michelle too. michelle, don't read anything into this. we love you, actually, probably more than dan. dan, now it's all out in the open, i'm sorry, but you know how it goes.. anyways, yeah, about those favors i was going to ask you.. we're still cool, right?

anyways, maybe it's not a male-female thing, but something to do with the number of syllables in the names. or maybe it's just whoever you met first. maybe we'll never know. maybe you already know, and it's just me that doesn't know. that wouldn't exactly surprise me. either way, happy new year, dan and michelle! (oh yeah, and everyone else, too)

jeremy and kristin

and very special thanks to our good friends jeremy and kristin, for throwing a wonderful new year's eve party at their new house. you guys rock!

me and robyn

i really didn't want to deal with my D300, so i left it at home and brought my new canon sd880 ultra-compact camera, which actually worked out quite well. especially for hand-held self portraits, like this one, where the D300 would simply be impossible to hold

happy new year!

we all got together this year at jeremy and kristin's house to ring in the new year. there were tasty appetizers and snacks, gallons of booze, and wii party games.. oh, and good friends. pretty much everything you could ask for. cheers, val!

dan's axe

dan came to jeremy and kristin's new year's eve party prepared. prepared to kick some ass at guitar hero, of course

pangea media holiday party 2008

so we all got together for some good times in the westin copley place "presidential suite" this evening.. there was a bathtub full of beer, more hard liquor than could possibly be consumed (even by 50 ravenous partygoers), appetizers, sushi, pizza.. you name it.

after an awful lot of drinking, we got started with the yankee swap, where many people's dreams came true, andrew got stuck with a staples "easy button" and i won a cool domo toy. (sweet—well, for me at least.. not for andrew, who got totally hosed)

unfortunately, robyn and i had to leave before the LCR game got rolling, because she has to get an early start tomorrow morning (work, lame). i'm sure that as i write this, people are still playing LCR and boozing it up.. but i'm off to bed now!

(photo by robyn alman)

sunset at 36000 feet

the plane flight back to logan airport was relatively uneventful, which is always a good thing.. except for a one hour delay while they fixed the radio. you know, rebooting a computer is something i'm quite familiar with, but rebooting a plane.. well, i wasn't particularly thrilled that they needed to do that. either way, the jetblue guys got it all taken care of, and we made it home in one piece

and for our trouble, they gave us all a free in-flight movie, so i watched stepbrothers, which was an absolutely retarded movie that had me laughing out loud more than once. it was pretty awesome (for free)

honestly though, i can't complain about the delay, because otherwise we might have landed before i was able to take this great sunset photo

crazy taxi

on the way back to the airport, we managed to get the huge cab with the "luxury" suspension. well, i'm sure the suspension provided a silky-smooth ride ten years ago when the car was new, but for our journey to the airport we got a cross between the "moon walk simulator" and "deep sea ocean waves" suspension experience. sure, you don't feel the road.. instead, you feel the road magnified by a factor of thirty combined with just enough weightlessness to make your stomach wake up and say "i so hate you right now"

on a side note.. once we were on the highway in heavy traffic, for no reason that i could see, the driver started playing with his windshield wipers (instead of paying any attention to the traffic), which proceeded to spasm unpredictably for a few minutes, despite his attempts to control them by incessantly clicking the controls back and forth. in the end, he just gave up and left the wipers where they were, in the middle of the window.. like _/_/_

the ride went something like this: thump .. thump .. whoooosh .. whoooooosh (stomach churning) .. thump .. whoooosh (more stomach churning) .. click .. squeak squeak .. click .. squeak .. click .. click .. squeakclickclick squeak clicksqueak clickclick click squeak clicksqueak clickclickclick squ-click .. whooooosh (ugh, stomach hates me) .. thump .. whoooooosh (etc)