Valentimes 2009!

For Valentine's Day, I have decided to shut up for once, and let the photos speak their "thousand words" that they're always bragging about. Enjoy the jumbo photos.

I tried to just rest the camera on my bed, on a timer. Didn't work too well. LOL

That's probably enough JUMBO photos for one entry. All couples photography by Taylor Loy. You can see the others, like always, on my Flickr page. The link is at the very top-right of the blog. Thank you for reading! I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Learning from Mitzi Bass

Mitzi Bass
Originally uploaded by CameronMagee

Mitzi Bass has been teaching at Henderson longer than most of her students have been alive. The 2008-2009 school year will mark her 22nd year, and Bass says she’s not going anywhere.

Bass, pronounced like the fish, not like the clef, currently teaches three courses under the English umbrella here at HSU. These courses include Masters of Western Literature, Masters of Western Literature Honors, plus English A and B.

Bass has desired to be a teacher since elementary school, and attributes her influences on becoming a teacher to both her mother and her high school senior English teacher. Almost everyone has something that just comes naturally to them, for Bass, it’s grammar. Bass said that she had always loved “reading stories, telling stories, and writing about stories”.

Bass grew up in Texas before making the tri-state journey to George Peabody College for Teachers in Tennessee. After graduating and marrying in 1972, the couple moved to Arkadelphia. Bass married a Political Science major, who brought them to the town on a job offer from Ouachita Baptist University. The ravine romance between Bass and her husband has survived decades, with both of them still happily employed at their respective universities. Bass appreciates the inter-collegiate marriage, and says she has never considered crossing 10th street. “I’m very happy here at Henderson,” said Bass. She has two children, and now three grandchildren.

Bass has her Bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in oral communication. Her masters is in English education. It did not work out for Bass to go for a doctorate on her time frame, but strongly encourages students wishing to follow in her footsteps to do so.

Bass challenges high school seniors to read difficult things, and write about them. To students that have already made it to Henderson, her sole advice is to simply show up to class, and come prepared. “So many issues could be completely avoided if people just did that,” said Bass.

“If my students are going to take the time to write something,” said Bass, “I’m going to take the time to read it.” Bass not only reads each of her students’ work, but she also takes time every night to read the text she has assigned. Doing the homework herself, along with the students, is something that she has made a habit of. “I teach 15 hours, plus 10 in the office, but I’m actually putting in about 50 hours a week,” said Bass.

With being in the teaching field for so many years, Bass has seen technology trying to sneak into the classroom, and has held the door open. “I am amazed every semester,” said Bass, referring to the information students are getting access to every day. With the rise of laptops and smart phones, research that used to take hours in a library can now be done from a dorm room. “With that comes the responsibility of correctly documenting those sources,” said Bass. She praised Henderson’s support system for technology, and credited the university for being a good teacher of technology for her.

Bass was excited to comment on the new HSU president, praising him as “a bright energetic president, who has the best of Henderson students at heart”.

Bass struggled with the question of choosing a favorite writer. “I know this sounds crazy,” said Bass, “but it’s the writer we’re discussing in class each day.” Bass truly has a passion for literature, that is clear to her students. Even after teaching almost the same curriculum for over a decade, she still gets excited every day just about entering the classroom, and possibly introducing the students to a writer they’ve never read before.

Bass’s philosophy is that the most important things to learn while on a college campus are not necessarily in the textbooks. “Developing a love of learning,” said Bass, “is one of the most important things to get done while on campus.” Bass also wishes for her students to, “Grow an appreciation for diversity”. Bass’s final advice to her students included “acquiring skills and knowledge such as critical thinking for the real world”.

“I treat people like I would want to be treated,” said Bass. “That’s pretty much the essence of what it means to be the ‘School with a Heart’”.

Philosophy Fiasco

How embarrassing...

Philosophy Fiasco

ATS Rentals: Canon XH-A1

I get the privilege of doing freelance video production work from time to time. I say privilege, because I am in no means a professional, nor do I own the professional gear it takes to pull off an entire production alone.

Usually, I have most of the stuff I need, except the camera itself. I'm covered on Audio and Post Production, it's the Video Camera that's missing. In the past, I have been able to borrow gear from friends, but being at college, and away from home, it's time to find a new source of renting gear.

When it comes to Video Cameras, my expectations are not too unreasonable. I want a medium-sized, 3CCD MiniDV setup, with XLR inputs and an LCD screen. For this particular shoot this past weekend, the Canon's XH-A1 seemed to fit this bill nicely, with the additional asset of being a High Definition camera.

I was surprised at how little the number of online gear rental places there were. There were plenty of rental houses out of LA, but finding a place that would ship the camera was rare. After doing a few hours of research through Google, I found a company that I was ready to try: ATS Rentals.

ATS Rentals is a company out of Illinois. This message pulls up when you go to their website, "Easy and Affordable Equipment Rentals. Available Nationwide." The offer a ton of items, primarily video cameras, projectors, screens and PA systems. I liked what I saw, so I dug in deeper to their site.

They have that Canon XH-A1 Video Camera I want, and they have it at the lowest price I could find. More importantly, they have 10 of them, leaving the odds of one being available when I need it, high. Their weekend rental system is based off a "business day" configuration. The 1-Day rate was $179. I was going to be shooting for over 5hrs straight, handheld, so I added a Large Battery for $15.

I like how ATS handles shipping and handling. They only ship FedEx, my favorite. Also, they include return shipping in the price you pay, by placing a return label inside the box. Shipping to me in Arkansas was $22.

These prices were fantastic.
$179 + $15 + $28 = $222

I placed my order, online, a few weeks before the shoot. I got a nice email, that said I needed to print, fill out, and return the attached form to them, as well as take a photo of my Driver's License for them to file.

I got a little confused on the form, so I called them. I spoke to Lynn, who was very helpful, and got things straightened out. I was all set to receive the gear on Friday morning, and ship it back Monday afternoon.

Then the cheerleading shoot got pushed over a week. dang. Now I've got gear scheduled to be here soon, that I'm going to have to pay for, only to turn around and pay for it again for the next weekend. Also, there was no way they would still have a camera for me, on such short notice. I called ATS and spoke with Mindy, who moved the gear rental over and acted like it was no big deal. She reminded me they have 10 units, and slid my rental forward one week.

The camera came in on time, Friday morning. It was packaged in a cardboard box, custom-fitted with pick n' pluck foam. Inside was everything Canon ships the camera with from the factory, plus my Large Battery (charged!). ATS even tossed in a 1394 Firewire cable for me, along with my FedEx return label.

The Saturday shoot went great, leaving Sunday for me to play in HD. I didn't do much playing, because Final Cut Pro gave me a hard time about importing in HD for the first time. I got it finally, but it took some time. That was my fault, not Apple's, and not ATS Rentals.

I packed the gear back up, filled out a survey page in the box, and taped it up. I stuck the FedEx label on it, and was done. All that had to happen now was get the box in our FedEx girl's hands. They should get the camera tomorrow.

I will be using ATS Rentals in the future. These freelance jobs don't come around terribly often, but when they do, ATS has what I need. They've got it at a good price, and they've got enough cameras that one is bound to be available, even on short notice.

Thanks for reading. ATS Rentals did not ask me to do this, I was just so excited about the whole thing I had to write them a nice review.

This is the day that the LORD has made, let's rejoice, and be glad!

Plans for the Semester

I didn't have too much homework tonight, so after MBSF I decided to take a break from the Cheer Video Editing, and "reflect". Oh, and toss in a few photos along the post...

I don't know what you can call "reflect" on the future, but, that's what I'm actually talking about. Plans for the remainder of the semester.

Feb 14 - Valentines Day with Aubrey!
Feb 21 - Bentonville Weekend
Feb 28 - Our 28-Month Anniversary, on the 28th of February
Mar 7 - Live Audio for Texarkana DNOW
Mar 14-18 - New York City
Mar 15 - 19th Birthday
Mar 21-29 - Spring Break
Apr 11 - Bentonville Easter Weekend
Apr 25 - Final Bentonville Weekend before Summer
May 4-8 - FINALS

Aubrey's 2008 Valentines. It'll be a challenge to top that this year.

February 14
Valentines Day for everyone! I hope all seven of you readers have great plans for Saturday night, 2009 was kind enough to place it on a weekend! Last year I was able to arrange Aubrey's bouquet myself. It'll be hard to top that for this year. I've been working on plans for Saturday for a while now. I hate to keep you in the dark and not post our plans, but Aubrey happens to be one out of the six of you that read this, so that might blow the surprise.

February 21
Looking forward to a weekend in Bentonville just to relax. Every time I have ever gone home for a visit, it has been some specific event, run around like a moron, never see my parents, nightmare. That weekend is going to be vair nice. : )

February 28
Maybe I'm strange because I measure our relationship in months instead of years, but I like it. If every year was a milestone, maybe we could celebrate it that way. But, every month that we are together calls for a celebration in my book. Celebrations usually consisting of a reliable, once a month at least, legitimate date out of myself. It's an insurance policy that Aubrey will actually get treated like she deserves, and taken out to a nice dinner, guaranteed, at least once a month. :D

March 7
My friend Justin recommended me to his church in Texarkana. They needed a Live Audio guy for their annual DNOW, and he signed me up! My friend Klayton and I will be going together. (maybe it was Klayton that put in the good word, I'm not sure) It is sure to be a blast of doing the skill I love, and serving the creator who gave me the skills. Every good thing in my life is a gift from God, it is not of my own hands. My skills, as much as I joke about the lack of, have not been developed alone. There is simply no way that I could have half of the Live Audio skills I have without Phillip Johnson, and Phillip was placed in my life for a reason. Every chance I get to serve the LORD with my skills, is a chance that I take. I look forward to getting to worship, and aid the worship of, our Savior, a God that is alive, and has a personal relationship with us.

March 14-18
This trip is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am looking forward to attending this photojournalism conference with open ears, to listen to some of the best photographers in the industry. Also, I hear they hide the Statue of Liberty somewhere up there, so that would be a nice thing to visit.

March 15
I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on March 15, 1990, at 11:49am. (is that correct, Mom?)

My 18th Birthday cake that Aubrey did for me!

March 21-29
Spring Break is up in the air for this year. To be honest, I feel so lucky to be given a trip to NYC, that I'm not sure if I should get to go somewhere else. But, that somewhere else would be with my parents, not strangers, so we'll try to put some sort of trip together. I've always wanted to visit Franklin, Tennessee for some reason...

April 11
Our home church is going to be bringing in Junior Hill on Easter. We can't miss that. More importantly, I think Aubrey is going to get to play her flute down on the floor with the rest of the massive annual beast of an Easter orchestra.

April 25
The final trip to Bentonville, before we move back home for the summer. Will most likely be a car full of junk going to Bentonville, and a car full of empty packing boxes coming to Arkadelphia. The junk that I can live without for two weeks can go back to Bentonville early. (I only wonder, if I can go two weeks without it, do I really need it down here in the first place?) Freshman...

May 4-8
After these tests, I will have enough hours to officially credit me as a Sophomore. After the tests, I will have three full semesters worth of college credit, thanks to those 12hrs I took my senior year of high school.

It's nice to have a seven minutes every now and then to reflect on the future. Everything in life seems so rushed, it's nice to have the master plan in the think tank. Thanks for caring about what's happening in my life, and showing me that you care by reading! I don't actually know who you are, but thank you!