Bring Back McCarney

Now that Chizik has tucked tail and ran out of Ames, it is time for Iowa State to admit to one of the two biggest mistakes they ever made and bring Dan McCarney home!


Iowa State vs. Missouri 2006
A bad picture of McCarney being carried off the field by his players after his last game as the Cyclones coach.

The sad thing is that even if we were to get down on our knees and beg, I don’t think he would take us back. He is more than justified in feeling that way.

Gridiron Prophets – Year 3

As a third college football season drew to a close, a third season for the Gridiron Prophets (a College Football Pick ’em) completed. For the first time since its inception, Toby did not come out as a champion. Lowell came out on top.

This year’s standings:

1. Lowell Davis (The Perfect Storm)
2. Robert Henning (Bob’s Picks to Win)
3. Corey Faust (A-Rob All Stars)
4. Jason Baier (Hookie Hoo-Hah)
5. Jon DeWaard (Lemon Party)
6. Mark Wolfram (Taiwan Hawkeye)
7. Dan Dill (dandydan)
8. Toby Sebring (I Love Lamp)
9. Christopher D. Bennett (Tea Leaves)
10. Jesse Howard (Cyclone Goldie)
11. Jim Condon (obscene)

I guess I need to get Lowell’s trophy ordered.

Toys for Tots

I reported yesterday that I took pictures for the Toys for Tots press release for United Way of Story County. Here are a few of the pictures:


Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

Toys for Tots - 2008

This might have been the most fun I’ve ever had in a Wal-Mart.

Toys for Tots received thousands of dollars in donation on this day. I believe you can still donate, but I have no clue how. But if you are interested I could get you that information.

Burying the Lead

Sometimes I will bury the lead in an entry. Most of this time it is done on purpose because I want people to figure out what the most important part of the story is for themselves. However, I’m sure there are times where it is just another example of sloppy writing like the kind that Dan Brown foists upon us.

Yesterday I spent my morning wandering the aisles of Wal-Mart with Shannon and a couple representatives of Dr. Pepper photographing them purchasing toys for Toys for Tots.

The pictures are to be used in The United Way of Story County’s press release on Toys for Tots.

That sounds like a pretty important story. It certainly sounds like an interesting story, but it was not the most important part of the event for me. I want to make sure that when I start on this narrative, the most important part of the story is in the front and center, so I’m taking what I consider to be the lead part of the story out and making it into its own entry, so it doesn’t get buried under the rest of the Toys for Tots narrative.

I wrote before about how I didn’t need to share the terms of my wager with Shannon with the world. I am not a person who needs to gloat. The victory itself is usually more than enough for me.

I shared with you that one of the end results of the wager was that I ended up with a sweet UNI beanie that Shannon made and she ended up with an ISU hoodie.

If UNI would have beat ISU, I would have been forced to put on the beanie immediately following the game and worn it around and through the McLeod Center and to the car.

Furthermore, I would have had to wear the beanie to the ISU-UNI tailgate in 2010.

ISU won the game and so Shannon was subject to the terms of my wager. She simply has to wear the hoodie on to the Iowa State campus and have the experience photo-documented. This trip will of course include a stop at the Jack Trice statue outside of Jack Trice Stadium.

Shannon has requested that this trip be put off for a couple of months because of the severe cold weather and her low tolerance for extreme cold weather. I have agreed to wait.

Because of this, I was not expecting to see the Iowa State hoodie until March or April.

So yesterday was Jesse’s birthday. As far as I know the only thing he got for his birthday was the Big Juan and churros that I bought him at Taco Time and the dessert that Jay baked him. So maybe I got one of his birthday presents.

I arrived at 9 am at Wal-Mart. In the entry to Wal-Mart there were several shopping carts filled with toys, presumably for tots. I introduced myself to one of the guys from Dr. Pepper and waited for Shannon to show up.

After a few minutes she arrived and said something like, “See what I’m wearing.”

Out of the top of the black coat I could see the distinctive color of a cardinal hoodie.

“So it is starting to grow on you?” I said while trying to cover my feeling of victory.

Shannon said that I’d get a chance to some “bonus pictures”, then she quickly made up some excuses for why she was wearing the hoodie. Something about it being the only clean one that she had and she wasn’t allowed to wear her UNI hoodies to work. Then she revealed that this was just a cover story by admitting that she had worn it this past weekend, but then quickly tried to cover up the reason why behind “liking new clothes”.

Regardless of the motivations that she tells herself and the motivations that she tells the world, I was able to get some bonus images of Shannon in her new cardinal and gold.

So before getting into the whole Toys for Tots experience, I would like to share a couple of those images that her dad (the truck driver for the day) was talked into taking.


The Great Wager

The Great Wager

In a related note, Toys for Tots received thousands of dollars in toy donations on that day, but that isn’t the lead story.

Happy Birthday Jesse

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesse Howard. (Partially true, we are actually celebrating his birthday on December 28, but that is another story.)

Happy Birthday Jesse!


The Big Jesus Road Trip

Jesse enjoying a Bob Dog. (This is the actual picture of Jesse that shows up on my phone when he calls me.)

If you want more of Jesse and less of you, I’d advise you to follow the link below:


LINK DELETED

You will not regret checking out 30 or more pictures of Jesse Lee Howard.

Muskrat Carcass



This is just a random image. I thought you might find it interesting and you might want something interesting after the story below.

On Tuesday a few of us miners went to Pizza Pit for lunch because a new employee allegedly loved chicken wings, but as it turns out, he didn’t love chicken wings enough to show up for work.

After we returned from Pizza Pit we noticed about 20 (not an exaggeration for effect) crows in the back of a co-workers truck.

When I went into the mine I found the owner of the truck and asked him what he had in the back of his truck that would attract a murder of crows.

To know the answer, read the subject of the entry again.

Here is the weird thing. It didn’t even phase me. It just made sense to me that somebody where I work would have such a thing in the back of his truck.

Don’t Screw with the Gorshes

I got a call from Jen on Saturday. She told me that some of her Uncle’s neighbors in Ottumwa had complained about the dumpster that was sitting in front of the house.

The neighbors understood why it was there, but wanted it removed until after Christmas.

Derrick and Jen were not about to move the dumpster. They had paid one rate to keep the dumpster as long as it is needed. To have it removed and brought back would cost them a pretty penny. A very pretty penny.

So they did what anybody else would do.

I got these pictures sent to my phone on Sunday night.


IMAGES LOST

So let this be a lesson to you. You mess with the Gorshes and they just might taunt you with their Christmas decorating.

Beavers

I was offered Angie’s ticket to the Oregon State game on Saturday. I then forgot it at work. I was then offered Kelly’s ticket. I took it.

I took a few photos of Hilton. As you can tell, the tickets aren’t quite as good as the football tickets.


Iowa State vs. Oregon State - 2008

Iowa State vs. Oregon State - 2008

Iowa State vs. Oregon State - 2008

Iowa State vs. Oregon State - 2008

Iowa State vs. Oregon State - 2008

The next picture is kind of an optical illusion. Don’t stare at it. It might make you sick.


Iowa State vs. Oregon State - 2008

The Cyclone did win on this day, defeating Barack Obama’s brother-in-law.

Post No. 500 – End of an Era

There was an article about an old family friend retiring in the Boone News Republican the other day.

Bob Person is a local and the best photographer in the area and he is officially retiring.

Freeze Frame
by Blair Schilling

Bob Person’s impact on the community can be seen on walls in homes throughout Boone County.
A longtime resident of Boone and lifelong photographer, Person will be giving up ownership of his studio at 812 Story St. by the end of the year. Citing health issues, the impact of digital photography and the overall condition of the economy, Person is leaving Person Studio and Gallery after more than 20 years in downtown Boone.

While he may help a new owner make the transition into the portrait photography business, and is offering to sell the majority of his supplies and equipment along with the business name if a new owner can be found by the end of December, Person will not be stepping away from his passion altogether.

“When your hobby is also your business – I’m just not ready to hang it up yet,” Person said. “It’s going to be very difficult for me to leave.”

Regardless of whether a new owner purchases Person Studio and Gallery, Person plans to continue taking photographs as a hobby. Back problems in recent years have kept Person, 68, from photographing weddings – a significant source of revenue for the business. Person also noted the closings of two photography studios in Ames as an indication of a shift in the industry with more individuals shooting their own pictures using digital cameras and fewer seeking professional photographers to capture important moments in their lives.

Person said he has taken pleasure in his job as well as his role in the Boone community.
“I really enjoyed my time down here and God blesses us in many ways. And for me, he found this neat place to enjoy my life,” Person said.

For Person, a 1969 graduate of the University of Iowa, photography has always been about more than simply clicking the shutter on his camera.

“Photography is more than just a snap to me because of what your mind can bring to it,” Person said. “It’s like a magic trick.”

Person, who majored in photojournalism at Iowa, said art classes he took at the university helped shape his approach to photography.

“In the art department they would say, as they were critiquing photographs, ‘How do you feel, Bob, as you look at that?'” Person said. “It was the first time I had associated feelings with photographs.”

While in Iowa City, Person worked at the student-newspaper The Daily Iowan as well as The Iowa City Press-Citizen. He covered protests and clashes between student demonstrators and the National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War. A collage of photographs Person took during a visit to the University of Iowa by Muhammad Ali sits along a wall in Person Studio and Gallery.

After moving to Boone in 1970, Person worked at The Boone News-Republican for three years as the staff photographer. He then taught photography and journalism at the DMACC-Boone Campus for 29 years and served as the advisor for the yearbook and student newspaper.
Person, who got his first camera at the age of 10 while traveling with his parents aboard a military ship headed to Europe, said he did not envision becoming a portrait photographer during his younger years.

“As I started out in this at the University of Iowa, I realized I wanted to be a photographer – I thought for a newspaper or magazine. That’s what I prepared myself for,” Person said. “I didn’t prepare myself for portrait photography because portrait photography was boring to me being that everybody looked so formal and stiff in front of the camera.”

Person said he found his calling for studio photography by taking atypical photos of seemingly routine events as well as capturing the emotion of the subjects in front of his lens.

“All I need is a fraction of a second for them to forget that they’re facing a camera,” Person said.
Along with his education, Person also credits his family with assisting his success as a photographer. Person fondly recalls his father helping him develop his first photograph using a darkroom kit from Sears, Roebuck and Co. He said his wife, Lisa, has provided invaluable assistance to his work through the years and Person attributes his skills in photographing children to working with his daughters, Nicole and Brooke.

“Right now, our brochures and our advertising says that ‘We specialize in children’ – which we do. Because, before I had my own kids I had no clue how to photograph kids,” Person said.
Person said the key to good photography is lighting. He said the use of shadows, direct light and indirect light can all affect the mood of a photograph.

The local photographer said he has always drawn inspiration from Bob Dylan’s song “She Belongs to Me,” which echoes themes found in both photography as well as Person’s career.

“She’s got everything she needs, she’s an artist, she don’t look back. She can take the dark out of the nighttime and paint the daytime black,” Dylan croons in the song.

“Those are words that have stuck with me,” Person said.


Boone News Republican Article

Bob once told me how he proposed to his wife Lisa. They were working together in a darkroom. He was exposing photo paper and then she was developing it.

He wrote on a piece of paper, “Will You Marry Me” and put it in the stack of paper that she was developing.

So she was going through the stack of paper developing pictures of whatever it was that he had photographed when she put her proposal into the developer solution.

Slowly the words: “Will You Marry Me” appeared on the blank piece of paper.

Obviously she said yes.

Happy Birthday Carrie

If I’m reading my calendar correctly, and there is about a 50% chance that I am, today is the birthday of Carrie Baier.


Family Night - 06-06-08

In truth, to tribute Carrie I should post a picture of a lighthouse, but I don’t have such a picture in my arsenal. I should look into that. She deserves a lot of respect for marrying a Chiefs fan.