The Blogaronis were held tonight at Panera on the corner of National and Elm in Springfield, and we had about a good ten people show up. Jason Wert and I thought there would only be about four of us. Boy were we wrong.

And the winners were…

…uh…

…well…

…ah, crap, it was Larry’s show so I gotta let him post the winners. Watch his blog for the results.

Being that it was my first time at a Springfield blogger gathering, it was great to meet everyone. Super great group, very eclectic yet very engaging and good people to hang around. The Dive Bar Review has a good summary of who all was there.

Let me recommend Panera’s Chicken Chipotle sandwich. Wicked awesome tasty delight that will have your taste buds dancing and burning at the same time. The chips were awesome too. I need to hit up Panera more often.

Yes, I did whip out the iPhone and it held everyone’s amazement. Especially the fact that it is jailbroken. Although Andy doesn’t want to get one because you can’t manually replace the battery.

We talked tech for a few minutes then we all just naturally broke into separate circles. I made some good conversation with the gentleman from Ozark Storms and Emily Rittman about tornadoes and broadcasting, respectively. Later I chatted it up with Ron Davis, Jack, Jim and a couple others about the upcoming presidential election.

Interesting tidbit, I checked everyone’s blogs tonight, and everyone but Jason and I have a blog over at Blogspot. Jason and I both use WordPress. Power to the WordPressers!

After the ‘ronis were done and everyone said their goodbyes for the evening, I joined my brother and a few of his friends for a night of bowling at Sunshine Lanes. I sucked it up, enough said.

I hope to get some Blogaroni gathering photos up soon. Meanwhile to all my fellow Springfield bloggers, if you have Facebook I welcome you to add me. The link is on the bottom right-hand corner of my right sidebar.

Last but not least, I heard a new track today…a tight fresh beat from Adam K & Soha called “Long Distance.” Thank God for Dance Department’s podcast. Awesome beats. I’m gonna hook you up with some fresh electro goodness from Deadmau5, Eric Prydz vs Pink Floyd, Leonid Rudenko and Groove Armada. Enjoy.

I just finished reading three chapters of the book of Proverbs, taking me up to 21 for the week. It’s interesting because I know a bunch of verses (Proverbs 3:5 and 6 being my personal favorites), but I had never read the book in depth. After reading through this book, there is a lot of simple yet profound wisdom to be learned.

Read the book of Proverbs sometime. You won’t be disappointed.

On another note, thank you to everyone who has listened to my podcast so far. I appreciate the support and the emails I have received since Transmission 2 went online today.

Oh and don’t forget, the Blogaronis are tomorrow night at 7:30. Panera Bread on National by MSU. If you’re a Springfield blogger or blog fan, be there. If I win something I am going to call on Mr. T to give my acceptance speech.

I pity the fool that don’t attend them Blogaronis.

A scheduling conflict has pushed Here’s What’s Brewin’ Transmission 2 back one day — it will air tomorrow rather than today. Adam Gillette, of Newport News, VA, will be my One On One guest for the first segment.

The all-important second segment relies on your feedback and I need your responses ASAP. I’ve had two trickle in so far, which is good, but I’m asking for more people to get involved with the segment I am entitling Chris’s Mailbag, in which I pose a question on my blog a few days before the show and encourage responses to it.

This week’s question is as follows:

Is it possible to support the troops over in Iraq without supporting the war?

You can comment your responses back in this thread but I would prefer you email them to chris -at- chris-brewer.com so no one reads them before the show. (Replace the -at- with a @ of course.)

Tune in for Transmission 2 tomorrow, look for it here on our front page and our podcast page.

Tonight I stumbled across the webpage for an organization entitled Iraq Veterans Against the War. After reading up on their cause and mission — standing against the Iraq War for the objective of bringing all our troops home safely and ending what they term as an illegal war — and seeing the profiles of all the military members, current and former, who are members of IVAW, I want to become a member myself.

I don’t for one second believe that you can’t support the troops without also supporting the war. Supporting the troops means keeping their interests at heart, and that is bringing them home safely. Not sending them out to the killing fields for go-around after go-around, and then neglecting them when they come home as we did with our precious Vietnam veterans.

Yes, when you sign a contract, whether it be four, eight, or twenty years with the respective branch of service you join, you’re locked in. But when you sign up you are also expressing faith in your nation’s leadership to capably and morally uphold the will of the people.

Poll after poll shows that national disapproval with the Iraq War is constant. I disapprove of it myself, and I went over there.

I will say there is a ton of good going on over there that the media does not report for whatever reason. With the good comes the bad, and whatever good is accomplished in Iraq, is negated by the bad once the soldiers come home. We have soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors coming home with physical, spiritual and emotional wounds that take much more time to heal than the six to fifteen months they spend over in Iraq.

The place we lovingly call the Sandbox has now become a quagmire. I don’t know why our President and Congress (you can’t solely blame this war on President Bush if you understand how our system of government works) decided to get involved in a thousands of years-old conflict between Isaac and Ishmael, but it has had dire consequences.

It’s about time we all step up and write our congressmen, make our voices heard and do something about our feelings on this war. Our feelings are nothing if we don’t put action behind them, and America won’t pull out of a war it CANNOT win if the people don’t rally in a respectful and dignified manner.

That’s something I feel the folks over at Iraq Veterans Against the War are doing, and I fully support them. Heck, I might even join IVAW.