Jason's Untimely Thoughts

… from the Beckings. Jack, Adelaide, Sarah, and Jason have each had a fun-filled year, details of which we’ll now bore you with.

The little lad Jack Thayer recently weighed in at 34 pounds, which happened to equate to a pound per inch tall. He had his first birthday party in June and was seemingly unimpressed. He’s getting around anywhere he wants to go at this point, enjoys throwing pens and remote controls at Jason’s nose, and finds particular amusement in throwing the vast collection of balls we keep in Kitchen #1 down the basement stairs. “Uh oh”, “oh no”, “down”, and “bye” are each likely responses when a ball disappears. He’s not really much of a talker yet, but that’s mostly due to lack of opportunity.

Which leads us directly to older sis Adelaide. AEB turned 4 years old in September. She loves movies and pretending and dancing and telling stores, some of which are based upon facts. She’s become a busy chick, with dance recitals, soccer camp, dance camp, swimming camp, dancing in Living Windows in downtown Columbia, etc., sprinkled throughout the year. Her schedule has hit a reprieve, though, as she’s decided against going to any more Tiger men’s basketball games. She doesn’t get to go to the locker room with the Golden Girls at those, which is honestly enough reason for almost anyone to quit going to the men’s basketball games.

Sarah has seen her schedule pick up quite a bit, as is always the case in the fall. MU pictures, family photos, kids photos, and other randomness keep her as busy as she wants to be in the photography realm. She’s fortunate to have a compadre here in town that shares resources with her, benefiting both of them we think. Her photography and search for health information (with help from grandparents) have allowed us to see great friends in Tyler & Waco, Texas, New Orleans, DC, Columbus, Portland, and more. We’re also blessed to see so many friends and family come through Columbia, particularly around football season. (And she’s feeling well, thank you.)

Jason is still working at Miller’s Professional Imaging, which he enjoys very much. He enjoys it even more when everyone he knows uses Mpix.com instead of Shutterfly, Walgreens, and the like. We have a 34 pound baby to feed, you know. Beyond work, Jason still enjoys all things sports, particularly Mizzou, and chasing the kids around. Although chasing the kids around sort of applies to work as well. Sadly, he lost his gall bladder this year, an event from which he’s still recovering his humor (old joke, but everything gets funnier with repetition).

In all seriousness, we know life is busy and crazy for everyone and we appreciate everyone’s efforts on our behalves this year. We’ve been smacked in the head with reminders of how many great friends and family we have who are willing and available to look out for us however they can.

May your days be filled with family and friends and fun and funniness and may your favorite teams be victorious. Except for fans of the mythical shoe-wearing birds, you’ll just have to get by with family and friends and fun and funniness.

Tonight at 8 p.m., MU takes on Illinois in the annual “Busch Braggin’ Rights” game in St. Louis.

Between all sports, MU, Columbia College, random high school junk, I probably attend 100 sporting events a year. A big win, or a surprising upset, or something spectacular can pop up, but for predictable fantasticness, you can mark your calendar for this game every year.

The two teams are historically relatively good, relatively even, and relatively close together geographically. There’s normally a player or two on either team who played against the other guys in high school, or wanted to go to the other school but wasn’t recruited by them, or something. Add in the end of the semester, the ‘start’ of Christmas vacation for a lot of people, and you get the perfect combination of rivalry and revelry.

The crowd is almost always evenly split between MU and ILL fans, meaning half the joint is always happy and the other half is always feeling cheated. Both halves are nervous, based on the crazy history of comebacks and letdowns in this game.

All in all, good times. Starts tonight at 8 on ESPN. I’ll be sitting mid-court, about 10 rows up. I rock, but not as much as this game.

On a side note, screw ku.

Freaking people and their Christmas card pictures.

Sarah takes lots and lots of friends and family’s pictures for their Christmas cards. She pretty much only does it for friends and family, because otherwise, it’s too much of a pain in the painful area. Even for friends and family, barely worth it.

Almost once a day this time of the year, someone says “I can’t spend that much money on Christmas cards. Can I just take it XYZ, because their 4×6 prints are only 1 cent?” Inevitably, later then a follow-up call of some sorts because the prints from XYZ look like crap and “what should I do now”. There’s a reason they’re only charging 1 cent, or whatever the hell. The reason is they don’t care anything about making photographs, are hoping that 1 cent prints will get you in the door to buy some of the other junk they sell, and their prints are almost certainly going to look like crap.

If it’s worth your time to ask Sarah to take your pictures, meaning she breaks out about $3,000 worth of camera equipment, finds someone to watch Jack & Adelaide, goes to your house, or even worse, the studio space she’s borrowing from a friend thereby keeping him from making money, spends 2 hours of her time dealing with the pictures, then maybe another hour or so designing your family’s Christmas Card, then have the stomach for the price of a decent print.

If she’s kind enough to give you the file, take it someplace where those 100 prints are going to cost you $20-30 instead of $10-15, preferably www.mpix.com, but a GOOD local lab would also satisfy us. We recommend 50 Minute Photo to anyone that asks. If she doesn’t give you the file, remember she’s trying to pay for the $3,000 of camera equipment, the baby-sitter, and the studio space, and then figure out if you think she’s making any money on you.

If you absolutely don’t care what the prints look like, break out your point & shoot camera and spend 1 cent each on the prints at whatever convenience store is closest to you, and save Sarah the effort and time of trying to make you look good.

And by all means, if you’re someone we happen to do business with, consider if maybe we think you’re overpriced too, but continue to use your overpriced service because we see the value in supporting local businesses and friends. Especially before you tell us how expensive those freaking prints are.

Not directed at any one person, as it’s just unbelievably too common to simply apply to only one person.

On a side note, screw ku.

Nothing really to say, except that there’s really nothing to say.

Adelaide and a friend performed in “Living Windows” in downtown Columbia on Friday night. She then had her dance recital on Saturday night. Did wonderfully in both, pictures up on the site relatively soon.

Attic is being finished at our house. Turns out you make much quicker progress if you just pay someone to do it for you. Downside of that is having to actually pay them. HVAC, electrical, and drywall are done. Just waiting on windows and paint at this point.

Sarah has been busy taking pictures for lots of folks. Lots of folks. Jason’s work is incredibly busy so little time for pointless random humor.

Happy Holidays to you and yours, even if they’re beakers.