“In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.” ― Edward Gibbon

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/08/3906216/obamas-big-hispanic-win-worries.html#storylink=cpy

I've been working on our website quite a bit lately.  It may not be visible to the casual observer but I've been working on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so that our website will list higher in Google searches.  Until now, I didn't know much about it but I've spent some time reading and watching Youtube tutorials and then making changes to our site.  It's pretty interesting to see what is involved with Google's algorithms and how they rank websites based on content, backlinks, keywords, metatags, etc...  Simply putting this link to our website here Maxxum Photography will boost our ranking on the web.  Next, I'll be working on the portfolio portion of our site to show our senior portrait work. 

I'm also starting a new project, creating a digital magazine for our clients. The magazine will educate our clients about our products and services as well as offer tips on how to best prepare for their session date, hopefully giving them plenty of information to make the decision to use us as the senior portrait photographer.  It will take some time to create but I think the investment will be well worth it.  I'm investing a great deal of time in creating a detailed marketing plan for our company in an effort to create brand identity and get our brand out to as many potential clients a possible. 

I feel so bad for Barack Obama.  He is inheriting such a mess.

Here's my prediction for tomorrow:  Obama will have an early lead....until the rest of us get off work!

It was great to have JD home this weekend.  I didn't let Jodi know he was coming so when she came home from work on Friday and saw him sitting on the stairs waiting for her, she was quite surprised.  Our house was "normal" again as he had about 10 friends over on Saturday night to hang out and spend time with him.  We stocked him up on snack foods for the dorm and he should be covered for the next two weeks.  He will come home for Thanksgiving break on the 16th and be home for 9 days.

We received some pretty good news from Kyle over the weekend.  He will be working on the Blanchette Bridge project beginning tonight.  It sounds like they are tearing down one of the bridges and he will be working as a crane oiler.  He said it is 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.  That will be a good income for him and we're thankful that he's getting that opportunity. 

Tomorrow is Election Day and I'm looking forward to our day off.  I will certainly be casting my vote tomorrow and I hope everyone else does as well.  Prop B needs to fail in Missouri as well as Amendment 3.  I'm also going to be voting against Missouri setting up the insurance exchange.  Obamacare is going to be repealed anyway.

Here's the 2012 Cougars baseball team.  JD is front row, first on left.  You can click picture to view larger image.

Here is a link to the roster page where you can click on his name for his bio.  I guess they'll update it soon as they only have brief information from his junior year in high school.   

http://www.siuecougars.com/sports/m-basebl/2012-13/roster

Halloween has come and gone.  We had a steady stream of kids at the house for about an hour or so.  There were a lot of adorable little girls dressed as princesses and fairies.  One little girl, who was probably 3 years old, came as Red Riding Hood and told me how she didn't like the witch that was next door.  She was so cute.