That being said, we do need a bit of help still, and would appreciate volunteers for the following:

Cake Pickup and Delivery to Reception

We will have two cakes at our place on 11th and Sherman St. We just need someone to pick them up sometime after our ceremony ends at 4:30 p.m., and bring them to our reception at the Montclair Center.

Music Equipment Pickup and Ride for DJ

My friend Alan will be providing music at the reception. He will need a ride to our place to pick up two monitors (each about the size of a large storage bin), his mixer, records and cables. You will probably need a good-sized trunk.

If you are willing and able to help out with any of the above, please leave your name and which task you can take on in the comments below. We’ll contact you soon after to check if you have any questions, and to work out details.

We are very fortunate to have all of you as coming to our wedding, and would be grateful for any help you can provide.

Thanks everyone,

Joe and Christina

Environmentally-related content has enjoyed a great deal of success lately, and it’s rare that an eco-centric story doesn’t hit the front page of Digg. But more niche Green-friendly social media sites are on the rise, and they’re becoming a great place to share conscious living content that would otherwise get lost in the pile on bigger sites.

Four of my favorites are:

• Hugg
• MindBodyGreen
• Kirtsy
• Care2

From stories about fruits and vegetables, the difference between vegans and vegetarians, to green weddings, it’s easy to get Green content to the front page.

Whatever your motivation - whether you’re looking to promote a good story you’ve found or just looking to take a break from usual news - they’re great sites and I highly recommend checking them out.

If you live in Denver, you’ve probably been approached by someone looking for change or have seen people standing with signs at strategic positions (usually intersections in high-traffic areas that get congested at rush hour).

They’re everywhere, and no matter how awesome the city of Denver thinks it is by saying they’ll get rid of homelessness in 10 years, we all know it’s not gonna happen. “Homeless” people are here to stay, and we’ll continue to get hounded no matter what.

And no, putting money in the homeless meter is not going to help. Especially when the dude is standing next to you as you’re reassuring him that putting money in the meter is going to help end all homelessness, including his.

I’ve been taken advantage of quite a few times by panhandlers. Usually it’s been by the aggressive ones - those that use intimidation or create a high stress situation from which you really badly want to escape. They know that by making you really uncomfortable or freak out, you’re more likely to hand over whatever change or cash you personally know you have. Guilt is a very powerful tool, especially for panhandlers.

Because of some bad experiences in the past few months, I’ve made it a point not to give out money anymore. Frankly, I’m tired of doing it.

It’s not that I’m not sympathetic, but I simply don’t feel that it helps much at all, and I never know what they actually do with it. Plus, it sucks to lose the quarters that I’ve been saving to do laundry with, and I have to pull out another $20 from the ATM, go to a grocery store, and get change all over again. When possible, I do buy food if we’re close to a corner store or fast food place.

Anyway, not all supposed “homeless” people are liars who simply want to kick back and let society do the rest of the work while they reap the benefits. But if you’ve ever wondered if some people do it just so they don’t have to work, the answer is yes, and if you’ve suspected they can make a lot of money from it, yes again.

Here’s a perfect example, and one that will make you think twice before you hand out your change the next time you’re on the street:

It would be wrong to assume that every panhandler is a fake. There really are some people out there who got dealt a rough hand in life. Some suffer from severe mental illness, were cast out by their family and friends, and are doomed to wandering the streets with just enough knowledge of how to feed themselves and survive each day. Those are the people that need help the most.

But how can we distinguish the fakes from those that really need help? And should we always give money, hoping they really needed help and we did the right thing? As unfair as it may sound, I personally don’t think it’s possible to always make the right judgment, and we shouldn’t feel obligated to give money.

For the foreseeable future, I’m going to stick to my no-to-money, yes-to-food policy. However, I’m sure that others may have a different opinion and different strategy for dealing with panhandlers. What do you do when asked for change on the streets?

So far, the Denver/Boulder area has been consistently bringing in big DNB headliners and bringing Makoto is huge. In the past few years, I’ve seen LTJ Bukem twice, AI, Goldie (even got to take a shot from Mr. Metalheadz himself :D), Marcus Intalex, and more.

Definitely gonna get my tickets ahead of time. If any of you want to get tickets too, you can buy them here.

It’s really awesome that there are so many free resources available to Web designers and I’m very grateful to the above for helping us update our site.

I hope you guys like it and feel free to give us some feedback :)

Still working on the site. Been really busy with the design of our Wedding site and now I’m moving on to integrating it with Wordpress, if it’s worth the trouble.

Anyway, I got tired of the Headsetoptions theme and switched over to the very awesome Futurosity Vero, by Robert Ellis at Futurosity.com.

More to come…

Stay tuned for a new design and also a new section for that will have all the details for our wedding, coming up on July 19 :)

- Joe

See more progress on: open my own non-profit

We drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park to enjoy some of the last nice days of the fall. As we were driving through the Morraine Park area of the park, Joe asked if we could pull over to the side and take some pictures. Morraine Park is a beautiful valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides. The elk typically gather in this area of the park as well.

We got out of the car and crossed over a creek that was running along side of the road. We had previously tried to cross this creek early in the summer, but without success due to the current. Once we crossed over the creek, we decided to scramble up some rocks to reach the top of a small mound that was in the middle of the valley.

As we were sitting on the rocks, Joe began to tell me the things about me that he appreciated and loved. I might add, that he was being extremely sweet and cute while he was telling me these things too :) Between each sentence, he was giving me kisses.

At one point, Joe got nervous and started stumbling on his words. I got butterflies in my tummy at this point, in anticipation of what he was going to say next.

In the most beautiful moment of my life, and in my relationship with Joe, he got down on one knee and asked me to share in the adventure of a lifetime with him and be his wife. And I said YES!!

Joe surprised me even further by sneaking champagne into the park and we had a celebration toast.

It was a beautiful day :)

Anyhow, everyone in our building in general tends to be anti-social, so it’s easy to fall into the pattern and perpetuate it, even if you are a very social person who likes to get to know people, like I am.

Nevertheless, in one of those funny situations that neighbors who don’t talk to each other get caught - and that there’s no way to get out of - we were forced to communicate with one another.

I was walking up to our building after getting off the bus and noticed he was getting his mail, and my mailbox is directly next to his. For a few seconds I thought of killing time standing outside, walking to the back of the building, or even just walking past him and going upstairs to my place, but I knew that would be petty.

So up I went and did what I do best in these situations: I sprang up some small talk about how annoying it is to get junk mail, and we both related our frustration. Afterward, he rushed upstairs quickly, obviously trying to escape the uncomfortable moment, even though it was a futile effort since I’d have to walk past him to get to my studio.

I walked up the stairs slowly to minimize the agony of having to cross paths again, and when I got up to our floor, I tried to walk by him as quickly as possible. To my surprise, as I walked behind him, he commented about the huge snowfall we’re supposed to get.

I said “That’s good news,” and asked him if he was a skier or snowboarder. He opened up and told me that this year he skipped out, since he was buying a house. I told him that’s great, and since we were both going into our apartments, I felt the need to say something to end the conversation on a good note.

Without thinking, and not realizing until later how strange it may have sounded, I said “Well, it’s good to see you again.” He said “Likewise,” and we both smiled and went our separate ways.

For a moment after stepping inside my place I thought about how I may have sounded dumb, but I soon stopped caring. I found myself feeling unexpectedly happy and good about our neighborly exchange. For a person as cynical as myself, this was a refreshing change from the norm. At least for one instance throughout our time living in these apartments, my neighbor and I treated each other with respect, and a degree of friendliness that we all could afford to show more often.