Double Theaters and sitting next to a cutie

I seem to remember going to a movie where I was super early and so I went to another room that had a before-the-movie type of party. I stayed at the party way too long and the movie started. It was a major movie, and it must have been opening night or something, so I ran into the theater that was dark by then. I could not find my seat. I decided to walk all the way up to the top row that felt like it was 200 feet high, and I got dizzy. I must not have realized that I get scared of heights. I worked my way down a few flights.  I found two open spots. I asked if they were taken. There were two ladies on either side.

One girl said Yes, they were taken, and I asked, Both of them?  The other girl knowing I needed a spot said, No, just that one, so I sat down. Where we were sitting, we had side seats. It must have been Christmastime because our side seats were being blocked by fake plants with Christmas lights on them. I was annoyed until I saw that there was another projector going on the side we were facing. (Don't ask me why they had side-seating)

Halfway through, I realized that Pixar, my dog, was getting restless and needed to go out. He was in the theaters with us and was walking all around the place. I was worried that he would have an accident on the theater floor. So, I quietly took him out the back way. He did his business, and then we couldn't get it.

Then, I realized, as you may have by now, that this was all my dream from last night.

Did I trick ya into thinking it was real.

Online Find and Plans for the future

How hard is it to find something online? Well, usually, I am super quick and can find pretty much anything, but this morning I must be off my game.
At the Paws N Shop, (My fav Christmas Shop in CO) I found some parts to a set of hand/kitchen/whatever towels that were red with reindeer on them, one for each of the 12 reindeer. I figured I could go online and find the same thing and hopefully find the whole set (this was not a full set at Paws because it is a thrift store).

Not finding what I want though. Maybe I will go do more Recon today and see if I can get more info- a manufacturer or name for the set. Who knows.


On a short side note, I know you are all looking forward to my 50 days of Christmas blogging, but I did that last year, so you can just go read those again. I am planning on doing 25 PICTURES of Christmas instead this year. I might change my mind, but I think that should be fun if I decide to do it.

Not a Fan

I was amazed yesterday as I was shopping. How could a store such as that charge those kinds of prices. Its ridiculous. How do they stay in business? I certainly got out of there without buying anything.
I am talking about the Cash Connection, a Pawn Shop based in Central Oregon. The company started in Bend and took over the Redmond Pawn as well. I was shopping in Redmond, at the former bowling alley, funny huh.
Occasionally, I like to go to the pawn shops to see what I can find. Often times, I get a dvd or two. This time, I was just browsing for something to do. I was appalled at the prices I saw for electronics and junk. I just recently bought a Portable Power Tool set brand new for $130. It came with four tools and two battery packs and a charger. I saw this SAME EXACT set they were trying to sell for $89. Now, if this was brand new at the Pawn with no marks ect, I would probably have been bummed I did not go there first, but this was in horrible condition. It looked like each piece was taken, dragged in the mud, used hard and put away wet, and drained of all use. There would be NO WAY I would get this set in that condition for that price. Maybe for $50 or less. Luckily, I have my set already.

That was the same with pretty much everything in the CC. You are not paying much less for a lot worse quality. Not a fan of the CC.

Jesus Freaks that Would Rather

I was super excited after Awana last night. First off, it was the first day of my after-school teaching program that I am doing... one hour a day, Sports and Music K-2. Well, I did not have any kids yesterday for my first day because they had small numbers to start and then will later open it up to others, (and because one of the offerings was Karate- I would choose Karate over sports). So, I used my first day to help organize the music supplies that my sister and I will be using.

Then, I rushed to Bend (this was in Terrebonne) to get to Awana, just barely not on time. We had some fun games, handbook time, and council. It was a great night because it was the first of Bring a Friend. One of my students at Awana brought a friend and she was explaining what was happening each time to her friend as we were doing things. I was really appreciative right before council time when she told her friend "This is my favorite part, Would You Rather and Jesus Freaks" What she was referring to was my weekly intro and outro. I always start off the council with a book of Would You Rather questions that I have. They are a great way to get to know the kids more and super fun. Would you rather be bald or not have toes.... ect.
And then the outro is Jesus Freaks, a book compiled by DC Talk about Martyrs. The first week I brought this out, I was a little nervous because these are 5th and 6th graders, and the book is stories about people dying for their faith, but it turns out that the students love them and look forward to them. One young lady even was able to purchase her own book and she brought it last night and followed along while I was reading. I am so happy that things are going well with these special times in the Awana Council time.

Stars and Mexico

Two topics of discussion today.
First off, I noticed after my HUB College Group last night, that it was imperative that I go in my hot tub after group. You may wonder why it was imperative. Well, it was because I looked up into the sky and saw the amazing beauty of God's Creation, the stars. They were beckoning me to stare at them for hours, so I knew that the Hot Tub was a great choice. As I was out there, I thought of something I would love to experience- being in a hot tub watching a clear, starry sky in the middle of nowhere, where there is no traffic sounds, (or any sounds for that matter) no lights, and complete darkness. It would be best to be in the middle of a forest too.

After the hot tub time, I went inside to watch some Office episodes. I watched the Christening Ep from season 7 where CiCi gets Christened at church and the whole office goes. Michael gets excited about it and even gets on a bus to go to Mexico to help orphans with a college group.
I assume that this episode made me dream weird. I dreamed that my parents moved to Mexico and could not find work so my mom went to be a servant at a house. I learn of this and go down to find them. When I get to the place that mom was supposed to be, they say she moved and did not have any address. I lost my parents and they were being held against their will... weird right?

Will there ever be an end to "Fast"

I am a fan of fast cars and adrenaline-pumping, don't-slow-down-driving, and all that IS The Fast and the Furious series. I have every movie on DVD or Blu and really enjoy watching them. Did you know there are Five of the them;
The Fast and the Furious
2 Fast 2 Furious
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Fast and Furious
and now the most recent- Fast Five.

Now, I like the franchise, they are great movies (maybe a little bit too much girly skin at times... did I say Maybe?) but at Five in the series, I would think they would run out of things to drive for. This last movie seemed to be the last... talking of one last heist... go away forever... ect. Well, I assumed it would be, until last night.


I watched Fast Five and at the end I let the credits roll because I was busy doing other things (on my computer, of course) and I found out that they had a little ending teaser for yet ANOTHER Fast and Furious movie. I have to say, I am a bit excited for it, but MOSTLY just sad that these writers cannot find a way to end a movie franchise like this. I guess they just feel, we are making so much money with the franchise, why stop. In some ways, I agree with them, if they are making good money and people still want more of the same thing, then go for it, but why not come up with a new, fresh idea.


That's just my two cents.

POP POP!

"I think that followers of Christ began to realize some time ago, perhaps subconsciously, that more and more people were pursuing God through the culture. We entered a season of boycotts, petitions, and black lists. Like an animal looking for its next meal, the church was driven blindly and obsessively by two primary goals.
First, protecting ourselves from the culture at all costs. So rather than preparing our children to engage, discern, and make good choices, we put our hands over their eyes and our fingers in their ears. However, through the internet and news media, the culture was still able to invade our homes. Unfortunately our kids were ill prepared to deal with it.
Our second goal was to use our combined Christian power to legislate and pressure the culture to change to reflect our values. But society has changed little and our efforts have served to further ostracize us and give every follower of Chirst the feared stereotypical tag of extremist or fundamentalist."
-Pop Goes the Church P.35&6

I have just recently started reading a book that I gave to my father as a gift and then stole from him. The book is Pop Goes the Church by Tim Stevens. This book came out a few years ago and I was intrigued by the use of Pop culture in the church. Is is okay to use culture? Is it bending and skewing the Word? From my perspective, at least so far, I believe that Pop Culture is a great way to engage the community and make Church and fun and exciting place to be, not a boring sermon that puts people to sleep.
When I read the above quote yesterday, it resonated with me so much that I just HAD to write a posting about the words. Read it again... Powerful huh?!

Should we (as Christians) be protecting ourselves from Culture? Is our culture so bad? Does the Bible not say Be in the world but not OF the world. We should be relevant to our culture or there will be no way to connect with those of whom are not in our "christian bubble". How can we "Walk Across the Room" when we do not have anything in common with those around us.

I have known many parents who protect their children the way described- plugging ears and hands over eyes. Does that help the child? They will grow up, get out in the world and know nothing of the world and get a culture shock. Some of those children will grow up and become adolescents and find they do not enjoy hands over their eyes and rebel from parents and become even more worldly than if they were just exposed to parts of culture.

What about the Second Goal?! How does that make you feel? How would we feel if we lived in a place where we were the majority, but the minority with different religious views were trying to legislate their own values so everyone would have to follow. I guess that is why I am semi-happy about the separation of Church and State. And, as it says, that second goal has not worked well for us and just puts up a bigger wall for those who are not a part of the "Group".

We, as christians, need to work more at being in the world. We need to rub shoulders with the unchurched and unchristian. I am speaking largely to me. At my HUB College group last week we talked about this very idea because we go to so many church events that sooner or later we have not outside-of-church-friends. Lord, I pray that I will work harder at developing those friendships outside of church.

In case you know the Title reference, thanks for reading because you thought it had to do with Magnatude  from "Community". If you didn't get the reference, it is a saying that one random character says in a tv show. (Putting that Pop Culture reference in there)

Batteries Not Included

A few years ago for my birthday, I asked for an iPod Dock Portable Stereo System and my parents were wonderful to get my one. It was Logitec and it worked amazingly. The sound was quality. The system was easy to use. It was super simple to move. THEN the worst happened. I left the thing outside near the Hot Tub. It rained, got wet and did not work one bit after that. I tried what I could, but getting wet ruined it for good.

A while later, after a considerable mourning period, I decided this summer that I wanted another one. Now, most everyone knows that I am a cheapskate. I hate to pay full price and try to skim by the the best deal and sometimes that gets me into trouble with brands and quality and such. Well, as I was looking for the perfect replacement for this wonderful Logitec (if not UN-Water-Resistant) system, I was appauled at the prices to which these docks were selling. The cheap-o's were $35-$40 and then of course there was the Top-Of-The-Line… Bose for a staggering $300.

I searched all around, online, local, everywhere to find that, lo and behold the dock I wanted was the Logitec dock that I ruined previously. Well, I decided to get that exact one and looked at prices. The best price was Amazon.com of course. So, I purchased it around July.

I have been using it without issue until this afternoon. I took the thing outside to use while washing and cleaning my car. I know what you are thinking, but NO, I did not spray it and ruin yet another one. I turned it on to find out that the speakers were going in and out. I had no clue what was wrong. I had used it so many other times and it worked great. Well, after some troubleshooting, I found that I had used up the battery portion of the system and the batteries were going dead. The thing takes 6 batteries and I keep it plugged in most of the time, but it was enough to drain the thing, bummer.

So, I was happy to be able to put in new batteries and not have to call Logitec and feel like an Idiot when they say, "Have you tried changing the batteries?"

Funniest thing ever!

I just experienced the funniest thing ever.  To understand, you have to know a few things.

First off, my dog, Pixar, loves to play catch with Tennis Balls. We go out in the backyard, the front yard, and anywhere we can to play catch with the Fetch It. Pixar knows what he is supposed to do... where he is supposed to drop the ball just by a few motions. I won't go into it all, but I never knew that he understood Uno Mas. I will always judge when to stop playing catch when he does not bring the ball right back. He may just take a round about way to get back, or he may, if he is super tired, just lay down with the ball in a shady area (when its hot out) but that tells me we will do one more toss and then be done. When that trigger happens, I say Alright Pixar, Uno Mas. (One More, in Spanish)

Well, tonight I was watching a Favorite TV show on DVD and the end of one episode came about. I was/am getting kinda tired but figured I could do with one more episode so I said, Alright Uno Mas. Instantly, Pixar, of whom was sleeping on the bed, pops his head up and looks at me as if we were playing ball. I did not even say the words in a way I would while playing catch, but he just learned them.
What a smart dog.

Amazingly Worrisome And Neccesary Amount NIGHT

Yesterday, I was busy in the afternoon. It was the start of AWANA this week. That meant, as the director of my group, T&T2, I had a lot to get done. I had to get to the church a bit early to get everything together that needed to be there. I needed to pick up a small file holder at Wally World first, then straight to the church to organize and make sure I had everything. As the director, I did not realize that I had so much to take care of. Also, I was helping out last year with a lot of sound booth items and that was thrust upon me again, which made it more run-around-y for me.

Despite never being a director before, and even though I was flustered most of the time, I felt pretty good about it the night. In the coming weeks, I will get better and better about having everything I need. The part that I wish I had more time to prepare for was my Council Time talk, but it went fairly well too. I had decided this first week I just wanted to get to know the kids a bit and also use the Would You Rather book which helps the kids open up and give their opinion. I also had a PowerPoint that was trivia facts about truth.

Afterwards, I got positive feedback from my leaders (of whom have been helping with AWANA much longer than me) so that was nice to hear. It was one busy night, but it turned out well.

I Don't Know How They Can Say no dessert

I went to a movie this afternoon. It was the new "I Don't Know How She Does It" movie with miss Sex in the City. I liked it alright, but I don't think it was worth the price of going to theaters.
The movie is about a working mom who has to juggle things with the family and things with work and can't put her whole life into both. I like the narrative type of movie that sorta acts like a diary- Veronica Mars got me hooked on that entertainment type. It was very much a girly movie though, more so than I am even accustomed to. I like girly movies, but this one was along the lines of Traveling Pants, Steel Magnolias, and Thelma and Louise (as I understand them, I have not watched these ones because of the uber-girliness.)
*Spoiler Alert*
Throughout the movie you are subjected to the life of a hard-working mother of whom everyone things, "How does she do it" because she just works and works and works.
Along the way, she is introduced to a handsome, successful man with whom she works very closely with on a financial project. You assume that this is a love interest that will develop... and it does.... for him.
That is what I really appreciated about this movie- although he fell in love with her, a married woman with two children,... she did not fall back in love with him and told him flat out that she loved her husband. She worked very hard to keep the relationship professional and when she found out she could not keep doing all the things she was doing, she drew a line in the sand and told her boss (the always awesome Kelsey Grammar) that she could not do it all and would not put her family in the backseat and if that meant he had to fire her, then she would accept that, but she would not quit. It is so refreshing to see a movie that puts the value of family ahead of getting ahead in the world and does not have a lead character that has an affair or divorce.


After the movie, I decided to go to Hola. Central Oregon has a Peruvian Cuisine restaurant at the Old Mill. I had three $10 certificates for Hola from when I got my windshield fixed at Cascade Auto Glass. I have already used one and planned to get a dessert after the movie and use another. Well, I got a soda and the Churro dessert which had ice cream and drizzled with Chocolate syrup. It came out to exactly $10 (perfect right?) Well, when I went to pay, they server told me that it only worked for "Dinner."  I was annoyed because the certificate explicitly says "ANY of Hola's Delicious menu items" Dessert is a part of their menu. I really wish I was more rude and obnoxious sometime because I think I could have asked for the manager and showed him the exact phrases on the certificate and gotten him to take it. As it was, I just paid for the stupid dessert and plan to see the last two coupons. I did not get dinner because the first dinner there was not amazing. Now, I am just going to try to sell em to get some of my money for em. Hopefully I can get that dessert price back with them. Anyone wanna buy two $10 certificates for $15?

Milling about purchasing a Food.....Mill

I have learned all I know (Which really isn't that much) about Canning from my father- Not to say that my Father does not know much about canning, because he does... but I don't know all that much.
I love to go on Apple Picking Trips in the fall and then using my apples for making yummy Apple Sauce.

So, after this last year, I had to borrow my father's canning stuff including a Food Mill. I know you may be thinking about what a Food Mill might be. I know this because I looked all around Redmond for a Food Mill and when I would go to a store such as Bi-Mart (Which coincidentally does have a good selection of canning items) or Big R or Fred Meyer, I would ask if they had Food Mills and inevitably the store worker would give me a funny look and ask inquisitively... "What is a Food Mill"

Well, for those of you wondering, a Food mill is a saucepan type of kitchen utensil that has holes in the bottom, like a strainer or colander, and also has a grinding wheel that pushes the food down the colander. It is a nice thing to use when you make Apple Sauce. After my use of the food mill last year in October with all the Apples I used, I really missed it when I had to give it back to my father.

So, this year, I thought I would look around. I went all over my little city and did not find a-one. I looked online and Amazon has it, of course, but a bit more money than I wanted to pay= $30 or more. Plus Shipping.

Today, I decided to go to our Kitchen Collection outlet store to see if by off-chance they had a food mill at a good price. They amazingly did have a Food Mill, and it was a good price, with being on sale. It looks great and I decided to purchase it, so now I have my very own food mill. I am so excited for Fall Apple Sauce.

Lucky Me!

The Laundry-ness of Monk

Don't you love when a TV show impacts society. Sometime it is for good, sometime for bad, sometime for neutral- not necessarily good, not necessarily bad. Monk is one of those for me, (and others I have heard say the same). How Monk are you? Meaning how Obsessive-Compulsive are you? I love to watch Monk and see his characteristics, and sadly how much I relate to him. (I also love the other Characters of Tony Shaloub- Antonio Scarpatchi from Wings, Cars movie, ect.

I was thinking today as I was folding my laundry about how Monk I am with my socks.  How many people actually think about which sock goes with which partner if they are the same type of sock, bought at the same time, ect. I do. I think about how convenient it would be to buy new sock pairs and then label them with numbers... or letters..... or symbols... or whatever.... just so I knew that this one pair is always together, and then that pair is always together. I could also do effective searching when the Number 4 pair only has one mate, I could go searching for number 4's other half.  Sad, I know.




Then, I think of how close that is to the geeky equivalent of putting a name on the underwear.

What I do instead of numbering/lettering/symboling/naming my socks is I judge as best as I can by the stains of the socks. Now, I know that might gross many of you out, but my socks do have battle scars. I do wash my socks (and everything for that matter) but maybe I don't do it right because there are inevitable small stains on certain pairs. I can use these indicators to pair the socks as much as possible. So, there ya go,... That is how Monk I am. Yes, I am THAT much Monk!

Now, I realize that this post might be totally useless to you. Some of you might have looked at the post and right off the bat saw the socks and decided that it was not a relevant post to you (which is probably true of most of you). And some might have read a tiny bit more before getting bored. I can neither confirm or deny that some of you have even read all the way to here, and may or may not relate. Some might not even think of these things, but for the small percentage of you that actually do think of such non-sense,...

You Are Not Alone! (I feel like an Air1 commercial, saying that)

Leashin' the Smart Dog

When I go on hikes with my pup, if no one is around, I let Pixar off the leash to run around and explore. I know that is illegal, so sue me (please don't, I don't have money to pay lawyers or court fees). I let him off because is is fairly well behaved and will listen (for the most part) when I call him. I have done this in the Redmond Dry Canyon quite a bit, especially because you can see people coming at quite a distance. When we are alone, I make sure Pixar is semi-close but let him explore a bit. If he gets too far, I tell him to stop and he (usually) waits for me. He knows that if he gets too far and does not listen, he goes back on the leash for a while. He and I have gotten pretty good at this. Usually, I am the one that notices people first, before he does and I call him back and he walks/runs back to me and I put the leash on while we walk past others and then when we are at a good distance, I let him off again, if the path is clear of people.

Well, I was thinking this last hike day (last Saturday) that it would be awesome if Pix had learned this and just on instinct would see others on the trail when we was off the leash and would walk back to me without me saying anything... that happened this morning.

Pixar and I were walking nice and early around the neighborhood. In the summer, we would walk down to the High School back field grass and I would let him run free because it is fenced. This morning, I was worried that there were going to be HSers walking in the field because we were walking before school. We got away from most of the students that I saw and so I let Pix off the leash to run in the grass. I was watching him and not around us and he saw a young lady walking into the field and he looked back at me and started walking back to me. Then, instantly I knew something was different, looked up to see the young lady and quickly leashed him again. I was so impressed with my pup.

Right after I had thought how cool it would be if he just knew to do that, he did it. I have a smart dog. I just hope it was not a one time thing and he'll do it again. I think he will.

Wasco Lake, You Dirty Dawg

As promised, I did indeed go on a hike today and DID (Swim) Suit Up. It was a great morning for a hike. I went to Wasco Lake. This is a great, easy hike that is about 2-2.5mi. each way. The end of the road to the Jack Lake Campground (where the trail starts) has 6 miles of terrible gravel though. A car is forced to go 20MPH or less. What  a pain. Pixar and I got up there nice and early, but just barely early enough. I had to the use the bathroom (TMI?) and as I was headed to the Porta I noticed there was a group of around 10 there that were on Llamas and they were getting ready to depart to the trail. I was worried that we would get stuck behind them so I hurried up and got outta there. I got everything ready and Pixar and I started heading out, but the problem was we were still too late, they were already on the trail. Luckily, they were super nice and let us ahead of them.

The path was somewhat narrow, but certainly wide enough for one person to hike down. The thing I did not like so much was the Dirt on the path, it was super dusty. It's just something you deal with though. Pixar and I did not encounter very many people on our trip so that was really nice. He was able to be off the leash most of the way. The bummer part of this hike is that there are so many dead trees that makes one sad.

Once we got to the lake, we cut across to an area that seemed good, but I think if I were to go again, I would follow the trail all the way to the end, it probably has a better beach-area for the lake. We got in and it was so clear and lovely but the problem was silt at the bottom. It was very mucky at the floor of the lake which made it hard to get in and out. We still had fun. I swam for some time, and I tried to dry off as much as possible. Got a bit of lunch, but did not stay amazingly long because Pix was getting anxious to run some more, so we got on our way back.

I would recommend this hike to those wanting a fairly easy hike to a lake (that I was the only one there for most of the time I was there) and don't mind dead trees, they're all around.

Just keep in mind that this hike is a dirty/dusty one and you will get a coating of dirt/dust on your person and also on your car.

Suit Up when hiking

Last week I went hiking with my sister. We planned (Crazy to be planning with my sister who does not plan at all, and it showed) a few days earlier that we would meet in Sisters, carpool to the hike spot, bring a lunch, and swimwear--because were were hiking to a lake-- and have lunch at the lake. Well, she was running a bit late (Shocker) and did not remember to bring swimwear or lunch (another Shocker) so because it was a bit cooler than I expected and because Kel didn't bring stuff, I decided that I wasn't going in the lake either and left the swim stuff I packed in the car instead of hauling it in my backpack all the way up there. Once we go up there to Matthieu Lake, though, we both wanted to get into the inviting lake. I just waded in because I was wearing shorts, but Kelli decided that she we do Latvian style.

That trip helped me learn a lesson for future trips, even if I am thinking I might not get into the lake that I will hike to, I am going to bring the towel and junk, just in case UNLESS I am POSITIVE I will not want to take a dip. So, that is what I am doing this morning as well. I am heading out to Wasco Lake, a great trip to a clear lake. Super excited for this hike as well. I will come back this afternoon with some pictures, I hope.

Twenty-Eleven

I was certainly happy tonight when I was watching the News with Brian Williams.

Ever since the start of 2010, I have been calling the years by two numbers- Twenty-Ten. Not Two-Thousand-Ten and so on. I feel that in the nineties, we did not call the year One-Thousand-Nine-Hundred-Ninty-Nine, we called it Nineteen-Ninty-Nine, so it makes sense to continue the trend to say Twenty-Ten, Twenty-Eleven, and so on. I think my logic is sound, right? The only reason we were calling it 2000 was because we can't say Twenty-Zero, or Twenty-Oh-One. It just doesn't make sense, but now we have hit the double digits again, we should return to Twenty-Eleven and continue on from there.

I actually, was in a classroom in 2010 (Twenty-Ten) and during calendar time the teacher had already sent a precedent of saying the year the other way and because it was not my classroom, I felt I needed to respect her ideas there and did not try to change the system in that class, even when a few students would say 2010 my way.

Back to the News, Brian Williams tonight was talking about the 10 year anniversary of 9/11/01 and he was saying this year the way I say it, so hopefully it is starting to catch on (not because of me, but just because it seems logical to say it that way when looking back on the previous years.)

If you think about it, if we keep on saying the year the other way (which honestly, seems to be the norm right now) what will happen in a hundred years- granted I won't be there to witness it most likely, but still-- what happens in the year 2113- are we going to say the year is Two-Thousand-One-Hundred-Thirteen? Or are we going to say Twenty-One-Thirteen. I think it just makes sense.

That is my persuasion to you, my vast readers, follow me and Brian Williams- say Twenty-Eleven. (I know I have written about the way we say the year before, but it was on my mind and I had further backup this time)

Take me back to the Mid-Ninties

When you think of Kids movies in the mid-ninties, what do you think of? What movie? What company? I am sure, if you are smart, you MUST think like me. I think ONLY of Disney. That company WAS THE company for animated children's movies. The two movies I think of are Aladdin and The Lion King. I think it is mostly because I watched these movies OVER and OVER and OVER again. I am sure my parents got tired of me watching the same movies all the time. I got to the point of being able to quote the whole movie.

Now, bring it on back to the future. Last night as I was skimming my Facebook update stati, I came across a news feed (KTVZ- the best local station) about the local Library having free music downloads. I was very interested to say the least. I read the story and immediately proceeded to the website to see for myself. Sure enough, Three (3) free downloads per week. All I have to have is a Library card (Which I have had since I was probably about 8 years old) and I am good to go. I went searching through their 2.5 million songs and came across something I had never heard anything about. It was Stellar Kart- a great band I have enjoyed for about 8 years- and it was a new EP. This is where it ties in to the start of the posting- The name of the EP was A Whole New World. You guessed it, this EP was Disney Songs. I knew right away these were going to be my three downloads for this week and boy was I happy to find them.

A Whole New World
Can You Feel The Love Tonight
Kiss The Girl

(There is also Be Our Guest on the EP, but I did not download it- Three per week, ya know)


So, needless to say, I was very happy to have three free downloads and a new find in Stellar Kart.

The Prelude to a Back to School

For millions, today is the day to remember. Today is a day that gives a fresh start. Today is the Day You have made... wait, good song, but not what Im talking about. Today is the start of a new school year for students. I always LOVED going back to school because of the preliminary events. 

For many years, my family would head to "The Valley" (AKA Portland) to go shopping- because obviously there was no good shopping over on our side of the mountain, go figure!? We would plan a trip to Portland to visit my grandparents and make a day of the shopping trip. We would leave in the morning, drive all the way to Portland, go to Clackamas Town Center and the parents would give some amount of money, perhaps $150 or $200 and turn us loose in the mall for two hours or around there. (I think the first year they did this was when I was in 4th or 5th grade perhaps) I loved this because I felt grown up and independent. I wasn't shopping for underwear and socks with my mommy, but on my own, free to make my choices for my school clothing. I would methodically tour the mall, going from store to store, walking past ones that would obviously not have what I would want, and quickly looking for my items in the stores that might have something in 'em. The Town Center is a great place to be methodical because it WAS just a big, long, two-story mall that did not have any nooks and crannies or multiple wings to it to get lost in. I would start at one end of the mall, and get to the other end and head up the stairs to the second story and go back the other way. It was great organization. Usually, I found my Back to School clothing at a big store, rather than a small independent shop. It usually was a place like Sears or something like that. It usually was on the clearance rack, it was the best deal, and I am always way behind in fashion. I usually found my items and toured the whole mall in about 30 minutes and then had an hour and a half left before we had to be back at the car. 

After this big mall trip, we (My sisters and I) would all pull out what we got for how much money and see who was the most economical, it was usually me. Then it was off to Olive Garden for lunch (Because over in Central Oregon, we did not have such restaurants, so it was a treat) with the grandparents. After that, it was home again. 

Not only the Back to School shopping, but there were other great reasons to want to go back to school. For one, by August, I got bored of not having anything to do. At the start of the summer, you get to sleep in and watch tv all the time and hang out with friends, and then the middle is when the vacations happen, but by late August, I am just itching to do something. School is a great something to do.

Then there is getting to meet your teacher. I was always nervous to meet new teachers to see if they were nice or super mean. I was also excited about getting to see who was in my classes, and getting back to school supplies (Though we stayed local for the supplies). 

Back to School time was always a fun time with fond family memories.

Say What? You're Prego?

The first year, it was bra colors- girls everywhere on Facebook were putting down colors- black, pink, green, all over. Then last year, it was I like it... It had to do with their purses. I like it on the table. Meant they liked putting their purses on the table. These were ploys to "share?" Breast Cancer awareness. Now, if you ask me it did not help to spread the idea of Breast Cancer Awareness for many of us. For me, it did because I googled the topic and came up with a hit that explained it, but for most people, I think it probably just enforced dirty minds. I don't like that idea of spreading dirty mind ideas. I am all for increasing Breast Cancer Awareness, but not they way they are doing it via FB. 

The past few days for me have been weird ones because I have seen a few friends, ones of whom I am fairly certain are not Prego, putting __ weeks and craving_____... Again, I feel it is not increasing awareness of Breast Cancer, but instead just giving doubts about abstinence. 

The first friend I read the post on, I thought, wow, she's married so that makes sense, that is so cool. Then the next friend, a good friend of mine of whom I believe to be an outstanding Christian with awesome morals talking about being so many weeks and craving something and I was very saddened because she was not married and I assumed that she had given into temptation. I didn't like that feeling. I was thinking, man, all my friends are having babies. Then, another friend of whom I felt the exact same, just posted the same sort of thing. That was when I realize it must be another one of those stupid FB things. Again, I don't like the fact that they are trying to "Promote" Breast Cancer awareness when they do not talk of it and just put dirty and unclean thoughts in minds. I am happy now to know that my "Good Girl" friends are not knocked up out of wedlock, but annoyed with the idea of Promoting something when most people don't actually look it up. I feel it would do more to ask the ladies to post a story about Breast Cancer in their status rather than add to unclean thoughts on Facebook (Aren't there already enough of those on there already?)

An impressive Captain

I went to a free movie tonight. Yes, a free movie. That's what I love about Regal. They have that awesome Crown Club Card that I get points towards things like free soda, popcorn, and even movies.

Just this summer, I went to many movies. Loads of blockbusters came out- Kung Fu Panda, Cars 2, X-Men, the last Harry Potter... Many of these I had coupons for, some I just had to actually pay to go see, but each one of em helped me earn points. I got enough to make it to the Free Movie Ticket level.

After all that, I had a ticket that I was not sure what movie to use it on. There were a few that looked alright- ones I wouldn't pay for, but since it was free-...so I looked around for one I would like. I was unsure of it, but eventually decided on attending Captain America. I was pleasantly surprised.

 Not that it was not good, it was. I just did not think it would be my type of movie and as good as it was.
As it was, I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed this testosterone-filled, guy movie. I like Marvel Comics movies, and most all I have seen recently are really well done. I was amazed at how they could make the same dude a scrawny 90lb weakling and a muscle-ripped, tall he-man. That's the magic of the movies I guess. I really appreciated that this movie was not curse-ridden and also not gory. It was certainly an action-packed movie with lots of violence, but not Kill Bill/Gladiator violence, it was easy to take violence. I like that.

I would recommend Captain America: First Avenger to anyone who is into the Marvel movies- XMen, Spider Man, ect. .. One last thought as I am thinking about it... Where did the creativity go? As I was waiting for the movie to start there was a preview for Spiderman. Yes, there has already been a Spiderman movie fairly recently and new they are redoing the thing. Not that happy about that. I don't really wanna see it because of the fact that the movie was already created from that starting point just a few years ago. I do wanna see it because I have a thing for Emma Stone (Supposedly not as much as Jim Carrey, but...) but I am not sure if I will actually see it... Maybe Redbox for a buck.

Friend Like That

Labor Day Weekend. That definitely means SCHOOL!
I am reminded of the feelings I had when I first graduated high school and saw friends leave. I have been listening to a recent graduate and his bummer-ness for seeing all of his friends leaving for school. It is certainly a hard time in life when high school is over and everyone goes their separate ways.

I remember hearing those around me (When I graduated in 02) saying that I won't see many of those high school peers again. I was kinda doubtful about that because Redmond community is semi-small, but I found out they were right. Sure, I have seen some peers around, people working around town and what not, but I certainly don't keep up with any of my peers except for Facebook and my Best friend since 1st grade, Ryan.

I am reminded of my grade school days, hanging out with my friend hours upon end. We would rotate a number of fun activities- go to the school playground, pay with legos, play with cars, pool if it was warm enough, and of course act out like we were buying real cars and get in our parked cars at home and drive for miles and miles. Can't forget about riding bikes around town. Those were the days. What good times we had.
I also remember how we would always act like we were upset and not friends anymore, and then two minutes later we were best of friends again. I could never stay upset with my Best Friend, nor he me.

Our relationship has changed and matured now that we have changed and matured, but we still try to make time to meet up once in a while and catch up with lives.

Im Monk, Soap and Doctors

Well it must be a slow month. After looking at my posting list by month, I have found that this month (August) I did not have much to say. Four Postings in a 31 day month is certainly not much excitement on my end. I am even writing this so it can be an even 5 rather than a 4 number.
I know what you are thinking- 5... that is not an even number. BUT, I like 5. I am a Monk type of person (as I posted on my FB this morning that I had to put my crayons in order of ROYGBIV before putting them back in the case) and I consider 5 a nice number to use because of being half to a great number of 10. Ten is a nice even number. I often wonder how Monk felt about stopping at 8 seasons. You would think that Mr. Monk would want to get to an even 10!

I have been thinking about something pretty regularly lately. It may seem very weird or awkward, but I have been thinking about Soap. I like to use the fresh scent of Irish Spring. It is not girly at all and I like the feel and smell. Well, I don't know about many other soap use, but I found fairly recently (in terms of how old I am- 2 years ago, I think) that there is a right way and wrong way to use Irish Spring soap in the shower. Now, hear me out.  If you look at a brand new bar of soap, you will see the label on the top with the bottom being curved. Now, I used to use the soap from the bottom-up. This seemed like the right way to use the soap because of the nice curve that worked well. I just recently learned though that the soap breaks quite a bit earlier (into two pieces that are harder to use) when the soap gets dissolved mostly. Using the top side of the soap and working it down is much better in keeping the soap in one piece when it gets down to the end. I know you are so interested in how to use soap. If you have always done one way, try the other and see if you agree.
Again, this is just for Irish Spring, I know not of other soap uses.

I was recently told to get my head checked... I know after that last little bit, you are not surprised, but it wasn't for crazy issues, it was for my birth mark on the side of my head. When I shave my head really close, people notice the marks on my head. I have had them forever but my dentist said I should get it checked so I looked into it. I called my old clinic I have gone to for minor urgent care issues- deep cuts ect. and they could not get me in to see a doc until Sept. 29th, a month away. I called the new BMC clinic in Redmond and they were able to get me in today. What a difference. I decided to go with the clinic that actually has time for me. I went in this afternoon and found that there was nothing wrong with my head but she, my doc, took liquid nitrogen to my head. Yeah, you read right. She burned off some excess that was kinda hanging down, crazy right. I was amazed at that.

I have a Dave Ramsey Dad

Debt Free! It is a nice thing to think of when I have been strapped for  cash this last year and having an $8500 loan hovering slightly over my head. Yes, I had learned from my father (and mother) not to get into debt. I always decline credit cards even though I am offered them all the time. I won't buy things that I don't have cash for. I do spend my money un-carefully at times, but I also keep track of it and am a tight-wad at times too. I know what you are thinking... Nope,  I have not gone through Dave Ramsey training, BUT I feel like I have with my father's influence.

A little over a week ago, I was in California with my mother's extended family for a reunion. It was great to see family I had not seen in a while. It was also  a bit awkward to re-meet extended family I had not seen in years or remembered, especially when they remembered me. After that reunion last saturday, we had a b-day party for many in the family. There are many birthdays in August and September that were celebrated, the most impressive was my grandmother- who is turning 93 in a few days. WOW, right?!

Because we had the whole family in one place, Grandma decided to give everyone an early Christmas present and boy, was it one. She gave every family in her family a check. It was a large sum of money. It was very helpful because I used some of the money to pay off my debt I had left. How nice it is to be debt free, all thanks to my grandmother.

After paying off the debt, I was looking for other ways to spend the money wisely. I have been in need of a newer (not new) car for a while now. I have had to pay repair bills for my current one for a while now. So, I decided to look online to see if there was a car for me. I found some good ones, but mostly out of my range. I found one that had all the specs- a good car, Honda CRV and there was no price. I left an email with the company asking about the price of the car. I figured it would be out of my range, but just in case...
So, I got a call back from someone at the dealership saying the price was 19,500. I had the amount of $7000 in my head as my cap. I said thank you but it was way out of my price range and hung up right away even though I know that she kept on talking while I was hanging up.
That night, I got an email from the company saying they heard I was unhappy with the price and I should come down to the lot and drive the thing and they could work out a price.
I said, No thank you, I have a price of $7000 and I am sure you don't want to come down THAT much to help me get in the car. I also said, I will not be taking out a loan.
He emailed back saying that they had many cars on the lot and he could help me get into a small SUV type if I wanted.
I emailed back yet again saying that if they had a 2005 or newer, under 50,000 miles, with AC, and Cruise and under $7000, then I would think about it.   For some reason I have not heard back from him... (That was sarcastic, in case you were wondering)

FedUP(S)

I am usually not a very patient person when I have a one-track mind. If I am waiting for something to arrive or an event to happen, you can forget about me thinking about anything else. That is why when I shop online, I like to get my item quickly. Well, it was not different these past few days. I purchased a large, exciting item online through Amazon and even purchased 1-day shipping so I could get it the next day (yesterday). I waited around ALL day. I would just be sitting out in the main room and listening for a large diesel brown truck to pull up in the driveway. Many times I thought I heard one and rushed to the door to see if someone had arrived. It went like this from about 5-9pm. Alas, I was devastated when I checked the tracking site one last time before bed and the site had updated from "delivered by end of the day" to "Delivery date unknown". This was not something I was used to about the boys in brown. I have had amazing experiences with UPS before. They usually came on time or even a day earlier. If the shipping was between 3-5 days, the shipment came in 3.  Not this time. I even paid extra so I could get it the very next day and it was on schedule until it came out of Portland.

So, Amazon shipped this video camera in super speed. Then it hits UPS and ships from Redmond, WA to Portland, OR in the nic of time. Then, I have no clue what happened. Logically from Portland, the package needed to be shipped to Bend and then out for Delivery to Redmond. Nope. That is not what happens. It gets shipped to Hermiston. Now, since it was being scanned in Hermiston, it should be very logical to think, oh, good, someone will read the package in Hermiston and say, why did it come over here, it should be going to Bend distribution center... and then correct the mistake. Again, Nope. That is not what happened. It ships even further to Commerce City, COLORADO! Are you kidding me? Why is my package (at the end of a day overdue) in the middle of the country when it originated from a few hundred miles from its destination?

Even before Colorado, I called UPS and spoke with someone there, they said, "Oh, it says it is on its way to Bend" (Were they blowing smoke up my butt?) I also asked about why it was taking so long because I paid for one-day shipping... to which they said it was specified as Ground shipping. Understandable, so I call Amazon because it must be their fault right? They were very gracious and even though I was frustrated I did not have my package when I expected it, I was alright with that.

That was until Colorado. I just called UPS again and they say that they cannot do anything about it. As I said, in the past, I have loved UPS. If I had a choice, I would choose UPS over USPS or FedEx. Now, after all this incident, I choose, FedEx. I am FedUP with UPS.

Help! I need somebody...

I went to a movie this afternoon while in Bend and it was a good one, but I noticed something. I must not like the same movies that most people, or guys, my age like, because the movie I went to had NO other guys my age there.
I first noticed this when I was sitting and waiting for the movie to start. I got there 20 minutes early like I always like to do (BTW- there are some really good looking movies coming up soon) and as I was waiting and semi-watching Regal First Look, I was mostly noticing who was entering the theater.. it was older ladies, mostly in their 60s and 70s. They were entering the theaters in masses. There were some dutiful husbands along with some ladies, but from what I saw, I was probably one of 10 guys there and the rest must have been married and at least 65 years old. Same with the women. A theater mostly of women and mostly over 65. I was lucky enough to sit next to the only lady around my age, of whom was there with what seemed like it must have been her mother. (Now, I just want to make it clear that they sat near me, I was there first, but they also left the obligatory one seat open so I wouldn't feel cramped, but hey, she was cute, I wouldn't have minded so much if she cramped me a bit in the theater seat and sat right next to me...)

You may be wondering what these circumstances were that led to a theater full of old women. Well, I will tell ya, it was a number of things. First off, it was a mid-day showing starting at 1:15. That is certainly not the time a whole heck of a lot of guys my age go to the movies- they wait till the evening and weekends when they get off of work. The next and most obvious reason though, was because of the movie I chose. I went to see "The Help". This not a manly-testosterone-pumping-car-crashing-blow-stuff-up man kind of a movie. But I do NOT regret going one bit. It was a great movie and very well done.

The movie is set in the mid-60's  in Jackson Mississippi and is a comment on the segregation of the whites and coloreds. There are a group of 20's ladies of whom their lives existed to get married and have babies. The only thing was they were rich, so they had a maid, a black woman, do all the chores, the housework, the serving, and even raising the kids. One young lady in that group did not like what she was seeing. Skeeter (Emma Stone- Gotta love those Red-Heads) did not think like the rest of the ladies in the group. She went to college, not to get her M.R.S. but to get a job afterwards and was a writer. She set out to write a book about The Help, the ladies in the town who did all the work for the rich white women.

It was a truly touching story of lives set back in the 60's. It makes you laugh when you hear about the pie and it makes you cry when you hear about the hardships. All around, a great family movie without nudity or terrible language or other offensive items that seem to be plaguing every Hollywood endeavor. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, especially someone who grew up with that type of racism in that area doing that time.

Auntie Em, Auntie Em

Here it is already August 15th. We are already halfway through August and I have yet to post a blog entry during this month. I know you are all really anxiously waiting for the next story or opinion. Well, the wait is over.

What have I been doing in August? Not a whole heck of a lot. With my July being so busy, the first week was just recuperating from that, and then last week, pretty boring, I have to admit.

Today, I took a walk with the dog down in the Redmond Dry Canyon and of course had to stop at the Redmond Wieglund Dog Park so Pixar could get some energy out. It worked, as I write this posting he is laying sprawled out on the cool hardwood floor of my room. He looks very content.

After our walk this morning, it was 11:30 so I decided I would head off to one of my favorite Ma and Pop shop in Redmond- Auntie Em's. If you have not been to Auntie Em's, you are missing out TOTALLY! There is no comparison. The food is good, the price is amazing. What more could you ask for.

Auntie Em's is located in Downtown Redmond, on 6th street a little over a block way from Dairy Queen. At first entry of the Deli, you will notice that time has shifted back around 15-20 years earlier and been transported to the country. So much to say, the decor is outdated which in most cases would be a turnoff,  but it works for Auntie Em's. The stone wall with artwork of the country and fields is somewhat inviting.
When approaching the front counter, you will find three people, the two owners and an employee who has been there for just as long. They have sandwiches, soups and various other wonderful foods. Their soups are the best soups you could ever get. They always have three varieties of soups- two everyday menu soups and one rotational. The two soups that you will always find are Broccoli Cheese, and Chunky Vegetable. I am not a huge broccoli fan in general, but the way they make their Broccoli Cheese soup is AMAZING.  A cup of this soup comes with a bun, all for $3.  If you want to add another bun it is just $.50 extra and totally worth it. You will want an additional bun, they are just that good.
In fact, every time that I go to Auntie Em's I come home and have the urge to make my mother's recipe of Double Quick Dinner Rolls because they are very similar in taste.
They also have wonderful sandwiches. The bread is great with loads of meats and cheeses.

I highly recommend trying Auntie Em's. I even think it is worth the trip from the major metropolis of Bend to coming to lowly little Redmond, to try it out.

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.