Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The things we do

I have (had) an orange fish in my tank that has been eating the tails off the others. We gave him every chance, but today the decision came down from the governer that he would receive no pardon.

We fished (no pun intended) him out of the tank and headed for the bathroom. On the way, Becca thought the cats might like a treat. Turns out, they don't eat live fish. During this process, Colton caught wind of the fact that the little fish was not long for this world. He was upset and wanted to know if we would take the fish back to the store so he could find a new home.

I laughed and we said yes, figuring we would just go throw him in the woods (the fish, not Colton).

Nope. Becca is on the way to the store right now, to give the fish a second chance. We could buy and sell that stupid fish 100 times over for what it will cost in gas to take him back. The things we do for our kids.

Jack Astor's Bar & Grill


I would kill (no pun intended) for a client like this. I love this creative.

Click for a larger version.

Via AdverBox.

Debt and excuses

Joseph Sangle put up a great post about excuses when it comes to getting out of debt. His philosophy is it doesn't matter whether you are making $25,000 or $200,000, there is no excuse for the mountains of debt we carry.

He's mad and he's not going to take it anymore. Joseph has a great blog dedicated to helping people get out of debt. He is, I believe, the pastor in charge of such things at Newspring Church in Anderson, NC.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Parham's fire

I'm having problems updating Erathonfire.com so I'm going to keep the photos updated here until I can get it fixed.

These where from a fire at Parham's Garage today at noon.







Is it contagious?

According to this story, Clemson may be having the same problem Tarleton is still dealing with.

43 vs. 57

I noticed this morning that I was coming up on post number 100 (which this is) and thought I'd look at the totals. In all of last year I wrote 57 entries. In January of this year, I've written 43 so far. I'm actually proud of myself for keeping up with my writing like I want to.

"Are you high?"



Really funny Mac vs. PC commercial parody. I've seen a lot of these, but this one is actually pretty good. You can view more of them here.

Best wife ever

I just wanted to let everyone out there looking for a wife to know the best one is taken.

I came home from a fire today to discover that Becca had rearranged a good chunk of my office. It looks great. Plus, she managed to fit my fooseball table in here. What design firm doesn't have a fooseball table in the office?

She's learned not to tell me ahead of time about her interior decorating ideas. I usually tell her no, partly because I think I know best (which I usually don't) and partly because I don't like moving furniture. I never fails, though, that her ideas are great and I end up loving it.

PDF magazines

This link on Coudal.com refreshed an idea I've been wanting to research for a while. That is the creation and distribution of .pdf magazines. How much of a market is there for these things? It really allows you to create anything you want and distribute it for a fraction of the cost of a traditional print publication. Do any of you regularly read anything in .pdf format?

Shuffle now in Technicolor



Earlier today, Apple released new iPod shuffles in a rainbow of colors. Maybe it's just the bitterness of being an early adopter, but I still like my silver shuffle I bought in November better than the colors. It just looks classier.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Kia K2500


Some great ads from Kia for their new K2500. I really like looking for the new ways people are using traditional media spaces. This execution, using the bottom strip of the front page is creative and very interesting. People tend to either love or hate these executions because of their intrusion on the editorial space. I personally like them, but I spend more time in the advertising camp than the editorial one.

Via AdverBox.

Tech gremlins

For some reason if it can go wrong, it has gone wrong lately. First we had still unexplained e-mail issues for about two weeks. Then this weekend my Airport Express decided to take a one day vacation leaving us without wireless internet, but mysteriously worked fine the next day. Then, Saturday, one of the hard drives in my PowerMac decided to start acting up.

Today I have to spend the better part of the morning reinstalling OS X on a new hard drive and reinstalling every program I have. I've never had to do something this extensive, so please pray for me. I use Apple computers because they almost never have problems. Because of the usual lack of issue, I have no patience for tech problems.

UPDATE #1: OS X has been installed on the new hard drive and we're now updating all programs. I'll give one thing to Apple, they make reinstalling all this stuff fairly simple. I've never actually done any of this before, but it's going smoothly.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Sour cream and onion

I’m always amazed at the power of our senses to transport us to a different time and place.

On a recent grocery run, I grabbed a bag of Ruffles Sour Cream & Onion chips. I haven’t bought them in years. Nowhere on the bag did it indicate they had recently added memories to the recipe.

It was just a normal afternoon. There was nothing remarkable about it, and that’s usually when something extraordinary happens. A few chips sounded like a great mid-day snack. As that first chip hit my tongue, I was gone.

Suddenly, I was six years old, sitting at a light brown card table in my Grandma’s living room. I was munching on a few chips while Granny, as I call her, was in the kitchen making a bowl of bean dip. The Rangers were playing a Saturday afternoon game on the TV. A game of Yahtzee was spread out on the table in front of me.

Granny walks in with the bowl of bean dip and a small plate with sliced cheese. She always spoiled me. My favorite meal at her house was chips, bean dip and cheese. Real healthy.

That one little taste of a chip brought back memories I hadn’t experienced in years. Even as I write this, I still marvel at the wonderful memories, while still being sad they will never happen again.

My brother and I would rotate spending the night with her on Fridays. She lived in a small mobile home just outside Snyder, in West Texas.

I am reminded of how much fun we used to have, but especially the little details. I remember the sound of the heater in the winter. Being a mobile home, the heat came through vents in the floor. I used to love laying by those vents, soaking up the heat. I remember watching ball games with her while she introduced me to games like Wahoo and dominoes. Always on the rickety little card table.

The porch outside was surrounded by black metal railing that seemed a little to wobbly to actually stop someone from falling off. Down the cold concrete stairs was the large circular driveway with small dips in it. When it rained, the dips would fill up and become vast oceans for my G.I. Joes to fight around.

Then, there was my first bb gun. Granny would take me to shoot cans out near the woods. I became the first grandson to shoot her when one rogue bb ricocheted off a can and hit her in the shin. She never let me forget that.

I remember her small blue car, I think it was a Chevrolet, and the trips to town we would go on. On one of those trips to the local K-Mart, she bought me a small Hot Wheels car. It was an army vehicle with moving missles and everything. I felt so special because she spent all her “silver money” on it. I think it was a grand total of seventy five cents, but I felt like royalty because she had given everything she had in her coin purse.

In the grand scheme of things, a very small part of my life was spent at Granny’s, but it continues to influence me even today.

Today Granny lives in an assisted living center in Weatherford. Her health seems to get worse week by week, and we’re not sure how long she will remain with us. When I see her now, she often mistakes me for my Dad. She doesn’t remember much, but one thing she always tells me is about the fact that Cody and I always stayed with her and “never forgot who’s turn it was to spend the night.”

They say within three generations no one will remember you. As I think of my Granny, that makes me very sad that if I don’t do something, my kids and their kids after them will know nothing of this great woman and the influence she had on my life. It’s our job to make sure no one forgets the great ones. And Granny truly is one of the great ones.

All that from a stupid little chip.

Note: I had to take a break half-way through writing this. During that break we visited my parents who informed me that my aunt and uncle are selling their land. That land was where Granny’s house was, and where I have so many memories. I’m going to take my boys and visit it one last time before it leaves the family. It’s funny how all this comes back at once, but I feel sad that a piece of my childhood will only exist in my memories.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Tarleton MLK again

The Tarleton incident I wrote about yesterday is still in the headlines today with another story at Fox News. It has also been picked up by the Associated Press.

My question is, now what?

We've all heard the story and read the details. Some of us have expressed our views on the party and the people involved. Now what? What should we expect from this? Punishments, lessons? What does everyone involved expect to happen next?

Obviously nothing can be done to "fix it," but can something be done to head in that direction?

Such a geek

My wife is incredibly cool. In fact, if you combine her coolness with her hotness (yes, coolness and hotness are words), it's quite obvious I married up. Occasionally, though, her geeky side shows through.

Of course, today wasn't one of those days.

I heard the printer on my desk hum to life. "Becca must be printing something," I thought.

The page slowly came out, one swipe at a time. It read "One Free Month." "Cool," I thought.

I walked from my office into the living room. "Hey, we get a free month," I said. "Score."

She smiled as she took the paper from my hands.

"Woot!" I yelled.

She looked at me with that "what a geek" expression.

"You know, like the website, Woot," I explained.

"Oh, I got it," she said, while sounding like she really wished she didn't.

At this point I should have taken my butt back into my office and gone back to work. But no.

"Woot means 'wow, loot'," I said sheepishly.

She just stares at me as I leave the room in geeky shame.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Tarleton makes headlines with MLK party

Tarleton State University made headlines yesterday in the Stephenville Empire Tribune with a racially offensive Martin Luther King Day party. Students came dressed in gang apparal, and served 40 ounce bottles of malt liquor in brown paper bags. The "I love chicken" shirt was probably just icing on the cake. One even appeared as advertising icon Aunt Jemimah. (See, there is advertising involved, that's why I'm writing about it.)

Today, the story has been picked up by Fox News.

Way to go morons. Now the nation is looking at Stephenville and probably thinking "look at that racist hick town in Texas."

And please don't try to defend this in any way whatsoever. It may have been the funniest thing you'd ever thought of at the time. Well, you know what, it wasn't. You'll learn, once you move into the real world, that you have to excercise restraint. Now you are sitting in the national lime-light looking like a racist fool. Please don't trot out your black friends, as you did in the ET article, to defend you. Just stand up, be a man, and say "this was the stupidest thing we've ever done, and we're sorry." Whether you've created problems on the campus, or just exposed them, this was a bad, bad idea.

You just can't do things like that. It's ok for white people to make fun of our stereotypes, just as it's ok for black people to make fun of their stereotypes. (See Undercover Brother for a great example of this.) However, there is a line there that just shouldn't be crossed, and you jumped over it head first.

Can't we all just watch Undercover Brother and get along?

Military introduces ray gun and robots that intone "Danger! Danger!"

Well, maybe not the robot part, but they did make the ray gun.

Turns out this weapon of the future will be deployed in 2010. Guess the future isn't as far away as we thought.

Via Fox News

Headline of the day

Naked Man on a Boat Sparks Big, Pointless Rescue Effort

It turns out the man was not, in fact, naked. Because of that, I'm not sure the headline, while funny, is very accurate.

But, the man's name turned out to be Peg Leg, which is deserving of a headline by itself.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Someone noticed

We've officially had over 500 unique visitors this month to Erath on Fire.

I know, considering the enormity of the internet, 500 people is not that many. However, for Stephenville, that's a lot. Especially considering the only thing I've done is tell a few firemen about it.

We haven't had many calls lately (and even less that I could make it to), but with the Business Journal almost done, I should be back to responding to calls as they happen.

Start the presses

Have you ever noticed that when you're very tired, writing is a hard thing to do?

We just sent the initial layout of the Business Journal February issue off to the printer. This process involves 2 to 3 days of very intense design work. It always wipes me out. Just one final proofing meeting and about two hours worth of changes and we’ll be completely done with this issue.

A big part of the issue (and what made this one difficult) was a story we decided on last Friday. Normally we assign stories 30-60 days in advance. Starting one less than a week from going to press is never easy, but this one turned out great.

Lainey Emoto and I spent about two hours Monday with a rodeo legend named Harry Tompkins. Mr. Tompkins lives just outside Dublin, and was probably one of the greatest interviews I’ve been involved in. We went in expecting to write a short sidebar and get a few pictures. We walked out with enough great material for a full story and then some. The photos turned out great as well. Mr. Tompkins and his wife Melba where very kind to open there home to us and give us so much time. The issue with the story should be out by next Friday. I've got another future project in mind involving Mr. Tompkins if I can ever find the time.

One odd problem we had this issue was an over abundance of material. From stories to art, we had more than we needed, which is very weird considering several stories dropped at the last minute. Because of this wealth of material, my blogging article was pushed back to next issue. I guess you’ll have to wait to find out why I do this every day.

I’m off to get a little much-needed rest before starting again bright and early tomorrow. Just two more days and we have an entire weekend of relaxation planned. I don’t even have to teach Sunday so we get a break there too.

Wow, turns out writing isn’t that hard when you're tired. The key is to just start rambling.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Quote of the Day

I have no idea where this came from or who said it, but I found it in some old notes I had. It made me laugh.

"When the only tool you've got is a shotgun, all your problems start looking a lot like zombies."

If anyone knows who wrote this, please let me know.

Human Touch vaguely creepy



The above spot from Toyota is great in concept, but the execution is somewhat creepy for my tastes. Maybe it goes over better in Japan. What do you think?

Via Advertising/Design Goodness.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Munich


Last year was incredibly busy and because of that, I fell very behind on viewing movies as they were released. Netflix is helping me catch up. The latest is Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich. Having just finished it, I'm still a little numb, but my early impression is this is one of the best films I've seen in years. It's hard to watch, but it's worth every second. Spielberg is one of my favorite directors anyway, but he really hit this one out of the park. You owe it to yourself to see Munich if you haven't already.

Who knows, I may be the only person left who hasn't seen it.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

UA MIA?



Seeing the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, last year I noticed the lack of the United Artists logo before the film. My fondest memories are watching older Bond films, and most of them had the above logo. I'm sure that isn't the one that appeared in the theater for all of them, it was probably just for the DVD release. This time it was just the MGM and Columbia Pictures logo.

It probably doesn't mean anything to anyone else, but it was just odd seeing a Bond picture without United Artists being trumpeted beforehand. That's right, I am that much of a dork.

Did anyone else notice this?

Take me off the friggin' list

AdPulp ran a snippet from a New York Times article about not responding to spam mail, even if it's to "unsubscribe."

The gist of it is if you respond to spam mail in order to "opt out," you're just creating more problems. At that point, they know they have a live e-mail address and will quickly sell you to what I assume are higher-level spammers (if there is such a hierarchy among snakes).

The Astronaut Farmer?


Follow this link to a trailer for a movie called The Astronaut Farmer. Of course, you have to watch a trailer for a movie with that name. It looks like one of those overly sweet movies, but I'm not sure I can resist.

But, be warned, the trailer pretty well tells you everything that happens in the movie. I hate it when they do that. It's funny to watch the disconnect between filmmakers and the marketing departments at the studios. The director probably doesn't want to tell everyone exactly what's going to happen before they even decide to buy a ticket. I know I wouldn't. It takes all the mystery away and generally ruins the experience. It had better be a truly great film to entertain even knowing what is going to happen.

Friday, January 19, 2007

PS3 problems

For anyone interested in new technology or video games, it's been intriguing to watch the launch of the Playstation 3 and all the ensuing bad press. Sony has been having any number of problems with the much-touted new system. However, you know you have problems selling them when you can walk into the Stephenville Wal-Mart and buy any one of about 20 that were in-stock. This time last month, many people would have given a kidney to get their hands on one. Not so much anymore.

In 2005, the Xbox 360 launched in the same November time frame as the PS3 in 2006. This time last year, you couldn't find a 360 to save your life. I know. I tried. It probably doesn't bode well for the PS3 that is so readily available this early in it's life-cycle. Some retailers are even offering them for $100 off with the trade-in of a PS2.

That's why I bought them in the first place

Noted without comment.

Packaging Disaster

How not to buy wine

Funny article on the proper techniques for purchasing wine.

My favorite part being the winning formula for wine selection:

"FANCY SERIF FONT + PARCHMENT LABEL + SOMETHING YOU KIND OF REMEMBERED FROM THE MOVIE SIDEWAYS + $12-$16 PRICE TAG = SUCCESS"

Via Coudal.

Instead of following any of those, I'd suggest calling the fine people at Bluff Dale Vineyards to help you out. Their "Nexus" wine is fantastic.

Seriously, look at the name

A client just asked me to add a starburst to his ad. I laughed and (somewhat) politely refused. Clearly he hasn't seen this blog.

Branding water



The video above shows a very interesting technique using water to create things like logos. This execution for Jeep ties in with the brand really well. The video gets a little dry (no put intended) when it gets into the technology behind it, but just seeing the water work it's magic is amazing.

Via adfreak

Thursday, January 18, 2007

The Wright news

Two of our photos from yesterday's snow appeared on the front page of today's Empire Tribune. Colton and Conner where really excited to see themselves in the news.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Netflix gets better? Not so much.

Let me start by saying we subscribed to Netflix about a month and half ago and absolutely love it. In fact most of our friends and family have heard all about it from us. It seems perfect.

Now, they are making it where you can stream the movies directly to your computer instead of having to wait on the mail. The mail is so last century, after all. The bad part is, it's not open to Mac users. I know you are reading this and thinking "so," because you aren't a Mac user. Well I am, and it pisses me off.

But now that I think about it, streaming anything off the internet sucks. Bad. If I can download it directly to my computer and watch it, that's one thing (though I prefer to watch it on my TV), but streaming is often low-quality, stuttering video. Turns out you can keep your streaming Netflix. I don't want it. Me or my Mac.

I'd have to wonder about the economics of this offer, too. It won't be any extra charge to customers, which means no additional revenue from it (not counting any advertising surrounding the video you watch, which there will be). It surely took a huge investment in infrastructure and technology to make this happen. Does anyone really care enough to take advantage of it? If I can't wait 1 business day to see Weekend at Bernies, I've got issues. Most people savvy enough to take advantage of something like this are probably techy enough to own a very large TV with a nice surround sound system. Would those same people be content to watch a movie in poor quality on a computer screen? I know I wouldn't. With the advent of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc (more on that later) for high definition movies, this seems like a step in the wrong direction. Maybe this will turn out a lot like mobile video.

Via American Copywriter...again.

Snow creatures

It's hard not to have fun on a snowy day. You can click on the photos below for larger versions.





Quote of the day

"And, meanwhile, we're trying to write our software for an unfinished OS, which is like trying to perform an appendectomy on a patient who is awake and actively slapping your hands away."

by Wil Shipley
The Delicious Library Blog

Delicious Library, by the way, is a phenominal program that's made for cataloging collections of DVDs, books and video games. I'd highly recommend it, assuming you are a Mac user (it's Mac only) and you are as OCD as I am about having your collections organized.

Let it snow


Snow! And I don't just mean normal Texas snow. Snow here usually means it snows overnight and by about 9 in the morning it has all melted away and just created a mess. Not this time. We have snow up to my ankles and it continues to fall.

What I absolutely love, though is the stillness that snow brings. It's just quiet outside. No cars running back and forth. No noise at all. I love it. When I went out to take a few pictures today I was struck by the calm that had fallen with the snow.

I'm betting pictures of the boys in the snow are soon to follow.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Finally, nobody else cares either

An interesting story on Ad Age about the fact that no one seems to care about video on their mobile phones. Over the past few years, this was seen as the "next big thing" for both media companies and advertisers. I've always looked at it and wondered what the big deal is. Video is slow to get over a phone and the quality is never great. The screen on my Treo 650 is gargantuan by most cell phone standards, but you still couldn't pay me to watch video on it.

There just doesn't seem to be a good fit for video on a cell phone. Do you offer full episodes of TV, or movies? Who wants to watch that on such a small screen. Ok. Then what do you offer? Maybe short videos that tie into larger media (movies, TV). It had better be truly great content to make me want to wrestle with most phone interfaces to get ahold of it.

The thing is they aren't offering anything truly innovative. They just look at the massive cell phone market and want to find a way to tap into it. Understandable, but desire to make money doesn't appear to be enough in this case.

The money quote of the article is this "The only thing holding up the explosion of the mobile phone content and advertising business continues to be the lack of interested viewers, panelists bemoaned at the second annual NATPE Mobile conference here."

AdPulp summed that quote up best with a quote of their own: "That's like saying "The only thing preventing me from getting laid every night continues to be the lack of interested chicks.""

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has never seen the appeal of mobile video.

Water-proof phone?

If they make it, we need it. My wife received a 55 gallon fish tank from her wonderful husband for Christmas. The only problem is one of the doors on the top is broken in half. It sits there fine, but if you put anything on top of it, it can't support it and acts as a trap door into the murky depths of the tank.

Forgetting this, Becca set one of our phones on top of the panel. It looked like one of those things you only see on TV. The phone quickly activated the secret trap door and splashed into the luke-warm waters, surprising the gold fish as it sank. Luckily, her quick reflexes saved it from reaching the pressurized depths at the bottom of the tank.

We still have yet to determine if it will ever call again, but it was funny enough to be worth it.

Blogging? What's that?

FYI, I'll be writing a general overview of blogging (who, what, when, where, why) along with a few tips for the February issue of The Business Journal. Should be out the first or second week of February.

What's that smell?

That’s the smell of Old Spice m’ lady.

Picture this: You are in charge of marketing for a stodgy old deodorant company. Heck, they even have “Old” in the name. Never a good start when you are being overrun by hip new brands that market with sexy girls, and the promise to deliver those sexy girls by simply using their products. How do you combat that?

With true manliness and comedic gold. And who represents manliness better than the ultimate man ... Bruce Campbell? You can watch the spots below and see what I mean. They are smart, funny, and actually update the Old Spice brand without giving in to the “we know you wanna have sex, so we’re going to make it look like you can have more of it by wearing our products, while also making all women look like uncontrollable sluts, but you and I both know if you believe this, you won’t be having more sex, because you are stupid and relying on cologne to make you sexy) mentality. Such as say Tag or Axe. Old Spice doesn’t have quite the “edgy” name of the others, but they make it work.

Old Spice will even make hair grow on your chest. I saw it on TV (or YouTube) so it must be true. Right?

I flat out love these spots.





“They’ll buy you a stick of something that smells like wildflowers and shame.”

Via American Copywriter.

Monday, January 15, 2007

New year in review

It's really funny to watch how people jump back into old projects with the advent of a new year.

Two of my favorite bloggers/podcasters have gotten back into the game after a bit of a hiatus.

Franklin McMahon of Media Artist Secrets, and John and Tug of American Copywriter fame.

I've personally kept up with my resolution to focus more on my writing. Along with everything else I do at Image, I've been writing more and more over the past few years. I enjoy blogging (but never seem to have the time), and this year I'd like to keep up with it. I'm also interested in pursuing other writing opportunities as the year goes on.

However it's the 15th of the month, and I am 0 for 15 as far as getting up earlier to run on the long-dormant treadmill.

Mute ads

For designers of cheesy web ads: SHUT UP!

For webmasters who place loud ads on their sites: STOP IT!

I'm really tired (in case you couldn't tell) of ads on sites that have noise. Whatever noise it is, if you think it's a good idea to put it in the ad, let me tell you, it's not. Whenever I visit a site and the ads around it start talking to me, I make a note to never, ever visit the site again.

Don't. Do. It. Ever. Again.

Cave man heritage

Remember that nice warm fire I talked about earlier. Well, turns out it was not so much warm as sputtering.

You see, we prepared for the ice storm by making sure we (and the dogs, oh yeah, and the kids too) had plenty of food. The one thing we forgot was that magical combination of (what I'm sure are fake) wood chips and chemicals known as a starter log. We used our final starter log last night and, being the man I am, I was forced to get a fire going from scratch. That's right, just me, a small pile of wet logs and about 175 newspapers. Oh yeah, and matches. Lots of matches.

I wanted lighter fluid too, but Becca wouldn't let me.

After wrestling with the monster for about thirty minutes, I walked away, hands black with newsprint and burned in several places. Clothes smelling of burnt paper. And a nice warm fire going.

Truly wireless?


Is it too much to ask for Apple to offer wireless headphones for the iPod? I spent part of the weekend catching up on some audiobooks and podcasts. I spent the other half of the weekend trying to untangle the headphone wires. These things are a nightmare to keep from wrapping around your throat in a threatening manner.

Cut the wires Apple.

However, this is the first significant amount of time I've spent with my iPod shuffle since buying it back in November, and I'm really impressed. Normally it is playing in my car, but this is the first time I've had it on me using the headphones. It's fantastic, and I can't imagine lugging around a full-sized iPod as I was listening around the house.

23 Degrees


It's currently 23 degrees outside in Stephenville and everything is frozen solid. Except for the nice warm fire in our fireplace, however.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Digital enhancement

One thing that really irritates me about movies is when they digitally enhance a photo or video. Usually these are low-resolution shots, but they are magically able to zoom in on a certain section (usually someone's face) and blow it up to full screen size, all the while making it clearer and clearer.

As someone who works with photos for a living, I can tell you this doesn't happen. When you zoom in on something, it looks worse and worse, not better and better. They did it on 24 tonight which reminded me how much I hate it.

Beyond that, though, 24 looks to have kicked off another great season.

EOF in the news

Erath on Fire was featured on the front page of last Friday's Stephenville Empire Tribune. They were shots from the recent fire north of Huckabay. It was a big one. You can see more photos at the EoF site.

24

It's been a while since I've had time to post here, but I'll try to get cranking on it again soon. The end of '05 and the first few weeks of this year have been incredibly busy.

But the new year officially kicks of tonight. In about 35 minutes actually. Jack Bauer makes his return tonight at 7 on Fox.