Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Pages
A Quote to Start Things Off
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Pictures of Memories I
Monday, August 20, 2012
Randy Stonehill on Compassion
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Re United
This is only my second time using an HSD rewind to get through the marathon-like paces of blogging from A to Z. I say marathon-like, because if this were a marathon, we would need to stick an extra 1/5 of a letter at the end.
Today's post goes back to October 2010, when I was writing posts about labels something, I call meta blogging, something Amy calls wake me when it's over. I wanted to share this post about the United Break's Guitar videos yesterday for U. But it turns out V works just as well.
1) videos I have taken of my family
2) Videos friends and family have asked me or allowed me to post
3) Viral videos I have found on the internet or that have been reccomended by other blogs.
One of the videos from the third category that I found most compelling is actually a series of three videos by a group called the Sons of Maxwell fronted by Canadian Dave Carroll.
United Breaks Guitars Song I
United Breaks Guitars Song II
United Breaks Guitars Song III
Meanwhile back in 2012
I still haven't flown in a plane (although the rest of my family has) since July 2001. I have continued to post cool videos and will continue to do so. Here is a video of J.J. Heller who we as a family saw in concert last Friday.
They told us at the concert that the video had just reached 100,000 views on YouTube. I am going to take credit for anything past that, so go ahead and share it with your pals. And don't worry United didn't break her guitar, she has a tour bus, and she plays harmonica.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Six Word Concert Surprise Update
Six Word Saturday.
Here's our Six Words:
Eureka, We found J.J. Heller Concert.
Puppy loves a Christian music artist by the name of J.J. Heller. Whatever Puppy loves usually becomes a giant obsession with her. So when she fell in love with the song "What Love Really Means" she wrote J.J. and asked when she was coming to concert near us. J.J. wrote her back and told her to have us check the schedule at her website for upcoming concerts in the area. Months passed and Puppy diligently reminded me to check the schedule. When I did, nothing was really close. Then a few months ago, I found it, a concert 2.5 hours from our house. The concert was in Eureka, Illinois. Eureka roughly translated means I found it.
Now knowing Puppy like I do, I knew that 3 months of anticipation might not hurt her, but would probably kill us. So I planned an elaborate day trip to see some historic Ronald Reagan sites which had us ending up in Eureka, Illinois this afternoon.
Bunny and Spider Droid were in on the secret, and it took every inch of self control they had not to spoil it for Puppy.
The field trips and the concert were amazing. Here is some footage and pictures from the concert.
JJ Heller when she found out Puppy has same birthday as her daughter |
Friday, April 13, 2012
Is Your Mama a Llama (Original Song)
That must have caught a pretty penny to produce. Not to mention the nickels.
Speaking of change don't forget that by commenting on this post you enter into the drawing to win a collection of 50 state quarters. Click here for more details.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Pandora and other Fragments
It is time once again . Yes Half past Kissing Time and time for Friday Fragments.
1. I heart Pandora.
I have a very eclectic taste in music. Show tunes, Pop, Rock, Christian, folk, country. You name it I like it. I don't even mind listening to many genre's at the same time. That'w why I like Pandora. I have about 50 different channels and when the mood strikes me, I hit the shuffle option and get my eclectic on . This is what I am listening to right now. I can go from that to Under The Sea from Little Mermaid. (Which, incidentally just happened.) From there maybe Bowling For Soup or Barry Manilow to Bing Crosby or Puppy's favorite, JJ Heller. This musical journey may contine with music from Journey or the musical saga may continue with The Saga Begins by Weird Al. Like I said, eclectic.
Sure, I could do and do the same thing with my IPod and Itunes. But, the songs I listen to, I have to own. With Pandora it often plays songs I not only don't own but am sometimes not even aware of. I just listened to 5 O'clock world by the Vogues from my Beach Monkeys(Beach Boys and Monkees are the seed artists) channel on Pandora. I may have heard it before on an oldies stattion but I would never be able to ask for it by name. That's why I like the music genome project employed by Pandora. It takes what you like and plays music similar to it.
2. A to Z coming soon.
Earlier this year I joined up for the A to Z blogging challenge for this April. March is 1/2 way over and I hope I am up to the task of 26 letters in 30 days. We get each Sunday off except the first Sunday, which is the first of April. It seems a little NABLOPOmish to me. Click here to review my love/hate with Nablopomo. I don't have a theme or even a plan yet. But I do have a little inkling of a system. I love systems, so it may still work.
Here is a cool promotional video for the event.
3. I owe I owe so back to blog I go.
I am so behind in my blogging for promotional items I have received. There is a math program that Spider Droid and I used last month that I need to write a review of. There are almost a half dozen books I received that I owe reviews for. Hey I think that's a good future Friday Fragment post!
I also owe the host of Home Spun Juggling a review of her fabulous book of cartoons.
Bunny did her own review of this fine Tome of Homeschool wit and wisdom. So in lieu of my review here is a link to hers. Hopefully, I'll catch up soon.
4. It's not a test, it's Iowa
Did you ever take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills? I did a few times as a kid. I really enjoyed it, because it was a day or 2 off from the routine of regular school. I also brake for scantron. Next week I will be proctoring an Iowa Test for a bunch of home school kids. Spider Droid and Bunny will be among those taking the test. I will spend the next few days of school just getting them familiar with the world of testtaking in a classroom setting.
I'm not out of fragments but I am out of time.Click here For more fun filled fragments of Fridaytude.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Not Friday; Got Fragments
Taking Puppy and company to see the Disney on Ice production, Dare to Dream in Rosemont today. Here's a little I See the Light to get us in the Tangled mood. I'll be back tomorrow with a review.
COH is at Janice Campbell this week. She has a nice Wintery Mix all ready for you. My HSBA page is one of the many articles available.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Mid Week Music Break
What Love Really Means (Single)
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The HSBA winning blog for Best Group Blog was TOS Homeschool Crew. This blog continues to provide excellent product reviews as this sample post attests.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Christmas Time
Next Time: The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
A JJ Heller Style birthday
Since then I found out that J.J. Heller and I have a lot in common . . .
1. Her daughter has the same real name as Puppy.
2. She has a husband named Dave. I am a husband named Dave.
3. She blogs. I blog.
4. She made her daughter rainbow cupcakes for her recent birthday. We made Puppy rainbow cupcakes for her birthday.
5. She has a lovely singing voice. I
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Jelly and the Telly jellies with you. Jam and you Monster Jam alone.
For a while it was available free and then it went to a subscription service. It has now been revamped and is merged with Focus on the Family. The new site also has other Focus on the Family videos like Adventures in Odyssey. It is again free and I can not recommend it highly enough.
One of my favorite parts of the show are the Fabulous Bentley Brothers, Here they are with A song about 2 Kings.
It is a great song but I do take a bit of umbrage with the line Paddle Boats are not cool. Paddle Boats are extremely cool.
But it's not all bible songs. There is Michael who reviews movies from his seat in his mini van. All the reviews end with the Star Wars plots being syncretized into whatever movie is reviewing. But even when you know the premise the results are still hilarious observe:
Michael’s Movie Reviews: The Lion King JellyTelly
Again, I encourage kids of all ages to check out the new improved Jelly Telly. Let me know if any of you like it as much as we do.
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In other news I was contacted recently by the promoters of the Monster Jam series. They had read my blog and wanted to contact me anyway. They were especially intrigued by Spider Droid and his recent robtics adventures They thought that we as a family and perhaps my readership would be interested in their show that is playing this week in the Chicago area. If you are not in the Chicago area click here to see where and when it is playing near you.
What you may wonder is a Monster Jam? Monster Jam is a truck racing tour and here are some fast facts about the tour:
- At Monster Jam, monster trucks face off in two different forms of competition -- side-by-side racing and freestyle:
Side-by-side racing – traditional bracket racing, where the first truck, with the least amount of penalties, crosses the finish line is declared the winner.
Freestyle competition – allows drivers a limited amount of time on the open floor to show off their skills. In this category, the fans serve as the judges.
- The Grave Digger Team (pictured here) will celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2012
- More than 4 million Monster Jam fans attend events each year worldwide
- Typical monster trucks cost $600,000 yearly to build, staff, compete, transport and maintain on the Monster Jam tour.
- Steel body full-size cars are the vehicles typically crushed during a monster truck event.
Cars, as well as vans, buses, motor homes, airplanes and ambulances, are attained from local junkyards and returned after each event.
Average number of cars crushed per year: 3,000.
So now let me tell you close enough to the Chicago area about the shows coming this weekend to the All State Arena. There are 5 big beautiful shows. Friday at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 7:30. The Tickets cost 20, 30 and 55.00 (not including ticket handling charges) depending where you sit. On Friday all $20.00 dollar tickets have been reduced to 10.00 for both adults and children. All subsequent shows have children (12 and under) tickets in the twenty dollar seats available for $10.00 as well. The higher priced tickets are the same regardless of age.
I have been offered a special deal for my blog readers/ facebook friends. If you use the promo card MOM $20.00 adult tickets have been reduced 1/3 to 13.30. . The deal can not be used the day of the show. Tickets can be purchase at the United Center Box Office, The Allstate Arena Box Office and at http://www.ticketmaster.com/ or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Make sure you use the promo code:MOM. Click here for more ticket information.
Spider Droid and I will be attending on Friday Night. When I get home I will post a review here.
So there you have it, a little telly for your jelly, a bit of monster for your jam.
Monday, August 9, 2010
In Praise of Allen Levi
Two weeks left until school starts.
Summer has many great traditions and events. From outdoor movies (which sadly we did not partake of this year) to weekend getaways, our summers are filled with some great activities. Some are relatively new, like home school baseball on Thursday nights and some have been going on for years, like my sister and her kids' annual visit from D.C. to the old homestead. Last year a new summer tradition started which starts again today. Allen Levi will release a new song on his blog today (http://www.allenlevi.wordpress.com/) and continue to release a new song each day until Sunday. Yep 7 songs in 7 days. You can also link to the blog from his web site http://www.allenlevi.com/.
Now wait just a minute, you might be saying who is Allen Levi and what kind of music does he perform?
This video may begin to answer those questions.
I am not sure if I have posted about Allen before. I know I have periodically put up links to his website and blog before. I met Allen about 15 years ago when I was living in South Carolina. He performed concerts at the church I was attending 2 years in a row. He was in the early years of his transition from full time lawyer to full time singer.
Allen quickly became of my favorite musicians. He is a prolific song writer/story teller who at both of those concerts sang songs he had written only hours earlier. Unlike Bebo Norman who is featured with Allen in the above video, Allen has not become a Contemporary Christian Music star. I am not sure this was his intention.
A good # of Allen's concerts are played at Young Life (A Christian parachurch youth ministry) camps and training events. He also plays churches like the concert I saw him at. He also has performed at many more intimate venues. He told me once he even plays at birthday parties. I found this out first hand in 2004 when Amy flew him from Georgia to Illinois for my surprise 40th birthday party.
I reviewed all of the songs Allen played last August in preparation for this week. I thought I would link one up here to give you an idea of his music. The problem is they were all awesome and I had hard time deciding which one to choose. You can find them all by clicking here.
If I had to choose one I would choose Proposal (A Love Song). I chose this one because a) I like the premise of a proposal song following the advice Elisabeth Elliot's father had for her brothers: Never tell a girl you love her until you are ready to propose. and b) because I once told a girl I loved her in a song and then proposed in the same song. (She said "sure" btw.)
The indecision in picking 1 song is understandable as I vacillate easily when trying to determine which of Allen's songs is my favorite. Yesterday it was A Frazier Fir in Florida from that album I bought 15 years ago. Today it's back to Love to Give Away, a beautiful song about his singleness. I am sure after this week I will (and hopefully you too) will have some new gems to choose from.
I could probably go on and on about Allen, but instead I will let his music speak for himself. Not only is he my featured blog this week, he is also listed in my blog roll. Give him a listen, and a read, as his song explanations are often as poignant as the songs themselves. Who knows? maybe he will play at your surprise birthday party as well.
Next Time: A night at the races.
These Blogs Are So Last Year
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Does Grief Last Forever?1 year ago
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Growing Up1 year ago
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