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Snow Day
November 30, 2006Okay...I'm 27, I probably shouldn't be this excited about snow.
I don't care...it's awesome.
I'm probably the biggest kid at the newspaper. I just get excited about silly stuff like this. I don't care how "dangerous" it looks out there...I'm going to have fun.
I can look out the window from my chair and see the snow blowing sideways. It's like working in a big snow-globe.
Yesterday was wild...sleet, snow, hail, thunder, lightning and rain.
Today...it's just beautiful, glorious snow.
So...I couldn't resist taking a picture of myself. I'd be making a snow angel if I could...but I do have to be professional.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
And....hail.
November 29, 2006No joke...as I'm typing that last entry...it started hailing out there.
Hard...and lots of it. About marble sized.
I think I've seen this before...wasn't that movie "Day after tomarrow" something like this.
God I love Texas weather.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Snow, Rain, Fire, Thunder, Sleet and Lightning...at the same time.
That was the strangest thing I've ever seen.
The snow/sleet/rain are usually seen together. No big deal.
Everybody knows that thunder and lightning go hand in hand.
And I was just at the scene of a structure fire on Huntington Lane.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
14 degrees in 1/2 a mile
That's how much the temp. just dropped on me from the intersection of Barnett and Southwest Parkway to my apt. at the Raintree...halfway between SW Parkway and Kell.
Mark the time at 11:34....winter is knocking on the door.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
MSU Football Trip
November 28, 2006Okay....sorry for the long delay.
So the MSU trip was actually quite a bit of fun. Got on a plane Friday morning and flew with the team up to St. Joseph, Missouri.
Stayed at a Ramada Inn....very nice.
Had a big steak for dinner at a cool joint in the Stockyards area. 16 oz. ribeye...I still think that Texas steaks are the best ever.
Then the long day that would be my Saturday game day came quickly.
7:30 a.m.: First wake up alarm
7:33 a.m.: Snooze alarm
7:45 a.m.: After completely ignoring the alarms..I finally wake up and stumble towards the shower
8:05 a.m.: Stumble down the hallway to the breakfast dining room. The eggs were...not eggs. I'm not actually sure what they were, other than gross. The pancakes were good, as was the seven 4oz. glasses of apple juice.
8:30 a.m.: Back in my room and packing my bag and camera backpack for the day. Maryville was a 45-minute drive from where we stayed, and we had to check out of the hotel before leaving. No big deal.
8:45 a.m.: Board one of the two charter buses and start the drive to the stadium....we finally left about 9 a.m. and I tried to not fall asleep on the bus. Honestly, I'm not sure if I succeeded.
10 a.m.: Two hours before kick-off and I walked into the press box with my 100lb camera backpack in tow. They had wireless internet...yay...and I spent the hour surfing the internet and goofing off.
11 a.m.: I headed down to the field to shoot a few features and whatnot. One of the MSU players had a Texas flag draped over him, and the MSU fans started showing up as did the Golden Thunder Marching Band.
11:45 a.m.: Kickoff is rapidly approaching...and the coolest thing ever happens. An airplane towing a banner that said "Go Mustangs...the Pride of MSU" flies over the stadium and makes about 8 passes. The hometown fans are not happy...booing and flipping off the plane. It was the funniest thing I've seen all day.
12:01 p.m.: Kickoff....and lots of pictures commence. Here are some of them.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State running back Ross Harrison (32) is brought down by Northwest Missouri State defensive tackle Terry Bilbro (98) during the second quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State WR Darrius Richard (11) tries to get to the corner around a Northwest Missouri State defender during the first quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Northwest Missouri State running back Xavier Omon (2) runs over Midwestern State defensive back Dezmond Sherrer (13) during the first quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State quarterback Daniel Polk (5) runs past a Northwest Missouri State defender late in the second quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.
One of the most impressive things about the game was their crowd. They were loud, organized yelling, and packed in the stands. It was a truely awesome sight.
Here's a small sample of their crowd. It was totally packed on the home side and about 3/4 full on the visitor's side. And they said it was a smaller crowd than normal. Awesome.
Their stadium was pretty nice...easily could see that exact stadium (minus the orange track) on the campus of MSU. With a seating capacity of about 7,500 it would be pretty much perfect. Also...the 10 luxury boxes were quite a sight as well. No reason at all that we shouldn't have something like that.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State WR Keith Flanagan (9) walks off the field after MSU lost their second-round playoff game 27-0 to Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri Saturday afternoon.
So...game over, we lost. Boo. But hey, that team will probably go on to the national championship game. They may win it all...may not.
4 p.m.: Done sending photos to the newspaper here. That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it was going to actually.
4:15 p.m.: Pack all of my camera gear back in the backpack that I borrowed from one of the other photogs. Thing weighs a freaking ton. I'm sure I'm breaking some carry-on weight limit with this thing. But since it's a charter jet...maybe they don't care, I don't know.
4:30 p.m.: I made it back down to the buses before they left to head back to St. Joseph and the airport for the flight home.
5:30 p.m.: Back to the tiny tiny airport and time to board and head home. They had a 12-ft. folding table set up for "security screening" before we could get on. They needed to see our ID....execpt that most of the football players' wallets were already underneath the airplane. The security guy says "Okay...well, if you have one, show it to me." Real good security.
7 p.m.: Wheels touch down at the airport here...and it's off to MSU to grab my suitcase and go home. I'd have grabbed it at the airport, but they just loaded all of the football gear and luggage on a MSU loading van and took it back to campus.
8:30 p.m.: Dinner at the Parkway Grill and that's about it.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Back from a Missouri Weekend
November 27, 2006Hey folks...I traveled with Midwestern State to Missouri this weekend to their playoff football game against Northwest Missouri State.
The trip was fun...the end of the game wasn't.
I'll post some blogs about it later, and some photos too.
Also...I put up my christmas tree with my girlfriend Courtney yesterday, that was an adventure in it's own way.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Crazy Sports Weekend
November 20, 2006I got to watch three of the best games of the weekend live and in person.
Rider over Boswell 35-14
Midwestern over Missouri Western 28-26
Dallas over Indianapolis 21-14
I was there...on the sidelines of every one. That's the kind of stuff that guys dream about, watching those kind of games in person.
I'll find time to put up some photos sometime today.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
In the blink of an eye
November 15, 2006It's astounding how quickly things can change. How fast things can go from being completely okay and nice to ripping things apart and cold.
Yesterday was nice. It was nice for several days actually. This time of year you never know what to expect.
Without fail....11 p.m. hit and everything shifted. A cold and bitter wind could cut through just about any fabric. It doesn't take much to be chilled to the bone and left helpless to fight.
All around, leaves are cutting through the air like they've been shot out of a cannon and the mood of the day drops from a pleasant evening in the 70s to mind-numbing cold.
They said it was the strongest, non-thunderstorm wind that the area has seen all year. I haven't felt anything like that in years.
And as much as I wanted to be inside where it was safe and warm and everything was exactly how I planned for it to be...
I couldn't help but stand outside and stare into the face of that wind and cold and wonder if I'm ever going to be okay.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Half as good as Nick
November 13, 2006The October blog stats are out.
Page Views
Nick G - 309
C. Wilson - 270
ME - 156
Clayton H - 109
So what does all that mean?....I don't know. I suppose I'm half as good as Nick, or half as intresting.
Perhaps it means I'm half the man Nick is.
I like to think of it as I have half as many people who think I'm an idiot looking at my blog.
The glass is half full.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
The dead still vote...why not win too.
November 08, 2006This....ladies and gentleman....is priceless.
HOUSTON - An unusual outcome in one of the U.S. House races, Tuesday. Republican Rep. Glenda Dawson, easily defeated her Democratic opponent Tuesday. The problem is she's dead.Dawson died two months ago following a brief illness. Even so, her campaigners continued to encourage people to vote for her in order to make sure the GOP 29th District would remain Republican.
She ended up beating Anthony A. Dinovo of Pearland with more than 60 percent of the vote.
The next likely step is for newly re-elected Governor Rick Perry to call for a special election to replace her.
Dawson’s campaign was criticized for sending out campaign mailers just before the election touting her record but not mentioning that she had died.
Now...it's not that difficult to imagine her name still being on the ballot and people voting either straight party Republican or just hating the other guy so much that they thought even a dead woman could hold his office better.
But what really suprises me.....her people mailed out flyers that just happened to leave out the fact that she was DEAD. Even more suprising....did the other guy's people NOT tell people that she was dead so they should vote for him.
Good lord.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
My Voting Tradition
November 07, 2006Basically...I don't.
That's right, I don't vote. I haven't in about 5 years. Honestly, it doesn't even really cross my mind to do so.
Why...you might ask.
The answer is pretty easy actually, because I'm supposed to be unbiased. I'm a journalist. And even though a lot of people in the community automatically label me as having the same political views as the editor....that's simply not the case.
The way I see it....with my job, I'm going to have to cover whatever happens, win or lose, republican or democrat. So, I don't bother trying to make a choice myself.
I get a lot of flack about that...but it doesn't bother me. "It's your obligation to vote," some people tell me.
No, as a newspaper employee who is supposed to be fair, it's my obligation to not pick sides and deal with both.
And now that it's over until the next election....whatever the people decided, I'll be there.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
More Camera Humor
This one is for all of the "portrait artists" out there. Sad...but true.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Here's a shocker
Brittany and K-Fed have filed their divorce papers....
Man...I didn't see that one coming.
Where's Kayne West and his latest hit song when you need it.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Death Sentence for Saddam
November 06, 2006Good to see that the Iraqi court has reccomended the death penalty for their former dictator....by hanging no less.
If Iraq were more like the former Republic of Texas, they'd find a good notch in the old oak tree in front of the capital building and finish it off before sunset or dinner...whichever is first.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
