Most Wonderful Time of the Year... Or So I'm Told

I'm not sure how it has happened but one way or another three weeks has past by in the proverbial blink of an eye.

In the past few weeks a lot has happened both on the job and in my personal life. As many of you have now noticed, the holiday season is upon us which means many things to many people. To me, it means cold nights covering night time parades, Christmas light displays and the occasional sporting event.



One interesting side note (or at least interesting to me)... Earlier this month I went to the local library in search of newspaper front pages from the day of and day after the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor back in 1941. As you can imagine, there aren't many newspapers from the '40's just hanging around, however, the local media centers here in Nampa and Caldwell have a pretty extensive collection of old newspaper Microfilms.


Until a week ago I had never used a microfilm machine and when the time finally came, I have to say, I was pretty darn impressed. Something about flipping through newspaper headlines from famous dates in American history left me with an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. Kind of hard to believe that these machines were once believed to be a high-tech.

As previously mentioned, my personal life has had a recent development that I think is worth noting. For the past, oh say 18 years I have wanted a dog and for as long as I can remember my parents have always responded to these wishes with the phrase... "When you move out you can get your own". So after careful calculation and consideration (and nearly 6 years of living on my own) I adopted a dog.

His name is "Buddy". The name is pretty cliche and common but it has a little bit of meaning to me. Aside from the fact that this dog is in fact my buddy, he shares the name of my grandfather, Charles Litchfield's recently deceased Collie "Buddy". While riding the fence on whether or not to take this dog home with me I realized the similarity and thought it was just to serendipitous to pass on.


He absolutely lives to play fetch and is happy in his kennel as long as he has a selection of tennis balls to gnaw on. He minds very well and shows affection to anyone and everyone. To be honest, I couldn't have asked for a better dog.

So that's that. The holiday break is coming up and I am very excited to get some much needed time away from work. My hope is to spend some time with my family at my sister's home in Logan, Utah, which will hopefully mean a few days of skiing in "The Greatest Snow on Earth".

Hitting The Hardwood

Basketball season is back and as an Alumni and fan of the Iowa State Cyclones, I couldn't be happier. Happy not because the 'Clones offer promise in the coming Men's hoops season but rather because as basketball season starts, football season is thankfully now over. What a disappointing showing this year. 2-10 overall, 0-8 in the Big XII.

As a Cyclone sports fan you come well accustomed to the phrase "there's always next year" and unfortunately this year the football team left me with my head in my hands muttering just that.

Over the past few days I've had my fair share of collegiate basketball while covering the Boise State Broncos as well as The College of Idaho 'Yotes.




Although I enjoy every opportunity I get to cover these schools, they seem to fail by comparison to my 'Clones. Hard to beat a tall Clone Cone within the friendly confines of Hilton Coliseum.

Only In Idaho

There are many things I don't fully understand about this state, country or some of it's people.

On Thursday, Nov. 20 these feelings were validated when I was sent to Sand Hollow, Idaho, to photograph a gentleman who recently purchase three AR-15 assault rifles and one AK-47 simply because he maintained an imminent fear that the government will soon be taking away his right to bare automatic firearms.


Whether or not this fear is actually ever realized seems irrelevant to me. My point of contention is that the "need" to own, posses, or carry a weapon designed for the sole purpose of killing quickly and maliciously seems completely unnecessary. That's all.

I will now step down from my soap box.

Another Busy Weekend

This weekend I went up to Moscow, Idaho to cover the Boise State vs. Idaho game with sports reporter Dave Southorn and sports editor Phil Dailey.


Since the drive from Boise to Moscow takes around six hours I decided to make a video about the game on the way up and another on the way back.




We returned to Boise around 2:30 PM on Sunday and immediately there after I set off for Emmett, Idaho to cover a Muzzleloader shooting event for our community section.


It turned out to be quite an adventure because it took me almost an hour to find this hidden little shooting range and when I got there the people were pretty interesting. Check out the slideshow I made here.

Veterans Day

On Monday I had the opportunity to meet Bert Chandler and his wife Esther. Bert and Esther have been married for 66 years, and after visiting with them for about 45 minutes I was able to hear many amazing stories from the couple's past.


First of all, 66 years is a LONG time to be married. Second, anyone who has lived on this Earth for 86 has no doubt seen and experienced a great deal (especially someone who was around this country in the 20th century).


Unfortunately, I was not there to hear about the highlights from all 86 years, but rather just three of them. Bert served in the U.S. Army from 1941-1944, contributing to the Allied war effort in World War II. He was one of only 3 men from a battalion of nearly 200 who survived the The Battle at Omaha Beach and after being wounded in 1944 Bert was awarded The Purple Heart along with numerous other United States military decorations in recognition of his exemplary service to his country.


To have the opportunity to sit with a man and listen to him tell stories of his first hand experiences in monumental moments in history truly makes me thankful to be both a Photojournalist and an American. It's people like Bert who have given the ultimate sacrifice, allowing me to take for granted the freedoms and opportunities available to each of us in this country, and for that I am thankful. Celebrate Veterans Day and thank a Veteran.

What a Week

The past week has been wildly busy for me so to give you the true detailed rundown I'm going to pick up right where I left off last week.

As almost everyone knows, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008 was a truly historic day for America and as I recall my previous post left off the day before the election. Covering an election of any kind is something that I enjoy very much for many reasons. There is always a certain degree of uncertainty hanging in the air throughout the day and this day was no different.

I started my morning at about 7 AM in Idaho City documenting the election day activity for the Associate Press. The idea was to capture the essence of rural Idaho in only a couple pictures, which proved to be pretty darn difficult.

After returning to Boise, casting my own vote and taking a nap, I geared up for what would turn out to be a long night of newspapering.

I did a lot of running around on election night and got the opportunity to see both Republicans and Democrats celebrating victories and mourning defeat.


After taking Wednesday and Thursday off to recover from what was a frantic few days I returned to work to cover an interment service for abandoned veterans...


... and some high school football playoff action Friday night.


On Saturday the Boise State Broncos faced off against the Utah State Aggies in a highly unusual Saturday afternoon WAC match up. The light was great, however, the game was less than exciting. The Broncos crushed the Aggies, 49-14 to improve to 9-0 on the season.



I'll leave you with a little inspiration here...


This little flower was growing through a fence, which I'm sure would fit well in a one-liner inspirational poster... Perseverance (or something).

Thanks for stopping by!

Get The Vote Out

The next 36 hours are going to be insane for me, so no major update. Go vote!