According to their website:

In 1983 a group of Hot Air Balloon enthusiast who lived in and around Jackson came up with the dream of a family friendly event for the Jackson Community. The Hot Air Jubilee was born. Since then the Jubilee has grown to an event that thousands of people attend every summer. 35-40 Balloons come in from around the country to participate in the friendly rivalry of the contests.

There was definitely a large crowd of people there when I arrived, and it was a bright hot July day to be sure. There was quite a bit of shade afforded by the trees and as long as you stayed hydrated it was tolerable. They had the usual carnival games like water guns and shooting hoops.

I was tempted to play if it meant winning this fuzzy guy.

The Jackson RC club was also out – showing off their confidence with their planes with barrel rolls and nose dives.

I caught this dragonfly taking a break on a car antenna – no doubt letting his wings cool in the slight breeze.

It was equally entertaining watching what goes into getting a balloon set up as it was the actual launches.

This little girl was having a blast with her bubble gun.

The obvious fan favorite was Sugar Bear of course.

I highly recommend if you’re within any reasonable driving distance that you check them out next year.

View the full gallery HERE.

I had a fantastic time despite a few hiccups (fire evacuation!), and it was wonderful seeing everyone. We had a fair number of cosplayers (and just people wanting a souvenir) come by for their photo buttons. Next year I promise we’ll have a good stock of colors for the decorative rings so no one misses out!

There was a great response and feedback for MahJong House as well. Thank you to everyone who not only purchased it, but came by to give it a test drive. Your feedback only makes it better!

Mitsuwa was awesome, I finally got to try the dim sum shop and had some steamed buns. They were very tasty, and I can see why they are either busy or sold out when I’m there.

DisjointedImages will once again be making a grand appearance to provide you with a variety of funny-because-it’s-true buttons for all kinds of fandoms.

New this year is our active use of our Twitter feed – keep an eye on it for random specials and codes.

I’ve worked hard to have lots of new designs, and as always will have the cosplay photo setup available.

Stop by!

As you can see, we’ve now got almost the full catalog of buttons available for purchase (there are still convention exclusives that are only available in person), along with photo examples of all the options.

If you have any questions, please contact us!

After poking around and signing up, I found I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a very well made site, and shock of shocks, it works as advertised! You can find me at: http://raptr.com/disjointedimages

One of the downsides to developing a game, is that actually getting to play any is difficult. I’ve got quite a few recent and/or soon to be released games that I’d love to sit down with. Hopefully you’ll see my status update as I get that chance, along with further reviews here. Here’s my short lineup:

Tales of Monkey Island – C’mon! A new Monkey Island game?! I love it right there, at the title. Seriously, though. It looks like a great setup, and nice to see developers from the previous games on board. Even better…

The Secret of Monkey Island – Special Edition – A revamp and release of the original “started it all” Monkey Island game.

The Beatles: Rock Band (9-9-09) – This just goes without saying. First, it’s the Beatles. An amazing selection too from the Abbey Road album. By far, Rock Band has been the best return for my money hands down. I have the ION drum kit, and a lot of DLC music too, and even with that extra investment, I still find it worth every penny. So I have no qualms picking up a standalone game to be able to have that kind of fun with some of my favorite music.

Forza 3 (10-27-09) – A really nice looking game, and it’s been a while since I’ve had a new racing title. I look forward to this one.

As you can guess based on the list that’s there, I’ve got some wide ranging tastes. One of my favorite radio stations is CBC Radio 2. Though, with the format change, I don’t get to listen to enough of it when I’m on my way to work these days.

It’s a station based in Canada, and covers every possible genre over the course of the day. Tom Allen delights me with his personal chatter in the morning. Tonic has some great jazz (responsible for the Oh My My on that list), and Nightstream is like your subconscious playing DJ. Some of my favorite songs started with me staring at my radio wondering what the heck was playing!

Got a favorite song that I have to hear? Post it in the comments.