Early Christmas Toys!

Our family had early Christmas this year since we won't be able to be together for Christmas. It was lots of fun. My parents got me a set of 7 Tossaball Hybrids, and my sister got me 7 of Nord's Juggling Thingies.

I'm not sure what I think about the Tossaballs... (the 7 bright balls in the lower left) I definitely seem to be doing better on 4 ball tennis with them than any of my other balls, but I am having trouble even getting to 40 of a 5 ball cascade with them. Maybe just because they are slightly larger than my other balls? Maybe because they weight slightly more so I get tired faster? They make a nice muted "fphoomph" sound when you catch them.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the Ultraleather Thingies! (Middle Right) They are amazing to juggle. I set a new record (68) of 5 ball cascade Tuesday. They are easy to hold, throw and catch. They seem a little slick sometimes, but as soon as my palms get even the slightest bit sweaty, they grip just fine. I would have to say these are my favorites. Not too surprising as the Ultrasuede Thingies were my favorites before I had them (the fluorescent yellow balls).


I like the new Dirt Bag Hybrid footbag (the yellow/blue/purple one) more than my old Mr. Sandbags... but not as much as my Abshire footbag. I'm not afraid to let people toe-up with a $8 bag though... and it is MUCH easier to stall.


Anyway, I would say I have enough juggling balls. For now.

Junior High: Id Ra Ha Je 2008!

We spent the last weekend up at Camp Id Ra Ha Je in Bailey Colorado. It was a lot of fun! We played lots of games, sang crazy songs, did High/Low Ropes, and learned a lot about trusting Jesus!




(Above image links to ALL images on my Flickr.)





After supper, the guys set up Heroscape... I've seen people play Heroscape before, but Aaron has a seriously large collection of Heroscape sets. I think Andrew knew every hero by name. Matthew, Rocket, Cristo, Sam and I just picked whatever looked powerful or fun. This strategy worked for Sam and Rocket and they managed to wipe out most of Cristo, Matthew and Andrew's forces with few problems!




After setting up Heroscape, Zach and Esther led us did some worship where we learned some cool Czech songs like "Anchor for My Soul" and "He's Alive". Then Allison led us in our first lesson on Trusting God.




Aaron and Zach led us all in interesting prayers for breakfast, dinner and supper. I've never prayed quite like this before, but it was fun and interesting!





We played a lot of really fun games! We ate Pretzels, tossed balls, ate Alka-Seltzer, tossed rings, played Egg/Chicken/Eagle/Bear/Mongoose (Rock/Paper/Scissors), Mafia, Super Munchkin, Heroscape, Truth or Dare, and lots more! Here are a couple videos:







I think the most fun part was the High Ropes course! Unfortunately I did not think to make a video of everyone on my team like Aaron did (I actually didn't get any pictures of Matthew, Andrew or Kassie at all as they went before I had my camera out) But here is a video of Sam going down the Zip Line at the end!




If you were with us at Id Ra Ha Je and you want to see all the pictures of yourself, do a search on Flickr for 'SmilingCowboy "Id Ra Ha Je" '! All of the pictures are here.

Juggling Record!

Yey! I'm 2/3rds of the way to my goal of 100 catches of a 5 ball cascade this year! I just spent 40 minutes focused on 5 balls (the longest I've spent probably this year) and my arms sure are tired! I had several runs up around 50, but my arms kept getting tired and my left arm would randomly throw a ball 5 feet in front of me. Finally I managed to slow myself down enough and made it to about 67 catches!

People ask me this all the time... how do I count so fast? I always count by 4s, starting with 1 on the first ball I catch, it is subconcious really, when I'm out joggling I find myself counting by 2s or 4s. When juggling 4 I count the same ball as hit hits each time. With 5 I just kind of count every other right without thinking about it much. Anyway, lets say my total count is C (18 today). Then if I finish with 5 balls in my hand, I caught C*4+1. If I have less than 5, I just assume (C-1)*4-1. If I had caught the last two it would have been 73, so I just subtract 5 off since I'm not sure which of the 5 balls I dropped. Note: In reality it should be (C-1)*4+1, but I figure I'm less likely to overstate my count with (C-1)*4-1.

Anyway, if I make it to 100 throws this year, I guess my goal for next year will be a full minute of 5 and a full minute of 53444 (4 ball tennis)...

Sansa e260

I just got my new "SanDisk REFURB 4GB" from woot... wow 2 day shipping! It has the V1 Firmware, so as soon as it finishes charging, I will have my own RockBox for running!

Nothing was really WRONG with my old iRiver, I love it's 20Gb Harddrive. But when I run, it would stop playing 2 minutes into every song... It does not seem to read the harddrive unless I stop and walk. I think it used to do better than it does now at reading while moving...

... anyway, I'm now ready to make myself deaf while I run!


Now I just need something to let me play Travian when I'm not at home!

I Am A Lawful Good Human Monk (5th Level)

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Monk (5th Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-17

Dexterity-17

Constitution-12

Intelligence-18

Wisdom-18

Charisma-16


Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Monks are versatile warriors skilled at fighting without weapons or armor. Good-aligned monks serve as protectors of the people, while evil monks make ideal spies and assassins. Though they don't cast spells, monks channel a subtle energy, called ki. This energy allows them to perform amazing feats, such as healing themselves, catching arrows in flight, and dodging blows with lightning speed. Their mundane and ki-based abilities grow with experience, granting them more power over themselves and their environment. Monks suffer unique penalties to their abilities if they wear armor, as doing so violates their rigid oath. A monk wearing armor loses their Wisdom and level based armor class bonuses, their movement speed, and their additional unarmed attacks per round.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Dilbert Widget with ClearSpring

Seems to be a mostly default implementation of a flash widget with clearspring for distribution.

clearspring widget

Not sure what this will do. I don't see a way to customize a user id here. Maybe that does not matter.

Five Ball Cascade

I've been working on my five ball cascade again. I realized in December that I was about 971 throws short of my 2007 goal of 1000 catches of 5. I think I did not realize how hard that was when I decided to do that. In December I advanced from 29 to 36 throws.

I found this post yesterday and tried that for my lunch workout (I skipped the 55500 steps). I made it 100 catches of 552, and then on my first try of 5 ball cascade, I beat my record of 42 with 45 catches!

So I guess I'll try that again. I had not done 552 all of 2007 since I felt it was messing up my 55550 and 44453. (I can do 44552, or something like that, but want to learn 4 ball tennis).



Yoyo Side note: I love my Lyn Fury now that it is Lime and Yellow instead of Yellow and Black. I have a matching gString on it currently, one o-ring and on silicon half. I've managed to learn Wrist Whip, and now I'm trying to learn Whip to Triangle (I've succeeded once) and I'm finding it is slightly too responsive... so I may throw a spacer in.

Free Coupons by ShopAtHome.com QA

Script:






Flash (allowScriptAccess: never, allowNetworking: default):

Free Coupons by ShopAtHome.com

Google is your friend!

Not sure why the "+Google" button here links to a syndicated iGoogle page... that does not make sense.


Anyway, feel free to add our widget and then enjoy editing user 0's settings until you reload your google homepage the proper way so it can set up a new user for you.

Table Cell 1

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