Halloween

Boo!

I think I’m feeling the benefits of the end of daylight savings time today. We had a really busy weekend, but I’m not at all tired today. I’ve been tired for so long, I had just about forgotten what this feeling was like.

Also, now that robotics is over I have some more free time in the evenings. I’m planning on spending a lot of time writing code for the next few weeks (months, years, etc.) Hopefully my geeky ramblings won’t spill over onto this site, but don’t hold your breath.

Check back later for pictures from the Pumpkin Festival. We had a good time there Saturday morning. Matthew was too little to do most of the things, but he did get to see his first llama.

Serenity Update

I complained the other day about Serenity not coming to Paris so I guess I should mention the fact that it is playing this week. We watched most of it on Tuesday evening, but unfortunately we had to leave a little early.

I was hoping to go back and catch the rest of it this weekend, but of course the Cinemark in Paris has failed me again. Today is the last day to see Serenity. That’s right, it started last Friday and it’ll be gone tomorrow.

Since we’ve already paid for tickets I feel totally justified in downloading a copy to watch. After all, we purchased the rights to watch the whole movie. I even bought a $3.00 bag of stale popcorn.

Robotics Is Over

There’s good news and bad news… The good news is I don’t have to stay up at the school until 6:00pm every night anymore. The bad news is we didn’t do so well on game day. As a matter of fact, we didn’t even place.

We came in 8th place on the field again this year. We made it to the semi-finals thanks to our performance in the wild card match just like before. Last year we came out in 3rd place for the BEST Award, this year we got nothing.

I honestly don’t know exactly how we did, since they only announce scores for the teams that place. I’ll have to try to e-mail somebody at BEST and see if we can get our score.

We may not have won a trophy, but no one can deny that we had spirit:

The Team

Oh well, we’ll try a little harder next year…

iPod with Video

I just got off the phone with Satan, he says it’s really cold down there…

Today Apple released a new iPod that also plays movies. It has a 2.5 inch color display, comes in black or white, and the 30GB model is only $299.

Also, they updated iTunes so you can . The selection of TV shows is pretty limited right now, but I’m sure it’ll fill in soon.

Finally, they’ve also updated the iMac. It’s a little thinner, a little faster, and comes with a built in iSight video camera. It also includes a SuperDrive, Mighty Mouse, and the new Apple remote control. You can pick up the 17″ model for $1299.

Hopefully Santa’s elves will have all of this figured out in time for Christmas.

Movies

Here’s a tip for movie theater owners: If you’re concerned about people downloading movies instead of paying to see them, why don’t you try actually showing the movies that people want to see?

Everyone I know would gladly pay to see Serenity. I would probably see it more than once. Unfortunately, that’s not an option in Paris.

Oh well, I’m sure I’ll find some way to watch it…

First Pumpkin

Here’s Matthew with his first pumpkin.

Matthew and pumpkin

Paige bought this kit that you stick on a real pumpkin like Mr. Potato Head. It’s a lot less messy than trying to carve the pumpkin.

Not to mention I’m no artist.

Kids + Fire

In my younger days, I loved to burn things. I remember hanging out at the Foster house and trying to find anything we could set on fire. Everyone had bad hair and smelly armpits because we burned up all of the hair spray and Right Guard.

I’ll bet there are still marks on their back porch were we would make puddles of whatever we could find in the kitchen and try to set them on fire. But we were never stupid enough to fill a melon with something flamable and then try to hit it with a bat…

Fire Melon

This is one of those things that makes the Internet so great. If you’ve ever wondered – “What would happen if I set a melon on fire and hit it with a bat?” Now you know.

Early Bird

Last Saturday was Early Bird practice for this year’s robotics contest. The team has been busy for the last few weeks putting together our game-winning machine.

Everything was going great…

until the arm fell off.

After that the guys made a few quick repairs in the parking lot.

Luckily, there were plenty of free hot dogs.

Mall Day is October 15 in Sherman. Our plan right now is for the entire robot to self-destruct, so don’t miss it.

Also, don’t worry. There aren’t any free hot dogs at the mall, so you won’t have to watch me eat them.

Not Dead

I thought I would at least post something here so people would know I’m still alive. Our social calendar has been pretty full lately and I’ve been working at least 50 hours a week now that robotics is going again. Hopefully I’ll find some time for a proper update about what’s been going on lately in the near future.

That last sentence is a real beauty. I obviously type much faster than I think. It kinda sounds like I’m saying “tomorrow I’ll predict the future…”

One Week

Well, we all survived the first week of school again this year. I feel like a did a month’s worth of work last week. Things didn’t go as smoothly as I would’ve liked, but at least we’re keeping the work order list below four pages. That’s a major accomplishment considering we just hired a new tech last week.

It’s strange how different my job is during the summer compared to when school is in session. Most people do pretty much the same thing year round, but for me it’s almost like having a totally different job for two months out of the year. I feel like I get so much more done during the summer than I do the rest of the school year, but it’s just never long enough to get everything ready.

My class seems to be going pretty well so far. Unfortunately, I still don’t have a textbook. One was ordered for my class this year, but it’s on backorder so who knows when I’ll get it. I guess it’s not that big of a deal since I taught the entire course last year without a book.

Robotics will be starting back up soon. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out this year considering most of the team graduated last year, but I’m know some of the younger students will step up and take charge. Kickoff is only three weeks away so we’ve got to get going soon.

There’s a lot more stuff I need to post on here, like pictures of Matthew. Hopefully things will get caught up at work this week and I’ll have more time for the fun stuff…