School Bond Election

During the February 14th election, Collinsville will have a school bond to be voted on.

The Collinsville School District proposes to issue $5,510,000 in bonds to fund the following project phases for:

• A New Early Childhood Center
• An 8 Lane Track at the High School
• New Band Instruments and Uniforms
• Equipment and Furniture and Fixtures

In August 2005, Collinsville started offering all day kindergarten. But because of space constraints only was able to have 2, all-day classes. They plan on adding more classes as the space become available. There is a state mandate that all schools offer all-day kindergarten by 2010.

Collinsville is also one of only 5 districts in Tulsa County that does not offer all-day kindergarten.

Here are some pictures that I got from cvilleok.com on the proposal for the new Early Childhood Center which would contain both the 4 year old program and kindergarten. This would be built north of Herlad Elementary and south of the soccer fields. Clicking on them will take you the coverage from Ted.


Also, part of this Bond issue will be a new track that will be located at the High School. Collinsville currently has a track program, but not track. I know that the Soccer and Track programs do their running on the streets of Collinsville since there is no other place for them to run. Again, clicking on this picture from cvilleok.com will link to more information on the Bond issue.

A 60% approval is required for school bond votes to pass.

Astronauts to Toss Spacesuit From International Space Station - SuitSat

February 3rd, an interesting experiment will take place. The Astronaut and Cosmonaut that are currently living and working in the International Space Station will throw a Russian Space suite behind them to be the first SuitSat. Which is just a Space Suite satellite.

SuitSat can be heard by anyone on the ground. "All you need is an antenna (the bigger the better) and a radio receiver that you can tune to 145.990 MHz FM," says Bauer. "A police band scanner or a hand-talkie ham radio would work just fine." He encourages students, scouts, teachers and ham radio operators to tune in.

You can find more about what information you can get and what the mission is about from the Space.com link above.

Answered Prayer

God really does answer prayer!

I've really been praying for something the last week or so, and I've just found out that part of my prayer has been answered. Since this is a public forum, I'll not go into any more specifics than that.

I'll just leave you with this

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 (MKJV)

Coincidence?

For a while now, my pastor and I have been working on a soul-winning outreach program (which I may blog about more later). I've really been spending some time praying about this.

The other day, I was watching Fellowship of the Rings, and felt compelled to turn it off and read. First, turning off one of my favorite movies is something I do lightly. But I turned off the movie. I took a look in my bookshelf, and pulled out Fresh Wind Fresh Fire which I've talked about in some earlier posts. Anyway, this book really focuses on the power of prayer. Too often, we just don't pray as much as we do, or if we do pray, we pray not expecting results. Well, in this book, Jim Cymbala talks about the growth the Brooklyn Tabernacle has seen because of prayer.

I believe what Chad and I are working on is God lead. And the leading of me to this book showed me that we have to base this in prayer, or nothing will change.

Well, to top it all off, on my trip to OKC this weekend for the coaches clinic, I was looking for a CD to listen to once I lost my radio signal. Most all of my CD's in the car were scratched, I tried several and ended up listening to Casing Crowns. Here are the titles linked tot he works of 5 of the first 6 songs.

What if his people prayed
If we are the body
Voice of truth
Who am I
Here I go again

These songs talk about prayer, showing Christ's love, and sharing your faith with others.

So, coincidence that this CD seemed to be the only CD that would play Saturday?

I think not.

Soccer Workshop

Today's Workshop was really, really good. The drive there and back wasn't bad... (it was dark both ways, that was sorta funny). The teacher for my classes was really good.

I learned several new games to play with the kids, and that is always helpful. Sometimes it's hard to come up with drills that let you work on certain aspects of the game without boring 6 year olds.

One thing that I really liked, and will probably have to work on the most was this
Teachers teach class during the week, they give homework and prepare the kids. When the time comes, they test the kids. Do they help them or do they want to see how much the kids have learned?

That's what soccer coaches do. We teach during our practices. We give them things to work on at home... sometimes. And when the game come on the weekend (aka test) let them play. Don't help. See what they have learned.

If all you do is tell them every little thing they need to do, they'll never learn it for themselves. As they get older, by the time you (as the coach or parent in the stands) see what is happening, say it, the kid hears it, processes it, the play is gone. They need to learn how to see that on their own. Then work on that at the practices. Now, the kids are still trying to learn where to stand at my age group, but there are some things that I'll just need to shut up, and let them make mistakes on their own.

*Sigh* This isn't going to be easy.

Soccer classes

Tomorrow I'll be going to two, count them two, coaching courses. At the Oklahoma Soccer Association Soccer Workshop 2006
I will be getting my U6/U8 license as well as my U10 (that is under 6/under 8, and under 10).

So as of tomorrow night, I will be licensed to coach soccer through the under 10 age group.... scary huh?

The only bad part is it is in Oklahoma City. I don't care for the City. I only go to the City when I have to... I'm not looking forward to the 2 hour trip there AND back tomorrow. (ok, I could have gotten a hotel room, but I didn't want to spend the money)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Highway 169 Construction

I was happy to read a story from KOTV that the Warmer Weather Aiding Construction Work On US Highway 169

They are really ahead of schedule at the moment. I knew that the widening project was to complete by summer. But now, they expect to be done by the end of February!

On that note, law enforcement will be out in full force till it's completed to enforce the 45 MPH.

Video Professor

My seventy some odd year old grandmother got a computer right before Christmas.

One of the things she said was she expected it to come with instructions on how to use it. What I TRIED to explain was they can't really do that because computers can be used for so many different things, there isn't really a way to do that.

She then brought up the Video Professor advertisement she saw on TV. I told her I had seen his commercials for years, but have never tried them. I figured they were OK, because he's been around for so long. Scams usually don't last that long.

So, since she doesn't have a debit or credit card, I ordered her the Internet lessons for the $6.95 shipping last week or so. She got them Tuesday I think.

It came with a little pamphlet and 3 CD's. Yesterday, her friend was looking at the booklet, and noticed that it said you had to return 1 of the CD's within 10 days, or your card would be charged around $78. (I don't remember the exact price, between 70 and 80).

There was no mention of that on the TV commercial (as my grandmother told me several times while I was over there last night). I never saw anything on their website about that when we ordered them (which it may be, I don't tend to look at the fine print stuff very much). It was only written in the little book which on the cover says "Read Me First".

So thanks to my grandma's friend, I wont get charged the $78 or whatever.

I went over to my grandma's house last night to take a quick look and help her figure out with of the 3 CD's she wont need so she can send it back. I think she'll only be interested in the second half of the first CD. The other disks talk about stuff she'll never use.

From what I can tell, the CD's looked ok but I only looked at the introduction on each disk. I also didn't care for his panhandling of his software that were on the disks (at an extra cost of course).

Anyway, if someone you know is looking into the Video Professor stuff, it probably will be ok, but be warned about what I personally call shady business practices in hiding that your free disks will cost you over $70 if you keep all 3 that they send you. (oh yes, not return envelope. You have to call their 800 number for more information on returning it.)

Dewey OK, Extreme Makeover

The Extreme Makeover team has worked on a house in Oklahoma. This time in Dewey, which is up around Bartlesville.


While reading on the cvilleok.com page, apparently close to 50 Collinsville volunteers responded to a call to help with little or no explanation of what they would be doing to help Sunday, January 22.

My understanding is they are to unvaile the house on Saturday sometime.

You can go and read more about it at the Exreme Makeover page.

Prayer

How much time in prayer do you spend each day?

Seriously, stop and think about that. 5 or 10 minutes maybe?

How much time does your church devote to prayer?

I've been reading through Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala again (good book BTW), and I found a quote in there that really struck a cord with me.

You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning.
You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night.
But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.

That is so very true.

But the same can be said about our own lives. We can tell how popular Jesus is in our lives by how much time we spend in prayer and Bible Study, but especially prayer.

I've seen in my own life where I've spent more time in the Word than in prayer, and though I know I learned a lot, I didn't have that closeness that I've had when I've spent considerable time in prayer.

I know that I'm currently guilty of not spending the time I should in prayer. Why? Because I'm lazy. I've let other, less important things come between me and my relationship with my Lord.

How about you? You going to do anything about it?

I hate worry

Whew.
I hate it when I worry about stuff. I've never been a big worrier. Never caught the point. Nothing I could do about it anyway, so why worry. When my grandfather had is first by-pass surgery YEARS ago, I went and played racquet ball. I wasn't worried about it.

Well, lately I seem to worry about my kids... a lot! I guess that is normal, still, from a person that doesn't worry about much, this is driving me crazy. hehe

Picked up my boy on the way home from work, and on the way home, we passed a Collinsville Ambulance. My first thought was my daughter. Got home, and a fire rescue vehicle went by. I tried calling her with no answer, then I IM'ed her phone. Then a Skiatook ambulance went by with a police escort. And I was getting very concerned. She's been told not to answer her phone for me or her mother is a fate punishable by death! (ok, not really, but you get the point, and she answers) So, you can understand my concern.

Anyway, she was at work, trying to give them her soccer schedule, and her phone was in her purse still on vibrate. She's safe.

Still, I guess it's normal with all the deaths lately from car crashes that I would worry about her. I just have to keep reminding myself God is in control!

Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie (AFDB)

Ok, this is too funny. Be sure to look at 4 pages of Tesimonials!

Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie

An Effective, Low-Cost Solution To Combating Mind-Control

Liger = Lion + Tiger

Well, there ya go.
I was watching the news Friday night, and saw this report about a Liger in Broken Arrow.

This was news to me. I'd never heard of such a thing, but for all you Napoleon Dynamite fans out there, you probably already at least knew what it was.

His name is Rocky. His Father was a lion, and his mother a tiger hence Liger. (If his Father was a Tiger and his mother a lion, he would have been a Tigon.)

He weighs close to 1000 pounds the best they can guess since he wont get on the scales for them, which is twice the weight of a male lion.

He has the color of a lion, but you can see the strips. His head is a lions head, but has the tigers markings. He also cuff's like a tiger and roars like a lion!

Rocky is located at the Safari Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary at 26881 East 58th Street in Broken Arrow.

I'm going to have to try to get out there sometime and take a look.

Soccer Season Starting Soon

Wow, I guess this is my 4S post huh? Anyway, Soccer Season will soon be starting. I just went and signed up myself and my boy for Soccer. This will be his last season on Under 6. In the fall, he'll move up to Under 8.

Next weekend I have to go to OKC for a Soccer Coach Training class so I can get my coaches license. I'll be good for the U6/U8/U10/U12 after the class. So, I'll not have to worry about my coaches license until he gets to Under 14.

Oh, and speaking of soccer, only 139 days till the World Cup 2006 starts.

Audio A saying "Adios"

I heard on the radio on my drive home, and had to go find the news myself. I went to Audio A's webpage and found the news. Here is a clip.

"One of the industries top bands, Audio Adrenaline announces that it will add a final chapter to its substantial career with Adios, slated to release later this year. After 15-years of music and mission, Audio Adrenaline is choosing to say "adios," offering one more nod to its considerable fan base with the album and select live events."

Mark Stuart, the lead singer, is experiencing vocal problems, so they are calling it quits.

They are a great band, God has really used them reach a lot of people, especially teens.

Pluto: New Horizons

The New Horizons Probe has finally been launched after 2 days of delays. This is a probe to Pluto which is the only unexplored planet in our System.

It is to reach the moon in about 9 hours, then mars in about 3 months followed by Jupiter in about a year. A slingshot maneuver around Jupiter will send it on its 8 additional year journey to Pluto.

You can find the other planetary missions at nineplanets.org

Sony paying for Dell Laptops

I stumbled upon something I found very interesting. According to this InformationWeek article, "Sony has begun offering $500 trade-in bonuses on Dell notebooks"

So, have an old working Dell laptop and just holding off on the upgrade? Maybe now is your time.

Playstation Games for Kids

I discussed in a previous post my frustrations with finding suitable games for my young child for the PS2. Not just games rated for his age group, but also games he could play.

Well, I've finally done something about it. I've created Playstation Games for Kids.

I will be updating is with my own personal reviews of Playstation games, and what my son thought.

I hope you'll stop by and take a look.

Walking

I've been walking now for almost 2 weeks. Most days, I walk over 2 miles, but I'll always walk a minimum of 1 mile. As most things you start doing, it is now getting easier to actually leave the house for the walk. The walk is also getting easier.

Over the weekend, we picked up a harness for our dog. A Boston Bull named Gizmo. I thought I could take him out on my walks with me and let him work off some of his energy, plus the exercise would do him good. So, I took him out with me last night. Took me at least 6 minutes more to walk the 2.2 mile round I do. I got home from work today, and got him in his harness, and after dragging him for about a block, I brought him home and left him. I don' think he cared for the walk very much.

Oh well, maybe he'll want to go tomorrow. (I'm not holding my breath)

Teen drivers

Teen drivers are again in the news and as usual, it isn't good.

What I find most amazing about these people that complain about teen drivers, and how easy it is to get licenses themselves received their licenses around the same time as teens today.

I suspect that part of this problem it not the teen drivers as much as the lack of involvement from their parents when it comes to driving.

Teens think that once they have their license, they have carte blanche to go anywhere they want, whenever they want, and too many parents let them.

Parents have forgotten how to say NO.

Teens need to be taught that they can kill others, or die themselves, when in a car, and they are responsible for what happens while they are driving.
Parents need to be involved in that instruction and learn how to take vehicles away from their children.

Humiliation

I almost hate to post this, but my son has consecutively stomped my rear at Ape Escape Pumped and Primed... at least with the sling shot.

It wasn't pretty.

Words Women Use

My wife received this email last night, and we both had a good laugh. I wanted to share it will you.

Men, take notes.

FINE
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

FIVE MINUTES
If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

NOTHING
This is the calm before the storm. This means something," and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with 'Nothing' usually end in "Fine"

GO AHEAD
This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it.

LOUD SIGH
This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing"

THAT'S OKAY
This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

THANKS
A woman is thanking you. Do not question it or faint. Just say you're welcome.

WHATEVER
It's a woman's way of saying *!#@ YOU!

Ok, I hope all you guys took notes.

Spring?

I know it's been a warm winter, but when I left the house earlier this morning, I was greeted by iris' coming up.

Sentimental Father

Well, I guess I'm just being sentimental today, but as my little sweet boy turns 6, it's hard for me to be otherwise.

5 has passed. So has 4, 3, 2, 1, and all the months before. He is growing up so fast!

I love how he still thinks me and his mom are everything! How he loves us and listens to us and wants us to be around.

Today, he said to me, "You want to know something dad? I love you." Then he leaned over and gave me a kiss.

Though I believe he will always love me, that kind of affection wont be displayed as openly or as often as he does now. I know this is all a part of how kids grow up, but I don't want to miss a minute of it. I don't want to let go of these times that we share.

He's past half way through kindergarten, and then before we know it, he'll be wearing a cap and gown and moving off to college.

But, till then, I'll continue to enjoy the time with my sweet little boy.

Stardust capsule landed

The capsule landed safely, and the helicopters found the capsule.

Now, I have to wait to see if I get selected to help scan the material for dust particles.

Birthday Bash!

Sunday will be my boy's 6th birthday.
We had our parents over today and 2 of my boy's friends for a little birthday bash. My mom made a cake and we had ice cream and he got to open presents.

After everyone left, we took the 3 boys to Chuck-E-Cheese for pizza and fun.

The boy's had a blast. This was one of their first time, so he was in sensory overload. It was a lot of fun. One of the boys will be spending the the night tonight. The plan is for doughnuts for breakfast before we go to church.

Friday the 13th

I enjoy Friday 13th's. There is something about them that I find exhilarating.

I'm not sure where the whole Friday the 13th is bad, but many people hold to that belief. I did find an article at snopes.com about Unlucky Fridays that I found to be nice reading.

Anyway, enjoy your Friday everyone!

The Better Online Mousetrap

While reading the freeplay article this morning an old sleeping spark was awakened in me.

Hi, my name is Terry, and I'm a gamer.

I love games. I love to play them. Married with children, that's a bit hard, but it is still a fact. But that fact has another facet. I not only want to play games... I want to make them.

That's correct. I want to create a video game. I've wanted to do this for years. I've even toyed around with the concept. In fact, my friends and I have several unfinished game ideas in different states of design.

I once had a chance to go to California and interview with Sega. That's right, Sega. And that was in the day when they had their own game console, and people played it. (didn't even go for the interview, I was newly married, and my wife wanted to stay in Oklahoma. The thought of moving to California would not have been a pleasant one, but to create games...)

Anyway, I got off the subject.

I write programs all day long. Atleast 40 hours a week, sometimes much more depending on the project. That is fun, but it isn't a game.

Maybe one day, when I grow up, I can make games for a living.

TV Shows

Last weeks Battlestar Galactica was great! I can't wait till Friday.

Tonight's Lost was incredible!!! Next weeks looks promising as well.

Cell phone radiation chart - CNET reviews

Cell phone radiation chart - CNET reviews

I heard about this on AIR1 yesterday on my drive in. I went out and took a look. My LG G4020 is not on the list, many other phones are, and I wanted to share.

The article does tell you how to find out how much radiation your phone puts off if your phone is not on the list.

New Narnia movie on the way

New Narnia movie on the way

That is right! Prince Caspian will be the next of the books to hit the Big Screen.

I personally have yet to see Narnia, but I hope to see it soon.

The fact that they are already working on this next movie is really good news. Though it is already in the works, it is not in production yet, so don't start the line to see this movie.

Stardust

Some of you may, or may not, be aware of the NASA Stardust mission.

Here is the NASA Stardust Mission web page.
Here is the NASA's Comet Sample Return Mission web's.

In short the Stardust mission was to send a probe to deep space, capture particles of stardust and bring it back to earth for examination.

Anyway, to my point. I was reading this CNN article about a Stardust@Home project. Long story short is are summary's from the startdust@home page.

Goal: We are seeking volunteers to help us to search for these tiny samples of matter from the galaxy.

The Challenge: The job is roughly equivalent to searching for 45 ants in an entire football field, one 5cm by 5cm (2 inch by 2 inch) square at a time!

Participation: First, you will go through a web-based training session. This is not for everyone: you must pass a test to qualify to register to participate.

The web site goes on to say

Just remember that you are looking at the first collector that has gone into deep space and come back. This is a very special opportunity!

Professional Recognition: In recognition of the critical importance of the Stardust@home volunteers, the discoverer of an interstellar dust particle will appear as a co-author on any scientific paper by the Stardust@home collaboration announcing the discovery of the particle.

Anyway, that is a quick summary of what it is.

Needless to say, I've pre-registered. Now I can't wait to hear back and take my test.
I'm not I'm interested in finding where life came from. I already know that duh, life came from God. But a chance to look at material from deep space that God created would be wonderful!

You can learn more at the Stardust@home site.

I'll let you know if/when I hear something.

Booster Seats

On my drive into work I pass a billboard that says 4'9" is the magic number. Below that they need a booster seat.

I had brought that up over Christmas with the family, and there was much discussion. Well, today, I finally remembered to take a look at the sign closer, and found a web page.

www.boosterseat.gov

On this page, there is a calculator that helps parents on picking the type of booster/car seat their child needs.

I was right about the 4' 9" height limit, but what the sign didn't say, but the web page did, was there is also an age limit of 8.

I put in my son's information on the calculator (the best I could remember) and this was what it told me.

Children who are over 40 pounds should use booster seats until they are at least eight years old or 4-feet 9-inches tall. Install it in the back seat of your car. Booster seats position a child so the safety belt, which is designed for adults, fits properly and prevents injury.

Recommendations are from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

And for the record, my son does use a booster seat. To him, it's absolutely normal.

Oklahoma Weather

Oklahoma weather is something else.

Yesterday, it was close to 70 and sunny no rain in over 100 days.

Tonight, there is a Winter Weather Advisory with a chance of total accumulations of 2 inches.

As the old saying goes.

Don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute.

Walking

After 3 days of walking 2+ miles each day, it is safe to say my legs and rear hurt.

I forget how many hills we have around here, till you start walking them on a regular basis.

First Award

My boy got his first award at school yesterday.
His teacher sent home a Student of the Month Certificate and had this to say

Great Expectations
"Life Principles"

I feel this student shows the characteristics of the "Life Principle" for Patience because he is very patient in the classroom. He sets a great example for the shole class to follow. I love having him in class and appreciate his calm nature!

Not only did he get this spiffy certificate, he also got a Chili's gift certificate and a Mazzio's gift certificate.

I'm way proud of my children.

Kites and Discs

I have loved both kites and disc golf for years but I've not spent much time with them.

I think the warm January days have me thinking about both kite flying and disc golf.

I was introduced to disc golf several years ago, and I love it. I'm not any good at it, so I'm not sure why I like it so much, but it's fun to get out and play.

The other is kite flying. Now, I'm not talking about single string kites. I had them as a kid, and I'd like to see how high I could get them. I'd get them high, tie them off and they would fly for days. Later, I was introduced to double string kites. These are the stunt kites. Now with these, there was much fun to be had. Looping, diving, spinning etc. There wasn't much you couldn't do with these kites. Then, one day, while looking through a kite magazine, I saw the Revolution. It was a quad string kite. You could do everything you could do with the stunt kites and more.

Being a teenager at the time, I was never able to afford the kite. One day, I hope to be able to spring for one of these lovely kites. I know they were between $100 and $150 16 years ago. There appears to be 2 retailers in Oklahoma that sell these kites, and they are both in Oklahoma City.

Guess I'll stick with disc golf. Now all I have to do is find my discs.

Lottery Bad News

I walked into the breakroom at lunch today, and the news was talking about the Oklahoma Lottery again and it got me to thinking.

What does the news report about? Bad things that happen. Military personnel killed in Iraq, murders, rapes, wild fires, scandal's, etc.

Occasionally, you'll hear of something good that's happened. But only rarely.

The lottery however seems to be in the news a lot. So, using the news and what they report, then there is no way that the lottery can be a good thing.

People listen to the news and go out and buy lottery tickets, I've never seen anyone run out and volunteer to be killed, robbed, or raped.

Go figure.

Walking

I took a walk this evening after dinner. 1, to get out of the house. 2, I could use the exercise. 3, it was a nice evening for it.

Anyway, it was so beautiful and peaceful out. The stars and moon were out and a nice cool breeze. It couldn't have been any better except if I wasn't being barked at, or having dogs jump the fence and start at me.

It was nice to be able to see the stars. I love nighttime. There is something special about it to me. How God made everything special. Everything that is out there that we didn't even know about.

Hopefully I'll be able to take walks more often. Makes a great time to be alone with God (well, except for the pesky dogs).

Battlestar Galactica

New episodes of Battlestar Galactica start tomorrow (Jan 6th) on SciFi.

I can't wait!

For those of you who have forgotten, you can get a recap of the last episode here.

Beautiful Sunrise

I wish I had a camera on the drive in this morning.

It was the most amazing sunrise I've seen in a while. The sun was hidden by some clouds, but it was shining through them.... Beautiful!

Too often, we don't take the time to see the wonder and beauty God has placed around us FOR us.

Once was lost...

As some of you know, I have been looking all over for my sun glasses. They are Maui Jim Beachcombers.

Couldn't find them. I knew I had them Sunday morning and that I didn't have them Tuesday morning. Between those times, there wasn't many places they could have gone.

I'd looked in my car, in the truck, at my in-laws, even at church. They could be found no where.

I was really becoming worried. What really makes this bad is the price I paid for them. I have a new rule. Always look at the price of something before trying them. I didn't do that with my sun glasses. I found the pair I liked and went to buy them. Once I saw how much they were, I was like, um, no. but nothing else was as nice. So, I ended up buying them.

Well, I don't remember exaclty how much I paid for them, but it was too much.

Anyway, after looking again in the house, the car, calling Red Lobster where we ate Monday night, looking at church, the car, and the truck, I found them. They were between the seat and the console in the truck under a glove.

Visitors

I went back and took a look at how many visits my blog has had by the end of 2005.

I had 2463 visits from April through December.

Along those same lines, my cousin Laura was my first visitor of 2006. Either that or someone else from the Norhtern Mariana Islands is reading my blog, and I find that very unlikely.

New activity for new year

On the first day of the year I did something new. I used a chainsaw. First time to use a chainsaw. My in-laws had an evergreen tree that was now everbrown. So I borrowed a chainsaw and went over to cut it down for them.

I did pretty good till I thew the chain, and I couldn't figure out how to get it back on. But I had the tree mostly cut down, all I had to do was cut closer to the ground. They were happy the fire hazard as my mother-in-law called it, was gone.

Happy New Year all!