Category Archives: Russell

Angie, Baier, Basketball, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Dawn, Derrick, Faust, Flat Earth Joe, Frank, Iowa State, Jason, Jesse, Jorge, Laura, Linda, Lowell, Micky, Pastor Sarah, Robert, Russell, Shannon, Teresa, Tim, Toby, Willy

Roundball Oracles – Year 15 Final Results

April 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

6 days ago another college basketball season sadly came to an end. While it was one of the most exciting tournaments in history, it was bittersweet as the Cyclones were eliminated in the 1st Round.

Now anybody that watched Iowa State’s mercurial season knew that there was a good chance that would happen. When I saw they were playing Ohio State, I was 95% that they would lose in the 1st Round. Ohio State was a completely garbage team that didn’t even belong in the tournament. Iowa State struggled all season with garbage teams.

Despite that, I still picked Iowa State to win it all in my bracket because I don’t pick against my rooting interests.

I don’t pick Iowa State to lose.
I don’t pick Duke to win the National Championship.
I don’t pick Michigan State to win the National Championship.
I don’t pick Liberty to win a single game.

When the overtime was over in Minneapolis on Monday night, the Virginia Cavaliers were the National Champions and Becky Parmelee won her first ever Roundball Oracles crown. Russell Kennerly won his first ever The Sara for last place adult.

Becky’s name has been added to the List of Immortals:

2019 – Becky Parmelee
2018 – Paul Golden
2017 – Paul Golden
2016 – Michelle Haupt
2015 – Derek Dohrman
2014 – Brandon Kahler
2013 – William McAlpine
2012 – Lowell Davis
2011 – Carrie Baier
2010 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2007 – Tim Peterson
2006 – William McAlpine
2005 – William McAlpine

Paul Golden’s iron grip on the throne has been released.

On the other end of the spectrum, Russell Kennerly adds his name to past “The Sara” winners:

The Sara
2019 – Russell Kennerly
2018 – Robert Henning
2017 – Shannon Bardole
2016 – Laura Priest
2015 – Derrick Gorshe
2014 – Sara Lockner

The trophies will be in their possession shortly.

Here are the final standings:

RANK	TEAM NAME	SCORE	CORRECT	BEST SCORE	BEST CORRECT	CHAMPION
STANDINGS
1	Becky Perky	281	45	281	45	Virginia (112)
2	Linda Bennett	265	45	265	45	Virginia (93)
3	Michelle Haupt	242	40	242	40	Gonzaga (150)
4	Lowell Davis	242	45	242	45	Duke (148)
5	Angie DeWaard	242	41	242	41	Virginia (183)
6	Dawn Krause	239	42	239	42	N. Carolina (146)
7	Sean Clubine	237	44	237	44	Duke (152)
8	Paul Golden	237	43	237	43	Duke (135)
9	Rachel Gildersleeve	237	42	237	42	Iowa St. (125)
10	Jason Baier	236	41	236	41	Duke (159)
11	Jesse Howard	231	42	231	42	Duke (143)
12	Michael Augustin	230	43	230	43	Gonzaga (165)
13	Corey Faust	225	39	225	39	Duke (153)
14	Derek Dohrman	224	43	224	43	Duke (160)
15	Shannon Bardole	224	39	224	39	Gonzaga (138)
16	Cathie Raley	223	41	223	41	Duke (137)
17	Jordan Toot	221	40	221	40	N. Carolina (128)
18	Robert Henning	220	39	220	39	Duke (150)
19	FHMeiners	219	42	219	42	Duke (182)
20	Brandon Kahler	210	40	210	40	Duke (125)
21	Jackson Faust	209	38	209	38	Kentucky (126)
22	Which Mascot Would Win in a Fight	202	34	202	34	Iowa St. (150)
23	Bill Wentworth	202	40	202	40	Duke (105)
24	Ben Baier	201	36	201	36	Iowa St. (173)
25	Derrick Gorshe	201	38	201	38	Duke (128)
26	Christopher Bennett	198	40	198	40	Iowa St. (158)
27	Elizabeth Nordeen	196	41	196	41	Iowa St. (149)
28	Jason Stensland	195	39	195	39	N. Carolina (167)
29	Olivia Baier	195	32	195	32	Yale (155)
30	tim peterson	193	39	193	39	Duke (160)
31	William McAlpine	192	36	192	36	N. Carolina (165)
32	Jorge Rios	189	36	189	36	Iowa St. (150)
33	Sarah Duffel	189	34	189	34	Michigan St. (112)
34	Toby Sebring	185	36	185	36	Duke (144)
35	Joseph Lynch	181	38	181	38	Iowa St. (167)
36	Teresa Kahler	181	35	181	35	Iowa St. (124)
37	Will Baier	177	33	177	33	Duke (164)
38	Jon DeWaard	173	36	173	36	Duke (148)
39	Carrie Baier	170	34	170	34	Michigan St. (177)
40	Laura Priest	166	36	166	36	N. Carolina (155)
41	Sean Gildersleeve	161	31	161	31	Iowa St. (125)
42	Russell Kennerly	160	34	160	34	Villanova (145)
43	JJ Baier	150	25	150	25	Seton Hall (181)

If you are wondering, JJ Baier is 7 years old and isn’t eligible for “The Sara”.

Now that is behind us, it isn’t too early to start looking at what kind of team Iowa State will have next year.

Next year could be a potential step back for the Cyclones. They lose 3 seniors, including their starting point guard in Babb and leading scorer in Shayok. They are also losing Wigginton and THT to the NBA. Talented post Lard has also left the team and intends to transfer.

Iowa State has currently signed 3 players for the upcoming class. Currently, none of the freshman they have signed are highly ranked, but they all have the potential to be solid contributors. 2 in particular will be interesting to watch.

Marcedus Leech is perhaps the most intriguing. He was formerly a 5 star guy and one of the most recruited players in the country. 2 years ago he had a gruesome leg injury similar to the one Paul George suffered. Almost every school backed off, except Iowa State. Leech rewarded the Cyclones for their loyalty. If he gets back to what he was, he will be the steal of the recruiting class.

Tre Jackson is another interesting player. He was under recruited and didn’t really get many major offers until last summer. He is a shooter and a good athlete that recently dominated the Carolinas Classic by scoring 38 points and hitting eight 3 pointers. With so many guards leaving, Jackson will have a shot at getting some playing time.

Luke Anderson is the final commit. He will be a stretch 4 or 5. Even with the loss of Lard, Iowa State is still fairly stocked in the post with Jacobson and Conditt playing big roles this season and with Solomon Young coming back from an injury that sidelined him for a year and a half. That will give Anderson time to add some bulk to his body.

Another newcomer that I anticipate starting for the Cyclones next season is Prentiss Nixon. He sat out last season after transferring from Colorado State. The 6-2 point guard averaged over 16 points a game with the Rams. I anticipate he will be the starting point guard. He might not have Babb’s overall game, but he will be more of a scoring threat from the point.

Adding proven college players in Nixon and Young back to a returning nucleus of Halliburton, Jacobson, and Conditt, the Cyclones will still be pretty decent next season. How good they can be will depend on what a couple players buried on the bench last season are able to bring. Both Zion Griffin and Terrence Lewis were highly regarded coming out of high school. Zion was slowed at the beginning of last season with an injury and never really broke into the rotation. Lewis showed flashes, but got buried on the bench after Lard and Wigginton returned from injuries and suspension. Both could take great leaps next season if they can show some consistency. The potential is there.

The other unknown variable for next season is Iowa State currently has 3 scholarships open for next season.

I expect Iowa State to add 1 more freshman. Possibly Caleb Grill from Wichita. 1 sit out transfer. 1 graduate transfer.

Another possibility would be to leave one of those scholarships open for the 2020 class. As it sits now, Iowa State will only have 2 seniors on next year’s squad in Nixon and Jacobson.

The 2020 class is loaded and Iowa State is sitting in a good spot with a few very highly regarded recruits in Xavier Foster, Dudley Blackwell, and Ben Carlson.

Either way, I can’t wait for college basketball season to start again.

Andree, Baier, Basketball, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Cathie, Dawn, Faust, Frank, Jesse, Laura, Linda, Lowell, Micky, Nader, Nate, Robert, Russell, Sara, Shannon, Tim, Willy

Roundball Oracles – Year 15

March 17, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

It is time once again for the greatest sporting event of year. It is that time known as March Madness. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Once again, I will be sponsoring a pool. There is not cost to enter the pool, except for pride.

The winner gets a trophy. The dead last place person gets a trophy known as The Sara.

By winning, you get your name etched on the list of immortals:

PAST ROUNDBALL ORACLE CHAMPIONS

Past Roundball Oracle Champions:

2018 – Paul Golden
2017 – Paul Golden
2016 – Michelle Haupt
2015 – Derek Dohrman
2014 – Brandon Kahler
2013 – William McAlpine
2012 – Lowell Davis
2011 – Carrie Baier
2010 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2007 – Tim Peterson
2006 – William McAlpine
2005 – William McAlpine

Paul’s repeat championship definitely puts a target square on his back.

But I said that there are 2 trophies. The 2nd trophy, The Sara, goes to the adult that finishes dead last, while trying. A person can not tank on purpose and win The Sara. The reason The Sara winner has to be an adult is that I don’t want to mock children, to their face. Probably a better rule would be that to “win” The Sara, you have to be at least a teenager. I have no problem mocking teenagers to their face. I do it pretty much every Wednesday night at Youth Group.

Past “The Sara” Winners:

The Sara

2018 – Robert Henning
2017 – Shannon Bardole – now Bardole-Foley
2016 – Laura Priest – now Miller
2015 – Derrick Gorshe
2014 – Sara Lockner

The Sara doesn’t have the long storied history of the championship trophy, but it will get there. I have no doubts.

Last year, 35 combatants threw their hats into the ring. Here are the standings from last year:

2018 STANDINGS
RANK	TEAM NAME	SCORE	CORRECT	BEST SCORE	BEST CORRECT	CHAMPION
1	Paul Golden	248	40	248	40	Duke (175)
2	Dawn Krause	243	38	243	38	Villanova (132)
3	Christopher Bennett	243	37	243	37	Villanova (153)
4	tim peterson	232	41	232	41	Michigan St. (165)
5	Michelle Haupt	232	35	232	35	Villanova (182)
6	Nate Miller	230	37	230	37	Villanova (159)
7	Jordan Toot	224	33	224	33	Villanova (108)
8	Corey Faust	223	34	223	34	Villanova (153)
9	Angie DeWaard	221	34	221	34	Villanova (201)
10	Rachel Johnson	219	39	219	39	Kansas (178)
11	Lowell Davis	215	38	215	38	Virginia (152)
12	Benjamin Baier	213	33	213	33	Virginia (112)
13	Derek Dohrman	205	36	205	36	Virginia (155)
14	Cathie Raley	204	35	204	35	Virginia (138)
15	Bill Wentworth	200	34	200	34	N. Carolina (97)
16	Sean Gildersleeve	198	35	198	35	Michigan St. (145)
17	Linda Bennett	195	36	195	36	Kansas (145)
18	Jesse Howard	195	35	195	35	Duke (146)
19	Olivia Baier	188	33	188	33	Virginia (133)
20	Toby Sebring	185	32	185	32	Arizona (148)
21	Russell Kennerly	184	33	184	33	Virginia (161)
22	Jackson Faust	182	32	182	32	Auburn (124)
23	Sean Clubine	173	33	173	33	N. Carolina (151)
24	Jason Baier	173	30	173	30	Virginia (159)
25	Michael Augustin	167	31	167	31	Virginia (186)
26	Brandon Kahler	166	33	166	33	Kansas (133)
27	Nader Parsaei	166	33	166	33	St. Bona. (170)
28	Andree Jauhari	165	32	165	32	Virginia (145)
29	Elizabeth Nordeen	165	32	165	32	N. Carolina (173)
30	Carrie Baier	162	31	162	31	Gonzaga (144)
31	Laura Priest	158	32	158	32	Duke (125)
32	FHMeiners	156	31	156	31	Kansas (167)
33	Becky Perky	152	32	152	32	Kansas (168)
34	Will Baier	148	25	148	25	Marshall (113)
35	Robert Henning	141	28	141	28	Kansas (156)

The rules are as follows:

Round 1 = 1 point + seed

Round 2 = 2 points + seed

Round 3 = 4 points + seed

Round 4 = 8 points + seed

Round 5 = 16 points + seed

Rounds 6 = 32 points + seed

I can tell that you are already sold and just want to know how to get into this competition, so that you can battle it out and possibly get your name on “The List of Immortals”. It is easy enough, just click on the link below:

Roundball Oracles – Year 15

Good luck! I know you will fare well!

9 Emotions Project, Alexis, Anders, Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Baier, Bethany, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Carla, Colleen, Derrick, Elainie, Flat Earth Joe, Iowa State, Jay, Jesse, Johnathan, Jorge, Laura, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nader, Naima, Nate, Nora, Russell, Sara, Shannon, State Fair, Tenderloining, Teresa, Tim, Willy

Blessings – 2018

November 22, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving! It is the time of year where we are supposed to count our blessings.

I thought I would share a few of my current blessings:

I am blessed with a great family!

I have plenty of friends that share my love for the Cyclones!

I have a job I don’t hate going to, where I work with several people I don’t want to punch in the face.

I have an amazing church family!

I have an amazing friends family!

I’m blessed to share my life with Naima!

This is really just a handful of the blessings in my life! But I’m already getting this out late, so I’ll cut if off here. I’ll just end with a passage from a Rob Bell NOOMA video that really spoke to me:

“So the verse in First Timothy, it says command those that are rich to not put their hope in wealth… and then it goes on and it continues… and it says, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

That phrase, a God that richly provides us with everything. All that we have is a gift.

Food. It is a gift.

Clothes. Gift.

Roof. Gift.

That breath you just took. It’s a gift.

Now there are some that will say: No, you don’t understand. I’ve worked for what I have. I deserve it. It is mine. But like it says in the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 8: You may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, because it is God that gives you the ability to produce wealth.”

I thank God for the embarrassment of riches in my life!

Andree, Baier, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Photo Journal, Russell

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 56

September 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A few weeks back I got together with my bros from the West Ames Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. It might have been the first time we have been together all year.

We ate at the worst restaurant in Ames and went to the worst movie in theaters at that time, but I let all that slide as long as they agreed to pose for Page 56 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. Which they did!

Page 56 – Use framing to create a photograph within a photograph.

While only one picture can be physically adhered into the physical THE PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take a couple others.

I didn’t really give them any direction, other than to look through the window. I even let them choose where they sat on the firetruck. I wanted the picture to be about who they are and the decisions they made. Then you can figure out where they chose to sit, hold the window, and look says about each of them as a person.

Next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we might look at Pages 78-79 or maybe Pages 48-49.

+++++++

If you have been paying attention to the news lately, you certainly heard about the senseless murder of Celia Barquin Aroamena. She was a former Iowa State golfer that was finishing up her Engineering degree. She was the European Amateur Champion. She was 2018 Big 12 Champion. She competed at the U.S. Open. On Saturday she was supposed to be honored as the Iowa State 2018 Female Athlete of the Year at the Iowa State football game. All reports are that as great of an athlete as she was, she was just as great of a person.

Monday morning, while she was practicing her craft, a man came out of the woods that line the golf course and murdered her. No real reason for it. He had been fantasizing about murdering a woman and so he did.

If you think about it for a million years, you couldn’t make sense of it.

On Tuesday, Iowa State Athletic Director sent out the following letter:

Sept. 18, 2018

Dear Cyclone fans,

It is with a very heavy heart that I share thoughts on the tragic passing of our former women’s golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena. Celia, who was the Big 12 Champion last year, was scheduled to be honored at this week’s home football game as our Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Celia, who is from Spain, was a fifth-year senior planning to graduate this spring with a degree in civil engineering.

Although the details of her passing are still being investigated, it is believed she was the victim of a senseless act of random violence committed by a total stranger, in broad daylight, while playing golf at the Coldwater Golf Course. This situation clearly cuts at the very core of our community, our institution and especially our athletics program.

I wish there were words or actions that would make this all better. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case. Losing one of our student-athletes is like losing a child. We are all devastated and heart-broken.

We also know that we must carry on in the same spirit that Celia lived her life. She was a passionate, caring and vibrant young lady who was so proud to be a Cyclone. She attended all the sporting events of her fellow student-athletes and was so excited to be selected as our 2018 Female Athlete of the Year. In fact, when she was told she was going to be honored on the field at this Saturday’s football game, she broke down and cried.

The purpose of this letter is to share with you we plan to move forward with honoring Celia on Saturday at the home football game. We will honor her with a video tribute and a moment of silence, prior to the marching band playing the national anthem. The tribute will take place at approximately 10:50 a.m. We strongly encourage all Cyclone fans to be in their seats by 10:45 a.m. to pay tribute and show her grieving teammates, coaches and friends, what it feels like to be fully embraced by Cyclone Nation.

I look forward to seeing you in the stadium Saturday morning.

Go Cyclones!

Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics

Also on Tuesday, Celia’s teammates requested that fans wear yellow to the game. It was Celia’s favorite color. So if you are going to the game on Saturday, please be there on time for the moment of silence and wear yellow to honor Celia.

The football team will be wearing her initials on their helmet. Akron will also do that.

On a personal note, the man that murdered Celia was homeless. He lived in the woods behind where I work:

There are usually several people living back there. I’ve walked those woods several times and never feared for my safety, but I know a co-worker that wears a gun when he walks back there.

When I think about the whole situation, the one thought that keeps crossing my mind is, “We can do better. We can do better. We can do better…”

+++++++

A reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is BOREDOM!

BOREDOM!

A BOREDOM photo is a photo of somebody that is experiencing BOREDOM or an activity you do to fight BOREDOM.

Happy photo harvesting!

Jesse, Music, Nader, Night, Russell, State Fair, Street Photography

I Want My Mummies

September 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Seemed like a good time to share some of my pictures from the Iowa State Fair this year.

I made two trips to the Fair. 1 with Baby Got Rack. The other on the last day of the Fair with Jesse and Nader to pick up my 2 photos that were displayed at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. Russell even met up with us briefly.

Fortune smiled upon me with the scheduling of events at the Iowa State Fair. One of my favorite bands was playing on one of the free stages and the date happily coincided with the last day of the Fair, so I didn’t have to make a special trip to see Here Come the Mummies.

If you haven’t heard of Here Come the Mummies they are a funk group where everybody in the band dresses like a mummy. You can see how they appeal to my particular set of tastes.

Legend has it that the Nashville based band is filled with Grammy award winning artists that dress like mummies to conceal their identity; for fear of the band members violating their current record contracts.

I don’t know if this is true, but their high level of musicianship would make a pretty strong case for it being true. I don’t know too many other rock/funk concerts where you would see a badass flute duel and it would make 100% total sense.

Before I go on first dates, I like to send my date a copy of PANTS to listen to. It is the easiest way to insure that there is no second date. Also why my Tinder profile is so unpopular.*

Here are some pictures from an awesome (but one of the wettest I’ve ever experienced from the standpoint of water) rainy night with Here Come the Mummies:

We didn’t stick around for the concert as long as I had hoped. Hopefully Here Come the Mummies comes back to Iowa in 2019 so I can have the full experience.

*This is all a lie. I don’t go on dates. My Tinder profile is very popular.

Jesse, Music, Night, Russell, Street Photography, Travel

Beale Street

August 16, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This collection of Beale Street images is the last of my photos from my trip to Memphis with Jesse and Russell to watch Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl.

I didn’t have overwhelming expectations for Memphis, but it ended up being one of my favorite cities I have ever visited.

If I would have to rank my 3 favorite cities to visit it would be as follows:

1. New York City
2. Minneapolis
3. Memphis

Honorable Mentions to Nashville and San Antonio.

My least favorite cities to visit:

1. Omaha – dirty town with nothing in it, except an animal prison.
2. Las Vegas – White Trash Mecca.
3. Chicago – It isn’t that there isn’t anything in Chicago, it is that it is impossible to get anywhere in Chicago.

Understand, I haven’t been to a ton of cities in my lifetime. I’m not a city person. I’m not a patient enough person to live in a city. Plus, I need nature. I prefer cities that have great food, great music, and interesting history.

Here are a metric ton of Beale Street pictures. A street with great food. Great music. Interesting history.

In case I haven’t mentioned it lately. I’m really excited for Iowa State’s season to start. Also, I need to travel somewhere soon. I really haven’t went anywhere this summer besides the mission trip.

But where to go… Where to go…

Black & White, Event, Football, Iowa State, Jesse, Music, Russell, Street Photography, Travel

Liberty. Rally. Pep.

August 15, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

More from the 2017 backlog. These pictures are from the Iowa State Liberty Bowl Pep Rally I attended with Russell and Jesse.

It was a great event, but since I was already filled with pep, I did a lap around the Memphis Redbirds stadium taking some photos.

It was a beautiful December in Memphis. I only wish that some of that warmth could have been saved for the next day.

John Walters started the pep rally by saying, “And they said a football team couldn’t fill a baseball stadium.” I’ll give you time, if you don’t get the joke.

I’m 99% sure that I’m going to make a road trip to watch Iowa State play Kansas in early November. If anybody is interested in joining me in a Cyclone takeover of Lawrence, let me know so we can start making plans.

Hopefully Iowa State lives up to expectations and there is another bowl game to attend this year. One in Phoenix would be nice!

If not, the Final Four is in Minneapolis this season and the Iowa State basketball team is loaded with talent!

Animals, Black & White, Flowers, Macro, Photoshop, Russell, Work

A Blossoming Soul

June 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.
-Gerard De Nerval

Last time we took a look at the flowerbeds of Donna Jones, I said that I felt that I had taken a step away from flower photography back in 2017. Russell, who hates flower pictures the way some people hate cats or reality television texted me to call poppycock on such a statement. He would go on to ask how many flower photos I took last year.

It is just a very rough estimated, but I bet it was only 2,000. Definitely no more than 2,000. Possibly as low as 1,500.

He wanted to know how many I normally take. I can only estimate that number, but I bet it is closer to 5,000.

I think Russell appreciated the downturn, but I feel he still thinks that 1 flower picture is one too many.

Below, enjoy some of Russell’s pain:

At the Computer Mine we have a photo bar next to the kitchen. Once a year they changed out the photos to display the work of employees. I always submit one photo because I personally feel that the photo bar should represent as many employees as possible. I’m considering submitting one of the grasshopper photos for my submission.

If any of you out there are the anti-Russell, don’t worry. There are plenty more flower pictures just waiting to bloom. This year might be a flower photo boom. Well probably not a boom, but have I mentioned that my hollyhocks are back!!

I’m excited too!

9 Emotions Project, Alisa, Animals, Art, Black & White, Blogging, Brog Frog, Calendar, Carla, Commercial, Cousin Amy, Dawn, Derrick, Event, Flowers, Football, Frank, History, Iowa State, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Jill, Johnathan, Lowell, Mom, Nader, Nature, Nora, Personal Photo Project, Road Trip, Russell, Sara, Shannon, Slice of Life, Steph, Teresa, Travel, Vest, Willy, WPC

Mr. 3000

May 11, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

So here is the first journal entry. I felt like having as pretentious sounding name as possible for my journal. I have a few goals about this journal. My main goal is just to actually write in it. My second goal is to be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings. I have another journal on another website, but it is really just a collection of sarcastic statements and cheap jabs at open faced sandwiches. This journal is meant to be about what my achievements and failures are in the world of art. What projects I am working on and what I have accomplished and what I have failed to accomplish. What I am photographing and what I am thinking about entering in photo contests. What I am thinking about. It might not always make sense. It might just be things I need to write down because they strike me as poignant or inspirational. This is in a small way an online “idea box”.

I do also have a goal of producing something that makes me worthy of having a pretentious sounding journal title like: “An Artist’s Notebook”.

With those words on August 9, 2006 this blog burst into the world with the blog entry titled:

FIRST JOURNAL ENTRY

Now here we are 4294 days later and I’m posting journal entry number 3,000.

The blog has changed quite a bit over the years. It started out as a blog that I physically coded and added to a website that I physically coded back when my website was hosted on Frank’s basement server. Then, I moved it to a third party company called Blogger. If you visit this URL, you can still see its pathetic remains:

An Artist’s Notebook – Blogger Version

After that, I still used Blogger, but I published An Artist’s Notebook to the server that currently hosts my website. The content was the same, but the URL changed. If you click on the link below, you can still see it’s pathetic remains, that are identical to the Blogger URL remains:

An Artist’s Notebook – Photography 139 Hosted Version

Well before this, I had changed my website over to WordPress. Even though WordPress has very powerful blogging tools, it wasn’t until March of 2010 that I started using WordPress and An Artist’s Notebook moved to (hopefully) its final URL:

An Artist’s Notebook – Current Incarnation

Last time I posted that An Artist’s Notebook had reached a milestone number of posts, I received a bunch of congratulations. I was confused by this because I didn’t feel it was necessarily an accomplishment. After all, I basically was just too stupid to quit. Just plugging along in relative obscurity, with a few loyal subscribers that send me emails or leave comments on the blogs scattered across the globe earth. A smarter person would have just stopped by now.

But instead, other than a slight walking away from An Artist’s Notebook back in the spring of 2015, nevertheless he persisted.*

I don’t know if just persisting is an accomplishment, but looking at the earlier formats for An Artist’s Notebook, I see that I used to link to several other blogs, that have either stopped updating or are just simply gone with the wind.

The original Little White Lye Soap website is gone, but it has been replaced by the Franklin Broomworks website.
Act of Gravity – BrogFrog’s band at one time is gone. True I don’t think Act of Gravity every played a show, but you could pretend.
Waxen Media – Vest’s website is still up, but hasn’t been updated since 2015. Although I’ve heard rumors that a comeback might be on the horizon.
Lesser Known Saint – My friend Mike’s old band website is still up, but they broke up in 2012.
Impassioned Versifier – Dawn’s poetry blog is still up, but she hasn’t versified, impassioned or otherwise since 2011. Get it together Dawn!
Mayor Goldie’s Website – Jesse’s website is frozen. He must have done something bad. Like giving up his dream of being mayor of Hill Valley.
LowellDavis.net – Still up, but the last post was in 2015.
Carla’s Blog, Teresa’s Blog, and J- The Online Magazine are all victims to Windows Live Spaces no longer being a thing. I miss knowing what was in Jay’s fridge.
Live Like A Champion Today – Mark’s blog on his Missionary Work is still up, but he no longer posts. He isn’t a missionary any longer, but he could make stuff up.
Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century – Died on October 1, 2010. Sad. I think we all remember where we were when we heard the blog about 19th century mustaches stopped production. I was grooming my beard.
True Wife Confessions – Died on October 28, 2012
I Found Your Camera – Date of death, lost.

I have to give props to the other people who are also too dumb to quit:

Horror Movie A Day – Sure he isn’t cranking them out like he used to, but he hasn’t given up the ghost.
A Novel Blog – The writing blog of a person I actually knew in the real world once. A very talented writer named S.E. White.

I’m still here. Let’s not make a big deal of it.

Even though An Artist’s Notebook is meant to complement the rest of the Photography 139 website and universe, I actually didn’t post a photo in the blog until a good 3 months after I started it. On October 20, 2006 history was made with the blog post:

A GOOD DAY AT WORK

This was the first picture ever posted to An Artist’s Notebook:

A picture of a groundhog that lived behind the computer mine.

Although the seal was broken the floodgates didn’t exactly open. I didn’t post an image again until December 31, 2006. That picture was the back page of the the 2007 Photography 139 calendar.

Back from when I printed the calendars myself.

The picture flood gates really opened on January 5, 2007 with this post:

FAILED BEGINNING

And these 2 photos:

The rest, has been photographic history.

An observant reader of An Artist’s Notebook would have notice that my Saturday post walking down memory lane are partially done so that I can have a look at my old images and partially done so I can restore my old blog posts to their original glory. The reason why this is necessary is because in addition to having gone through several ways to post a blog, I also went through several hosting options for my photos.

The first one was a company known as Photobucket. Photobucket was a good free option. I used it from October 2006 up until October 2008.

I abandoned Photobucket because eventually I was going to outgrow their limits. Recently they stopped allowing people to embed images stored with them, so if you were to click on a journal entry from May 2008 to October 2008, you’d see something like this:

After Photobucket, I decided to host my pictures with a MySQL-PHP photo gallery called Coppermine. I ran with Coppermine from November 2008 until July 2011. I left those galleries up for several years, even though you couldn’t access them unless you had a direct URL. Also by leaving them up, pictures would still show up on the website. Unfortunately, those galleries were used to hack my website and take it down a few years back. As a result, I had to completely delete the galleries to close the security loophole in my website. So until I get the journal entries from November 2008 until July 2011 restored to their original glory, they will look something like this:

Then in April of 2011 I was hired to be the photographer for the American Red Cross Young Heroes event. They wanted to have a way that people could go to my website and buy pictures. I didn’t actually have a way to do that, so I needed to find one. I ended up with Smugmug. It was a service that a professional photographer I knew used and recommended. You can store unlimited photos there and people can buy them directly from your website.

It took me a few months to realize that the Smugmug was the future of my photo hosting. It has unlimited data storage and it stores full resolution images.

That unlimited full resolution pictures is a pretty big deal because I have currently uploaded 45,005 images/videos that take up 395.59 GB of hard drive space. Probably not going to be slowing down any time soon on that front, either.

Also, if anybody every wanted to buy a print or a coffee mug or a puzzle or a mouse pad or a ceramic tile or a mahogany desk organizer or playing cards or photo key tag or coasters or a phone case with one of my pictures on it, they can do it straight from the website. Don’t worry people who submit photos for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Those photos are not for sale on the website. Either are pictures from Graceland or of Iowa State athletic events. I can’t sell those for legal reasons.

While people can go to the gallery and leave comments on pictures and rate them up to 5 stars (hint: this will be how Pufferbilly Day Photo Contest and possibly Boone County Fair entries will be determined this year), the way I determine the most popular images is by views. Views statistics go back one year.

These are the 10 most popular Photography 139 Images (by views) of the last 10 Months:

WEEK 61 - STILL LIFE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

#10 – Sidewalk Chalk – 1,223 Views – Picture taken for STILL LIFE in the WPC. Taken outside of the Ericson Public Library

#9 – Johnathan Stensland – 1,261 Views – Taken for THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT in the Photography 139 Studio

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#8 – Brett Meyer – 1,403 Views – Taken at the Iowa State vs. Kent State football game in 2007

#7 – Sioux Falls – 1,428 Views – Taken on my South Dakota Road Trip with my Mom

#6 – Nora – 1,493 Views – Taken at the Irish Fair in Saint Paul, Minnesota

#5 – Graffiti – 1,707 Views – Taken in downtown Ames for ART for the WPC

#4 – Reflection – 1,762 Views – Taken in Ledges for REFLECTION for the WPC

#3 – Angel Ornament – 3,197 Views – Willow Angel Ornament taken in my Mom’s house

#2 – Ground Squirrel – 3,732 Views – Ground squirrel on top of a shepherd’s hook at my Mom’s house

#1 – With Alisa – 9,541 Views – Taken at Winter Jam in 2017 for THE SELFIE PROJECT

The following are links to the 5 Most Popular Photography 139 Photo Galleries:

#5 – 9 Emotions Project – 23,417 Views

#4 – Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 5 – Alternates

#3 – Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 5 (34,203 Views)

#2 – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 4 (52,673 Views)

#1 – THE SELFIE PROJECT – 2017 (62,509 VIEWS)

I also use a category system to organize my posts so that a person could find all the posts on a certain topic or a certain person. This is far from a scientific system and it is a moving target as I am re-categorizing old entries as I restore them. I’m trying to get rid of some of the more generic categories like “Photography” or “Life” or “Family” or “Friends” or “Religion”. But this is an ongoing process.

These are the 10 most popular categories on “An Artist’s Notebook”:

#10 – Jay – 262 Posts

#9 – Life – 274 Posts

#8 – Teresa – 282 Posts

#7 – Shannon – 289 Posts

#6 – Animals – 301 Posts

#5 – Portrait – 313 Posts

#4 – Jesse – 328 Posts

#3 – WPC (Formerly RWPE) – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – 432 Posts

#2 – Flowers – 436 Posts

#1 – Photography – 440 Posts

10 Most Popular Not People Categories

#10 – Slice of Life – 189 Posts

#9 – Religion – 191 Posts

#8 – Road Trip – 217 Posts

#7 – Personal Photo Project – 259 Posts

#6 – Life – 274 Posts

#5 – Animals – 301 Posts

#4 – Portrait – 313 Posts

#3 – WPC (Formerly RWPE) – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – 432 Posts

#2 – Flowers – 436 Posts

#1 – Photography – 440 Posts

If you are relatively new and are wondering what the heck a “Personal Photo Project” is, it came about at a time where I seemed to be working on a ton of other photo projects (for various entities) and seemed to be getting pulled a way from the pure joy of photography. At that time I decided to work on a Personal Photo Project once a week to keep photography from becoming a grind.

10 Most Popular People Categories

#10 – Vest 204 Posts

#9 – Jen – 205 Posts

#8 – Willy – 209 Posts

#7 – Derrick – 241 Posts

#6 – Mom – 247 Posts

#5 – Carla – 261 Posts

#4 – Jay – 262 Posts

#3 – Teresa – 282 Posts

#2 – Shannon – 289 Posts

#1 – Jesse – 328 Posts

You may be looking at the list and wondering, “what can I do to improve my Photography 139 Q Score?”

First, I should point out that these aren’t necessarily the people that have influenced by photography the most. That would be my Dad by having photography in the house. My Mom for buying me my first camera. Olivia for loving flower photography. The favicon on this website was her favorite flower picture. Carla and Teresa for doing photography with our Dad. The list could continue, but you get the idea.

However, these are the people that most influence this blog.

But about that Q-Score thing…

Obviously, the easiest way is to submit photos to the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. You could also volunteer to be a photo assistant on photo projects. Pose for THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT. Head out on the open road with me. Join an organization that I am in. Commission me to do work for you (i.e. photograph your baby, wedding, family, senior picture, work holiday card, church directory, soap, leather goods).

Follow those simple suggestions and someday, when we hit blog post number 3,500, you could see yourself in the Photography 139 Top 10. After all, Sara, you are knocking right on the door!

I also decided to update my profile pictures for Twitter and Instagram and Smugmug. Here is the new one below:

That should work for another year or so!

I think that more than covers where the Photography 139 community currently sits. Until next time!

*I hope Elizabeth Warren doesn’t mind my appropriating this phrase. I guess it was accidentally created by a half man-half turtle creature and I am at least half a man. No turtle. I’ve had a grudge against turtles since The Great Turtle Race was fixed back in 2016. Sorry Mitch.

Art, Christianity, Dad, History, Jesse, Mom, Music, Russell, Travel

Graceland

April 29, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Time to hit up the back log. These pictures are from Russell, Jesse, and I’s trip to Memphis to watch Iowa State stomp the Memphis Tigers in the Liberty Bowl.

I am a fan of Elvis. I get that from my Mom. From her I grew up listening to Elvis and Kenny Rogers. I love them both. I never quite inherited her love of The Beach Boys, but I do also enjoy them. From my Dad I got my love of old country. Johnny Paycheck and Tom T. Hall in particular. If you don’t love Tom T. Hall, you’re doing something wrong.

Before we left for Memphis I had done some research on places to visit. Graceland was number two on my list behind Beale Street. My research showed that an actual tour of Graceland can take over 3 hours. While I was willing to spend the small fortune it costs to tour Graceland, we just didn’t have that time.

However, I read that they open up the grounds of Graceland from 7:30 – 8:30 for people to pay their respects to Elvis’ grave, for free.

I convinced Jesse to wake up early and check this out with me. Russell wasn’t buying waking up early on his vacation. He stayed at his hotel.

Here are pictures from Graceland:

When I was trying to figure out where in the back log to hit up, I was considering the trip to Mount Rushmore, March for Our Lives, or the flowers of Donna Jones. However, recently HBO has been playing a 4 hour documentary on Elvis called ELVIS PRESLEY: THE SEARCHER. I knew it was time to reveal my photos from Graceland

If you are a fan of Elvis, music, or history and have access to HBO or HBO GO, I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve learned quite a bit about Elvis and his musical influence. I think it is unfortunate that because of the way he dressed, the antics, the way he died, and the horrible movies, I think sometimes it gets lost what an extremely talented musician he was. Also, what a completely unique voice he had as an artist. I don’t mean that in the way that his physical voice was unique. I mean the way he expressed himself as an artist.

Can you imagine an artist in modern times that would record entire gospel albums at the height of this popularity? Some Christian artists will crossover, but they certainly never come back. I don’t know of an artist in modern times that could weave so many musical influences in to their own unique sound.

Could you imagine going to a modern rock concert and then BOOM! here is one from the hymnals!

Elvis Presley is the only royalty that I will ever recognize!

Any other Elvis fans out there? Let me know what your favorite Elvis song is in the comments section of this here blog!

I’ve decided when I start working on the party soundtrack for my birthday party in 2019, there will be a full hour of Elvis music.