On behalf of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, we wanted to let you and your organization know about two upcoming events that may be of interest to you.

On October 28, respected photographer Deborah Willis will unveil and discuss her new work entitled “Lincoln as Monument, Lincoln as Icon.” Held at the Essex County Historic Courthouse, this event will explore the various depictions of Abraham Lincoln in art and photography. Using examples ranging from the 1870s to the present, Willis will lead the audience in a discussion of this iconic American figure, and how changing artistic depictions of him have impacted public perception.

In addition to the presentation and discussion, attendees have the unique opportunity to take docent-led tours through the Historic Courthouse, and even take a photo with the Borglum statue of Abraham Lincoln prior to the presentation.

Deborah Willis’ show is also a wonderful opportunity for attendees and community members to familiarize themselves with Lincoln and his legacy prior to our town hall discussion on November 12 at the Newark Museum. A panel of esteemed speakers, including Pedro A. Noguera, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, Jeff Johnson, award-winning journalist, social activist and political commentator, and James O. Horton, Historian Emeritus at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, will lead a stimulating discussion on the topic of “The Humane City: Race, Ethnicity and Freedom in Urban America.”

Panelists will discuss issues surrounding our urban communities today, and how we can collectively utilize the resources available in those communities to work towards a more successful future. This event seeks to critically examine the current situation in urban America when viewed through the lens of differences in race and ethnicity, while bringing together a group of scholars who are willing to give their recommendations for how communities in urban America can best achieve their collective potential.

Both events are free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. Please visit http://lincolnliveson.com/ for more information or to RSVP.

You can also connect with us and join the discussion today through Facebook http://facebook.com/Abraham.Lincoln.Bicentennial.Commission and Twitter http://twitter.com/lincoln200yrs.

Please share this information with other members of your organization, and anyone else that you believe may enjoy this opportunity. We hope that you will join us for these important and exciting events.

Again, if anyone decides to go to either of these events, please feel free to send us a report!

From the BBQ I went directly to my Mom’s house up in Morris County. Soon after arriving at my Mom’s place we headed over to my aunt and uncle’s house for a pre-wedding party for my older cousin, David, who was getting married the next day. This was also a lot of fun as my Grandmother and Aunt were at the party – both of whom I haven’t seen in a few years (probably since my Dad’s funeral almost two years ago).

Like most families, we tend to have an extremely fun time once the drinks start going down and the music gets turned on (and raucously “sung” at high volumes late into the night). And since he’s a dedicated reader of JerseySmarts.com, I’d like to give a shout out to Mike R. Happy?

The next day was my cousin’s wedding and reception, which was some of the most fun that I’ve had in a long, long time. Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook have probably already browsed through the pictures from the wedding, but I also created a Google photo album for those of you who aren’t on Facebook (yet).

I thought the ceremony was very well done. There were about 30 witnesses and I was sitting in the back row with my brothers. The wedding was emotional for my family since David is the first among the cousins to get married – which explained why my Mom, her sisters (including the groom’s Mom), and my Grandmother were in tears for a portion of the ceremony. It was a very nice wedding ceremony and I think that the pictures from the church show how it was very well put together.

The reception was also a good time. It’s always fun hanging out with family and friends for a celebration like a wedding. One funny occurrence – as I was walking outside for some fresh air, a kid came up to me and asked me if we knew each other from somewhere. I had no idea (and the memory wasn’t being assisted by the few beers that I had put away). To make a long story short, it turns out that the kid – who was one of the bride’s cousins – had just graduated from The College of New Jersey and is a member of my fraternity. He remembered me from all of the visits that I made to his chapter and the workshops that I put on while I was in charge of New Jersey for the fraternity. Small world, huh?

All in all, it was a great weekend. I hope for the best for my cousin and his wife and I hope that our family can get together more often to hang out and have some fun! Next on the agenda is a BBQ that my older brother’s girlfriend is throwing in a few weeks. I’m looking forward to that!

I supported the Obama administration from Day 1, but stupid acts like this make me rethink whether or not there is any common sense left in the White House. Unbelievable…

Anyway, as I was talking to one of my clients, we had a discussion about the costs of putting more content on one page and ways that they might be able to do this without incurring additional expenses. A few times I reported that free websites like YouTube and Hulu are a great way to get certain types of video content on a website without using any of your own bandwidth. I repeat – a few times I reported this during our conversation (I had also e-mailed this information to this client on a few different occasions). One of the clients in the room then said to their partner (like I wasn’t in the room), “He’s supposed to tell us this stuff. How are we supposed to make decisions if he doesn’t tell us this stuff?”

Excuse me?

Some of my website clients don’t realize that I’m not a mind reader and that if they don’t ask me a specific question, then I can’t offer a specific answer. Sure, I can give you a general overview on certain aspects of web design if we’re talking about that topic, but I can’t read your mind and predict what your questions will be! Further, how dare someone reference me and my communication skills (which, trust me, are far and above this client’s skills) like I’m not in the room while I’m sitting right there?! This type of arrogance generally makes vendors walk away while telling the clients, “This isn’t going to work for us. Good luck with your business!” All the while knowing that with an attitude like that, they can’t be too successful.

And so we have another in a long line of annoying occurrences that I’ve experienced with my clients in this website company endeavor. Yippee.

This was a pretty fulfilling project as it gave me the opportunity to scan the vast majority of my photo collection – which has just been sitting in a plastic container for the last 12 years. It was also fun to do because I’ve now categorized my personal, electronic family photo albums ranging back to the mid-1990’s and covering Christmases, Thanksgivings, Graduations, High School Football Games, and so much more. Also, I’ve catalogued my electronic college and graduate school photo albums covering my time in Sigma Pi Fraternity, Greek Weeks, House Parties, Graduations, National Conferences, and more. I shouldn’t forget the high school photo galleries, though – there are prom pictures up there!

There are also a few hundred “random” pictures that I couldn’t find a category for and I’ll likely add even more randoms in the coming weeks. Anyway, thought that I’d share and that I would suggest everyone getting their photo albums in order…and not waiting over a decade to do it like I did!