I got a dog

He is pretty cute. Right now his name is Little Buddy. We have danced around the idea of changing it to something tough like Maximus, but we are a bit partial to "little buddy" since we have been calling him that since we got him.

Animals are a lot of work. Actually I am lucky. He isn't very big which means small size poo, and he doesn't need to walk for hours because his little legs are doing like quintuple speed to keep up with me. But there is extra time involved. I have to get up early, spend time with him and take care of this little fuzzy life that lives in my house. I don't mind though. He is a really good dog and a bunch of fun, so the freedom that I gave up is worth it to me. You will probably see him at Christmas TNL- so don't miss it!!!

Did you know dogs dream. I can tell Little Buddy is dreaming because he twitches and whines, even barks sometimes in his sleep. I hope he is having fun adventures chasing rabbits or something. Why do they move like that when they are sleeping? I don't think I do that but maybe I do. I shall have to videotape myself sleeping some night and see if I do funny stuff in my sleep as well:)

Christmas!!! Holy Smokes!!

Every year seems like Christmas comes up so quickly but this year seems like it is in HYPERDRIVE (or HYPERACTIVE for those who made catch this extremely subtle movie reference). I have not gotten a single gift for anyone! Not one! Some of you junior highers may be thinking, "I am in the same boat" but here is the dilema for me- I like to get people things that they asked for. And the lists from my family are starting to get pretty picked over as in other family memebers have already bought x, y, and z. So what does that leaven me with? I think I might have to buy gift cards- which aregreat, I am not knocking them by any stretch of the imagination, in fact I love getting gift cards, but to have everyone open their present and it is a gift card gets kinda boring after awhile. Because I like to see what everyone is getting, we actually go around one at a time and take turns opening so you can see what everyone gets. It is super fun:) Anyway, watching people open gift cards is about as much fun as watchigna snow globe, it's cool for like 2 minutes and then you are bored to tears. Plus they aren't very fun to wrap and I really like wrapping presents. I always buy wrapping paper and Christmas cards after Christmas, because they all go on sale, and then I save them for next year. Genius, I know.

To almost completely switch subjects, the intial blog I was going to write about had to do with Christmas but none of this other stuff. I really wanted to tell everyone that I heard on the radio this morning that Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer is on TONIGHT!!! on CBS at 8pm!!! You cannot miss the claymation-y-goodness that is in store tonight. I love the Christmas specials. I don't own this one or How the Grinch Stole Christmas- which is another one of my favorites, a very close second to Merry Christmas Charlie Brown! which is my all-time favorite Christmas special. So I have to watch them on TV. I haven't seen Rudolf in forever, for a while they kept playing it the day after Thanksgiving and I wouldn't even start looking at my Christmas TV schedule until December so I kept missing it. So I want to catch that and grinch, and Mickey's Christmas Carol, because I really like that one too. I have the Peanuts one on DVD, like I said, and Elf, and A Very Merry Muppet Christmas (also a winner)so I'll be watching those on my own schedule, but i can't wait to watch Rudolf tonight- you should watch it too!!!

Sweet video

I like skateboarding- I don't mean doing it, I am not that cool- but I like watching tricks and stunts that people do. I am always amazed at how high, how fast, and how many spins, flips, etc. they are capable of doing- all under human power, you know, no motor. (that was a huge run on sentence by the way). Anyway- I think that stuff is cool to watch. You gotta check out this video, it is not like other skateboarding videos, same tricks and stunts but the kid is in a wheelchair! Incredible stuff he does. And when he takes off his helmet, he looks like he is only 13-15, so you age, and he is super sweet. Check it out!!! and let me know what you think:)

I am back

I don't know if you know but I was out visiting family in Germany! That is right-I was in 4 different countries in the last 2 weeks, USA, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. It is kind of sad to say but I didn't realize Luxembourg was a nation until very recently. It is very small and maybe I learned about it in school but I just don't remember studying it in school. I have to say it has a pretty interesting history, as I learned while I was there, and I absolutely loved Luxembourg City, but I don't recall it being on the big map of Europe in "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego," which was the sweetest game show for junior highers back in the day. Rockappella the singing group did all these cool little jingles and you had to know geography and histroy- so much fun. There were 3 contestants and the one with the highest score at the end got to do the final challenge where there was a big map- huge really, that you would run across. The host would say a country and you would run across the map and put a flag on the country. If it was right it would light up. You only had a certain amount of time to get all 15 countries right. Sometime you got Europe or South America- you just never knew what map you would get so really you would need to study all of them. The hardest was always the Africa map. It was so hard because there are so many different countries in Africa and you would have to label 15- you just don't know which 15 they'll pick. So maybe you know where Ivory Coast is but you mix up Narobi and Namibia and you are finished! Anyway- I don't remember Luxembourg being on the map of Europe but maybe it was:)


So I had fun- here are some pics of me in Luxembourg!

Attendance Matters!

Would you believe that the places of all the Tournament Series teams- Nascar, Cyclist, Bikers and Truckers, has COMPLETELY changed? Well it has. And it came down to one little thing I like to call attendance. That's right- today we counted up how many people came from each team and divided it by how many people came the previous week to give us the standard diferential and voila! Cyclists are no longer in first place. Every team changed places- last place team is no longer in last place. First place is now, are you ready for it?, the Truckers! That is right- Spirit Champs and First Place standings! insane!!! And that means that attendance next week may be even more important then ever before. The scores are so close that even if you win the Great Relay, you may not get Magic Mountain. Make sure you bring absolutely everyone you know- even those you don't know to Tournament Series this week!!!

Friends

Transparent relationships are so important. We need to have another person in our lives that knows us, the real us, someone we can depend on and who depends on us. We need real friends- the kind that encourages us when we are down, stands up for us when we are in trouble, and helps us when we are in need.

Eccesiastes 4:9-12 says this: Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

We need to have people like this in our lives. Here is a cool story about friendship:

Friends forever.....The orangutan was in a rescue and not doing well. This old hound wandered in absolutely emaciated and the orangutan snapped to like his buddy had arrived. He stayed with the hound night and day until he was well and in the whole scenario, found a reason to live. They are now inseparable. Isnt that sweet?

I can't believe

it is October!!! And you know what October means. . . Tournament Series!!! That is right, the whole month we will be playing it up & cheering our guts out all for a free trip to Magic Mountain.

Who do you thnk will win? I say NASCAR!!!!

I REALLY need your input- ONLINE SURVEY

Ladies, ladies- I know it feels like our move to the new building is a long way off, HOWEVER, we are starting to get things in order NOW. This means I need your input ASAP! Please let me know what video games you would like to see in the new junior high room!!! As of right now we are losing some MarioKart so if that is your fav- you need to let me know!!!

Remember, you do not have to login or be a member or anything to leave a comment- just sign in anonymously- please tell me who you are in your message though:) What would you like to play? Ooohhh- One more thing- I moderate my comments so you might not see yours up right away, just FYI:P

Thanks gals!!!

In other news- I got to go over to the new property today and it was very exciting to see the buildings. Most things are just framed but some have dry wall already and buildings are definitely beginning to take shape:)

I need your input

To all the ladies out there, I need to know what you think. Video games- I like video games and I know a lot of you out there do too. Here is my question for you- what kind do you like? Currently in our Junior High Room we have Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Guitar Hero and kinda Rock Band- I say kinda because the drums are broken. What games would you like to see in there? It would be for PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii systems. Please leave a comment telling me what games you like to play (even if it is one I already listed because if people don't like one maybe we'll get rid of it), what system it is available on, and what about it do you like. I would really appreciate it. You don't have to be a blogger to leave a comment- just do the Anonymous one, but please leave your name in your message so I know who you are:)

Personally I really like computer games-actually I guess I like them all, I just don't really have a system to play on at home so I play online all the time- in fact I have one for you today. If you are an artist- a true artist, you might not like this one, if you want to be an artist but aren't creative at all you probably will like this. It is called Copy Cat and is pretty fun. You have to copy the art on the right onto your own canvas. Really it is more about figuring out how to mix colors then art but I found it addicting. I got stuck at level 24 I think it was- bummer. The picture today is courtsey of a true artist- Marikate Dougan!

Click here to play Copy Cat

Did you know?

That Tournament Series will soon be upon us? It is so exciting and such a great opportunity to invite every single 7th and 8th grader you know to come to church!!! This year the theme is . . . Ha ha ha- did you think I would actually tell you!?! You should know better- you can't know the theme until the pep rally on Sept 29. Then we will reveal the theme and the teams to you. I will tell you this- it is incredible. In fact I will give you a hint.

Here it is:









Find out more on the 29th!

Oh the Things You Can Think

I know my blog is called "al's thoughts of the day" but I don't always have thoughts on here. Sometimes I have games or random pictures. I was thinking about that today as I was thinking of some thoughts for my blog. And honestly the first thing that came to my mind was the book "Oh the Things You Can Think" by Dr. Seuss. That got me thinking about Dr. Seuss books and how much I liked them as a kid. The Cat in the Hat wasn't my favorite but I love the Grinch. There is also this cool story about these bird things and some have stars on their bellies and some don't and how they were being prejudiced against the different star bellies and things would go back and forth- sometimes stars were cool and sometimes they weren't till the end where they agreed it didn't matter. If you know the title of that one- let em know please. i seriously haven't read it since I was like 9. I also liked "I Can See with My Eyes Shut"- it was funny. Anyway, thinking about Dr, Seuss got me thinking about my college, UCSD, because our library there is named after him. It is called Geisel Library because that is Dr. Seuss' real last name. It is a super sweet library, it was designed to look like a tree. There is a picture of it below. It is in commercials a lot (not as a library, but playing the part of other buildings because it is so interesting architecturally). There is a little museum inside to Geisel with some first edition Dr. Seuss books and stuff like that. Thinking about the library got me thinking about the smell of libraries. It doesn't work in newer libraries- it takes at least 10 years for the smell to permeate the building and then only if the library contains a lot of books at least 20 years old. The library smell is a combo of aged paper and leather, with a little bit of musty-ness thrown in on top. I love the smell of libraries. Just thinking about it makes me want to go to one now. But the one closest to my house is fairly new and doesn't really have the smell, so then I was thinking I should go down to UCSD and visit- it is a great campus to walk around, so many interesting things to see. Thinking of UCSD makes me think of how I want to walk down the walkway that looks like a giant snake again- it is cool, and the other neat things there- Virtues and Vices lights, the silent tree, the singing tree, the test columns-turned-art, the ocean view- oooh and the new campus I haven't seen yet!

So there you go- not just a thought of the day but my train of thoughts for the last couple of minutes. Enjoy:)

God is Cool

God created everything. He thought of all the cool stuff in this world and just made it be. Of course it is beautiful, and at times awe-inspiring, but what always gets me is the variety. God made trees- but htere are so many different kinds, animals and all the crazy varieties, butterflies- you would think one or 2 kinds would be enough but there are so many. Even people- yes everyone is unique but I just mean the variety in groups of people even. Take this flower for example. There are so many cool flowers- just more evidence of God' masterful creation, but again I am awed by the variety- the sheer number of kinds of flowers. Why did He do all this? I think He did 1.) because He can and 2.) for us. To show us His awesomeness, His tender and gentle heart, and that He cares about us- even the little things that we can enjoy about this world, He made it for us to enjoy. So now we get this coolness, the parrot flower. Enjoy.

Whitewater 1

So, if you haven't heard, Whitewater was a freaking incredible trip. There was all kinds of crazy adventures to be had- mega water fights, crazy worship, rock jumping, and the tree. The tree was prettty sweet- I mean this had never happened before. Drive up to clear creek- awesome time, so beautiful, everyone chilling, swimming and of course jumping, we fininsh up with baptisms and everyone gets one more jump. Then we all heard back to the vans for the drive out. I was in the front van and we are driving along, go around a corner and stop- whoa, where did the road go? Gone- branches and pine needles everywhere!!! Can't see the road at all. Then we see the log. Probably a good 3 feet tall and so long it strtches across the entire road. It was quite a feat of everyone working together to get all the smaller pieces out of the way and then to tackle the beast as it were. Luckily it split in half and the 2 sections were able to be rolled, separately, off to the sides of the road by about a dozen people putting their backs into it. Crazy! But super sweet.

More Whitewater adventures to come!

Storybook

I love books- they are great! There is something magical about being transported wherever in your imagination- about having to see it in your mind instead of on the screen. Don't get me wrong I love movies as you can see on my bio but imagination stuff that comes out of books- good stuff.

I know pretty much all of you are too young to remember this TV show called "Reading Rainbow." It was about kids books and it was hosted by Levar Burton, Geordi LaForge from Star Trek. I loved it. Kids gave their own reviews and it really brought books to life and it had this great theme song- here are the lyrics, I can sing them for you if you like:)

"Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high
Take a look, it's in a book - Reading Rainbow.

I can go anywhere!
Friends to know and ways to grow - Reading Rainbow.

I can be anything!
Take a look, it's in a book - Reading Rainbow.

Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow!"

So the reason I tell you all about this is I have a sweet game, a storybook game. You have to click on images to make them face the right way- it explains in the game but the game interface itself looks like a pop up storybook! So cool! So check it out and let me know what you think- I have beaten the game but each level changes slightly everytime you play so I can't really help you out if you get stuck. Just keep trying! It's fun:)

Click here to play Storybook game!!!

I Like Junior Highers

Whenever I tell people what I do I get 2 responses- always one or the other and usually both. 1. "Is that full-time?" and 2. "Wow, I could never work with junior highers." I just don't get why so many people don't seem to like the junior high age. I think junior highers are awesome! They still like to have fun and do crazy things, physically their brains have developed to a place where they can reason and start to question and discover on their own (a truly fascinating transformation), and they still think I am cool. What is there not to like?!

Plus they do awesome things like this:




More about the mental state of junior high students: I don't know if you realize what a cool place you are at developmentally. Did you know that before this stage your brain wasn't capable of higher level thinking? Now you have all the connections and neurons in place that actually changes the process of how you think. This is where all the training and guidance your parents and others have given you until this point comes into question: you now are capable of looking at what they have told you, what you have learned and deciding for yourself if it is true. You are smack dab in the middle of changing from a child to an adult. This is the age where you set your moral compass that you will follow and base your decisions on in your high school years. Trust me, it makes you very fun, exciting and important age to work with!

Jazzy gaming fun!

I like online games- I find them super fun:) This weekend I played this game called "Little Wheel" and it is so cute that I thought I would share it with all of you! Aren't you excited!?! This is a point and click adventure- don't worry it isn't too difficult. There are little grey circles that help you figure out what to click on. The story is so cute- you have to help a world of robots whose power supply has gone out. The graphics are sweet as is the soundtrack. First- graphics- it is all black silhouettes on a sepia background- really cool looking. Then the soundtrack is a chill, jazzy beat- love it! Anyway, it is a fairly short adventure and plenty of fun. Check it out and let me know what you think! Also if you happen to get stuck there is an in-game walkthrough that will help you out.

Enjoy!

Click here to play!!!

And yet again. . .

I heard about a cool illusion (sort of illusion). Apparently there is a magazine ad for the Navy Seals that is pretty sweet. It looks just like a swamp but if you look closer there are 8 Seals camouflaged somewhere in there. I didn't really see anything. I found the largest copy I could online to look at but even so I could examine it much better if I had the actual magazine. It is possible that they are there and I just can't find them. A lot of people have theorized that since they don't see any they must be lying and it is a trick. I like to try to think on the brighter side and believe that most people are truthful- however I do realize this is an ad and therefore already kinda questionable since it seems like a lot of advertisers lie in their ads. But, that aside, I like to believe that people are telling me the truth unless I have evidence to prove otherwise, so I believe there are really people hidden in this picture.

When I was visiting Jim's fam in Pittsburgh, we saw a doe cross the road right in front of us and jump into the tress. Then it stopped moving. It was next to impossible to take a picture of it because it was so hard to see. I looked away for one moment to check my camera to make sure I got the shot- there was a bit of a glare so I look up to take another picture and I don't see it anymore. It hadn't moved, I just looked away. It was probably about 20 feet away from us- so not far at all but it seriously disappeared. Jim had to kinda try to point it out to me and I tried to remember how I was facing when I took the previous picture and I snapped a second shot. After we got the pic printed it took a bit to find the deer, but I did manage to capture it in the shot. Now if you think about it, we were in the woods in December so not a lot of leaves. A deer is brown but a big animal, and I saw it moving to its "hiding spot." Even so I had a difficult time picking it out in the picture. In conclusion, I think it is very well possible that there really are 8 Seals hiding in this ad.

What do you think? See any Seals? Do you see the deer?

Illusions

Face painting- I really like to paint people's faces. Don't know why just soemthing fun to do I guess. When I was a kid we had a facepainting book- still have it actually, that shows you how to do all this cool illusions to make people look like soemthing else. We painted faces in the neighborhood- so fun to have princesses, vampires, tigers running around, people with dragons or rainbows, stars painted on their cheeks.

Well I love optical illusions and I know a lot of you do too! So I saw these super cool pictures of this face painter. To truly appreciate how crazy his work it you have to really look at it. Try to see if you can figure out where his lips are- then you'll realize he is painting his neck, or different facial features, even upside-down!

Travis Series

It has been a long time since I have had any new pictures for my "silly pictures of Travis" series (2 years almost!!!) but our fearless leader did not disappoint. Last week for Cinco de Mustache he looked crazy! So enjoy the insanity!!

Click on the labels to see previous editions of silly pictures with trav:)

I am a nerd

I have a confession to make: I have probably watched Star Wars at least 100 times. Now I am talking about the original series- episodes 4, 5 & 6. Don't even get me started on 1, 2 & 3 because they completely goofed them up although I have to admit the lightsabre battle in Episode 1 between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon is one of the best movie sword fights I have ever seen. The final battle between Obi Wan and Annakin in Episode 3 wasn't bad either but really those were the only redeemining parts of those movies.

No- it is the original series that is so incredible. Everything about them is cool- the special effects are sweet even though they are old, you can't help but love the characters, the music is outstanding and the story itself is that classic motif of good versus evil- they are just great!!! I have to say that Episode 5 is my favorite, it has the best character development asd some of the best lines, for example: "Laugh it up Fuzzball", "I'd sooner kiss a wookie." and who can forget "I love you" "I know" and "Luke, I am your father." Sweet stuff. I am a little disappointed that only the special editions are available on DVD- I have been waiting and waitng for them to come out on DVD and when they did I was a little bummed they were the original original. I am of with upgrading the sound and fixing up some of the special effects. I don't like all the unneccessary extra scences and they really blew it in Episode 4 when they have the storm troppers searching Tattooine on those lizard beast- the Empire is not organic and would never use an animal when a machine could do it- didn't they ever watch the movies! Also I don't really care for how they added the super young Annakin at the end of 6, it doesn't really make sense because Obi Wan doesn't look like Ewan McGregor. I know the argument is that he reverted back to his "true" self, before he became Darth Vader and I think that is a somewhat valid arguement, I might be biased because I didn't like the acting job of Christian whatever his name is in 2 & 3.

So if you have never seen the original movies they really are worth it- it is quite an experience:) I remeber the first time I saw them. For me it was on TV because I was too young or not alive yet to see them in the theaters. But for their 30th anniversary they rereleased them in the theater- I was so excited to go experience them there and it was incredible. I still have my movie stubs. And I was a midnight show goer for the release of Episode 1- didn't for 2 & 3, just because I was so excited that we would get the back story to some of my all time favorite movies. Now I know they messed that up but the originals still stand the test of time:)