Kids Say the Darnedest Things

I am happy to have time with my family- Mom, Dad, Sister- Kristin, and nieces. Today we had a great laugh. After putting Arianna down for a nap, she was up and running around. My sister came back from an outing and I asked her if Aria could have an O-R-E-O. She said if she had lunch it would be okay. She didn't really have that yet, so we got a half of a sandwich out for her lunch tempting her that if she finished her sandwich she could have the Oreo Cookie. She started away at it and was practically done when "Grandpa" came in and asked why she was eating lunch to which she replied "for the cookie". We all got a huge kick out of that true Kids-Say-The-Darnedest-Things-Response out of the mouth of the two and a half year old.

Camping and Swiming

I went on a camping trip this last Thursday through Sunday (today). My HUB group from New Hope (young adult/College/Career). It was awesome. There were just three of us there on Thursday night, but then Friday it all started to kick in. We had about 15 for most of the time after that. Some came on Friday afternoon, most came Friday Night, then some came saturday for the day and hung out with us. We did a whole lot of relaxing and fellowshiping. It was great. We talked and teased. We had three dogs there pretty much the whole time. It was great. The weather was great and I have a slight sunburn to prove it.

Ever since I got Pixar, I have wanted him to be a Water Dog. He is a Labrador Retriever afterall. Well, he was not a fan of it. I tried to get him to go in the water and he would NOT! After a while I just took him in partway and gently dropped him down in the water praising him all the way through. He never got it---- Until this Trip.
I took him down to the beach on Friday morning and dripped him him. He wanted to get back out right away. We did. Then later, we came back and I did the same, he wanted to get back out, so we did. Then I tried the whole throw a stick in just a tiny bit, he got it. Then we did a bit more and a bit farther. He did it and got praise. Eventually, he BECAME a Water Dog. I was so proud and happy that now I have a dog that likes the water.
He had so much stamina too. He was swimming all over the place. He loved it. He would chase after sticks that got thrown and wouldn't stop. I just hope that he STAYS a Water Dog and doesn't forget what he learned and how much fun it is.

Then after our camping with the HUB, I get to, now, be at more camping with Salem First Baptist H2O camp for the Youth as the Videographer. It is great, and I am having fun. It's awesome to be able to see some friends I have not seen in over a year.

Silencio

As I was walking this morning with the pup and listening to some music softly I was very aware of the sounds outside. There were lots of vehicle sounds that I was not too hot on. One was a diesel truck that went past. Now, that was not the trucks fault, but still loud and obnoxious. Then there was a Honda Civic with a teen driver who obviously had too much money so he had to blow it on stupid stuff- like a super loud exhaust valve and what not to make the car INCREDIBLY annoying. Well, it got me thinking about where I will be this coming weekend.

I get to go out into the woods and send some time with friends and God. My College-Career group is having a HUB (what we call our group) campout and I am super excited for this trip. Im kinda the HUB  Campout hub of information. I helped to put this thing together and get the reservations and all that jazz. There will be very few of us there on Thursday night, then Friday night and Saturday will be the big days.

I got thinking about this weekend because usually camping is a quiet time. There are not massive trucks and civics zooming by with loud noise pollution. Most of the time you just hear the wind, and the birds chirping. Its so nice.  Now, that being said, there have been times out camping when there are loud people next door or in close proximity of the campout and you don't have any house to go into to block the annoying sounds. There is enevitably the gratuitous Recreational Vehicle that starts their generator throughout the night or things of that nature, but mostly you hear NATURE!

Super excited for this trip.

What I came home to...

I just recently went on a short trip to see my parents in La Center for a birthday celebration for mom. (She's old) We went to Harry Potter year 7, Pt2. It was great. I had an awesome time see the family that I hadn't seen in a few months. I ditched out on most of my last day of VBS to drive during that time and I got to La Center around 1ish. After their VBS, we relaxed for a few hours and then headed to Vancouver to get some dinner at a Pizza Place, which I felt took a long time, but was good pizza. Then we headed to HP7-2. It was a great movie. I liked it a whole bunch. It is really hard to put these movies in order of I like them the mostest to I like them. Some series' are really easy to categorize this way, but not HP. In view of that, I have to say that this movie, although a bit darker than some of the rest, was def. in the top 3 best movies of the HP series.

Saturday was pretty uneventful for me, but still nice.

Then Today, Sunday, I was able to play Bass for mom and dad's church and that was lots of fun to be able to do that again. I do have to say though, that my "flippin' off" finger is way sore because I have not played Bass in a few months. (and I use that finger alot while playing bass, not in a bad way)

Then we got some quick lunch and I took off. Sadly, I was not able to take MY car back home. I have been having trouble with the Green Machine with a power issue and whatnot. So, we took her to dad's mechanic on Friday and I was hoping to get it fixed and ready for me by the time I left today- didn't happen. So, I took dad's car home and will have to swap sometime soon when it is done.

On the way home, there was rain pretty much the whole way back until the Tree Line. Right at the tree line it seemed to stop instantaniously. Crazy, right? Also, I felt bad for the traffic going toward Portland because it was pretty dense. I still had some traffic, but not nearly as much as going the other way.

When I got home I started putting stuff away in my room and I came in to find a weird smell that was odd. I couldn't figure it out. Then I saw...

That is a cup of Orange Juice I left out....
this is the MOLD on top of the Cup of Orange Juice I left out...

(ahh the life of a bachelor)
I also came home to a Jury Duty Summons- Exciting. I have done Jury Duty before but was not picked. I kinda hope I do get picked for this one. We shall see. It would be some income.. hehe and I think it would be fun.

and lastly, I came home to my Glasses. I left my glasses at my Grandmother's house on my last big trip- to San Francisco, and it was the start of my trip too. So, I was without glasses the whole trip pretty much and I assumed I would find them when I cleaned out my car after the trip, but they were not there. So, the only logical place was my G-ma's house. So, after a while, she found them and mailed them back. Thanks Grandma.

So, those are the things I came home to. (because, I know you were really interested in that topic.)

Intense Waiting and Letdown

How sad is it?! I have been waiting for about 6 months for something to happen. What? you may ask... Apple to release OSX LION! Back in January, I first saw the updated software- Lion introduced by Steve Jobs and the Apple team. It looked amazing and I was sure I would like it on my Mac. Then they dropped the bomb... Summer 2011.

WOW, that meant I had to wait for months to get this update.  Then a few months later, I found out a bit more specific date range- July 2011. Now it is July and everywhere I follow keeps on getting my hopes up and then dashing them hard against the rocks.  I follow a few feeds about Apple and many sources said around the 1st of July that they expected the software update to come out on July 6th, right after the holiday. Then July 6th came and went.

Then it went to July 14th, today. Everywhere was saying, Yup, it's going to come out July 14th. They even talked last night about how the UK was going to be getting its update late last night. So, I fully expected to wake up this morning to an email from Apple saying Lion was available. When I did not see that, I was expecting to head to my blog to see signs of the update in my feeds from Cult of Mac and other sites. Nope, not there either.  How disappointing. Many of you probably don't really care about new software updates and wanting to get them on the day they come out, but I sure do. I was looking forward to taking some time today and downloading the software and playing with it to see what was fun and new and cool.

Now, they are saying don't give up hope for a today release, (it might happen at 10AM) but I really doubt it. Now, it is looking more like a release of next Wednesday or Thursday. It could even be as late as the 31st and still be on time according to Apples release month. Now, I get to sit and wait more.

Phone Calls and Girly Voices (with some references)

Last night I got quite an annoying phone call. You may be wondering what might make it annoying? Well, I am glad you asked. For starters, it was a phone call on my cell that was in the middle of watching one of my favorite movies- Cars. AND, that movie was at church with an audience and so I felt bad as it was, because I was being loud with my ringing. Then, I go to answer and the stupid telemarketer was not answering at first. I kept saying hello? Hello? and it took forever for them to answer. Then, as if that was not enough, he asked for Timothy Kirkman. I said, this is Tim. Then again, he said, I am looking to speak with Timothy Kirkman. Again, This is Tim. "Ma'am, I need to speak with Timothy"  After that point, I just got so fed up with this unintellegent person, that I hung up.

Now, I know I have a high voice and at points I get a bit self-consious about that, but honestly, if you ask twice and the person says they are that person you are looking for, even if their voice sounds higher than a normal voice does, you should just move on.

Was this the first time I was mistaken for a girly voice on the phone? Not by a long shot. I am very often mistaken for a ladies voice. I don't know how many times I have answered the phone at home when I was growing up and was mistaken for my mother or my sisters, (never dad). I have just learned to deal with it and when answering the phone later on, I would answer the phone"Kirkman residence, this is Tim" It helped.
There are the obvious bad parts to having a high voice (as I mentioned above), but there are also some good parts. I can sing very high. God gave me my voice and I love to use it for his Glory. I can sing higher than many other because of my unique gifts. Also yesterday, we were practicing with the chillin's for leading VBS songs and Michelle Martin (you like how I referenced you in my Blog) said that some of the Jacob Looper-y parts were mine to sing, and I could (if I wanted too, but that's not really me) If I had a barely-tone voice (Baritone) I would not be able to sing those high Looper-y parts.

God made me special and He loves me very much. Goodbye

Celebration and Frivolity on the 4th

What did you do for the Fourth of July this year?
Did you wave your flag proudly? Did you attend all the cool events? Did you Spangle your Starred Banner? Did you BBQ? Hot Dogs? Burgers? Rack of Rib, Whateva? Did you spend time with family?
These are all things that make up the typical holiday of Independence Day. Oh, did I forget the Fireworks? Opps, oh well.

One more thing that must be mentioned that seems, by my viewing, to be a part of the typical celebration of the holiday is updating FB stati with patriotic messages, from the simple- "Happy 4th" to the more complex- "Happy Fourth of July! Today we declared our freedom from unjust laws and tyrannical leadership to create a God fearing and following country. Yes, we have fallen far from those first ideals, but let us not forget that we still live in America and if we have a problem with how it's being run, there is still something we can do about !"

Another FB use for 4th is putting up patriotic profile picture. And schedules. And uploading the events of the day in picture albums.  Im not saying this is bad, whatsoever. I myself put up some of these frivolities.
But did we stop to think about all that this holiday entails?
Did we think about all those lives that were given for our freedom in our country?
Did we think about the implications of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence?
As they say in National Treasure- they would have their entrails cut out and BURNED.
Did we stop and take a quiet moment in our hearts and thank those that made it possible for us to live our lives the way we do?
Did we stop and send up a prayer of thanksgiving to God for his provision?
Did we also pray for those countries right now of whom are being repressed?


Did You?

Did I?

Just something to think about!

Upstaging And Advertising

So, I went to the 4th of July Parade in Redmond this morning and got a kick out of some things. First off, Redmond's 4th Parade is a big deal. There are many people there. It is a fun parade to watch, especially for kids who are candy grabbers.
The first thing that I got such a kick out of was a local church- Im pretty sure it was Desert Song was giving away lots and lots of bottled waters to everyone up and down the parade. What I thought was cool is they were not advertising their church at all- They had red shirts on that said Revolution of Hope, but nothing else. I was looking for a signifier on the back of their shirts or something, but nothing. I only am fairly certain it is Desert Song because I have met the pastor and he was in the middle of it. I thought it was cool because a church is meant to be hands and feet of God, not an advertisement for their church or their good works. So, this was definitely a high of the parade, even though I did not get a water, didn't need it. One other really cool thing was there was a gentleman who was following them and trying to SELL water and energy drinks for $1 and $3. Poor guy, I am sure got NO sales because of the church Upstaging him and giving it away for free.

Another part to this Parade was a float/flatbed of Highland Baptist Church. All their float/flat was a group of members walking and dancing in front of it and then a band playing songs, mostly patriotic. It was a big advertisement for their church. I was not that impressed. Don't get me wrong, I love Highland Baptist, I even went there for a while and have no beef with them, but I just feel that Desert Song was showing God's love to the people at the parade more than advertising their church. I think that is radical!

Day Five- Sunday is Coming

So, there are no pictures for this day. I didn't take pictures at all in the day.
It started out waking up nice and early at Bryan's house. I watched some Rocky and Bullwinkle- Awesome Show. At 9ish I logged on to my church's UStream account and watched the church sermon live. I have never done this and it was a good experience. It was fun to be hundreds of miles away and be able to log in and still see my home church. I had to do a bit of technical support for my tricaster operator, but we got the bugs fixed and I was able to watch at least part of the sermon from home.

Then, I got a quick breakfast at MickeyDs and headed to the mega-church where I was meeting the Luzods. We successfully met up and Tom took me through the church to drop off his daughter and then go to the sanctuary. This WAS(is) a mega-church, but honestly not has huge as I expected. They have a sanctuary (do they call it an Auditorium to make it sound less churchy?) that probably held 800-1000 and they have multiple services. Lots of building space for this church. I really liked the Theater seating. It was a good experience for me. The worship was very recognizable. I only did not know one of the songs.
After church, we went out to InNOut. Good food of course. I am always amazed at how busy that place is. I was happy that we ate outside because I was able to go get Pixar from the car and he joined us. Everyone around the place loved Pixar. He is just such a good dog, what's not to love. (more on that later) After lunch, I went searching for a Leash-Free Dog Park. After a bit of searching and driving, I found one but was not all that impressed. It was a tiny edge of a huge park. What I did not like was it had gravel, Bark dust, and fake grass. It was kinda boring, so Pixar and I just got his Chuck It and found an empty corner of the park and I threw his ball for quite a while out there. We just chilled for a while under a tree and enjoyed the beautiful day and then we set out to find Tom and Karina's house. We hung out with them for a few hours. It was great to be able to talk with my cousins for a while that I had not seen in so long.
When we got there Pixar needed some water after all that running and heat. So he drank up lots and lots of water. Then a few hours later he was whining so I took him outside. He peed a bit. Then a little while later he was whining again. This time I did not listen to him. Well, I should have. Lets just put it that way. He stood there, luckily on the hard floor, and peed for what seemed like 4 minutes. It was pretty funny to watch, but I also felt bad because he was peeing on their floor. Oh well, next time Ill learn.

And another sad thing, Alexis was not feeling well either.
That night after visiting with Luzods, I drove back to Morgan Hill, stayed the night there and left nice and early on Monday morning for home- around 1:30AM.

Day Four- Pumpin Up Cars2

Day Four of my vacation was on Saturday. It was a good day and sad day both. For the first part of the day I spent with family at a Birthday Party for my Cousin's daughter, Victoria. She had a great bday party at a blow-up-toy place called Pump It Up! It was pretty cool. It was fun to see the kids play and I got to meet some friends of Tom and Karina (My cousins). I was thinking itd be fun to go in the toys but figured especially since the kids and friends didn't know me, it might be awkward for me to be in the blow up toys with their kids. That's alright, I did not have any socks on anyway- I was Teva-bound. Then after the party, I went to the Cars 2 event that I had built my trip planning time around. More on that come come.

Here was a picture of me and Tow Mater. I can connect with Mater a lot.
Tom and Alexis in a blow-up
Victoria coming down a Blow-up slide. Looks pretty fun, right?
more fun.
Basketball type game.
Alexis trying her shot at it.
She loved the play car.
Then I went to "The Tech" museum(where the Cars2 event was). And waited in line outside the building. And waited in line INSIDE the building. And waited in line in the Event room. And waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, AND WAITED! What was I waiting for you may ask.
I was waiting for my picture with these guys. Pretty cool lookin, but you cannot touch them or get that close. All they had in the event room was the three cars, plus some keychains and magnets. Not at all worth my time waiting in line.
After waiting all that time though, I was certainly not going to just leave.
I also got a tatoo of McQween while I was waiting. It was pretty cool.
Afterwards, I went to lunch with the family and hung out there for a while, then went back to Morgan Hill to relax for a bit. Around 8, I drove to my Cousin, Bryan's house and spend the night there. End of day Four.

Day Three on my VACA

Day Three of My Trip was a part-SF/part-Family day. I started off the day by driving all the way up to SF. I was told it would be smarter to drive the whole way this day because I was planning to visit SF in the morning, then drive down to Cupertino, the after an appointment, drive BACK up to SF and visit more, then home. THAT did not happen. I started out by driving to Golden Gate Park. This was an easier job than expected. I did not have incredibly bad traffic like I thought I might. Maybe it was the time, or something, but I was never just sitting on a Freeway, waiting to go. There were times when it slowed, for sure, but it always picked back up. I drove to Golden Gate Park because the California Accademy of Sciences was located there. This attraction opened at 9:30AM and so I wanted to get there for the opening. Well, I got there in plenty of time and walked around the area.

First I went to this Amphatheater. It was a very cool structre.













I love water fountain displays.
A view of both.
I thought this undertunnel was really cool lookin.
even inside it with the concrete all around and the curve and the light beaming from the other end. It makes an awesome pic.
statues.

Then I got in line because there was a gathering already. So, I got my ticket and waited in line from about 9:10- 9:30. After hearing others talk about wanting to see the Planetarium, I felt I should try to see it too. My only problem was that I only had 90 min. to see this museum. I thought it would be enough time, but it certainly was not. I got my ticket for the planetarium at 10:30 (which I had to leave by 11) and started to walk around. The main floor was really nothing special to me, just info exhibits.
I do have to say I liked the Penguins though. They were so cute. Supposedly there is a webcam that you can watch them from home. I need to find out where that is and do it.
There was a rainforrest inside a glass bubble thing and that was pretty neat too, but I had to wait in line a long time for that. It was annoying, especially when I was short on time as it was. But, I was able to go in there. It was pretty neat.
There were all sorts of plants in there.
A hundreds of butterflies.
The aquarium part looked really neat, but I was not able to see it because I just saw it on my way out when I was running late.

I also saw the Planetarium show which was really awesome in terms of visuals, but really weak in terms of Audio because it was about "LIFE" and talked about Billions of years ago and blah blah blah. I didn't pay attention to what was being said, but just viewed the sights.

After the Cal Academy of Sciences, I drove back down to Cupertino for an exciting tour- Apple Inc. I got there and was amazed at all the people going to see the place. Unlike Google and Pixar, Apple was smart enough to make a company store that the general public could go and buy Apple products and t-shirts and junk. I would have loved to get some stuff, but I was starting to run low on money. Anyway, after waiting for my cuz to show up, he got there and I met his friend at Apple that was taking us on the tour. Mr. Chitwood was an awesome guy and he got us into all the behind-the-scenes places. We got to see the 103" plasma screens they used for conferences and trainings. We got to see the rooms with their own indendant wireless networks so that the room toys- MacBooks, iPad, ect would talk to eachother over the wireless. We got to see Cafe Macs. I salivated over the Video production rooms that he showed up. WOW! I still salivate just thinking about it.

After Apple tour, I was originally planning to drive BACK to San Francisco and do more touristy things, but I was so tired of people and driving and such that I decided I would not do that. The rest of the family went to Cars 2 and I really wanted to go as well, but it just did not work out. But instead I drove to Google to see if I could get in.. I could not, but can now say that I have been there. Then I drove back to Morgan Hill and relaxed for a while. It was nice to spend some time by myself (with Pixar of course). I relaxed and just enjoyed the silence. I got a call a bit later to meet the family for dinner, and so I drove Back into town to have dinner with everyone and that was a great time too. Good pizza and good conversations.