Canon EOS 350D, 30s exp. 1600 iso, f.18mm, apt. 5.6 - Sprewell Bluff, just outside of Thomaston, GA USA

The North American Nebula can be seen as a reddish smudge in the lower left corner of the constellation

He'll be gone 8 weeks before we get to see him again - I think during that time he can write letters, though and after so many weeks he'll get to make a phone call, too. I cannot believe he is so grown. I still see him as my little nephew, but he isn't a kid anymore - he's a grown man!

I'm excited for him. Sad he'll be gone, but it won't be long before we get to see him again and hopefully he'll get stationed in Houston. He gets to create a Wish List of where he wants to go and of course Houston is his first choice! He wants to go into Search and Rescue - says he'll be happier saving lives than if he had to take lives in another branch of the military. I wasn't surprised to hear him say this either - that's the kind of man Macon is and I'm proud of him!

We love you Macon and wish you all the best in this next chapter of your life!!

New site I just created, please check it out.

Canon EOS 350D, 30s exp. 1600 iso, f.18mm, apt. 5.6 - Sprewell Bluff, just outside of Thomaston, GA USA

Independence Day long has been my favorite holiday. In 1976, I sat with my family in my apartment in Macon, Georgia, watching bicentennial activities from Washington, D.C., on television. That also was my first day on the job as a sports reporter at The Macon Telegraph. Little did I know that in just over two years, I would be named sports editor of the same paper, just weeks before my 24th birthday.

More recently, in 2002-05, I was a regular at the traditional July 4 family gathering of a special female friend in Orange County, CA. It was one of the warm, supportive signs of stability in years of turmoil that followed a disappointing job downsizing. I have stayed in touch with the woman since relocating to Atlanta, as part of keeping alive the best years of my adult life ... those spent with her, and in California.

Now, I'm attaching an editorial column from today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution by a former University of Georgia journalism classmate, who is now an Episcopalian priest. It's a reminder of what a great country we live in, and what a rewarding choice I made in choosing journalism as a career. And it's a career that I haven't given up on.

And what marvelous changes I've seen in those 32 years. Journalistically, I've seen the rise of CNN, the Ted Turner-founded cable TV network that has a farther worldwide reach that anyone. Now, the Internet means a smaller, more informed world.

Personally, two marriages produced some fine memories, among them trips to the Bahamas and Hawaii. Still, my best romantic moments were with the aforementioned female friend, including Christmas gatherings and trips to Las Vegas and Mexico.

Oh, that the next 232 years give Americans as much to live for.

Luther Williams field in Macon is another field to enjoy.  Chipper Jones once played for the Macon Braves down there as well as many, many others.  I know a college summer league team plays there now.

Rickwood Stadium in Birmingham is another treat.  Home of the Black Barons (as well as the other Barons for years), it has a great deal of history within it.  It too is still open for several events including the Rickwood Classic, high school games and men's league teams.

Why visit them?  Baseball, as well as hockey, is  is different from football and basketball in that players from 75 years ago can be compared to those of today.  When a pitcher toes the rubber today he does it in much the say way as did Dizzy Dean or Sandy Koufax.

75 years ago, there was no NBA.  And the basketball that was played was far different from the game played today.  There were no rim rattling dunks, for example.  Football was played by men with leather helmets.

Walking out on Engel Stadium, then, you can realistically imagine the game that was played when Babe Ruth made an appearance or Harmon Killebrew played there.  Going to Rickwood Field, you can imagine Willie Mays playing for the Black Barons and roaming, what was then, a cavernous center field.

I know some of you can reference the Palestra in Philadelphia.  I've been there.  And loved it too.  However, even that hallowed ground cannot hold a candle to Rickwood field in terms of the history and meaning.  Race relations in America?  Rickwood saw witness to that within its confines.  All time greats?  Willie Mays is but one example.  Home to a part of the national pastime?  It's there.

Talk to long time Birmingham baseball fans and they will wax nostalgic for Rickwood.  Macon residents come to Luther Williams to watch unknown college kids play so they can experience that field. 

The Palestra is almost alone as an old time basketball palace people return to simply to watch basketball of any sort.  The old Gardens of Boston and New York are gone.  Nobody in San Francisco wants to  watch a basketball game at the Cow Palace.  And there aren't three people, I'm sure, in New York who go to Yankee stadium simply to experience the ghosts of the New York football Giants.  Mickey Mantle, I'm sure, has beaten those spirits off with a mighty baseball stick.

The world is pretty much a mess and we got to see it firsthand. Experiencing a natural disaster "in real life" is much different than the momentary sympathetic impulse we feel after seeing the story on network news. Even if the wreckage doesn't affect us personally, it's still very tangible and a little scary when it happens all around you.

The image above, filched from the website of The Macon Telegraph, shows the campus of Macon State College. (For more images, see Storm Photos on Macon.com. ). Nearly 90% of the trees on campus were destroyed. According to news reports, up to 40% of the forest canopy in Middle Georgia was destroyed or damaged. Not good.

Unlike Burma and China, the cleanup effort in Macon happened very quickly. Georgia Power, with lots of help from other Southern Company utilities, got power up and running almost everywhere within 3 days. Volunteers showed up with chainsaws. Streets were made passable. Stores opened back up. Even Macon State College was open for business again on Thursday, a short four days after the storm.

Human tenacity, especially in the face of disaster, is remarkable; but I wonder if God doesn't see it somewhat like the efforts of ants repairing the after effects of Mikey's bright red Converse hightops. It's all very serious and real to us, but only a little piece of the plan to Him. Perhaps we should consider that perspective and wonder just exactly what it is that we should learn. Could it be that all of our activity, all of our "accomplishments," and all that we take so seriously really doesn't have that much significance in the grand scheme of things?

Time to rethink the priorities. Time for a reality check.

There really isn't a whole lot to say about the city of Macon, other than the fact that there are still remnants from the glory days of segregation, and they host one of the creepier Greyhound bus stations in the country. And I am one to know. (See Part I). An African-American individual offered to beat up any one that was making trouble for me in the station, and while I believe he was schizophrenic, I appreciated the offer nonetheless. Trip highlites: checking out Mercer College, home of the Bears, and former home of one of my favorite Americans, and eating at Nu-Way Weiners (nu-wayweiners.com) - a legendary hot dog place that's been open since the early 1900s. They have a slaw dog - with coleslaw, that blew my mind.

Destination #5 - Spring Break in Panama City Beach, Florida.

This trip was made possible by the parents, who graciously offered to put us all up in a condo on the beach for a few days. Sadly one of our colleagues unbelievably got called on for jury duty after only being in this country for 6 months and he was unable to make the trip. You know the Spring Break that you see on television: the one where girls with dangerously low self esteem get drunk and flash their boobs to a hand held camera? Well picture the opposite of that and you have this trip. We took on some veterans in multiple games of shuffleboard, and that action got pretty intense. I consider shuffleboard to be a distant relative of curling, kinda like curling's ugly stepsister in a way. Our one interaction with females came when we met several Georgia seniors in the hot tub one afternoon. Later we determined them to be seniors from a Columbus, Georgia high school. Lesson learned: be more specific. Highlight of the trip: Meeting a TONNE of vacationing elderly Canadians on the patio for the traditional Sunset shot party complete with Cherry Whiskey. Yep, the older folks provided all the booze, proving that Canadians out party Americans on a regular basis, especially past retirement age.

Destination #6: Wakulla Springs, Florida

This was more of a day trip, than a road trip per se, but it was memorable nonetheless. Head about 30 minutes south from FSU, and you reach a wonderful place with swimming among gators, an exhibit featuring "the most publicized gator of all time", and Henry the Pole Vaulting Fish. There is a structure there that acts as a brilliant diving tower, so we all braved the icy March waters (70F is cold by weak-kneed Floridian standards) and bombed head and feet first into the springs while a lazy gator floated around just a few feet away. Fortunately we were protected from this massive and undoubtedly hungry creature by several Styrofoam buoys connected with string.

The dive competition was won by a glorious maneuver, footage of which is available on Youtube I believe. In all actuality, it looked as though he went for a flip, but instead had an epileptic seizure in mid air, and came down with such force that it scattered all of the seagulls in the tri county area. Certainly Greg Louganis, he is not. Trip highlight: barbeque at this run down shack called Gertie's where they offer "foot-stumpin' good BBQ" (RIP Gertie your ribs and chicken are unreal but WTF is foot stumpin?).

Stay tuned for Part III in this uproarious adventure, where I go to Georgia to get a "G" slapped on my behind, and almost die from a Subway sandwich.

 So we stopped in Macon to see what was going on.  As it turned out, the festival proper was pretty small, but they did have a nice self-guided tour that we took to see many of the blossoming trees in town.  We had hoped to find a nice place to take pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses, but we just couldn't find the right spot.

The most interesting thing at the festival was the tiger show, presented by a group that runs a tiger preserve and research facility in Florida.  We got see 4 different types of tiger, including one variety that has almost disappeared in the wild.

The pink dog mascot named Petals, whose picture I posted a few weeks ago, was pretty cool too.  :)

Click on the picture to see a 1200x1200 version.

Il y a huit jours en recevant, quelques heures avant la séance inaugurale du présent mandat, le nouveau Maire de St-Etienne, Maurice Vincent, Gérard Collomb avait clairement affiché son désir de voir le développement lyonnais se tourner encore mieux vers de nouveaux partenaires. La capitale du Forez fait bien entendu partie des priorités lyonnaises tout comme le Nord-Isère, l'Ain, sans oublier, au sud, la ville de Vienne, à l'Ouest le Roannais et au nord de notre département Villefranche et pourquoi pas demain Mâcon.

Organiser nos destins communs au sein d'un vaste territoire qui devrait permettre à notre Métropole de s'installer définitivement dans le club très fermé des grandes entités européennes sera donc notre travail commun.

Comme le disait Gérard Collomb à son collègue Stéphanois, ce mouvement qui sera imprimé au cours du mandat qui s'amorce doit tourner le dos à ce qui s'opère en Ile-de-France depuis quelques décennies. Au contraire, au sein de ce réseau de villes, chacun doit pouvoir, en mettant en place de nouvelles synergies, cultiver sa propre identité renforcée par de nouvelles coopérations.

L'Université, le développement économique et la recherche, les infrastructures de transports seront les outils de ces rapprochements. La culture aussi. Cette volonté du Président du Grand Lyon d'associer les villes partenaires au dossier « Lyon, Capitale Européenne de la Culture » en 2013 n'est pas la plus mince des annonces. Y travailler pour le réussir est non seulement pour Lyon et son agglomération un défi d'envergure, mais cela sera aussi pour la coopération entre nos territoires qui constituent le réseau de nos villes un levier formidable pour imaginer « un nouveau modèle culturel et urbain en Europe ».

Lyon, le 26 avril 2008       

Even though this book of my life has a happy ending (because it's not going to end when I die!), not every chapter is filled with rainbows and butterflies. And that's just me being honest. :-)

Some good news though, I am going to be working at the Hephzibah Children's Home this summer in Macon, GA. 9 straight weeks of CAMP! Definitely my element. ;-)

...when it shows up in a scrapbook page, but I thought I'd post it now anyway.  We took this picture in Macon, Georgia, at the annual Cherry Blossom festival.  You gotta love the painted toenails. 

We did see a lot of beautiful cherry trees in bloom in Macon, but unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the girls with the trees.

We got back from our vacation on Saturday, after finishing the week in Savannah and Hilton Head.  We also passed through Asheville, North Carolina on the way home, but decided not to visit the Biltmore since it was raining... and because it was going to cost *cough* $100 for us to get in.  That's even considering that the girls were going to get in for free!  If I'm going to pay that much to see a rich guy's stuff, I'm going to do it when it's sunny.  :)

When I found out how much the admission was, I felt the same cognitive dissonance that I felt when I paid to see the Queen of England's jewels at the Tower of London:  "This woman is already unbelievably rich...Why am I paying her to see her fabulously valuable stuff?"

Anyway, I've started going through the pictures and started putting together some layouts that I hope I'll start posting soon.  Carissa has started her scrapbook as well, and we might try to get some of those pages on here.

I was invigorated with adrenaline, while simultaneously wracked with nerves. It was a moving experience, and making it to Nationals made it all the more worthwhile. I could go on about the details, but in the end, the true memorable moments will stay with me regardless if I record them or not.

That's all I really have to say for now. I might add more later, but for now, I'm recovering from the experience. It was great.

March, 2008, Macon, Georgia

The Fort Hawkins Commission, led by Chairman Marty Willett, have published their Master Plan for the future of Fort Hawkins. Willett's ambitious$3.5 million dollar stewardship plan addresses the needs for the fort and should result in a wonderful heritage tourist attraction for Macon and central Georgia. The LAMAR Institute is delighted to have been a part of this effort and we look forward to continued participation in bringing this strategically important United States Army post, circa 1806-1819, back to life through historical archaeology.

See also this recent newspaper article by Matt Barnwell in the March 28 edition of the Macon Telegraph, posted online at http://www.macon.com/149/story/307025.html

I sent off my application 4 days ago. I hope to hear something in a couple of weeks. But some goals for the summer are as follows:

1) Read 2-3 books
Searching for God Knows What- Donald Miller, I Dare You- Joyce Meyer, The Case for a Creator- Lee Strobel

2) Lose 15-25 pounds
I've come to realize that I cannot do a quick fix diet anymore. I just wind up gaining it all back. It's about concrete decisions and lifestyle changes. This means taking it slow.

3) Journal at least every other day.
It is the best way in which I communicate with God. So, why am I not doing it more often?

4) Learn to play the guitar.
I've been trying at this one since I was 17. I need to stop getting intimidated and just do it already.

But anyways, I realize that for the Interpersonal Communication movie project that is due tomorrow, we were supposed to put our movie selection on here. Mine is Hitch!

mapas