On June 18, 2009,
I developed a new feature called the "Shot of the day". I
began capturing one image per day here in Havana for that spot on the front
page which will give you a feel for what is going on around town on that
particular day. This page will contain a record of those images, published
here on a smaller scale. The original large images will be placed on the
website homepage and will change daily so be sure to check it out, you never
know, tomorrow may just be "your" day.
The Answer...Many think that the quality of the
images I capture is a direct result of the quality of equipment I use. I
have had the good fortune to be able to invest in some of the best
professional grade Canon equipment available today, but that alone is not
the answer to being able to capture great images. Actually a
camera is to a photographer the very same thing as a hammer is to a carpenter.
The quality of the hammer is not the determining factor of the results
achieved by a good carpenter.
I
recently
decided to prove this point once and for all and
purchased the cheapest digital camera I could find. That camera is pictured
here and is a very basic point and shoot Canon 3000, a 10 mega pixel camera
costing less than $100. I used this camera to capture the last 5 Shots of
the Day. There is no deep and dark secrets in getting high quality images
with any camera you might have available to you. Understanding how the
camera works and the capabilities it has is as simple as reading the manual
and applying that information when you take photographs.
So in my book the old saying, size does not matter, does definitely apply in
this case. Do you agree?
May 2, 2010
HHS 2010 Prom Grand March..."Hope for a Fairy
Tale Ending",
is the theme, the setting was beautiful, as well as the young ladies and
gentlemen who were part of their special night. The theme song of this years prom is "Only Hope". Our very own
Tracy High-Fisher has recorded a special version of that song in honor of
the 2010 HHS Prom, just click the link below...
Let's go to Post
Prom...Prom weekend is an exciting time for
everyone. HHS has a great program called Post Prom, you have heard about it
for many years, you have probably supported it in one way or another, but
many adults really don't have a clue what it is all about. So let's go and
get a few photos of this great event. Did I mention that it begins at
Midnight and ends at 5:00 am. By the way, the link below will take you to
the photo gallery and proceeds from any photo sales through May 31, 2010 will go to The Post Prom
Committee...
Lollipops Anyone?...Yes,
these grilled mini lamb chops are as good as they look. But they are only a
small part of the exciting new menu items and activities beginning Tuesday,
May 4th at Sheridan Lane's @ Lakewood Golf Course. The new seasonal menu
change is not all that's new...be sure to check out the "First Friday Wine
Club", a special "Mother's Day Brunch/Buffet", "The Bistro Dinner",
"B-Beers-n-BBQ", and mark your calendar for "Lane's Fest" on June 25th,
26th, and 27th. You do not want to miss this, but more on that later. At
Sheridan Lane's...taste, quality, and value are not the only differences, be
sure to check out the "FUN". For more details call Sheridan @ 309-546-2741.
May 5, 2010
They placed the bar very high...Just
a few very short months ago their first weekly broadcast was being developed
and since then every show has been much better than the last. These iDuck
Team members taped their last show of the year as part of the Jr. High
Project. They represent a small part of the entire team which will move to
HHS next year and there create the HHS version of the iDuck Network. These
young folks have taken the ball and really ran with it. They have caught the
attention of many, they have already won awards and will be winning many
more soon. To the entire team...in our very first meeting, I told you that
you would go far with this project, to the point of receiving national
attention. You have definitely set the bar very high in deed. It has been a
pleasure to work with all of you. Thank you for your hard work. This would
not be complete without a huge thank you to two people saw the potential and
positive rewards of this program, another very large thank you to HJHS
Principal, Jerry Wilson and District Superintendent, Dr. Mark Twomey, who
simply told Tracy Trimpe "Run with it!"
On a personal note...
I have been dealing with some pesky but serious health
issues for a few months now, but the time has come that I must address
them head on and without further delay. I will leave very early in the
morning for Springfield to do just that. I have full intentions of
returning to Havana on Wednesday afternoon, however
ultimately that decision will not be mine
to make. Should I be gone for a few days, the daily updates of this
publication will resume immediately. In the 10 year history of 62644.com I have never
missed a single daily update regardless of what the situations were,
thank you all for your understanding should this be the case.
May 9, 2010
Back...I
wanted to let everyone know that I was able to leave the hospital earlier
this afternoon. Many thanks to everyone for the messages, thoughts, and
prayers. I drove to St. John's ER about 1:00am late Tuesday night. They found
evidence of internal bleeding, extremely low blood pressure, and a very
reduced amount of blood remaining in my system. After many blood
transfusions and some repair work on the cause of problem I was able to
return to Havana and begin the catching up process. Many thanks to everyone
including the great St. John's Staff like Melanie above, Judy for the photo,
and of course all of you for your support and help. I do have a couple more
procedures to go and some strength to get back but that will come. Thanks to
everyone for your patience, you are very much appreciated.
May 10, 2010
Mom's...by
now have been remembered all over the world on a special day just for them.
Special words have been delivered in pretty cards along with flowers and
chocolate. We waited because we wanted to honor all of you in a different
way.
Sometimes it's not only the words that are the most important, it's the way
we say those words that truly speaks what is in our hearts. Tracy
High-Fisher has received a number of requests for Mother's Day songs and she
has chosen two in honor of all mothers out there. Once again, the meaning of
those words are not always the important factor, please click the link below
and feel the sincerity and love in Tracy's delivery with which we honor the
most important women ever to be part of our lives...
Our Doc Rocks...Musical
Director George Caton not only does a great job of inspiring and teaching
musical skills to our young folks but he has made it interesting for them to
learn. Director Caton has convinced many talented and well known artists to
travel to Havana and work closely with the students and then perform with
them in a concert later in the evening. This has led to many fine
performances by our great, award winning Musical Department.
On Monday, May 10th, our very own Dr. Mark Twomey was once again in
attendance at the HJHS Spring Concert and this time his presence was
two-fold. He was not only there as the big fan he is, but he came to play. A
big thumbs up Dr. Twomey, we will long remember the night you "Got it on"
with the band. Our Doc really does ROCK, in many different ways. Havana is
both proud and lucky to have you here.
BTW...The HJHS Band & Chorus did an AWESOME job! Keep up
the great work.
The Dizzy Dragons...are
back once again. Just in case you were wondering about all our recent rains,
well it's time for the Spring Carnival. Weathermen all over the world call
to find out when the carnival is and then declare it will rain all week.
:) Just kidding of course, we are actually scheduled to have great
weather on Friday and Saturday for the annual affair. So kids, get mom and
dad in tow and head for downtown for a great time.
May 14, 2010
Musical Director, George Caton...finds
a moment of quiet reflection back on another great year for the HHS Musical
Department just before the last concert of the year on Thursday evening.
Havana's Band, Chorus, and Jazz Band were all highly decorated throughout
the year in various competitions, judging's, and appearances throughout
Central Illinois. Everyone in this Department and Program should be
extremely proud of their accomplishments and the simple fact that they are
just plain wonderful to listen to. GREAT JOB EVERYONE!
Park District opens Nature Center...The
Havana Park District Nature Center is now open! Please stop by for a visit
and take home with you the memory of a sunset like this one over the
Illinois River. Hours are: Monday-Saturday 10:00 am - 7:00 pm and Sundays
12:00 - 6:00 pm. The Nature Center is available for private rentals. Our new
facility seats approximately 40 inside and 24 outside. Resident rates are
$30/hour, and non-resident rates are $40/hour. Higher fees will be charged
for alcoholic events. A two-hour minimum rental is required.
The Nature Center will offer a
special summer program for children ages Kindergarten through 6th
grade. If you like bugs, birds, fish, butterflies and everything about
nature, you will LOVE this program! Brown Bag It performances at
Riverfront Stage will take place each Friday in June from 11:30 am -
1:00 pm. In case of rain, the music will be moved to the Nature Center.
Actors and actresses needed! Join
our Summer Theater Group and develop your child’s creativity and
imagination! Kids and adults will explore all aspects of performing. If
acting isn’t your thing, at least join us for stage design and costuming! We
also have a summer dance program this year. All of our actors and dancers
will perform at least one program for parents, family and friends! The
Optimist Memorial Pool will open on Saturday, May 29. Daily pool hours are
1:00 - 5:00 pm. Did you know that you could save money on passes and punch
cards by selling 50/50 raffle tickets?
May 16, 2010
Perfect Weather for Ducks...With
the North Fulton Wildcats in town for two on Saturday morning, a steady
light rain was falling and the Wildcats should have known it was Duck
weather. But they were game so the Ducks brought out some great pitching,
hitting, and defense to take on last year's 3rd place finishers in the
State. The Ducks jumped on top early in game one and never looked back. Very
late in game two the Ducks found themselves trailing but a quick check of
what they needed to do they abruptly went to work and scored 7 for a
dramatic come from behind win. Great job everyone, and all the best in the
upcoming Sectionals, Regionals, and beyond. This is a great team, do make it
a point to catch some of the post season action. Saturday's photos are
available by clicking the link below...
WHOI News Shocks The iDucks...Last
Thursday morning WHOI News walked into Tracy Trimpe's class with their
cameras rolling. This was a total surprise to Ms. Trimpe as HJHS
Administration was able to keep their arrival a total secret from her.
WHOI was in Havana to honor Ms. Trimpe and The iDuck Network for their
hard work on a great and innovative new project which began in early
February. The program has been a very popular and an academically
successful venture among students, school and district administrators,
teachers, parents, and the general public. The students are fully
responsible for the development, production, and post production of a
weekly newscast of a wide variety of school activities. Of the 84
students in the 8th Grade of HJHS, 46 of them participated in the
initial iDuck Network
Program. This group will now move on to HHS and take
the program with them to begin production of their HHS version of the
Program in the Fall. Of course the Program will also continue at HJHS
for the new school year with the new 8th Grade Students. The Program was
honored with a check for $1,000 from WHOI and CEFCU through their "One
Class At A Time" program. The story and video will air Wednesday, May
19th during the WHOI Evening News but should you not be able to catch
that live broadcast the video will be available at this WHOI link:
http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/whoi/oneclass
.
I am very proud of this
group of great kids who took on this concept not because it was
something cool or a means to have some fun at school, they took it on as
a challenge and an opportunity to create something new, exciting, and
worthwhile for their school in a very positive manner. The 4 teams of
young folks who comprise the iDuck Network worked extremely hard,
created their own niche, and set the bar very high. I am both honored
and proud to have been a very small part of getting this project off the
ground, watching these kids take a positive project and run with it, and
making it a huge success. I can never say it enough...
Special Birthday Greetings to my
Mother Evelyn & Sister Janice!!!
May 19, 2010
Cody Stillman
at the Helm in Havana...Bastien
Wireless, Inc.'s President, Steve Bastien, recently announced the position
of Manager of their Havana retail location is now being held by Havana's own
Cody Allen Stillman. "Cody's knowledge of the new technology available to
the general public today is remarkable", stated Bastien.
Satisfying
customers has always been Bastien's primary focus. "We're family
owned,
and we all live in the towns and cities we service," says Steve Bastien,
noting his son Jason Bastien is the company's
vice-president and son Matt Bastien is corporate trainer. "Our mission
is to offer the best product to meet customers' needs at the lowest
prices, and that includes providing excellent service. We even go
on-site to evaluate the needs of our business clients."
Bastien opened his first store in Havana in 1989,
then expanded to Pekin and Washington before opening a superstore at the
intersection of Sheridan Road and War Memorial Drive in Peoria.
Bastien's commitment to quality has resulted in
numerous sales awards over the past two decades. "We realize our best
business decision is not to open more stores, but instead to focus on
internally expanding the stores we have and to provide top-notch service
for our customers." Stop by the store or call Cody at 309-543-3046 and talk with
him about today's
latest amazing new products and be sure to check out their website at
www.bastienwireless.com .
May 20, 2010
A Nature Garden, A Math Garden. Huh?...Ok,
I saw everyone out in front of the HJHS working hard on the new Math Garden
and shot the photo above, but I'm sorry this Math Garden thing had me
scratching my head, so I sent a note to Tracy Trimpe for some help and here
was her response...
This year we received a grant from the Regional Office of Education to
help us create a math garden area, which was designed by several of the
teachers at the junior high and constructed by our 8th grade students
and Science Club members. This new area has been created to target
various learning standards for our 5th through 8th grade math classes.
Students will find the perimeter and area of the planting beds (square,
rectangle, pentagon, and hexagon) and graph the locations of various
items using the walkway in the middle of this area that forms the x-y
axis of a coordinate plane. The borders of the math garden area will be
decorated with number lines, rulers, and formulas for other math
lessons. The kids have also planted seeds for sunflowers, watermelons,
and pumpkins, which will be used for lessons related to data collection
and estimation.
Now are there some great things happening in our
school system or what?
May 21, 2010
The HHS 2010 Art Show...marked
the last full day of school
on Thursday evening. Rather than shooting photos of the event I have
a great video shot at the show with none other than Seth Lesemann providing
the on-camera tour of the show. A special thanks to Seth for not only
hosting the little Art Show Show but for all the great memories he has
provided everyone in his HHS career. The Candy Man, is indeed magical.
The video is available for viewing by clicking the link
below...
Lots
of rain makes lots of flowers...I
know you would rather have sunshine, but at least we get something very
beautiful in return for our patience in waiting for summer to arrive.
With the forecast for nothing but sun and highs in the 90's
for next week your wishes might just be coming true. Regardless of the
weather make it a great weekend and enjoy all of next week's warm weather. I
wonder just how many times we will hear, man it's so hot, I can't mow the
grass, and I have to water the grass again it's so dry.
:-)
May 23, 2010
This is beautiful Lake HyTonka...Located
East of Bath on the Bath/Kilbourne blacktop, Lake HyTonka is a boaters
paradise. As the sign says, the lots are available with beautiful sandy
beaches, right here in Mason County. On the North side of the blacktop you
have the beautiful marsh lands with reeds, other water plants, and teaming
with thousands of birds and other wildlife. All that is left is the removal
of the irrigation systems and other such former farming tools. Take a short
drive and visit this interesting combination of white sand and crystal clear
water.
You might have noticed that the credit line for this Shot of
the Day was "Scooter Cam". Yes, that is true. Remember a few weeks ago I
purchased an inexpensive point and shoot digital camera and used it to take
5 different Shots of the Day? I did purchase that camera for another
reason...I have a scooter now and it is not possible or a smart thing to try
to carry my big and heavy professional equipment on the scooter while I am
out looking for shots. So when you see a little Honda Spree around town or
in the country it will be Scooter Cam on the prowl for your next Shot of the
Day, or anything else going on around the area. Someone told me that most
people who retire do not keep working 16-20 hours per day, 7 days per
week...so maybe a little more fun is in order. BTW, I bought a fishing pole
too and looking for a cheap set of used golf clubs.
May 24, 2010
Official Sponsor!...The
Weekend of July 17th & 18th will mark the return of the Havana Boat Races
for 2010. This is a great family event and
www.62644.comhas decided to lend
it's support to the event in order to help the
NBRAto continue to bring it's
quality racing back to Havana. Over twenty different teams will arrive in
town, each with a number of different classes of boats in tow to compete in
the weekend long racing activities.
Over this past weekend this e-publication
became an official sponsor of the event and would like to encourage other
Central Illinois businesses to do the same by contacting Mark Friedrich at
309-543-3528. If you haven't seen NBRA racing before you will be amazed at
the exciting close racing action, take a look at our 2008 event coverage by
clicking this link: http://www.62644.com/2008/July/NBRA-BoatRaces-July-DayOne.html
.
May 25, 2010
HHS Track Notes...Phil
Foster, coach the High School Track team, sent me the following
information on the recent State Meets. Thank you very much Coach and
what a great job all your athletes have done this year.
I was hoping that you could put up some information
about a couple of our athletes who performed pretty well this weekend.
Abby Kachanuk had her first experience at the State level, and performed
well in the shot put. We are expecting some big things from her in the
future. Krista McClure had a phenomenal weekend as she placed 5th in
both the triple jump, and the 800m run at the IHSA State Track meet.
She was able to jump a personal best 35'1" (School Record) on her final
jump of the competition. This is her best by more than a foot, and
vaulted her up in the standings. The 800m run is a relatively new event
for her, and she is still learning the race, but she was able to set her
personal best, and school record at the meet with a 2:17.8 placing 5th
in the finals race.
Sam Kachanuk also had a good weekend of
competition in the Shot Put, but winning at the Lewistown Sectional. He
threw a 53'7" shot put which is also a personal best for him, and
betters his School Record mark.
All of our kids performed extremely well at
the right times as most of them set personal records in their last races
of the season, and should be proud of their hard work.
May 26, 2010
The iDucks Celebrate Milestone...The
very first season for The iDuck Network has ended and the first
participating students in the instantly popular program are moving on to
HHS in the fall. They will carry the torch with them and begin a new
iDuck Network HHS Edition
in the fall. They got together on Monday at HJHS for a party and to look
back at their experiences in creating their broadcasts with a lot of
laughs from the blooper footage. This fall will also mark a new group of
HJHS students taking over the weekly broadcasts. I must say that this
first group of students did an awesome job as they creatively stepped
into areas that no one had ever stepped in before, they set the bar very
high as a standard to maintain and grow upon. I have a great deal of
faith that these weekly broadcasts will continue to get better and
better with each passing week. The talent and creative abilities of our
young folks is amazing and this group did it all themselves, they were
not just doing what they were told to do, and it was the efforts of
every one involved combined which made this project really shine. No one
person is the center, the pivot point, or the master, it was truly a
team effort from all involved.
CONGRATULATIONS iDUCKS!!!
May 27, 2010
Graduating The
Class of 2010; all of them...The
ceremonies were moved inside and this class proudly received their
diplomas in front of a packed gymnasium. This 133rd Graduation Ceremony
at HHS saw a remarkable 85% of the class which is moving on to either a 4 year
University, a 2 year Community College Institution, or the US Military.
I think this fact alone says a lot for this class. Their individual
efforts and accomplishments in their high school careers is also amazing
as many were recognized as Outstanding Athletes, National Choral and
Music Awards, Leadership Awards, Prairieland Conference Scholar
Athletes, Illinois State Scholars, Presidential Education Awards,
Prairie State Achievement Awards, and Maroon Scholars.
Yes, these young folks are strong,
smart, and talented, but sadly, there was an empty chair on stage tonight.
This class is also a compassionate group who wanted to make sure their
fallen classmate was remembered, honored, and a part of the ceremonies.
Appropriately, the class members were called forward in alphabetical
order, at the proper time the name of Stephen Hamm was read and a moment
of silence was observed when there was no response to the call. Godspeed
Stephen and all your classmates, may you always walk forward into the
future together as the friends you will always be.
Fittingly and without knowledge of
this fact Tracy High-Fisher recorded a song in honor of your graduation.
Ironically, this is also the very same song she sang at her own
graduation 25 years ago this week. I think it will also be remembered by
the Class of 2010 when they think back on their "Friends".
Memorial Day
2010...Sadly
we are losing our vets at a very alarming rate. Please take a few minutes
from your holiday weekend to honor these special men and women who served
and the many who gave their lives to insure our freedoms.
Tracy has recorded two
special songs to honor our vets, those currently in service and our Country.
Please take a listen....
owned,
and we all live in the towns and cities we service," says Steve Bastien,
noting his son Jason Bastien is the company's
vice-president and son Matt Bastien is corporate trainer. "Our mission
is to offer the best product to meet customers' needs at the lowest
prices, and that includes providing excellent service. We even go
on-site to evaluate the needs of our business clients."
,
then expanded to Pekin and Washington before opening a superstore at the
intersection of Sheridan Road and War Memorial Drive in Peoria.
Bastien's commitment to quality has resulted in
numerous sales awards over the past two decades. "We realize our best
business decision is not to open more stores, but instead to focus on
internally expanding the stores we have and to provide top-notch service
for our customers."
