I was inspired by Wess Daniels to do a post of the photos that defined 2012. This is a pretty comprehensive round-up, though I am missing photos of people who made a big difference in 2012, including Tory, Cassandra, Jay, Andy, David, Jonathan, and a few others.
Anyway, here are the photos, in more-or-less chronological order.
Starting off with a bit of the ol’ Jenga. This was at a party in early February, shortly after I’d interviewed in Boston but a few weeks before I moved out there.
Timber!
I remember some less-than sober dancing at this party.
I even sported a goatee for a while.
I carried around an old camera with some monochrome film for the last week or so that I was in Portland. This is Forrest and our niece, Claudius.
Here’s me holding my nephew, Frank. This was at a sort of going away party at my brother’s house.
My beautiful mother.
Rachael back at the Hancock house. One of my favorite photos that I’ve ever taken of her.
Promised my brother we’d get tattoos together before I left Portland, so naturally I waited until after they offered me the job.
Rachael and I took our room apart. I sold and gave away most of my stuff, and then packed the rest into three boxes and a suitcase. She took her stuff to her parent’s house.
The last photo I took of the Hancock house, where we’d lived for almost three years. This one on film.
Rachael and I stayed in a hotel by the airport the night before I left. It was fun at first.
And I took some nice pictures.
But then the eyes got watery.
And it was sad.
The first photo I took in New York. This was at the subway station near JFK.
Looking out toward Soho and New Jersey from my hotel in New York where I stayed for a week before going up to Boston.
Two fast friends I made at The Takeaway: Kristen Meinzer and Rafer Guzman. They host The Takeaway’s Movie Date podcast.
Spent a few mornings in The Takeaway control room. This is where all the magic happens, though I’d spend most of my time experiencing the magic from afar.
My first bed in Boston. Rented this room from a woman for a week while I got myself settled. Also got the flu.
There’s a pizza place near where I stayed with this drivel written on the wall. Their awful food was compounded by the fact that I was having no fun and missing my family.
Where I work.
The first day I was in Boston I went around to a few bike shops to find a new whip. I’d shipped two out, but wanted something specifically for Boston. This is the first bike ride I took in Boston.
The bike I ended up with a few days later. She’s served me very well in 2012.
One of the coolest things about the bike is that you can put pictures into the headbadge. Here’s Claudius, rolling.
I sent Rachael pictures periodically to show her that I was still alive.
I found this cafe sort of place in Allston. Felt like Portland and made me feel at home.
Tim, my new roommate, had a couple kayaks, so we went paddling in ponds and rivers around Boston.
My stuff arrived in Boston a month or so after I did. A lot of stuff broke.
Mom was my first visitor in Boston.
Rachael joined me a week later and we went to New York. This is me eating more awful pizza, though at a different joint.
Rachael with her old friend, and my new friend, Calvin.
I almost moved back to Portland when I discovered these little bastards (actually a house centipede). Looks terrifying, especially because it’s really, really fast. Even though it’s front two legs have evolved into fangs (think about that), they’re actually relatively harmless. They eat other bugs, too, so it’s kind of like having a guard dog, except that it’s a hideous bug.
One of the reasons my new roommate and I hit it off so well was because he was so into fermentation (beer, specifically). I’d done a fair bit of fermentation myself, so we spent much of the year comparing notes. Two of my first Boston loaves of bread.
I went back to Portland for the first time in April. It (and she) was wonderful.
Walking to our friends’ house.
Liz was pregnant, so we took some pre-baby pictures.
Rachael looking out at Mike and Liz’s house.
I meet up with them every time I go back to Portland, not just because of the wonderful food they make.
Only one of them was actually pregnant.
We went to a park in Portland to take pictures. They’re great.
Another point of this trip was to help wipe the water off of my nephew Frank’s head after he was baptized. They said they named him Frank Alexander because of me, but I think it might actually be a reference to Michael J. Fox’s first big television role.
The beautiful family.
Claudius hamming it up, as always.
And Rachael.
Tim planted a garden at our house. Here’s a pepper.
He also took care of this really cool dog every once in a while. Nice to be around animals.
A cast-iron skillet. Maybe the best thing I brought with me.
Tim and me at the brew store. We went here a lot.
Bananas in the kitchen.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the grocery store (unless it’s a hippy dippy food co-op), so Tim and I started ordering our groceries online via Peapod. I was impressed that the avocado arrived without a single bruise.
Even so, I did go to the grocery store sometimes.
One of our first co-ferments: spontaneous hard apple cider.
Looks disgusting, but it was actually pretty successful. All you have to do is leave apple juice without preservatives out in the open air. Keep the bugs off of it and in a few weeks you’ll have hard cider. Yeast is everywhere!
On the plane for my second trip back to Portland.
Went up to the Washington Coast with Rachael and her folks. Saw this dog along the way.
Rachael in Astoria.
Looking out from atop Astoria.
Old dirty shoes.
Dog-sitting for a friend. This is how I found bull when I first showed up.
Rachael came out for her second trip out right around my birthday. We took a road trip up through New Hampshire.
We went to the cemetery in Salem on our way north.
She took a picture of my tattoo.
When we showed up at this campground there weren’t any open spaces, but the camp manager let us pitch our tent in the grass. We were a bit exposed.
Went for a hike at some waterfalls in New Hampshire.
The humongous hotel at Bretton Woods. You can’t see it, but Mount Washington is just behind.
One of Robert Frost’s homes. There’s a nice walk through the woods right next to hear where they have some of his poems printed to read along the way.
Having spent our first night at a crowded campground, we decided to spend the second night a little further away from civilization. We hiked a couple miles straight into the woods and then set up camp a quarter-mile off the trail. I’m not scared by much, but being almost totally alone in the woods all through the night is not really my idea of fun. Luckily I had Rachael there with me.
We went for a hike the next day and Rachael meditated by a lake.
Pulled this guy out of the a lake. Not sure if he ever flew again.
Part two of out trip included going flying with Tim. This is inside the jet he flies.
Probably the last chance Rachael and I will have to take pictures like this.
And this is inside the plane that we took to Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Rachael was stoked.
We took a cab into Provincetown from the airport.
Feet.
Tim and I living el espíritu cubano.
Rachael and me. Nice colors.
I always thought this picture looked like Rachael was breaking up with Tim.
I think I said something stupid right before I took this photo.
Walking back to the plane.
Shortly after Rachael left, I went on the road for three weeks. The first week was in Florida for the Republican National Convention. I met this guy at a Ron Paul event.
Representing my old crew, Think Out Loud.
My partner in crime at the conventions, Todd Zwillich. This is at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina.
Never seen a crowd yell like they did for Michelle.
This lady worked near my station at the Democratic convention. She helped people sort out which bin their stuff belonged in. Super nice lady.
Another partner in crime, Caitlin Thompson. She could be counted on for thumbs ups, plus a whole lot more.
Back with the Daves in Florida. Miller, on the left, said that he was actually a lot more excited than he looked.
I went to a BuzzFeed party at an aquarium in Florida, but I didn’t know very many people so I mostly took pictures of the creatures.
Went straight from the conventions out to Portland to go to the Pendleton Round Up with Kjerstine, Claudius, Rachael, and a few other people.
I love animals, especially cows. Such big beautiful eyes. Usually pretty gentle, too.
A few cowboy-looking guys made fun of me for feeding the cows and taking pictures of them, but I was in heaven.
The usual suspects.
Love these super emo buildings in Manhattan. I spent a lot of time in New York in 2012, traveling there about once a month.
Same buildings by day.
I took the water taxi to Brooklyn one evening.
And felt pretty confidant about the subway.
I have no idea why I took this picture or where it’s from.
At Rockefeller Center with Rick and Denise. This must have been in December.
I spent much of 2012 looking at photos like this.
And folding oranges into weird shapes during lunch.
Occasionally I would send Rachael pictures of the groceries to demonstrate that I was actualling cooking for myself and eating.
Where I slept.
Spent a lot of typing Skyping with Claudius and her agent/mother, Kjerstine.
For some reason I have this picture.
More orange carvings.
I spent a lot of time in this line at Logan Airport. I flew back to Portland about once every six weeks.
Some curry Tim or I made that I thought was particularly pretty.
The most important part of the room.
I took a lot of walks when it was still nice out. Stumbled upon this guy one day. He couldn’t fly, so I resolved to come back after work to pick him up and try to nurse him back to health. He was gone when I came back.
Boston was beautiful a lot. I took this picture in May.
One of the things I tried to do at work was remind people to enter in copy for their segments. I wrote out messages with my lunch and emailed them to the rest of the staff in New York. Turned out to be pretty effective.
One day I sent everyone in New York flowers because I was so excited about the progress.
My first intern, Robert. Very talented guy. I’m sure you’ll be seeing his name around before long.
Marco Werman and I taking a cue from each other.
Kept my self busy with lots of little projects, like this Arduino.
I always took walks at lunch and would sometimes find little creatures and bring them home with me. This is a dead beetle.
Zapatos nuevos.
Bunny chilling in the park by our house.
Tim transformed most of our front yard into raised beds. This was in September.
The lamp by my bed.
A cut onion.
In early November I went to the emergency room with extreme abdominal pains. They had me drink that fluid on the right to do a CAT scan because they thought I had appendicitis. I spent almost the entire day there and then they sent me home without a diagnosis. They called me the next day to tell me that it turned out that I had a couple of kidney stones. Had I known it was a kidney stone I would’ve been much more afraid to go pee. I had the picture because I was texting updates to everyone back home while I was at the hospital.
Tim and I went on a big Berkley and Jensen (like Costco) kick late in the year. This load set us back about three hundred bucks.
Went through a stint in November where I rewatched a few Friday Night Lights episodes. Also got some Bean boots for the major snowstorm that has yet to arrive.
Tim and I got into bouldering late in the year. Found this place a fifteen minute bike ride from our house.
Made a bunch of cheese, too. This was for a cheddar that I made in November. Beard is starting to get a little unruly in this one.
And kombucha. I got this mother from a place in Portland (where else?) and have since made a few batches.
The almost-finished product.
It looks gross, but it’s actually quite delicious.
Kjerstine and my brother-in-law Chris came out to Boston with Rachael in November. It was a lot of fun to travel with my sister as adults, even if we didn’t always act like it. This is Chris eating a canoli in front of the statue of Paul Revere.
Kjerstine and Chris at the fire department museum in Boston.
Unfortunately modern firemen aren’t allowed to have a beard.
I really love this picture. Riding the bus back to Brighton.
Kjerstine, Chris, and me in the dugout at Fenway.
I came back to Portland at the end of December to spend Christmas and New Year’s with family. Rachael and I took a plane to central Oregon on the day after Christmas.
Hanging out in Bend a couple days after Christmas.
Met up with my dad in Bend. He got me a scarf for Christmas so I could be just like him.
Rachael catching snow.
I got a macro lens for my phone and tried it out on Rachael’s eye.
There wasn’t much space in the car on our way back from Bend, but we made it. This is Gordy and Suellen. Rachael’s in the back.
Last picture of the year is of Rachael holding a mirror that she got for Christmas from her friend Andrea.