Still, there are some words and phrases that drive me nuts. For example, I cringe when people take words that are verbs, and make them into nouns. A recent trend I’ve heard is people saying, “I have an ask out,” when what they mean is that they’ve posed a question. The question is what’s out – ask is the action used to put it out there.

I am comforted by the fact that I’m not the only person in the world who ponders such things or sounds off about them. The fine folks at Lake Superior State University, in fact, offers a fun platform for people to weigh in on overused, misused or nonsensical words – or maybe words that aren’t actual words – that should be stricken from our collective vocabularies.

The university’s 2012 List of Banished Words, like many of its predecessors, is a good roundup.

Let’s take a look at a few of the entries on this year’s list, shall we?

• Amazing – This word received the most nominations. Based on the nominations, the reasoning seems to be that the word is used so much, it has lost its meaning. I can’t argue with that. How many times have we all heard people say something tastes amazing or that a new movie is amazing or that they feel amazing, and on and on. It’s not that those things can’t be amazing, but it’s gotten to the point that if we were to be believed, everything in the world falls into that category.

• Baby bump – A cutesy – or annoying – phrase used to describe a pregnant woman. What’s wrong with saying pregnant? And, frankly, there are pregnant women whose bodies expand well-beyond bump, so that “baby mountain” might be more appropriate. Good riddance to the bump, I say.

• The new normal – This is a phrase we hear a lot in business news, particularly when we’re looking at downward trends. It’s almost as if people think directing focus to “the new normal” – i.e. where we are, then it will prevent us from looking back at where we used to be – and how far we have to go to get to that point. Usually, the reality that brings about usage of this phrase isn’t great, so why would we want to focus on it?

• Man cave – Another good entry, appropriately pinpointed due to overuse in home design shows, commercials and sitcoms, to the point that it has become part of everyday use. Why must men be relegated to a “cave” in their home? It almost suggests that men are too uncouth to warrant usage of other parts of the home. The concept is fine, but why not call it a den?

• Ginormous – To this entry, I say, “Yes, please.” There are so many words out there. Do we really need to take two words with similar meanings – gigantic and enormous – and morph them into this word, which to me always sounds cartoonish and unsophisticated. I think not.

Take a look at the  2012 List of Banished Words. And if there are words that aren’t on the list – and you think they should be, there’s good news. LSSU accepts nominations for the list year-round.

You may have noticed today that sites across the Web have been blacked out. Pay attention.

In efforts to stem the flow of piracy, Congress is looking at two bills: the Protect IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House.

For weeks, the bills have been heavily protested by Web users, in most cases not because they support piracy, but because the bills, if enacted, would go too far to stop it.

In essence, the bills seem pure enough. Piracy is a problem that companies are facing every day. But the devil is in the details.

Essentially, the bills would allow the U.S. attorney general, and other entities, to seek court orders against Web sites accused of enabling or facilitating copyrighted materials. In so doing, U.S. sites and search engines could be required to remove links to those sites, and Internet service providers could be ordered to block access to those sites, among other provisions.

In a sense, it would require sites with user-generated content to heavily police themselves. They could be black-listed if they don’t, thus the theme of today’s protests.

For a detailed look at the two bills, including links to both, check out this blog post on social media site Reddit (Warning, there is one use of an expletive).

Today’s Web protests are reminders of what could be lost if these pieces of legislation are allowed to pass.

In Wikipedia’s words: “Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet.”

In Google’s words: “(The bills) would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business.”

The bills could spell an end to the level of freedom Americans currently enjoy on the Web.

You won’t hear many argue that piracy is OK, and perhaps legislation could be drafted that fairly regulates it, but SOPA and PIPA are not it.

It can be easy to overlook legislation like this if one isn’t paying attention. With major Web sites putting the protest right in everyone’s face, however, it can’t be ignored.

The bills are on the table and will soon face action by Congress. Talk about it.

And, to really drive the point home, speak to your representatives. The more attention these protests receive, the better.

Separate from the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World and the Wonders of Wildlife construction work, crews are putting on the finishing touches for the John A. and Genny Morris Conservation Education Center. Someone on a hydraulic lift is staining wood ceiling panels, another is painting a mural and a brown bear awaits placement in just the right spot – all in accordance with the Johnny Morris touch.

Tucked behind the WOLF (Wonders of the Ozarks Learning Facility) classrooms, where 46 Springfield Public School fifth-graders daily attend classes with a unique conservation emphasis, sits a banquet room that can seat up to 650. A separate Sportsman’s Lodge holds 160 in a more intimate fireside setting with a wraparound patio.

During Springfield Business Journal’s sneak peek with Banquet Coordinator Natalie Alford, it became clear that the conference business in Springfield is getting an upgrade.

Before the scheduled April grand opening of White River Conference Center, Alford said she’s booked 20 events. The doors will open Feb. 16 for the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Travel & Tourism Awards.

Visitors will certainly take note of the center’s 480 deerskin chandeliers and a floor-to-ceiling mantel custom built with 80,000 pounds of rock that Morris handpicked from an Arkansas farm. An outdoor amphitheater is coming.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the White River Conference Center features.

A cluster of deerskin chandeliers hangs in the banquet room.

Mural work is under way. The final step will be adding a pond.

A wide hallway separates the conservation classrooms and the banquet hall.

A bison greets visitors to the classrooms.

A closeup of one of the 480 deerskin chandeliers.

An 80,000-pound rock mantel makes a statement in the Sportsman's Lodge.

Johnny Morris hosted the Wonders of Wildlife board members last week in the Sportsman's Lodge.

A turkey shot by Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Norman Ridder is temporarily on display on the fireplace.

A tribute to Johnny Morris' father, John A. Morris, is in the entryway.

The elder Morris' 16-gauge shotgun "used on many a quail hunt."

What one Springfield hotel development company couldn’t pull off in 2009, another Springfield hotel development company is attempting in 2012.

O’Reilly Hospitality Management has submitted an unsolicited proposal to the University of North Texas to revive a hotel project left dormant by John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts in August 2009, the Denton Record Chronicle posted Jan. 13.

A key cog in the proposal is Scott Tarwater, and this is where it gets interesting.
Tarwater worked for JQH Hotels as John Q. Hammons’ right hand man until a breakup in late 2010, and now he’s handling business development for O’Reilly Hospitality and CEO Tim O’Reilly. Tarwater pitched JQH Hotels’ plans for a hotel and conference center in early 2009, and months later, he was the company’s mouthpiece to say it was pulling out due to the recession.

Following in JQH Hotels’ footsteps, O’Reilly Hospitality is proposing a 250-room hotel – likely an Embassy Suites – on university property that would be leased to the developer, O’Reilly told Springfield Business Journal in December. The full-service hotel would sit adjacent to a 120,000-square-foot city-owned convention center, and O’Reilly Hospitality intends to build a 100-room hotel on the other side of the convention center.

Seems a smart move by the O’Reilly group, considering Tarwater’s familiarity with the site and his apparent rapport with officials in north Texas.

“(Tarwater’s) connections and his knowledge in the development area has really catapulted our company dramatically in terms of opportunities,” O’Reilly told us. “He’s taken our company light-years ahead of where it would have been.”

It’s well short of a done deal, and negotiations with the city and university could take weeks or months, but it appears O’Reilly and Tarwater are making inroads on a path first carved out by Hammons and Tarwater.

Gives renewed meaning to the idea of working smarter, not harder.

I’ll interview O’Reilly about this and other hotel development plans Sept. 18 before a live audience during SBJ’s 12 People You Need To Know breakfast series.

It’s no secret the past couple of years have been difficult for many Springfield area businesses, and the question that everyone seems to want to have answered is, “When are things going to turn around?”

In the Dec. 19 print edition of Springfield Business Journal, I reported about a recent increase in local merger and acquisition activity, which seems to indicate that some lenders are ready to lend, and those looking to grow their operations are in a buying mood.

Another hopeful sign: consumer spending appears to be turning a corner.

On Dec. 15, the National Retail Federation revised its holiday forecast upward, expecting holiday sales to rise 3.8 percent this year to a record $469.1 billion.

The forecast revision comes on the heels of retail industry sales for November increasing by 4.5 percent compared to November 2010. Also, NRF’s most recent holiday survey found that the average American has completed far less of their holiday shopping than in previous years. That seems to suggest that many shoppers bought gifts for themselves last month and still have plenty of presents left to buy.

NRF’s initial forecast, announced on October 6, called for sales growth of 2.8 percent compared to the 2010 holiday season. While a 3.8 percent sales increase is considerably above the ten-year average sales increase of 2.6 percent, it is still below the 5.2 percent increase the retail industry saw last year. In case you were wondering, sales for the 2010 season roughly equaled sales from 2007.

This year, we saw quite a few signs of local progress. Hy-Vee opened its 80,000-square-foot grocery store in October. Academy Sports entered the market, too. Bass Pro Shops seems to have made up ground on the mammoth Wonders of Wildlife project. The Missouri Department of Transportation completed the six-lane project on Highway 65 as well as the $57 million interchange.

Of course, it’s hard to think about 2011 in southwest Missouri without mentioning the May 22 EF-5 tornado in Joplin. I’ll never forget working that week and seeing the news trickle out each day detailing the breadth and scope of the destruction there. It has been inspiring, however, to see the way people from Springfield and around the country have rallied behind that community.

Our sister publication, the Joplin Tri-State Business Journal, has done some truly remarkable work this year reporting on both the impact that the storm had on the business community and its seemingly endless efforts to build and grow anew. Reporter and Joplin native David Mink wrote a chilling and beautiful column about his experience after the tornado that said more than words often can.

Moving forward, it’s hard to imagine what 2012 will bring. Hopefully, the progress we’ve seen in 2011 will continue. What’s around the corner? When are things going to turn around? I don’t know. But if 2011 has taught me anything, it’s that we need to be grateful for what we do have. Things can always be worse.

Bentley will be honored at a noon luncheon Dec. 7 at the Doubletree Hotel, 2431 N. Glenstone Ave.

For people who have lived in and around Springfield for any length of time, Bentley’s name is somewhat synonymous with service to others, given her longtime involvement with organizations such as Junior League of Springfield, which nominated her for the honor.

The Humanitarian Award was launched in 1990 by CFO supporter Jewell Thompson Schweitzer to recognize Ozarks individuals who are primarily motivated by a desire to serve others. Bentley says her concern for others stems from her upbringing.

“I was really taught early on that’s one reason we live on this earth – that we need to help others to help others and do what we can to make the world a better place,” Bentley says.

Among her notable achievements, Bentley was the first woman to be elected to the Springfield Board of Education, and she was the first woman to represent southwest Missouri in the Missouri Senate.

“I remember being in the state capitol as one of two new women state senators. I’m so happy I was able to be a leader in demonstrating that women can hold office and be good business managers and serve people within politics, within government or within business – whatever they want to do,” she says.

Bentley spent eight years with the Missouri General Assembly, during which time she spent two years as chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee and served a stint on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Bentley was still in office in Jefferson City when I traveled there with a college class to tour the state capitol and meet some of our local representatives.

Bentley was a gracious hostess, introducing us to the legislature and posing with our group for a photo, and I remember being struck by how down-to earth she was and how genuinely glad she seemed to see a hometown group.

A 2003 Springfield Business Journal Most Influential Women honoree, Bentley was a founding member of Ozarks Public Television and Female Leaders in Philanthropy, and she also helped launch United Way of the Ozarks’ Day of Caring. She also played a key role in bringing libraries to all of Springfield Public Schools.

She was elected to the Greene County Commission in 2004, but she says beyond serving the county, she’s still following her heart in terms of community service.

“My heart always goes out to children, and I don’t know if I inherited that from my grandmothers or my parents or all the wonderful teachers I had,” Bentley says. “My big thing right now is trying to get better early childhood programs. That’s where the most difference can be made in a child’s life.”

Bentley’s numerous community roles make her a logical choice as the 2011 Humanitarian, but perhaps one of her most important roles is serving as an example to all of us in demonstrating the difference one person can make in the world.

Less than a month after announcing plans for the DVD-only change and a week after the printing of my column – “Is Netflix DVD move ahead of the curve?” – the company has backed out of its decision to transition the DVD portion of its business to Qwikster.com.

In an Oct. 10 blog post, Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings seems to backpedal on earlier remarks he made that streaming and DVD services had become too different to keep on the same Web site.

The newest post is brief – unlike his Sept. 18 explanation of the need for Qwikster – and appears to show the mark of a company afraid of losing its subscriber base.

“It is clear that for many of our members two Web sites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs,” Hastings wrote. “We value our members, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get movies and TV shows.”

And that’s about it as far as explanation.

Clearly, the fans spoke, and the company listened. We may never know how Netflix would have been affected had Qwikster become a reality. Though it is hardly befitting of a company to flip flop its decisions, if Netflix execs were worried enough about the service to not even go through with it, it’s probably better that it didn’t happen.

Despite this move, I’m sticking to my prediction that DVDs are on the way out. It appears, however, they won’t go down without a fight.

One possible failing of the article, “Pensmore showcases new construction technology,” the lead story in the Oct. 3 Springfield Business Journal print edition, is that there wasn’t room to give much background information on the developer. So, I thought I’d use this space to help us get to know our soon-to-be new neighbor.

Long before Steven Huff began building the 72,000-square-foot Chateau Pensmore east of U.S. Highway 65 in south Christian County, he founded a company in the ’80s called Sensor Systems, which developed software for defense and medical markets.

Steven Huff

“In the ’90s, (the Department of Defense) was looking for ways to lower the costs of analyzing the imagery from spy satellites, and we were able to develop software that would run on commercial hardware. So we were able to drive down the costs of doing the analysis,” Huff said.

Sensor Systems also developed data fusion software for the medical community that allowed different kinds of imagery from medical scanners to be fused together into one viewable document.

Huff ultimately merged his company into Overwatch Systems LTD, which brought together technology companies that had intelligence-based software for data sharing.

“The idea was we would integrate different sources of intelligence under one umbrella,” Huff said. “Sensor was a keystone, if you will, one of the two key pieces in Overwatch Systems, and we acquired other generally smaller companies and integrated them together.”

Shortly after the creation of Overwatch, Huff said he began working as a consultant for the company that was bought out by Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) for $325 million in 2006.

Before he started Sensor, Huff said he worked in Army intelligence and was a CIA officer.

Huff has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Cal Tech, where he was primarily focused in astrophysics through his master’s work. His new home and showcase for TF Forming Systems’ vertical concrete forming system will feature an astronomy tower where he can get a clean look at the stars. Huff said the light interference from his northern Virginia home makes it difficult to see much of the night sky, a problem he won’t have from his Ozarks’ hilltop chateau.

Mr. Huff, welcome to the neighborhood.

Related Links:

• Pensmore showcases new construction technology
• Chateau Pensmore Photo Gallery

Not long before school started, my 8-year-old daughter reminded me, out of the blue, that Christmas is just a few months away. At the time, I thought, “We’ve got to get ready for back-to-school. Who’s thinking about Christmas?”

As it turns out, in addition to children who are compiling their wish lists, a certain Arkansas-based megaretailer is thinking ahead to Christmas gift-giving and has announced its plans to bring back layaway for certain merchandise.

Wal-Mart dropped its layaway option in 2006, citing at the time a drop in use of the program. The company’s official reason why layaway is returning is that customers and Facebook fans have expressed a desire for the program, and have told the company they need it particularly for the holidays.

“We’re always looking for ways to ease budget strain for our customers, and we know this holiday brings with it additional financial pressure,” Chief Merchandising Officer Duncan Mac Naughton said in a news release announcing the return of layaway.

Really, Wal-Mart? I think I might need to call shenanigans on this “official reason.”
Might other motivating factors not include the reality that several competitors, such as K-Mart and Target, have layaway programs in place? With fiscal 2011 sales of $419 billion, it seems far more feasible to me that what Wal-Mart really wants to do is make sure it’s getting the biggest possible slice of the holiday sales pie.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. My primary reason for celebrating dates back 2,000 years to the divine birth of a baby named Jesus in Bethlehem, but the giving spirit of the holiday is infectious. Like many parents, I enjoy wrapping up some Christmas morning magic for my family – and in my book, avoiding credit card debt is a good thing.

I might even use the program to purchase a few things as Christmas gifts, but I just can’t buy that Wal-Mart is resurrecting its layaway program primarily as a move to help ease financial worries for consumers.

The new Wal-Mart layaway, which will run Oct. 17–Dec. 16, is targeted, in that it’s available for electronics and toys. Eligible items must cost at least $15 apiece, and total layaway purchases must be at least $50. Customers must pay 10 percent down, plus there’s a one-time nonrefundable $5 service fee. There’s also a $10 cancellation fee for orders that aren’t picked up by Dec. 16 or are cancelled by the customer. Oh, and layaway purchases won’t be accepted on Black Friday, the deal-hunting shopping day after Thanksgiving. Having hit a few of those sales, however, I can’t really blame them.

Ah, Christmas. Ready or not, here it comes.

In what could be construed as a classic case of the proverbial saying “silence is golden,” St. Louis-based Wehrenberg Theatres on Tuesday announced a zero tolerance cell phone policy in all of its 15 theaters, including Campbell 16 Cine at 4005 South Ave.

As part of the policy, theater staff and security officers will peruse the aisles during showings watching for cell phone bandits. Anyone caught violating the policy will be asked to leave the theater without a refund.

While this kind of policy has long been needed, it’s a shame it had to come down to threat of removal from the theater for it to happen.

If the film is so uninteresting that you can’t put your phone on hold for two hours, why go see it at all? Just watch a movie at home, use your phone to your heart’s content and save other people the frustration.

Most people go to the theater to enjoy the film, and with ticket prices at or more than the price of a meal, they have reason to expect a certain amount of courtesy from other filmgoers.

Whether Wehrenberg officials can truly enforce this new policy has yet to be seen. But a warning before each film (or actually being kicked out) is sure to cut down on cell phone usage in theaters.

Related link:

• Movie Review: ’30 Minutes or Less’