home america mortgage: The Official State Theatre of Tennessee - 07/19/08 07:08 AM
With all the music history, from Memphis on the western border, Nashville in the north central part, and the Appalachian Mountains forming the eastern border of the state of Tennessee, Knoxville is fortunate to have "The Official State Theatre of Tennessee." The Tennessee Theatre opened October 1, 1928 with almost 2,000 seats. From the Czechoslovakian crystals in the French-style chandeliers to the overall Spanish-Moorish style, the Chicago architects, Graven & Mayger, incorporated a hodgepodge of design elements from all parts of the world. The overall effect is visually stunning and provides an intimate setting in which to see some of the … (5 comments)

home america mortgage: Tennessee Music...Volunteer Jam! - 07/17/08 03:08 PM
Being so close to Nashville, the unchallenged capital of country music, we feel the music. At the state's western border is Memphis, the home of "the King" Elvis Presley, Sun Studios, and the birthplace of both Rock & Roll and the Blues, which inspires us because they are distinct American creations. And closer to home, the mountains of Appalachia sing from our experience, our heart, and our spirit. Tennessee may not be the first place that pops into your mind when you think of music, but it should rank right up there with Detroit, New York City, Austin, Miami, and Los … (6 comments)

home america mortgage: Stir Fry Those Fresh Veggies! - 07/12/08 01:53 PM
Last night I used a couple of carrots, some radishes, an onion, a large zucchini, and a squash in a wonderful stir fry dish. I cut up the carrots, zucchini, and squash in sizeable strips. I diced the radishes and onion. All of this went into a large snapware bowl with Dale's low sodium seasoning poured over the top to marinade for at least 20-30 minutes. While it might not be the healthiest thing, I put a generous spoonful of country crock butter in a large skillet and heated it on high; yes you could use vegetable or olive oil. I … (38 comments)

home america mortgage: Website Update! - 07/11/08 09:13 AM
My business partner, Danny Thornton and I have been doing some work on our website in an effort to draw more traffic. The motivation for this was a post by Frank Schulte-Ladbeck entitled Considering a PPC campaign, Displaying Ads on Your Site, and Text Link Ads. If you have not had the opportunity to read his post, I would highly recommend checking it out.
In his post Frank talks about incresed visitors to his site that may be directly attributable to his use of Google AdSense's pay per click campaign. Google promotes three AdSense options:
AdSense for content automatically crawls the … (16 comments)

home america mortgage: Social Media Marketing - 07/10/08 01:12 PM
With the explosion of online social and professional networking in the past several years it seems obvious that the advertisers would soon follow. After all, advertisers want to get their message in front of as many potential consumers as possible. Advertisers used to rely on those annoying pop up advertisements that spawned an entire cottage industry to combat this often unwelcome and potentially harmful advertising. As pop up blocking programs became part of the fabric of most operating systems, the advertisers moved on reluctantly to banner ads that appear on most websites, including the very page I write this post on.
… (9 comments)

home america mortgage: The Last King of Scotland...A Movie Review! - 07/07/08 05:44 AM

With lots of family around for the festivities of the July 4th holiday, the late evenings were spent laying in bed watching television to unwind. I was lucky enough to come across this 2007 nugget that earned its star, Forest Whitaker, the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar and Golden Globe Awards in 2007! I had heard great things about this movie when it was released but never got around to seeing it in the theaters. After seeing this movie, I could definitely understand why Whitaker was given such high praise for his portrayal of Ugandan … (17 comments)

home america mortgage: A Garden's First Bounty! - 07/03/08 09:33 AM

The Garden Is In!
A Veggie Garden Update...With Chickens!
As many of you know from earlier posts, I am quite an avid gardener! Well today was the first in what will definitely be many takes from my garden. There were at least twice as many cucumbers as the ones you see in the photo above! From the varying shades of green to the alternately bright and deep yellow of the squash, the photo does present the vibrant colors of nature. This is only what was ready today as the plants are laden with veggies. From the grape tomatoes growing in … (50 comments)

home america mortgage: July 4th Celebration: 3 Views From Tennessee - 07/01/08 06:25 AM
As all Americans know, on July 4th we celebrate America's independence from the tyranny of English rule. All across our great land celebrations as diverse as our country itself will be held. Whether you will be cooking out with family, spending a relaxing day hiking in the mountains, or attending a formal event in your community, I would urge everyone to take a moment, public or private, to remember not only those who perished in our Revolutionary War, but the honorable service of the men and women in the armed forces since then.
Knoxville and the surrounding area has three formal … (5 comments)

home america mortgage: School For Scoundrels...A Movie Review! - 06/27/08 08:21 AM

I did not have the opportunity to see this in the theaters though it looked very funny. When I saw it was coming on Direct TV last night, I was able to finally see it! Before I go further, let me state that I am a huge John Heder and Billy Bob Thornton fan so I had very high expectations. In addition to the two headlining stars, there were numerous other big names in this film including Michael Clarke Duncan, Sara Silverman, Horatio Sanz, Ben Stiller, and Jacinda Barrett.
Heder's character, Roger epitomizes the spineless loser. It is apparent that … (7 comments)

home america mortgage: Kuumba Festival 2008 - 06/24/08 01:21 PM
This weekend Knoxville celebrates the rich contribution of African Americans to the local art community and the community as a whole with the Kuumba Festival. Begun in 1989 by the African American Appalachian Arts, Inc. the Kuumba Festival highlights the art and artists who help to make our city great. The word kuumba means creativity in Swahili and captures the true spirit of creativity that is expressed in the festival. The festival incorporates the traditional arts, like painting, sculpture, and woodworking. Attendees can also take in non-traditional forms of art like music, dance, spoken word, and stilt walking. The festival will … (7 comments)

home america mortgage: Impulse...A Movie Review! - 06/24/08 06:37 AM
I have a Blockbuster Total Access account that I received as a Christmas present from my younger brother and found that I really enjoy it. The ease of making a list of movies and returning them in prepaid envelopes has really won me over; so much so that I continue to use (and now pay for) my account long after the free period has expired. The account has also allowed me to get movies that I might normally leave on the shelf. This is how I came to see Impulse!
I watched this movie on Sunday night with three friends. I … (10 comments)

home america mortgage: A Veggie Garden Update...With Chickens! - 06/19/08 03:25 AM
Back on May 22, 2008 I wrote a post called The Garden Is In! where I detailed my newly planted garden. Well today is just three days shy of one month since that post and I figured I would post an update. The landscape fabric has been a great tool in controlling grass and weed growth. Very rarely do I pull any weeds. Watering is also kept to a minimum because we luckily are not in a drought. In fact there is morning dew on the plants when I go out to check them each morning while having coffee! The plants … (32 comments)

home america mortgage: Stay Alive...A Movie Review! - 06/18/08 02:15 PM

So I just caught this flick starring Frankie Muniz, Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson, Milo Ventimiglia, Samaire Armstrong, and Adam Goldberg on Encore. With this cast of newly famous actors and actresses (with the exception of Muniz, who has been on the scene for awhile) this movie definitely had potential. I remember it being advertised when it opened and the basic premise. The premise is that these college age kids find a Beta copy of a new computer game in an attache bag that is given to one of them from the sister of a recently deceased friend. The game is … (7 comments)

home america mortgage: Interstate or Scenic Highway? - 06/18/08 10:05 AM
I have been settled in Knoxville, Tennessee for almost two months now. I wanted to give little update on my adaptation to a slower paced life. It is somewhat ironic that my life here is considered slower paced because the workload demand for simply maintaining the property is much great than it was in metro-Atlanta. In Atlanta, I had a very small lot to maintain as I lived in a suburban subdivision. It seemed more about being near the city and all it had to offer, and less about spending a great deal of time maintaining property. Please do not understand, … (9 comments)

home america mortgage: Expecting Frank Sinatra? - 06/18/08 03:30 AM
Old Blue Eyes was quite the crooner. With ease he could get toes tapping and ladies swooning like only the greats can. If you ever got to hear him sing Fly Me To The Moon or any of his classics in person, consider yourself lucky. While it is indeed sad he is gone, what of those who have stepped up to fill the crooning void? Perhaps Michael Buble singing Everything is where you have gone to get your fill of Sinatra-esque music. Is this a good modern day substitution? After all there was only one Sinatra and unfortunately if you are … (8 comments)

home america mortgage: Tim Russert of Meet The Press Dies - 06/13/08 09:06 AM

It was announced at about 4:30 pm by MSNBC.com that Washington bureau chief and moderator of Meet the Press, Tim Russert had died of a sudden heart attack. Russert had returned early from a family trip to Italy, and was apparently working at the NBC studios for the upcoming Sunday broadcast when he collapsed of an apparent heart attack at approximately 1:45 pm this afternoon. Russert's wife and son are en route from Italy where the family had been celebrating his son's graduation from Boston College.
Russert represented a philosophy devoid of his own personal political views. He espoused the … (14 comments)

home america mortgage: Scanning Memories - 06/09/08 03:45 PM
I realized in my move just over a month ago that I had a lot of stuff, you can even read a post I did on it HERE and a follow up post HERE! In my effort to declutter and lighten my load, I came across a huge amount of photos taken before the age of the digital camera (or at least before I had one). What to do?
I decided that I would spend some time scanning them. By scanning the images, I could burn them to disk or save them to a flash drive for safe keeping. This is … (12 comments)

home america mortgage: Facebook...Oh Really! - 06/09/08 05:47 AM

I resisted for many reasons joining Facebook. My much younger brother always teased my step-mother, his mother, about being on facebook...oh really! I am not now, nor have I been for awhile, in college; you no longer have to actively be in college, nor college age...oh really! I really don't do much with

so I was unsure if I would do much with another social networking site.
So of course, I signed up for an account!
I really don't plan on spending too much time on Facebook but it is another way for potential clients to contact me. The … (33 comments)

home america mortgage: 2008 Lenoir City Arts & Crafts Festival - 06/06/08 07:13 AM

Lenoir City is a small community (population about 7,800) located about 30-35 minutes southwest of Knoxville. One of the main attractions to this area is the beautiful Ft. Loudon State Park (pictured above). This beautiful park encompasses 1,200 acres and was one of the earliest sites of the British fortifications on the western frontier. The natural beauty of the park entices thousands of visitors to enjoy boating, fishing, hiking, and picnicking.
On the first full weekend in June since 1962, the banks of Ft. Loudon Lake have been the home to the Lenoir City Arts & Crafts Festival! This festival … (9 comments)

home america mortgage: Fostering The Imagination! - 06/05/08 09:50 AM
As a kid I used to have quite the vivid imagination. Books like Watership Down by Richard Adams and The Cay by Theodore Taylor fed into the brillance and innocence that only a child can fully possess.
Nature, adventure, travel and mystery were the province of my young mind. Feeding into this fertile ground were the tools of wonder! Binoculars! Telescopes! Night Vision Goggles! Microscopes! Magnifying Glasses! And numerous other gadgets that allowed insight into another world! I was lucky enough to have access to three of these wonderful tools at my disposal!
The binoculars were the first of the three … (22 comments)