Tag Archives: alabama

Alabama vs Utah on Tap Today // Friday Feet

January 2, 2009 – 6:36 pm

This has been a busy week and a busy Friday.  We started off the day with some tree trimming work on the farm.  Always good exercise and never a lack of work to be done.  The temperature has been going crazy lately.  Yesterday it was freezing and today it was about 60* so I managed to get in about a 10 mile bike ride before the bowl games started.

The bowl game of the day of course is Alabama vs Utah in the 2009 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.  It has been a very long time since Auburn has not made it to a bowl game, so this year I am just going to have to go for Alabama.  Hopefully next year we will be back in a bowl game somewhere warm.

Friday Feet today was a triple shot of trees, bike, and football (although the football game was Kentucky vs Easy Carolina, which was also a very good game).  As I write this the Alabama game is now and Utah has taken a touchdown lead, it should be a great game.  This year it seems like it has been a very long holiday and I am looking forward to getting back to a normal work week and to next weekend when Deb and I will take a short break down in Orange Beach.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Tree Clearing

Bike Ride

Kentucky vs East Caroline

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Journal | Also tagged bama, bcs, bowl, football, friday feet | Comments (0)

Gene Chizik of Auburn is Volcanic on Google Search Trends

December 14, 2008 – 3:05 pm

So this is basically old news now, Gene Chizik is now the new Auburn Tigers head coach we have all been waiting on now for about 2 weeks.  I almost felt obligated to post something about the new head coach living here in Auburn, after all, how often do we welcome a new head coach for the football program (that was a rhetorical question only).  It didn’t even take a rumor from ESPN to start the endless grumblings and he even had people how up at the airport for his arrival, and not in the same way Nick Saban was greeted by Alabama fans (though he really does seem popular with the players and coaches).   I was totally willing to give the guy a chance and let him actually land in Auburn before nailing him to a cross.  He was the defensive coordinator for Auburn (and a popular one), was part of the undefeated team, won a national championship at Texas, then… Iowa.

How hot was and is this topic.  Well according to Google, “volcanic“, and this was on a night that was competing with the Heisman Trophy of all things.  Several times within the 12 hours before and after he hit the #1 search term on google (and I am not sure how much higher you can go on google as far as hot topics than volcano), and after a full 24 hours of the news he is still sitting at #7.  To bad google hot topic trends doesn’t count in the BCS rankings.  Of course, that really tells me that a whole bunch of people had never heard of Chizik and had no idea who Auburn had just named to be the next head coach.

[caption id="attachment_1249" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Gene Chizik on Google Trends"]Gene Chizik on Google Trends[/caption]

I really hope he doesn’t read a lot of blogs and online media.  I started looking around at the usual suspects and the overall negative tone was deafening.  Really my only question is if Chizik is the person to lead Auburn football back to a National Championship (it has been over 50 years of course).  Auburn football should be up in the top tier of NCAA football teams right up there with Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Penn State, and of course Alabama.   So why did we not go get the biggest name that money could buy?

Maybe money really doesn’t buy happiness, or 12 wins and a National Championship (just ask Alabama, they came real close).  Auburn had to pay about $750,000 to buy Chizik out of Iowa State, and apparently Iowa State is basically thanking Auburn for taking him off their hands.  Now really, I know he didn’t win a game in the big 12 but what kind of recruits can you get in Iowa State when you have to compete with Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, and the big Nebraska?  Still, he has landed in Auburn and he will be the next head coach.  If Auburn wins football games next year everyone will sing Jay Jacobs praises, but the Auburn fan base expects wins, and not just five.

[caption id="attachment_1252" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Auburn Football Fan Base"]Auburn Football Fan Base[/caption]

I am willing to trust the higher ups at Auburn and give Chizik the chance Auburn is willing to take.  He appreantly visited our church when he was living here as the defensive coordinator, so maybe he will come join us for worship again.  I know he will be welcomed the same as anyone else on Sunday mornings.  We can all have an opinion but no one at Auburn wants to win football games more than the kids, the coaches, and the University itself.  I have to think that somehow, they think this will be the way to do it come the fall of 2009.  Hopefully he and his family can withstand the pressure until that first kickoff game in 2009, it is a long way off.

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Journal | Also tagged auburn, college, football, ncaa | Comments (1)

Another Beautiful and Very Colorful Fall Day in Alabama

November 9, 2008 – 9:13 pm

What a difference just a few days makes in the fall. This is what our tree (and swing) looked like this afternoon.  Compare that to this Fall Has Finally Arrived in Alabama, and My Swing Loves It, taken just a few days ago. It was a totally different time of day of course, but the colors have changed dramatically, and many of the leaves have started to fall off the trees.  I don’t remember this tree turning colors like this last year but as the years click off each fall probably looks more colorful to me.  How were your fall colors this year?

Fall Tree Swing in Alabama

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Photography | Also tagged fall, swing, tree | Comments (2)

Fall Has Finally Arrived in Alabama, and My Swing Loves It

November 5, 2008 – 9:05 am

The temperature yesterday did get close to the forcasted 78*F but the leaves on the trees are starting to turn colors.  Our place is covered in a small forest of pine trees and just a few hard wood trees which are mostely these Sweetgum Tree which most people around this part of the country consider to be a weed-like nuscence.  Mine however holds our tree swing which provides a great place to relax and sit in the peacefulness of the day.

Sweetgum Tree in the Alabama Fall

Sweetgum Tree in the Alabama Fall

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Journal | Also tagged fall, swing, tree | Comments (6)

Alabama Rural Ministries Make a Difference Day // Photos

October 29, 2008 – 11:54 am

Make a Difference Day was this past Saturday which was a mission work day on several houses in the rural Alabama area.  A group of volunteers from our church sponsored work on one of the houses and everyone was blessed to be around and help a family in Hurtsboro.   According to Alabama Rural Ministries:

In all, you worked on five homes and one group helped with renovations at a site where we house work teams. You were spread out from Hurstsboro into Loachopoka. We had 55 people working for a total of 275 work hours. Pretty incredible.

Pretty incredible indeed.  For most of us, we did what we do best.  I tried to document the day through images, Josh opened his ears and intently listened to the Randolph’s life (while his son entertained), and Andi and a bunch of volunteers labored.  To read more details about the day, please jump over to Andi’s blog see see her post, Make a Difference Day. I tried to just pick one image that would tell the story but could only narrow it down to three images (see my previous rant called How to Tell a Story with a Series of Photos or Make Conclusions with a Snapshot.  Which one is your favorite?  Which one tells the story the best?

To see the entire shoot, go to the Make a Difference Day gallery.

Make a Difference Day with ARM

Make a Difference Day with ARM

Make a Difference Day with ARM

Make a Difference Day with ARM

After we left on Saturday questions started flooding my mind, especially with the title for the day.  Did we “make a difference”?, but it was more than that.  What did the Randolph’s who owned this house think about this bunch of white people (I say that as a matter of fact, yes, we are white) that invaded their home, dirtied up their house, showed up with tools from Home Depot that cost more than their car and watched a guy holding a camera the size of a bazooka snapping shots all over the place (I couldn’t imagine someone coming into my house and just shooting at will).

Was Christ represented, did His light show through us, and did we, through our Lord, make a difference in the Randolph’s life?  Did we judge them for how they live because they appear to live a different life than most of us here in Auburn?

Part of the problem and the flaw in my thinking is how I looked at the house, and the family members it represented, and that was from an earthly perspective.  What we here in this country hold dear, the material items, what can we buy to make our lives better, will fade away some day, and we will be left with the same soul we came into this world with and nothing else.  The Randolph’s were gracious, kind, and happy to be living in a quiet peaceful area of Alabama, with almost none of the things us city folks expect as part of our standard of living, and I thank them for blessing me on Saturday by inviting me into their home.

Let me know which image you think represents the day the best.  Perhaps none of them, but I really think the first image needs a caption in the comments… “ever get the feeling you are surrounded”.

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Faith | Also tagged building, construction, hurtsboro, ministry, mission | Comments (3)

View of Our House from a Tree Swing // Friday Feet

October 17, 2008 – 12:44 pm

This is sort of a follow up to Do You Have a Quiet and Peaceful Place to Hide? which for some reason is one of my highest traffic posts and also A Foggy Summer Morning in Auburn Alabama (both different views of the swing).  This is yet another view from our tree swing, this time looking back at my house.  This is where I ate lunch yesterday.  Sometimes when I should be going to the dog house, I just go the tree swing.  It is my quiet and peaceful place to hide, where no cell towers or wifi reaches (at the moment), just wind, trees, and birds.

Tree Swing in the Field

Friday Feet

This also serves as the first post of what I am going to try to make in a series of posts called Feet on Friday.  A popular shot on blogs and Internet sites is that is your own feet standing somewhere.  We are all in different places every week, I thought it would be good to take the popular foot shot on Friday and post it, so this is the first one.

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Journal | Also tagged friday feet, home, swing, tree | Comments (1)

This is Alabama in the Fall Where Sunrises are Still Beautiful

October 4, 2008 – 5:17 am

I don’t know if I want to say this is a typical sunrise here in Alabama or not (I think they are all different every single day), but it is still beautiful. It reminds me of a calm coolish (certainly not cold yet) Saturday morning here in Alabama. Auburn plays Vanderbilt tonight, which means there is enough time to get some work done outside before the game starts.  This is by far, the beginning of my favorite time of year, for a whole host of reasons.  Fall in Alabama comes late in the season compared to the rest of the country (at least down here in lower Alabama it does).  The weather is just now, finally, starting to cool of in the late night and early morning hours where we can start to feel some 60’s and not have to die from the heat.

This photo was taken right outside my office window (my office is the upstairs part of my house that faces east), so this basically the view from my office.  Since I face almost due east, about 10 minutes later in this photo and I will be staring directly into the sun for a few hours, but the sunrise out my window is always beautiful, and different each morning.

Sunrise in Alabama

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Journal | Also tagged fall, home, sunrise | Comments (1)

Skype Video Baptism from Innovate08 in South Bend to Auburn

September 23, 2008 – 7:47 pm

Late last week I posted about one of the most incredible baptisms I have ever seen (see Creative Chaos 27 // Skype Video Baptism from Innovate08 in Indiana), a video conference baptism. Most of the staff of our church went to the Innvate08 Conference in South Bend Indiana, while a requested baptism had to take place on that Friday, when they were all gone.  In comes Skype Video.  With the staff in South Bend, and all of us down here in Auburn hooked up the required links and away everything went.

To see the full slideshow of photos from the baptism, click Cindy Wall Skype Baptism gallery.

Skype Video Baptism from South Bend to Auburn

Skype Video Baptism from South Bend to Auburn

What was really amazing to me about this baptism, and what made it so special, had nothing to do with the technology at all.  The personalized value of this baptism, the people it affected, and the time that our Pastor was able to devote to an individual single baptism made it one of the most special baptisms I have seen.  It was a celebration, as it should be, something that was not rushed through, and a baptism that was reflective upon the meaning of our dying to self.  Instead of having to deal with time constraints of a Sunday morning worship hour, everyone was able to slow down and take a little more time.  Rusty read the following scripture was read:

2 Corinthians 5:14-19 // 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

After the actual baptism took place, we hung up with the staff in Indiana (see other posts wow and the baptism) and we were all able to share a meal together.  Later I talked with Cindy and told her that I understood this baptism was special to her, but what she did by doing this, was allow so many other people to participate in a great blessing.  There were perhaps 25-30 other people that made this event special, and I know that everyone that participated was greatly blessed by the whole thing.

What else could anyone ask for in a baptism.  It certainly was special.  If you would like to see the video (from the South Bend, Indiana end) you can view it below.

By damascus | Posted in Faith | Also tagged auburn, baptism, indiana, south bend, video | Comments (3)

Alabama Rural Ministries at Work Building a New Deck

June 18, 2008 – 1:11 pm

Today I went to shoot some of the youth working with the Alabama Rural Ministries (ARM), where they were working to build a deck and wheelchair ramp for a house a little ways outside Auburn. I realized when I got there that I had the easy job, to shoot the action.

The rest of the group was digging holes in the ground for a foundation beams and putting up deck supports. The project will be completed by the Alabama Rural Ministries people, the Cornerstone youth were there today to help, and help they did in a big way.


Daughter and her kitten

Getting ready to use the hammer

Power saw for cutting wood

The first image is the daughter of the house who’s cat just had kittens and she was holding one of them in the shade while she watched the workers go about their business. I love the expression on her face. Both the mother and the daughter were the kindest people, they both even put up with me taking their photograph.

You can see the final edit of the shoot here. Photographically, this was one of the best groups of kids I have had a chance to shoot in a while. Everyone was so happy to be there and working and it showed in their faces.

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Journal, Photography | Also tagged building, ministries, rural | Comments (1)

Busy Streets of Downtown Birmingham at Night

April 24, 2008 – 9:11 am

I wanted to throw something a little different in there today for the image of the day, like an image of the night instead. One of my favorite times to shoot anything, photography related of course, is first light, last light, and at night. At night you can get some really unique perspectives you can’t get at high noon during the day.

This is a shot of a Birmingham Alabama downtown street at night. The exposure was around 10 seconds if I can remember correctly, but depending on the speed film you can take images with totally different results, in the same place, just by changing the speed film (or now the ISO rating on your digital camera).  This shot was of course taken before digital cameras where film became very grainy above ISO-100 and you had to use a tripod to take anything at night.  The difference between what is possible with today’s digital cameras and what was taken below is incredible, but in the time frame this image was taken, I really like the shot and I can remember going through all the setup to snap one or two images of the street life.

Downtown Birmingham Streets at Night

Image Specifics

  • Body - Nikon n90s
  • Lens - Nikon 24-120mm
  • Film - Kodak E-100
  • Shutter - about 10 seconds

What images have you been able to capture at night, how did they turn out?

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Photography | Also tagged birmingham, image of the day, night | Comments (0)