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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Thursday afternoon, prosecutors and defense attorneys laid out their different versions of the November 2012 night that a middle-age software engineer from central Florida fatally shot a 17-year-old teen during an argument over loud music outside a Southside convenience store.
Later in the day, the first seven witnesses for the state testified before court was recessed for the day.
Just after noon, Judge Russell Healey invited the jury into court, had them sworn in and thanked them for their service. He instructed them to not treat statements by the lawyers in the case as facts, or not to view any media coverage of the trial or discuss the case among themselves.
Assistant State Attorney John Guy presented the state's opening statement, giving a moment-by-moment account of the events of Nov. 23, 2012, the night Michael Dunn confronted Jordan Davis and three other teenagers parked in an SUV next to his car about loud music coming from her car.
Guy said the teens were heading to the Avenues Mall when they stopped at the Gate gas station on Southside Boulevard at Baymeadows Road. He said Dunn was there with his girlfriend after leaving his son's wedding, and the music coming from the teens' SUV was loud.
"Jordan Davis is 5 feet 11 inches tall, 145 pounds. The defendant is 6-4 and well over 200 (pounds)," Guy said. "But Dunn and Davis exchanged F-bombs back and forth. The defendant rolled down his window again and said, 'Are you talking to me?' And Davis said, 'Yeah, I am.' The defendant said,
Guy said Dunn's actions were deliberate, and after firing the first shots at the unarmed teens, he said the driver of the SUV Davis was in pulled out to protect the other teens.
"Tommie Stornes backed up and pulled as fast as he could into adjacent parking lot, but the defendant pulled the trigger three more times," Guy said.24286554
Guy told the jury Dunn fired a total of 10 shots into the Dodge Durango, killing Davis. When Dunn's girlfriend returned from the store, they drove away.
Guy ended his 28-minute opening statement by saying that over the course of the trial, the evidence shown will be sufficient to find Dunn guilty of one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
UNCUT: Prosecutor John Guy |
Defense attorney Cory Strolla
IMAGES: People, developments in Dunn trial Thursday
Next up, defense lawyer Cory Strolla told the jury in his opening statement that the three surviving teenagers in the car will admit that it was Davis that used curse words in the confrontation, and that the music was so loud, they don't know for sure if Davis threatened Dunn.
Strolla also raised the possibility that when the SUV backed out of the parking space and stopped more than 100 feet away before returning, the teenagers might have ditched a shotgun or other weapon that Dunn thought he saw through the window.
"You've got two men from the SUV fumbling in the back, looking like they're stashing something," Strolla said. "Not doing a roll call, not, 'Oh my God, our friend has been shot!'"
Strolla said the homicide detectives and state attorney's investigators botched the case and never checked the adjacent parking lot until four days later, and that's likely why a weapon was never found.
"Law enforcement didn't care, the state attorney's office didn't care," Strolla said.
Strolla questioned several things about the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigation of Davis' shooting death.
"The first officer on scene knew the SUV left, but they didn't check anywhere, (that the) boys made phone calls and people came to that parking lot," Strolla said. "For days, not one officer checks the parking lot, Dumpster, anything. That entire parking lot had been exposed to the public."
He also noted that none of the teenagers in the vehicle called 911 until they returned to the front of the Gate station.
Strolla said the jurors must leave sympathy for Davis' family out of it and they'll find out his client was only defending himself.
"Dunn had every right under the law to not be a victim, to be judged by 12, not carried by six," Strolla said.
Forty minutes after he began, Strolla ended his statement saying: "There's only one just and lawful verdict, and that verdict will be not guilty."
Following opening statements, prosecutors called their witnesses. First to testify was Davis' girlfriend, Aliyah Harris, who saw him the night he was killed. Then it was Steven Smith, who saw the shooting.
"The driver (fired the shots). Shots were fired at the Durango," Smith said. "The Durango backed out and took off toward Southside Boulevard."
Andrew Williams tried CPR on Davis.
"I pulled up to the car and a young man had been hit," Williams said. "He wasn't moving. And another young man was crying."
And Shawn Atkins, in prison for burglary, took down Dunn's license plate number on a paper bag.
None of those witnesses said they saw a gun on Davis or in the teens' SUV.
After court ended Thursday, Davis' parents said they felt good about what happened and realize Strolla is doing his job in reference to his opening statements, saying Davis was the aggressor.
The proceedings began one day after a panel of 12 jurors and four alternates was seated to hear the closely watched case with similarities to the prosecution of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
The jury chosen includes of five white women, three black women, an Asian woman and an Indian or Middle Eastern woman, along with five white men and a Hispanic man. Jurors will not be told who the alternates are until just before they begin deliberations at the end of the trial -- likely late next week.
There were dozens of members of the media, lots of police officers in the area, and several demonstrators in front of the courthouse as the trial was set to begin.
Some of the demonstrators were also in Sanford for the George Zimmerman trial in the death of Trayvon Martin.
"The same issues are at play," Dave Schneider said. "Justice wasn't served for Trayvon Martin, and I think everyone in Jacksonville has strong concerns that with Angela Corey at hand, justice will be served in yet another killing of a young black man. And we are out here today because one way or another we want to make sure that Michael Dunn spends the rest of his life in prison."
Corey has said she will not comment about the case at all outside of the courtroom.
Copyright 2014 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Discussion in 'Shoes and Apparel' started by tennnnis, Feb 6, 2011.
are we getting the 2011 aussie open adidas green/white double wide wristbands this year?
Nope. Adidas players only.
Where'd you hear that?
Adidas rep at the Aus Open.
Did he say why they wouldn't sell to public?
Or you could just use the signal green/white double wristbands from last year's AO. They're very very close
TW has the green and black ones...
Not the ones the pro's were using.
using logic, pro's only= pro's only. it happens
+1 for what gasolina said. they're very close
thanks for all replies. I appreciate it. I should try last years green wristbands but I can't find them any more. It seems sold out completely long time ago.
That's why I buy every color wristband available. You never know if a future line would have those colors.
I also have a friend in europe who visits every year. I buy europe only wristbands and ship it to his house. I was lucky to get the USO 2010 White/Ink wristbands that way.
Hey guys i may be able to get my hands on some
Could you get your hands on the Fall 2011 catalog like you did for the 2010 catalog?
Is it possible to get some for me? Please email me at email@example.com
I realize these aren't what you are looking for, but wouldn't they be close enough?
I don't get why you guys feel the need to match the Pros perfectly right down to wristbands and socks.
No can do buddy, long story but i got into trouble for doing that, hence why i have been quiet of late
Dam. All good bro. Im intrested in the Green wristband if you get some.
Maybe it's not just "the need" to match the pros.
Using myself as an example, I don't live in the states so each time I order in TW, i pay $55 shipping + duties. So I just can't order stuff on the fly, I would usually grab a couple of friends and see if they need stuff and we ship it in one go.
To make the most of the order, I need to make sure all the stuff I want is available.
I was in the OP's shoes last year.. I wanted the Core Blue/Acid wristbands and I wasn't sure if TW was getting them (or anyone in the states). I had to ask around first not because I need to match the pros, but just to find out if I had to wait for them or just settle for the navy adidas overtime wristbands.
It is so sad, I can find new Nike wristband in TW Europe, but can not find in TW.
they tracked it to you personally? irl?
yeah they did, adidas germany contacted australia and then tracked it down to the store, and i got the guys from the store in trouble.....
Adidas Germany are stalking the boards? :twisted:
Why dont they come and tell us themselves not post pics
But to be honest I doubt they found out exactly which store you got them from since Sydney is big. :s
Actually wants the big deal of leaking some pictures to the consumers anyway..
no one here works from nike right
an employee leaking anything is a definite firing and probably an underground black list too.
see: apple employee.
Separate names with a comma.

subset: commoncrawl


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... that cover the File and Edit menus on Firefox?
I recently updated my Zonealarm and now I have an extremely annoying capital Z (as it the Zonealarm icon) and a checkmark in a green circle that cover the File menu (the Z) and the Edit menu (the checkmark) on Mozilla Firefox.
My question is: HOW DO I GET RID OF THEM OR DO I NEED TO GET A DIFFERENT FIREWALL?


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During Dr. Drew's weekly phone call with Kevin & Bean this morning, he revealed some interesting things about Ms. Winehouse.
[pullquote quote="Believe it or not she was trying to contact me which was weird."]"Just this morning, her parents put out some type or news release that she suggests that what they believe she died of was alcohol withdrawal, which is a very interesting little theory. It's wrong, it's not what she died of, I can virtually guarantee you but it's an intertesting reminder to all of us that alcohol is the only drug from which the withdrawal is commonly fatal. It can kill you… but it kills you, it sort of… you go down in a ball of fire. You get really really sick and you cease and you become encephalopathic and confused and your heart becomes erratic and it's not like you just drop dead like her parents are suggesting."
"I found out also yesterday that believe it or not she was trying to contact me which was weird. Janice Dickenson told me that. I remember getting calls from Europe and thinking 'what the hell is this?'"
[Video] Rome Ramirez Records "Rehab" Tribute To Amy Winehouse
Russell Brand's Tribute To Friend Amy Winehouse And Thoughts On Addiction
Last.fm Trends: Winehouse Fans Return To Singer's Hits


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Why do these high endish products exist? It's playing some crappy ~160kbs audio file at the end of the day with masses of compression. No amount of quality speaker can make up for a poor source!
Bowers & Wilkins' Zeppelin is undoubtedly the world's most iconic iPod speaker. Every one of its rivals, from the high end of the market downward, looks pretty much how you'd expect an iPod speaker to look. Not so the elongated ovoid that is the Zeppelin. Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin Mini B&W's Zeppelin Mini: not quite as …
Why do these high endish products exist? It's playing some crappy ~160kbs audio file at the end of the day with masses of compression. No amount of quality speaker can make up for a poor source!
"It's playing some crappy ~160kbs audio file"
Or it could equally well be playing an Apple Lossless file.
Not that I'd have one. At least not until iTunes will work with the hundreds and hundreds of CDs that I ripped to FLAC format..
For a start there's this thing called lossless compression (Apple lossless supports up to 24bits per sample at 192kbps - which is DVD Audio quality).
Regardless, in the general scheme of things £300 isn't all that much for an amp and speakers - a high quality MP3 (256kbps or greater) is plenty good enough to sound excellent in most listening conditions.
If that should be the case, why have Linn (who I believe to be a purveyor of high-end audio equipment) decided to bring out a range of audio streamers?
any decent AV amp can sort that out. my denon and my old yamaha are awesome at making mp3s sound like real cds. very little difference. in fact many CDs dont sound as good as a descent cd that has been ripped. i must asdmit though, for 300 notes a mini hifi and ipod dock would be a much better solution as the soundstage must be small
i only buy 320kbps mp3s or make them at that compression level.
Would it be too big a leap of imagination to consider that, if someone is the sort of person willing to drop that much money on an iPod accessory (*), they might also be the sort of person who loads up their iPod with high-bitrate files they've ripped themselves because they value quality over quantity?
* not that the Zeppelin Mini is just a somewhat beautifully engineered but wallet-bashingly expensive iPod dock - it's really more of a high quality external speaker/amp combo which just happens to provide iPod support in addition to the variety of other audio sources it can be driven from.
I heard that the first version of this always tried to auto sync whenever you plugged an iPod into it. If the iPod was not synced with the PC plugged into the Zepplin, it cause all sorts of problems. Has this been fixed?
I also heard that the Zeplin shows up on the PC as a USB connected audio output, so you can play audio from a PC (without a headphone out). Can you comment on this?
i have a B&W 684 theatre (bough last month!) i have to say B&Ws build quality and speakers are excellent (although this wouldnt sound anywhere near as good as a proper hifi/home cinema setup). plus aesthetically they are really nice products. i just dont see the point in these little players. that would only be any good in a small childs bedroom/kitchen and you would have no real soundstage due to the speakers being so close. its just an expensive ghetto blaster really isnt it?
"The sound is generated by a pair of front-facing full-range speakers which also produce the bass output that's ported through the back of the Mini to reflect back off whatever is placed behind the unit."
I was expecting a model airship! I don,t think this thing will ever get off the ground!
"pristine digital data"
I'm not sure you can describe heavily-compressed MP3 audio as 'pristine'. Doubtless B&W can make a better job of decoding it than Apple, but silk purses and sow's ears come to mind.
Lest you think me biased, I speak as one who has had a set of B&W DM4's for over 30 years - I might even still have the frequency response charts that they used to provide with every speaker!
This sounds like another iWhatnot only piece of kit. I'd be interested to know how much of the MP3 player market Apple has cornered. I assume it's most of it...
So, anyone know if there are any docks out there that work with other players, like my loverly Sansa jobby ?
Speak for yourself, my iPod is full of 320kbs files.
Yes, but, and here's the important thing - I'd rather pay the £50 extra not to buy a Bose - I've had three, and sent them all back - for not charging, a high pitch whistle when charged, and one that just had a really bad case of the 50Hz Choir.
My Sony mini hi-fi with iPod connector does a much better job.
No Highs, No Lows, it must be Bose
Bring Other Sound Equipment.
Have you heard the Bose 302's? They are the nastiest subs money can buy. They know only one note no what the input and manage to turn that into the sound of a large mammal farting. Horrid things which very much put me off their domestic offerings.
I used to use a pair of Bose 302s plus 2 to 4 pairs of 802s. You need to run the active EQ with them. I thought that they were not too bad, especially for the size / weight to carry around.
The 802s also did a reasonable job by themselves in the bay window of my student house, hidding behind the curtains :)
I've not been impressed with some of their most recent stuff, but then I've also heard great and bad things from many other middle range brands (wharfedale, mission, KEF, Junk But Loud...)
For me the best feature is that I can connect it to the USB on my laptop or desktop and it becomes a USB Speaker, so I get all my properly encoded lossless stuff that doesn't fit on my iphone.
Lovely bit of kit, firmware update doesn't work in Windows 7 though which is a bit irritating.
whatever your denon or yamaha is doing with mp3s is not real. mp3 is lossy compression that's why you can't rebuild lost data. what your denon/yamaha does is upsampling and it tries to re-create something what's missing by inserting missing data - therefore it's not real it's fake sound - way to go is lossless compression, Flac or apple lossless, i use only apple lossless on my iphone and all my music collection is ripped in lossless (used to use FLAC but apple doesn't play FLAC - shame). Agree with others regarding Bose - can't stand their overpriced equipment. I've been in Hi-Fi/High End for almost 10 years selling them and comparing them and was writing for a small Hi-Fi magazine. This device is 'dock' edition similar to others on the market with B&W's technologies used (flow port on bass reflex) and others. Haven't heard it myself but i'm pretty sure it sounds good if you feed it with good source.
If you want good rips on win check EAC - Exact Audio Copy, as far as i'm aware it's only for Win, you can rip to both, FLAC and Apple lossless.
but you cant deny the improvement. plus on the denon you have 3 'restore' settings that you can pick and choose from. i know its fake, but its a bloody good fake lol.
The article said "the Mini grabs tracks from the player's storage and through the dock connector entirely bypassing Apple's digital-to-analogue converter chippery."
Well if my (very unscientific) tests are anything to go by then the B&W engineers are right on the money. Tried the same "high quality" (no flaming please) MP3 album on my old 5th Gen iPod v's a 1st and 2nd Gen iPod Touch and it was quite a surprise - basically the newer the device the worse the sound! The old iPod made the Touch's sound tinny and overly processed/compressed - and that's to my old ears.
A quick search of t'net shows that other folks have come across the same problem. In which case, what's up with the iPod design teams these days - are they so focussed on trying to shoehorn "gee-whiz" features into the devices that they've forgotten that they're supposed to be _music players_ so sound quality is - to be polite - quite important?
Looks like a good device - trouble is that the Zep is just sooo desirable (makes a helluva talking point at parties I would guess). Definitely steals a march from B&O.
Whenever I have friends round they comment on the quality of sound my original Bose SoundDock puts out. I always take it on holiday, it moves from room to room and the garden in the Summer. Never had any issues with it, only when i jumped into a pool with the remote, however that only cost me £8 to renew.
If you want a portable speaker for your ipod, I would recommend Bose.


text:
Tibia is over 10 years old and is still going strong with hundreds of thousands of active players. Its an easy game to get into, the game downloads in a few second and the system requirements are nearly non existent. Even Linux users can play! The interface is nice and clean, things like character stats, inventory and text boxes don't clutter up the screen but are shown on the sides. Those looking for an old school RPG adventure shouldn't overlook Tibia, but the game does have a major draw back. Many features and all the advanced vocations are only available to paying players. Free players can still enjoy the game at their own pace and chose from 4 vocations once reaching level 8. The four vocations are:
Knight – Melee specialists who prefer the sword or axe to magic. Knights make an obvious choice for beginners.
Paladin – Masters of ranged combat. Paladins prefer attacking their enemies from a distance.
Sorcerer – Steeped in the arts of black magic, Sorcerers are the offensive spell casters of Tibia.
Druid – Druids are schooled in the arts of white magic. They play a supportive role with healing and buffing spells.
Players must head to the Isle of Destiny upon reaching level 8 to chose a vocation. Premium members who reach level 20 can become advanced versions of their chosen vocation, awarding them additional benefits.
- Status: Released
- Release Date: Jan 07, 1997
- Business Model: Free to Play
- Developer: CipSoft
- Publisher: CipSoft
- Category: Stand-alone, Browser
- Genre(s): 2D, MMO, RPG, Fantasy
- Platforms: PC
Editor's Score: 2/5
- +Over 10 years of content updates.
- +PvP and non PvP servers.
- +Simple gameplay and controls.
- +Low system requirements.
- +Organized interface.
- -Dated graphics.
- -Many features are only available to paying members.
- -Many non-English speaking players.
- -No attack animations.
- Recommended System Requirements:
- OS: Windows 95/98/ME/XP/2000/Vista
- CPU: 1.7 GHZ Pentium 4
- RAM: 256 MB or higher
- GPU: Sure, why not?
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Ombre dip dying has been trending in both the fashion and beauty industry for quite some time. The free spirited trend has suddenly made a comeback in the interior decor market. In the 60's and 70's dip dying had been a very popular technique. The dip dying technique adds color hues without compromising the natural beauty of many textiles. The process is fairly simple but not to be overlooked. Check out Michael Penney Style's Dip Dye Tutorial, along with other inspirational images. Along with dyed ribbons we are proud to sell Rit-Dye both online and at our flagship store.
ABC Home Pillow
Michael Penney Style Dip Dye Tutorial
This reminded us of our Top 5 Dip Dye post created in 2012. Clearly the trend is still going strong.


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Astros to wear NFL jerseys on themed road trip
By Alyson Footer / MLB.com
HOUSTON -- Themed road trips are becoming somewhat of a trend among Major League teams these days, and count the Astros as one club that has jumped onto that bandwagon.
Utilized mostly as an exercise in team unity -- with the additional intention to keep things loose during a long, and often trying, season, themed road trips usually involve members of the traveling party being instructed to dress in a certain predetermined garb, usually decided on by the manager and/or coaching staff.
The Astros will don NFL jerseys when they head out to Oakland on Sept. 4. Manager Bo Porter expects players to determine their jerseys based on their hometown team loyalties.
"I think you'll see guys wearing the jersey of their favorite team, or favorite player," Porter said. "A lot of guys may wear jerseys of guys that played at their college that are now playing in the NFL. Maybe a combination of different things."
Porter said he'll stick with the local team, supporting the Texans by wearing an Andre Johnson jersey.
Cardenas elected to Astros' Media Wall of Honor
HOUSTON -- Rene Cardenas' history with the Houston organization dates back to 1962, when Judge Roy Hofheinz, the most instrumental force in bringing the National League franchise to the Bayou City, hired him to be the Director of the Spanish Division for the Colt .45s.
Cardenas stayed with the Astros through 1975 and eventually moved on to the Rangers and the Dodgers, but he found his way back to his original club in 2000 and has been here ever since. His long and storied career as a broadcaster and journalist is widely regarded in the industry, as evidenced by a recent honor he received from those who work alongside him in the press box at Minute Maid Park.
The Astros announced on Friday that Cardenas is the newest electee to the Media Wall of Honor, which annually honors a local figure for his or her significant and lasting contributions to the landscape of Houston baseball through work in journalism or broadcasting. Cardenas, who has amassed 67 years of service to the Colt .45s, Astros and Major League Baseball, will be honored during a pregame ceremony on Sept. 14. Incidentally, and unrelated to this award, he will also throw out the first pitch on Sept. 13 at the Sugar Land Skeeters game as part of their Hispanic Heritage Night.
"I am on cloud nine right now," Cardenas said. "I've been with this ballclub almost 28 years -- radio, TV and journalism. I saw all those guys go into the Wall and I said to myself, 'Maybe one day, maybe one day.' Then it happened this year."
Cardenas is the seventh individual to be elected to the Wall, joining media pioneer Anita Martini (2007), former Astros radio broadcaster Gene Elston ('08), former Chronicle beat writer Neil Hohlfeld (2009), former Chronicle columnist Mickey Herskowitz ('10), television play-by-play announcer Bill Brown ('11) and retired radio announcer Milo Hamilton ('12).
Cardenas, a native of Managua, Nicaragua, started his professional baseball broadcast career with the Dodgers in 1958, becoming one of the first members of a Spanish radio broadcast team in the history of Major League Baseball. In the coming years, Cardenas further made history as a pioneer, as he and his team became the first Spanish radio broadcast team to call a World Series ('59) and an All-Star Game ('61).
He returned to Houston in 2000, when he began writing for the club. He returned to Spanish radio broadcast in '07 and in '08, became a television broadcaster for the team. He now writes for La Prensa, as well as the Astros Gameday Magazine and La Voz.
Among Cardenas' many honors are a place in both the Texas Rangers and former Dodgers Walks of Fame, and three nominations for the Ford C. Frick award in 1993, 2010 and '11.
Cardenas said the Media Wall of Honor recognition is extra special, because he was voted in by his peers. Local baseball reporters and broadcasters are asked to vote each year to determine the winner. Nearly every time, the top vote-getter has entered the Wall of Honor, which is displayed by pictorial plaques on the press level at Minute Maid Park.
"My picture is on the Wall of Honor at Dodger Stadium. My picture is on the Wall of Honor at the [Rangers] stadium," Cardenas said. "I worked for those two ballclubs. But they just put my picture there. Here, I was elected. That's a big difference. I think it's wonderful."
Due to Minor League playoffs, Astros to limit callups
HOUSTON -- Clubs will be cleared to expand their rosters on Sunday, but don't expect a huge wave of Minor Leaguers to join the Astros that early.
With at least five farm teams heading to the playoffs, it's unlikely the Astros are going to disrupt the flow of a championship push by plucking a bunch of players from the upper levels of their organization.
Triple-A Oklahoma City entered play Friday with a commanding 80-60 record and a playoff spot already wrapped up. That greatly affects how the Astros will act on Sunday and beyond.
Manager Bo Porter said they'll bring a small wave of players up on Sept. 1, and then have "a few more guys" join the club after the playoffs.
"They've played so well all year and put themselves in position to have this opportunity to win a championship," Porter said. "From an organization standpoint we are going to call up a few guys, but we are going to be cognizant to make sure they have the pieces to compete for a championship, because they've done a great job all year. We're not going to strip their team down at this juncture because we have the opportunity to call people up in September."
Worth noting
• On this date in Astros history -- Aug. 30, 1969: In the Astrodome, Larry Dierker became the first Astros pitcher to record 17 wins in a season with a 2-1, complete-game win over the Pirates. Dierker fanned 14 while scattering seven hits. The still-new Astros were in unchartered territory at this point, seven games over .500 and four games out of first place in the NL West.
• Jason Castro entered Friday's game with an eight-game hitting streak, during which he was batting .500 (13-for-26) with four home runs and seven RBIs. In August, Castro was hitting .360 with five homers, 14 RBIs and a 1.132 OPS.
• Olympic gold and silver medalist and native Texan Cat Osterman threw out the ceremonial first pitch and took part in an autograph session as part of Cat Osterman Night at Minute Maid Park on Friday. Osterman pitched on the USA women's Softball Olympic Team, which won gold in 2004 and silver in '08. She was a four-time All-American starting pitcher for the Texas Longhorns, held the NCAA Division I career strikeout record and is still the NCAA all-time leader for strikeouts per seven innings.
Alyson Footer is a national correspondent for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter @alysonfooter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text: Rolle With ItFARLEY, TODDNeurology Now: September-October 2009 - Volume 5 - Issue 5 - p 16–18,22 doi: 10.1097/01.NNN.0000361356.76638.bd Feature: Samari Rolle Abstract In Brief Article Outline The NFL's Samari Rolle has helped show the sports world that epilepsy is a manageable disease—not something to be shrouded in mystery. "Epilepsy is nothing to hide or be embarrassed about," says Baltimore Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle. By speaking openly about his seizures, Rolle has helped show the National Football League—and the world—that epilepsy is a manageable disease, not something to be shrouded in mystery. Abstract WHAT IS EPILEPSY? YEARS OF UNDIAGNOSED SEIZURES ADJUSTING TO A NEW LIFE SAMARI'S RETURN TO FOOTBALL FINDING THE RIGHT TREATMENT FROM MYSTERIOUS TO MANAGEABLE Figure Baltimore Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle missed five of his team's first 10 games during the 2007 National Football League season due to an "undisclosed illness," a statement vague and foreboding enough to worry fans that Rolle's career—or even his life—might be in jeopardy. Rumors about the mysterious diagnosis became rampant until Rolle (pronounced like "roll") decided to reveal the truth about his condition. On November 21, 2007, the 31-year-old announced he was suffering from epilepsy. "It got to the point where people were saying all kinds of stuff, and my family wasn't too keen on that," Rolle says. "I didn't think epilepsy was anything to be embarrassed about, so I decided to just come out and tell." Back to Top | Article Outline WHAT IS EPILEPSY? According to the Epilepsy Foundation, approximately three million Americans—and 50 million people around the world—suffer from epilepsy, a neurological condition characterized by recurrent seizures. Epilepsy can affect any age group, but the condition is most common in children (many of whom simply outgrow their seizures) and the elderly. Although the term "epilepsy" (also called "seizure disorder") may seem complicated, its definition is simple. "Epilepsy is a disorder characterized by two or more seizures," says Orrin Devinsky, M.D., director of the New York University Epilepsy Center. "That's it." The seizures that characterize epilepsy are defined as a sudden change of behavior resulting from excessive electrical activity in the brain. Depending on where the electrical activity begins, they are classified either as partial seizures (beginning in only a part of the brain) or generalized seizures (beginning on both sides). Many people equate epilepsy with the convulsions depicted in movies and on television. However, most epileptic episodes don't involve someone shaking uncontrollably on the floor. "Seizures can manifest in a wide variety of ways," Dr. Devinsky says. "They can go from very subtle symptoms like tingling in the hand or jerking on the side of the face, to subjective feelings like abdominal pain or déjà vu or fear, all the way to a lapse of awareness and responsiveness or even a convulsive seizure, where someone falls on the ground and has major motor-symptom problems." Back to Top | Article Outline YEARS OF UNDIAGNOSED SEIZURES Although Samari Rolle first began missing games because of his epilepsy during the 2007 season, he realizes in retrospect that he'd been suffering small seizures for the previous two years (including the one season he calls his "worst ever as a professional"). During that time Rolle was often lethargic or confused, regularly experiencing problems both mental and physical. "I'd get heat flashes or sweat profusely. Sometimes I'd go on an interview, and I could've sworn I'd been there before, done that before," Rolle says. "Other times, I would get a funny scent, like a paint smell. But when I'd ask my wife, do you smell paint, she would say, no, I don't. I just didn't know what was going on." While Rolle was told such symptoms might indicate he had epilepsy, the diagnosis was made conclusively in the fall of 2007. He awoke one Wednesday during football season to find his tongue "bitten up and bloody." When he asked his family if he'd been hurt in the game "the day before," Rolle's mother had to tell him that he'd last played on Sunday, three days prior. Shortly thereafter he woke up in the intensive care unit. Rolle's wife explained that he'd suffered two grand mal seizures, which are characterized by unconsciousness, convulsions, and muscle rigidity. Figure Gregory Bergey, M.D., Rolle's neurologist and the director of the Johns Hopkins Epilepsy Center, says that having undiagnosed mild seizures is not unusual. "Samari's is not an infrequent presentation," Dr. Bergey says. "It is very common that these complex partial seizures go either unidentified or undiagnosed until the patient has a grand mal seizure." When Dr. Bergey first saw Rolle in October 2007, he quickly concluded Rolle was suffering from epilepsy. That diagnosis resulted not from any of the advanced medical technologies that are sometimes used to identify epilepsy, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or electroencephalograms (EEG). Instead, Dr. Bergey simply listened to the football player's story. "Samari's MRI is normal, from a standpoint of anything that could cause seizures," Dr. Bergey says. "He has a little bit of irregularity on his EEG, but nothing that dramatic. If you took a history from him, though, you could make the diagnosis from that history." Back to Top | Article Outline ADJUSTING TO A NEW LIFE By 2007 Rolle had played nearly 15 years of big-time football (four years at Florida State and 10 years in the NFL). Could the sport have caused his epilepsy? According to Dr. Devinsky, it's certainly possible. "Anything that injures the brain has the potential to cause seizures and epilepsy," he says. "Anything from a head injury to a tumor, a stroke, an infection, a metabolic abnormality, any of those problems can cause epilepsy." During his long career, Rolle says, he did suffer "maybe two concussions." But no one is certain why his seizures began, and in fact most cases of epilepsy are "idiopathic" (of unknown cause). "There is nothing in Samari's history that is a high-risk head injury," Dr. Bergey says. "I wouldn't say football didn't cause [his epilepsy], but we can't say that football did cause it, either." While doctors were unsure of the origin of his epilepsy, what they did know was that Rolle had suffered his first two grand mal seizures. In the fall of 2007, after a short stay in the hospital, he returned home hoping to get his life and football career back on track. Because epilepsy is an episodic disorder that directly affects people only during the period of time when the seizures are occurring (and the recovery period immediately afterward), Rolle hoped his epilepsy wouldn't slow him down too much. "At first, I really didn't know how serious it was. I thought you could have two seizures one day and then you'd be okay," Rolle says. "But then it happened again, and it happened again…" Rolle feels lucky that his serious seizures have occurred at night, while he was sleeping. Still, his experiences with epilepsy have been both physically painful and emotionally draining. Because of his diagnosis, Rolle had to restrict himself from certain activities, including driving, being in a pool or hut tub by himself, and even having his own hotel room while on road trips with the Ravens (a privilege he earned as a veteran player). "My wife didn't want me to have my own room in case I had a seizure," he says. The emotional price has been just as high. "There were several times when I've had seizures and just broke down crying, thinking, 'Man, why does this keep happening?'" Rolle says. "There's nothing worse than how your body feels after a seizure. The headache is unbearable. You're not coherent. And the tongue is the worst thing. A piece of my tongue is bitten off from the first seizure, and every morning I wake up and feel that tongue." Nonetheless, Rolle refrains from griping about his case. "I remember my doctor telling me that some patients have up to fifteen seizures a day," he says. "I stopped complaining at that point." "Somebody with a well-controlled seizure disorder can go back to being a professional athlete." GREGORY BERGEY, M.D. Back to Top | Article Outline SAMARI'S RETURN TO FOOTBALL Just as some fans and commentators wondered whether football precipitated the veteran cornerback's epilepsy, they have also questioned whether continuing to play the game will exacerbate his condition. Rolle himself worries about what long-term effect his chosen profession might have. "Actually I've worried more about my family," Rolle says. "You know, I love football, and I love being around the guys, but at one point, I was asking myself, is this really worth it? I was doing everything the doctors were telling me to do, but the seizures were still happening." Ultimately Rolle decided to keep playing, largely because the medical community is in agreement that epilepsy sufferers whose seizures are controlled can return to their normal lives—even if that's the life of a hard-hitting pro athlete. "Somebody with a well-controlled seizure disorder, or even a relatively well-controlled seizure disorder, can go back to being a high-school, college, or professional athlete," Dr. Bergey says. "Obviously if they're uncontrolled, you wouldn't want to be a Formula 1 race car driver, but if you had occasional seizures, you could still probably play football or lacrosse or sports of that nature." While Rolle did get back on the field for the Ravens during the 2007 season, it was not an easy process. Treatment options for epilepsy patients vary from case to case, but most doctors prescribe medications to mitigate the frequency and severity of epileptic episodes. (It might not be necessary to treat a child whose seizures manifest simply as a slight trembling or staring off into space.) While those drugs do not cure the disorder itself, they can help eliminate seizures. "Unfortunately, the medications are a little bit more like Band-Aids than antibiotics," says Dr. Devinsky. "They don't treat the scar tissue or other underlying problem that leads to seizures, but they seem to prevent sparks from turning into fires." Back to Top | Article Outline FINDING THE RIGHT TREATMENT For Samari Rolle, it wasn't easy to find the right combination of medications that would allow him to return to his normal life of husband, father, and professional football player. "That's when I started to miss games," Rolle recalls. "I think I missed three weeks so they could figure out a medicine combination that would suit me. I'd be fine for two or three weeks, then I'd have another seizure. And I never went more than three months without having a seizure." Rolle's treatment began with phenyoin sodium, a medication that was moderately effective but also had downsides. "Dilantin gave him some side effects," Dr. Bergey says. "He didn't feel as sharp as he used to, and you do not want anything that's going to affect his cognition, his performance, his reflexes, and his ability to respond." That was true for Samari the husband and father as much as for Samari the cornerback. Dr. Bergey finally found the right combination in levetiracetam and lamotrigine, the two drugs Rolle now uses regularly and which have kept him from having a seizure since April 2008. "Today Samari takes a daily regimen of those two drugs," Dr. Bergey says, explaining that with his continued use of medication and avoidance of certain triggers (excessive alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, high fever, emotional stress, blinking lights) Rolle might be able to "achieve total control" of his disorder. At times Rolle has been concerned about the long-term effect of taking so many drugs—he regularly has to have his blood and liver function checked—but he also realizes he has little other choice. "I've been on so many different kinds of medications," Rolle says. "But until you find the right combination, you're just going to keep having seizures." "I think Samari is going to need long-term therapy, and I think he appreciates that," Dr. Bergey says. "But he's also a good example of someone who can achieve control over their seizures and go back to a very active, successful life." Back to Top | Article Outline FROM MYSTERIOUS TO MANAGEABLE While Rolle's condition was once shrouded in mystery, today he is an open book. "Epilepsy is nothing to hide or be embarrassed about," he says. "I never realized that some people are viewed differently and aren't allowed to do certain things because of it." The fact that such a stigma exists has motivated Rolle to raise awareness about his disorder. His fellow NFL cornerback Geoffrey Pope of the Cinncinnati Bengals is a partner in the fight against ignorance. Pope, whose grandmother suffers from the disorder, participates in the National Epilepsy Foundation walk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., each spring. He says that the public's ignorance about epilepsy is what he wants to eradicate. "I'm on a mission to educate as many people as I can about the disease," he says. "Epilepsy can strike anyone. A lot of people get freaked out about that, but I'm trying to help show that epilepsy is not something to get panicked about." For Samari Rolle, that has turned out to be true. With his seizures currently under control, Rolle will take the field for the Baltimore Ravens in 2009—his twelfth year in the NFL. As he does so, it is with the knowledge that he suffers not from a mysterious and frightening "undisclosed illness" but from something real, but manageable.Copyright © 2009, AAN Enterprises, Inc.


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>Look What I Can Do!>MY FIRST IRONMAN - Beach to Battleship Race Report
"We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival." – Winston Churchill
The first time I ever heard of an Ironman triathlon, I thought it was just unbelievable that a person could actually swim that far. Sure the bike and run are no small accomplishments… but to SWIM 2.4 miles seemed so out of reach - especially to someone who panicked at the thought of a 300 yard pool swim in my first triathlon 3 years ago. But eventually, after joining a Masters swim class, a series of gradually longer swims, and buying a wetsuit, I did a half ironman last year. After that race, even though I initially wanted to do more half ironman races before trying a full, I took the plunge and signed up to attempt something that I had been afraid to even verbalize as a goal – to complete an ironman distance triathlon.
"Even if he can't put it into words, every man is haunted by the question, "Am I really a man? Have I got what it takes…when it counts? - John Eldredge
The shorter races this season leading up to the Ironman went very well (with a few exceptions) and I managed to place in my age group in some races, but the swim continued to be the big monster.
The last two open water triathlons I'd had were meant to be confidence builders for my ironman race, yet to my despair, they were the ones I most needed to forget. A snapshot into the last open water triathlon and I'm hanging onto a kayak about 200 yards into a 400 yard swim. A girl beside me (also clinging to the kayak) says, "Never again. I'm never doing this again." All I could think at that time was, "I have an ironman swim in 4 months…a swim that's more than 10 times longer than this one… It took me 24 minutes to finish a 400 yard swim that day.
So fast forward to Wrightsville Beach, Thurs morning at my hotel, two days before the race. As I ate breakfast watching the waves break, I could only eat half a waffle. What would normally have been a calming, beautiful morning at the beach was anything but calming. And in my mind I heard Casting Crowns singing,
"But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me, Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me, Time and time again. 'Boy, you'll never win!' "You'll never win""
I kept reminding myself that I was there because of my own choice…and I knew that physically, I could do the distance, yet I still wasn't sure what race day would bring.
No matter how great an athlete you are, the day of an ironman race is a very long day. So for the "dark" times when everything is crashing around you, it helps to remember something that keeps you going, something that motivates you to press on when you feel like you can't…your "one thing".
Race day morning I woke up after about 4 hours of sleep at the most, and started getting ready. I was nervous, but not overwhelmed like I thought I may be. I took the shuttle to T1 and set things up there, then took the first shuttle to the swim start. It was dark and the wait seemed like a really long time, but it is much less stressful to me to arrive early. Before I knew it, start time was upon us, and I hadn't even made it all the way to the beach to get in the water. So off I ran toward the water, and I was able to get in and get wet. The water temperature was perfect – around 69-70 deg. The announcer told us it was time to get out of the water. Almost "go-time"… and I started thinking, "this is really happening."
As the announcer started us off, 1,000 people in wetsuits ran toward the water as Eminem's "Lose Yourself" blasted over the speakers …."His knees are weak, palms are sweaty…" It's hard to describe the feeling I had, but the best I can say is that it was a mix of adrenaline and relief, motivation and fear. We all headed for the first buoy to make the turn down the channel, and it was pretty crowded at first. A few times I skipped a breath because someone was on top of me or I felt a wave coming over me, but I managed to stay calm. I started counting strokes and then it hit me, "I'm doing this! I have started an Ironman swim!"
About 300 yards in, I saw a guy to my right flip over on his back, so I swam wide to give him plenty of room. The channel was wide enough that the crowd thinned out pretty quickly and I just focused on swimming long, easy strokes. The taste of salt water was starting to bother me and after a while I started gagging and dry heaving.... but that only took a few seconds, then I was back to swimming again. I could feel the current pushing us and I was very happy for that. But the wind started picking up and the water got pretty choppy. At one point, I took a big wave in the face just as I was taking a breath, so I swallowed a big mouthful of water. I coughed, gagged, and almost threw up again, but held it together. There was a big orange buoy that we were supposed to go to the right of (I thought), but it was drifting down the channel and when I got pretty far down, the kayakers were telling me to turn. I start across the channel, and I could really feel the current pushing me. It was a pretty slow swim with the cross current and I started feeling like I was swimming "in place" I started counting strokes, then looking up, counting strokes, looking up, and eventually I could see that I was making forward progress. It was foggy on the water which made sighting really tough, but the kayakers and the paddleboarders helped to direct us the way we needed to go. As I started to get closer to the exit ladders, I knew that this felt like a fast swim, especially for me. I climbed out of the water, looked at my watch, and it said 1:13 something. Woohoo! I had just finished an Ironman swim! Apparently the timing mat isn't exactly as you come out of the water because my official time was 1:14:46. Still much faster than I expected.
Next were the wetsuit strippers, and they got me out of my wetsuit quickly and pointed me toward the hot shower tent where I probably spent more time than I should have. A painful run in Florida immediately after swimming in the ocean had taught me NOT to run without thoroughly rinsing the salt water out of my shorts. I knew if the 6 miles that day was painful, salt water chaffing for 138 miles would make my day really miserable.
I'm not really sure why the rest of my transition was so slow. From the swim exit to transition is about 400 yards, and I couldn't really run fast because the pavement was rough and my feet were cold. I got to the transition area, grabbed my changing bag, and went into the changing tent. I dried off with my towel, took off my swimsuit, put on my tri shorts, heart rate monitor strap, tri top, arm warmers, socks, gloves, cycling shoes, ate an oatmeal cream pie (which took all of 3 bites), took a drink of water, stuffed my wetsuit and everything else back in the bag and headed out. I stopped at the porta toilet, and there was someone waiting in line, so I waited for no more than 2 minutes, then just decided to go on. I ran to my bike, mixed the perpetuem powder, put my bottle on my bike, put my cap, helmet, and sunglasses on, then ran with my bike to the transition exit.
All of that somehow took 19 minutes. I had expected 10-15 minutes.
The bike course is very flat, so based on my training, I expected to come in under 6 hours fairly easily. I knew the only thing that may prevent that would be a strong headwind…and that's exactly what we got for the first 70 miles. To make sure I wasn't exaggerating, I checked Weather Underground for the data for that day. The time I was on the bike heading into the wind, the wind speed ranged from 10.4 mph to 18.4 mph with gusts up to 23 mph. So heading into that, as I got started, even though I felt a little bit under dressed, I thought I would be cold a few miles, then warm up. Big mistake! I couldn't believe how cold I was. At the first aid station, I swapped an empty bottle for a full one, put it in the holder between my aero bars, but the nozzle was open, so water sprayed out and my right glove got soaked. By this time, I'm REALLY cold, and the water made things worse. My hands were stiffening up, and my feet started to hurt from the cold. I had stupidly decided not to put the toe covers on my shoes, so the wind was going through the vents and making my feet cold. As if things couldn't get worse, it started misting rain. Some people said it was sleet, but the lowest temperature we got was 48 degrees, so I doubt it was sleet. My primary goal now became making it to mile 51 where my special needs bag was waiting, and inside it I had put a jacket…. just in case it wasn't as warm as I thought.
At 20 mph, your mile splits are 3 minutes. I usually keep track of how far I am ahead or behind 20 mph, but because of the headwind, and because of how terribly slow I was going, I made myself stop looking at the mile splits and just try to keep a steady effort. My body really wasn't wanting to go faster though, because faster meant more wind, and I was seriously beginning to wonder if I could even make it to mile 51. After the race, I learned that one Pro had to drop out due to hypothermia. I'm not sure how I avoided it.
I've never been so happy to see an aid station as I was when we reached mile 51. I pulled in, unclipped, grabbed my bag from the volunteer, and opened it up…so relieved that the jacket was there! After I put my jacket on, I started to open the water bottle I had put in the bag with dry perpetuem mix, and found that my right hand could not grip the bottle tight enough to open it. After several tries, I was finally able to get it loose, but I wasted quite a bit of time. I mixed up the bottle, gave the bag back to a volunteer, hit the restroom, then headed out again. Even with the jacket, I was still cold, but it was a tolerable cold, and much better than the first 51 miles. Now my focus was to make it to mile 70 where we would turn back toward the beach and finally get HELP from the wind! Somewhere between mile 50 and 60, a girl was on the side of the road cheering everyone on. I couldn't hear anything but wind, but she jumped, kicked, swung her arms and made such gestures that it just put a big smile on my face.
At mile 56, I don't remember exactly what my time was, but I do remember telling myself sub-6 was out of the question, and to prepare for a 6:30+ bike split… 45 minutes slower than what I thought I would have on a good day. This was a really dark place for me because even though I was going so slow, I already felt tired halfway through the ride. Then I started thinking about the marathon and wondering how I would do it. I have read many times that there is no such thing in Ironman as a good bike split followed by a bad run… meaning your bike split is only good if it isn't too fast to ruin your run. But now I was thinking I would have a bad bike split followed by a bad run. In that fog of despair and self pity, I remembered the advice my friend Ron had given me – think only about 10 minute blocks of time – what do you need now, and 10 minutes from now? So I tried to do that, and I told myself it really wasn't about time, but about finishing the race and dealing with what the day presented - 10 minutes at a time.
I finally made it to mile 70, but it wasn't until about mile 72 that we got to feel a strong wind at our backs. The mile split times DRAMATICALLY changed once I made the turn. Even so, I didn't feel a lot of energy, so I relaxed a little and rested up a bit. It was nice to do "easy" miles at 20+ mph.
Somewhere after the turn, I realized I was going to have to make another bathroom stop. I guess the cooler weather, and sweating less meant that the fluid had to go somewhere, so even though I hated to, I started looking forward to mile 101 where I had remembered the aid station would be. Finally to the aid station, I pulled in and a volunteer held my bike and asked if I needed anything. I asked if she could swap water bottles and she did while I hit the restroom. I remember trying to see the good part about stopping, and thinking that maybe I wouldn't have to stop on the run. Then I started wondering how my body would hold up for the marathon I was about to run. Then I reminded myself that the marathon was NOT in my 10 minute window, and I just focused on getting my bike down the road. 11 more miles.
The last 11 went pretty quickly, and I remember one of my mile splits was just over 2 minutes, so it was pretty fun to be pushed by the wind that fast. Heading into T2 in Battleship park, I was actually looking forward to getting off the bike and starting the run.
My bike split was 6:21 (17.6 mph avg) 29th of 68 in my Age Group.
T2: I rolled into T2, grabbed my bag and ran into the changing tent. All I had to do was take off my helmet, put my shoes on, put my race belt on, and start the run. I remember a guy in the changing tent who kept saying something about the girls outside were going to see him get undressed….then it was like he was making an announcement that he was taking his shorts off… then several times he said, "sorry guys". I just ignored him, but now that I think about it,that was pretty funny, in a strange/funny way. As I exited the changing tent and started my run, I immediately realized that although it didn't make sense, I had to make another restroom stop, so I did, then out of the restroom to the run start. Official T2 time: 6:37
"When you get off the bike, and start the marathon you find out what Ironman is about." – Coach Rob
As I headed out to the run course, my sisters were there taking pictures. I smiled and commented to them, "Only a marathon left!" Although I was smiling, I knew this was the moment of truth.
My plan was to monitor my heart rate and keep it under 145 for the first 5 miles, drink something at every aid station, and take my first gel at mile 5. As I started the run, I had to ease back on the pace to get my heart rate where it needed to be. In the first mile, there were two bridges, so quite a bit of climbing, which made it tough to stay under 145. I trudged along at what I thought was a ridiculously slow pace, a little bit worried about what my first split would be. My rough time goal for the marathon was a 4:22, which would be a 10 min/mile pace. I tried hard not to care what my pace was and just focus on effort, but I was anxious to see what my pace would be. "Beep!" First mile split – 9:18. Happy, but knowing there's a lot of unknown ahead, I focused on sticking to the race plan.
For the first 3 miles, I had to make an effort to keep holding back so my heart rate stayed under 145. My 2nd mile split was 8:58.
The run course exits Battleship Park, crosses two bridges, then goes into the downtown area along Front Street along the river. As you come into downtown, there are hotels, restaurants, and bars and shops along the way, and the street transitions from pavement into brick. To the left side of the street is a big blue warehouse type building, and the sidewalk is lined with ornamental cast iron lamp posts. I remember from the Half last year that this was one of my favorite parts of the race - people holding signs, ringing cowbells, it's as if everyone has come out to see a parade, and they all cheer for you by name because you have it written on your race bib.
So I felt pretty good going through town and not long out of downtown, I hit mile 5 and took my first gel. About 1.5 miles to the turnaround and ¼ of my Ironman marathon would be done.
I don't remember much about coming back through town, except that I passed my sisters before they saw me, and a group right beside them yelled out my name, "GO TONY!!", then my sisters realized it was me.
I was looking forward to the second loop because I had decided I would start taking drinks of flat coke at the aid stations only after I started the second loop. I had a big decision to make at the half point where the special needs bags were located. I had packed a long sleeve shirt in case I needed it if it got colder. It was still daylight and I felt ok, but I decided to err on the warm side this time and I was glad I did.
About 2 miles into the second loop, at about mile 15, I was feeling ok, but a bit of fatigue was starting to set in. At this point I thought about my "one thing" … the thing that motivates me and keeps me going. Without getting too personal, during the last 5 years there have been some really tough times, and in some cases it has appeared to the people I love the most that I threw in the towel, that I gave up without much effort... but I didn't.
Finishing an Ironman doesn't make me a certain type of man. It doesn't erase mistakes, or instill new qualities inside of me. But it is a tough interrogator, a trial by fire, on a public stage for everyone, including myself to see if I have what it takes to suffer, and continue to the finish.
And as my footsteps struck a rhythm, and the sun began to fade, the song I heard Thursday morning staring at the waves came to me again,
"…But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me, Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed, The giant keeps on telling me Time and time again "boy, you'll never win! "You'll never win."
"But the voice of truth tells me a different story, And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory", Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth."
As I sang this in my mind, I was almost overcome with emotion, but I felt new life in my legs as I made the turn and headed into down town once again.
The second trip out through downtown was surreal because it was late now, and I was more fatigued, so I had that race fog making the whole world look a little bit different, almost as if I was watching it happen in slow motion.
I was sticking to my race plan, drinking water, flat coke, and now I had started on the chicken broth at the aid stations.
Going out of downtown, on the ground as we ran up a short hill, there was a sign that read, "beer here" with an arrow pointing toward a bar. Two girls stood in the parking lot holding cold beer mugs and one gave me a big smile and asked, "Would you like a stout?" I laughed and said, "Yes I would, but I'm afraid I wouldn't finish the race if I took it." And I pressed on.
Past mile 17 I remember thinking this was farther than I had ran in training, but to keep my mind occupied, I kept calculating the pace I had to run to finish the race at a 10 min pace. With each mile, I was banking time and even at mile 17, I knew things would have to go really terribly bad for me not to make it in at a 10 min pace.
Not long before the turnaround I saw my friend Paula again. She was having an incredible race that she started off with a 48 min swim! When I saw her the two times before on the course, she seemed too far ahead for me to catch, but this time she wasn't far ahead and I could tell by her face that she was feeling the fatigue. I know this feeling very well, so I felt for her. After the turnaround, she must have sped up in spite of how she felt because it wasn't until about mile 21 that I caught up to her. I knew at that point you don't really feel like chatting, so I just told her, "Good job Paula, we're going to make it! We're going to be Ironmen!" (Paula ended up placing 3rd in her Age Group for her 1st Ironman!)
I had started doing something that really wasn't in my plan, and I don't know if it's a good thing but it seemed to work for me for a while. After about 15 or 16 miles, I had started pouring water on my legs, just to shock some life into them. It had seemed to work, but it was getting colder now and I was hoping I didn't get cramps.
I headed back into downtown, past the girls with the beer, and onto the brick streets with the cheering crowds. I only wish I had a video of that sight as I came into town and all the cheers, all the people, and I knew then, even if things went really bad, I was going to finish. I remember two girls beside the road yelling out my name and I high fived them, and started high fiving the crowd. I have always said that I hated to hear someone say, "Only a 5K left!" in a marathon, but someone yelled that to me and I thought, "AWESOME! ONLY A 5K LEFT!" I saw my sisters again before heading out of town and they said, "Slow down so we can make it to the Finish to see you!". I said, "You better hurry!"
I decided I would not stop at another aid station. As the cheering crowd faded behind me I made my way toward the bridge. My legs hurt, my feet hurt, and my calves felt like they were tightening up, and I told myself to hold on for one more bridge. I was passing people left and right now, because many were walking and those who were running weren't going fast. One guy asked me what mile we were on because he heard the mile split beep on my watch. I told him mile 24, but I thought it was wrong. I was wrong, not the watch, and I had forgotten about the SECOND bridge I still had to cross. Still I was so close, it didn't matter. I made my way up the second bridge, then it was downhill to Battleship park. Volunteers directed me into the maze before you head into the finish chute. I saw my sister Debbie as I made the last turn, and she took a picture and told me Carla was at the finish. I looked ahead at the finish arch and was almost overwhelmed with emotion again. I regained my senses because I didn't want to be squalling like a baby for the finish photo. Then just like that, a dream I was afraid to dream, something I was not certain I could do, became a reality, and as the announcer called my name, I crossed the line, and a guy put the medal around my neck.
My marathon P.R. is 3:54. I thought 4:22 would be a good marathon Ironman marathon time for me. A 4:09 marathon split only entered my mind in those, "what if I have a day too good to believe?" kind of thoughts. But my watch said 4:09, and the official results confirmed it.
SWIM 1:14:46 (65th of 68 in my Age Group)
BIKE: 6:21:44 (29th of 68 in my Age Group)
RUN: 4:09:40 (8th of 68 in my Age Group)
TOTAL TIME: 12:11:56 (27th of 68 in my Age Group)
I can't describe the feeling, but it has been 4 days and I'm still on an Ironman high. I'm so thankful to be blessed with the health, the time to train, the encouragement of everyone. It was every bit as tough, as dramatic, as exciting, as motivating, as emotional and inspirational as I had imagined.
What a great read. Well done & thanks for posting. Wasn't it also Winston Churchill who said "When you're going through hell, keep going"?
Great report, very inspiring. Thanks for posting it.
Congrats Tony and thanks for sharing
Will Crew for Beer
Great race report Tony. Thanks for sharing.
Rule number one of a gunfight, bring a gun. Rule number two of a gunfight, bring friends with guns.
That's the best race report I've ever read.
Thank you for sharing. I'm 199 days from my Ironman, and as excited as I am, it seems a little overwhelming to properly prepare. Over the past few months, I've been looking at your training log and figuring out what you've done to properly prepare.
Very inspirational. Very impressive.
"But the voice of truth tells me a different story, And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!""
Have a wonderful week!
So, when will you get the IM tattoo?
2018 Goals:
#1: Do what I can do (250+ training days, 300+ aerobic hours).
#2: Race shape - BUILD aerobic base
#3: Race (Cincinnati MiniMarathon - 3/18, Grand Rapids 70.3 Tri - 6/10, Ironman Florida - 11/2)
A killer race report--the emotion/energy/anxiety of the event you put in there was awesome.
Congratulations, ironman!
"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." Emil Zatopek
Great report on a major accomplishment. Congratulations!
This was also my wife's first full-distance tri, so I got to see up close all the work and preparation involved—from all the training, nutrition planning, and equipment tweaking, to standing out on the beach that morning to cheer her on. You guys had a long, cold day and did great.
But please remember, legally it's not an "ironman" race. It's an "iron distance" race. You don't want to end up in court, do you?
A Saucy Wench
Simply awesome!
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
Princess Cancer Pants
What an awesome, engaging, inspiring report! Congrats, Ironman! You earned a good rest.
• Recover from 2017
• Surgery in March
• Continue showing Cancer that it's not welcome back. Ever.
• Rebuild to racing and big running & biking miles in 2019
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
A killer race report--the emotion/energy/anxiety of the event you put in there was awesome.
Congratulations, ironman!
2012: Wish a Mile Ride: 300 miles in 3 days to benefit the kids of Make A Wish.
old woman w/hobby
Wow! Congratulations!
Just run.
Just a dude.
Awesome job Tony... And thanks for the well written report.
Getting back in shape... Just need it to be a skinnier shape...
Thanks! I tried to make it shorter, but there was just a lot to say - I'm glad you enjoyed it!
What a great read. Well done & thanks for posting. Wasn't it also Winston Churchill who said "When you're going through hell, keep going"?
Thanks Nickp!
Great report, very inspiring. Thanks for posting it.


text:
Gawker.TV: The Five Best Videos Ever of the Day
Today at Gawker.TV, Stephen Colbert gets a spot on the Olympic team, Simon Cowell seems to have gone soft, the premiere of Toddlers & Tiaras, Steven Seagal's still patrolling the roads for crime, and Bear Grylls hijacks an oncoming train.
Simon Cowell Might Be Sabotaging This Season's American Idol
The only people who make it through the Idol screening process are freaks, people with borderline talent, and people with actual talent. This year Simon seems to be saying yes to the first two at an alarming rate.
Stephen Colbert Makes the Olympic Speed Skating Team
After being called a 'jerk' by Shani Davis late last year, Colbert takes to the ice with one goal: To prove that with only two hours of training he can beat the three world records holder at his own game.
The Little Princes of Toddlers & Tiaras
Child beauty pageants, typically for little ladies and mothers who dream of bedazzled babies, went co-ed on last night's Toddlers & Tiaras premiere. Two boys, Cruz and Maddox, competed in rhinestone tuxedos, suffering the same torments their stage sisters face.
Steven Seagal Loses His Grip on Reality on Lawman
As Steven Seagal: Lawman nears its season finale, it's pretty apparent Seagal will not be placed in any dangerous situations. But that doesn't mean he can't speak to the camera like he's the baddest man on the force.
Bear Hijacks a Train on Last Night's Man Vs. Wild
Bear Grylls has no trouble stomping on and over nature. Last night he ran into trouble when a rapidly moving train trapped him in a tunnel. He proceeds to climb train that nearly killed him and presumably hijacks it.


text:
I use "margin" to adjust the space images of various sizes take up to compensate for unsighlty text positioning where I have a variety of sizes, but this causes the caption to end up far away from the image.In the example below, the caption ends up half a page below the image instead of "glued to it".
Is there a quick and easy solution that does not require to change the way I'm doing things now?

 CAPTION

If I run the code you posted, the caption end up right beside the image, so there' something else in your code causing that reaction. We'd need to see the whole picture.
Sorry for delay, notification didn't seem to work.
This is the live page where it happens.
caption problem page
Even stranger: Chrome and Firefox display the caption well below the image, I.E. and Opera display it on the right of the image.
The image has a gigantic bottom margin, which is pushing the caption way down the page:
element.style {
float: left;
margin: .1em 1em 61em 1em;
Yes, I use that to as an easy way to influence positioning. I was hoping there would be an easy way to get the positioning of the caption to "ignore" that, so I can keep using margin or padding for the time being. My site is forever being updated/extended and improved.
You could just put the bottom margin on the .logo div instead:
.logo {
float: right;
margin: 1em 0em 61em 4em;
It seems an odd way to do things to me, but if that's how you want to carry on, can't you just add that large bottom margin to the div, instead of the image?
Edit:Ninja'd by Ralph. Great minds, and all that. :lol:
Alas, if it were only that easy. As it the margin is different for every image, I can't do it that way.It's a stop gap measure during the revamp operation integrating css in my site. There are possibly occasions where an unlucky combination of text quantity, section size and image size, where I will keep using this to make it easier to read.So far, the way I have styled it displays pretty consistently over a range of browsers, screensizes and resolutions. As I am far from a star at HTML/CSS, I am hesitant to impement any major changes in "style".
As I am far from a star at HTML/CSS, I am hesitant to impement any major changes in "style".
Unfortunately, a "major change" is exactly what this page needs.
What do you have to lose if you start another version? - a good place to start would be to produce a drawing of what you want it to look like.
I can practically promise that you would have a lot to gain by stepping back and starting over.
Give it some thought.
That right column with the logo in it is something of a mystery object. How tall is it supposed to be?... not in ems or pixels, but in terms of content. Is it supposed to go all the way to the bottom of the page, end just before the xtra-small text, maybe end above the "Read the Boiler Repair Blog" line, or end somewhere higher? I assume it's supposed to adjust to the widths of different images. The caption isn't a problem. It will reside just beneath the image.
Like I said above, I use margin and padding for temporary "positioning". But part of it will be permanent, and even a 3 em marging/padding will bring the caption too far from the image I want the caption glued to the image.
Yes, you repeated yourself. But you didn't describe anything new about the right column and the "positioning". Would it be desirable for the height of that right column to self-adjust, also? Just need to identify where.
Is this close enough to "glued"?
In a nutshell, I'm going from very plain html to css. On top of that, I'm adding lots of images of various sizes. Added to that, will be more text changing the amount of sections from an average of 2, to 5 or 6. To avoid having very wide areas of tex, I'm using the padding on the right hand image(s) to extend the "volume" to just above the bottom section starting with the blog announcement.
Self adjusting sounds good. Very good. What would determine what/where it would self adjust to? For the coming couple of months, it will be either just the logo or the logo plus one image that make up the right hand side. As the blog announcement is very big on purpose, the right hand side images/padding need to stop just above "the blog" to stop that part from being squashed off a single line.
As for the "restart" that isn't an option as the site is adjusted based predominantly on feedback, so there is not concept as such, nor can I make one.
That is great. My captions would typically be 5-10 words in farily small text so it fits on 2 lines.
My concept of "restart" does NOT mean redesign the look of the site. Quite the contrary, I would only recommend a different html framework/structure for the page... something that makes it easier to manage. The look of the site and it's future based on user feedback would not change, as far as I can imagine.
The idea of a self-adjusting right column length depends on knowing where it should stop and closing the container in which the right column resides. All content below that point, such as the blog announcement or a footer, will be full page width or part of another container. The content above that point will be bordered on the right by the column.
So, if I understand correctly, the purpose of the right column is to contain the logo and maybe some other images and to reduce the width of the content text.
What do you mean by "sections"? Are you talking about columns... growing toward a multi-column layout? Or are you describing "rows" or horizontal groups of text (similar to the present style)? And where do you expect to add more images (presumably with captions)? Would you place some of them within the text?
My thoughts are based on the current snapshot of your site. Your future plans my prove that my ideas are very "short-sighted" and impractical. The discussion is important so I don't lead you down a short path.
My brain has gone in shut down mode for the day, or the night rather, as it is gone 1 am here.I'll see how I can do a concise concept discription without making it in a 200 page desertation after a bit of shut eye.Your help is most appreciated.
That sounds good, very good actually,albeit in a rather abstract way; I've got no idea how that would bedone.
My site does not use columns. Thebackbone is the text, which is "split" in 4-6 sections by h-tags.The images are used to tart the site up and "define/position" thetext blocks at the same time. The "column" is a stop gap measureto limit the text width for sections where not all images have beenaded.
Yes, albeit that there is no real column as per above.
Section are the 4-6 blocks of text "separated" by h-tags. Between 100 and 400 words, but mostly between 150 and 250 words.
The essence of my "future plan" isto adapt/adjust/extend/improve based on the feedback of readers.Whenever a reader tells me "I like your site, but........ or, apartfrom........" I question them and make a note.I have done this from the word go, andfound it much more efficacious than using market research.
The only red thread that I can think ofthat will continue to exist, is that I want my site specifically tolook different from most other sites in my industry. Partiallybecause it matches my company usp, partially to stand out and grabpeople's attention.So no popular/traditional 2 or 3 columndesign with navbars top or left and "alternative info" in theremaining space. No templates, no flash and no glossed up showroomimages of things that virtually nobody has seen in real life. Ifyou're selling Fords, don't show images of people in $5000 suits thatlook like they own 3 Rollers.
Another issue is the ongoing butirregular addition and alteration of content. Wherever practicable, Itake photos of work I do and after selecting and processing theimages, I add them to existing pages as well as new ones. The samegoes for information i.e. text. Depending on what I learn/discover, Iadd or alter existing text; sometimes one line, sometimes a paragraph.This has lead to page lengths varyingfrom 500 to 2000 words, and 1-8 images on a page, with no guaranteesthat those limits won't be exceeded in the future.
Hopefully, this answers most of yourquestions.
benbob, a couple of questions.
(1) It sounds like the images planned for the right "column" are intended to align with certain sections of text. ie: top of image aligns with top of text in that section.
Should the text in sections without an image stretch the full width of the page or should it honor an empty space and preserve the appearance of a continuous column for images? (except for those bottom full width sections)
(2) Right now, your page stretches to conform to very wide browser widths. Have you considered limiting the maximum width of your page to around 1040px or so? (I just picked a number.)
If so, change your #wrapper entirely to:
#wrapper {
margin:0px auto;
Another suggestion... change your !DOCTYPE from HTML4 strict to HTML4 transitional.
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
The reason is because you are using target="_blank" in your anchors. That attribute is not valid in HTML4 strict.


text:
Study: Star Formation Is Virtually Finished
by Brian Thomas, M.S. *
An international team of astronomers recently analyzed a specific frequency of light that hot gas clouds in outer space produce. Very hot stars, like blue stars, are thought to burn near or within these clouds, energizing the gas so that it can emit this characteristic light signature. Secular astronomers are also convinced that stars form inside these distant, turbulent, and gaseous zones.
The team, publishing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, surveyed the light from a wide range of redshifts.1 A higher redshift—when a characteristic light pattern appears shifted more toward the red end of the light spectrum—indicates a greater distance between the observer and the light source. So, they examined this light from near and far.
Higher redshifts are also supposed to indicate that more time has elapsed since that light departed from the faraway glowing clouds. However, this assumes that light travels at the same speed in all directions—an assumption called the Einstein synchrony convention. No experiment has verified this assumption. Nobody has yet invented one that could.
The astronomers found more of these hot gases at higher redshifts. They interpreted that result to conclude that half of all stars formed naturally during a two-billion-year window of time that ended eight billion years ago. But these conclusions amount to mere speculation when considering how unproven the assumptions are that undergird them.
News describing this study fails to mention these assumptions. For example, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan said in a press release, "Using the same method and techniques is a powerful way to look back in time to obtain fully comparable chunks of the Universe, which contain hundreds of star-forming galaxies."2 But do astronomers really peer "back in time," and do "star-forming galaxies" really exist?
No direct evidence supports either assertion, and some evidence refutes them. First, star formation has never been observed, even in the hot gas clouds in galaxies where it supposedly occurs. Stars could only form in theory through an unlikely nearby star explosion. And then that exploded star would need another earlier nearby star explosion. Clearly, the first star would never have formed.3 Plus, this process would have littered the universe with debris from countless star explosions. Instead, it is as clean as a whistle, which is a big problem for secular astronomers looking for missing supernova remnants.4
There is no good scientific reason to think that these distant glowing gas clouds are star nurseries. But calling them that is the only way to justify the existence of stars in a naturalistic worldview—one in which a universal Creator is universally ruled out of bounds. Scripture says that God made the stars all on one day and then completed that creative work. Based on this, one would not expect to find stars forming today. Star formation is an assumption, not an observation.
Second, the Monthly Notices authors assumed that high redshifts equaled billions of years. One could, with equal validity, assume that starlight travels instantaneously from its source to the viewer, as long as it travels at half the measured round-trip speed of light in the other direction.5 This way, starlight represents what is happening right now, albeit trillions of miles away.
But rejecting the Einstein synchrony convention—that light travels at the same rate both toward and away from the viewer—means that although stars are billions of light-years away, they are not necessarily billions of years old. Is there any observable evidence to suggest that distant stars or galaxies are younger than billions of years?
Yes. Ironically, the same blue stars that likely cause the gas cloud radiation that the international team of astronomers surveyed are just such evidence. Blue stars burn out so fast that they can barely last a million years. And blue stars are found throughout the universe—both near and far—showing that the whole universe is far younger than secular astronomers are willing to admit.
Spiral galaxies are also like cosmic egg-timers, still ticking away as though they are young.6 Because they are also distributed near and far throughout the universe, they refute the secular notion of billions of years of cosmic history.
Do stars form today? Not according to observational knowledge. Do astronomers see into the past through telescopes? Only if they assume that they do. And distant blue stars and spiral galaxies refute the claim that the universe is billions of years old.
The study authors claimed that star formation has dramatically slowed. But their observations are more consistent with Scripture, which teaches that star formation has totally stopped.
- Sobral, D. et al. 2012. A large Hα survey at z = 2:23; 1:47; 0:84 & 0:40: the 11 Gyr evolution of star-forming galaxies from HiZELS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Published online before print, November 7, 2012.
- Time-Traveling with One Method Illuminates the Evolution of Star Formation in the Universe. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan press release, November 5, 2012.
- Lisle, J. 2012. Blue Stars Confirm Recent Creation. Acts & Facts. 41 (9): 16.
- Thomas, B. Rare Supernova Recalls Missing Remnants Mystery. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org September 6, 2011, accessed November 15, 2012.
- Lisle, J. 2010. Anisotropic Synchrony Convention—A Solution to the Distant Starlight Problem. Answers Research Journal. 3 (1): 191-207.
- Thomas, B. Distant Galaxies Look Too Mature for Big Bang. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org November 30, 2011, accessed November 14, 2012.
Image credit: NASA
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on November 20, 2012.
Evidence for Creation › Evidence from Science › Evidence from the Physical Sciences › The Universe Was Created › The Universe Was Created Recently
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- Young-Looking Methane Lakes on Saturn's Moon
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text:
GALVESTON, Texas - Funeral services were held Friday night for a Galveston County man hours after police said they are investigating his death as a possible homicide.
Caeser Robert Nunez, 36, died Monday after he was involved in physical altercation on August 17 in the parking lot of the Galveston County Daily News where he worked as a deliveryman.
His family said an autopsy showed Nunez suffered blunt force trauma to the head.
"Nobody should have to die that way," Caesar's mother, Linda Nunez said. "It could have been prevented."
Police said Nunez went home after the fight but reported for duty at the newspaper in time for his next scheduled shift. He told his supervisors he wasn't feeling well and decided to go home. His mother found him on Sunday in the backyard of his home in Texas City.
"In my heart of hearts, my son would be alive right now if someone had done something quickly," Linda Nunez said. "When I found him, he was gasping for air."
Galveston Police spokesman Lt. Michael Gray said they haven't ruled anything out and are looking at Nunez's death as a possible homicide.
"We believe the injuries sustained in the altercation did contribute to his passing," Gray said.
Nunez was employed by the Galveston County News for just more than two years. The paper issued a statement on Friday: "The passing of Caesar Nunez is a tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this most difficult of times. We are cooperating fully with authorities in their efforts to determine what happened to our co-worker," read the statement from Patrick Graham.
Nunez is survived by his mother, father and an 8-year-old daughter.
Copyright 2012 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
I'm trying to figure out how to handle the format of this file to be used with Dijkstra - type algorithm.
It is a simple text file, with an unknown number of lines (easily created function to solve this). This is how it looks
city destination:weight destination:weight ....
1 2:10
2 3:50 1:70
3 5:10 1:50 2: 20 4:30
4 1:20
This basically says 1 can go to 2 with weight of 10. 2 can go to 3 with weight 50, or to 1 with weight 70...
There can be any number (numCities - 1) of destinations and weights per line. I'm having trouble thinking of how to store the cities with their destinations and weights. I thought about trying to use structs / linked lists but with the unknown amounts (particularly for pointers, city->weight1 city->weight I don't think this would be feasible. Any suggestions?


text:
Let it Rot! Composting Workshop
Turn your kitchen scraps, grass clippings and leaf litter into what every gardener wants…Compost! Reduce the amount of garbage you are sending to the landfill and enhance your garden soil by making compost right in your own back yard. It's easy once you understand the basic principles.
Register by October 27
- 958 reads


text:
The projects were designed around concepts developed by the Teen Leadership Coalition, sponsored by the River Valley Prevention Coalition.
With assistance from the Dardanelle Police Department, Yell County emergency technicians, the Dardanelle Fire Department, the Yell County Mounted Patrol Rescue, the Yell County Coroner's office, students Adrean Tucker, Tevin Barker, Kendie Weber, Katelyn Stanley, Magan Holmes, Colten Talley, Tyler Keith, Logan Carter, and Daniel Frost developed a presentation that was made to DHS juniors and seniors. Part of the presentation included a simulated mock wreck involving teens who were drinking and driving.
The wrecked vehicles were provided by Cogswell Motors. The presentation by Tucker and officer Lonnie Moore included a video presentation about consequences relating to alcoholism and drugs. The school day began with the students handing out "Smarties and Dum Dums" to drivers entering the school parking lot to address correct driving conditions.
EAST students Kendra Collins, Brandon Gutierrez, Paige Crow, Heath Edgell focused on texting and driving by developing a 27-day pledge encouraging students not to text and drive.
To motivate students to break the habit, people signing the pledge entered a drawing for a Walmart gift card. Each student also received a wrist bracelet stating "Texting Kills." The bracelets were purchased with a grant provide by Walmart.


text:
"Having completed our evaluation, I would like to report on behalf of the board concerning our presidential performance that we find it highly satisfactory," said Charles Blanchard of Russellville, vice chairman of the Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees. "We are pleased with Dr. Brown's continuing leadership role for Arkansas Tech."
Brown is in his 20th year as president at Arkansas Tech. He is under contract to remain in that role through June 30, 2014.
During the Brown administration, Arkansas Tech has risen to No. 2 in the state in graduation rates among public, four-year universities while maintaining the most affordable tuition and fees structure among the five largest universities in Arkansas.
Enrollment at Arkansas Tech has increased by 158 percent since 1997 to its current figure of 10,950 students.
The university has added more than 50 academic programs of study and awarded more than 20,000 degrees during Brown's presidency.
Arkansas Tech has invested more than $210 million in its campus infrastructure and raised tens of millions in private donations over the past two decades.
Brown's tenure has also seen the addition of a campus in Ozark and the transition to NCAA Division II athletics.
Brown is a tenured member of the Arkansas Tech faculty at the rank of professor of economics. A native of Coushatta, La., Brown and his wife, Jill Lestage Brown, reside in Russellville. They have three children, all adults, and four grandchildren.
"I am most appreciative of the dedicated volunteers who give of their time to benefit our university through service on the Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees," said Brown. "The support they lend to our mission of providing each student with the opportunity to persist to graduation is an invaluable resource. I am gratified and humbled that the trustees continue to place their confidence in me to serve as president at this great institution."