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.