So I finally took the plunge and setup a website.
I like blogger and could have happily continued to use it as an acceptable blog, but China keeps blocking it and it's just getting annoying.
So I have a fully functioning website now that should be regularly updated and even have lots of media, like photos and videos, hardwired right in.
web.mac.com/thebatesdynasty
enjoy...
Also, if anyone has a clue how I can import some of my blogger posts into my .mac site, let me know...
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
10/09/2007
8/09/2007
Quick post
Bet had a nail chip today and it looked like Bobby Brown's hair cut. Sadly, I couldn't get a good picture of her nail, but trust me, it was awesome!
8/08/2007
From the phone, Vol. 3
Public safety is, naturally, very important in a city of 20+million, but how do you 'ring the message out'? Well, Shanghai has recently began a new campaign on it's subway system to promote awareness of some simple measures we, the people, can all do to make this beloved city a little safer.
Safety tip #1:
See, I never would have thought that there was an epidemic of people recklessly trying to take on a whole train by themself. But thanks to this safety tip; Bet is prepared for the fight! (and happy?)
Safety tip #2:
priceless...
Thanks UMTBSPSB! (The Urban Mass Transportation Branch Shanghai Public Security Bureau) These guys have come a long way since their days of 'Mind Your Head'!
Safety tip #1:
See, I never would have thought that there was an epidemic of people recklessly trying to take on a whole train by themself. But thanks to this safety tip; Bet is prepared for the fight! (and happy?)
Safety tip #2:
priceless...
Thanks UMTBSPSB! (The Urban Mass Transportation Branch Shanghai Public Security Bureau) These guys have come a long way since their days of 'Mind Your Head'!
Confessions of a Macaddict...
This is just a quick blurb...
Over the last two years I've completely become a Mac nerd, I can't help it, they're amazing!
I mention this b/c the only reason I am awake at 1:30a.m. is to watch a live blog following what's going on at their product launch today.
New aluminum iMacs, the best .Mac ever, and iLife '08 w/ some crazy updates!
Oh the joy!
Yes I'm lame, no I am not ashamed...
pics from Engadget
Over the last two years I've completely become a Mac nerd, I can't help it, they're amazing!
I mention this b/c the only reason I am awake at 1:30a.m. is to watch a live blog following what's going on at their product launch today.
New aluminum iMacs, the best .Mac ever, and iLife '08 w/ some crazy updates!
Oh the joy!
Yes I'm lame, no I am not ashamed...
pics from Engadget
8/04/2007
From the phone, Vol. 1
I mentioned a little while back that I was planning on adding photos of random stuff I stumble across while out and about here in Shanghai. Now b/c I don't have a nice small camera, these little 'looking glass' moments will be brought to you by the crappy camera in my phone. So don't complain about image quality! Also, I'm to try to not talk to much about the photo. I'll just try to set up the moment.
Today's installment is from a store front we passed recently. In China there's always some kind of construction going on and many times a whole row of shops will close due the pending demolition of the building housing them. For some reason they always cover the windows w/ newspaper; like is there some epidemic of people crowding around to stare into an empty store? But that's beside the point. So yesterday we're walking along and Bet notices an interesting article among the pages of (all) Chinese newspaper that were plastered to the store window. That's about all the introduction I should have to give...
Dog the Bounty Hunter? Now, I'm not too good at reading Chinese, but I think the '#1' is talking about him winning the recent Mr. (worst hair in the-) Universe contest.
For perspective sake, here's the store front:
Hope you enjoyed volume 1...
Today's installment is from a store front we passed recently. In China there's always some kind of construction going on and many times a whole row of shops will close due the pending demolition of the building housing them. For some reason they always cover the windows w/ newspaper; like is there some epidemic of people crowding around to stare into an empty store? But that's beside the point. So yesterday we're walking along and Bet notices an interesting article among the pages of (all) Chinese newspaper that were plastered to the store window. That's about all the introduction I should have to give...
Dog the Bounty Hunter? Now, I'm not too good at reading Chinese, but I think the '#1' is talking about him winning the recent Mr. (worst hair in the-) Universe contest.
For perspective sake, here's the store front:
Hope you enjoyed volume 1...
6/14/2007
We're going-going back-back to yangshuo-yangshuo
Friday morning we're flying out to Guilin for a little three day trip to Yangshuo w/ our good friends John and Mandy Taylor. This will be our 4th trip there but it should still be fun. It'll just be nice to get out of the big city for awhile. I'll post some pictures and stories on Monday or Tuesday.
Oh ya! The White Stripes new album comes out Tuesday, I'll get a review up of that too!
Oh ya! The White Stripes new album comes out Tuesday, I'll get a review up of that too!
China's blockin' blogger like LeBron blocked Duncan!
So the past two days or so I haven't been able to access my account page and thus, can't 'blog'. Today its working again and so I'm trying to get this in before the next random swat comes down. So if you ever wonder 'man, he's getting lazy' it's probably just a 'no access' issue.
6/06/2007
What A Year!
I mentioned in the last post that I'm finally finished coaching for the school year but that doesn't do this year any justice.
I don't mean this to sound like anything other than reference:
(most of you already know this stuff)
It was 15 years ago that I first picked up a basketball and fell in love w/ it. Since then, I've played on undefeated teams, been a team captian twice, had tripple doubles, won 2nd place in the state of Florida, and played w/ D1 basketball players as my teammates; but this season was up there with or above all of that stuff. This year, basketball wise, was one of the best years I've ever had and I don't even get to play anymore b/c of my back.
(I mean this year was also amazing in my general non-basketball life too, it's just that I'm talking about basketball right now)
This season, all of my teams exceeded my expectations and, at times, completely surprised me. I still get goose bumps when I think back to our games in the SAS Holiday classic or the game at SCIS or the 5 threes we hit on Suzhou in the SISAC tourney or the two middle school tournaments. I couldn't be more proud of my girls this year, they worked so hard and improved so much! I've been known to ramble so I'll end this quickly. Girls, you were so awesome this year and I can't wait to coach you again next season! GO SHARKS!!
My Varsity Girls
My Middle School team
(John and Mandy coached these girls too; there were two teams)
This is 'my team' out of all the girls above
This is the 'elite team' I mentioned before which consisted of a select group of girls from the two middle school teams pictured above. We took 2nd place.
GREAT JOB SHARKS!
I don't mean this to sound like anything other than reference:
(most of you already know this stuff)
It was 15 years ago that I first picked up a basketball and fell in love w/ it. Since then, I've played on undefeated teams, been a team captian twice, had tripple doubles, won 2nd place in the state of Florida, and played w/ D1 basketball players as my teammates; but this season was up there with or above all of that stuff. This year, basketball wise, was one of the best years I've ever had and I don't even get to play anymore b/c of my back.
(I mean this year was also amazing in my general non-basketball life too, it's just that I'm talking about basketball right now)
This season, all of my teams exceeded my expectations and, at times, completely surprised me. I still get goose bumps when I think back to our games in the SAS Holiday classic or the game at SCIS or the 5 threes we hit on Suzhou in the SISAC tourney or the two middle school tournaments. I couldn't be more proud of my girls this year, they worked so hard and improved so much! I've been known to ramble so I'll end this quickly. Girls, you were so awesome this year and I can't wait to coach you again next season! GO SHARKS!!
My Varsity Girls
My Middle School team
(John and Mandy coached these girls too; there were two teams)
This is 'my team' out of all the girls above
This is the 'elite team' I mentioned before which consisted of a select group of girls from the two middle school teams pictured above. We took 2nd place.
GREAT JOB SHARKS!
5/21/2007
What A Weekend!
I mentioned in the last post that we were going away this weekend to celebrate our five anniversary, here's how it turned out.
So we stayed in a 5 star hotel suite all weekend and it was AWESOME! We checked in late so they bumped us up to a more expensive top floor suite for no extra charge. The room was like an apartment, a super nice apartment!
We went to dinner at this little back alley place and it was so good; they gave us this private table in a window sill, really cool. The food was great and when we ordered desert they brought us a chocolate mousse cake for free. It was so rich we couldn't even finish a quarter of it.
What a great weekend!
Here's some pics from the weekend:
Dinner
View of the city (a VERY small portion of the city) from our hotel room
(sometimes I forget that Shanghai has more people than Australia)
So we stayed in a 5 star hotel suite all weekend and it was AWESOME! We checked in late so they bumped us up to a more expensive top floor suite for no extra charge. The room was like an apartment, a super nice apartment!
We went to dinner at this little back alley place and it was so good; they gave us this private table in a window sill, really cool. The food was great and when we ordered desert they brought us a chocolate mousse cake for free. It was so rich we couldn't even finish a quarter of it.
What a great weekend!
Here's some pics from the weekend:
Dinner
View of the city (a VERY small portion of the city) from our hotel room
(sometimes I forget that Shanghai has more people than Australia)
5/17/2007
5 YEARS AND COUNTING!
Today 'The Bates Dynasty' celebrates its fifth year in power! I'm not refering to this blog, I'm refering to May 18, 2002. On that day Bethany Brewster decided to marry me, poor thing, and the rest is history.(or 'crap that happened', that's for Dan)
So this is my indirect way of telling you all that I won't be blogging this weekend; I'll be chilling in a 5 star hotel suite for three days!
I promise, I'll get back to my regular posts next week. I'm gonna start a new weekly too, ya it's music related. I'll post more stuff 'From the www' in the future as well. (this is my best sales pitch)
Till then, root for the Suns against those cheap shot thugs in black and silver!
GO SUNS!!!
So this is my indirect way of telling you all that I won't be blogging this weekend; I'll be chilling in a 5 star hotel suite for three days!
I promise, I'll get back to my regular posts next week. I'm gonna start a new weekly too, ya it's music related. I'll post more stuff 'From the www' in the future as well. (this is my best sales pitch)
Till then, root for the Suns against those cheap shot thugs in black and silver!
GO SUNS!!!
5/16/2007
From the www, Vol. 7
So this week is me and Bet's 5 year anniversary (crazy!) and we're going to a hotel for a 'getaway' this weekend; which means there may not be a BOTW this week, and there probably won't be a Worst Album Covers post either. I already know who this week's BOTW is, it's just a question of whether or not I'll have time post it before Friday. We'll see...
But since I've been slacking on the posts the last two weeks (really busy w/ bball) I figured I'd throw in this video I found today. This is the perfect collision of two things I distinctly remember from my childhood. (it's kind of low quality and dorky but it made me a laugh)
But since I've been slacking on the posts the last two weeks (really busy w/ bball) I figured I'd throw in this video I found today. This is the perfect collision of two things I distinctly remember from my childhood. (it's kind of low quality and dorky but it made me a laugh)
5/14/2007
No BOTW This Week
My middle school team had a tournament this weekend so I didn't get it together. But since I mentioned it; my girls played their butts off this weekend! We were definite underdogs going into the tournament but we came out w/ a 2nd place trophy.
Highlights of the day:
(useful info; each game was 22 minutes of running clock so it was like two quarters of a real high school game)
Game one we were down 0-4 at the half but turned it on in the second half and won the game 17-6. Late in the game one of my girls hit the only three pointer I've seen in MS bball. This game was against YCIS, the team that beat my varsity girls in the HS tournament. Their coach is kinda crazy; he's always cussing out the refs, acting like a jerk to other people, and his high school team was the only dirty team in the league, so it felt really good to beat them. (he coaches every basketball team at his school; boys and girls middle school, j.v., and varsity. kinda weird)
Game two was a tough one b/c some of the teams we play use a full court man-to-man defense but they don't know how to do it so they just foul the whole game. The thing that sucks is that the refs suck and just try to balance the calls even though my team is playing a zone and fouls less. We stayed neck and neck the whole game but came up short in the end.
Game three was a crazy little dog fight for the champion of the pool. We had the same reffing situation as the game above so I sent out my biggest, toughest bunch of players and battled to a 2 or 3 point win in double overtime.
We got a bye for winning the pool but as luck would have it we ended up playing the same team that we battled in game three. This time we had the good refs, b/c it was a semifinal game, and the game wasn't even close; they called so many fouls on the other team that we coasted past them to the championship game.
In the championship game we played the perennial powerhouse, Concordia. The game wasn't even close but we fought hard, had fun and went home w/ 2nd place. Considering how much my girls had to fight through, I couldn't be more proud of how they kept their composure and got the job done. (well, they almost lost their cool a few times but they are only in middle school and they were getting beat up pretty bad)
So I'll get back on the BOTW train this week. Last week was going to be Dinosaur Jr. b/c they reunited and released a great new album. I'll get around to that one soon but until I do, just check out their new album 'Beyond'.
Highlights of the day:
(useful info; each game was 22 minutes of running clock so it was like two quarters of a real high school game)
Game one we were down 0-4 at the half but turned it on in the second half and won the game 17-6. Late in the game one of my girls hit the only three pointer I've seen in MS bball. This game was against YCIS, the team that beat my varsity girls in the HS tournament. Their coach is kinda crazy; he's always cussing out the refs, acting like a jerk to other people, and his high school team was the only dirty team in the league, so it felt really good to beat them. (he coaches every basketball team at his school; boys and girls middle school, j.v., and varsity. kinda weird)
Game two was a tough one b/c some of the teams we play use a full court man-to-man defense but they don't know how to do it so they just foul the whole game. The thing that sucks is that the refs suck and just try to balance the calls even though my team is playing a zone and fouls less. We stayed neck and neck the whole game but came up short in the end.
Game three was a crazy little dog fight for the champion of the pool. We had the same reffing situation as the game above so I sent out my biggest, toughest bunch of players and battled to a 2 or 3 point win in double overtime.
We got a bye for winning the pool but as luck would have it we ended up playing the same team that we battled in game three. This time we had the good refs, b/c it was a semifinal game, and the game wasn't even close; they called so many fouls on the other team that we coasted past them to the championship game.
In the championship game we played the perennial powerhouse, Concordia. The game wasn't even close but we fought hard, had fun and went home w/ 2nd place. Considering how much my girls had to fight through, I couldn't be more proud of how they kept their composure and got the job done. (well, they almost lost their cool a few times but they are only in middle school and they were getting beat up pretty bad)
So I'll get back on the BOTW train this week. Last week was going to be Dinosaur Jr. b/c they reunited and released a great new album. I'll get around to that one soon but until I do, just check out their new album 'Beyond'.
4/25/2007
Quick Post About Tonight's Sonic Youth Concert (revised)
(revised portion)
The day after my (hastily made) post I found a lot of pictures and a video from the SY show, here in Shanghai, so I'm adding them to my original post. (4 days later, I know. Hey I'm busy; like Pesci said in Goodfellas "whado-ya wanfromme?")
First off lets talk about the venue; it was like an opera house type place where orchestras play and pretentious rich people go to use their golden binoculars. Just gorgeous, prettiest place I ever saw a band play at. It sounded amazing too; just a great small venue!
Seat view:
Stage view:
As for the band, they rocked! (as I mentioned before) Here’s some pictures other people took from the show in Shanghai.
The core four (LtoR) Lee, Steve, Kim and Thurston
Thurston
Thurston (creating noise basically)
Kim (I like to kick and stretch and kick! I'm 50! {53})
High-five?
Lee and Mark Ibold (the bassist from Pavement)
Lee and Thurston 'sword fight'
Photos by Magnovich, Swing James, and Shanghaiist.com
Incinerate - Live in Shanghai (ya the audio is sketchy but that's the camera's fault)
John has a pretty good post about our evening over on his blog.
I'm still 'getting around' to posting the video I took onto youtube. But fear not (not that you were going to) I have the week off this week so I should be getting caught up on all kinds of blog goodness.
(original post)
I'm gonna put in a quick post about my evening.
Tonight was one of the most amazing/random concerts I've been to. I can't begin to understand why Sonic Youth decided to come play concerts in China but man am I glad they did!
I'll post some of the video i took on youtube later this week and include it in a follow up post.
Setlist:
Main Set:
-Candle
-Incinerate
-Reena
-Mote
-Do You Believe In
Rapture?
-Turquoise Boy
-Schizofrenia
-(I Got A) Catholic Block
-What A Waste
-Silver Rocket
-Skip Tracer
-100%
-Jams Run Free
-Pink Steam
Encore 1:
-Teenage Riot
-Kool Thing
Encore 2:
-Brother James
-Shaking Hell
photo by Magnovich
4/23/2007
One Week Later
This evening our school held a candle light vigil for the victims of the tragedy at Virginia Tech last week. It was a really moving ceremony w/ students’ poems, a reading of the names of the victims, and a song.
After the vigil I was thinking about previous times I felt this way and I thought back to to a similar moment I had after 9-11. These days when something horrible happens in America I feel it over here but I think it's different b/c we're so far away. Now I’m not going to go on and on about all of these tragedies but I did want to share a similar moment I’ll never forget; a moment that still brings me to tears:
I am the kind of person that has music interlaced w/ almost every one of my lasting memories and I’ll never forget the telethon for the victims of 9-11. On that night Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, and Neil Young played a very somber version of ‘Long Road,’ a song by Pearl Jam. Many of you know that I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan but this has nothing to do w/ that (other than the possibility that my previous familiarity with the song and it’s meaning probably enhanced the impact of the moment) This is such a beautiful song being played at the perfect moment. It almost seems that this song was written after the attack. This is why music is such an amazing thing to me; this song really brought a measure of comfort to me at such a horrible moment in time.
So in this time of tragedy and pain I thought back to this moment and decided I would share this song that at one point really helped me.
After the vigil I was thinking about previous times I felt this way and I thought back to to a similar moment I had after 9-11. These days when something horrible happens in America I feel it over here but I think it's different b/c we're so far away. Now I’m not going to go on and on about all of these tragedies but I did want to share a similar moment I’ll never forget; a moment that still brings me to tears:
I am the kind of person that has music interlaced w/ almost every one of my lasting memories and I’ll never forget the telethon for the victims of 9-11. On that night Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, and Neil Young played a very somber version of ‘Long Road,’ a song by Pearl Jam. Many of you know that I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan but this has nothing to do w/ that (other than the possibility that my previous familiarity with the song and it’s meaning probably enhanced the impact of the moment) This is such a beautiful song being played at the perfect moment. It almost seems that this song was written after the attack. This is why music is such an amazing thing to me; this song really brought a measure of comfort to me at such a horrible moment in time.
So in this time of tragedy and pain I thought back to this moment and decided I would share this song that at one point really helped me.
4/17/2007
Middle School Basketball Season
so our season started today; we played pretty well considering we haven't practiced much. (due to midterm exams) we got beat pretty bad but the other team played really dirty, so i chalk that up as a moral victory.
this brings me to a side note:
a lot of the students we play against are dirty rotten spoiled little brats! (a lot, not all) they play dirty, they act cocky, they talk trash, push, shove, and act like jerks. i just wonder what their parents or coaches are teaching them.(or not teaching them) this sounds horrible to say but i can't help it; i don't know where it comes from. w/ that said, i couldn't be prouder of our kids for always playing w/ class and playing the right way. who cares if you won middle school basketball games in 7th grade when you're 30 and you treat everyone like a lesser being. i fully believe that our kids at SMIC will make great adults that bring positive things to the world.
but back to basketball.
we have a very bright future; we have lots of talent in the younger grades and our kids are really classy. i can't wait to see how my girls are playing in two or three years. i can already see a few of the girls are starting to have those moments where they realize what they're capable of and are really stretching their limits on the court. it's awesome to see kids have those 'epiphanies' where they go 'OOOH, that's how you do that..' we have one or two girls that are already a notch above all of their competition and it's fun to watch the others take their lead.
ok, i meant for this to be a short post. sorry for the whining i did in the middle...
this brings me to a side note:
a lot of the students we play against are dirty rotten spoiled little brats! (a lot, not all) they play dirty, they act cocky, they talk trash, push, shove, and act like jerks. i just wonder what their parents or coaches are teaching them.(or not teaching them) this sounds horrible to say but i can't help it; i don't know where it comes from. w/ that said, i couldn't be prouder of our kids for always playing w/ class and playing the right way. who cares if you won middle school basketball games in 7th grade when you're 30 and you treat everyone like a lesser being. i fully believe that our kids at SMIC will make great adults that bring positive things to the world.
but back to basketball.
we have a very bright future; we have lots of talent in the younger grades and our kids are really classy. i can't wait to see how my girls are playing in two or three years. i can already see a few of the girls are starting to have those moments where they realize what they're capable of and are really stretching their limits on the court. it's awesome to see kids have those 'epiphanies' where they go 'OOOH, that's how you do that..' we have one or two girls that are already a notch above all of their competition and it's fun to watch the others take their lead.
ok, i meant for this to be a short post. sorry for the whining i did in the middle...
Tragedy In Virginia (revised)
(revised portion)
so there was a mistaken identity early on in this tragedy and we now know that the shooter was from South Korea. tomorrow our school has an assembly about the shootings and i wonder if they'll mention this information; in an international school setting they sometimes have to be really extra careful about things like this. about 20% of our student body is South Korean, about 50% is American and beyond that even more of our students spent a large percentage of their lives living in the States. but we have an awesome community of kids here and i think they'll handle the whole situation very well. (the South Korean kids are really wonderful; this isn't a reflection of their country at all!)
Buster wrote a little post about this over at his site. i majored in journalism and for some reason i'm pretty bad at putting together the right words in a post. so go check out his, articulate, blog post.
(revised portion)
i wrote this really fast so it might be full of mistakes...
i'm writing this b/c i know we're going to get emails about it (and i want to say something before i have class the next 4 hours); what happened in Virginia is CRAZY!!! and yes, it really freaks me out for two reasons:
a. i was in college a few years ago and picturing this whole thing gives me chills
b. this guy was within 15 minutes of my house when he left Shanghai
this also has a wider scope of affect due to the 'foreign student' aspect b/c a lot of our kids here are Taiwanese Americans that will need a visa to go to college and this thing might affect them. and i think that the seniors might freak out about going to college
so there was a mistaken identity early on in this tragedy and we now know that the shooter was from South Korea. tomorrow our school has an assembly about the shootings and i wonder if they'll mention this information; in an international school setting they sometimes have to be really extra careful about things like this. about 20% of our student body is South Korean, about 50% is American and beyond that even more of our students spent a large percentage of their lives living in the States. but we have an awesome community of kids here and i think they'll handle the whole situation very well. (the South Korean kids are really wonderful; this isn't a reflection of their country at all!)
Buster wrote a little post about this over at his site. i majored in journalism and for some reason i'm pretty bad at putting together the right words in a post. so go check out his, articulate, blog post.
(revised portion)
i wrote this really fast so it might be full of mistakes...
i'm writing this b/c i know we're going to get emails about it (and i want to say something before i have class the next 4 hours); what happened in Virginia is CRAZY!!! and yes, it really freaks me out for two reasons:
a. i was in college a few years ago and picturing this whole thing gives me chills
b. this guy was within 15 minutes of my house when he left Shanghai
this also has a wider scope of affect due to the 'foreign student' aspect b/c a lot of our kids here are Taiwanese Americans that will need a visa to go to college and this thing might affect them. and i think that the seniors might freak out about going to college
4/15/2007
Faculty Field Trip To ZhuJiaJiao
yesterday we had a faculty field trip; i know, it's a strange concept to me too. we went to a river town, about two hours outside Shanghai, called ZhuJiaJiao.(Jew-jyah-jow) this place is touted as 'the Venice of China' so i figured i'd go on this free trip b/c Italy is more expensive... if this is what Venice is like, i'm not interested! (please understand that that was a joke) ZJJ is pretty boring but it isn't all bad; it's got some nice things to see, it's just that we've seen this kind of stuff a dozen times here.
instead of telling you why it's lame or boring, i'll try to point out the positive stuff b/c we actually had a fun day.
after a very ill fated trip, to the Henan province in 2004, i realized that when your stuck in a bad situation you just have to let go, embrace the lameness, and laugh it all off. so that's what we did; we walked around the town joking w/ our friends and had a pretty good time.
interesting moments in the day:
we shot balloons w/ bb guns
(maybe i'll get a pic of this from one of the other people)
a lot of dogs! this town could better be described as the 'mangy mutt' town. this one dog had a baboon butt and another was trotting around w/ a chain dragging behind it. but strangely enough, we saw three pugs, real pugs. it was the most common/most recognizable breed of the day. they weren't the ugliest pugs i've seen but they were pretty ghetto. i got a picture of the oldest and most haggard one of the day.
the force is strong w/ this one...
um
later we saw a kid being held by his mom, dropping diarrhea on the sidewalk. kids often 'do their business' on the street here in China but this one seemed a notch beyond. partly b/c it's a tourist place w/ lots of bathrooms and also b/c it was diarrhea. i'll spare you from seeing that picture...
other stuff from the day:
they're either lighting these to bring their husbands back or to keep them dead. i'm not sure
they act like they never seen a dude w/ a camera before
i'm not talented at a lot of things but i am very good at catching Bet w/ a funny face before she can stop me!
The Canfields were there too, but they'd been here before so they did their own thing. (L to R) front row: Mandy, Bet, and Channing back row: Jamie, John, me, Thomas, Laura, Dan, and Fawn
yep, it was exactly this interesting
(ok, there's a Flickr update. it's not much, a lot of it's right here, but i said i'd mention when there's an update and i'm a man of my word)
4/08/2007
this one's from my brother-in-law's site
From the www, Vol. 1 (revised)
(i forgot to mention the name of the band! the band is Peter, Bjorn, and John; they're from Sweden and their new album, 'Writer's Block,' is pretty good.)
i really enjoyed this video. by themselves, (the song and the video) neither is ground breaking or 'amazing', but together i think it's a perfect combo. it was a bright spot in my day today.
this is the kind of thing that could sum me up; i love music and expecially music perfectly matched w/ something else; i.e. movie soundtrack moments, or when a song pops up in the shuffle and perfectly accompanies a moment in your day, or a video+song, a concert experience, etc. music is so much more interesting to me than the other forms of entertainment like books, video games, tv shows, etc. i really like movies and all but music is by far my favorite.
today i told my friend that i was going to make a shirt that says "you're cool and all, but i'd rather be listening to music." of course i was joking, i'm not that big of a jerk, but i think that'd be a funny shirt.
enjoy the video (or don't)
(new to the internet? click the sideways triangle)
i really enjoyed this video. by themselves, (the song and the video) neither is ground breaking or 'amazing', but together i think it's a perfect combo. it was a bright spot in my day today.
this is the kind of thing that could sum me up; i love music and expecially music perfectly matched w/ something else; i.e. movie soundtrack moments, or when a song pops up in the shuffle and perfectly accompanies a moment in your day, or a video+song, a concert experience, etc. music is so much more interesting to me than the other forms of entertainment like books, video games, tv shows, etc. i really like movies and all but music is by far my favorite.
today i told my friend that i was going to make a shirt that says "you're cool and all, but i'd rather be listening to music." of course i was joking, i'm not that big of a jerk, but i think that'd be a funny shirt.
enjoy the video (or don't)
(new to the internet? click the sideways triangle)
4/07/2007
Basketball Party
well today me and Bet had my basketball players over to the house for a post-season party. pizza was had, good memories were shared, Barkley was given too much attention, and the end of the season video was watched.
i really can't say enough about how great the girls did this season; they improved beyond my expectations, and their own i think. the beginning of the season was a little rough but toward the end we were hanging w/ teams that had beaten us by 25 or more earlier in the year. at one point, we even beat a team that had beaten us by 28 this season.
man that game was amazing; we were down seven w/ 3 minutes left; which in our league is about the same as a 20pt lead, basically the game seemed over. but the girls dug in on defense and brought it to a 3pt game w/ 17 seconds left. off an inbounds play, our point-guard hit an amazing three from the wing to send it to overtime. then we finished them off w/ a freethrow at the end of OT. kind of a storybook game for our team. it's weird, when i was on varsity in high school, our team went all the way to the state championship game, in Florida no less. we won a lot of amazing games along the way to get there, but somehow this was the most exciting basketball moment i've ever had! proudest moment too. i can't explain it; it was a magical moment... (and yes, i know that i sound like an uber-nerd but i'm just being honest)
then came the tournament; my girls fought hard and hung w/ the #2 team in the league for 3 quarters before coming up short in the 4th. but all was not lost, we turned around and won the next game against a higher seeded team.
i'll stop boring you w/ details, that you can't really picture, and just give you a summary; last season we were never close enough in a game to even have a chance of winning but this season we played close games w/ teams #2 through #5 in our league, while winning 4 games. we showed that we're a force to be reckoned w/ in the future! (we did it all w/ a freshman and four sophomores as 5 of our top 6 players)
i am so insanely proud of my girls! they worked so hard this year and really came together. like i told them, i've never seen a team improve so much so fast. i think they really had a blast this year and they seemed to enjoy the party too.
here's a shortened version of the video i made for them.
not as good as the version they watched but you get the idea
also, when i shortened it and compressed it, some of the transitions became glitchy
sorry
(for those non-tech savvy readers, just click the little sideways triangle in the middle of the box)
i really can't say enough about how great the girls did this season; they improved beyond my expectations, and their own i think. the beginning of the season was a little rough but toward the end we were hanging w/ teams that had beaten us by 25 or more earlier in the year. at one point, we even beat a team that had beaten us by 28 this season.
man that game was amazing; we were down seven w/ 3 minutes left; which in our league is about the same as a 20pt lead, basically the game seemed over. but the girls dug in on defense and brought it to a 3pt game w/ 17 seconds left. off an inbounds play, our point-guard hit an amazing three from the wing to send it to overtime. then we finished them off w/ a freethrow at the end of OT. kind of a storybook game for our team. it's weird, when i was on varsity in high school, our team went all the way to the state championship game, in Florida no less. we won a lot of amazing games along the way to get there, but somehow this was the most exciting basketball moment i've ever had! proudest moment too. i can't explain it; it was a magical moment... (and yes, i know that i sound like an uber-nerd but i'm just being honest)
then came the tournament; my girls fought hard and hung w/ the #2 team in the league for 3 quarters before coming up short in the 4th. but all was not lost, we turned around and won the next game against a higher seeded team.
i'll stop boring you w/ details, that you can't really picture, and just give you a summary; last season we were never close enough in a game to even have a chance of winning but this season we played close games w/ teams #2 through #5 in our league, while winning 4 games. we showed that we're a force to be reckoned w/ in the future! (we did it all w/ a freshman and four sophomores as 5 of our top 6 players)
i am so insanely proud of my girls! they worked so hard this year and really came together. like i told them, i've never seen a team improve so much so fast. i think they really had a blast this year and they seemed to enjoy the party too.
here's a shortened version of the video i made for them.
not as good as the version they watched but you get the idea
also, when i shortened it and compressed it, some of the transitions became glitchy
sorry
(for those non-tech savvy readers, just click the little sideways triangle in the middle of the box)
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