Tag Archives: peoria

Photo Friday: Rangers Lead the Way

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In 2008, Peoria’s airport was renamed General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport. When I dropped my wife off for a trip to visit her folks, I decided to stop and find out who General Downing was.

Rangers Lead the Way

The Downing memorial statue outside the airport

Born in Peoria, Wayne A. Downing was a career Army officer who served in Vietnam and the Gulf War, and he held various roles in the modern war on terror prior to his death in 2007.

I’ve adopted Peoria as my home over the last few years, and I’ve come to enjoy learning more and more about its history and personalities. For example, Theodore Roosevelt once proclaimed Grandview Drive the most beautiful drive in the United States. Peoria also was once the whiskey capital of the US. Today, Peoria is the world headquarters for Caterpillar, even though the Illinois government is doing its best to screw that up.

How many of you live in a small town or city? Or have moved to a new home far from where you grew up? How much do you know about it? When you have a quiet day, get out there and learn something. Maybe your quiet, boring little town will surprise you.

About Mike Oliveri

Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.

Photo Friday: The Pitch

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One strikeout, coming up.

The Pitch

Peoria Chiefs on the way to a 7-2 win

There were a few strikeouts that day, and several home runs sealed the deal. The O’Brien Field fence goes from 310′ at the baselines to 400′ at center field, and a couple balls—fair and foul alike—bounced out onto Adams Street. All in all, it made for an exciting game.

I brought only the 55-250mm lens, and it did the job just fine. One of these days I’d like to get something a little faster, with a large enough aperture to hide that net altogether. Maybe if I sell just a few more copies of Winter Kill and Deadliest of the Species…

About Mike Oliveri

Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.

Back to the Grind

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For the first time all week, it actually felt like Spring Break today. Too bad it’s back to the day gig tomorrow.

Let's go, Chiefs!

Behind home plate at Peoria’s O’Brien Field

A friend and I took our sons to their first minor league baseball game as the Peoria Chiefs hosted the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. I’m not a big baseball fan, but kids under 12 get in free on Sundays and our seats behind home plate were only ten bucks, so it’s tough to complain. The boys were excited because they’ve decided they’re St Louis Cardinals fans, and the Cards are the new owners of the Chiefs. Two Chiefs home runs in the first inning ensured we’d have an exciting game, and in the end the Chiefs beat the Timber Rattlers 7-2. After the game, the boys all got to go out to the field and run the bases.

Every year I find a new reason to like Peoria. I grew up near Chicago, and while I do miss a lot about the Windy City, there’s plenty to do in Peoria and it usually costs less. Cheap sports, a couple museums, some sites to visit, a water park and sports complex the kids love, an annual beer fest… all the benefits of the big city without all the traffic.

If only we could just change the Illinois weather.

It was nice to relax and just hang out all day. It was a refreshing change from all the running around I’ve been doing. Even the zoo trip the other day was part of a specific errand, and we didn’t get to stay long. Too bad it’s the last day of Spring Break.

It’s back to the grind on the writing projects, too. On deck this week: final edits on a work-for-hire project; the edits on Lie with the Dead; revisiting a short story; revisiting the Exit Strategy.

I’ve just realized I haven’t been reading much fiction lately, either. Time to correct that with Chuck Palahniuk’s new Kindle Short, Phoenix. Start short, then dive back into novels. I’ve been drowning in non-fiction lately.

About Mike Oliveri

Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.

Photo Friday: Wrong Lens

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I went to a second Peoria Rivermen hockey game last Friday, trusty camera in tow. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my trusty lens.

We sat in the second row behind the glass, so I thought I’d give the 18-55mm kit lens a shot. In theory it should be able to grab photos faster because of its (slightly) larger aperture, but almost all of the photos I shot were garbage. Bummer.

I did manage to capture one of the Rivs’ more exciting goals, though:

Flattened

Now that’s how you score a goal!

The Rivs knocked the Admirals goalie to the ground and put the puck in over his back. The Rivs scored twice within 30 seconds in the first period, but in the third the Admirals woke up and we had a 4-4 tie take us into overtime. Nobody scored during the overtime period, so they went to the shootout, which the Rivs took 2-0 after four shots. Final game score: 5-4 Rivs.

My son and I still had a great time, though, and nobody rammed our heads into a wall, unlike…

Eat Glass

Eat glass!

Despite the occasional clash, there were no fights in this game. That’s probably a good thing, but to me fights also indicate how amped up the players are. While the Rivermen did win, they spent the majority of the time on defense and their goalie, Mike McKenna, really had to stay busy. They would have had an easier time with a little more aggression.

I hope to go back soon. My second son wants to go again, and I’m really starting to enjoy live hockey. I’ll just have to remember the right lens next time.

About Mike Oliveri

Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.

Photo Friday Midweek: 2 into 4

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I won two tickets to the Peoria Rivermen hockey game last week, and had two of the best seats I’ve ever had at their arena. I get to do it again this Friday.

Down in Front, Ref!

Down in front, ref!

I won the tickets at our favorite local watering hole, and was told, “They’re for tomorrow’s game.” I didn’t check the date, and it wasn’t until I walked in the door that I discovered they were for the following week. I asked to exchange my tickets and they did, and then let me keep the original tickets.

Way cool. I get an extra opportunity to shoot some photos and bring my son to a game, and they get an extra shot at concessions sales. Win-win.

If I could start working the same magic for novels and short stories, I’d be prolific before I knew it.

About Mike Oliveri

Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.

Photo Friday: The Transit of Venus

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Equipment failures prevented me from getting decent photos of the Transit of Venus on Tuesday, but the family and I still had fun spotting the shadow of Venus against the orange disc of the sun with the solar shades I picked up.

Watching the Transit

The Squirt watches Venus transiting the sun

Given it would be over a hundred years before the next transit, and the kids were too young to catch it the first time around, I thought it might be a good experience for them. I took a long lunch break from work and rode out to Peoria’s Lakeview Museum and planetarium to pick up solar viewing shades, and borrowed a telescope from the science class at the school I work for.

The telescope was meant to project an image of the sun on some poster board, but I could not get a good image. It turned out the telescope was missing a lens or an eyepiece and had no focus. I improvised with my 55-250mm camera lens, but its results were sketchy at best.

Projection FAIL

That tiny, pale gray spot is Venus. I promise, kids.

At least the solar shades worked out. We expected Venus’s silhouette to be a bit bigger given the illustrations I had seen, but we spotted it. The Squirt noticed it first, in fact, and then the rest of us knew what to look for.

I didn’t know the Lakeview Museum existed until Monday night, and had no idea Peoria had a planetarium. My oldest son found the schedule I picked up, and he wants to go check it out. So, as a bonus, we now have another family event planned for some day in the near future.

Sun Watchers

"That's it?"

All in all it was a fun night, and the kids got to learn something. Given even their own children may not be around for the next Transit, I hope it’s a memory that will stick with them as they get older.

About Mike Oliveri

Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.

Photo Friday: Sad Little Monkeys

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It’s Spring Break this week, so in an effort to keep the Rugrats entertained I took them to Peoria’s Glen Oak Zoo. It’s not a huge place and the kids all have their favorite exhibits, so it’s a good way to kill a couple hours in the afternoon. I, of course, brought the camera along.

Take Me Home

"Please take me home with you!"

The tamarins are usually the first exhibit we see when walking in through the gift shop, and I had to snap a photo of this little guy’s sad eyes. His buddies were busy trying to figure out how to open the small door at the back of the cage or bust their way through the mesh ceiling, but he seemed to already understand the futility of those actions.

I only brought my 55-250mm lens, and its aperture makes indoor shooting rough at times. As such, I was happy with the way this one turned out. In fact, it was challenged a few times as many of the animals had moved indoors and I had to shoot through glass.

For example, the mandrills were all behind a large pane of glass:

Sad Mandrill

You'd be bummed if you were stuck in a cage all day, too.

I was able to tweak this a bit in Lightroom, but I think the color would have been more vibrant and the eyes in better focus had this been shot in open daylight.

At least this guy cooperated by reclining in the sunlight:

Dramatic Monkey

"Go, save yourselves! I'll... be fine..."

The kids, of course, insisted he’d croaked and discussed the many impossible ways he might have died, ranging from bullets to swords to ramming the glass head first. Then the monkey moved his left hand and shattered their dark little imaginations.

They come by it honestly.

All in all we had a good day. There are more photos on Flickr, including a few of the male lion who is usually sound asleep when we visit.

About Mike Oliveri

Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. His Bram Stoker Award-winning first novel, Deadliest of the Species, was just reprinted by Evileye Books.