Category Archives: Portrait

Candid Portrait, Football, Iowa State, Music

Nebraska Debacle

October 19, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

I have posted pictures from Iowa State’s latest embarrassing debacle.

Here is a taste.

ISUCFVMB

Flyby

“S”

Arnaud

Injured Nebraska Player

Cannon

Reggie Stephens

If you follow the link below you will find 94 more pictures from a football gameday that’s highlight was taking down a 16 oz ribeye after the game.

Iowa State vs. Nebraska

Two last points.

1. Because I have to rebuild the galleries, anybody that registered so that they could Favorite pictures or leave Comments, your registration has been deleted. If you would like to re-register so that you can Favorite picture or leave comments, all you have to do is click the “Register” button and fill out the info. If you want me to register you, for you, then you will have to send me the following information:

Username
Password
Email

You can also send me the following optional informaiton:

Location
Interests
Website
Biography

You can send those to me via the following email address:

bennett@photography139.com

Remember, you will have to register for both galleries. They run off separate databases.

2. I would urge you to try to make it to picture 100 of the ISU vs. Nebraska gallery if you want to see my personal shame from Saturday. I would suggest that somebody that has eaten Cyclone Crunch and makes a mean cherry cheesecake might be particularly interested in that last picture.

Becky, Formal Portrait, Jaycees

Happy Birthday Becky!

October 16, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

While I was going through the long process of changing this website over to a different server, I fell behind in my duties.

That isn’t too big of a deal, except one of the days that I missed a post on was Thursday, October 16, 2008. So I beseech you to read this posting as if today was that day.

Happy Birthday Becky!

If you don’t know Becky, she is the one not drinking from the cup.

Animals, Art, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Jay, Macro, Mom, Road Trip, Still Life, Teresa

Kalona (Part 2)

October 15, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

More pictures from Kalona.

Have I mentioned how much I love cheese curds lately?

Candid Portrait, Flowers, Jay, Macro, Mom, Road Trip, Still Life, Teresa

Kalona (Part 1)

October 14, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Some pictures from the trip to Kalona.

The beginning of the trip was a little bit sad. It turns out that one of my favorite restaurants, The Kalona Cupboard, has went out of business. We tried out The Parlor Cafe, but it was not anywhere near as good as The Kalona Cupboard. In fact, they microwaved everything. I mean everything.

If you don’t know, I have a pretty big prejudice against food made in the microwave.

On top of that, the “chef” (who both took your order, microwaved it and put it on your plate) asked me if I was an Iowa State fan.

“Yes.”

“How much did you guys lose by last week?”

Iowa fans. God love them, if there is any room left for how much they already love themselves.

After the disappointment of the Cupboard closing and the poor food from the Microwave Cafe, we at least found Yotty’s Ice Cream Shop. It was excellent.

Automobiles, Becky, Candid Portrait, Commercial, FNSC, Formal Portrait, Jay, Shannon

Euphonious

October 13, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Friday was an interesting day.

Of course there was the high of it being Free Gyro Day, but the rest of the work day went rather uneventful.

It was near 5:30, the time I was going to run out of hours and check out for the week, when my phone rang. This was a bit of a surprise and it caused my dart throw to completely miss the paper with the raccoon on it that has been put up as a makeshift dartboard in the hardware area.

I answered the phone and it was Shannon.

She asked if I was interested in taking a ride in the Ames Party Bus.

This was an interesting development because I had engaged in a few conversations with Becky earlier in the day about how she could put the rebuilt starter in the bus by herself. She had asked me what she should use as a jack to hold the starter in place while she tightened the bolts.

My answer had been simple: “Shannon.”

“Really.”

“She tells me how tough she is all the time.”

I don’t know if it was really my advice that she followed, but after Shannon got off work they managed to put the starter in and the bus started.

Below are some pictures of the adventure.

After the cruise around town, I headed to a special FNSC. It was special because Jay had made caramel apples.

It was also special because it was a perfect night for sitting around the fire bowl until 1:30 in the morning.

Unfortunately that left me a bit tired for the trip to Kalona the next day.

Candid Portrait, Work

Spoiled

October 12, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Last week was National Customer Service Week. I don’t know if this is a real week that exists in the real world, but it is a pretty big deal at the Computer Mine.

This year we got 75 dollars in gift certificates, a travel mug and a 4 port USB hub. Despite all of the goodies, the one aspect of Customer Service Week that I couldn’t wait for was Friday’s lunch. The calendar indicated that they were bringing in the Hot Dog Station to serve us lunch.

The last couple of years that they did this all employees got 2 free hot dogs. I was pumped all week for a Superdog.

Then on Thursday I got an email indicating that the Hot Dog Station wasn’t coming, but the gyro stand was coming instead.

Truth be known, I prefer gyros to the hot dogs, but I was a little saddened.

Perhaps you can’t tell, but once I bit into my first gyro of the day, I immediately was able to turn the switch and I was 100% all about the gyro.

I’ve said before that my job is a lot like The Office. There are some days I can sit at work and figure out exactly what episode I’m living out. Gyro day reminds me of an episode called Initiation. In that episode the company brings in a pretzel cart and every employee gets a free pretzel.

In that episode, one employee said the following:

Stanley: I wake up every morning in a bed that’s too small, drive my daughter to a school that’s too expensive, and then I go to work to a job for which I get paid too little, but on pretzel day? Well, I like pretzel day.

I don’t really relate to that, but I relate to what Stanley says in a depressed voice at the end of the episode:

Stanley: Only 364 days until my next pretzel.

Only 364 days until my next gyro.

Automobiles, Becky, Candid Portrait, Commercial, Shannon

Restoration

October 11, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Becky is starting up her own business. I’m in the process of creating a website for this new business.

You should check out that website:

WEBSITE DELETED

I have a collection of photos from the Party Bus restoration process.

So if you have a large party, you should hit up the website and book the Ames Party Bus.

Candid Portrait, Football, Iowa State

Doesn’t Turn Soggy in Milk

October 9, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

I woke up this morning with a mighty powerful hankering for some Cyclone Crunch.

Contributed Camera Phone Photo

It is mighty tasty and I encourage you to go out and buy some today. It tastes mighty good after doing some crowbar work on a party bus. But I talk too much.

To the game…

I don’t have much to say about the 2nd half. I combined all the 2nd half pictures into one big entry.

ISUCFVMB

Entrance

The Kansas coach, but every time I see him I think about John Doe from Se7en: “An obese man… a disgusting man who could barely stand up; a man who if you saw him on the street, you’d point him out to your friends so that they could join you in mocking him; a man, who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn’t be able to finish your meal.”

Versus Camera

Leonard Johnson

I don’t know the name of the dude on the left, but I like this picture.

Alexander Robinson

Reesing

Travis Ferguson being blatantly held.

Travis Ferguson

Reesing

Quigley

Kansas converted not 1, but 2 4th Downs on this drive.

We will own the 4th Quarter gesture.

Christopher Lyle

Noise

Not winning any longer.

Reesing

Kurtis Taylor

Replay ref

Cheerleader

ISUCFVMB

Arnaud

Sharp

Arnaud

Hamilton

Cheerleaders

RJ Sumrall

Timeout

Houston Jones

Sedrick Johnson

Arnaud

Onside Kick

Sedrick Johnson (#2) recovering the onside kick.

We lost.

After Arnaud’s overthrown pass for Sumrall hit the turf on 4th Down, some of the people in my section overreacted. The guy in front of me hit the seat in front of him.

Believe me, I’m as passionate (remember passion does not mean the thing that you love but the thing that you are willing to suffer for) about Cyclone Football as any guy that I know, but I don’t hit things when we lose. That is an anger management issue.

You see, the Cyclones losing was sad, but not a tragedy. I like quotes. Some people don’t. Some people view quotes as letting somebody else think for you. I view quotes as finding words perfectly placed in the right order and tone that precisely describe how you feel.

I considered a couple quotes about tragedy to close the Kansas game set of entries.

The tragedy of life is not that man loses but that he almost wins.

Heywood Broun

The tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.
W. Somerset Maugham

The tragedy of man is what dies inside himself while he still lives.
Albert Schweitzer

All good quotes, but not how I feel about this game.

Melodramas are, by definition, black versus white, where the villain takes all the badness on himself and gives all the goodness to the hero; whereas, in tragedy, fault is always shared by the hero.
Orrin E. Klapp

Close, but not quite there. Then I found it.

Is not the decisive difference between comedy and tragedy that tragedy denies us another chance?
John Updike

Fortunately, the Kansas game is a comedy for Cyclone fans. All you can do is sit back and laugh and remember that we have another chance this week in Waco, Texas against the Baylor Bears.

Candid Portrait, Football, Iowa State, Linda

Work Half Done

October 8, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Before delving further into the Cyclone game, I need to post a website.

WEBSITE DELETED

You should check out this website if you live anywhere near Kansas (which according to Google Analytics none of you do, but I am strangely big in Gillette, Wyoming) and head to this sale.

My Aunt Linda is downsizing her possessions as she is looking to move into a smaller house. She has some pretty sweet stuff for sale. I am personally eying the bowl of billiard balls. But there is much, much more.

1950 Mar Company metal dollhouses
Unique small, black Duncan Phyfe table
3 Treadle sewing machines
Washboards
Wooden rolling pins
Handmade maple bread boards
Electric freestanding roaster
Red & White Graniteware
Wilton cake pans
2 Living Room sets – 4pc & 3pc
Old kitchen cabinet
Antique pot belly stove
2 antique cook stoves
2 Wood desks circa 1950
Treddle sewing machine base table
4′ Oak church pew
Wooden school desk
Gossip bench
Claw-foot bathtub

I don’t even know what a Gossip bench is, but it sounds pretty cool.

To the game…

I am told that “work half-done isn’t done at all”. The Cyclones ended the 2nd Quarter with the game half done and owning a commanding lead.

Reesing

Dance Team

Arnaud

Bass

Flags

Crawford

Robinson

Halfback Pass

Arnaud

Darks

Mahoney

Harris

Mahoney

Arnaud

Robinson

Arnaud

T-shirt Cannon

Hail Mary

Exit

Cyclones 20 Jayhawks 0

I have to be honest. Sometimes being a Cyclone fan is like being hit in the head with a mallet every morning. I’ve seen the Cyclones blow enough leads in my time that with a 20-0 lead, all I could think about it during halftime was when we fumbled the ball away in the red zone and lost a scoring opportunity.

Candid Portrait, Football, Iowa State