Farewell

Well everybody I'm in Seattle with my Grandma right now, on my way to Camp Orkilah in the San Juan Islands. I've heard people say it's the most beautiful place on earth. At any rate I will take my camera and pen I will be gone for two weeks. I will get back a day before school. So this is the climax to the summer for me. I'll update as soon as I can. Until then just read some webcomics or other blogs to keep you busy. So see you later!

Spinning Again

Well I'm spinning around again. Last time it was spinning around without morals. This time it's spinning around without anything to do. I usually run into this at some point in the summer, so it's no unwelcome surprise. It's still unwelcome, just not a surprise.

I don't know why but I am definitely bored most of the time recently. I find myself lazier than usual (and that's saying something)-I oftentimes end up unintentionally accomplishing nothing in a day, except for lounging around. It's nobody's fault except perhaps mine, but I realize I'm going to have to be more productive sooner or later. Or at least more interesting and engaged. This past week has just seemed dull.

I suppose, when I think about it, the price to having nearly limitless time on your hands is that you don't have anything to do with it. Ironic, huh?

To try to change things up a bit, the other day I decided I would get in my bathing suit and ride my bike through the fountain downtown showed above. And of course I did. And on a hot July day in Boise, that was just the thing I needed. Something as simple as that changed my outlook on my day from "dull" to "interesting". Because I tried something new.

While that was a great fix for one day, but I doubt it will help me on a consistent basis. So I will have to find something to do with my time. Something constructive and fun that will leave me feeling good about the day when it's all said and done. What could it be....

Conversation in my head:
Maybe I could blog?
Get ahold of yourself Joe, you're not that desperate!

4th Of July

I'm sure somebody's wondering where my patriotic fourth of July post is. Well fine, here it is. The 4th wasn't a big thing for the family this year, and Mom didn't even give us money for fireworks or anything. But I had stumbled upon my camera a day before and used this opportunity to take a bunch of pictures. Around mid-day I went to Camelsbak, a park and a hill about ten blocks away from my house. There's a big hill there, and everybody climbs straight up the face because it's a great view...


So I climbed up the face as shown above....


And I looked down. Beautiful.


Looking to my right, there's a trail up top that runs right along the foothills.

Looking behind me there's bike trails and residential area and even a pond.

And looking to my right is the city of Boise.

So what's so patriotic about all of this? Well as I was leaving I looked over the trails and saw in the distance...

That's not all though! Later that night Michael and Andy and went to watch the fireworks. And I couldn't help but snap a few.



Happy Birthday America.

A Few Webcomics I Think Are Funny...

XKCD

Questionable Content (not really all that questionable) Note: If you do read this comic, I would suggest that you try to start from the beginning and keep going. It's quite a bit funnier that way.

Basic Instructions

XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Questionable Content updates every weekday, and I don't really know what Basic Instruction's schedule is. Enjoy!

More On Swim Team

I'm no good at waking up on time for things. I'm just not. It's not really my fault. It's just that sometimes, I don't really have a choice. I'll set my alarm clock, but then in the morning I'll wake up at ten as if it hadn't gone off. And it's not like I woke up and turned the alarm clock off because I was lazy; rather, I didn't wake up and I apparently turned it off without knowing it.

So yeah, it's a common occurrence for me to be late to swim team or to miss it entirely. And yes I understand that my swim coaches are upset with it (as am I, I wish I was more capable of being there on time). But when my bike broke down this morning and I had to use my little brother's midget-esque one to get to Lowell pool, I thought the water balloon that met me on the way in, with me fully clothed with electronics in my pockets, was a bit excessive. They thought it was hilarious.

As I took off my sogging clothes and put on my swimsuit, I could hear them shouting at me to hurry up and get in the pool. Ugh, I though to myself, it's seven-thirty! Shouting at me is not going to get me to go any faster! But they of course still shouted at me and got their water balloons ready for the next boy to show up late as I walked up the stairs and dived into the cool water.

There were three lanes for us that morning, as there usually was, and I quickly moved over to the far lane with my two good buddies, David and Lucas. With all respect that's due, I am usually a faster swimmer then them. So it was kind of frustrating when the swim coaches moved me to the back of the line. I asked them why and they said it was because they wanted us to swim that way. I just don't get that. We're swimming in the lane - aren't we the best people to decide what the order should be? If that isn't pointless micromanagement then I don't know what is.

Frustrations and annoyances kept piling on as they yelled at us and made us swim more whenever we forgot to to flips, or turns. Morale was low and I was pretty mad by the time I got out of the pool. The fact is, and I'm not exaggerating, my swim team coaches are the most anal-retentive people I know, and it is really getting to irk me. And whenever we complain they ask us, "Why did you sign up for swim team if you didn't want to swim?"

And here's my answer - "Sure we signed up for swim team because we wanted to swim. But nowhere did we say that we wanted to have to put up with getting up at seven in the morning every weekday, getting screamed at for not doing flip turns, yelled at for not being in the pool, and soaked for not being on time all for the sake of swimming! That stuff has nothing to do with the swimming - those things we could do without."

It seems to get worse with the coaches all the time. If it weren't for the fact that swimming is so healthy and such a good habit for me, I would really want to just quit swim team to get away from them. But I'll have to just keep swimming and try to show up on time for the remainder of July.

World of Warcraft

Well guys it was only matter of time. Most of you probably already know-I'm a nerd. Or, well, I just have most of the characteristics of one. But of course it's really hard to classify me into any category unless you've got one titled "Joe" or "Other". But I am a gamer and a gaming nerd for that matter. So really it was only a matter of time before I was naturally drawn to World of Warcraft, the same way that carpenters are naturally drawn to a Lowes store.

But of course I'm not paying for the game! Blizzard has set up a ten-day free trial system for the game but there's no way to keep someone from going through it more than once. In other words, I get to play on a trial account for ten days and then when that one runs out I get another. Genius huh? I doubt I'll buy it but I have to say that it is pretty damn fun.

If any of you are interested in trying world of warcraft free for ten days (or more if you do it my way) then go here.

If you're not interested, then here is why you should be.

Trust me, it's worth trying.

Oh the epic quality of this game... to stand there with the Alliance by my side... you really have to play it to understand.

(Dwarven hunter ya'all!)

Good News

"Good news is blowin' in your window
Good news is knockin' on your door
Good news is comin' round the corner
Good news is rollin' round your floor...."

I really didn't think I'd get to say it, but Dad is getting better and better. He's now able to walk fairly well. His speech still suffers but it slowly and steadily makes progress as well. They took an MRI recently and the tumors had shrunk. Everything is getting better. Even some of his hair is growing back. It really makes me happy to see him these days and be able to watch him recover.

This opens up new possibilities for the family. Before this last month or so, Dad had to constantly be watched and cared for and there would be no taking him anywhere. I can't imagine what it's been like for him... but Mitzi took him to the park the other day for a walk and he did well. We're talking about taking him up to McCall. If things keep improving we could take him to dinner or movies or vacations even.

While it's true that Dad doesn't need to be cared for anymore, he shouldn't be left alone either. He should still be watched. With all this happening this obviously means that we're not thinking weeks and months here anymore. We may still have him for many months and even years. We've been getting by on Gary's insurance (he's still taking care of us, isn't that sweet?) but it's obvious that we can't go on like this. Mom had left her work to take care of Gary, but she's going back to work now, and she talks about maybe hiring a companion for Dad (family reading this, keep it on the down-low. That means you Brian!). It's almost as if things are going back to normal...

So Mom's going back to work, Dad's getting better, and everything's turning up for the better!

"Good news Comin' down the chimney
Good news Knockin' on my door
Good news Leavin' through the window
Good news Can't take no more
Good news Spreadin' all the country
Good news For the young and old
Good news Goin' round the world, now
Good news Too hard to hold back..."

Another piece of lesser good news is that I finally found my camera, so once I get it to hook up to this dam computer right, you can expect some more pictures and such.

"Good news....
Good news...." - Randy Newman