This months News and Views (February 2000)
- Our little place on the internet
As most of you know, I've been doing this home page thing for about 2 years now. Ok, not every month, but I try. And, with this month, which makes 3 in a row, that's probably some type of record for me.Every time some one asks me for our home page address, I scribble down this long, meaningless internet address. You know, http://www.GeoCities.com/Heartland/Estates/9618. Well, things have changed, a little.
If you don't have it book marked, or stored in your favorites, now all you have to remember is:
- Another tragedy, this time, for Alabama Fans
As an Alabama fan, it saddened me deeply to hear about Derrick Thomas's car wreck, his partial paralysis, and then his unexpected death. This article appeared on one of my favorite web sites, Alabama Live, and was a good article written by Kevin Scarbinski:
You can be special. You can be special in so many ways.
You can stand 6-foot-3 and weigh 255 pounds. You can run the 40-yard dash as fast as the wind, bench-press a small tank and leap tall buildings in a single bound.
You can be a college All American and set school records for sacks in a game, a season and a career. You can be an All Pro nine times in 11 years and set the NFL record for sacks in a single game.
You can do it all. Sack quarterbacks. Block kicks. Chase down running backs from behind. You can dominate a game so thoroughly that, more than a decade later, people will talk about it as if it were yesterday.
You can leave a handprint and a footprint in concrete at your alma mater as one of the captains on the Walk of Fame. You can inspire grown men and women to walk around in NFL jerseys with your name and number.
You can do all those things and leave something undone. You can be all those things and not be all you can be.
Your good deeds can stop there, where the football field meets the real world, because
there's no bonus in your contract for feeding the hungry. You can make people notice you as a
football player and have them remember you as a football player.
Or ...
You can leave an imprint more lasting than any stone in the cities where you grew up, went to college and played professional football. You can be a native of Miami and be treated like a favorite son in Tuscaloosa and Kansas City as well.
You can flash a 500-watt smile when the camera isn't on. You can make people laugh without making other people hurt. You can honor the memory of your father, who was killed serving his country at war, and you can count on the love and support of your mother in time of need.
You can be the exception to the rule. You can be the rock that shatters the stereotype.
You can be the NFL linebacker who was not arrested and charged with murder. You can be the certain Hall of Famer whose resume does not include multiple arrests for possession of drugs. You can be the former college hero who does not get accused of violence against women.
You can be famous for the work you do on the field and not for the way you celebrate it. You can be famous for the work you do off the field without drawing attention to it. You can be
famous without ever appearing in a Nike commercial.
You can be an argument in the affirmative that football builds character. You can be a witness for the proposition that fame is a tool to be used for the greater good. You can be the most outdated of notions in the most cynical of times.
You can be a football hero.
In the beginning, you can make people notice you as a football player. In the end, you can have them remember you as a man.
You can be Derrick Thomas.
And you can rest in peace.
- Snow tubing in West Virginia
We were supposed to go last month, and then Clint came down with the chicken pox. Since then, I've been checking the weather, and things didn't look good for several weeks. Wind chills of 10 below don't interest me, sorry. But, with some patience, our waiting finally paid of on February 7, 2000.
Ever just get an inkling to do something fun? I do quite often, but often money, work load and time keep me from acting upon my inkling. Not this time. After talking with some friends about snow skiing, snow boarding, and other winter snow activities, I decided to take the family out for some snow tubing fun. That 3-4 inches of snow we got last month, and the several inches since then, just wet our appetite for some winter fun! Eric, a friend here at work, mentioned a place called Winter Place, where you could go snow tubing. I looked them up on the web, and sure enough...looks like fun.
So, having worked so hard lately (Yes, John, I said WORK), I treated us to a day (OK, in reality, it was an afternoon) of snow tubing. We had heard that on the weekends, the ski resorts get pretty crowded, so I took a day off from work, and Brad and Clint had a teacher's work day off from school.
Of course, the internet assisted us on our trip.
First, I visited the Winter Place Ski Resort's internet site to check on the snow conditions, rate information, and get some other general information (Dining, directions, etc). I even ended up calling Winter Place to verify some rate information (Toll free number was on their web page).
Then, I visited MapQuest to determine about how long the drive would be to Winter Place. Looks like it's a little more than a 3 hour drive.
That helps me plan our day, because you purchase either a morning, afternoon, evening, or all day "lift" ticket for snow tubing (I think 4 hours of snow tubing will be quite enough).
Finally, I checked the weather, to make sure our trip would proceed smoothly.
Things look good, finally! Let's get going!
Since our kids were not off from school, they had to play hooky (It was really a hard sell - they LOVE school (ha-ha))! We left Charlotte around 9:00 a.m., and arrived at Winter Place around 12:30 p.m. (After we stopped for lunch), just in time for some serious fun.
We got our lift tickets, bundled up, and hit the snow tubing park. This was the most fun that we, as a family, have had in some time. Even Micah was able to snow tube (But, not down the big hill, of course).
We knew that me, Brad and Clint would have a blast. What we didn't know was how much fun Paula would have. She loved it, and can't wait to go again. She's probably on the phone right now trying to convince Nancy to join us next time.
We couldn't have picked a more perfect day. Highs were in the low 40's, it was sunny outside, no snow or rain, and the wind was non existent. By the end of the session (Believe it or not, we actually left about 30 minutes early), everyone was physically drained from having so much fun.
This is something we're going to do again and again, and hopefully pretty soon.
Of course, we had our trusty camcorder. Here's some video clips of our snow tubing adventure:
- Brad turned 11 this month
And what a birthday celebration it was (And, ouch, how my check book took a beating).
First, on his birthday, we decorated the kitchenette with balloons and streamers. Then, Paula had lunch with him at school, and brought miniature cup cakes for him and his friends. Next, he was allowed to pick where he wanted to eat. He chose Chili's, which is one of our favorite, inexpensive places to eat. After all that, we came home, had cake and ice cream, and he opened his presents from us. Nothing exciting, just a Cat-Dog thing, and a marionette of Woody from Toy Story II.
The next night was the most exciting, by far. Paula's friend, Angela, had extra tickets (Three to be exact) to the Back Street Boys concert in Charlotte (The concert was sold out in a matter of hours after tickets went on sale). This had been planned for a few months, and Bradley knew nothing about it. To top things off, Angela had rented a limousine for the ride to the concert!
We presented him with a card that said, in paraphrase, "We're going to the Back Street Boys concert tonight." He was jumping up and down, and hugging us in appreciation. Clint didn't really realize what was really happening, but after we explained it to him, he, too, was ecstatic!
We were to meet Angela at one of her friend's apartment. We left early, and decided to grab a pizza at Nirchi's, a "hole in the wall" that makes wonderful pizza and sub sandwiches. We got a half a sheet of pizza, sat down, and enjoyed our dinner. Brad, Clint and Paula were bubbling with excitement.
After we polished off the pizza, we went to Angela's friend's apartment, and waited for the limo (It was just around the corner from Nirchi's). A funny thing happened to the limo on the way to the apartment - it was involved in a wreck! Evidently, someone thought the Back Street Boys were in the limo, and a car accidentally side swiped the limo. So, another limo was dispatched, and was only a few minutes late.
As Brad, Clint and Paula enjoyed the concert, Micah and I went to Chuck-E-Cheese. Since we had already eaten, I got a bunch of tokens, and we rode almost every ride in the place. Leaving was not a fun event, as Micah wanted to stay longer.
After the concert, all three were talking ninety to nothing about the concert. All 3 were also sporting their new concert T-Shirts.
So, our FINAL birthday celebration was on Sunday. This was Brad's "official" party, and we had it at a local skating rink. Numerous friends, both old and new, showed up for the occasion. It was good to see Matthew again, as they're now on opposite ends of Charlotte. Brad got some nice gifts, but also some spending money.
Brad's been wanting a trick bike. You know, the ones with pegs on the front and back wheels so the rider can, well, do tricks. After we totaled his gift money from Rammy, David, and some of his skating party attendees, he had $108. He had seen a trick bike at Wal-Mart for $99, which he could now afford (Remember, I was totally broke at this point).
So, Bradley's got his trick bike, and he's jumping some home made ramps, standing on the pegs while riding the bike, and having lots of fun. Next month, we may have pictures of Brad and his bandages, who knows!
- I love your video clips, but...
they take so long to download. Sorry, I can't do anything about that, but I can help you if you ever want to view a video clip more than one time.
Let's say, for instance, that Pam wants to show Matt the video clip of Myles and his passie that was taken in Birmingham by Uncle Steve. But, Matt just got off his 36 hours straight shift (How does he DO that?), and doesn't want to wait 10-15 minutes for the video clip to download again. You can easily download a video clip onto your computer so that if you ever want to show the video clip again to someone else, you don't even have to connect to the internet.
First, find the video clip you want to save to your computer. When you move the mouse pointer over the video clip link (The underlined, blue text where I usually say something like "Click here to see..."). Before you click your mouse, hold down the Shift key, and then click on the video clip link. In a few seconds, you will be asked "Where do you want to save the file?" Save the file somewhere you will remember, or create a new folder to hold the video clips. Once the video clips gets to your computer, bring up your Windows Explorer, find the file, and double click on it. Presto, like magic, the video clip will start playing. The neat thing is that once you have it on your computer, you won't have to reconnect to the internet to see it again.
We've had
visitors to this page.
