Nephew Pictures

My brother sent down a batch of photos. Here are a few of Sam.

Milton Spring Clean-up

Tony, Roy, and Lenny helped me clean the Capitol Theater Lot on Saturday. Sadly, more cigarette butts than weeds.

Good news - By the time we were done, the site looked great and is ready for the summer.

eggbrosinc.com logo?

messages

This is one of those serendipitous moments that lets me know that God does try to give us messages. I recently posted a poem by Darrell Scott.

Yesterday, my boss brought back information about our schools re-authorization process. Although we are a private alternative educational placement, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Education still 'approves' our program.

Start with an insane list of data. Insane because we must go back three years into our old records and pull out information that we were never tracking because the decision to track this information was just made - oh, and by the way, we are going to so poorly phrase the directions for data collection that most of the information is going to be useless because the different programs collecting it are going to record it in different ways. For example --

"C. Average Daily Attendance for AEDY student population at every grade level."

What? How do you calculate this? From the FAQ --

Q: For data reporting purposes, how should AEDY programs determine “Average Daily Attendance?”

A: Average Daily Attendance should be calculated by taking the daily attendance of your student population by grade level (# of students you have in school that day by grade level) and dividing by the daily membership (# of students your AEDY program serves by grade level, even if they are absent that day).

That looks like the formula for a percentage. Not an average!!!

How about these two items.

M. Of the number of students in column B, how many at every grade level passed all 4 core content subjects (science, math, English, and social studies) while in your program?

N. Of number of students in column B, how many at every grade level passed at least 3 of 4 core content subjects (science, math, English, and social studies) while in your program?

Do I recount the students who passed 4 core content subjects for item N? They did pass at least 3 of 4 core content subjects. What if someone else doesn't? Then the data collected is useless. I do not have a problem collecting and submitting data if it is a useful exercise. This is going to be a very time consuming and useless exercise.

AND NOW THE KICKER -- Going back to my original thought. Darrell Scott wrote this poem which I read in the intro to Chuck Norris' autobiography. I post it on my blog. Next day I start reviewing this packet of information regarding the application for our school. The first page I randomly flip to when I get the packet - the first item my eyes fall upon is as follows --

(3) A private alternative education institution shall: . . .(III) Be nonsectarian in all operations and shall not provide any religious instruction, nor shall it display religious objects and symbols on the premises of the institution.

No God - in any form - allowed.

(FYI - 2008/09 AEDY Guidelines)

Like Father; Like Son

Darrell Scott Poem

I finished reading "Against All Odds - My Story" by Chuck Norris. Of course, it was about Chuck Norris. The first item in the book is dedication to Rachel Joy Scott. Rachel was one of the victims of the Columbine shooting. (Rachel Scott Dedication Site).

Her father, Darrell Scott, wrote a poem that Chuck Norris included in the opening of his book. With school starting in just a week, I though it would be appropriate to post it.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage.
You've outlawed simple prayer.

Now gunshots fill our classrooms.
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere.
And ask the question "WHY"?

You regulate restrictive laws.
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand.
That God is what we need!

Supernatural

Dylan and I started watching downloads of Season One of Supernatural. I wasn't sure if I would like what seemed to be a re-hatch of an X-Files like show.

I was wrong. Supernatural has a well maintained feel and flavor. Seventy and Eighties Rock (Led Zep, Metallica, Motorhead, etc.), Big Engine Car (1967 Chevy Impala - that I think is enchanted), Two Brothers, a road trip, and lots of angry spirits (from Urban Legends, Mythology, and Religion).

The show is tied together, episode to episode, with a story involving a yellow-eyed demon that killed the mother of the two main characters (Dean and Sam). Each episode stands well alone as well. To get the full effect, it would, of course, be best to watch all the episodes.

The show is also filled with allusions and references to popular culture. Quotes and references to other movies and TV shows are present in every episode. It adds a level of interactiveness as you try to figure out where a remark by one of the characters came from because you know you have hear what they said somewhere before.

We are about half way through the second season. The new fourth season starts on September 18th. Who would have thought that CW could have created a show as good as The X-Files?

Olympics

I just spent 4 and 1/2 hours watching the opening of the Beijing Olympics. WOW!

I know it was pre-recorded, with the east coast of the US being 12 hours off of China, but ... What a thrill! The opening ceremony was epic. Filled with symbolism, it highlighted the history of China, displaying accolades to the three major religions/philosophies of China. The show then matured and payed tribute to the modern China. With more special effects than Star Wars (including a 500 foot LCD TV)and routines that involved the seamless co-ordination of over 2500 dancers or performers, I was drawn into the spectacle.

Ongoing coverage on any of the NBC channels or,

Yahoo Olympic Coverage or,

MSN Olympic Coverage

New Dot Com - eggbrosinc.com

My brother keeps talking about starting a formal branch of our small projects. We have been calling ourselves "Egg Bros Inc". I decided to buy the .com for a year and see what we can do with our own web presence (other than my blog).

Egg Bros Inc

Vacation Videos

Took the kids to Boston and then New Hampshire. Here are the videos.

50 Books in 50 Weeks Challenge

I have joined the 50 books in 50 weeks challenge. You can check my progress (I'm vain enough to think you might) right here!

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Newest Net Addiction

I like Boggle. I like Scrabble. This "wise old duck" has created an online game, free and plays against real people, that brings the best of both games together. I have been playing every night for about a week. I'm an addict. I'm not as good as some of the long term regulars, but I can hold my own.

The game is called -- ZChurk

Follow the link. I play as kurteeck.

Mom's Eulogy

Mom's eulogy, written by my brother Todd and read at the funeral by long time family friend Dan Danaker.

Sorry about the resolution. I'm working on getting the actual file vs using the scan. In the meantime, click the image to view at a more readable size.



Link to -- I Corinthians 13:1 thru 13




Link to -- I Corinthians 15:50 to 52

March Madness

I don't really follow NCAA Basketball that closely. Nor do many of my colleagues at work. That hasn't stopped us from playing "The Bracket". We are doing the 10 points for first round, 20 points for second round, thirty points for third round system for scoring. No money. Losers buy winner lunch.

Here are our current scores (first score is 10,20,30,40...second score is based on 10,20,40,80...) --

• Tiff -- 610/760 points
• Carrie -- 680/990 points
  
• Karen -- 670/750 points
  
• Michelle -- 810/1130 points
  
• Kurt -- 940/1680 points

updated 2:18pm on April 1

I'm in a snotty mood and Liz Dietrich is not right

I won't go so far as to say Liz Dietrich is wrong. She asserts in an interview in the Daily Slightem that there is a myth about bad parents. She says --

Liz Dietrich, clinical supervisor, said the agency wants to dispel the “myth of the bad parent.”

“Parents think, ‘My kid is acting this way because of something I did,’ ” she said. “We want to show them it’s not their fault. Some kids have these issues because of a chemical imbalance. You could be the best parent in the world; kids are still going to make mistakes.” (from the Daily Slightem)

Sure, there are families out there who have done everything "right". The parents were good parents. Something is just wrong with the child's wiring. And yes, Concern does a great job with these families (especially with clients who fall into the category of autism spectrum disorders).

However, it is naive to think that all parents are good parents. Sometimes the parents are the fault. Dad is a heroin addict and mom is a welfare leech trading her food stamps for smokes while the kids are running the streets. The kid steals. Why can't we blame the parent?

I think parents should be asking themselves if their child's behavior is a reflection of their parenting. In cases other than those with a true biological abnormality which effects behavior (autism, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorders, etc.), the cause must be partly a reflection of parenting.

Where do we learn how to behave, what is acceptable, our moral character? If your children are 'acting out', maybe it is your fault.

A short video in memory of my mom

Carol Eck

Carol Ann Eck, 66, of 442 McElhattan Drive, McElhattan, Pa., went to be with her Lord surrounded by her family on Thursday, March 6, 2008, at her home.

Carol was born August 9, 1941, in Jersey Shore, the daughter of Gordon Glaes and the former Vivian Maffett.

She is survived by her husband, Edward L. Eck, they were united in marriage July 11, 1964, in the St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jersey Shore. Ed and Carol purchased a home in Avis. It was at their home in Avis where they raised their two sons, Kurt Edward and Todd Matthew. While raising their children, Carol served as a member of the PTA, was a Den Mother and volunteer in the Scouting program, and a member of several bowling leagues. For many years she was a member of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Jersey Shore.

Carol graduated from Jersey Shore High School in 1959 and continued her education at the Williamsport School of Nursing. She practiced nursing throughout her life, initially working in the Maternity ward at Williamsport Hospital. During her career she worked fro Dr. Dunkle, Dr. Nicholas and at Susqueview and Manor Care Nursing Homes. When she left Manor Health Care she was the Assistant Director of Nursing. Carol would want mentioned that it was during this time that she made the acquaintance of Cathy Brooks, also a nurse. Cathy has always been more than a neighbor and Carol recognized her as family. Carol’s sons think of her as their older sister. After Carol retired from nursing, she and Ed moved to McElhattan. She continued to be active, helping with Red Cross Blood Mobiles, distributing food at local churches “Angel and Food Program,” and dressing up for her jaunts with the Red Hatter Society.

She also enjoyed having the time to sit on the front porch of the new home and watch the birds and squirrels play in the multitude of feeders and bird bathes in her front yard. Carols also took care of her pet cat Sparkles. Sparkles was a diabetic and, like Carol, required daily insulin shots. Carol never really retired completely from nursing and never stopped caring for others.

Also surviving are two sons, Kurt E. Eck of Milton and Todd M. (Janine) Eck of Woodsville, New Hampshire, two grandchildren, Daniel L. Bucharski Eck and Samuel V. Eck, one sister, Vivian L. Davis of McElhattan, and one brother, Alan G. Glaes of Avondale, Arizona,

Funeral services will be Monday, March 10, 2008 at 12 p.m. in the Trinity United Methodist Church, corner of Allegheny and Glover Streets, Jersey Shore. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Monday until the time of services at the church. Burial will be in the Jersey Shore Cemetery. The Rev. Richard Cartwright, her pastor, will officiate. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made in her name to the Trinity United Methodist Church.

Frederick B. Welker Funeral Home, 125 N. Main St., Jersey Shore, is in charge of arrangements.

CNN Student News

We (Ms. Carrie and I) have been using CNN Student News every morning with our students.

It has been a very worthwhile endeavor. The students seem to retain a good bit of the information. Most of the students can name the major candidates in the primaries. They all seem to grasp where Iraq and Chad are on the world map. They may be getting smarter. Scary.

To help check for retention, each daily news cast comes with a ten question news quiz. Friday's quiz tests knowledge for news from the entire week. Most students get the answers correct. Sometimes we do get an answer that causes a good laugh. Most recently, two examples stand out.

A question on Monday dealt with the upcoming Super Tuesday Primary. When asked which candidate they would vote for, one student answered with "John McRomney". A hawkish liberal Republican who could balance the budget and capture the Evangelical and LDS vote?

On the same day, the news covered the violence in Chad. The questions on the quiz dealt with the current political situation in Chad and how the violence could lead to many deaths. The United Nations and US intervention were discussed. The final question asked the students to explain what they thought would happen if no-one intervened. I enjoyed, being a sarcastic and sardonic personality myself, one of the students answers. He explained that if the violence continued, there would be a lot fewer starving people in Africa. (Waa waa waaa)

I can't feel my hands

You know the rest of the jingle --

"I'm freezing at Pee Wee Hockey."

Then dad shows up with Dunkin' Donuts Milky Way Hot Chocolate.

The kids and I fell for the promotion and went to Dunkin' Donuts and bought the Hot Chocolate. They got the Milky Way and I got the traditional Hot Cocoa.

Sorry Double D - not as good as advertised. Mine tasted like burnt Styrofoam and I don't think the boys could discern any Milky Way Carmelness in their drinks. Kudos for a good advertising campaign though. We got pulled right in to the excitement and you got my money.

Finished Painting

The classroom has been painted. We still have a few items to finish.


I didn't get the border for the wall screen painted out yet, but you can see where it is by the blue painters tape.



I've also put an American Flag behind my desk. I'll get a picture of that up later.



After we add a few more plants, I think we will be ready to start the exclusion room.

They're Back - American Gladiator

Oh yea!!!

After all these years, they are back - bigger and badder and twice as tacky. I love it.

I watched the first double episode tonight and will be glued onto the TV tomorrow night as well. The Hulkster (Hulk Hogan) is the perfect commentator. The contestants are vetted better than the original and I felt like I got to know them. And the Gladiators are HUGE! My favorite gladiators to date are Wolf and Siren (varoom - she can pugel me anytime), but it is to early to tell who will reign as the ultimate BA.

Check out the NBC site -- AMERICAN GLADIATOR

A Christmas Video

Thank You Aunt Lee

Mom has been undergoing chemo and radiation therapy. She has not been doing well and feels miserable most of the time. My Aunt Lee hosted our family dinner so that our family could get together for dinner.

I like to refer to this clan as the 'Eck'stended family.

Thank You Aunt Lee for all you do!

Return to posting

I have not been posting. The three or four of you who actually continue to check my blog already know what happened. For the few stragglers who stumble across my little project, I now offer an explanation for the gap between this and my past posting.

In the first week of November I was assaulted with a storm of personal crisis. In the span of five days I was informed by the IRS that my 2007 taxes may have been wrong, was accused of sexually molesting three of my past foster kids, found out that my mom’s cancer had returned, and was puked on by a kid in swimming lessons.

Getting puked on wasn’t all that bad.

Everything else stressed me out pretty bad. I just couldn’t find the mental calm to type anything worthwhile. It wasn’t that I require a lot of serenity to write; it was that my mind was that chaotic. I was reduced to reading Anime’. I couldn’t concentrate enough to read a novel or anything longer than an article in a newspaper.

It took almost forty days to resolve the allegations against me. As a result of the length of the investigation I lost a foster kid I really enjoyed having in my home and had thoughts of adopting. The whole experience has really soured my outlook on being a foster parent. It has also enlightened me (further) on how screwed our State’s Child Welfare system is.

Now that my life is more stable, I will be writing further on topics relating to my recent experiences. Be patient. I will try not to rant.

That’s all for now. More to come.

One of the first Egg Bros Inc vids

This is one of the first Egg Bros Inc Videos. I made it about a year ago after I attended a friends baby shower. It is, as always, a little rough.

I have posted it at the request of some of my coworkers.

Yep - I'm going to try the NaNoWriMo again. 50,000 words in thirty days.

I only made it to 15,000 words last year. I had kids at home all the time. This year, the kids will be at the program center until 7 four days a week, so I should be able to find more time to write.

If you are interested, you should check out the website. If you decide to write, let me know so we can suffer together.

Concert!!

The concert was six hours long! The line up was Seether, Collective Soul, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, and LIVE. It is the only concert I have been at where I was hollered a for standing. I also had beer thrown on me. I have had that happen before; just never thrown on me because I was standing at a rock concert.

The weather was summer weather. Due to a late start, Jerry and I did not have much time to tailgate. We did get lucky enough to park next to truck that was playing the Penn State game. We were, for a short time, the Penn State HQ at Hershey. Everyone who walked by just needed to know what the score was. Shame we didn't have a portable white board. We could have posted the score and avoided unnecessary conversations that cut into my pre-show tailgating feast.

Seether was just opening the show as Jerry and I made our way into the stadium. It was very sunny and warm. The crowd was happy. Jerry watched our seats while I went to get the requisite concert t-shirts (let's not ask how much). Then I went and bought the infamous six-dollar beer. That's about 25 cents an ounce. Uumm, uummm. Good beer.

Seether only had a 35 minute set before they had to leave the stage. It took about 20 minutes for the next band, Collective Soul, to be set up. They played for nearly 50 minutes before another break. Three Days Grace set-up and started playing.

It was during this third performance that things got whacky in the stands. I picked the front row of section six because it is above the crowd and I have a railing to lean on while I'm standing. Every concert I have been to, the audience stands and goes nuts while the band is rockin' away. As I get older, I like having something to lean on. Apparently the lady (well, she wasn't acting very lady like) behind us a row or two bought stand tickets so she could sit. I'd like to think that she was older than I, but I probably beat her by a decade.

She starts demanding that I, Jerry, and the 5 or so other people in front of her sit down so that she can see. If we wanted to stand, she informed us rudely, we should have gotten tickets on the ground. Jerry remained calm. The girls to his right did not. They told the . . lady (I don't really know why I feel compelled to censor this) to . . . be quite. (OK - they told the f***in B**ch to shut up.)

The lady continued to go on a tirade, trying to gain support from other less enthused members of the stands. Some jumped into the shouting, but most just ignored her. I think I may have asked her something stupid like "why do you think they call this the 'stands'?" or something. Then to further irritate her, Jerry had one of the girls climb up on his shoulders in order to further block this woman's view.

That is about when it started to rain beer. And at 25 cents an ounce, it was a very expensive shower.

I don't know what happened to the lady. Two of the girls went down on the stadium floor and asked for security. Eventually, after the yellow shirt security person contacted a red shirt security person, who in turn found a 'suit', the 'suit' said he didn't have the time to go up into the stands to deal with a crazy woman. He told the girls to go get her friends and he would let them go up to the stage.

By the beginning of the Breaking Benjamin set, Jerry and his new friends were about 5 rows back from the stage taking in the concert. I was happy to stay in the stands and, well . . . stand.

I was thrilled when Jerry came back and said he liked LIVE. He originally thought that they would be 'gay'. Turned out he really liked them. He listened to them in the car on the trip home as well.

Concert!!!

Jerry and I went to see Seether, Collective Soul, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, and LIVE at the Hershey Stadium.



More on the concert in the next post.

In case you didn't hear

Steelers 2-0
Eagles 0-2

The Pig Roast Video or Worst Music Video Ever!

It took a while, but I finally put together a short video from the pig roast. I didn't have a lot of video to work with and I decided to use Michael singing. Most of you won't get it, but I do; and that is all that matters.

What a great weekend

Pig Roast and Trace's Birthday party were wonderful, but let me mention the other excitement from this weekend --



Penn State beats Notre Dame! Roar!



Then Pittsburgh beats Cleveland! Wooo Whooo!



Then, to make it the perfect weekend -
Eagles get BEAT by Green Bay! Yessss!

A&P vs College Student Parody on YouTube

First - Read the article in the Daily Item.

http://www.dailyitem.com/lifestyles/local_story_241084310.html

Then my response -

I have just read an article picked up in my local paper about your companies suit against the D’Avella brothers. I have not watched the video that they produced. But your heavy handed over-reaction has piqued my interest and I may have to see if I can find the parody on the web.

I do not shop at your grocery chain. There are no A&Ps near where I live.

The article in my paper (Sunbury Daily Item) stated that your company has “at least one” customer who was offended enough by the video to no longer shop at our store. “At least one”? How many really were offended? Two? Three? A dozen? “At least one” is deliberately vague.

How many customers must you lose to make it worth all of the legal fees that you will incur by pursuing charges against these young men?

Frankly, your reaction to this situation is more distressing than any video spoof could be. Your over-reaction will likely disenfranchise you from your customer base more than these young men’s video.

I hate Apple

I had this great idea to use CNN Student news (I know, it sounds like I've sold out to the enemy. But FOX doesn't provide a student news program) in the morning at Bethesda/PATH. So Sunday night I download the news and try to xfer it to my Zen.

Error. Try again. Error.

Four in the morning and I'm still trying to resolve why my video converter will not work. No luck.

Tonight I finally find a discussion group that addressed this problem. Seems like Apple set up the latest version of Quicktime so that it would crash my Creative Video Converter.

I deleted Quicktime and installed a shareware version. Now everything is working fine. Yippee!

Silly Motivational Posters

Court Inequality

Well, I only had 5 responses to the poll. I posted it because of a court case in Perry County. The few Poll results I did get were what I expected. People seem to agree that people should get relatively stiff penalties for having sex with children.

What concerns me is the double standard. In Perry County, a 24 year old woman received a 3 to 18 month suspended sentence for having sex with a 14 year old boy. She is also a the mother of a baby boy. The baby is the son of the 14 year old boy. The judge (Kathy Morrow) doesn't want the baby to suffer from separation from the mother. Hence the lean (non-existent) sentence. I suppose the message is, ladies, if your going to have sex with a minor, make sure you get knocked up.

What if the roles were reversed. If the 24 year old were the father, he wouldn't get out of jail until the baby was 20 years old. I know that the role of the father is just as important as the role of the mother. Why do we treat the sexes difference in these cases?

Trace's First Christmas

A quick video I made off of a friends video. Her husband is stationed out of the country. I'm posting it here so that he can view it, but you can watch it too.

Baby Goes Boom breaks a Grand

One of my first editing jobs just broke 1000 hits on YouTube. Check out "Baby Goes Boom" on My YouTube and help make this video go big.

Knoebel's

Instead of posting the second half of the cooking vid (which can be watched on my YouTube Channel) I'm posting our Knoebel's Trip Video.

Cooking With Courtland

Junior's boys are in for a week or so. As promised, we filmed Courtland cooking. We stayed simple - spaghetti, meatballs, veggies dip, rice krispie treats. The whole video is a bit long, so it is in two parts. Here is part one of Cooking With Courtland --

Paintball Warriors

Mia and her gang all bought paintball guns. We decided to take them out for a test game on some of Frank's family property. Pretty exciting. No serious casualties. And I can still hold my own with my Tippman Pump Gun.

Dan and I worked real well together and managed to flank our opponents fairly regularly. Jerry - no surprise here - was a super athlete. He was a one man paintball killing machine.

Hopefully everyone will want to continue playing and we can get out again soon.

TV Widget

Added a TV Widget to my MySpace.

Get your own widget.

New Section Finished on My MySpace

I've finished adding the music section to my MySpace. I tried to get a sample of bands I like, but not necessarily the most known songs by the artist or band.

Ocean City MD

We left Wednesday morning on a semi-spontaneous trip to the shore. The ride down was great. No traffic jams, construction, or any other problems. We made it to the shore by lunch.

I spent most of my time reading on the beach or flying my kites. Jerry bought a body board and beat himself up with it in the surf. He also went to H2O, the only under-21 club in OC, in the evenings. He had a great time at the club and it was probably the highlight of the trip for him so far.

Today we head north to Rehoboth Beach.

Vacation Time

Going on vacation. Jerry and I are leaving this AM and will return early next week. Stay tuned for updates.

Simpsonized?

I fell for the marketing ploy. I sent my picture to the "Simpsonizer" and this is what I look like after I get squashed into two-dimensions.


Not a horrible un-likeness. I think I look better than Jerry.
Well - in two-dimensions anyway.

Have not seen the movie yet, but plan to soon.

Can this be real?

I don't follow the sports drama, much. I was sad to hear about the assistant coach who was killed by a line drive. I heard that an NBA official is alleged to be helping 'fix' over/unders (I just except that sports betting is corrupt). And Vic got busted for fighting dogs.

Here is a supposedly true copy of the court document. It is from SLATE and I suspect it is the real deal.



You may have to blow up the image. Note the top of the complaint. The Defendants are "approximately 53 pit bulldogs". This concerns me. How do pit bulldogs get a legal standing and why are they on the defense? And why 'approximately'? Could the officials involved in this search and seizure not count? Apparently not. The top of the third page of the document says they found 54 pit bulldogs. Maybe it is 'approximately' because they don't want to make it appear that all of the dogs are defendants. Maybe some of them were just visiting and not involved in the fighting.

Shouldn't Vic be the defendant? Does anyone think Vic is going to lose in the end?

Hey - It is our tax dollars at work.

Picnic Video

I got just a wee bit bored tonight.

So I made a short video (mostly of the kids) from the picnic. I used Sting because (of course) I just went to the concert and it seemed apropos.

Enjoy!

Picnic and mini-graduation

Thanks to Nicole Bingaman, we managed to pull together a summer picnic for the Milton Program Center. We also had a short but meaningful graduation ceremony for Jerry (who passed his GED this Spring). We had a great turn-out and I thank everyone for showing their support for Jerry.

Mr. Jim and Ms. Nicole both said a few words of recognition. Mr. Jim recalled Jerry's academic efforts. Ms. Nicole commented on how much Jerry has grown in his heart. She also gave him a 'HOPE' hoody.

Jerry impressed everyone with his comments. He thanked everyone for their help in getting him to where he is in his life right now. He spoke very well and with sincere emotion. He even remembered to thank Mia and I.

The Police 2007 - 2008 World Tour

Saw them!!!
It was everything I expected and a bit more. I figured that they would sound good. I knew I would enjoy the show. I was surprised at how enthused The Police were and how the enthusiasm carried through the crowd.

The opening act was "Fiction Plane". My brother had already explained to me that "Fiction Plane" was a band lead by Sting's son, Joe Sumner. Even without that knowledge, it would have been likely that I would have figured that out on my own. He looks and sounds like his father in many ways, with enough of a shift to not sound like a young version of his dad. Fiction Plane is a band that will go far with or without the support of "The Police".

I could go into a long list of what I liked about the concert and detail how the show went, but Kira Schlechter of the Patriot-News wrote a near perfect article. The only additional comment I would have made is that it was great to hear (and watch) Andy Summers do solos. Back in the 80's, he never got to do that. I suppose it was because it would not have fit the Punk feel of the band.

Of course, the best part of the concert was that I went to see it with my brother and sister-in-law. We get to spend so little time together. It was great to be able to take most of a day and just go do something without being interrupted. And if your going to go do something, well . . . It might as well be watching the Police back together again.

Athletic Shorts

Chris Crutcher returns to some of his characters from other books. This collection is a quick read. Crutcher shows that he is able to capture the same intensity that he does in his novels in short stories. Read the other books first.

I read the book today. I did skip one of the stories with a character from another one of the novels, 'running loose', until I get a chance to read it.

It was a wonderful day to lay outside and read. I read the first half of the book this morning while sitting on my porch. I finished reading the book at the Selinsgrove pool.

Went to a friends for dinner. All-in-all, A real kickback kinda day.

Death of the Flicker Widget

I decided to ex-nay the Flickr widget. Picasa is working just fine and it will save a little loading time on the blog.

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called blog badge. Make your own badge here.

So - So Long and thanks for the pictures little widget.

Cell Phone Angst

I don't remember if I mentioned this before. On our way back from New Hampshire we stopped at a rest stop (well, several rest stops). I was amazed when I walked into the rest stop following an older gentleman talking on his cellphone. He wasn't on any fancy remote or bluetooth. He was just carrying it in his hand. He managed to undo his pants, pee, and zip himself up, while carrying on his conversation. I don't remember if he washed his hands.

WHAT THE H#@L IS SO IMPORTANT! Couldn't it have waited?

I wrote about going out to dinner last night. I didn't mention the cell phones. At one point in the evening, there were six people on cell phones just in our section. I took notice, because every time a cell phone rang, Junior and my kid would go for their cell phones to see if the were ringing.

AGAIN - WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT?!

I'm vowing right know - this evening - to leave my cell phone at home as often as possible. Or at least turn it off when I am not at home or work. How did we become so dependent on these things? It is no wonder we have so many ADHD people. "I want it and I want it now!", even if it is to talk to someone. Crazy.

Lazy Saturday

The day got off to a slow start.

After lunch, Junior stopped in and said he wanted to go fishing. We packed up the car and went to the Montour Preserve. We fished there for about an hour and caught nothing.

Then we headed through Turbotville and followed the road leaving town to the river. Somewhere between Montgomery and Dewart we found a path that led down to the river. It was also near an old railroad bridge.

Jerry and I swam out to the railroad bridge piers and fished in some deep holes. We could see some big fish, but didn't catch any monsters. We did catch a few keeper sized, although we didn't keep them.

We fished until 6:30. We cleaned up quick at the apartment and went to Bonanza for dinner.

Now, I can eat a lot. So can Jerry. (I'm fat and he is a growing boy/young man). But Junior put us both to shame. He ate four full plates from the buffet and two 10oz. steaks. He skipped the french fries, but did eat the baked potato. What a monster appetite!

Whale Talk

I have always been a fan of "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes" by Chris Crutcher. Whale Talk has a far stronger emotional punch. I cannot recall the last time I read a book that had me in tears as I finished reading it. I often look for the characters I identify with when I read a book. In Whale Talk, I also found myself identifying my real students with the characters in the book.

Maybe my view on this book is skewed by my own life circumstance. I will say it is the best book I have read this year. Cheers to Chris Crutcher.

HALO or MySpace

Seeking to find a higher level of geekiness, my kid and I MySpaced each other while sitting in the same room. Nerds!

But is it much different than playing head-to-head HALO with two xboxs?

We may not have been shooting guns at each other, but we were taking shots at each other. And the audience is bigger. If you keep everything in the 'comments', other people can follow along or get involved in the battle of words and wit.

Still, the effects are better on HALO and the soundtrack is better.

Order of the Pheonix

Went to see Harry with Jerry and his girl, Ms. Hedder, and Ang. We saw it at the Campus Theater in Lewisburg and it was a good crowd. Applause at the end of the movie.

The movie was well done. Being the largest of the novels, I didn't expect that it would have every part of the book in the movie. It didn't. But it may have been the best movie yet for catching the 'feel' of the book. Umbridge's character was very well played. The movie kept a brisk pace. It wasn't as thrill packed as Transformers or Die Hard, but it never lost my interest.

The sets and effects captured the magic of Harry Potter perfectly. The movie transported me to a different world for over two hours and entertained. Well worth the ticket.

Big Red Button

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Transformers

Wow! Went to see Transformers last night. What a fun movie. A little light on story, the action more than made up for plot problems. The effects - well - this is the best effects movie yet.

I was impressed by the number of big names involved in this movie. Many directors, producers, and writers mention how they loved comics as kids. Apparently many of them also loved the Transformers.

A big screen 'must'. Do not wait for this one to come out on DVD. It won't be near as good on the small screen.

Long Pond

Monday

Todd had to work. Janine took Jerry to Long Pond and they went fishing in the canoe. I didn't get many pictures. I watched Sam.




Once again, Jerry did great with Sammy. Did I mention that Sam is only ten months old? He is a bruiser.

Egg Bros Inc

Todd and I spent most of the day working on a project for one of his friends. There is a wedding for their daughter next week and the family wanted to do something special. The parents wrote lyrics for a song. My brother helped compose the music and the mom, Martha, sang the lyrics. My brother played the guitar and mixed the music. I received lots of pictures and some VHS dubs to make the video. It is the first Egg Bros Inc project outside of the family.

Downside. It took all day and part of the night.

Upside. We know it was a success. Martha was crying after she watched the video. I'm so proud of our project. Todd and I work well together.

I might get eatin' by a bear

Jerry spent his evenings worrying about getting eatin by a bear or other creatures.