Tomorrow afternoon the Hudgens Center for the Arts at the Gwinnett Center will hold a reception to open their new exhibit, “Shutter Sense and Non-sense.”  The exhibit features almost 900 creative photographic images taken by 285 students from both public and private schools throughout Gwinnett county as part of this fourth annual photography competition.  This year’s competition included middle school students for the first time.

The free exhibit opens with tomorrow’s reception at 1:00 PM followed by the awards presentations at 2:00 and will continue on display for the public in Kistner Gallery and Fowler Rotunda until mid-March.  For more information you can read Heather Darenberg’s article in today’s Gwinnett Daily Post or visit ArtsGwinnett.org.

Our Gwinnett Braves have just announced that they are going to be holding auditions for the first ever Gwinnett Braves Master of Ceremonies on January 17th, 2009 in front of Nordstroms at the Mall of Georgia.

Here are the details as we know them.

1. Contestants should prepare a 60 second skit on why he or she should be the Gwinnett Braves Master of Ceremonies for the upcoming 2009 innagural season.  After the skit, you will then be asked to MC potential in-game promotions and will be judged on how you sell the specific promotion and your interaction with the crowd.  Contestants must provide a valid ID and be at least 18 years of age.

2. The Gwinnett Braves are looking for someone with enthusiasm, fun and can stand out in a crowd. The MC will be responsible for entertaining fans, running in-game promotions and energizing the fan base at the games.

3. The tryouts will be help in front of Nordstroms at the Mall of Georgia at 1pm on January 17th.

The Gwinnett Braves will also have on hand, season schedules, ticket information, Chopper and the Gwinnett Braves front office.

Come out and participate and let’s get ready for an awesome season of Gwinnett Braves baseball.  For more information contact us at Diamond Dwellings Realty or log onto www.GwinnettBraves.com.

See you there.

The Georgia Force of the Arena Football League has been informed by the Arena Football League (AFL) that the 2009 season has been suspended. It has been rumored for weeks that the season was in jeopardy but last week the AFL Board of Directors issued the following statement.

“Every owner in the AFL is strongly committed to the League, the game, and, most importantly, the fans,” said Acting Commissioner ED POLICY. “Owners, however, recognize that, especially in light of the current unprecedented economic climate, the AFL, as a business enterprise, needs to be restructured if it is to continue to provide its unique brand of this affordable, fan-friendly sport.”

This is a blow to all the local Georgia Force fans who come to expect a break from the winter time blues and head to the Gwinnett Center for some faced paced, inexpensive entertainment. The Georgia Force has been in the Atlanta area for a number of years and has had a very successful campaign since moving back to Gwinnett a couple of years ago. Since Arthur Blank purchased the team in 2005, the Force had compiled a 33-15 record and had appeared in three consecutive playoffs.  The team recently issued this response to the league news that the season was cancelled.

“We are disappointed that we will not be playing in the 2009 season, but we agree with and support the need for the Arena Football League to take this time to strengthen its financial foundation to ensure long-term success,” Georgia Force President Dick Sullivan said. “We are very proud of the achievements of the Georgia Force over the last four seasons of ownership, and we hope to field another strong team in 2010.”

As we head into a uncertain time in our economic lives, this suspension goes to show that all areas of the economy are being hit by the downturn in economy and we must be aware and resilient in our beliefs that we as a nation will come out of this downturn a better, more efficient economy. The local economic impact is huge. From the players salaries to the employess of the Gwinnett Center, to the vedors, suppliers and numerous other people that depend on the Geogia Force for their livelyhood. This decision is not merely about football, it is so much more than that.

The team will be refunding season ticket holders the money that had already been collected within the next few weeks via the US postal service.

It is a shame that the Force will not be entertaining the fans of the team this year and we can only hope that the league comes back stronger and more financially sound in the years to come.

Garrett at the Controls

Today when we got to preschool, we discovered that the school would be closed for the day due to power issues.

And the energetic 4 year old needs to get out and do some things… today was rainy and cold…  So, we decided to run out to Discover Mills and wander around.  One of the things on the long list has been hitting the Slingshot Speedway to run some laps on their GIANT slot car track.  We have spectated on multiple occasions, and it was time to step up to the controls.

When Garrett saw the Lightning McQueen car… the decision was made.  We were going to race.  The price wasn’t bad, we got 5 minutes of racing for $3 each.  Of course the cars we selected were the slowest, but that also meant that we would have the best chance of making it around the track without a major catastrophe.

About Slingshot Speedway

Garrett did great.  His only mishap was Lightning losing his body shell after running into my wreckage.  And I created wreckage 3 times in the 5 minutes.  Twice in the same turn.  Obviously the Kurt Busch #2 car had an issue with that particular turn.  It was a little faster than the Lightning McQueen car… and that was just enough to get me into trouble.

There are plenty of other things to do at Discover Mills… I’ve even heard that people shop there.  In addition to the speedway some cool things that you might want to try are the carousel in the food court, the lego play table in Legoland, watching the crazy kids on bikes and skateboards in the Woodward Skatepark of Atlanta, catching a flick at the AMC 18 at Discover Mills, Dinner and a Joust at Medival Times… mini-golf, Jillian’s, Jump for Joy… ok, there are a LOT of things to do.

I know that I certainly don’t think of the mall as a place to go on a rainy day to keep a kid entertained, but it proved to be a great way to spend a couple of hours, and only a couple of bucks on a rainy cold day.

from LilburnDwellings.com

I am looking forward to having my mom and oldest brother visit Gwinnett County and Hamilton Mill this weekend.  My mother, Patricia Hermes, has written over 50 childrens books over the past 25+ years and has been invited to have a book signing at the Mall of Georgia Borders bookstore this Saturday at 2pm. Come out and say Hi. She has also being interviewed on Fox 5 Atlanta on Monday morning.

If you have kids in the 8-13 year range, chances are you have a book or two of hers on your bookshelves.

Here is a little more about mom: Patricia Hermes is the author of almost fifty books for readers from early middle grades through young adult, as well as two nonfiction books for adults. Her books have won many awards and recognitions: American Library Association Best Book, Smithsonian Notable Book, C.S. Lewis Honor Book, Ira Children’s Choice, as well as many state awards, four of them for the novel, “You Shouldn’t Have to Say Goodbye”.

As a lecturer and speaker at schools and libraries, she engages her audience with her lively presentations, underscoring key qualities of good writing, and, of course, good rewriting. (She has been known to revise her books ten times!) She has researched and written six historical novels in the Scholastic Dear America series.

Here is a brief list of some of her books:

The Starving Time

Westward To Home

A Perfect Place

The Wild Year

Our Strange New Land

Kevin Corbett Eats Flies (one of my favorites)

And many more. Check out a number of them at:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/results.asp?ATH=Patricia+Hermes