Beginning Fencing Class, photo by Tim Oppenheim

Tonight was my first fencing class, and it was pretty awesome. I signed up a few weeks ago when I heard about it through a co-worker who’s son took the class. I really enjoy it so far - one of the first things the instructor said was, “fencers are lazy, you want to use the least amount of effort…”. My kind of sport! We covered a decent amount in the first hour long class and even got to practice on the assistant instructors. It’s actually kind of difficult to attack someone with a pointed object at first, since it goes against everything one’s mother has told them….

I’m the youngest person in class, save an 11-year-old boy who will probably end up showing us all up. LOL

For more information check out the Northeast Arkansas Fencing Academy site.

North East Arkansas Fencing Academy

About to Leave for Mammoth Spring

This past Saturday, June 20th I had my first trip kayaking. I’d call the trip a success - I didn’t flip over, fall out, get sore or get a sunburn. It was one of the hottest days of the year thus far with temperatures reaching about 100 degrees, but we still managed to have a pretty good time.

I went with my friend & co-worker Steven, his son Daniel and their dog, DJ. Steven and Daniel have been on a few kayaking trips and have even started a website for kayaking in Arkansas, aptly named, kayakingarkansas.com. It’s a really awesome blog sure to be full of kayaking info and pics in the coming weekends. Our trip to Mammoth is the current featured entry.

kayakingarkansas.com

We put in at Dam #1 at the Mammoth Spring Visitor Center and got out at Dam #3. I’d highly recommend getting out at Cold Spring instead, check out Steven’s post on Kayaking Arkansas for full details. We also went swimming in Hardy on the South Fork of Spring River. The water was much warmer and you could stand up in most spots. We also got to see some interesting sights…such as a dock  of drunks with a motor on it that barely reached the water. We also got a few “what kinda dawg is that?” ’s and we heard more than one, “I lost my beer!!!” coming from the waterfall.

Kayaking near Dam #3, photo by Steven Trotter

]]> http://heyletsrock.com/2009/06/25/kayaking-at-mammoth-spring/feed/ http://heyletsrock.com/2009/06/17/tulsa-time-aerosmith-and-zz-top/ http://heyletsrock.com/2009/06/17/tulsa-time-aerosmith-and-zz-top/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:38:52 +0000 Khara http://heyletsrock.com/?p=113 It’s only been a decade, but I’m going to see Aerosmith again! This time it’s for my birthday. Everything old is new again, and thanks to a little game called Guitar Hero (maybe you’ve heard of it?) Aerosmith, along with buddies ZZ Top are having a full blown tour this summer.

I’ve been an Aerosmith fan since I was about 13, and their 1999 concert at The Pyramid in Memphis was the best arena show I have ever seen. Steven Tyler knows how to put on a show and makes the best monkey noises in the business. (think about that part in Dude! Looks Like A Lady) If only he held cymbals when he did it.

They also have one of the best biographies in rock. It’s a page turner, check it out, it’s called Walk This Way. I remember buying it at the Searcy Hastings when I was still in high school and reading it all in one night, it’s awesome.

This time around the closest they are hitting in the Arkansas area are Tulsa, OK and Houston, TX and ticket prices have increased 100% in the last 10 years. Here’s the full date list for the 2009 Aerosmith Tour. (I checked out the rest of the Aerosmith site and I have to say, this door mat was probably my best find , along with a Ma Kin fake tattoo just like Steven Tyler’s.) I’m catching them in Tulsa, a scant 6 or so hours from where I’ll be leaving. I think it will be well worth the drive…and I’ve always wanted to listen to “Tulsa Time” at least once and mean it…

We’re also staying at a Hyatt…I’ve wanted to stay at one ever since watching Led Zeppelin: Behind the Music. Okay, so Tulsa is pretty far away from the Sunset strip, but maybe they will throw in a complimentary TV to throw out the window. A girl can dream. Also, I am sure you all know that Tulsa is home to the World’s Largest Fishing Lure! Oh, Yeah! I’m so there.

Locally, however, the big ticket is the 4th rendition of the outdoor hard rock show Edgefest - Edgefest 2009, in Little Rock, AR on Saturday, May 9th. It’s presented by The Edge 100.3fm and is billed as, ” The Biggest Show You Won’t Remember the Next Day,” it’s just in time for post finals celebration for most high school and college students. Think a small scale Woodstock for hard rock lovers of the South. Last year attendance was estimated at 10,000 people, a pretty big deal for a single outdoor show in these parts.

This year the venue has changed to Cooper Farm as last year’s show earned the nickname ‘gravelfest’. The line-up includes Slipknot, Staind, Chevelle, All That Remains, Drowning Pool, Hurt and Dirtfedd and is sure to be the largest rock show of the year in Arkansas.

Edgefest 2009

I’m sure this sounds like a promo piece, but I certainly had no idea a show of this caliber took place in Arkansas. It’s certainly a noteworthy event. Sounds like heyletsrock.com should be there taking photos or something, right? Well, rain, 10,000 people in various states of enlightenment, mosh pits and port-a-potty lines aren’t the best environment for camera gear. Which is a nice way of saying, mud, a pit of smelly strangers, and port-a-potties? Ewwwww. I am a girl after all. LOL I’m sure fans of outdoor rock shows will have a blast though.

Pictures from this years event will be posted on the events site, www.edgefest.edgelittlerock.com. Pictures from last years show are available for viewing on the site now.

Tickets are available in advance at ticketmaster.com for $35, plus service charges, which comes out to roughly $354.67, or you can pick them up with no extra charges at select places in Little Rock. Check the site. $40 day of show.

Since I won’t be in attendance, if you see either one of these fellows:

James Gage, Jimmy Starzy

take a pic and send it to heyletsrock(at)gmail(dot)com, @khara on twitter, or to my facebook and I’ll send you a special prize.

I got busy! Okay, more like lazy. Oh, I don’t have the newest version of WordPress, oh, I need to get a new theme. Blarf! Excuses! I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive my technological transgressions…this time.

WordPress is acting very crazy on me tonight. I’ll have to do my first “real” entry over the weekend after I get the newest release installed.

It involves She-Ra. Get psyched!

Here’s a photo I took of a 1/2 pound jumbo cheeseburger and onion rings at The Depot in Jonesboro, AR using a Nikon D70 and Sigma 24-70mm, f/2.8 lens. Cassandra and crew at The Depot did a great job making the burger dressings look extra delicious. I can also say that their burgers taste as good as they look - it was probably the best burger I’ve had in Jonesboro.

I did a little fall spring cleaning on the blog tonight. I’m repurposing heyletsock.com, you know, kind of like the Terminator in T2…  I’m designing and hopefully launching a new site in the coming weeks, so I hope the cheeseburger holds everyone over for a little while longer.

Check out my newest toy. It’s called a Grypton and is made by Targus. It’s a cheaper (and less well-made) version of the Gorillapod, a “put your camera anywhere” style tripod. I picked up the knock-off Grypton at Wal-Mart over the weekend. It retails for about $10 whereas the Gorillapod of the same size is about $22. It’s rated to hold small cameras up to 9 oz. It does pretty well with my Kodak V570, but I wouldn’t really want to wrap it around tree branches on a windy day or anything.

Supposedly, it doesn’t perform near as well as the Gorillapod, but I’ve yet to try the real deal. I hear Gorillapod is filing a suit against Targus though. I also hear (or read, rather) the Grypton is too wussy to hold up a flash unit that takes 4 AA batteries, so go for the real thing if you are hanging multiple camera flashes off bridges or something, please.

I would definitely go Gorillapod if getting a larger size tripod of this type for a digital SLR or small video camera. I’ve had the Grypton fall off things a few times already and can only imagine what would happen with the larger version attached to a 3 pound camera.

The Grypton goes skittering across my car dash on turns, as the grip rubber on it doesn’t really do much in the way of gripping. Seeing as I was using two decks of playing cards and sticky tack to mount my camera in my car, I can’t complain too much though. I think I got my $10 worth.

The blog is back from the great beyond! Soon to be much more Abby Normal…

Let’s not forget Campbell’s is doing their part:

So is Yahoo!:

And Google:

And Facebook:

and by do their part, I mean they made some graphics…

What are YOU doing? I’m conserving energy by sleeping until noon.

Let me know if you see anyone else around the Internet celebrating Earth Day graphically.