Tim Ellsworth

It’s Open Blog Friday

August 24th, 2007

Welcome to the Hotel Open Blog Friday. Check-in time is now. Check-out time is never!

Posted in General |

32 Responses to “It’s Open Blog Friday”

  1. j razz says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 8:28 am

    Anybody have any good plans for labor day weekend. I am thinking about taking my wife somewhere. Any suggestions? As long as it is within the general region of TN, MO, AR, OH, MS, IL, KY or AL area.

    j razz

  2. Peter R. says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 8:55 am

    Chicago.

  3. Joel Maners says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 8:55 am

    The TEFFL Draft is this weekend guys. I’ll see you on Sunday night!

  4. Neuman says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 9:04 am

    Benton, IL is the greatest place ever

  5. Tony Foeller says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 9:32 am

    J Razz-

    The Southern Illinois Miners will be in town for a game on Friday night of Labor Day weekend. Have you been to Rent One Park yet? Lots of fun. There are a couple of shopping malls within 30 minutes of Rent One Park and lots of hotels.

    My two cents.

  6. j razz says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 9:37 am

    Any suggestions on places- specific places to see such as attractions? The thing about Chicago is that everytime I fly to film weddings or events I almost always use American and I almost always have to fly through Chicago. So far, there has never been a time when the flight has not been delayed or cancelled when going through Chicago. I like the city though, just not using it to fly through. By the way Peter, there is a church downtown that has some magnificant wood carving done to it. I believe it has a big wooden door and the inside has the most tastefully carved wood I have ever seen. I believe it to be a Catholic church. Would you happen to know the name of it? I was downtown one day when my flight was cancelled and thought I would look around.

    Thanks guys.

    j razz

  7. The Zoner says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 10:02 am

    I think you might be talking about Holy Name Cathedral.

    Plenty to do here in lovely Chicago!

  8. misawa says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 10:30 am

    DragonCon is in Atlanta that weekend… (crickets)

  9. Gordon Cloud says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 10:42 am

    Come down here to Cairo, GA. You can see in the shade, fan the gnats and watch the grass grow.

  10. Gordon Cloud says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 10:42 am

    errr… that should be “sit” in the shade.

  11. Neuman says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 11:14 am

    Chicago is Latin for repression. 28 Counties now in Illinois have passed pro 2nd amendment resolutions saying that the counties will not recognize any further gun control passed by the state of Illinois! LEAVE US ALONE CHICAGO!!!!

  12. Nephos says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 11:34 am

    What happened, Gordon? One of those gnats fly in your mouth while you were typing?

  13. misawa says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 11:58 am

    Ah, yes… brotherly love. :D

  14. Cineaste says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

    I just wanted to share this with you guys. This is a picture of my little brother when he was in Iraq a few years ago. The picture is from a story written in the L.A. Times about he and his unit. There are definitly atheists in foxholes.

    http://moviemasterworks.com/blog1/wp-content/PostImages/latimesphotoblog.jpg

    Caption: PHOTO: ON PATROL: American soldiers set out nightly to look for guns, arrest criminals and try to help restore law and order in the Baghdad ghetto of Sadr City, formerly known as Saddam City. They encounter mocking and cultural misunderstandings during their rounds.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Carolyn Cole Los Angeles Times; PHOTO: SEARCH: Sgt. Brian ******, 29, detains a man found with several AK- 47 magazine clips in his car in Baghdad. Soldiers are trying to root out criminals as well as those attacking U.S. troops.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Carolyn Cole Los Angeles Times

    Up they go, two flights, three flights, past a man reeking of alcohol, up onto the roof.

    “That lady has a gun!” one soldier hollers, pointing across an alley to an old woman dressed in black on a nearby roof.

    Back down the stairs, running up the alley, the crowd following, screaming, chanting. The soldiers run through a metal gate, past a man lying on the bare cement, his leg wrapped in bandages from a gunshot wound, past a startled young woman breast-feeding her child, and up onto the other roof.

    The machine gun is hidden under a blanket. The soldiers take it and run back downstairs, where the shaken old woman offers them water from a bent metal bowl. They decline. “Ask her why she has this,” one soldier says to the translator.

    “It’s for us,” she replies, implying it’s for her family’s safety. But the U.S.-led occupation authority that rules Iraq has banned possession of machine guns, so the Americans take the weapon.

    “Tell her she can have a handgun or an AK, not a machine gun,” the soldier says as he walks away.

    The soldiers can’t stop, not for a minute. They can’t allow themselves to appear vulnerable — though they are clearly outnumbered and possibly outgunned. If the crowd were to turn on them, it would get ugly. They are huffing back across the soccer field. All this running and climbing, with weapons and bulletproof vests and helmets.

    The crowd following behind has swelled to easily 100 young men and children. Now they’re throwing rocks. Small white pebbles, then large stones. The rocks are dinging the four soldiers, bouncing off their helmets and chest plates.

    The children chant, “Ali Baba!” — a nickname for thieves. Flames shoot off a rooftop where someone is burning trash.

    “Is that a rock?” Gordon shouts when a stone hits another soldier’s leg.

    He spins on his heel and grabs the first person behind him: a boy, child, maybe 12 years old. The kid looks terrified, but the move has its desired effect. The young men in the crowd stop throwing rocks, and Gordon lets the boy go.

    Instantly, the rock-throwing resumes.

    The soldiers climb back into their Humvees. The crowd is thick, and Yonemori is screaming at someone to get out of his Humvee.

    “If you come in my car, I’ll shoot you!” he yells. The Iraqis back off but seem to enjoy having incited him.

    I just want to remind everyone, whatever your political and religious views may be, that we need to keep supporting our troops. Not necessarily the war.

  15. misawa says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 12:50 pm

    Cineaste, is he back home or still over there?

  16. David B says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    Cineaste, how does this story releate to “There are definitly atheists in foxholes”????? Just because your brother has an article written on him? C’mon, you can do better than that.

  17. Cineaste says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    He is home now. He was in Iraq near the beginning of the war and served there for about a year. He now works for the Chicago Police Dept.

  18. David B says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

    So, he is your example of an athiest in a foxhole?

  19. Cineaste says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

    David, he’s an atheist. He’s been “dug in” many times.

  20. Cineaste says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 12:58 pm

    “C’mon, you can do better than that.”

    I don’t understand. What do you mean?

  21. Neuman says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 2:53 pm

    Cineaste, Tell it to Fox, CNN, and all the other news channels that fail to cover the war and whats going on. Makes me sick to read about VICK and Brittney, and lohan and paris, bla bla bla, we’re killing our own unborn children, our own troops and countless Iraqi Innocents. We all mouth the terrorist leader saying they are cowards and that Sadam was a coward for hiding in that “spider hole” except that our leaders aren’t any better. Where did our fearless leaders go during 9/11? I also might point out that we are not fighting terrorists in Iraq

  22. j razz says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 6:55 pm

    Holy Name Cathedral–> Nope, I googled it and that wasn’t it. It was just stained wood and if I recall right, they had a hanging crucifix with Jesus on it up near the ceiling after you walk through one of the main doors in the side of the back of the sanctuary area.

    Thanks for the ideas. I think I will pass on the eating gnats. I am looking into going to Virgin Falls east of Nashville to do some hiking and take some pictures. Who knows though, we may end up in Columbus, OH or ______.

    Thanks again,

    j razz

  23. The Zoner says:
    August 25th, 2007 at 10:52 am

    Hey Tim–

    Where is your RSS feed?

  24. Tim says:
    August 25th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    It’s http://www.timellsworth.com/?feed=rss2.

    What reader are you using? Most readers you don’t need to know the feed, just the site URL.

  25. Neuman says:
    August 29th, 2007 at 4:17 pm

    I just found out we are going to be having a baby girl January 22! Any good biblical name suggestions anyone?

  26. j razz says:
    August 29th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

    Jezebel is a good biblical name :)

    j razz

  27. j razz says:
    August 29th, 2007 at 4:19 pm

    Congratulations Neuman!

    j razz

  28. Tim says:
    August 29th, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    Congrats, Tyler. That’s great news.

    Let’s see. A good biblical name for a girl. How about Gomer?

  29. Tony Foeller says:
    August 29th, 2007 at 5:06 pm

    Hagar

  30. Neuman says:
    August 30th, 2007 at 1:21 pm

    Thanks guys! I’ll run those names past my wife and see what she thinks!

  31. Marty says:
    August 30th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    Tyler, there are also some unnamed women in the Bible whose “names” you might want to consider such as: “the Shunammite widow” of 2 Kings 4, the woman with the flow of blood found in Mark 5, and my favorite the “certain woman” of Judges 9:53.

  32. The Zoner says:
    August 30th, 2007 at 4:19 pm

    Congrats Tyler!

    Here ya go–dig in!! http://www.biblical-baby-names.com/