Okay with this blog I will be following up on my previous blog, of fast food rankings. I am going to try not to include “fast-food” even though we all can probably agree chick-fil-a is also first on this list. This list will be a lot more controversial but bare with me and please give me some suggestions.

1. At number one, I am going with Pasta Grill. Everyone here has probably had it and there is no real reason to go over it because of that. It slaps and that’s all there is to it. Bring a hot date here, it will work, trust me.
2. At number two, I have to go with Stoby’s, honestly, the only reason they’re this high is because of their cheese dip and Stoby’s punch. With all of this quarantining and having to head back home, I am not going to lie I am missing that combo a lot more than I should. I love how much they do for the community as well.
3. Next I am going with Holly’s. Holly’s is amazing and if their hours were longer and not just 11-2 on M-F it would be by far #1. Nothing you can order from Holly’s is bad. Even their sweet tea is good. They are very friendly and cheap.
4. After Holly’s I gotta go with Logan’s their steaks, chicken, and shrimp is honestly all I have ordered and they’ve always been good. It is really good however it is not college student friendly, it gets pricy but it is another good place to bring a date
5. This list may or may not be skewed to stuff I am craving but I am really craving some ribs right about now so I am looking at a BBQ place for this slot. I gotta go with Whole Hog. Everything they have is good. The sides are alright but the BBQ is so good. I have to go with BBQ sauce #4, I like the kick.
6. Next I am going to go with Mike’s Place, their lunch menu isn’t trash by any means but it is relatively small but it is cheaper. The dinner menu however is deep and literally has anything, it is very good, but gets pricy. You really can’t go wrong with Mikes Place.
7. Fried Pies by Walmart over by Hendrix is gooooood. You can really eat a burger at anytime, Fried Pies is really good and never busy. It is very similar to David’s Burgers that is also very good but I have that back home so its hard for me to put a place like that over it. And David’s Burgers is usually busy and crowded.

I’m not really hungry right now and I also haven’t been in Conway in a while so it is hard for me to think of places in Conway. If you have any suggestions let me know please.

By no mean am I ranking all of these, I’ve never heard of half of these and a lot of these I would not consider fast food. But by saying that, I would like to clarify what I claim is fast food: I say if there is not a drive thru window, it is not a fast food restaurant. I am not going to rank all of the restaurants, but I will do 15. Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think of my list.

• 1. Coming in at number one, I am giving it to Chick Fil A, I don’t think there is any comparison to Chick Fil A when it comes to fast food, their quality of food, service, and prices are second to none. The rewards system they have is excellent.
• 2. I have to go with Raising Canes. Raising Canes gets bashed a lot for the size of their menu but the stuff they do have is up there with the best of them. Their chicken quality is very good, the fries when fresh are excellent, the bread they offer is incredible, and Canes sauce is by far the best sauce any restaurant offers.
• 3. At number 3, I have to go with Whataburger. You either love it or hate it and there is no in between. Whataburger is solid and there really is no debating it. Of the fast food restaurants with a drive thru they have the best burger. I love the spicy ketchup, and the cinnamon rolls in the morning always seem to hit.
• 4. In and Out burger in my opinion is a close second to Whataburger, the burgers are good and with the closest one being in Dallas I would not complain about getting one. It would be nice to see In and Out and Whataburger make its way north into Arkansas.
• 5. Next I would have to say Zazbys. Zazbys is usually somewhat slept on and overlooked. Their chicken always hits, the fries are usually average and will usually have way too much seasoning, the toast is good when fresh, and the zazs sauce is solid.
• 6. Popeyes is next, I think Popeyes chicken sandwich brought them back to relevance. While they’re not getting the attention they got when they released the sandwich, the quality sides they have and types of chicken they offer, they deserve more attention. But they do not deserve the attention the restaurants above get.
• 7. Coming in at 7 I am going with Taco Bell, now of all of these restaurants on the list, if you’re not eating this after midnight and are not in the mood for this, you might as well send it to the bottom of this list. However, if you are eating it after midnight and are in the mood for it, you really can’t go wrong with it.
• 8. At number 8, this will come as a surprise to a lot of people. I am going with Arbys. Arbys curly fries are by far the best fries any of these restaurants offer. I am not sure if I’ve ever been to Arbys dine in or in the drive thru and ever seen a line. When Arbys is fresh, it hits. I get the French dipper or the ham melts. I think a lot of people sleep on Arbys because they are unsure what to get.
• 9. At number 9 I am going with Wendys, Wendys is solid sometimes but a lot of times it is also gross, none of their sauces they offer are good but I always find myself going there getting the 4 for 4 or the 2 for $5. The frostys are solid but the fries are usually soggy, the burgers seem like they’re a good idea at first but always let me down.
• 10. At 10 I am going with Sonic. Sonic’s food is trash. The corn dogs and tater tots are alright and sometimes so is the popcorn chicken. The only reason they’re still open is the ice cream and drinks.
• 11. Subway is my 11th best fast food place. I think Subway is alright, its hard to pick subway over a lot of those places and I always seem to be hungry not long after I eat it.
• 12. At 12 I am going with Mcdonalds. Mcdonalds is as busy as it is because of their brand. The fries are good and the quarter pounders aren’t bad. Every so often I will crave Mcdonalds and every time I get it my stomach hurts and I get let down.
• 13. At 13 I am going with Little Caesars. It is hard for me to consider other places fast food except for little ceasers. Their pizza is nasty, its cheap, and its a tiny selection but I find myself going back only because of the convince of it being Hot and Ready.
• 14. At 14 I am going with Dairy Queen, the burgers are well below average, the fries are decent, the only thing they have going for them is the ice cream.
• 15. At 15 look no further than Burger King. I’ll be honest Burger King is trash. I would really like to know why the creator of this list has them as high as he does. It is trash in every aspect.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had time to sit down and get creative with a design and not have any restriction and had complete freedom. I decided to video the jersey swap and do a tutorial on my instagram https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-cgHtJJh3p/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link it had a good turnout but it gave me something to do during my quarantine. With all of my graphic design, I was completely self taught, I’ve never made any kinds of tutorials. So I decided with all of this free time everyone has I felt there was no better time than now to spread some creative juices. In the tutorial video I went through step by step, how to jersey swap, in this weeks blog I have decided to briefly go over my process for the rest of it. Once the swap was complete, I had to come up with some sort of background, this took awhile, I had a hard time finding the picture I had in my head. I went through google and the photos I already had and decided I would test myself and remove the players from this image and add fans in the background. I knew that the swap and smoke would cover up some of the people in the middle sections so I tried to improvise with what I had. I had to try to get the lighting right, with help of some vignette layers it also covered up some fans. Lighting is a big part in these kinds of processes so I worked on shadowing the player and the arena. Next I went in with some flares, lightning, and electric effects as overlays until I got the look I was going for. With the next step, I went online and found a picture of all the banners the razorback basketball program has won, cut them out, added shadows, and made it look like they were unrealistically hanging from the rafters. Finally, I found another image online of another player and added the bottom of the scoreboard with the razorback logo at the top.

As I have stated before in my previous blogs, I travel with the UCA Football team taking pictures. Before heading to a game I pack my camera bag with everything I think I may need for the weekend. I’ve sold some of my stuff since last football season but this year I will be carrying a Nikon D500 and for roughly 75% of the trip and nearly all of the game I will shoot on a Nikon 70-200 2.8 lens. The Bears play in some low light conditions, over half of our games were night games and some of the stadiums lighting was very below average so having the capability to shoot at F2.8 allows me to keep my shutter speed high enough to not have to deal with motion blur in the photograph. The other 25% of the trip I will split time with my Sigma 2.8 24-70 lens, I use this for on the bus, some of pre-game when I can get up close to the subject and all of my locker room stuff. And for the rest of the split time, I use a go pro for video stuff during pregame and for when they run out of the tunnel and will help my partner with his DJI Drone. So when I pack for a trip I need to make sure I have all of my stuff, chargers for my camera batteries, phone chargers, and of course my laptop charger. I am making content throughout the trip for the twitter so keeping my laptop charged and phone charged is essential for putting stuff out on twitter. I have a camera grip that holds another battery that allows my camera to run two batteries at once, this is nice because my camera battery will last all day no matter the situation. Weather plays a big role in this as well. In the last two seasons we have had 6 of our games be delayed or played in some kind of rain. Bringing my rain guards are a must if the weather even slightly looks like it could rain.

With the coronavirus lingering, it’s left everyone with quite a bit of time on their hands. With it getting hotter, the bass are moving up preparing for their spawn. This is when you catch the biggest fish. The bass are getting ready to lay their eggs causing them to be very aggressive and protective of their eggs. While most of us are no longer in Conway, their are tons of lakes, rivers, and ponds in the state of Arkansas that are all experiencing this type of behavior in their bass. Since the start of the break, I’ve fished many places and have found success throwing spinner baits, crank bait, various types of worms and jigs. My favorite type of method of worm fishing is either the Texas rig, where you have a simple slip shot weight and worm hook with the worm weedless on the hook. Or drop shotting, drop shot set ups are a little more complicated: you have to first tie the small hook on the line around a foot to foot and a half up the line leaving the rest to tail off the the end of the hook. Then tie a drop shot weight off the end then hook the worm head on to the hook. You will get a lot of bites at the end before actually landing the fish. Drop shotting the bass when they’re on their beds allows the bait to stay in place for as long as you wish.

As we all know, the coronavirus has caused every sporting event basically worldwide screech to a halt. Sports as a whole has had a huge impact on the way people for centuries has lived their lives. Places now such as ESPN, Bleacher Report, to the small town sports photographer, or to your every day sports fan, people seem to be lost in this time without sports. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for us all. ESPN First Take reporter and former NBA player, Matt Barnes made a very interesting report. He said, “You are giving the best players in the world an extra two, three, or maybe four weeks off? The energy in the playoffs (once the NBA returns) will be off the charts. It will be the best playoffs we have ever seen.” That allows guys like Lebron who are older to let their bodies recover from games that have stacked up on their bodies since October. Guys like Kevin Durant who had a slim chance of returning to the NBA around the end of the playoffs because of injury. Assuming the NBA will delay the start of the playoffs and not just dive into it. Kevin Durant should be healthy again just in time to suit up along side his injury prone teammate Kyrie Irving who has also been dealing with injuries. The Nets will be a scary team to face in the NBA Playoffs.

I’m not saying the coronavirus is good for any of us, we are all aware of how bad this is and the affects of all of it on our society and sports world. But if there was ever a time to look forward and try to see the positives it is now.

Also on a side note…

One of my photographs from last weeks state tournament games made it on ESPN last Saturday night. It was the featured photo on ESPN.com for their story about “Senior Night.” I was so excited, this is easily one of the coolest things that has happened to me since I started taking photos. Here is the Link to the article if you are interested in reading: https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/28900304/best-scott-van-pelt-senior-night-twitter-thread

This afternoon Central Arkansas starts spring football, it is an exciting time for Bear fans and players. UCA looks to defend their 2019 Southland Conference Championship, and it all starts here. The first time the Bears are back on the stripes. UCA looks to have another conference championship in the works, returning the majority of the offensive and defensive production. The Bears return nine 2019 All-Conference selections including NFL draft prospect and All-American corner Robert Rochell and the Conferences leading passer, Breylin Smith. The Bears also return a stout receiving corp, including first team all conference Lujuan Winningham and freshman Player of the Year Tyler Hudson.

The Bears brought in a top 15 recruiting class that features many 3 star prospects from around the state of Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee. The Southland Conference has been put on alert, after UCA stole many of the conferences biggest recruiting targets right out of their own backyards.

With an unfavorable home schedule, the Bears have a difficult task ahead of them, playing only four home games in the 2020 season. The Bears home opener is on September 26 vs Co- Conference champion Nicholls State. If the Bears can win another conference championship it will be a huge milestone for young head coach, Nathan Brown. Heading into only his third season as head coach, Brown has his sights set on back-to-back conference championships.

In previous blogs, I have mentioned working with the UCA football team. I can’t be more excited to work with this great team and make a run at another Southland Conference Ring. I can’t wait to photograph the Bears for the fourth straight year it looks to be a good one.

I felt like this years NBA All-Star game was great. In years past it always seemed to be a game you wanted to watch but never cared who won. While this years game felt a little differently, of course you rooted for your favorite players but the players seemed to care a little more. The uniforms were all numbered the same for each team, one team wore 24 and the other team wore 2. In honor of Kobe and Gigi Bryant. Every player out there wanted to win the first ever Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP Award, the first ever went to Kawhi Leonard, he lead Team LeBron with 30 points.

The talk of the all-star game however was the reformatted Elam ending. In tribute to Kobe, at the end of the third quarter the team with the higher score is required to score 24 more points than what they had to win. So in this years case, Team Giannis had 133 at the end of the third, they had to get to 167 to win. The first team to 167 wins, however Team LeBron was trailing at the end of the third, they had to score 33 points to secure the victory, and that they did. Team LeBron defeated Team Giannis 157-155 in the 69th version of the NBA All-Star Game.

The NBA has messed with the formatting of the All-Star game to try to create more interest and excitement in the game. What they did this year was a great idea and I can’t wait to see what they come up with in future All-Star games. This years game in Chicago was a big step in the right direction.

Now that signing day has concluded, the coaching staff of UCA Football took an extended weekend regrouped and shifted their focus to the class of 2021. Prospects UCA Football thinks has a shot to be a Bear in the 2022 season will soon begin receiving mail-outs of graphics and other promotional content I will make throughout the week. Recruiting never stops, if you let up, someone else somewhere else will start recruiting that kid and you missed your window.

Outside of UCA Football recruiting, my week remains busy, I am heading up to Fayetteville to photograph the Razorback’s Basketball game vs Mississippi State on Saturday. On Friday I am taking photos of the Parkview vs Jacksonville high school game. Wednesday, I will be videoing the UCA basketball game at the Farris Center for the Purple and Grey Network. Tuesday is still up in the air, I’m sure I will be sent to a high school game somewhere in the Central Arkansas area. On the days in between, I will be videoing UCA Baseball practices for the Purple and Grey Network. Can’t wait to see what good pictures and videos I can come up with!

The signing day event UCA Football hosted last Wednesday at downtown UCA was a big hit. All of the donors, athletic department workers and president Houston Davis all loved the Signing Day graphics I made last week. We had a large crowd with a lot of excitement for this years signing class. Signing day is always a stressful time for everyone involved, this year’s class ranked top 10 in the FCS level and number one in the Southland Conference. Since I’ve been here at UCA we have had the top signing class in the conference, which is big moving forward for the program.