latest kdice victory

So, it didn't really work how I thought it would...if you can't really see it that well, click on the picture for a larger view. That is a win on kdice that I just got where I, blue, dominated the whole entire board. If you want more of an idea how kdice works, just visit www.kdice.com and you can watch others play or sign up and play for yourself. Look for me: I'm "pseudobass" and "valorin ryneu."

aidan's first

Today is Aidan's first birthday! He was born on 3/31/2006 at 6:46am AZ time.

The picture above is of Amy and Aidan a week before his first birthday, while this picture is a four generation picture on Amy's side (from left to right: Aidan, Amy, Francy (Amy's mother, Aidan's grandmother), and Nanny (Nell Falbo, Francy's mother, Amy's grandmother, and Aidan's great-grandmother)).

fifty-four and eighteen

The Suns had over a 30 point swing in the game, first being down to the Nuggets by way too many in the first half, but then coming back to win big: 125 - 108. The Suns needed to prove themselves, that is, after losing in their last meeting to the Nuggets in a game that the Suns had been down by 40 points at one time, as well as having lost to Golden State the previous evening. Both Denver and Golden State are playing the same kind of fast tempo, in your face basketball that you've come to expect from the Suns, and they've beaten the Suns at their own game. But not last night. The Suns lost the first quarter, 36 - 24, but went on to win each of the following quarters, scoring over 30 points in each of them to win by 17. It was a good win, and a needed boost as we move on to play Dallas (61 - 11, of whom we are now 7 games behind) tomorrow (Sunday) on ABC at 12:30pm AZ time. This is going to be the best game left in the regular season, but we also visit San Antonio (52 - 20) on Thursday, and they're only two games behind us, vying for our 2nd place spot. A few hard games left for the Suns, but it will show off what kind of a playoff team we have this year. GO SUNS!

great evening

Tonight was great. The poker games were fun, but it was the fellowship of believers that made it even better. We got to just mess around, poke fun at each other, and enjoy getting taunted. It was a blast. Chris Blackford, Matthew du Mée, Michael Withem, Gethsemane (Sam, Chris' friend, and now mine), and I were the only ones who made it, but, boy, did we make it! I had so much fun. I got to talk with Gethsemane after everyone else left (he was waiting for his wife and step-daughter to pick him up). We talked about music and people who we know in common (JJ - the tenor section leader from DVHS when I was a freshman; he made All-State Jazz along with Gethsemane; they both went to Grand Canyon University for college on full-ride scholarships for vocal music). Gethsemane is also a Tenor 1 (same range as JJ and I; but with a little more range at the bottom than I - but that's true for almost any man) and plays the piano and guitar. He'd led worship at his previous church (now trying out NCC) and he had led the youth there, as well. He is 26...quite accomplished. He loves recording and computers. We had a great time laughing and getting to know each other tonight. Amy said his great laugh reminds her of someone she knows. She can’t remember who that is right now, but she had good feelings hit her when she heard the laughter (I bet it hurt). I look forward to getting to be around Gethsemane and his wife more. They’ll be trying to make it to our Saturday night Bible study, too, and we’ll see them on Sunday at church. Good times. Good times.

poker night

We've got another poker night a-brewin'. Tonight, Chris Blackford, Michael Withem, Matthew du Mée, Jon Dixon, Jeremy Quade, and Chris' friend and ex-coworker, Sam, have all been invited and most likely all will show. Jon is the only unsure one in the bunch, with his insane work schedule. Should be a great night. We've got the Suns game we can keep tabs on, the poker game to play, and a game cube coming in Matthew's hands. I know I am looking forward to it. Aidan will just sleep, Amy will be over at her parents, and the boys will play.

fifty-three and eighteen

The Suns (53 - 18) score an impressive 119 points last night in Golden State. They should 51.7% for their field goals, went 9 - 22 for threes, 20 - 29 from the stripe, and they still lost. The Warriors (34 - 39) are barely hanging on to a shred of hope to make the playoffs for the first time since 1994, but their hopes stayed alive last night as they beat the Suns, 124 - 119. The Suns played a good Suns-styled game, but they came up short after the Warriors scored 45 points in the first quarter alone. They had 77 points at the half, to the Suns' 63. The Warriors were up by 23 points at the end of the third, but then the Suns put out Kurt Thomas, Leandro Barbosa, James Jones, Marcus Banks, and Boris Diaw. This squad, much slower overall than our starters, made the stops that the rest of the team had failed to make. This squad made the 23 point lead evaporate almost entirely with a couple minutes to play. This squad got the game back to only a 5 point lead for the Warriors, but they still fell to Golden State. Banks came up big with his defensive effort last night. I was impressed what he did in the place of Nash that Nash had not been able to do the entire night: make points, passes, AND play defense. There were some bad calls and bad "no-calls" last night, but the Warriors shot lights out over an incredibly gifted Suns' team who normally does that to their opponents. If I hadn't been biased toward the Suns, it would have been one of those games to remember with friends the next day. Maybe I still will. The next game is tonight in Phoenix against the Nuggets (35 - 35) who beat the Suns handily last time in Denver. It's payback time. Only 11 games until playoffs. GO SUNS!

motivation

How does one motivate someone else? When I normally think about this question, my response is to show the person their need to be involved in the deal and/or show them what it would be like without it. But most students in dropback scenarios have no motivation to learn, even though they've already failed the class and know that they will not move on unless they pass. These students have come face to face with the consequences of their actions (or non-action), but they still have nothing driving them to put the effort in that is necessary to complete the tasks at hand. I would love to be able to figure out how to motivate these students. They simply seem not to care and don't want to put the extra effort in. It might be that I intimidate, but if they cared enough, wouldn't they fight past that? It might be my sarcastic humor, but, again, if they cared enough, wouldn't that be something to look over? I am stuck with my personality traits that push away the "at-risk" and my drive to see students succeed.

teacher protest

The DVUSD teachers will not be receiving a raise next year. The salary ladder was disbanded a couple years ago, and raises are all dependent upon what percent the district decides to increase salaries for the next year. They decided upon 0% for this up-coming year. The teachers here at DVHS decided to not give extra help this week so as to spur the parents to call the school board to complain. I do not know how much of an impact this silent protest will have, but I'm all for it. Insurance premiums are going up next year, too, so that means I will actually be paid less next year than this. Doesn't make sense that someone with more experience would receive less money, does it? How is the education of these students being treated if the district is not willing to pay it's teachers? What do you think?

fifty-three and seventeen

The Suns (53 - 17) came out strong and ended well. The second quarter is where the lead was built, though, winning the quarter by 11, 27 - 16. The Suns went on to win 105 - 87. Stat, again, was the only double double on the Suns with 27 points and 12 rebounds (all defensive). Nash had 11 points and 9 assists. Raja Bell had a big night with 29 points, going 6 of 8 from downtown. The Grizzlies (17 - 54), like most teams, beat the Suns on offensive rebounding, but the Suns simply outplayed them. The Suns now sit 5 1/2 games behind Dallas. We just can't seem to put the winning streaks together that they do this season. The next game is in Golden State territory Thursday, at 7:30pm AZ time, against the Warriors (33 - 39), who just got embarrassed on their home court against the Spurs (50 - 20), losing by 37 points. GO SUNS!

fifty-two and seventeen

The Suns lost to the Kings , whom they had just demolished by 18 points on Thursday when Amy and I went to the game. 107 - 100 was the final score. It was a sad end to a small two game winning streak. Stat had the only double double on the Suns with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Mike Bibby just shot lights out the entire afternoon, scoring 37 points in 38 minutes. Nash had an uncharacteristic 7 turnovers. It was just not the full effort that you would expect from the number two team in the NBA. The next game was against the Memphis Grizzlies (17 - 53), pretty much the exact opposite record of the Suns. This should be no problem, but, then again, the Suns do play to their opponents level a lot. We'll see. GO SUNS!

balloons and bubbles

So, yesterday we celebrated my mom's birthday, which is on Tuesday. We got her a movie and some other stuff and we got her a balloon, a Mickey mouse balloon. We let Aidan hold it while we were in the store and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He kept pulling it up and down really fast and hitting himself on the head. Then he was playing with it later and it was up really high above him so he figured out that he could pull it down if he kept pulling on the string, he is a smart kid, what can I say. We were going to let him give it to grandma but he wanted to keep it, He finally gave it up and then tried to take it back. OK it's your now, can I play with it?
This afternoon we were again hanging out with my parents and grandma (Adam invited himself over to watch the Suns game in High Def) Mom had a piece of bubble gum and was blowing bubbles while Aidan was watching. He just looked with really big eyes and tried to figure out was what going on. He thought it was really funny and kept doing his fake laugh, the one that sounds like a horse and woody woodpecker. He thought that maybe if he chewed something (his tongue) in his mouth maybe he could do it too. He was occupied by watching the bubbles for about 20 minuets. It was really funny. My cheeks are tired from thinking about chewing the gum.

spring break

Well, it was spring break last week for Adam. And now its over, too bad. I really liked having the extra time to spend with him over the last few days. It was a really nice and relaxing week. My grandma has been in town for her annual spring training fling, so both Adam and I got to go a baseball game last week. And I didn't have to cook very much either, which was a nice break for me too. We just kind of hung around and did whatever. I was sick with a cold again, courtesy of Aidan, thank you very much. Both of us were sick together but it could havebeen worse, we are both at the end of the sickness and only have remnants of a cough and maybe some allergies now. Adam did some work on the yard this week, it was in the 100's at the beginning of the week (groan... earliest 100 on record) but it weather finally cooled down and we even got some rain at the end of the week. So Adam seeded the front yard a couple of days ago and the birds are very happy about it. Adam, on the other hand, is not so happy about the birds. He had been chasing them out of the yard for the past few days. Every so often he will open the door really fast and run into the yard clapping. He then passes around the yard for a few minuets and the comes back in. Recently, he has resorted to shooting the birds with the air soft gun that he has. The down side to this, besides for the birds, is that the gun is really big and looks like a real rifle, who knows what the neighbors think of us now...
We got to go to a Suns game on Thursday night, thanks to my parents for Adam's birthday present. It was a really nice time, we dropped off Aidan at my parents house and went to dinner. We stopped off at my old work to say hi to some people we hadn't seen in a while. It was cool and rainy. We went to a good game, despite sitting so far up I was having contractions from the altitude. We had to walk to the car in the rain because the umbrella was conveniently in the car. We got some things for the baby announcements and came home. Adam seeded the yard at 11:30 or something, I finished the announcement prep while he was doing that. We watched some movie or something and then went to bed. I didn't have to get up to feed Aidan the next morning, that was nice. Anyway, it has been a very nice week and I wish that Adam didn't have to go back to work and all the busyness but that's the way it works for now.