Happy Halloween and other random thoughts...

Happy Halloween! Only Emily dressed up today to go trick-or-treating (out of the four kids that usually go). She dressed up as The Little Mermaid, and looked very cute! I took a couple pictures, so maybe I'll remember to post them.. :-) She had a lot of fun.. We let Tyler, Sarah and Jessica take Emily out to reap the benefits of this annual candy-fest. :-) Meanwhile, we grown-ups hung out and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters... Oh yeah, we ate some of the candy and some pizza while we checked out the ghosts, goblins, french maids, and Power Rangers (In fact, I am pretty sure one kid was some combination of all of those...).

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Hannah Blaylock and Eden's Edge. Ever heard of 'em? They are an Arkansas group that performed during a conference last year. I bought both of their CD's and have been listening to the one titled "Cover Me" a lot lately. It was when she (Hannah) was with Lost and Found. You can check 'em out by visiting their website... While I am promoting Arkansas bands, check out the folks of South of Seven7. A fellow Distance Learning Coordinator, Donnie, is in the band...

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Oh, I forgot to mention that at one point, Emily had decided that her costume was too long, so she hiked up her fins... This presented no problems so far as anyone could tell until she turned around, and there was just enough of her bottom showing to give us all a head-shaking laugh... Poor girl... We did tell her she would have to not pull up her 'dress' quite as far.. :-)

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Have you ever been driving down the road, heading somewhere you have gone a million times, only to realize at the last second that you were passing your turn? Yeah, I did that tonight on the way back to the house... I was too busy concentrating on animals jumping out... Or rather, the POSSIBILITY of animals jumping out... Well, that and watching the potholes in the dirt road... Yeah, okay, so I am easily distracted.. Not necessarily a good thing when driving... Lucky for me, there is a 2nd driveway to turn in... :-)

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While at the feed store buying food for Daisy and the goats (our animals, that is not the name of an Arkansas band that I know of...), an older man asked what on earth I was buying food for GOATS for? Didn't goats eat paper, scraps, tin cans for Pete's sake?? Well, yes, but still... He proceeded to tell me a tale that I thought I'd pass along... Why? I dunno, it popped in my head... :-) Turns out this man was with his grandson one day and they happened upon a small farm. While they were there talking with the woman, a goat came from around the corner and the grandson just had to have it, and of course Grandpa complied. Now, he says they THOUGHT they were buying a billy goat (That's a boy, in case you're not up on your goat lingo...), but it turns out it was a nanny (that is, girl). This nanny happened to be pregnant... So, a two-fer deal... Well, after some time, they had grown tired of the goat of something, because a delivery guy happened by one day and asked the older man if he would sell his goats. The grandfather said he sold the goats for less than half what he paid, and even that was too much to charge the delivery guy... Sometime later (a few months, I believe the older man said), the delivery guy happened by the old man's place and the old man asked how the goats were.... The delivery guy said, "Well, I had a Boxer... And it turns out the Boxer wasn't too fond of the baby goat, so he killed it. The nanny wasn't too fond of the Boxer killing her baby, so she killed the Boxer. I got rid of the goat." I'm sure there is a moral in there somewhere, but I'm no Aesop... :-)

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Oh, I almost forgot, the night before Halloween, Tyler went with the church youth group to Camden to go through the "Heaven or Hell" scenario that was set up there. It's like a haunted house, but with a message.... Turns out Tyler got the message loud and clear before he could reach the 3rd room! It really freaked him out... Turns out they start you in Hell, and take you through four 'levels' of Hell before they show you Heaven... After two, Tyler was out the door and heading for Heaven. He said it was the screaming voices that did him in... He also said, "Heaven was great. They gave us water!" :-) Now, if we can only get him passed the 'fear' part of it... He did fine that night, but the next night (tonight, as I am writing), he wasn't doing so well... I told him earlier that when I was a kid, I didn't handle haunted houses too well, either... Guess we'll see....

Steelers, World Series, and other random thoughts...

The Steelers were not televised in my area, meaning they were not on any of the broadcast channels we get with our DirecTV and I am not about to pay for Sunday Ticket... :-) So, when I saw the Steelers score flash by during the Cowboys game, I was disappointed to see they had lost by a touchdown. The advantage to not knowing is not knowing how or why we lost.. :-)

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I've started using the lines to break up my thoughts... Is that making things easier to read, or harder? Let me know... :-)

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The World Series... Did you watch it? Did anyone? Okay, I'm in Arkansas, and the Cardinals are the closest thing we have to a pro team near here (at least in spirit, I'm sure in bird-miles, that may not be the truth...)... So, I'm sure a lot of my Arky buddies watched the games, had beer and pretzels, etc etc... Me? I have never been less interested in a World Series in a long, long time... Why? I dunno, Tigers and Cardinals ... just didn't grab my attention... Besides, there was "Deal or No Deal" to watch, or maybe it was "Grey's Anatomy," or reruns of "Paint Drying 101" not to be missed.. :-) Congratulations to the Cardinals, of course, but really, I just wasn't into it this year...

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Today, the Pokemon RPG that Tyler has been wanting to play was actually online (umm, Pokemon Den of Ages)... We logged in and started exploring... Only to discover that this 'game' is in a pre-beta stage... In English that means the players can log in, chat, and walk around the maps they have provided. It also means the players can't do ANYTHING else... They do not get a Pokemon to start with, so they can't battle. They get money, but can't get into the store to buy anything... Which is okay, since there is nothing to do with anything you would buy anyway.... From the time we were on, it was obvious a lot of people thought this was going to be "it" - the game... Much of the chat consisted of very annoyed and upset players who WANT this to come together, and who are very upset that the programmer (a person going by the name Silver) has run off 2/3 of his/her programming staff for the game and that things are not as far along as was promised (that's not a surprise for anyone that follows any kind of promised software release....)... The point here is that is has potential, but the author seems more interested in alienating those who want to play than getting the project completed...

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So.... While reading through some of the books I bought to help Tyler dev his own game, I came across a program called BYOND, which lets you make your own games... And, there is an online RPG based on Pokemon that IS active. In fact, a player can choose to be a Pokemon OR a trainer... You can buy things (including houses to live in!), battle, heal at a Pokemon center, and more... I told Tyler that this was the framework of what his game should offer... I think we will look into playing with the software (I actually found another game-authoring tool, too) to help him make his own online multiplayer RPG... He is also having lots of fun editing and updating his web site on Tripod... :-)

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I forgot to mention the other day that I have discovered a (mostly) text-based food-fight game at www.lunchfight.com. For whatever reason, I find myself highly addicted to the game, despite the fact that it is 99.99% text... Guess that goes to show you don't need a bunch of fancy graphics for good gameplay... You need a challenge, a method for re-playability, and some creativity... :-) I even like the way you can pay (with real money) to upgrade your virtual food-tosser... I mean, you play for free, and you can move up the ranks without spending a dime, but if you WANT to help the process along, you can plunk down between $5 and $12.50 (depending on what you want to do) and boost your player... What I like is that you do not HAVE to do this in order to succeed... Paying just helps you succeed FASTER, if you so choose. Does that mean people with more money to throw around on an online game have an advantage? Only in that they can get the necessary skills or stuff quicker than someone who does it all for free, but really, there is no time-limit on the game, there is no incentive that I can find for getting there faster, so why not play for free and just enjoy it? :-)

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As for my eTopps cards, I am one card away from having a Master Steeler set, and three or four cards away from having a 2002 baseball set. I am not taking the baseball set in hand, just keeping it online. After the football season is over and etopps releases the football cards, i will take all the Steelers in hand.... I will most likely sell them as a complete set once I have them all inhand... Should fetch a pretty penny... :-)

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CARS comes out on DVD very, very soon! We'll be buying that for sure! I haven't been so into a movie in a long time! I love the story, the characters, all the cool toys that have come from the movie.... Great stuff! :-)

District Champs and a moustache

Prescott High School won their game Friday night, thus becoming district champs! Undefeated in district! Awesome! Next Thursday, they play Magnet Cove and if they win, they take regional (I believe that's right.. If not, someone either correct me or ignore me...) Way to go WOLVES!

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While shopping this evening, I joked around about picking up a box of Country Time lemonade packets. I love those things! Turns out, I buy one a week, so we have quite the supply at the house... Shan said something about ading to my stash, to which Emily replied, "Are you getting a moustache?!" What little ones hear... :-)

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Much to Shan's chagrin, Emily and Tyler and I have been playing Battlefield 1942 multiplayer... The kids love it. Emily likes to drive the jeep and fly the planes... Ever been in a plane with a 4-year old at the helm? Let's just say your virtual life flashes before your eyes, as does everything else in the game! :-) Of course, there is the whole violence thing, and I totally understand the issue there... So, I am going to take the book I got to help Tyler with his web site and use it to design a multiplayer food-fight type game... :-) Yeah, still some violence, but it will be cartoon-like! :-) And, no one 'dies,' they just have to go hit the showers before they can return to the battlefield, er uh, cafeteria... :-)

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I didn't realize it had been 5 days since I last wrote here... Ouch... Well, I believe very early on, I said something to the effect that I wouldn't be very good at keeping up with this... I have techno-A.D.D.... Something grabs my attention for a while, and then I end up getting distracted by some other techy thing... :-)

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This week, I managed to stand on about 3 or 4 different soapboxes in a semi-public forum (a listserv that serves a select group of folks in the state...). Let's see, I covered the fact that I believe the state network guys should just announce when they will need to take the system down for upgrades/maintenance rather than 'taking a poll,' especially near the december holiday break (formally known as Christmas break before the ACLU got involved)... I also started a conversation regarding a statewide school calendar and daily bell schedule... :-) I think there should be one of each (everyone gets the same days off, and everyone goes to class at the same time, for the same period). I'll save you the details... :-) There was also the mini-box I got on regarding low-level/introductory technology training for teachers... I think we will always need those kinds of courses, and other folks dont agree... :-) All in all, quite a week... :-)

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About 2 weeks ago, I ordered some of my eTopps cards to be sent to me (referred to having them 'in hand'). They arrived the other day, and man are they incredible! They shine and do all kinds of color changing in various lights (reflect/refract)... Great looking cards! :-) I have more in my online portfolio that I will have sent to me, but then I am selling off my portfolio in order to recoup some much-needed cash... In fact, I have the full set of Pirates eTopps cards (2001-2006) in hand, and will most likely sell those as a Master Set... Same with the Steelers once I actually have a Master set built... I do have a Master set of Indians, but I am really hoping to hold on to those as part of my Indians collection... will eventually sell al the Indians cards as one massive collection, but for now, I'm hanging on to them as long as I can... :-)

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Well, seeing as it is 3am, I'm outta here... without the moustache... :-)

50 posts and Papa John Chicken....

Well, hey, this is my 51st post, according to the site stat thingy... :-) I know that is a drop in the bucket for a lot of folks, but being a total noob at this, I'd say it ain't bad... :-)

Tonight (monday), I am in Little Rock for a meeting on Tuesday. The hotel and meals are being provided for the group, and we were treated to Goucho's... It is very cool! The servers come around with skewers (two skewers each) and offer a bite-sized portion off each skewer. The skewers might have bacon-wrapped chicken, Brazilian sausage, a couple of huge roasted pineapples (which they offer you a nice long, sweet slice!), leg of lamb, and all kinds of others... They kinda rotate around the place, so you have food being offered to you every couple minutes. Since they are bite-sized at a time, you really don't get full quickly! Which is great! Of course,it can also lead to some serious...uh..indulging! :-)

Okay, so what's up with Papa John's Chicken?? One of the guys had this white 'thing' on his skewer... We asked what it was... Phoebe, my direct supervisor, couldnt hear/understand what was said. After the answer was repeated, some of the people at the table decided to try some... Phoebe said that she still hadn't heard, so we told her.. Parmasean Chicken... She said, "Oh! I thought it was some kind of JOHN chicken.." We all laughed, at which point things went downhill... I started off with "Pair-A-Johns" chicken, whic was follwed up by Cindy with "Papa John's Chicken!" We had a great laugh at Phoebe's expense... And now, I'm probably going to be seeking employment elsewhere after word of this gets out... Anyone need a slightly brain-damaged techie?? :-)

And, I couldn't remember if I had posted this or not, but there is a very cool site for email for kids... Safe2Read.com. Parents sign up and they add accounts for their kiddos. Email has to be approved by the parents, and it can be approved on several levels... Like, ALL messages have to be approved, or once a message from a known person is approved, then all messages from that person are automatically approved, but I think a copy of ALL email goes to the parents, either way (I'll have to test that)... Anyway, it is pretty cool, and it lets the children get connected without the fear of being contacted by some pedophile.....

I saw a bright yellow new Corvette on the road today! :-) Man, the new C's are gorgeous cars! I was skeptical of the new exposed headlights, but they have really grown on me! :-)

Until next time.... Hide The Oats!

Random things to look at... and THE HAWGS!

Okay, as you know if you've been reading along, my 4-year old is addicted to "Deal or No Deal." We thought about getting the DVD game, but in the meantime, I found out that you could play online! :-) Just go here: NBC Deal or No Deal Game. It's not as entertaining as the TV show, but the game moves quickly and it is fun to see how far you'd go... especially when it ain't YOUR money! :-)

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While reading an online review of the "Deal or No Deal" DVD game (which, from what I can tell should NOT be bought!), an ad for SAW III called out to me on the page.... Now, some of you may not know, but I am a HUGE fan of the Saw movies! I like "thinking" horror... Guy with chainsaw running around killing everyone may be entertaining (or gross), but there really isn't anything to THINK about... In SAW, you think... Or at least TRY to think before you are ripped apart, burned, or otherwise killed off.. :-) But, I digress... So, this ad takes me to a sub-site featuring the Legend of Jigsaw. Interactive, cool, but not for little one's ears.. The audio in the site features a barrage of cussing... So, be warned... The "Legend" page(s) are here: Legend of Jigsaw, and the main SAW III site is here: Saw III. By following the links on the site, one eventaully discovers that Raybin Managment (The company behind SAW) is auctioning off props and stuff from the Saw movies! Very cool... Included in this list of items is the ONLY animatronic doll used in Saw III.... Yes, for a small fee, you too could own the doll from SAW III.... High bid at the time of me writing this is.....drum roll...... $5500.00! Wanna see for yourself? Click on this... If you dare..... Of course, another item they are auctioning through a different company is a poster... Printed using red ink that has been "enhanced" with the blood of Tobin Bell (the actor that plays Jigsaw)... Uh, yes, you read that correctly.... Interested? Come along!

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How about DEM HAWGS!? Holy smokes! Nothing like starting out a game with a 100-yard kick-off return! Suh-weet! :-) Awesome, guys! Now, let's see how the Steelers do....

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Ah, yes, when I pulled up to the house after work on Friday, I noticed my rear passenger tire was going flat. As I was checking it out, the hole happened to be blowing air into my ear! I marked the hold with a silver metallic Sharpie, and went on my way... I woke up Saturday morning and decided to take the tire off and get it fixed... A phone call would have saved me some headache... Turns out the tire place here is closed on Saturdays...the wonders of living in a small town... Anyway, I got the tire off (once I figured out exactly where to place the jack on the rear of my Ram 1500), loaded it up in the mini-van, and drove to the closed tire shop. Not feeling like driving 20 miles to Hope, I returned to the house and figured I would put the spare on and get the tire fixed Monday... For future reference to those who do not regularly change their tires: Make sure the vehicle is not going to MOVE when you are trying to put on the spare... Luckily, the ground was soft from the rain the other day, so I don't think I broke anything... I pushed on the tire and the truck followed Newo's law of motion perfectly....it moved away from me... I'm not sure how I didn't lose a head or a hand, but I only lost some pride and some of the skin that used to be on my middle finger... Which, I promptly showed to the truck.. :-) After a few words that could have found themselves on the aforementioned SAW III web site, I managed to raise the truck off the ground and get the spare attached... I am so mechanically challenged, it ain't even funny... Well, it is... but, it's sad... :-)

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At Wal-Mart yesterday, I bought Tyler a pack of 2006 Upper Deck baseball cards. Upper Deck now had codes on their cards to get kids to buy them (somehow, I still manage to fit that description...). The codes can be entered and collected, then 'cashed in' for prizes, merchandise, autographed memorabilia, etc... It's pretty cool... If you wanna see more, you can go to UpperDeckKids.com...

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My Dad found out he is not dying, but has several things wrong with his back, including 'sliding' discs... That's not good... He also found out the growth in and around his knees is a cancerous tumor.. He will have tests done to check for malignancy... In the near future, he will have an operation to get rid of it... As he put it, "the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly..." He may looking at re-retiring sooner than he was hoping to... Well, sooner than he 'could have' anyway.... I'll keep ya posted....