Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Introducing My New Religion: Humorism
A few days ago, I created my own religion known as humorism. Humorism is all about seeing the funny side of life, and being able to laugh at almost anything. I have also created a blog about humorism, known as "The Humorist Society" here is a link to it http://humoristsociety.blogspot.com/ . I would like you all to know that the reason I have not posted here in the last two weeks is because I have been diverting all of my attention to my new blog about humorism, so if you would like to read my blogs, then I suggest you check out or possibly follow my humorist blog. Hope hear your comments on "The Humorist Society"-Josh
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monthly Budget Report #3 - October 2009
October was an expensive month. As expected, traveling 2000 miles to Churchill, Manitoba was not exactly budget friendly. Gas was a higher percentage than usual (3 more percentage points) because not only did we drive many miles this month, but gas was much more expensive in Canada ($4 per gallon, versus $2.50 in the U.S.). As of October 31st we are over budget by 5.9% (for the whole trip), but the previous two months we were under budget. My plan to keep my family on track is to cut our daily budget by 15% during the month of November. If my plan is successful we will be back on budget by November 30th. This plan is possible because we will be doing less driving, and staying at more houses of friends in November.
The top four categories for October were gas at 34.6%, lodging at 13.2%, restaurant meals at 10%, and groceries at 9.6%. Compared to September, lodging increased by 3 percentage points, thanks to our stay at the Polar Inn in Churchill, and staying in a few hotels in Montana due to snowstorms. Restaurant meals grew by 2 percentage points because it was hard to cook our own meals while staying at hotels. Household expenses fell by 11 percentage points because in September we were spending money on staples and other items we will not need to buy again. Because of our eating out so much, groceries fell by 6 percentage points.
The following graphs show the relative amount of our spending, by category, during the month of October and for the trip to date.
The top four categories for October were gas at 34.6%, lodging at 13.2%, restaurant meals at 10%, and groceries at 9.6%. Compared to September, lodging increased by 3 percentage points, thanks to our stay at the Polar Inn in Churchill, and staying in a few hotels in Montana due to snowstorms. Restaurant meals grew by 2 percentage points because it was hard to cook our own meals while staying at hotels. Household expenses fell by 11 percentage points because in September we were spending money on staples and other items we will not need to buy again. Because of our eating out so much, groceries fell by 6 percentage points.
The following graphs show the relative amount of our spending, by category, during the month of October and for the trip to date.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Eternal Plain
I was inspired to write this blog form the flat plains of South Dakota; it is not about an actual plain, but more of state of a state of consciousness. If you really go into the very core of this poem, you will find that it is all about nothing, and how it coincides with all that actually, or simply is.
The Eternal Plain
Here I lie, amidst all of nothing.
My body is still,
Listening
Waiting
Alas, nothing.
Barren landscape,
Stretching out in mindless enormity before my very eyes.
I see a plain
Covered in grass
And it simply is,
Not was, or will be,
It simply is.
It exists in the same way nothing exists
It simply is.
There are no boundaries for this plain
It goes on
It goes on for eternity.
It simply is.
I am now approaching a town
But the plain does not end where the town starts,
Oh no, the plain goes on…
To eternity...
To forever...
It simply does.
The Eternal Plain
Here I lie, amidst all of nothing.
My body is still,
Listening
Waiting
Alas, nothing.
Barren landscape,
Stretching out in mindless enormity before my very eyes.
I see a plain
Covered in grass
And it simply is,
Not was, or will be,
It simply is.
It exists in the same way nothing exists
It simply is.
There are no boundaries for this plain
It goes on
It goes on for eternity.
It simply is.
I am now approaching a town
But the plain does not end where the town starts,
Oh no, the plain goes on…
To eternity...
To forever...
It simply does.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
My Experiance with Via Rail Canada
On the via rail hudson bay train I encountered quite an unpleasent experience, I wrote a letter of my annoyance and frusteration to Via Rail's customer relations services, now I will just copy-paste both letters from my email to this blog.
Dear Customer Service Person for via rail Canada,
My name is Joshua Grossman, and I would like to tell you how thoroughly disgusted I am by the fact that you sell alcohol on the 18 hour train ride from Thompson to Churchill, MB. I am 12 years old, and I was traveling from Thompson to Churchill on train 693 on 9 October to see the polar bears in a “tundra buggy” as part of a year-long trip around the world that my family and I are taking. As I was sleeping in one of the passenger cars, I was rudely awakened by an alcoholic fool who decided that it would be a good idea to warn both me and my father of the 20-12 Mayan end of the world. He said, and I quote “You know, we’re all gonna die in 20-12, so you gonna want to be alone and s***, and you’re gonna want to get the f*** away from your family and die alone, you know what I mean?” *all said in the accent of a drunken moron*. I was scared by his aggressive behavior, and was relieved to see that he was in the process of getting off the train in Gillam when he woke me. I was flabbergasted by many things, mainly the rudeness of how he spoke, and that there was even a small amount of alcohol allowed on the train (let alone the massive amount that was actually allowed). And, that your staff continued to provide him with alcohol even after he was clearly very drunk. I request that you immediately cease and desist all alcohol on any train what so ever, as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Joshua Grossman.
Here is their reply:
Dear Mr. Grossman:
Thank you for your email concerning your recent trip with VIA Rail Canada between Thompson and Churchill.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the discomfort caused to you during your trip aboard Train 693 on October 9th, 2009 due to the reported disruptive behavior of a drunk passenger. Although our personnel can and have refused transportation to inebriated passengers, discretion and judgment are always required, as improper behavior is not always evident or predictable when such a person boards the train. The reported behavior of this individual is unacceptable, and I regret that this situation was not addressed in speedy manner for the benefit and comfort of all passengers.
I should mention that VIA personnel have been advised to politely refuse the service of alcoholic beverages to passengers who, in their judgment, have consumed enough, particularly if their conduct is disturbing other passengers. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you on this occasion. I can assure you that this incident has been reported to the manager responsible for follow-up with the involved employees.
Again, thank you for writing and allowing us the opportunity to apologize and take remedial action.
Lise Richard
Customer Relations Officer
I was frusterated by the fact that they did not agree to make any changes to their policy, but at least they responded and said that they would alert those responcible for that particular train.
Dear Customer Service Person for via rail Canada,
My name is Joshua Grossman, and I would like to tell you how thoroughly disgusted I am by the fact that you sell alcohol on the 18 hour train ride from Thompson to Churchill, MB. I am 12 years old, and I was traveling from Thompson to Churchill on train 693 on 9 October to see the polar bears in a “tundra buggy” as part of a year-long trip around the world that my family and I are taking. As I was sleeping in one of the passenger cars, I was rudely awakened by an alcoholic fool who decided that it would be a good idea to warn both me and my father of the 20-12 Mayan end of the world. He said, and I quote “You know, we’re all gonna die in 20-12, so you gonna want to be alone and s***, and you’re gonna want to get the f*** away from your family and die alone, you know what I mean?” *all said in the accent of a drunken moron*. I was scared by his aggressive behavior, and was relieved to see that he was in the process of getting off the train in Gillam when he woke me. I was flabbergasted by many things, mainly the rudeness of how he spoke, and that there was even a small amount of alcohol allowed on the train (let alone the massive amount that was actually allowed). And, that your staff continued to provide him with alcohol even after he was clearly very drunk. I request that you immediately cease and desist all alcohol on any train what so ever, as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Joshua Grossman.
Here is their reply:
Dear Mr. Grossman:
Thank you for your email concerning your recent trip with VIA Rail Canada between Thompson and Churchill.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the discomfort caused to you during your trip aboard Train 693 on October 9th, 2009 due to the reported disruptive behavior of a drunk passenger. Although our personnel can and have refused transportation to inebriated passengers, discretion and judgment are always required, as improper behavior is not always evident or predictable when such a person boards the train. The reported behavior of this individual is unacceptable, and I regret that this situation was not addressed in speedy manner for the benefit and comfort of all passengers.
I should mention that VIA personnel have been advised to politely refuse the service of alcoholic beverages to passengers who, in their judgment, have consumed enough, particularly if their conduct is disturbing other passengers. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you on this occasion. I can assure you that this incident has been reported to the manager responsible for follow-up with the involved employees.
Again, thank you for writing and allowing us the opportunity to apologize and take remedial action.
Lise Richard
Customer Relations Officer
I was frusterated by the fact that they did not agree to make any changes to their policy, but at least they responded and said that they would alert those responcible for that particular train.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
My Arctic Adventures
For the past three days I have been residing in Churchill Manitoba, where I have been on a dog-cart, a 4-wheel drive pickup truck, and a tundra buggy.
On October 11th I went dog sledding, well actually it was dog-carting because there wasn’t enough snow to go dog sledding, so we did pretty much the same thing, but there were wheels, making it a cart. My family and I went at about 15mph, being pulled by eight dogs. It was really fun, my favorite dog was Zaboo, he was an orange-goldish color, and very energetic. On the actual ride I took a video, (which I will include later) but the snow and dirt kept flying in my face and I was afraid it would damage my camera’s lens so I had to stop it short.
The next day we went on something called a “tundra buggy” it was like a really big bus, but it was completely customized so that there was a bathroom and a kitchen, and an observation deck at the back! So we were driving around the arctic tundra in a big bus-thing for about eight hours! We saw a total of four polar bears within those eight hours, but we only really got close to two of them, the first, and the third. The first bear we saw was pretty young and after about three minutes took shelter from us in a large outcrop of rocks. The second was just a sleeping lump in the distance and so there isn’t much to say about it. Then there was Paul, well I named him Paul because he reminded me of a character in my friend Jaret’s story. At the end of fifth grade we had to write a narrative for an assignment in English class, Jaret and I made a decision to include each others characters in our stories. Paul was the name of Jaret’s character and this polar bear, for some strange reason, reminded me of Paul. So Paul was a pretty lazy polar bear who woke up about every five minutes, once he woke up for about three minutes. I have a pretty good video of him which will be up on my blog later. The final bear was probably the second bear, just this time he was awake, but he was pretty far off in the distance so there isn’t much to tell about him this time either.
The next day was the trip home, but I convinced my parents to rent a car for three hours and we drove around all of the back roads in search of polar bears. We actually found one, we had heard about a man who owned a team of dogs, for dog sledding, and according to the story whenever he fed his dogs, he would throw out a fish to “the bear”. Now, the town didn’t like this at all, because he was taking money away from tundra buggy companies, he would charge people to drive around on his property, and they would get to see the bear. But then he sued the town because he said that if he stopped feeding the bear, it would come and eat some of his 180 dogs, he actually won the court case and kept feeding the bear. So we drove over to his property, and just kept on the outskirts but, there we saw it, a very large, well fed bear! At first it was hard to see, because it looked like there were 20 of them, but after a closer look we saw that 19 of them were incredibly large, white huskies. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of him, because my video camera ran out of battery, but it was still a great last minute experience.
I think this was a great trip because there is so much of a difference between looking at the taxidermy polar bear at the London Museum of Natural History, or going out in a tundra buggy for eight hours. Another reason I’m liking the big trip, and this section in particular is because it is teaching me so much about the difference between seeing, and doing! I will try to get the videos up as soon as I can but it may take awhile, so bear with me, I assure you that some of them are pretty good.
On October 11th I went dog sledding, well actually it was dog-carting because there wasn’t enough snow to go dog sledding, so we did pretty much the same thing, but there were wheels, making it a cart. My family and I went at about 15mph, being pulled by eight dogs. It was really fun, my favorite dog was Zaboo, he was an orange-goldish color, and very energetic. On the actual ride I took a video, (which I will include later) but the snow and dirt kept flying in my face and I was afraid it would damage my camera’s lens so I had to stop it short.
The next day we went on something called a “tundra buggy” it was like a really big bus, but it was completely customized so that there was a bathroom and a kitchen, and an observation deck at the back! So we were driving around the arctic tundra in a big bus-thing for about eight hours! We saw a total of four polar bears within those eight hours, but we only really got close to two of them, the first, and the third. The first bear we saw was pretty young and after about three minutes took shelter from us in a large outcrop of rocks. The second was just a sleeping lump in the distance and so there isn’t much to say about it. Then there was Paul, well I named him Paul because he reminded me of a character in my friend Jaret’s story. At the end of fifth grade we had to write a narrative for an assignment in English class, Jaret and I made a decision to include each others characters in our stories. Paul was the name of Jaret’s character and this polar bear, for some strange reason, reminded me of Paul. So Paul was a pretty lazy polar bear who woke up about every five minutes, once he woke up for about three minutes. I have a pretty good video of him which will be up on my blog later. The final bear was probably the second bear, just this time he was awake, but he was pretty far off in the distance so there isn’t much to tell about him this time either.
The next day was the trip home, but I convinced my parents to rent a car for three hours and we drove around all of the back roads in search of polar bears. We actually found one, we had heard about a man who owned a team of dogs, for dog sledding, and according to the story whenever he fed his dogs, he would throw out a fish to “the bear”. Now, the town didn’t like this at all, because he was taking money away from tundra buggy companies, he would charge people to drive around on his property, and they would get to see the bear. But then he sued the town because he said that if he stopped feeding the bear, it would come and eat some of his 180 dogs, he actually won the court case and kept feeding the bear. So we drove over to his property, and just kept on the outskirts but, there we saw it, a very large, well fed bear! At first it was hard to see, because it looked like there were 20 of them, but after a closer look we saw that 19 of them were incredibly large, white huskies. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of him, because my video camera ran out of battery, but it was still a great last minute experience.
I think this was a great trip because there is so much of a difference between looking at the taxidermy polar bear at the London Museum of Natural History, or going out in a tundra buggy for eight hours. Another reason I’m liking the big trip, and this section in particular is because it is teaching me so much about the difference between seeing, and doing! I will try to get the videos up as soon as I can but it may take awhile, so bear with me, I assure you that some of them are pretty good.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Monthly Financial Report #2, September
It’s now October 8th and I have finally finished with tracking the September expenses, and we actually turned out to be under budget by 0.33%. Gas topped the charts again at 31% of the budget, followed not so closely by groceries and household expenses both amounting to 15% of our monthly spending. Gas at 31% of our budget came 5 percentage points more than last month!
I am happy that we have been able to spend less than 10 percent of our monthly funds on restaurant meals; I think this shows how we have been able to cut back, even on things that we really enjoy. Other key differences between September and August were: in August admissions were 17% of total spending but in September they were only 3%. Household expenses had the reverse situation where in August they were 2% but in September they were 15%. One of the reasons admissions was much higher in August is that we bought an annual National Parks pass, which we then got a lot of value out of September. I’m not really sure why household was higher in September, but will be watching it closely.
So far, we are just slightly under budget on a trip-to-date basis, but October is likely to be a very expensive month, mainly because of our trip to Churchill to see the Polar Bears.
I am happy that we have been able to spend less than 10 percent of our monthly funds on restaurant meals; I think this shows how we have been able to cut back, even on things that we really enjoy. Other key differences between September and August were: in August admissions were 17% of total spending but in September they were only 3%. Household expenses had the reverse situation where in August they were 2% but in September they were 15%. One of the reasons admissions was much higher in August is that we bought an annual National Parks pass, which we then got a lot of value out of September. I’m not really sure why household was higher in September, but will be watching it closely.
So far, we are just slightly under budget on a trip-to-date basis, but October is likely to be a very expensive month, mainly because of our trip to Churchill to see the Polar Bears.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
IT’S JUST A STATUE!
In my opinion Mt. Rushmore should never have been made into a national monument, because in essence, it’s a statue. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but as I said, it’s just a statue. It may be an utterly massive statue showing all of America’s greatest presidents, but it’s just a statue! I know I may be starting to get incredibly repetitive, but I really want to make my point. Yes, I am actually a junior ranger there so I know I shouldn’t be insulting it, but…IT’S A STATUE, A BIG, BIG STATUE!!! See, I just don’t understand why they make it such a big deal, sure whoever made it was probably a great person to learn all sorts of useless facts about, yet it’s still just a STATUE!!! I wonder, if I made a big statue of Elvis Presley out of a mountain, would it become a national monument?
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Biggest Ball of Twine in the World
Right now I’m in the RV, headed away from Cawker City. In Cawker City lies the world’s biggest ball of twine! It was pretty ghost-like in Cawker City, not much but the ball of twine. But what was really cool was how in all of the old shop windows there was a re-worked famous picture so that the ball of twine was featured. So, for example, there was a fake picture of Picasso’s Sunflowers, but lying there, on the table was the ball of twine. Or, there was a twine-a-fied version of American Gothic, where the woman was holding a ball of twine.
I think that it’s really cool to visit almost-ghost towns, because they’re a great way to find out all sorts of information about stuff you’ll never need to know. Here are some facts that you will never have any use for, but I’ll tell you them any way; The ball is 11 feet tall, 42 feet in circumference, it weighs 19,092 pounds (which is 5,042 pounds more than the RV!) It is also started in 1953, making it 56 years old. So, all in all, I think that was a great experience that I’ll luckily never need to have again. I hope you like the weird twine pictures my dad took.
Here’s a picture of me adding more twine to the ball!
Here are some of the other Twine-art masterpieces:
I think that it’s really cool to visit almost-ghost towns, because they’re a great way to find out all sorts of information about stuff you’ll never need to know. Here are some facts that you will never have any use for, but I’ll tell you them any way; The ball is 11 feet tall, 42 feet in circumference, it weighs 19,092 pounds (which is 5,042 pounds more than the RV!) It is also started in 1953, making it 56 years old. So, all in all, I think that was a great experience that I’ll luckily never need to have again. I hope you like the weird twine pictures my dad took.
Here’s a picture of me adding more twine to the ball!
Here are some of the other Twine-art masterpieces:
The Mysterious Book, Number 2
A Little Treasury of American Poetry, edited by Oscar Williams is the title of the book my grandmother gave me. It was my grandfather’s when he was little. Here are some of my favorite poems;
Glyph (from the Washoe-Paiute)
I think whoever is reading this poem will really like it, it’s called “I saw Eternity”.
I Saw Eternity, by Louise Bogan
I thought both of the poems really made me look at things a different way, and I’m looking forward to reading more poems as we travel.
Glyph (from the Washoe-Paiute)
Truly BuzzardsI really liked this poem because of how it seemed so… other-worldly. It was translated directly from the glyphs of the Washoe-Paiute.
Around my sky are circling!
For my soul festers,
And an odor of corruption
Betrays me to disaster.
Meanness, betrayal, and spite
Come flockwise,
To make me aware
Of sickness and death within me.
My sky is full of the dreaded sound
Of the wings of unsuccesses.
I think whoever is reading this poem will really like it, it’s called “I saw Eternity”.
I Saw Eternity, by Louise Bogan
O beautiful forever!I enjoyed that poem because of how it made me look at eternity in a completely different way.
O grandiose everlasting!
Now, now, now,
I break you into pieces,
I feed you to the ground.
O brilliant, O languishing
Cycle of weeping light!
The mice and birds will eat you,
And you will spoil their stomachs
As you have spoiled my mind.
Here, mice, rats,
Porcupines and toads,
Moles, shrews, squirrels,
Weasels, turtles, lizards-
Here’s bright everlasting!
Here’s a crumb of forever!
Here’s a crumb of forever!
I thought both of the poems really made me look at things a different way, and I’m looking forward to reading more poems as we travel.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monthly Budget Report Number 1
I have now “closed up the books” for the month of August and found out some interesting facts, such as, the fact that we spent 26% percent of our budget on gas. Currently we are 1.4% over budget, which, considering the fact that we bought many staples is actually quite good. Our major expenses were gas and groceries which totaled 50% of our monthly budget. We also spent a large amount on admissions (17%). In the future I think we should be driving less to reduce gas costs. I also think thank we should be more careful when buying gas, because if gas is 20 cents cheaper, it makes a big difference when you’re driving an RV that gets eight miles to the gallon with a 55 gallon tank! Another point I will make sure to get across to my family is that we should buy more fruits like apples, and not stuff like strawberries which are out of season and are usually imported, and thus cost more. Finally to lower admissions I would like us to stop going to places that we go to just out of boredom, so we can go to better places that we will enjoy more.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
My Penguin Encounter at the St. Louis Zoo
Yesterday, the 27th of August I went to the St. Louis zoo, where there was an amazing penguin exhibit. I really liked this exhibit because all of the penguins had their own society, and it was really interesting watching them in their own little groups. I gave names to the individual penguins. Here are some pictures (and descriptions).
After I left the Humboldt exhibit I went on to go see the Emperor penguins, plus I saw some puffins, and an Eider Duck, which looks like a duck with an oddly shapen mushroom for a beak. I hope you enjoy these pictures (and, as I mentioned earlier, descriptions):
I hoped you liked my penguin, puffin, and weird seagull-thing pictures. In my opinion the best pictures were the ones of Alfred and friends. I liked them because they actually gave me some idea as to what a day would be like in the life of a penguin. Please comment on what your favorite picture was.
Here I am at the entrance to the penguin area, right behind me are the Humboldt penguins, indigenous to areas in South America, like Peru.
Here is a little penguin I like to call Albert, Albert is an extremely adventurous penguin, you will see many pictures of him later in my blog.
This is Albert, again. He is now quite sad because his favorite seat was just taken-up by a notorious seagull-thing know as Stuart.
Here is Albert once again, he's now having an all-out war against Stuart (the bigger, uglier, and closer one) the other seagull-thingy is known as the elusive Joe, known to snatch food out of unsuspecting penguin's mouth's.
Here is Albert, with his best friend Nick celebrating their victory in battle against the "forces of evil!"
Albert has now decided to go for a quick victory swim in the little penguin pond.
"Maybe my quick swim wasn't such a good idea" Albert is tentativly thinking right now. I think that he has a pretty good point.
At last he has made the leap of faith into the near-freezing waters and conquered all fear of the cold.
This is Nick again, curious to see where Albert has gone off to now. Little does he realize that Albert is swimming right below him.
Albert has gotten out of the penguin pool, and he and Nick have decided to take a little walk around their enclosure. Now I will leave to see some emperor penguins, as well as puffins, and a weird mutated duck-thing.
After I left the Humboldt exhibit I went on to go see the Emperor penguins, plus I saw some puffins, and an Eider Duck, which looks like a duck with an oddly shapen mushroom for a beak. I hope you enjoy these pictures (and, as I mentioned earlier, descriptions):
This is another of my favorite birds, the puffin. This puffin, however is very curious, I have named him Claude.
Here, floating absent-mindedly on the water is Simon. Simon is an Eider duck (the fungus-beak one I mentioned earlier). I call him Simon because he reminded me of Simon Cowell, he just looks annoyed at the world.
Here is the last picture, it is of an Emperor penguin baby whom I like to call Frank. Frank is an incredibly energetic penguin, who is always running around, looking for fun.
I hoped you liked my penguin, puffin, and weird seagull-thing pictures. In my opinion the best pictures were the ones of Alfred and friends. I liked them because they actually gave me some idea as to what a day would be like in the life of a penguin. Please comment on what your favorite picture was.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Various Sights Along the Road
On our way to Cooperstown, NY we saw some pretty strange sights. On our MapQuest directions number 11 was turn right at Banana Dan’s. So, we’re in the RV wondering; what on earth is “Banana Dan’s”? After about 12-13 minutes we see this massive sign saying “Banana Dan’s” towering above us.
My Dad, being who he is, immediately decided to play us the Harry Chapin song 30,000 pounds of Bananas. It’s a very entertaining song all about a delivery man delivering 30,000 pounds of bananas, but he loses control going down a steep hill in Scranton, PA, and the truck crashes! My favorite part is the chorus, when you’re hearing Harry Chapin with a light and more cheerful voice. Then this anonymous voice says “hit it big John” and to finish off the chorus you just hear the incredibly deep voice of “Big John” who, every chorus, sings “…of bananas”!
At last, once we have finally reached our destination, we set up camp at Shadow Brook campground (where we have been staying the past two nights). As soon as we got there we just had to try out the pool. The pool was great, there were even cool pool toys. In particular there was a really cool rocket that I kept tricking Simon with. The special thing about the rocket was if you threw the rocket about two feet, it would go about six feet. Simon really wanted the rocket so he could go diving for it, so I’d throw the rocket right next to him, but it really went about five feet behind him. When he went under water to go and pick it up, I quickly swam over to go pick it up while he wasn’t looking. We repeated this process six, or seven times before my mom started yelling at me, so I just handed it to him.
I think there will be lot’s of weird stuff throughout the year, like “Banana Dan’s” and I can’t wait to see it all (and, of course, blog about it). Here are some cool pictures, as well as a link to the song “30,000 Pounds of Bananas”!
My Dad, being who he is, immediately decided to play us the Harry Chapin song 30,000 pounds of Bananas. It’s a very entertaining song all about a delivery man delivering 30,000 pounds of bananas, but he loses control going down a steep hill in Scranton, PA, and the truck crashes! My favorite part is the chorus, when you’re hearing Harry Chapin with a light and more cheerful voice. Then this anonymous voice says “hit it big John” and to finish off the chorus you just hear the incredibly deep voice of “Big John” who, every chorus, sings “…of bananas”!
At last, once we have finally reached our destination, we set up camp at Shadow Brook campground (where we have been staying the past two nights). As soon as we got there we just had to try out the pool. The pool was great, there were even cool pool toys. In particular there was a really cool rocket that I kept tricking Simon with. The special thing about the rocket was if you threw the rocket about two feet, it would go about six feet. Simon really wanted the rocket so he could go diving for it, so I’d throw the rocket right next to him, but it really went about five feet behind him. When he went under water to go and pick it up, I quickly swam over to go pick it up while he wasn’t looking. We repeated this process six, or seven times before my mom started yelling at me, so I just handed it to him.
I think there will be lot’s of weird stuff throughout the year, like “Banana Dan’s” and I can’t wait to see it all (and, of course, blog about it). Here are some cool pictures, as well as a link to the song “30,000 Pounds of Bananas”!
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Flight of my Life
About two or three days ago my friend Matthew and I went on this MASSIVE zip-line known as, The Sun Mountain Flyer! To even get to the start of the ride you must first ride a 15 minute chair lift to the top of the mountain. Then you have to climb a very tall tower to get in a harness. After some tattooed teenagers strap you into your harness, you’re all ready to go!
A first I was very scared to get on, but after seeing some other kids go down I was finally persuaded. Once they buckle you in you’re just waiting for them to release the doors so you can go. This, in my opinion was the scariest part, waiting, just waiting for the drop off the platform into the open air. The ride was unbelievable; you’re soaring at about 60 miles per hour, on a zip-line, down a mountain! On the ride it was really cool to look down at the scenery, and think “O-M-G, I’m going down a mountain at 60 mph, 50 feet above the actual mountain”!
In retrospect I think I should’ve been more open to trying it out, even if it looked really scary at first, because once I tried it I had a really great time. Here is the advertisement:
A first I was very scared to get on, but after seeing some other kids go down I was finally persuaded. Once they buckle you in you’re just waiting for them to release the doors so you can go. This, in my opinion was the scariest part, waiting, just waiting for the drop off the platform into the open air. The ride was unbelievable; you’re soaring at about 60 miles per hour, on a zip-line, down a mountain! On the ride it was really cool to look down at the scenery, and think “O-M-G, I’m going down a mountain at 60 mph, 50 feet above the actual mountain”!
In retrospect I think I should’ve been more open to trying it out, even if it looked really scary at first, because once I tried it I had a really great time. Here is the advertisement:
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Penguin Staff
This year for my birthday my parents gave me (among other things) a hiking stick. This was no ordinary hiking stick, for this was a hiking staff, crested by the figure of a penguin! This majestic creature, atop my staff is a true beauty, below is a picture of me with it on Little Ball mountain.
So far I have only used it once, while climbing Little Ball Mountain in Vermont. I hope to use it again next week with some of my best friends, Thomas and Matthew on a 6 mile hike to a waterfall, also in Vermont. I wonder when I will get other opportunities along the big adventure to use my Penguin staff; I’m looking forward to a lot of climbing and hiking, so I can really get to know it.
Ever since the age of 3 I have been fascinated by both polar bears, and penguins. The original reason for my love of both Arctic, and Antarctic animals, is when I was three, and I was given a polar bear stuffed-animal by my Grandpa. I didn’t actually like penguins until I was six or seven, after I saw the movie March of the Penguins. Once I had started liking penguins, there was just no stopping, I became so addicted to them that the next summer at day-camp I wrote a song about penguins, and preformed it in front of about 100 kids! The song went something like this:
Tonight at 6:54:32 and a tenth of a second, it will be 09/8/7 6:54:32.1! At this precise time I will perform “The Penguin Dance” as a salute to penguins world-wide. Until then I’ll have to find another way to appease the penguin and polar bear gods. If, by any chance you have a spare goat, or other livestock please send it to me, as a sacrifice, until then I’ll stick with sacrificing my vegetables.
So far I have only used it once, while climbing Little Ball Mountain in Vermont. I hope to use it again next week with some of my best friends, Thomas and Matthew on a 6 mile hike to a waterfall, also in Vermont. I wonder when I will get other opportunities along the big adventure to use my Penguin staff; I’m looking forward to a lot of climbing and hiking, so I can really get to know it.
Ever since the age of 3 I have been fascinated by both polar bears, and penguins. The original reason for my love of both Arctic, and Antarctic animals, is when I was three, and I was given a polar bear stuffed-animal by my Grandpa. I didn’t actually like penguins until I was six or seven, after I saw the movie March of the Penguins. Once I had started liking penguins, there was just no stopping, I became so addicted to them that the next summer at day-camp I wrote a song about penguins, and preformed it in front of about 100 kids! The song went something like this:
“First you waddle to the left, then you waddle to the right,
Then you boogie, boogie, boogie, ‘til the broad daylight,
Do the penguin and turn yourself around,
Now it’s time to make the penguin sound:
First you squawk, squawk, squawk,
then you cock-a-doodle-doo,
Now you can teach your friends to do the penguin too!”
Then you boogie, boogie, boogie, ‘til the broad daylight,
Do the penguin and turn yourself around,
Now it’s time to make the penguin sound:
First you squawk, squawk, squawk,
then you cock-a-doodle-doo,
Now you can teach your friends to do the penguin too!”
Tonight at 6:54:32 and a tenth of a second, it will be 09/8/7 6:54:32.1! At this precise time I will perform “The Penguin Dance” as a salute to penguins world-wide. Until then I’ll have to find another way to appease the penguin and polar bear gods. If, by any chance you have a spare goat, or other livestock please send it to me, as a sacrifice, until then I’ll stick with sacrificing my vegetables.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Summer Camp
Three days ago I got back from spending four weeks at Camp Becket in the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts. I have many mixed feelings about my time at camp, but over all it was a fun time.
The first week I was constantly tormented by someone who will go by the miscellaneous pseudonym of “Bill”. This “Bill” had the top bunk right above me, and was the first to tell me of my non-existent snoring problems. The incredibly frustrating part of it all was that my parents didn’t receive the letters I had sent them telling them about my predicament with “Bill” until one or two weeks into camp! Thus without the letters I’d sent them, they knew not of my troubles, and so I didn’t get any help from my councilors, until a week or two into camp!
Luckily the camp director was very helpful, that is, once he knew what the problem was. After the first week and a half, I had a pretty good time at camp, even though “Bill” was still being a jerk. As it buckled down to the last week of camp “Bill’s” evils only spread. At one point some people realized that I wasn’t actually snoring, and stood up in my defense. Since “Bill” had the bunk above me he aggressively retorted that, “I have the bunk above Josh, and so I should know whether he snores, or not!”
Finally, now that it is all over I look back on my time at camp and think, hey, there are people like “Bill” everywhere and what I’ve taken out of my experience is that sometimes life gives you creeps, and you might just have to make creepo juice. That didn’t come out right at all, but the message it there; Sometimes there are mean people out there, and most of the time you just have to deal with them.
During the third week, was when other cast members and I preformed the “Big Show”! Every day is either an M day or a T day (except when on Sundays we skipped electives to have an idiotic chapel). Each M and T day we had 3 electives (Big Show is a 2-block activity, so we only had two electives on T days), and on every T day we would have Big Show for our second, and third blocks. To sum it up we had a lot of practice.
On our third week at camp we preformed the Big Show. This year’s Big Show was all about a group of campers who were trying to put on the Big Show. So really it was all about a play within a play and the play was the Tempest. I played the part of Spike, who in the Tempest played Miranda.
In a nutshell I think the play turned out wonderfully, and that we as the cast did a great job. There were a few little errors, and one big error, when someone forgot their lines and we missed out on about 20 minutes of conversation, but all in all it turned out great.
The first week I was constantly tormented by someone who will go by the miscellaneous pseudonym of “Bill”. This “Bill” had the top bunk right above me, and was the first to tell me of my non-existent snoring problems. The incredibly frustrating part of it all was that my parents didn’t receive the letters I had sent them telling them about my predicament with “Bill” until one or two weeks into camp! Thus without the letters I’d sent them, they knew not of my troubles, and so I didn’t get any help from my councilors, until a week or two into camp!
Luckily the camp director was very helpful, that is, once he knew what the problem was. After the first week and a half, I had a pretty good time at camp, even though “Bill” was still being a jerk. As it buckled down to the last week of camp “Bill’s” evils only spread. At one point some people realized that I wasn’t actually snoring, and stood up in my defense. Since “Bill” had the bunk above me he aggressively retorted that, “I have the bunk above Josh, and so I should know whether he snores, or not!”
Finally, now that it is all over I look back on my time at camp and think, hey, there are people like “Bill” everywhere and what I’ve taken out of my experience is that sometimes life gives you creeps, and you might just have to make creepo juice. That didn’t come out right at all, but the message it there; Sometimes there are mean people out there, and most of the time you just have to deal with them.
During the third week, was when other cast members and I preformed the “Big Show”! Every day is either an M day or a T day (except when on Sundays we skipped electives to have an idiotic chapel). Each M and T day we had 3 electives (Big Show is a 2-block activity, so we only had two electives on T days), and on every T day we would have Big Show for our second, and third blocks. To sum it up we had a lot of practice.
On our third week at camp we preformed the Big Show. This year’s Big Show was all about a group of campers who were trying to put on the Big Show. So really it was all about a play within a play and the play was the Tempest. I played the part of Spike, who in the Tempest played Miranda.
In a nutshell I think the play turned out wonderfully, and that we as the cast did a great job. There were a few little errors, and one big error, when someone forgot their lines and we missed out on about 20 minutes of conversation, but all in all it turned out great.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The mystery book
Last Sunday, when my friends from Atlanta Georgia were in town, we rode the London Eye. To describe the London Eye, I’d have to say that it’s a big bicycle wheel, with 20 foot long pods all around the perimeter. First you wait in a half-hour long line, after that you get into the pods, on the ride you sit, or stand in the pod for 30 minutes while the pod goes round, kind of like a giant Ferris-wheel. In the pod we sat and looked out over the tops of all the buildings, we also had a contest as to who could name the most landmarks, I won with 11 total monuments. After we had ridden the eye, we went down to Wagamama (an incredibly good noodle restaurant) for lunch, to anyone who goes there I recommend the peach ice tea. So anyway, after a great lunch we headed down to the Tate modern. It was a sunny day, so we took our time getting there on the 20 minute walk on the side of the river Thames (pronounced t-ame-s). What we were walking on was not the actual bank of the river Thames, but a boardwalk on the side of the river, with street vendors and performers everywhere. While we were walking we stopped by an outdoor used book sale, there, lying in a discarded row of old books sat the most magical book of all, I was drawn to its musty smell, and old, beautiful cover. There in front of me sat William Cowper’s Complete Poetical Works, published in 1853! Here is a poem by Sir William Cowper himself:
The Maze
From left to right, and to and fro,
Caught in a labyrinth you go,
And turn, and turn, and turn again,
To solve the mystery, but in vain;
Stand still, and breathe, and take from me
A clue, that soon shall set you free!
Not Ariadne, if you meet her,
Herself could serve you with a better.
You enter’d easily-find where-
And make with ease your exit there!
I know the grammar is a little bit shaky, but I just guess that’s just how the wrote back in the 1780s (I know the book was published in 1853, but William Cowper was born in 1731, and died in 1800, so the book was published 53 years from his death). I chose to show this poem, because it is about my personal favorite Greek myth, that of Theseus and the Labyrinth.
P.S.
In case you want to tell anyone about William Cowper, read his poem aloud, or just say his name for the fun of it, it is pronounced William C-ou-per! I know this because his poems were so interesting we looked him up on Google, and found a wikipedia entry on him. Here is a link to it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cowper.
P.P.S.
Although he is an obscure, unknown poet today, back in the 1800s he was very popular. He wrote many poems, most about nature, or evil. Many historians believe this is because he had multiple mid-life crises. His only solaces were in writing poetry, and evangelical Christianity!
The Maze
From left to right, and to and fro,
Caught in a labyrinth you go,
And turn, and turn, and turn again,
To solve the mystery, but in vain;
Stand still, and breathe, and take from me
A clue, that soon shall set you free!
Not Ariadne, if you meet her,
Herself could serve you with a better.
You enter’d easily-find where-
And make with ease your exit there!
I know the grammar is a little bit shaky, but I just guess that’s just how the wrote back in the 1780s (I know the book was published in 1853, but William Cowper was born in 1731, and died in 1800, so the book was published 53 years from his death). I chose to show this poem, because it is about my personal favorite Greek myth, that of Theseus and the Labyrinth.
P.S.
In case you want to tell anyone about William Cowper, read his poem aloud, or just say his name for the fun of it, it is pronounced William C-ou-per! I know this because his poems were so interesting we looked him up on Google, and found a wikipedia entry on him. Here is a link to it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cowper.
P.P.S.
Although he is an obscure, unknown poet today, back in the 1800s he was very popular. He wrote many poems, most about nature, or evil. Many historians believe this is because he had multiple mid-life crises. His only solaces were in writing poetry, and evangelical Christianity!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Meeting the Obamas
Last week on Tuesday the 31st of March President and Mrs. Obama came to my school (American School in London), and I met them! He was in London for the G20 Leaders summit and he wanted to thank the U.S. embassy in London staff for their hard work. The line to get into A.S.L. took about an hour and a half, because so many people wanted to go. It was really weird, since I never have to wait in line to go to school when there are lots of kids there, but then, at night when there are no kids, I had to wait an hour and a half to get in. It was supposed to be for the embassy families only, but I got to go since my dad was working directly for the White House.
A thousand or so embassy families gathered in the gym to hear Obama speak. First he talked about the good work everybody in the embassy had done, and then he shook hands with most of the embassy kids after his thank-you speech.
After the speech my dad had arranged for my family to meet Obama personally. It was a great experience, and we also got to ask Obama a question each. Since the entire 5th grade is studying Africa, and the topic I’ve chosen to focus in on is conflict diamonds, I asked; “I’m studying conflict diamonds in Africa, what’s your personal, and professional opinion on them?” President Obama looked a little taken aback by my question’s seriousness given that we were standing in the foyer outside of a gym where he had just finished a casual meet-and-greet with all the embassy kids. First he joked; “Nobody briefed me on this.” Then continued to answer; “But that is a serious question, and what I believe is that there are many countries in Africa and almost all of them have much strife related to conflict diamonds. The countries need to work together to help solve this problem. Both individuals and diamond companies need to make sure that their diamonds are conflict free.” I think that’s the great thing about Barack Obama, he can address a serious topic in a funny way, but give a true and meaningful answer!
After this wonderful experience my head is still somewhat spinning. I decided to add a page on “Barrack Obama’s opinion on conflict diamonds” to my report. My teacher has said that in terms of Africa projects she has seen, my page with an exclusive quote from the President of the United States of America was a first.
I’ll post a link to my report when it’s finished…
A thousand or so embassy families gathered in the gym to hear Obama speak. First he talked about the good work everybody in the embassy had done, and then he shook hands with most of the embassy kids after his thank-you speech.
After the speech my dad had arranged for my family to meet Obama personally. It was a great experience, and we also got to ask Obama a question each. Since the entire 5th grade is studying Africa, and the topic I’ve chosen to focus in on is conflict diamonds, I asked; “I’m studying conflict diamonds in Africa, what’s your personal, and professional opinion on them?” President Obama looked a little taken aback by my question’s seriousness given that we were standing in the foyer outside of a gym where he had just finished a casual meet-and-greet with all the embassy kids. First he joked; “Nobody briefed me on this.” Then continued to answer; “But that is a serious question, and what I believe is that there are many countries in Africa and almost all of them have much strife related to conflict diamonds. The countries need to work together to help solve this problem. Both individuals and diamond companies need to make sure that their diamonds are conflict free.” I think that’s the great thing about Barack Obama, he can address a serious topic in a funny way, but give a true and meaningful answer!
After this wonderful experience my head is still somewhat spinning. I decided to add a page on “Barrack Obama’s opinion on conflict diamonds” to my report. My teacher has said that in terms of Africa projects she has seen, my page with an exclusive quote from the President of the United States of America was a first.
I’ll post a link to my report when it’s finished…
Sunday, March 8, 2009
My feeling towards the whole adventure thing
Right now I feel all weird, kinda like none of this is ever really going to happen, but then again I know it will. I feel really bad for my friends, especially Matt, because both me and Jaret are leaving at the end of the year. It's going to be fun to see Jaret in New York, my parents told me that we might see him.
I think it's going to be really fun to be CFO (Chief Financial Officer), as CFO I will have to manage our budget. Just last week-end I got to be CFO for a little three-night trip to Paris, it was hard work, making sure we got a receipt for everything, and if not, to remember how much it was. In the end I think it was a good experience for me, because it really helped me to get an idea as to what I will have to do in the real trip. Plus I got an idea of how much things cost in comparison, which led to quantity over quality, or vice versa. Think about it -- a crepe on the street is about 3.50 euros, whereas an indoor one is about 7.30 euros. I think the indoor ones are more expensive because of heating costs and the chairs. But for some reason the crepes on the street taste better to me, I think this is because in the cold Parisian weather there is nothing like a crepe to warm you up.
To sum it all up; Being CFO is going to be a blast. I know it is a big step from a little three night trip to Paris to a year long experience, but I think I'm ready for it. I might not be eating crepes, but I know there will all sorts of awesome stuff to eat along the way.
I think it's going to be really fun to be CFO (Chief Financial Officer), as CFO I will have to manage our budget. Just last week-end I got to be CFO for a little three-night trip to Paris, it was hard work, making sure we got a receipt for everything, and if not, to remember how much it was. In the end I think it was a good experience for me, because it really helped me to get an idea as to what I will have to do in the real trip. Plus I got an idea of how much things cost in comparison, which led to quantity over quality, or vice versa. Think about it -- a crepe on the street is about 3.50 euros, whereas an indoor one is about 7.30 euros. I think the indoor ones are more expensive because of heating costs and the chairs. But for some reason the crepes on the street taste better to me, I think this is because in the cold Parisian weather there is nothing like a crepe to warm you up.
To sum it all up; Being CFO is going to be a blast. I know it is a big step from a little three night trip to Paris to a year long experience, but I think I'm ready for it. I might not be eating crepes, but I know there will all sorts of awesome stuff to eat along the way.
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