Discovery On Launch Pad 39B

The launch for tonight has been scrubbed and looks like Discovery will not fly before the 15th now. The photograph is from NASA photographer Bill Ingalls:

Congrats To The Camden High Basketball Team! ::

Reprinted from this morning's The State:

Josh Council and Evrik Gary had one of those games.

When one wasn’t hitting, the other was, which was good for their Camden High basketball team and bad for their opponent.

Council scored 34 points and Gary 23 as Camden overcame a slow start to beat Greer 77-62 in the boys Class 3A championship Saturday at the Colonial Life Arena. It was Camden’s first state title since 1958.

“It’s incredible; I can’t believe it,” Gary said. “All during the playoffs, we started slowly, but we knew.”

Council’s point total was 11 shy of the state-record 45, held by former Latta standout Raymond Felton.

“I had a mismatch on me and my coach told me whenever I had that, then go get it,” Council said. “That is exactly what I did. I had to get it. We had to get it.”

And he gave it to Greer, especially in the second quarter, when he scored 20 of his 25 first-half points to give the Bulldogs (23-2) a 44-32 lead at halftime.

Greer (20-9) led for much of the first half — until Council heated up.

Gary’s 3-pointer with 2:25 remaining in the opening quarter sparked a 15-4 Camden run that ended with Council’s layup. The result was a 25-22 lead for the Bulldogs. The lead was Camden’s first of the game.

Greer’s Chandler Hash and Chris Dean, who came into the game averaging a combined 45 points per game, were held to seven in the first half. Hash finished with 14 points and Dean had seven. Joseph Neely led the Yellow Jackets, who were seeking their first state title since 2005.

“We came out with the right momentum, and then we just couldn’t keep up with them on the boards,” Greer coach Jeff Neely said.

Coincidentally, Camden’s last state championship win was against Greer.

“Fifty-one years is a long time,” Camden coach Ron McKie said. “The whole community came out and that has been tremendous. It’s an unbelievable group of kids. It’s just been a thrill ride.”

Camden extended its lead to as much as 19 points in the second half before the Yellow Jackets mounted one last threat. Hash’s three-point play and Michael McIver’s 3-pointer cut Camden’s lead to nine, 58-49, with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter. McIver finished with 12 points.

That was as close as Greer drew. Camden led 62-51 going into the fourth, and Greer had no answer.

“This is just an incredible feeling,” Council said, looking around the arena for words. “I don’t know what to say.”

The scoreboard said it all.

Reach Davis at (803) 771-8442

G: Joseph Neely 15, Chandler Hash 14, Mike Rox 12, Dean 7, McCullough 2, Michael McIver 12. C: Evrik Gary 23, Perkins 2, Jay Council 10, Wingate 6, Lee 2, Josh Council 34.

Friday Catblogging ::

I had planned to pull out for Camden Monday, but with the shuttle Discovery scheduled to launch Tuesday I can't get away so I should be able to make the trip in a couple of weeks.

Class of 65 Facebook Group ::

I have had a Facebook account for 2 or 3 years, but I never did anything with it until prodded to do by Helen Sheorn and my good friend in Colorado, Margarita. I have come to enjoy the ease with which one can share short messages, photos and videos and, like all things, this has been another learning experience so I decided to put up a Class of 65 Facebook group where anyone who wishes to can interact. Pass the word around and hopefully we will have some participation!

Here is the link to the group, or anyone can search "Classof65" within facebook.

What we really need is a photograph for the group page so I'd like for someone to take a photograph of the old school and post it to Facebook.

Been Missing In Action! ::

I've been fighting computer problems for the past week and I finally admitted defeat and turned the computer over to my friend Don who does computer maintenance full time. This is the first time I have not been able to solve a problem on my own. I thought I had a hard drive problem, but I'm beginning to think that the trouble is in the motherboard itself. It's time to build a new computer anyway and I think I'll just turn the old one into a file server for photo storage. Yeah, that's the ticket!

I'm relegated to using the incredibly old and slow laptop this weekend, but the weather is supposed to be nice so I'm hoping to spend a lot of time outside enjoying the weather plus I've begun to build a cigar box guitar. That should prove to be interesting.

Here's wishing a wonderful weekend for everyone and those of you who do not have facebook accounts should make it a point to sign up for one. It's a great way to keep in touch!

More News From Johnny Deal ::

Camden High Alumni / Stakeholders:

There is a lot going on at Camden High. Please take a moment to see what interests you:

The Camden High Academic Booster Club (ABC) will hold their annual golf tournament on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at White Pines Golf Club. See attached flyer for contact and sponsor information.

Also, reminder that tickets are on sale for the Patrick Davis concert at the new performing arts center at Camden High on Saturday, February 28th at 7:00 pm. This event is being held to raise funds for the Roger J. Davis Scholarship program and for the CHS alumni association's operating expenses and activities. As many of you know, Patrick is a CHS graduate.

Ticket sales to the public begin today, February 6th. General admission tickets are $15.00 in advance and $20.00 at the door. VIP tickets are $25.00 and include a meet and greet time with refreshments before the concert at Carolina Cafe - 1011 Broad St. Start time for the meet and greet is 5 PM.

Tickets may be purchased at Camden High or at Davis and Sons Guitar Shop on Broad Street. Call (803) 425-8937 for more information about purchasing tickets.

There are many other activities coming up on behalf of Camden High. Take a moment to stop by their website to see the other event that may interest you:

http://chs.kcsdschools.com/home.aspx

Have a nice weekend.

Johnny Deal
Class of '79

If anyone needs more information Johnny's e-mail address is:
jdeal151@aol.com

Sunday Morning Catblogging ::

CHS Alumni News ::

From Johnny Deal:

Members of the Camden High School Alumni Association:

Construction is nearing the end at Camden High. The new wellness center and performing arts auditorium are complete and will have their ribbons cutting/grand opening on Monday at 5:30 PM.

This email is announcing a fundraiser we have organized to "show off" CHS's new performing arts auditorium. Camden musician, Patrick Davis, and some of his friends will be in town, Friday, February 28, for a concert to benefit the alumni association and the "Roger Rules" scholarship fund.

If you don't know Patrick, he is a CHS grad. His Dad, Rusty, owns the guitar shop at Rutledge and Broad St., his mom, Jean, is a school teacher here and his brother, His brother, Roger, was killed in an automobile accident last summer. The family has set up a "Roger Rules" scholarship fund that will be awarded each year to a CHS student. The first award will be made the night of this concert.

Alumni Association members will get first choice of tickets and preferred seating. Please check out the attached flyer for all the details.

Thanks a lot for your support of Camden High School.

Johnny Deal, Chair
Camden High Alumni Association
Class of 1979

If you need more information Johnny can be reached at:

JDEAL151@aol.com

Here are the contents of the flyer-sounds line a good show:

The Camden High School Alumni Association

&

The Roger J. Davis Memorial Foundation

Proudly Present

“NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS NIGHT”

February 28th, 2009 - 7:00PM

Camden High School Performing Arts Auditorium


Saturday, February 28th, 2009 a very special “one night only” concert event featuring 4 of Nashville, TN’s top country songwriters is coming to Camden High School’s just completed Performing Arts Auditorium. Making the trip down to Camden from Nashville, TN for this “Blue Bird Café Style” in-the-round show are Grammy Winning Songwriter Hillary Lindsey, Guitar Virtuoso Jedd Hughes, 2008 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Dave Berg and Camden’s very own native son Patrick Davis. Together these 4 singer-songwriters are responsible for radio hits like Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel”, Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy”, Rodney Atkins “These Are My People” & Jason Michael Carroll’s “Where I’m From”, which was of course written about Camden.


All proceeds from this once in a lifetime event will go directly to the enrollment/administration works of The CHS Alumni Association and the charitable works of The Roger J. Davis Memorial Foundation, which will announce the recipients of the very 1st RJD Memorial Scholarships during “Nashville Songwriters Night”.


CHS ALUMNI MEMBER TICKET SPECIAL On Sale Monday, January, 26th (Tickets on sale to the Public begin on Friday, February 6th) $15 General Admission Tickets $25 VIP SEATING & Pre Show Meet & Greet Tickets (VIP Ticket includes Premium Seating and Pre Show Celebration w/ all 4 Songwriters)

Available Starting Jan. 26th @ Camden High School & Davis & Sons Guitar Shop

Alumni may also mail their tickets orders to Camden High School Attn: Laura Horton 1022 Ehrenclou Drive Camden, SC 29020

Make checks payable to the Camden High School Alumni Association


“Celebrate Life but Please Remember The Roger Rules:


Don’t Speed, Always Wear Your Seatbelt and Never, Ever Drink and Drive.”

Friday Catblogging ::

It's cold over here in Alabama tonight! I think we're looking at about 10° as the projected low, but the forecast is for us to go up into the mid 40s tomorrow so that will be a break. I dread seeing my utility bill next month, but utilities are fairly low here. My last bill for December was $185-relatively speaking not too bad.

Missy finds great joy in jumping up on the rail in the garage and waiting for me to scratch her. She's getting to be a pretty fat cat and I may have to put her on a diet!



Everyone try to stay comfortable!

Still Here! ::

I'm still here! It's been a pretty hectic new year so far both at work and at home with new projects. Weekends have been given over to redesigning one of my web sites and I'll be posting the link soon.

I'm hoping to get over to Camden in the next few weeks. I'm running out of Camden photographs to post, but here is one from a previous trip:



Whenever I'm in Camden I try to make it a point to at least drive through Quaker Cemetery and I usually find myself taking at least one photograph. I have always found cemeteries to be wonderful places for photography and when I lived in Atlanta I spent many hours in Oakland Cemetery with the 8x10 view camera!

Clemson ::

once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory! At least the basketball team is playing well!

There are a lot of Clemson grads here in Huntsville and we all bemoan the football team.

Still Having Server Problems ::

The server that hosts the photographs is still experiencing difficulties. This was supposed to have been cleared up, but the techs are still working on fixing the problem. Must be worse than they initially thought!