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Unfortuately this battle is not on the paintball field, but for the paintball field. The county has made their next move in their effort to make us stop playing on the field. They sent a letter to the church informing us that the field is in violation of codes. They say that it is a codes violation to store construction materials on a vacant lot. I’m sure that is true, that there is probably a code like that, but I don’t understand how that applies to what we have on the field. They also named the items in question as being pallets, tires, debris, etc. I personally have never heard of anyone building a structure out of pallets, tires, and debris, etc. They say that the church has to clean the materials off of the land or the county will do it for us and fine us the cost of removing it.

So now we sit, with a county issued order to remove the HQ’s and the strategic points we have worked so hard to build. We’ve spent countless hours working on planning each of those points, building them, painting them, refining them, and assaulting them. Now, because of one guy with a chip in his shoulder, we stand to lose all of that for no better reason than, he doesnt’ like it.

I hope the lawyer that the church hired is a good one. There is nothing I would like to see more than the county sat bluntly on its rear and told to shut up and leave us alone by a very assertive lawyer. That would bring me great joy to go visit a county commisioners office and gloat over it right under his stuck up nose. That would be great.

Paintball

The taekwondo testing went great tonight. All of the kids did an awsome job. I just can’t get over how many new white belts there are. There were at least twelve kids testing for their yellow belts tonight. It was amazing. They all worked really hard and showed that they really knew there stuff.

Two kids tested and received their 1st Degree Black Belts tonight. They were Mia, and V.J. They both have been in the school for at least four years. I think V.J. has been going there for close to six years now. They have grown so much and changed since I first saw them. They have earned there belts and they deserve to be recognized for their acheivments in Taekwondo.

Taekwondo

I finally got aroung to posting about the tripod. I bought it from NewEgg.com for about $25 including tax and shipping. A friend got one just like it, except the name on the sticker, from Sears for about $60. I’m happy with what I got.

I am going to the Taekwondo School tonight because they are testing. I have been asked to be there, and he also requested that I bring the camera. Of course this just breaks my heart to be asked to take pictures of an event with my new camera, and I guess I might need the tripod, so I may get to use it tonight. I might not because it is a fast paced sport. There may not be much need for shots from one fixed location. I’ll have it with me just in case.

Tonight is the kids testing, the adults are tomarrow. I will have more to share at that time.

Photography, Taekwondo

I got the Akismet filter installed on the site now. I had to go to Wordpress.com, sign up for an account with them, and then take the api they emailed me to activate the filter. I’m not sure why I had to do that, but it’ll work. I’ll watch over the next few days and see how well that blocks the spam. They seem to think it is near fool proof. I say, you make it fool proof, I’ll show you a better fool.

All of my friends who are useing Wordpress should consider getting this plugin activated. It comes installed in Wordpress by default. You just have to go to Wordpress.com and sign up for an account to get the api key. It is emailed to you in the email with your password. Once activated, all comments that look like spam to Akismet are placed in moderation to be approved or confirmed as spam. They are deleted after 15 days.

Website

I have noticed over the past couple of days that my site has been targeted by some spammers. I’ve been lucky that so far they are just posting some short little comment about liking the site, but their websites that they post are always some medication advertisment site. I’ve been editing the links out and leaving the comments.

If you see these comments, please do not click on their names. I don’t want to give them reason to continue. If they never get any traffic from it, they may eventually stop. I know it’s wishfull thinking, but right now it’s the best I’ve got. I’ll be adding a comment spam blocking plugin soon, but I just have not had the time yet.

I hate spam.

Website

I came home to get a package of fried chicken that I had in the fridge for lunch, and my tripod that I had ordered was sitting there waiting for me on the front porch. It was shipped out yesterday, wow NewEgg rocks.

I’ll post more about it once I get to use it and get some pictures of it as well as pictures taken with it.

Photography

I added four new albums to the gallery today. They are all sub albums under Photography. They are the Landscapes, Sunrise and Sunset, Stones River National Battlefield, and Cannonsburg albums. I really liked how the sunset picture turned out. It wasn’t nearly that dark when I took that shot, but it ended up being really cool.

Landscapes	Sunrise and Sunset
Stones River National Battlefield	Cannonsburg

Photography

Well, the dentist went a little smoother than last time. I was able to drive myself home, I can remember most of the office visit, and it cost just 7.352941% what the last dentist did. So I would have to say that this visit was much more pleasent than last time, and the recovery time is much shorter. Considering that I am already over it, and the finacial strain is far less, I can live with it.

Now the bad news. I have about 16 cavaties that need to be filled. Over the next few months, I’ll be putting money towards doing that as quickly as I can. I will make sure I have my $1000 baby emergency fund, then I’ll call them every time I have an extra $300 to $400 to get some of it done. Hopefully, with some prayer and pleading, I’ll be able to get it all done this year, and hopefully without hearing that I need the dreaded root canal. I won’t hardly know how to deal with myself if I have no teeth problems to worry about. That’ll be a new experience for me.

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