The Tree is UP!

Well, this afternoon, after enjoying a great Thanksgiving lunch, we decided to put the Christmas Tree up.

Not to skip any details, lunch was interesting on it's own.

A few years ago, we decided to give my Mom a year off, so we went out to eat on Thanksgiving. This nice restaurant down the street, Fred's Hickory Inn, does a nice Thanksgiving lunch. It was good, to say the least. The following years were a jumble, being in Amarillo one year, and Little Rock the next. This year, we're all home again, so we decided to go back. It's beginning to become a bit of a tradition around here, with my Mother being the #1 advocate. She went ahead and "did us a favor" by getting the reservations a few weeks ago. She really "did herself a favor", by making the statement that she wanted another year off.

So, we kept the forming tradition alive, and went to Fred's for lunch today. It was just as good as the last time, which puts my Mother in line for slipping under the radar once again next year.

To be honest, I like going out, because there is no mess, and I can eat as much of whatever I want. However, If we are home next year, I might push for us to have a traditional meal, because I don't want this Fred's thing to get locked in for all eternity.

Anyway, sitting around this afternoon with no dishes to clean, and no left-overs to stare at and dread the consumption of, we got bored. So, I went downstairs and started hauling up our artificial Christmas Tree in segments, making the statement that we were putting this sucker up, today.

I know how it works around here. If we didn't put it up today, it'd be December 20th. And, on December 20th, then it'd become a "do we really want to set this rig up for five days?" affair.

The tree is up. It's looking good, and I feel like the neighbors will soon follow suit.

Maybe we're actually late, and I just think we're ahead of the game. I don't know what the standard is. When is the right time to put it up? I know over at the Elliott house, they were ON THE BALL this year, because their beast was up just shy of two weeks ago.

What's the norm?

Look Out, Tom Turkey!

Well, tonight I feel for the turkey's of America, or ahem, the lack there of. Those poor birds line up by the millions, every year, and take one for the team. Ben Franklin thought the North American wild turkey should be the national bird. The bald eagle won that war, thank goodness.
Every table in America will be set tomorrow for a Turkey Thanksgiving Meal. Let us all join together now, for a moment of Turkey Silence.......

no gobbles, please

Well, that was lovely. I hope everybody is with family, simply having a wonderful turkey-time!

(thanks, Redcorn Studios, for the Thanksgiving Table photo)

CZECH it Out: 479Photo.com

Back in January of this year, a few of my photography buddies and I put together a website. Most of us are from the Bentonville area, so we went with the domain: 479Photo.com. Before this blog was a work in progress, the photo site went up, and we began daily postings of our photography work.
The site is designed to give each of the seven photographers one assigned day of the week to post a photo. Only one photo can be posted, and the photo has to have been taken in the last seven days.

It forces us to be producing at least one photo a week that we are proud enough of to post on the internet, for public critique. We all try to comment on each other's photos, stating the good, the bad and the ugly. It's a nice, friendly reminder to me personally, because there are four or five day stretches where I won't take a single photo. To the newspaper shooters, it's no big deal, but to me, it forces me to get out and shoot something cool, at least once every seven days.

At the end of this year it will be nice to go back and have 52 portfolio-worthy shots, all documented and out on the web.

I keep the link to the site on the right, with all my other favorites, but in case you missed it, I wanted to do a quick post about the site, for ya'll to CZECH it Out!

It's been busy. It's been fun.

First of all, I must apologize for the lack of posts lately. I haven't said a word since Wednesday, and sorry, but at this point it might be Too Late to Apologize.

Since I've been a slacker, I'll try to give ya'll the "Reader's Digest" version, as someone would call it...

Thursday
U.S. History was cancelled, giving me a nice long lunch before The Praise Hour. Hutch Kufahl called in and won the CD for this week, way to go, Studio 412! As soon as Radio class was over, I headed over to 2nd Baptist. Thursdays are Refuge days for me. The Refuge service starts at 9pm, with a total of three hard-working crews sweating all day to make that happen.

2pm-4pm - Crew One: Tear down all 2nd Baptist Stage Plot, and bring out all Refuge gear, for basic plotting and cable running.
6:30-8:30pm - Crew Two: the Band and the Tech crew. Setup the stage, get Media Shout prepped, soundcheck, and rehearse
10:30-11:30pm - Crew Three: Tear down all Refuge Stage Plot, and bring back out all 2nd Baptist gear, leaving it just how we found it.

I'm proud to be apart of ONE of those crews, Crew Two, as the FOH Audio Engineer. The guys working to make this weekly production happen really have some of the biggest servant's hearts I've ever seen. It is truly their passion to serve the LORD, through their weekly devotion to this show.

Friday
Class in the morning, lunch at Arby's. Yeah, I picked five.

Spent the evening with Aubrey, we drove to Benton to Tinseltown, a massive movie theatre. Did I mention, Waffle House Dinner? Booya. We met our friends, Austin and Laura there, and saw Eagle Eye. The movie was ridiculous, and that's LEGIT. We'll call it, Deja Vu meets: Live Free or Die Hard.

Saturday
Spent the day with Aubrey, in Little Rock. We met my family at Red Lobster for an early lunch (they were in town for Caleb's "open house" at pharmacy school. That pharmacy junk is no joke. I have an overly-elevated respect for those pill-counters behind the wall now. You should too, their training to get back there is insane.

We went to the Museum of Discovery, and saw an IMAX movie before heading back home... err... to Arkadelphia. IMAX rocks.

Hit the new BBQ place on the way into town, Fat Boys Fine Food. It's right off the highway, and WOW, it's good. If you're going to be traveling through the Arkadelphia area... Well first of all, call me. Then, make the quick exit and eat there for lunch. It's good, and they have Club Crackers, too. I love Club Crackers.

Sunday
We went to 2nd Baptist, and it was pretty solid, I'd have to say. After the service, we went to their College Sunday School, where they feed you lunch. (They really know how to get us in the door.)

Aubrey and I spent the entire afternoon working on homework, and ended up with free time last night. She moseyed on over, and we watched The Rescuers Down Under. Yep, it's a cartoon. Yep, we're 18.

These last few days rocked my socks off. A fun weekend with the girl I love, while still keeping things busy and taking care of business. I'll try to wrestle her memory card from her, and post some photos for ya'll.

Shot fired near HSU Newberry Dorm

First of all, thank you to OBU's "Signal" for being so on the ball, and getting this posted so quickly.  The text below is directly from their site.  The original story can be viewed here.

thanks to Studio 47 Imaging for the photo

A shot was fired yesterday afternoon at a Henderson student in the parking lot of Henderson State University’s Newberry dormitory from the western edge of Ouachita’s campus.
The shooting suspect was described by Al Harris, Arkadelphia chief of police, as a man from Memphis who is not a student at either of the universities. He was waiting for the intended victim in the Newberry parking lot. Two female passengers were in the car with the alleged shooter, one of whom was suspected to be the intended victim’s ex-girlfriend.

Click HERE to listen to Arkadelphia Chief of Police Al Harris provide information about today’s shooting in Arkadelphia.

Harris said the suspected story behind the incident is that, “he [the victim] broke up with her a couple of weeks ago. During their relationship, she had given him sums of money. She had contacted him and told him that she wanted her money back. He said no. She said she intended to collect that money.”

Soon after the shot was fired, the Arkadelphia Police Department was contacted, and they responded. Nobody was hit or injured from the shot. A witness informed the police about what had been seen.

“The witness said that there were two cars involved that were leaving the area,” Harris said.  “The second car was stopped on north 10th Street at about Friendship Drive. We didn’t know what we were dealing with. The people in the car had been in a group that the shot had been fired toward.”

The next hurdle was to find the suspect who had fired the shot at the group. At first the police were directed south on 10th Street instead of north, but the problem was quickly corrected.
The car was soon spotted in Caddo Valley and turned on to I-30 heading northeast. A Caddo Valley police officer pulled the car over at the 83 mile marker.

“Two of my officers arrived to back him up, and I think he was assisted by at least one unit of the Arkansas state police,” Harris said.
A handgun was confiscated from the male suspect. All three of the suspects were taken into custody.

“We’re looking at at least an aggravated assault on the ex-girlfriend, and the driver/shooter to be charged,” Harris said. “The third person, I don’t know at this point.”
No Ouachita students, faculty or staff were involved in this incident, and Ouachita President Rex Horne sent out an e-mail to alert students of the situation. The Emergency Notification System was not used for this particular event.

“No alert was issued because the individuals involved were already apprehended when Ouachita was informed of the shooting,” said Trennis Henderson, vice president of communications.

“Ouachita Campus Security is going to have an increased presence around campus for the next few days,” Henderson said.