Now, THAT'S a sunrise!

Your vote don't mean Jack, or does it?

Go vote. Not because your vote doesn't mean Jack in the decision process of choosing the next President. I mean, honestly, by now we all know that our votes don't amount to a hill of beans as far as the Presidential election goes. That's all about the stupid electoral college, put in place because we Americans are too stupid to pick the 'best' candidate or the 'right' candidate. Voting on the National level is a complete waste of time. Write in Mickey Mouse or something. Who cares. Oh, political yokels will tell you to be part of 'the process' and all that crap. Process? Oh, you mean the one where the majority of the people voted but it doesn't count? No thanks.

But, the things that *DO* matter are the things going on in your state, in your county, in your city. Those are things that you *DO* have a say in. Lotteries, school boards, water treatment, wetland destruction, you name it. It can all come down to one person's vote. That person could be you. I know, you don't think you make a difference, right? I mean, you are just one person, after all. But, there have been issues, local issues, that have passed or failed because one person, ONE PERSON did not get out and vote. That one person could have forced a run-off or could have stopped a new local tax, or created a new opportunity.

We live in a country where we each are given the right to make a choice for something we believe in, or stand up for something we don't. There are a lot of things wrong with America, but this is one of those things that is right. At least, at the local level. I know my words may not affect your decision to vote one way or another, but if there is a chance that you are reading this and you aren't sure if you are going to vote or not, PLEASE vote. Read the local issues that affect you, and cast your ballot as your heart leads you.

Our own little SingStar!

I grabbed the Flip Video camera and recorded Emily singing Taylor Swift's "Our Song" on our new SingStar game! :-)

Kickin' it Country, SingStar style!

While we were out and about yesterday (Saturday), I ran into GameStop to see if they had the new SingStar Country game. I haven't been able to find it anywhere. Evidently, there are quite a few closet SingStar folks out there!

Well, GameStop had it, and they had it at the same price Wal-Mart showed on the empty shelf! Plus, GameStop had Legends and Pop2. I decided to go with Legends.

I have to say, Country is awesome! Almost every song on the game is a hit, and it covers current charters like Jewel, Taylor Swift, Lady-A, and goes back to Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. If you have never had the chance to karaoke to Cash, you need to try it once in your life. His talk/singing is VERY difficult to mimic in-time, on-key. Okay, well, it was for me, anyway... :-)

No matter how you cut it though, SingStar Country is one of the best add-ons for the game.

Here is the songlist:

Alan Jackson - "Chattahoochee"
Kellie Pickler - "Red High Heels"
Alan Jackson - "Good Time"
Kenny Chesney - "Big Star"
Big & Rich - "Save A Horse (Ride a Cowboy)"
Lady Antebellum - "Love Don't Live Here"
Blake Shelton - "Home"
Martina McBride - "A Broken Wing"
Brad Paisley - "Online"
Montgomery Gentry - "My Town"
Brooks & Dunn - "Boot Scootin' Boogie"
Montgomery Gentry - "What Do Ya Think About That?"
Brooks & Dunn w/ Reba McEntire - "If You See Him/If You See Her"
Rascall Flats - "Bless the Broken Road"
Bucky Covington - "It's Good To Be Us"
Sara Evans - "Born to Fly"
Faith Hill - "Red Umbrella"
Taylor Swift - "Our Song"
Gretchen Wilson - "Red Neck Woman"
Terri Clark - "Girls Lie Too"
Jewel - "Stronger Woman"
Trace Adkins - "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk"
Johnny Cash - "A Boy Named Sue"
Trace Adkins - "You're Gonna Miss This"
Johnny Cash - "I Walk the Line"
Willie Nelson - "Pancho and Lefty"
Josh Turner - "Another Try"
Jessica Simpson - "Come on Over"
Keith Urban - "Days Go By"
Miranda Lambert - "Kerosene"

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Legends has some good songs on it, but we did not know several of the songs (maybe I should have bought Pop-2 instead. Oh well, we'll get that one day anyway!!)

Some of the people ARE legends. Others, we had to wonder just how their name and "Legend" was even in the same breath... Like the Johnny Cash songs, singing Patsy Cline's "Crazy" on-key, on-tempo proved to be difficult, but often hilarious.

Like all SingStar games, if you know the words to the songs, you can concentrate on just hitting the notes and lengths of notes... If you don't know the words, you'll screw yourself trying to read the words and hit the length/pitch all at the same time... Which is why we love playing in the first place!! :-)

Not near as fun as Country, here is the song list:

Barry White - "You're The First, The Last, My Everything"
Marvin Gaye - "What's Goin On?"
Biz Markie - "Just A Friend"
Michael McDonald - "I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)"
Black Sabbath - "Paranoid"
Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Bonnie Tyler - "Total Eclipse Of The Heart"
Patsy Cline - "Crazy"
David Bowie - "Life On Mars?"
Ray Charles - "Hit The Road Jack"
Dusty Springfield - "Son Of A Preacher Man"
Sam Cooke - "Wonderful World"
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
The Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back"
Elton John - "I'm Still Standing"
The Monkees - "Daydream Believer"
Elvis Presley - "Blue Suede Shoes"
The Police - "Roxanne"
Grateful Dead - "Touch Of Grey"
The Righteous Brothers - "Unchained Melody"
James Brown - "I Got You (I Feel Good)"
The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy For The Devil"
John Lennon - "Imagine"
The Smiths - "This Charming Man"
Johnny Cash - "Ring Of Fire"
Tina Turner - "What's Love Got To Do With It?"
Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Tom Jones - "What's New Pussycat"
Madonna - "Papa Don't Preach"
Whitney Houston - "I'm Your Baby Tonight"

Halloween 2008 Photo Ops!

This year, we continued the tradition of going to Greg and Michelle's house to hand out candy, act silly, and have fun!

Emily dressed as Sharpay Evans from High School Musical and Tyler went.. in his own words: "As a hobo. I'm so poor, I can't afford to put a picture on my shirt." I have no idea what what means... Teenagers... Kensley (our niece) was dolled up as a ladybug.


Because Emily was one of the students who hit the "Sell 20 items of more" level in her fundraiser, she got to ride in a stretch limo Hummer to Pizza Hut for lunch! She had such a great time, and was completely awed by the limo (and when you see the pics, who wouldn't be!?)

While we were at the Hartman's house, we broke out the RockBand and the kids (okay, Greg and I, too) had a lot of fun!