Done Waiting

About 3 Sundays ago while I was leaving the sanctuary, Andrea told me that she was thinking about me when she wrote her section for the October Bulletin.

That made me a bit nervous. Was there some particular message that I in particular needed to hear?

This Sunday the new Bulletin came out. I read Andrea's section with more than my usual amount of anticipation.

A Note from Pastor Andrea

October Blessings!!

I have been doing a lot of reflecting this past month on ways in which we can as a church grow as one community. I have been thinking about ways in which we can get involved not only by our giving but also through our talents.

So, I thought that for the month of October we as a church could reflect on the “God Moments” in our lives. First, find a photo from this summer or fall that shows you “God Moment”. It could be a scenery picture, it could be a family photo, a child’s photo, any type of picture that you have taken of something you did or saw. Secondly, I would like for you to write a short blurb explaining your special “God moment”. Bring your photo and blurb to the office and we will display them around the church as a way for us to share with one another not only our talents in photography but also to share the way that we have seen God in our everyday lives!! The question I want you to answer is, “How have I seen God working in my life?”

I think those of you that attended my Sermon Interview a few months back will know why she was thinking about me when she wrote this section of her Note.

As it turns out, it was nothing to worry about. I've even offered to help out with this project. I think it is a brilliant idea. I hope people choose to participate.

St. Elmo's Fire

There was an article about Willy and his running ways in the Boone News Republican on Friday.





Because of the weird way that they printed the article, I couldn't scan the whole thing in one scan.

For reasons I can't quite figure out, the Boone News Republican (maybe they are busy getting ready to cover the big nudie bar town meeting tonight) didn't post this article on their website. So if you combine the scan above with the scan below, you can get the whole article.





Somewhere and someplace, John Parr is smiling.

Growin' up, you don't see the writing on the wall
Passin' by, movin' straight ahead, you knew it all
But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You'll find you're all alone, everything has changed
Play the game, you know you can't quit until it's won
Soldier on, only you can do what must be done
You know in some way you're a lot like me
You're just a prisoner and you're tryin' to break free

My Saturday (Volume 1)

My big plan for Saturday was to journey down to Des Moines to watch Jen compete in the Des Moines Regatta. I have never been to such an event, so it was going to be a new experience.

I started my day by going to Ames to drop off a roll of real black and white film at Walden Photo. It seems to be more and more difficult to find a place to get real black and white film developed. I think it is down to Walden Photo and Pyle in Ames. I took this roll of film to Walden Photo. We'll see how that turns out.

While I was downtown I stopped at the Downtown Farmer's Market briefly to talk to Shannon. She was making soap there. While I was there I picked up a jar of jalapeno jelly. I already have about 6 or 7 jars of jelly that I don't eat because I don't eat breakfast, but I have high hopes that I will use this jelly on crackers.

I met Jay back in Boone and we headed down to Des Moines to meet Sara and Derrick for lunch. We ate at the Hessen Haus. It was somewhat of a disappointment. Fortunately, due to the poorness of the Hessen Haus, a plan was hatched for a future FNSC. That is exciting!

After watching Iowa lose to Northwestern, we hopped into the Mustang convertible that was being used as our form of conveyance and went to Prospect Park to watch the Des Moines Regatta.











Once we got to the park, we had a brief wait on some rocks for Jen's team to come up the river.








It didn't take long for us to see Jen's boat come around the bend.


















































I'm not going to try to using rowing lingo, but one of the members of the team missed the regatta because before they were supposed to get into the water, their knee was run over by a van. They had a member from the ISU rowing crew sit in with them.

Back in the Saddle

On Thursday night I returned to the movie theater for the first time since I can remember. It has been at least a month, maybe two. Nader and I went to see Burn After Reading. It was the first movie the Coen brothers have made since their Academy Award winner for Best Picture: No Country for Old Men.

I would have to say that it was an extremely large disappointment. The Coen brothers have a history of being kind of hit and miss, but this was quite the miss. I can't remember this large of a dropoff after a Best Picture win since Clint Eastwood went from Unforgiven (one of the greatest Westerns ever) to A Perfect World (flat out one of the worst movies ever made).

Even though Burn After Reading wasn't particularly funny or interesting and it was rather depressing that Frances McDormand's character never got her comeuppance for her shallow behavior, the previews before the movie reminded me of why I love this time of year.

Gone from the movie theaters are the loud, obnoxious, boring and mildly retarded Summer blockbusters. Finally the theaters will start to get interesting and provocative movies. It is the best time of the year to drag yourself off your couch or wherever else you plop yourself when you get home, and plop yourself into a theater seat. It is a season to remind you that people are still trying to infuse art into movies. That there are people out there that are trying to express themselves through movies. That there are people out there still taking risks with movies. That there are still people out there trying to say things with movies. That there are people out there still making movies that matter. Sometimes this is easy to forget when every weekend during the summer is a new comic book movie that complete with a collector's cup from Burger King.

AKA Movies that aren't filled with shiny things to entertain the stupid people.

The movie that I'm excited to see this week is The Lucky Ones. It is playing at the Varsity, so I will be making a trip there this week to check out this movie.

Check out the trailer:





I do have to enjoy The Varsity while it is still around. Rumor has it that they are going to try and close it down by the end of the year.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I thought I would celebrate my Mom's birthday by posting some pictures of her from the 1970s.



I think that might be our old milk truck in the background!



With the best child.



With the middle child.



Out at McHose Park.



Out at the old house on W. 15th Street.



On King.



Doing something to a bird.



On a tractor.



On W. 15th Street.



Swanky lawn ornaments, At least I don't think that is really Quakers.



Doing Dishes.



With Grandma Bennett. Perhaps the only known picture in existence of Mom drinking.*



Christmas with Dad, Carla and Teresa



With the eldest child.


While I was going through this album I found a picture of our crazy old neighbor lady that wanted to push me down a well. I'll have to post her picture in the future.

* I also considered: "I'm Teresa - Look at me! I have to force my way into the picture!"

First Meet

Alexis had her first gymnastics meet on Sunday. She totally ripped it up. Just look at all the precious metal she brought back with her from that other side of the state.



I don't know how she can even stand up!

This is how she did:

• 6th on Floor
• 3rd on Vault
• 3rd on Beam
• 1st on Bars
• 3rd in All-Around

I'm glad that she got all of this athletic ability from the Bennett side of the family.

Her next meet is in Chow's gym AKA where Shawn Johnson trains. That should be a pretty incredible experience.

New Sales Record

On Sunday I went down to Hy-Vee Hall to help man the Little White Lye Soap booth at The Women's Life Expo.



The Women's Life Expo



Little White Lye Soap Booth


Before Sunday I had helped Shannon set her 1 day sales record at the Webster City Farmer's Market.

After 1 day of the Expo, the record still stood.

Then came Sunday. We managed to shatter the record into a trillion pieces. Now I can't take full credit for the record being shattered. I only talked to a handful of customer's and none of them actually bought any soap, but I must be bringing something to the team. I have helped break the record twice. It must be something intangible. Something that you can't quite place a finger on. Because of its ethereal nature, it can't be replicated. I wish there was a word for it.

For reasons that are not clear to me, this new sales record is also shared with Becky. She wasn't even in the building. Something to do with merchandising. That is okay, I guess, I can share the glory. As long as my name goes on the Sales Record Plaque first.

Don't forget that if you are running low on Little White Lye Soap, you can pick some up at the Ames Downtown Farmer's Market this Saturday. My understanding is that there will be a soapmaking demonstration going on. You'll regret missing that.

1928

On Saturday night we celebrated Doris' 80th birthday with a birthday dinner. Not to be mistaken with a birthday party.

It was a good time and it was the first time I had seen Janice and Mary Beth in quite some time.

Janice gave me this cool sticker:





I just need to find a good home for it.

Dear, Beloved, Precious

My Aunt Linda is renting out her acreage. This has caused her to get rid of some of the things in the acreage. I benefited from this downsizing by getting a sweet new table.



Aunt Linda


So I got Steve and Jesse together and we drove over to the acreage and picked up the sweet table.



Steve and Jesse


When we got back to Steve's house he showed me the zucchini that had grown "too large" in his garden and now he is going to allow them to rot.



Too Beaucoup


Apparently Steve feels like when zucchini gets too large the seeds become too hard and Steve doesn't like hard zucchini seeds. I think this makes him soft.



Whatever Jesse does disappoints Steve


So I bid a fond adieu to Steve and Jesse.



Random picture of Steve's flowers

I went home to admire my new table.



The Sweetness


I'm very excited about this table. It is going to make an awesome workspace table some day. It will be perfect for painting, matting and cutting. Plus it has a drawer! The drawer is super long.

Yes I know that nobody else is as excited about this table as I am, but those of you that don't see the greatness of this table can bugger off!

Majors Family Reunion

I made an appearance at the annual Majors Family Reunion on Saturday. I took a few pictures.











I guess I did make it to a reunion this year.

Senior Pictures

Saturday morning I took Brandon's Senior pictures. I'd like to share some of my favorite pictures from that photo shoot.




















It is good to take pictures of somebody that doesn't mind when you need to stop to take some quality frog pictures.

Shafted

Friday night was the big Jay home cooked meal extravaganza. Willy choose not to join his brothers for this meal. Even though a week earlier he begged me not to go to the Ames on the Half Shell Appreciation Party because he needed a home cooked meal.

Although I was moved by his pleas, I had already made a commitment to attend the party and I was looking forward to getting the sweet AOTHS calendar that Shannon had designed.

Because I could only make an appearance at FNSC on that Friday Jay and Willy held a weenie roast in Willy's garage. I stayed at the weenie roast log enough to eat a couple dogs and clean the gutters of Willy's garage because... well if you know Willy, you know why.

Let us just say that because the gutters were clogged, rainwater was pouring out of the gutter and nearly falling onto the grill.

"What are we going to do about this?" was the question of the night. So I grabbed Willy's ladder and unclogged his gutter and the weenie roast was saved.

I don't like to brag, but the word hero was mentioned a couple times.

Jay rescheduled his home cooked meal for the next Friday. Willy decided he "needed" something else more than he needed the home cooked meal. He needed to race.

Well below is a very poor camera phone picture of what Wily missed.





You will have to trust me that it tasted much better than this picture makes it look.

Another highlight of the night was Auxiliary Member Jesse Howard's presence. Plus Kelly, Kalista, Saydie and Taylan all became full Auxiliary Members. So despite the fact that Willy shafted his brethren, it was a successful evening.

AFI's 10 Top 10

The American Film Institute recently released their yearly list. They released the Top Ten movies in ten different genres.

Animation

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. Pinocchio
3. Bambi
4. The Lion King
5. Fantasia
6. Toy Story
7. Beauty and the Beast
8. Shrek
9. Cinderella
10. Finding Nemo

My observation: Beauty and the Beast needs to be higher. After how dreadful Shrek 2 and Shrek 3 were, it is hard for me to remember how brilliant the original Shrek was.

Romantic Comedy

1. City Lights
2. Annie Hall
3. It Happened One Night
4. Roman Holiday
5. The Philadelphia Story
6. When Harry Met Sally...
7. Adam's Rib
8. Moonstruck
9. Harold and Maude
10. Sleepless in Seattle

My Observations: The Philadelphia Story should be number one. Annie Hall and Moonstruck do not belong on the list.

Western

1. The Searchers
2. High Noon
3. Shane
4. Unforgiven
5. Red River
6. The Wild Bunch
7. Buch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
8. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
9. Stagecoach
10. Cat Ballou

My Observations: The Searchers (despite having Natalie Wood) and The Wild Bunch are quite overrated. Where is The Ox-Bow Incident and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? I would also had Once Upon a Time in the West, but it is not an American Movie.

Sports

1. Raging Bull
2. Rocky
3. The Pride of the Yankees
4. Hoosiers
5. Bull Durham
6. The Hustler
7. Caddyshack
8. Breaking Away
9. National Velvet
10. Jerry Maguire

My Observations: The Hustler should be higher. Bull Durham is too high. I don't see how Jerry Maguire qualifies as a sports movie.

Mystery

1. Vertigo
2. Chinatown
3. Rear Window
4. Laura
5. The Third Man
6. The Maltese Falcon
7. North by Northwest
8. Blue Velvet
9. Dial M for Murder
10. The Usual Suspects.

My Observations: The best list. The Usual Suspects could stand to be higher.

Sci-Fi

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
3. E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial
4. A Clockwork Orange
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still
6. Blade Runner
7. Alien
8. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
10. Back to the Future

My Observations: A Clockwork Orange needs to be number 1. Star Wars doesn't need to be on this list. Either does Terminator 2. Where is Forbidden Planet? Where is The Planet of the Apes?

Gangster

1. The Godfather
2. Goodfellas
3. The Godfather Part II
4. White Heat
5. Bonnie and Clyde
6. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation
7. Pulp Fiction
8. The Public Enemy
9. Little Caesar
10. Scarface

My Observations: This seems like an unnecessary genre. What about musicals? Of course Scarface is horribly overrated. They could have made room for Reservoir Dogs or Angels with Dirty Faces.

Courtroom Drama

1. To Kill A Mockingbird
2. 12 Angry Men
3. Kramer vs. Kramer
4. The Verdict
5. A Few Good Men
6. Witness for the Prosecution
7. Anatomy of a Murder
8. In Cold Blood
9. A Cry in the Dark
10. Judgment at Nuremberg

My Observations: No real complaint. 12 Angry Men should be number 1 and To Kill A Mockingbird should be number 2. I'd like to see Inherit the Wind on the list.

Epic

1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. Ben-Hur
3. Schindler's List
4. Gone with the Wind
5. Spartacus
6. Titanic
7. All Quiet on the Western Front
8. Saving Private Ryan
9. Reds
10. The Ten Commandments

My Observations: Schindler's List should be number 1. Gone with the Wind number 2. But no other real complaints.

Something Special

I had a free night foisted upon me. So now I can get caught up with entries. So some of this might seem dated.

On Tuesday, September 16, the movie Young @ Heart came out on DVD. This would easily be my favorite move I've seen this year. The only movies that come close are WALL-E and Son of Rambow.





Back in 1993 Jim Valvano gave a moving speech while he was dying from cancer. He said something that I've always found profound:

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

I also consider these to be pretty good criteria for evaluating movies. Young @ Heart certainly does all three. Next time you are in your video store pick it up and give it a spin. You will not regret it.

Even if you hate old people (like Jay) you will love this movie.

Nonvoting Position

I recently became the Webmaster for the Ames Jaycee websites. Perhaps it is because at times of have been correctly labeled a history nerd (although if you are over the age of 16 and you still feel comfortable using the nerd concept, I feel really bad for you) and improperly labeled a computer guy, but before I could redesign the Ames Jaycees website I did some research on what is used to look like.

I found 3 old-timey header images, that I thought I would like to share.











Even though not a single one of those headers is over 10 years old, they all seem to scream 1987!

It kind of reminds me of the old animated gif days.










The new Jaycee website is fully functional, but there is a tremendous amount of content that still needs to be added. However, I invite you to click on the link below and give it a perusal. You can even fill out a form to get more information about how you to could be a member of the Ames Jaycees (although you do have to be is between the ages of 21-40 and not be incredibly lame):

The Ames Junior Chamber


Truth be known, you can be incredibly lame and still join. I mean the Jaycees are about improvement and who needs improvement more than the incredibly lame?

Worst in Ames

My website has moved servers yet again. I know anything related to PHP doesn't work at all and I'm not really sure when it will work again, but I'm told FTP works again, so I'm testing that theory with this entry.

Jay is rather uneducated in the nuances of the Cy-Hawk rivalry. Last week he did some research and he sent me a blog that an Iowa fan wrote about doing things to a Cyclone fan's mother. It was the type of unintelligent drivel you would expect to come from an Iowa fan, but I don't wish to dwell on it. I just want to show a screen capture of part of the blog.





I take umbrage with one part of this blog. At least I was going to take umbrage with one part of this blog. I was going to say that Whiskey River is not the worst bar in Ames. I was going to argue in favor of Deano's or The Fox.

Then last night I found out that Whiskey River has been condemned. I guess it is the worst bar in Ames, until the end of the month.

God's Lonely Man

I don't know why, but while I was thinking about writing this entry I couldn't stop thinking about the movie Taxi Driver.

Taxi Driver is undeniably one of the greatest movies ever made. I was thinking about that movie because there is a scene it that movie where the main character, Travis Bickle, is hitting on this woman named Betsy. Betsy is a woman that he has fallen for as he drives by the political campaign headquarters where she works. He is trying to be funny and impress her and he makes this joke:

"I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized".

It is admittedly a terrible joke and just one of the indication of the social maladies that Travis suffers from. It is doubly awkward when he has to try to explain the joke to Betsy.

I'm trying to get more organized myself. I seem to be piling social engagement on top of one another lately. I can't bring myself to write things down, but I sit near computers for 9 hours a day, so I've decided to put together an online calendar.

I've finally decided on the Google calendar, I think after having a conversation with Jesse where he told me that he thinks that I don't have enough "me time". An absolutely ridiculous supposition.

Even if it was true, Travis Bickle would tell him the following:

"I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people."

When I say that I have decided, that isn't exactly accurate either. You can take a look at my online calendar by clicking on the link below:


My Calendar


I think you will figure out immediately what I don't like about the Google Calendar.

I just want to close with a bit more wisdom from Travis Bickle:

"Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man."

For the record, I am not God's lonely man.

Cyclone Logos

In honor of the big game that kicks off in about an hour, I am going o post a few of the logos I kind of like from Cyclone history.






























































Here is hoping for another Cyclone victory. A victory to match the one that the volleyball team earned last night by humiliating the Hawks 3-0.

Go State!

Little White Lye Soap Radio Interview

Yesterday Shannon was interviewed on the Preston Daniels Show about Little White Lye Soap on 99.1.

In case you missed this show, you can download the interview and listen to it by clicking on the link below:


Shannon's Interview


Don't forget to visit littlewhitelyesoap.com and order yourself up a few bars of soap.

Retribution (Part 2)

A few more pictures from the Kent State game.



























































So now the Cyclones are 2-0. It might be about time to start planning that Independence Bowl road trip.

Retribution (Part 1)

On Saturday the Cyclones were able to avenge one of their losses from last year.

Once again it was a night game, so there are few images, but I'll share a few.

































































Although Iowa State did right a wrong, their performance was hardly impressive. Well, it was impressive at times and scary at times.

Unhappy in Its Own Way or Happy Alike?

As many of you know, there are many times that I like to fancy myself a wordsmith. However, it is a rare day when I actually practice this skill that I like to believe that I possess.

I often hear the advice that you should write what you know. I used to not believe in this advice because who can possibly know about unicorns and wizards and aliens. But as time has marched along I have realized that the reason that a person must write what they know is because the only way to be a great writer is to write truth. The only way to write truth is to write what you know. Perhaps this is why almost all fantasy and science fiction novels are terrible.

To know me is to know that my 2nd Favorite thing on the radio is the Writer's Almanac. I've lifted a bit of Tuesday's Writer's Almanac on Tolstoy. Tolstoy is the email name of choice for my friend Derrick, but he also wrote the following great line:

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

I don't know that I believe that this statement is true or not, but it is a great line. When I heard Garrison Keillor read this line it occurred to me that if I ever was to write anything great or true, I should start by writing about my family and our convoluted history.

Don't panic. I'm not going to do that, but it is an idea.

The Tolstoy story is kind of a mixture of sadness and beauty as well. I think that is the way most family stories are in actuality. Most families are not necessarily happy or unhappy, but a mixture of both. Joy and tragedy.

It's the birthday of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy born on his family's estate in the province of Tula, near Moscow (1828). He led a wild life as a young man. Then in his mid-30s, he decided that it was time to get married.

He began spending a lot of time with a friend who had three available daughters, and everyone expected him to propose to the oldest. But he found himself falling in love with the less attractive but more intelligent middle daughter, Sophia. The closer he got to making a proposal, however, the more panicked he felt. He could hardly think about anything else, and he wasn't at all sure he wanted to go through with it. He wrote his marriage proposal in a letter, but he couldn't bring himself to send it. He kept it in his pocket for 24 hours. He finally got up the courage to go to Sophia's house, but he couldn't even speak. So he just handed her the letter and walked away.

That night Tolstoy suddenly realized that what he really wanted in a wife was someone with whom he could share his most private thoughts, and he decided that if he was going to marry this girl, he would have to let her read his diary. So they set the date for the wedding a week later, and during that week Tolstoy gave Sophia his diary to read. She was excited at first, but by the time she finished reading she was in tears, horrified by his descriptions of brothels and his affairs with peasant girls. Tolstoy asked if she forgave him for his past, and she said she did. He said that she could call off the wedding if she wanted to, but it was impossible to do so because so many people already knew about the proposal.

The marriage was not particularly happy for Sophia. She'd grown up in a cosmopolitan, aristocratic world, and after marrying Tolstoy, she had to live on a rural estate where her husband lived almost like a peasant. His house was extraordinarily simple, with no upholstered furniture and no carpets on the floor. He even wore peasant clothes, when he wasn't entertaining guests.

But for Tolstoy, the early years of his marriage were some of the happiest of his life. The regularity of married life let him settle down to work more steadily than ever before. And in the midst of that happiness, he wrote his first masterpiece, War and Peace (1863). It was the longest and most ambitious novel he'd ever written, and he was only willing to attempt it because he now had his wife to work as his secretary. When he would scribble corrections all over a rough draft, she was the only person who could decipher what his corrections said. Even he couldn't read his own handwriting. She ultimately copied by hand the 1400-page manuscript for War and Peace (1863) four times.

While he was working on War and Peace, free love was becoming fashionable among the Russian upper classes, and everyone started to think of marriage as old-fashioned and silly. Tolstoy was disgusted. In 1872, he heard about a woman who had thrown herself in front of a train after the end of an affair, and he went to view the body at the train station. He never forgot what he saw that day, and it gave him an idea for a novel about a woman whose life is destroyed by adultery.

That novel was Anna Karenina (1877), in which the story of the romance between Konstantin Levin and a young woman named Kitty was based almost entirely on Tolstoy's own marriage. When it was published, most critics said Anna Karenina was inferior to War and Peace, but it is now considered one of the greatest novels ever written. It begins, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

The part about her copying War and Peace by hand four times just blows my mind. I hardly ever write by hand any longer and the last time I sat down to write somebody a letter, my hand starting cramping on the 2nd page. That was two years ago. I can't imagine how bad it would be by now.

The Michael Phelps of Pufferbilly Days

So Willy didn't actually win 8 events during Pufferbilly Days, but he did finish 2nd with his partner Avril in the Anytime Fitness Amazing Race. He backed this up by winning the Pufferbilly Days 5K for his age group the following morning.

Below is a very pixelated video taken by Jesse as Willy's team finished the Amazing Race.





Although they were the first team to cross the finish line, another team finished with a better time and took home the 500 smackers.

Some of the tasks they had to complete along the way included:

• Putting together a puzzle
• Counting cars in the Pat Clemons lot
• Make a free throw blind folded
• 100 push ups or eat a randomly selected amount of hot dogs
• 100 situps or drink 32 oz coolie
• Find the prices of 10 items in Hy-Vee

I think I'll have to watch Willy complete the whole event if he does it again next year.

The Long Road Back (Part 3)

Perhaps you were hoping to see pictures of the Cyclones schizophrenic performance last night, but I haven't gotten that far yet. The pictures below conclude the pictures from Iowa State's dismantling of South Dakota State.

There aren't many pictures because a night game isn't a great environment for photo taking.









































Maybe it is a bit early, but I think I'm smelling an Independence Bowl Road Trip coming up at the end of this year.

Selected Pictures

This year I took a different route selecting pictures for the Photo Contest. I put together 20 pictures and then had certain people select and name 1 picture from that list. I then entered those pictures.

I liked the way this process worked out. I will do it again in the future, with only a slight tweak here and there.

These are the pictures that were entered:



15 Minutes


This picture was selected by Shannon. The picture was part of my experimentation with light painting. This is an experiment that I need to start back up again. The name comes from the flower being in the spotlight.



Soaking up the Rays


This picture was selected by Teresa. This picture was taken at the State Fair.



Grains and Creases


This picture was selected by Jay. This picture was taken of wooden praying hands outside of a Baptist church in Paducah, Kentucky.



Deity Saturation


This picture was selected by my Mom. This picture was taken north of Boone. I actually named this picture. It comes from the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: "Nature is saturated with deity."



"The Last Dragon"


I picked this picture because one person I asked to pick a picture never made a choice. I really can't remember what I named this picture, but it might have been named after the classic 80s kung fu flick Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon. It is also possible that I named it "Jay LeRoy". This picture was taken while I was sitting on my back on the sidewalk in front of the basilica in Dyersville. There has been a glow effect thrown onto this picture.



The Last Refuge


I also picked this picture because I needed to switch out another picture that didn't print very well. This picture was originally in color, but I switched it to black and white because I wanted to enter more than 1 black and white picture. The name of this picture comes from the Samuel Johnson quote: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." This picture was taken at ground zero of the Ames fireworks show. This picture did get 3rd Place in the Black and White division. One more ribbon for the trunk.

I am currently taking application for photo selectors for next year.

The Long Road Back (Part 2)

Below are some pictures from the pre-game.







































































One I got into The Jack I looked around the new concourse on the west side of the stadium. It was nice, as far as those things go.

The Long Road Back (Part 1)

Last Thursday, the Cyclones began their long return from the abyss. Last year the Cyclones were embarrassed at The Jack in their opening game of the season. This year they took another step towards redemption by routing their opening opponent. The South Dakota State Jackrabbits were not a match for the Cyclones. True South Dakota State is just a Division 1-AA school. But I think, my memory is a little hazy on the subject, we lost to a Division 1-AA school last year at some point during the season.

Below are some pictures from before we entered the stadium.





























We had a bit of an abbreviated tailgating experience this week. This Saturday, before the Cyclones get their vengeance on Kent State, we will have the full tailgating experience. I guarantee it. Jay is even making potato salad.

Weekend

I am coming off a 4 day weekend that has drained me in every way that a person can be drained.

I guess the highlight of the weekend was seeing a cousin that I haven't seen in maybe 15 years.





It was definitely a strange weekend for family.

Dismissed

The final four pictures that were not selected all come from Independence Day.




Todd lighting fireworks. Shannon watching.




Fireworks from below.




Fireworks from below.




Shannon observing the fireworks.

That concludes the presentation of the 14 pictures that didn't make it to the photo contest.

Bereft

More pictures that weren't selected.





This is a picture of June and Dean's barn.





This is a picture of the Basilica in Dyersville. This picture was actually originally selected for entry, but I decided that I didn't really like the way it looked when it was printed, so it was removed.





A picture of a flower with a little Photoshop thrown in.





A picture of a flower.