Football....!
MHS Bulldog football has been underway for over a week with the first major scrimmage held today. Here are some "fonky" photos.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Chance encounter....?
Most of us have been there, anyway those of us who have a conscience and who care about people and try to do right by them. Which frankly is most people I think. Most. Perhaps you've been in the spot where a relationship, be it business, family, marital or just with a friend, has gone terribly wrong. The result is broken feelings, hurt and sadness. Hopefully we do not dwell on these events longer than is necessary to grieve the loss and perhaps consolidate our learning experiences in these matters.
But, I think, most people do wonder what went wrong, where was each party wrong and/or right, in effect what is the truth of the situation; but with human relations things are complicated and multi-dimensional so really there is no solid, one truth. I'm no different than others in wondering these things. I also know that over time the human mind and ego can establish it's own set of truths about events of this sort and I do wonder if the things I've come to believe are based on the facts, or on what I perceive or want the facts to be.
Tonight as I waited in a restaurant for a take-out order to be prepared, a person walked up to me, said "Hi" and asked if I remembered them. We had met only casually once or twice some years ago and as they remined me of the circumstances of our meeting and the reason, it came back to me. The subject of conversaton turned to the common factor in our meeting those years past and as this person spoke about their take on "why" a certain sad situation in my life unfolded as it did, it was as if they had been reading my mind about some of the reasons I had developed as to "why" things had happened as they did.
Honestly, it was rather sad hearing these things, but I did take away some small belief that my reality has some valid truth. And this isn't about right or wrong; right or wrong doesn't matter much in these circurmstances, sadness trumps right or wrong; right or wrong doesn't restore anything. As we say in AA..."Would you rather be right all the time or would you rather be happy".
Most of us have been there, anyway those of us who have a conscience and who care about people and try to do right by them. Which frankly is most people I think. Most. Perhaps you've been in the spot where a relationship, be it business, family, marital or just with a friend, has gone terribly wrong. The result is broken feelings, hurt and sadness. Hopefully we do not dwell on these events longer than is necessary to grieve the loss and perhaps consolidate our learning experiences in these matters.
But, I think, most people do wonder what went wrong, where was each party wrong and/or right, in effect what is the truth of the situation; but with human relations things are complicated and multi-dimensional so really there is no solid, one truth. I'm no different than others in wondering these things. I also know that over time the human mind and ego can establish it's own set of truths about events of this sort and I do wonder if the things I've come to believe are based on the facts, or on what I perceive or want the facts to be.
Tonight as I waited in a restaurant for a take-out order to be prepared, a person walked up to me, said "Hi" and asked if I remembered them. We had met only casually once or twice some years ago and as they remined me of the circumstances of our meeting and the reason, it came back to me. The subject of conversaton turned to the common factor in our meeting those years past and as this person spoke about their take on "why" a certain sad situation in my life unfolded as it did, it was as if they had been reading my mind about some of the reasons I had developed as to "why" things had happened as they did.
Honestly, it was rather sad hearing these things, but I did take away some small belief that my reality has some valid truth. And this isn't about right or wrong; right or wrong doesn't matter much in these circurmstances, sadness trumps right or wrong; right or wrong doesn't restore anything. As we say in AA..."Would you rather be right all the time or would you rather be happy".
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
What's Next...?
Well, I guess putting on "extravaganzas" has gotten into me. After learning a few things about that and I suppose being a little successful, I've now been asked to assist in doing the same satellite feed/internet tricks for the Commemorative Air Force and our big 50th Anniversary shindig in Las Vegas this summer.
More exciting to me is something I've been trying to conjour up for a couple of years now.....an exhibit of combat photographers at the Museum of the Southwest. I have mentioned this to pal Joe Galloway every time he visits and bi-yearly to Tom Jones, director of the museum. Joe is still in for rounding up his old Vietnam photo buddies and while visiting over the weekend, Tom Jones said he's ready to put it on the museums schedule...within the next year. He plans way ahead. Galloway knows most all of the great photographers of the war and several of the best have said they would come if we can arrange the show.
Well, I guess putting on "extravaganzas" has gotten into me. After learning a few things about that and I suppose being a little successful, I've now been asked to assist in doing the same satellite feed/internet tricks for the Commemorative Air Force and our big 50th Anniversary shindig in Las Vegas this summer.
More exciting to me is something I've been trying to conjour up for a couple of years now.....an exhibit of combat photographers at the Museum of the Southwest. I have mentioned this to pal Joe Galloway every time he visits and bi-yearly to Tom Jones, director of the museum. Joe is still in for rounding up his old Vietnam photo buddies and while visiting over the weekend, Tom Jones said he's ready to put it on the museums schedule...within the next year. He plans way ahead. Galloway knows most all of the great photographers of the war and several of the best have said they would come if we can arrange the show.
Monday, April 23, 2007
What a thrill....
What a thrill to see something you've worked on for two months come to life and run so well! The West Texas Troop Salute was truly amazing and a great experience. The show came off virtually without a glitch, some small ones yes, but putting that into persective, two months is a short, short time to assemble all the acts, speakers, volunteers, equipment, media and to have communications connections in place and having it all work...it's a testiment to all those who spent so much time and effort in making it work. Amazing because of the venue and scope we had not had time to have even one reheasal. Gail Essex ran the program segment and she had it down prefectly.
I have to say that I almost....no I actually did, get misty eyed when the troops of the 1/7th Cav in Camp Taji Iraq came up on the Jumbotron. I had worked through a number of contacts in the military to arrange that, and relied on the expertise of Chuck Cooper at NewsWest 9 to set up the technical stuff. We had high hopes, but shooting satelitte beams to Odessa then to Rockhound stadium just seemed like one of those things destined to have some small snafu rendering it inoperable. No such thing; it worked flawlessly. So well that I almost blew making the most of it.
I had seen video of the troops on the Jumbotron being fed periodically into the program but had not heard any audio. Somewhere in my mind, I suppose, I was just happy with the great video. More than half way through the program I was on the baseball field when I got a call from Nick Carlton in the press box. Nick was our committee genius who ran the Jumbotron and feeds in and out. As the program was moving on, Nick called to say that he had a direct phone line to Camp Taji and the troops there wanted to know when they could talk to the crowd, they'd been seeing it all on the Internet feed we had going out.
Idiot I thought, of myself, you almost wasted what you worked so hard on. But that didn't happen, I immediately asked Gen. Sanchez who was standing with me, if he would go out and talk to the guys and gals in Iraq....and so he did and if you there you know how emotional it was as about 20 troops told us who they were, where they were from and some gave a small message such as "hi Mom". Two of the troops were from Midland and there is a good chance that the Moms were in the crowd to hear it. This made every bit of work worthwhile.
And I found out this morning from my contact in Iraq, Major "B", that the troops had the Internet feed fed thru a digital projector onto a large screen, they could see and hear us all very well. Double worthwhile.......! Thanks is not enough for all who helped, volunteered and of course attended.
Despite all my running around I did manage to take some photos. Here are some... As did the Midland Reporter-Telegram
What a thrill to see something you've worked on for two months come to life and run so well! The West Texas Troop Salute was truly amazing and a great experience. The show came off virtually without a glitch, some small ones yes, but putting that into persective, two months is a short, short time to assemble all the acts, speakers, volunteers, equipment, media and to have communications connections in place and having it all work...it's a testiment to all those who spent so much time and effort in making it work. Amazing because of the venue and scope we had not had time to have even one reheasal. Gail Essex ran the program segment and she had it down prefectly.
I have to say that I almost....no I actually did, get misty eyed when the troops of the 1/7th Cav in Camp Taji Iraq came up on the Jumbotron. I had worked through a number of contacts in the military to arrange that, and relied on the expertise of Chuck Cooper at NewsWest 9 to set up the technical stuff. We had high hopes, but shooting satelitte beams to Odessa then to Rockhound stadium just seemed like one of those things destined to have some small snafu rendering it inoperable. No such thing; it worked flawlessly. So well that I almost blew making the most of it.
I had seen video of the troops on the Jumbotron being fed periodically into the program but had not heard any audio. Somewhere in my mind, I suppose, I was just happy with the great video. More than half way through the program I was on the baseball field when I got a call from Nick Carlton in the press box. Nick was our committee genius who ran the Jumbotron and feeds in and out. As the program was moving on, Nick called to say that he had a direct phone line to Camp Taji and the troops there wanted to know when they could talk to the crowd, they'd been seeing it all on the Internet feed we had going out.
Idiot I thought, of myself, you almost wasted what you worked so hard on. But that didn't happen, I immediately asked Gen. Sanchez who was standing with me, if he would go out and talk to the guys and gals in Iraq....and so he did and if you there you know how emotional it was as about 20 troops told us who they were, where they were from and some gave a small message such as "hi Mom". Two of the troops were from Midland and there is a good chance that the Moms were in the crowd to hear it. This made every bit of work worthwhile.
And I found out this morning from my contact in Iraq, Major "B", that the troops had the Internet feed fed thru a digital projector onto a large screen, they could see and hear us all very well. Double worthwhile.......! Thanks is not enough for all who helped, volunteered and of course attended.
Despite all my running around I did manage to take some photos. Here are some... As did the Midland Reporter-Telegram
Thursday, April 19, 2007
A-OK....!
We tested our input feed and outgoing stream for the West Texas Troop Salute today at the pressbox of the Rockhounds and I'll be gall-darned if they didn't work. The feed from Iraq without a glitch and the Internet feed with a few glitches than can be corrected.
My eternal thanks to all the professionals who help me put this together. Jim Slusher at the MRT and My West Texas, Jose Gaona, news director of CBS7 and especially Chuck Cooper of KWES Channel 9 who helped design the network and knows everything there is to know about all aspects of modern communications. And, not least, all the people in Virginia and Georgia at the Soldiers Media Center and the DVID.
We tested our input feed and outgoing stream for the West Texas Troop Salute today at the pressbox of the Rockhounds and I'll be gall-darned if they didn't work. The feed from Iraq without a glitch and the Internet feed with a few glitches than can be corrected.
My eternal thanks to all the professionals who help me put this together. Jim Slusher at the MRT and My West Texas, Jose Gaona, news director of CBS7 and especially Chuck Cooper of KWES Channel 9 who helped design the network and knows everything there is to know about all aspects of modern communications. And, not least, all the people in Virginia and Georgia at the Soldiers Media Center and the DVID.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Testing one, two, three.....
A big day Thursday as we fire up the communications system we've created for the West Texas Troop Salute with our first live test. Signal uplinked from Major "B" at Camp Taji, Iraq up, up, up 220 miles to the communications satellite then down to the NewWest 9 studios in Odessa where the signal will be microwaved to their portable antenna at Rockhounds Stadium, piped up to the pressbox and hooked into the JumboTron where, God willing, you will see, live, troops from the 1st Cav. Division adding their spirit to the event.
On the outgo, the signal will be sent from the ballpark diamond by CBS7 up to the pressbox and then to the Midland Reporter-Telegram servers utilizing unlimited bandwidth provided by SuddenLink where it will be viewed by the world at our online viewing site. And viewed hopefully by many of our troops worldwide. With the assistance of the Army Soldiers Media Center and the Digital Imagery and Distribution System I have arranged for the event to be publicized throughout the Army, and hopefully, DOD networks. Pray for connectivity!
A big day Thursday as we fire up the communications system we've created for the West Texas Troop Salute with our first live test. Signal uplinked from Major "B" at Camp Taji, Iraq up, up, up 220 miles to the communications satellite then down to the NewWest 9 studios in Odessa where the signal will be microwaved to their portable antenna at Rockhounds Stadium, piped up to the pressbox and hooked into the JumboTron where, God willing, you will see, live, troops from the 1st Cav. Division adding their spirit to the event.
On the outgo, the signal will be sent from the ballpark diamond by CBS7 up to the pressbox and then to the Midland Reporter-Telegram servers utilizing unlimited bandwidth provided by SuddenLink where it will be viewed by the world at our online viewing site. And viewed hopefully by many of our troops worldwide. With the assistance of the Army Soldiers Media Center and the Digital Imagery and Distribution System I have arranged for the event to be publicized throughout the Army, and hopefully, DOD networks. Pray for connectivity!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Counting down...
An interesting day as we count down to six remaining days till the West Texas Troop Salute. I spent a good part of the morning chatting by email with an army Major at Camp Taji, Iraq solidifying our satellite feed from his unit to the Jumbotron at the Rockhounds Ballbark. I asked for, and got, a significant unit in Iraq to participate in our broadcast.....the 1/7th Cavalry of the 1st Cav. Division. Significant because this is the unit portrayed in We Were Soldiers, a tribute to our featured speaker Joe Galloway.
And, though I didn't catch it, my interview with Jay Hendrix taped last week apparently ran in the last day or so. I know because I asked parents/wives etc. of service members to send me their pictures for our video presentation and I was overwhelmed with calls and emails in the last several days. So many pictures that I thought my email server was having problems; so, while I emailed back and forth to Iraq, I was also doing the same to Australia where my server is located. Turns out it was my router malfunctioning. But ain't communications technology something!
Tomorrow I tape an interview with Stephanie Sparkman and her show "In the pipeline". I know each and everyone of you will arise at 5:30 A.M. to watch it. Yeah right.
An interesting day as we count down to six remaining days till the West Texas Troop Salute. I spent a good part of the morning chatting by email with an army Major at Camp Taji, Iraq solidifying our satellite feed from his unit to the Jumbotron at the Rockhounds Ballbark. I asked for, and got, a significant unit in Iraq to participate in our broadcast.....the 1/7th Cavalry of the 1st Cav. Division. Significant because this is the unit portrayed in We Were Soldiers, a tribute to our featured speaker Joe Galloway.
And, though I didn't catch it, my interview with Jay Hendrix taped last week apparently ran in the last day or so. I know because I asked parents/wives etc. of service members to send me their pictures for our video presentation and I was overwhelmed with calls and emails in the last several days. So many pictures that I thought my email server was having problems; so, while I emailed back and forth to Iraq, I was also doing the same to Australia where my server is located. Turns out it was my router malfunctioning. But ain't communications technology something!
Tomorrow I tape an interview with Stephanie Sparkman and her show "In the pipeline". I know each and everyone of you will arise at 5:30 A.M. to watch it. Yeah right.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Progressing nicely....
Our West Texas Troop Salute, with much work from many, is progressing nicely. Today I heard from LTG. Ricardo Sanchez, ground commander of all coalition forces in Iraq in 2003-2004. He called to say he's reworked his schedule and will be pleased to be here, camping out at the estate with Joe Galloway.
Also today, the "run" of our "T" shirts began; here I am in serial #0002 of 5000. All will be given away free along with tickets to the Rockhounds game. Tomorrow morning it's back out to the stadium pressbox for the first "dry run" of our in production DVD to run on the JumboTron. It will be fun to see our work in large scale at the park.
I've never helped produce an extravaganza before...it's really pretty interesting. And by the way..that's $18,000 worth of "T" Shirts. Contributions have been generous!
Our West Texas Troop Salute, with much work from many, is progressing nicely. Today I heard from LTG. Ricardo Sanchez, ground commander of all coalition forces in Iraq in 2003-2004. He called to say he's reworked his schedule and will be pleased to be here, camping out at the estate with Joe Galloway.
Also today, the "run" of our "T" shirts began; here I am in serial #0002 of 5000. All will be given away free along with tickets to the Rockhounds game. Tomorrow morning it's back out to the stadium pressbox for the first "dry run" of our in production DVD to run on the JumboTron. It will be fun to see our work in large scale at the park.
I've never helped produce an extravaganza before...it's really pretty interesting. And by the way..that's $18,000 worth of "T" Shirts. Contributions have been generous!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Easter.....
I was given this homily recently by a caring person. It has a special significance for me on this first Easter without my Dad......
I was given this homily recently by a caring person. It has a special significance for me on this first Easter without my Dad......
"Father into your hands I commend my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last", Luke23:46I continue to give thanks that I was with my Dad when he breathed his last breath, and that it was peaceful......
If you have been with someone when he or she breathed the last breath, you know the power of that breath. For some it is peaceful, while others struggle to the very last exhale. The creed tells us that our only hope in life and death is that we belong to God! In Luke, the acquaintances of Jesus stood and watched. We are invited into an intimate moment with God---to draw close, to watch and to listen for the last word and breath.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Coming together....
Wow, there is really a whole lot of work involved in putting together a public extravaganza like the West Texas Troop Salute but it's starting to come together. Speakers mostly set, bands arranged for, entertainment booked, 5,000 T-Shirts ordered and boy scouts lined up to put one in each seat. 2,500 flags ordered, media arrangements made, booths lined up and ready to be manned. Video in the works by "A Shot in the Dark Productions" for the JumboTron presentation, Pamela Hamm, Mike Barker, Jay Hendrix all on board to lend a hand in addition to blog pal Jimmy Patterson lined up to MC the event, and Darryl Ward welcome to come along too!
And today, one of my main concerns, video feeds in from Iraq and streaming video out to the world....looks like it may just all work! I spent a good part of the morning at the Rockhounds pressbox with news directors and tech people from CBS7, NewsWest 9 and the good folks from the MRT's My West Texas online reviewing the plans and coordinating with the Rockhounds media director. Feeds by satellite in, broadband stream out and numberous DVD's to run on the JumboTron.....can do they say. Good news to me. And this afternoon Jim Slusher of My West Texas and I got the webpage with the video site ready to go...all we need now is a feed and with the help of the US Army Media center it will be ready to be seen by the military [as well as the public] throughout the world. We hope......and pray!
Thank you is not enough for the news media mentioned above as well as numerous people at the Pentagon and in the Army Media Center in Georgia, and for the sponsors and volunteers who have given so freely of their time and assets. The support is amazing....!
Wow, there is really a whole lot of work involved in putting together a public extravaganza like the West Texas Troop Salute but it's starting to come together. Speakers mostly set, bands arranged for, entertainment booked, 5,000 T-Shirts ordered and boy scouts lined up to put one in each seat. 2,500 flags ordered, media arrangements made, booths lined up and ready to be manned. Video in the works by "A Shot in the Dark Productions" for the JumboTron presentation, Pamela Hamm, Mike Barker, Jay Hendrix all on board to lend a hand in addition to blog pal Jimmy Patterson lined up to MC the event, and Darryl Ward welcome to come along too!
And today, one of my main concerns, video feeds in from Iraq and streaming video out to the world....looks like it may just all work! I spent a good part of the morning at the Rockhounds pressbox with news directors and tech people from CBS7, NewsWest 9 and the good folks from the MRT's My West Texas online reviewing the plans and coordinating with the Rockhounds media director. Feeds by satellite in, broadband stream out and numberous DVD's to run on the JumboTron.....can do they say. Good news to me. And this afternoon Jim Slusher of My West Texas and I got the webpage with the video site ready to go...all we need now is a feed and with the help of the US Army Media center it will be ready to be seen by the military [as well as the public] throughout the world. We hope......and pray!
Thank you is not enough for the news media mentioned above as well as numerous people at the Pentagon and in the Army Media Center in Georgia, and for the sponsors and volunteers who have given so freely of their time and assets. The support is amazing....!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)