As you all know, severe tornadoes  left complete devastation in some areas in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Tennesse.  Damage in Arkansas is statewide, with the worst hit area being Marmaduke, Arkansas, which  is at least 90% destroyed (with 45 injured & four unaccounted for), and the state of Tennessee having the highest death toll, which is expected to rise.   Similar damage estimates are the same in towns in all 4 affected states.  If you'd like to help, please contact www.redcross.org.

 

Here is a video of the F2 that flew over me & hit the next county up.   This was taken by a police dashcam.  I have a 2nd video showing the baseball sized hail & of the tornado being at least a mile wide.  I'll add it as soon as I figure out why the url doesn't work.  By our local news station, KATV Channel 7 (ABC).

 

 

From Saturday, proof that lightning really can strike in the same place twice:

 

 

 

 

At the worst possible time, MPC went down on Veteran's Day, along with all the other sites on the Sago Datacenter in Florida that were on server 1145.  The staff of the MPC Special Events committee immediately began making alternative arrangements for the radio station to play for the spades tournament, and all worked around this issue.  They are to be commended for their dedication and hard work to make this tournament one of the best in history.

 

MPC is now on the same server, however, that server has been moved to a new datacenter, and MPC will no longer experience all those issues we used to have.  We know the transition was bumpy, we did make this transition to ensure quality assurance at MPC, and continuity.  We thank you for your patience.

 

We're gearing up to bring a few new features to you, including a photo gallery to display the awards, and a few surprises when I change a few settings sometime this weekend.

Added to the squadron photo album is a picture of one of our COD's on touchdown during a carrier onboard delivery during Christmas.  The squadron painted Christmas themes on our aircraft every year with reindeer, and the crew enjoyed donning Santa costumes, beards and all.  The COD's would be filled to the brim with holiday letters, cards, goodies and packages, and were always a welcome site.

 

One year, without explanation, the pilot's beard blew up, obscuring the view  of the pilot during touchdown.  Although the crews continued to wear the Santa suits, beards were no longer allowed.

 

VR-24 occasionally delivered toys to orphans within the mediterranean theater of operation during the Christmas COD.

Veteran's Day is always a special day for me, and each year becomes more special.

 

This year, after a long day of visiting the Veteran's cemetary to place flags beside the markers, visiting the Arkansas Veteran's Home, and a few other activities, I came home and enjoyed the most successful and memorable MPC Special Events tournament in the three years since I created MPC Special Events. 

 

The way so many people came together to give the zone this tournaments was just as touching to me as hearing the National Anthem.  I don't think I kept a dry eye during the entire tournament.  The macs are moving, I was receiving numerous zm's and MSN messages thanking me for my service.  I was also sitting on tables 1 and 2, and I've never seen a lobby on the zone that excited since I've been there.  It was simply overwhelming.  We had one person doing trivia on table 2, and had our very own Zygar DJ'ing patriotic music that was awesome. 

 

Things were very hectic for me, and I loved every moment of it.  Hearing all the wonderful compliments and thank yous in the lobby and also via email and messenger also warmed my heart.  It brought tears to my eyes that so many came out to honor those who serve, and remember the sacrifices that troops make when they join the military service, and also remembering those serving the war on terrorism.

 

To all of our special guests who attended the tournament, the @mpluses, the hosts, the member pluses, and our most special guests of all, the zoners........thank you for making Veteran's Day so special for me.  You guys all rock.  Charli@mplus, Myster2U@mplus, Shine@mplus, Gorgee@mplus, KRS@mplus (Go2)......thank you.

 

The MPC special events awards winner trophies for the winners of the Veteran's Day tournament have been uploaded into the MPC Awards of Excellence Album for viewing.  I will be emailing these to winners shortly.  Congratulations to all the winners.

 

A special thanks to +Spade__Wars for hosting & all his hard work & the entire ITS club for their assistance in making this tournament a huge success.