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Mike Hoffman's 16 Day Forecast

I like Mike Hoffman and enjoy watching his weather forecasts on Channel 16 (WNDU in South Bend, Indiana.) However, his "16 Day Outlook" consistently forecasts temperatures that are well below what the temperatures end-up being. Here is an example from earlier in 2010:

Feb. 20: Forecast high = 34º Actual high = 35º, 1 degree below actual

Feb. 21: Forecast high = 34º Actual high = 39º, 5 degrees low actual

Feb. 22: Forecast high = 30º Actual high = 33º, 3 degrees low actual

Feb. 23: Forecast high = 28º Actual high = 35º, 7 degrees low actual

Feb. 24: Forecast high = 21º Actual high = 27º, 6 degrees low actual

Feb. 25: Forecast high = 18º Actual high = 29º, 11 degrees low actual

Feb. 26: Forecast high = 18º Actual high = 30º, 12 degrees low actual

Feb. 27: Forecast high = 22º Actual high = 34º, 12 degrees low actual

Feb. 28: Forecast high = 25º Actual high = 36º, 9 degrees low actual

Mar. 1: Forecast high = 28º Actual high = 38º, 10 degrees low actual

Mar. 2: Forecast high = 26º Actual high = 38º, 12 degrees low actual

Mar. 3: Forecast high = 28º Actual high = 38º, 10 degrees low actual

Mar. 4: Forecast high = 28º Actual high = 40º, 12 degrees low actual

Mar. 5: Forecast high = 23º Actual high = 41º, 18 degrees low actual

Mar. 6: Forecast high = 20º Actual high = 46º, 26 degrees low actual

Mar. 7: Forecast high = 20º Actual high = 50º, 30 degrees low actual

That's an average prediction of 11.5 degrees below the actual high temperature!

I'm not a meteorologist, but forecasting a temperature over 20 degrees below normal over two weeks in advance CANNOT be good for a weatherman's chances at improving his credibility. From my amateur observations, temperature departures-from-normal of over 20 degrees are relatively rare and pretty extreme when they happen.

American Idol Predictions

Steve:
Winner - Katie Stevens
Runner Up - Lee Dewyze

Kristi:
Winner - Lee Dewyze
Runner Up - Katie Stevens

Makenna:
Winner - Katie Stevens
Runner Up - Todrick Hall

We made the predictions after the initial performances by the top 24 - and didn't discuss the predictions.

Puff the Magic Dragon

I've heard the song, Puff the Magic Dragon hundreds of times. A few days ago I sat down with my three-year-old son to sing along with a book-on-CD version of the song. We were having an awesome father-son bonding time singing and looking at the book's pictures.

I sang my heart out until we got to this page. . .

A dragon lives forever but not so little boysPainted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.One grey night it happened, jackie paper came no moreAnd puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

and I realized what the song was about. It's the kind of thing that gets to my emotions. I was too choked up to sing anymore, which, I guess, made the time that much more special.

If you have kids who are growing up way too fast, give Puff the Magic Dragon a real listen.

I'll save you from my singing, but here's Landen singing the chorus.

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.