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.
  

TXT Me

I wrote one of those Facebook quizzes a few months ago. One of the questions asked how many text messages I had sent in my entire life. The "correct" answer was one, which I thought was right because I wrote a text message to my dad when the NorthWood - Jimtown game went into overtime.

Last week I found that text message in my outbox, so I guess I never had actually sent a text message.

We bought a text plan when we purchased the Motorola Droids. Kristi and I got into the swing of trying this new (to us) form of communication out today.

Me: Did I forget my lunch?
Kristi: Yes

Kristi: Where r Ky glasses? She took them off 4 race
Me: I think they are in the van.

Kristi: The frig is on
Me: If your refrigerator is running, you better go and catch it.

Kristi: Landed did awesome at the eye Dr. Come back in 2 yrs

Me: Your doctor appointment is on the calendar for today.
Kristi: That's wrong

Kristi: Mommy. Came to eat lunch with us at school today. Makenna
Kristi: I,m at lunch.
Kristi: That was from kylee

Droid Does

Kristi and I finally joined the 21st century and bought a pair of Android phones. Here we are minutes after making the purchase at University Park Mall.

I'm taking Kristi's Picture.

She's taking my picture.

5Kin

Kylee and Calvin won their divisions this morning in the 5Kin race at Nappanee Missionary Church.

Droid or iPhone?

I've been watching videos on YouTube comparing the two phones. Here's a pretty good one.

What I Want To Read

I want to start reading Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation About Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christian.

What I'm Reading

I am currently reading The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr. Shortly before starting The Big Switch I was reading a book on Google Books called The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It by Jonathan Zittrain. These books have quite a bit in common. They both discuss the history of the Internet and predict its future by looking at the history of other technological innovations. I like the topic and have found both of these books interesting. They are enough alike though, that I think I will mostly skim through the rest of The Big Switch. That way I can get to the book I really want to read.

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street

Sesame Street has been with me my whole life. It was one of my favorite shows in the early days of living in my old house on Hartman Knoll.

Back then: Only Big Bird saw Snuffleupagus (everyone else thought Big Bird was imagining the creature - oh how I rooted for someone, anyone to get a glimpse of Snuffy just to prove Big Bird right.) I figured there must be some connection to the show and the number and letter of the day - but could never find one. There was no Elmo. I was always surprised at the number the Count stopped on. I thought maybe, or at least wished that Sesame Street was a real place.

Probably the single clip that stands out to me the most from those days is the 12 Song.

Miles Biked in 2009: The Winner Is . . .

Each bike in our family is equipped with a bike computer that keeps track of total number of miles biked. The bike computers are highly accurate, as I have tested them against each other and against a GPS device. I think we are pretty much done riding bike for this year, so here are the results for how many miles each member of the Gall family biked in 2009.

5th Place: Kristi - 154.3 miles. Kristi took up running this year and biked about 300 miles less than in 2008. She has run over 250 miles this year, which burns way more calories than biking 300 miles.

3rd Place: Kylee and Makenna - 172.6 miles. They tied with the exact same number of miles in 2008. This year they were running pretty close through July, then Makenna's bike computer stopped working. So, I'm going to assume she was very similar to Kylee's 172.6 miles (which is less than half of the miles each of the girls biked in 2008.)

2nd Place: Landen - 250.4 miles. Landed has probably turned the crank on his pedals to get his 12" tires moving more times than anyone else in the family. That's a lot of miles for a three year old who just learned to ride without training wheels five months ago.

1st Place: Steve - 355.5 miles. Had I not gotten a stress fracture from running and started riding my bike for exercise instead Landen probably would have ended up with more miles than me. (I rode 150 miles for cardio exercise, most of which I would not have had without the running injury.) I rode 557.1 in 2008.

Last year, without Landen riding, we rode 1,726.4 miles as a family. This year, with Landen's 250 miles we only rode 1,105.4 miles.

Where the Red Fern Grows

I have a signed copy of Where the Red Fern Grows. I bought it on eBay for $50.

I'm reading my signed copy of Where the Red Fern Grows to Kylee and Makenna right now. I've been looking forward to reading it to the girls since the day they were born. I've read Red Fern to 13 classes of second graders. It's always the overwhelming favorite chapter book of the year. Just last week I asked an 8th grader who is a former student if she remembered any books I read to the class. The one she named? Where the Red Fern Grows.

I've read over 20 chapter books to Kylee and Makenna, but Red Fern had to wait for the girls to be in second grade. When we decided to let the girls be in T-1, the thought crossed my mind that it would mean having to wait an extra year to read it to them.

So, the time has finally arrived. The girls are enjoying the book and I am relishing the read aloud. And since I don't have a second grade class this year, it just sort of works out for me to read it to Kylee and Makenna this year.

I just might need to find a second grader I can read it to next year.

And if you have a second grader, you won't find a better chapter book read aloud for them than Where the Red Fern Grows.

Photoshop Elements

We are working on scanning all of our old negatives. Photoshop Elements is a great program for removing scratches and correcting brightness and color. Here are a few examples.

Before

After

Before

After

Landen's Bedroom Makeover - More Progress

These Aren't That Fun To Put Together. . .

but if I burn as many calories exercising on it as I did putting it together it should be a worthwhile investment.

My 80s Journal - Shawn Kemp

This is what I wrote on August 30, 1985. I was 14 years old. I was in 8th grade.

I went to the N.W. - Concord game. I took Mike. We won. I saw Shawn Kemp at the game. He plays basketball for Concord. He is super good. He is only a Sophmore. He will be famous someday. I gave Tara my I.D. bracelet at the game.

• Oddly, for me, I don't remember too much about this day.
• Sometime in the past 24 years I learned how to spell sophomore.
  
• I miss Mike. I haven't seen him or talked to him for about nine years.
• I'm still friends with Tara and talk to her pretty often.
• I was blessed to have friends like Mike and Tara growing up.
  

Landen's Bedroom Makeover Progress

Our first ceiling that is not white. It turned out great and really adds warmth to the room. The color is slightly lighter than the camel color that is on the walls.

Pre-carpet, the blind is still covered and the frog tape is still on, but it's coming along.

No bed yet, well a bigger mattress on the floor. But the carpet is in and the tape is off the wall. Landen's listening to a book by They Might Be Giants on CD here. Good thing it's a CD, I don't think a tape would have played very well.

The Leaves Are Falling Early

Earlier than 2005 anyway.

Four years ago today.



Today.

It's the same view, sans pumpkin and leaves.

Another Free Supper

This time it was 4 free Black Jack tacos at Taco Bell for the three kids and me. They were good too!