Ugh… I’ve had quite a few ups and downs since my last post, now almost 6 weeks ago.

1. August was pretty damn busy for me with a lot of early mornings and late nights at work. Ironically, work has been quite slow this year and to boot, we’ve been having problems with a number of projects. Some of them are getting to me a bit personally so I’ve been a bit down on myself the last month or so, but things seem to be coming around a bit now and it looks like things might improve before the end of the year.

2. Late in August, Nicole and I made a short trip to Block Island to spend a long weekend with family. My brother and his wife rented a house and invited us all up for the week, though we could only make it Thursday through Sunday (slideshow of a few photos here.

3. Friday in BI was eventful to say the least. Early in the morning, my brother slipped down a flight of stairs while carrying one of his baby boys. They both tumbled and though my brother came away OK, his son was hurt and shaken pretty badly. Long story short, my nephew ended up with a broken buckled femur, but will be OK. He was a tropper to the max with a cast on for a whole month, but it came off about two weeks ago and now all is back to normal. Phew.

4. The first weekend of September, we hit the road again for an engagement party in the Philly area that Nicole’s mother threw for us. We lucked out with some great weather that allowed the party to stay outside and more importantly, keep the kids in the pool. Nicole and I got some great gifts and a good deal of money that we decided to use to start a joint bank account. We don’t plan to use the account regularly, so any money we get from wedding related things will go straight there to grow.

5. Baseball has ended (tear). I didn’t see nearly as many games this year as I wanted (15 total), but in the last two months of the season: Rockies @ Nationals; Brewers @ Nationals; Phillies @ Nationals; one, slash, two games against the Dodgers; and, a game from the final homestand against the Mets. As is always the case with the Nats, it’s been a good, bad, and ugly.

6. Hall & Oates are coming around to the 930 Club (yes, the 930 Club!) on October 21, a stop on their latest tour, “Up Close and Personal.” I surely did not hesitate to get a ticket, though because Nicole will be in class, it looks like I’ll be flying solo.

7. Had a rather unexpected visitor on the balcony at home a few weeks ago… a praying mantis! This guy actually hung out on the balcony for nearly two days before he left.

8. In some very exciting news, I bought a new camera lens. Found on eBay (with shipping, I spent less than $25.00!), I bought an old Asahi SMC Pentax-M 1:2 50mm prime lens. And. I. Love. It. The depth of field is incredible… the kind that I’ve never worked with with my kit or zoom lens. The first half-roll of photos with the new lens can be seen here.

9. And at the same time I was looking for a new lens, I’m thinking to myself that I’d love to have a new SLR body as well. Though my heart has always been with black and white film, I’m growing more and more comfortable with color now (as you’ll see in this archive). I figured it’d be nice to always have a camera with each type of film. So… I bought (also on eBay), a used Pentax ZX-M, the same as the current camera I’ve got. Unfortunately, I didn’t read fully the item description and purchased (again, for only like $25.00) a broken, as-is camera body that needs some work. Haven’t investigated it further yet, but details later.

10. My cousin made a weekend visit to the area from Boston two weeks ago. We all hung out at my brother’s house Saturday afternoon/evening and then went to the National Zoo on Sunday (a few photos with the new lens).

11. Following the National Zoo, Nicole and I broke from the crowd and spent a few hours walking around our hood during Adams Morgan Day Festival. The weather was absolutely beautiful and it gave me an opportunity to finish up a roll of film with the new lens!

12. Speaking of the animal kingdom and visitors… the blue heron that stops at the C and O Canal in Georgetown every year made another appearance last week.

13. At the end of the month, our wedding photographers, Robert and Kathleen, visited from Southern Connecticut to shoot an engagement session with us. Nicole and I spent a Saturday afternoon zipping around town scoping out potential locations that we might like to have pictures taken at, and though it gave us a good point to start from, we quickly diverted from the list once Rob and Kathleen got their eyes and imaginations working. Turns out, they’ve got a pretty good eye for this stuff. We are still waiting for the photos and their blog post, but rumor has it that those are coming soon!

14. The first few weeks of October have been uneventful, so briefly noted: Our friend Shannon is hosting an engagement party for our local friends in the Club Room at her apartment … I lost my little digital point-and-shoot camera about a week ago (boo!) when Nicole and I were out on Capitol Hill … Federico Aubele is playing the 930 Club later this month, and I’ll be there.