There's A Lot of Good in the World . . .

if you know where to find it. We found it in our driveway when we got home tonight.

There Is Evil in the World

On Saturday our Snowman still looked like this.

On Sunday morning he looked like this.

And this.

Is That Cool, Is That Still Cool?

I think this commercial is funny, probably because I connect with the "deal" message.

Ft. Wayne Trip Pictures - Part 1

Ft. Wayne Trip Pictures - Part 2

Ft. Wayne Trip Pictures - Part 3

Ft. Wayne Trip Pictures - Part 4

Some Christmas Pictures

Computer Learning for Preschoolers

We give our three-year-old son, Landen, pretty much free reign over our older computer. He reads books on www.starfall.com, types letters with Timon and Pumba, puts together puzzles at www.jigzone.com and writes "books" on Google Documents.

He got his first Webkinz today for Christmas and his two eight-year-old sisters have enjoyed showing him the ins and outs of the Webkinz village.

A little bit ago, he somehow had logged himself off of Webkinz and was sitting back at the login screen while shouting across the room to me, "How do I login to Webkinz?" I told him he needed to type his username and password, which he quickly started to do. By the time I got there he had about fifty characters in each field.

I explained that he had to type a certain username and password and told him I would print them out for him.

I showed him where to type each one and turned him loose. Here's the result:

I changed his password before posting the video.

Happy Holidays 1992

My Grandma and Grandpa Culp sent this Christmas greeting out in 1992. I got the card recently when my neighbors brought it over to me. In the photo my grandparents are seen in front of their house. My grandpa was so proud of his front window that he decorated in spectacular fashion each Christmas.

Evelyn passed away in 2002, shortly after Kylee and Makenna's first birthday.

The girls got a chance to know Fred before he died in 2005.

I sure miss them.

Six Months Ago. . .

Kristi's cousin, Heather, took this picture.

Kylee, Emily, Makenna

Sent from my Droid.

Top Five Chapter Book Read Alouds for Second Grade

Reading chapter books to my class was my favorite academic activity during my 14 years of teaching second grade (I say academic because nothing can top playing Kick the Ball Over the Fence with the kids at recess.) Those 14 years of reading gave me a chance to discover some great second grade chapter book read alouds.

Here are my top five chapter book read alouds for second graders:

5. Poppy by Avi

4. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

3. Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar

2. Holes by Louis Sachar

1. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Reading Where the Red Fern Grows to Second Graders

I finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows to my eight-year-old twin daughters last night. It was the 15th time I have read the book. The previous 14 times include once to myself and 13 times to my classes of second grade students.

In general terms, this is a great chapter book read aloud for second graders because it:

• builds a strong emotional bond between the reader (and listeners) and the characters.
• builds intense understanding of the relationships between the characters.
• has a number of moments that the reader (or listener) does not expect to happen.
• has many themes that eight-year-olds can understand, especially when presented in the masterful way Wilson Rawls presents them.
• is just a great story filled with fantastic writing.

I'm A Failure

I have officially failed at my attempt at a "post a day, everyday for 100 days." I only made it 63 days. Hey, wait a minute. I'm not a failure! That's a D minus.

Jimmy Johns

Yesterday at Jimmy Johns I told the clerk, "Sorry to order so slow, you're probably about to freak."

She didn't laugh.

Google Voice

If you call my cell phone and I don't answer, Google Voice will. It will take a message from you for me. Google will then deliver an audio file of the message to my phone. Google also transcribes the message and delivers the text of the message to me. Well, it tries its best to transcribe the message.

A few weeks ago, I got a message from my eight-year-old daughter that Google Voice transcribed as, "I'm I'm trying to do it tonight and we're now in Wednesday 19th. Aloha."

Her actual message, "I lost my tooth Dad. When I was brushing my teeth. Bye."


Today Google Voice told me that my wife called and said, "Hey Steve, that was just thinking maybe after work, you could come and years of the eye doctor because we might be picking up lose them. We could probably use your help. Maybe you could help the girlfriend. I could head home. Appointment needs. I'm feeling of great so so anyway. The maybe head over to that after bye."

I won't transcribe Kristi's whole actual message. Basically, it was: 'stop by the eye doctor to help the girls pick out new glasses.'

Photography by A Three-Year-Old

There's something about the photos that a three-year-old takes. I always enjoy looking through them. They offer a perspective rarely seen. As I weeded through them this evening, there were about 20 I just couldn't delete. . . my foot on the ever-present antique footstool under my desk, the one mostly of my feet, what my desk really looks like, Makenna's smile. I don't get shots like these. Landen did.

Dumbest Commercial Ever

This commercial for Kay Jeweler's Love's Embrace collection has got to be the stupidest commercial of all time.

That is one creepy guy!

Old ASU Tablet: Is She Being Nice to You?

These are pages from a tablet used around my senior year of high school (used for scores and a little school work,) mostly written in 1990.

More computer football stats.

I must have really liked that computer game. All you did was enter a number for your play.

I hate to toot my own horn, but 10.3 yard per play? Toot, toot!

The Apple II text based football game was written in BASIC programming language. I knew some BASIC. My best memory of this game was the time that I went into the code and reprogrammed the game to cause it to make the human player score on almost every single play. Then, I sat back and smiled as my buddy, Brent, played the game and was positive he was the greatest text-based-football player of ALL TIME. As he gloated over his stats, he began to catch onto my smile and figured out something was up. His text-based Heisman had been fumbled away.

More nervous talking on the phone to a girl either Brent or I liked, probably me - it's my writing.

That's, NO, she is not be nice to him.

I think I made this in Geometry class. It is geometric!

Searches for November

Some searches that led to this blog in November:

• we didnt start the fire crack cocaine
• why is peter pan in we didn t start the fire
• steve gall recess
• dave and bets hahn
• stephen gall contaminated water in mckeesport ruling
• abnormally small feet
• logan s roadhouse or texas roadhouse?
• parts added to we didnt start the fire
• compare we didnt start the fire to jack kerouac
• vanna pick me a letter video

Picasa Facial Recognition

We have been trying out Picasa 3.5's facial recognition feature. It's a fun feature to a useful program. After photos are tagged the tags can be used to find photos of people or various combinations of people. Overall the recognition works well. Some faces it almost always tags correctly. It struggles discerning various kids' faces and is especially week knowing which of our twin daughters is which.

November Quiz Stats

Missionary Church North Central District Individual Quiz Stats

Multiples at Bremen

This story about all the twins and triplets in the first grade class at Bremen aired on channel 16 on Thanksgiving. I noticed it on CNN's homepage today.

How Do You Keep Your Weight Off?

Earlier this week someone at work asked me, "How do you keep your weight off? Watch your carbs?" I was a little surprised by the question, but thought it deserved a brief answer. My reply, I think, pretty much summarizes how I do keep my weight off and have continued to creep closer to my goal. "No. I watch my calories and exercise."

I would not want to watch carbs. I like them too much. I know pretty much how many calories are in the foods I eat. I also know about how many calories I burn a day. It's simple math, burn more calories than you take in = weight loss.

I pretty much only eat stuff that I like, especially high calorie things like desserts. There's no way I waste a bunch of calories that would take an hour of exercise to burn off on a dessert that isn't that great.

I hit a new milestone toward my weight goal yesterday. I weighed in under 122 pounds. My goal is to maintain my weight at under 120 pounds. Two pounds to go!

Here's a chart of my weight over the past 18 months. Keep in mind that I had lost about 8 pounds the previous two months before the chart begins. I weighed about 147 pounds at the end of March 2008.

Cabin Article

There is a great article about Dave and Bets Hahn's cabin and pond in "Living the Country Life" magazine. The article can be read here.

Old ASU Tablet: Below Zero for 35 Hands in A Row

These are pages from a tablet used around my senior year of high school, mostly in 1990. One page here is clearly dated November, 1990 - my freshman year of college.

Click to enlarge!

Did I crush Alicia and Riley (Snook) at this game of Uno or get beat really bad? I'm not sure.

I had to do a little school work.

When both pairs are over 30 below zero in a game of Double Euchre, you know it's going to be a long one.

It was! And if I counted correctly, Jamie and Debbie were below zero for 35 straight hands!

19 Thanksgiving Breaks ago. I'm glad to say I've communicated with all five of these people in the past two weeks.

In some earlier posts I referred to this game as Bid Euchre. I think we actually called it Double Euchre. We did bid though.

My friend Brent and I were just reminiscing about some of our crazier high school escapades. I don't think this evening got too out of hand. We're playing Bid Euchre against my mom and grandmother.


Record book page for a Nintendo Entertainment System basketball game, Double Dribble.


I wonder who won the championship - and what he was champion of.


This is a running record for a text based Apple II computer game. It lists which play each side (me and the computer) called.


Probably figuring out a video game average.


These are the stats from one of those computer football games.

Chris Kramer

The Purdue - Tennessee basketball game was one of the treats of the young season - one of the most intense game I have seen in a while. Perhaps the defensive play Chris Kramer makes in this video characterizes the game best of all, it's amazing!

What I'm Reading

To myself: Jim and Casper Go To Church - Everyone said this was really good, so I started reading it even though I haven't finished the other books I was reading. It's good so far, but I'm still in the introduction because it is so long.

Kylee and Makenna: Where the Red Fern Grows - We're about half way through it. Love it. It's fun for me to compare their comprehension to that of the top and struggling second graders I have had in class.

Landen: Charlotte's Web - This was the first chapter book I read to Kylee and Makenna when they were three years old. Landen is about the same age Kylee and Makenna were when I read it to them. We read the first chapter tonight.

Old ASU Tablet: Alicia Diagrams a High School Happening

These are pages from a tablet used around my junior year of high school - about 1989.
Click to enlarge!

This was a research report I wrote in high school on co-ed college dorms. It seems like the report was actually for a business class taught by Mr. Troyer.

My Of Mice and Men report.

I'm pretty sure I only read the Cliff Notes.

I wrote this draft in cursive, but the co-ed dorm draft in print.

I don't think it was a very good report.

The conclusion.

I think I was adding up my hours of work at Nappanee's Radio Shack.

This looks like it is notes from a text based golf game for my Apple IIc.

Bid Euchre. Jeanie (my mom,) Evelyn Culp (my Grandma Culp) Violet Newcomer (Grandma Vi,) Fred Culp (Grandpa Culp) and me. I played quite a bit of cards with my grandparents as a teenager. I sure miss all three of them.


Same people as above, minus my Grandma Vi, plus (I'm guessing) Esther Metzler - Grandma and Grandpa Culp's good friend. She was a teacher in Nappanee for a long time.


My sister and I had the same first and last name, so I think I'm SG for my first and middle name and she's SL for her first and middle name. J is my mom, Jeanie. R is Renee Rogers, my cousin who had moved to Arizona at this point.

Renee Rogers signature when she was 15.

This is a diagram about something that happened at school. The people included in the diagram are likely Alicia Templeton, Anthony Taylor, Tad Gongwer, Stacey Hochstetler, Eric Dudzinski, Jill Hunsberger and Daric Leinbach. It look like it was a pretty exciting event!

Old ASU Tablet: Did Her Parents Yell?

From around my junior year of high school around 1989.
Click to enlarge!

Through a few Google searches, I'm going to assume this is the single note I took from Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury." However, I have absolutely no recollection of ever reading that novel (or the Cliff Notes.) Who knows?

Probably from a game of bid Euchre. Jay Crain, Brent Warren, Mike Carrich and me.

This is a note from when either Brent or I were on the phone with a girl the other liked.

Probably the same as above.

This one is really weird. I have no idea what these dates might have been.

The red hot is gone.

An early game of Drop the Marker.

Notes for a text based football game on my Apple IIc.

I was thinking about buying a Notre Dame basketball season ticket package. I bet this was in the fall of 1988.

Algebra

Another weird one. I have no idea.

Intexticated

Old ASU Tablet: Hi Bwent Wawwen How Awe You?

From around my junior year of high school around 1989.
Click to enlarge!

The Cover

Fractions!

Brent Warren's writing, these are commands for a text based football game played on my Apple IIc

I think this might be in reference to the Midas Muffler shop in Mishawaka. I distinctly recall I took a car there for warranty muffler work and they tried to rip me off for $800 worth of other work that "needed" to be done on the car. I took the car to Waky Auto Repair who said nothing else needed to be done. I called Midas headquarters in Chicago (I believe) and complained. They were very cordial and asked me to send the receipt in for the repair at Waky Auto. Shortly thereafter I received a check back in the mail from Midas corporate for the full price of the repair (which should have been covered under warranty at the Midas shop.)

I was making fun of a school mate that Brent liked.

Or would she say, "Hi . . . " nah, I'm too old to make those jokes anymore.

Some of my family members still called me "Stever" in high school. My friends teased me with "Stever Beaver," which got shortened to Beaver.

I'm clearly on the phone with the girl that Brent likes.

I think we were major pests to Shelly, although Brent did end up dating her for a time.

Sure you will, Steve.

My Windows Desktop

If someone's desktop tell a lot about them, here's a lot about me. . .

Five Is Better Thans

• Friday Night Lights is better than Flash Forward.
• '00's Top 40 music is better than '90's Top 40 music.
• My Date with Drew is better than King of Kong a Fistful of Quarters.
• Jimmy Johns is better than Quiznos.
• Gamecube is better than Wii.