Just a quick note to point you to the good folks over at Persevero Films, and their fundraiser for their film project "Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger" If you donate as little as $1 dollar to their campain before midnight on the 1st, you will be entered to win one of two Apple iPads! Hurry, less than 31 hours left! Here is a little video from their site to get you interested:
Join me in helping them reach their goal of $30,000 by tomorrow night!
Andrew B.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
What if...
... the Lord had been born in the year 2010? Here is a little video that portrays what it might have been like. Enjoy!
(I did not make this, only found it on YouTube... :-) )
(I did not make this, only found it on YouTube... :-) )
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Finally a little time to build--
--with my Legos! I took a little time yesterday to build myself an all Lego iPod dock! Here are a couple of pictures:
I haven't had time to build with my legos for a long time, but hopefully I will have a little more time in the future...
Mom is calling me to go help with dishes, so I have to go.
Andrew B.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The Spirit of Christmas
As I am sitting in front of my computer listening to Christmas music, I start to ponder the question "What is it about Christmas, that special something that makes people more happy than any other time of the year?" I am beginning to think that it is the joy of giving, that happiness that comes from making somebody happy. Here is a little example:
Last week I was standing in line at the local Walmart, waiting for the slow moving traffic of overloaded carts to pass through the line in front of me... After a long wait, it was finally my turn. After ringing up my comparatively small purchase, the cashier told promptly told my my bill: $22.20. OH NO! I only have a $20 dollar bill with me, so I desperately try calling my Dad who is sitting out in the car waiting for me, only to get a busy signal... What should I do? I hear a voice behind me ask "How much do you need?" I turn around and very sheepishly say $2.20. The kind stranger promptly pays the extra money! I offered to run out to the car and get a couple of dollars to pay her back, but she replies with a big smile "Don't worry about it, it's Christmas time!" What can I say? I walk out of the store marveling at the change that comes over people at this time of year.
I think that deep down everybody enjoys giving, enjoys helping out our fellow men. The problem is that from the day we are born we are bombarded by a society that only thinks of self, a society that measures one on the scale of how much they posses, not how much they do for others. But at this one time of year, people are expected to give of themselves, to help other people, to make others feel special. A time of year when society itself takes a turn and preaches the exact opposite of what it is used to. Why would a predominantly God-less society continue to celebrate the Lords birth in such a way? The only reason I can think of is that they actually enjoy the feeling of making others happy! What do you think? Let me know!
Andrew B.
Last week I was standing in line at the local Walmart, waiting for the slow moving traffic of overloaded carts to pass through the line in front of me... After a long wait, it was finally my turn. After ringing up my comparatively small purchase, the cashier told promptly told my my bill: $22.20. OH NO! I only have a $20 dollar bill with me, so I desperately try calling my Dad who is sitting out in the car waiting for me, only to get a busy signal... What should I do? I hear a voice behind me ask "How much do you need?" I turn around and very sheepishly say $2.20. The kind stranger promptly pays the extra money! I offered to run out to the car and get a couple of dollars to pay her back, but she replies with a big smile "Don't worry about it, it's Christmas time!" What can I say? I walk out of the store marveling at the change that comes over people at this time of year.
I think that deep down everybody enjoys giving, enjoys helping out our fellow men. The problem is that from the day we are born we are bombarded by a society that only thinks of self, a society that measures one on the scale of how much they posses, not how much they do for others. But at this one time of year, people are expected to give of themselves, to help other people, to make others feel special. A time of year when society itself takes a turn and preaches the exact opposite of what it is used to. Why would a predominantly God-less society continue to celebrate the Lords birth in such a way? The only reason I can think of is that they actually enjoy the feeling of making others happy! What do you think? Let me know!
Andrew B.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Quick update.
Hi all,
Just a quick update of what has all been going on around here... On Friday, Dad, Mom and Jacob went to Bismarck to run a bunch of errands, and to bring home the truck which is finally fixed. YAY! Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon watching Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park", which was pretty good... Today we are just working on odds and ends, although one of the projects on my list is to finish our farm's logo and label for the grain we are planning on selling, and work on designing a website for our farm. :-) That should keep me busy for a little while...
Best get to work,
Andrew B.
Just a quick update of what has all been going on around here... On Friday, Dad, Mom and Jacob went to Bismarck to run a bunch of errands, and to bring home the truck which is finally fixed. YAY! Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon watching Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park", which was pretty good... Today we are just working on odds and ends, although one of the projects on my list is to finish our farm's logo and label for the grain we are planning on selling, and work on designing a website for our farm. :-) That should keep me busy for a little while...
Best get to work,
Andrew B.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Blog updating, again...
Hello everybody!
Today is a nice cold "Almost Winter" day here in ND, the temperature is currently 6.3° outside with a light breeze from the East. There must have been fog again overnight, because everything is covered with a good layer of frost... :-) It is really quite beautiful, but sitting here in front of my computer and looking out of the window, I am rather glad to be inside!
As the title of this post implies, I have just finished updating several parts of my blog. Be sure to check out my updated list of favorite books and movies on my profile page, as well as the updated list of blogs I follow. ----->
Yesterday we all (Except Cora, who had to work...) went to Bismarck. Mom had a bunch of sessions to do at her office, Jacob and I were hoping to be able to skate/play hockey at one of the rinks up there, and Dad had to go talk to our banker in Mandan. Unfortunately we weren't able to skate up there, as they were just in the process of flooding the rinks, which will then need a couple of days to set and then a couple more layers besides... Maybe next week... :-) I have been pondering trying to get a Homeschool Hockey League going in Bismarck, if I can find enough people who would be interested... Readers, what do you think of that idea?
On the joys of a NEW computer:
For those of you who have been reading my blog for quite some time, you probably know that I enjoy working with anything electronic, especially computers... And you probably also know that I recently built myself a new one. :-) Here is a report of what I have been doing with it, and how I am enjoying the great increase in speed.
I have been working on editing some video that I took last summer of our friends, the Dagley's, "Prairie Days". (Keep posted for clips from that...) Now, as anybody who has worked with video before will know, rendering video takes A LOT of computer power, and the amount of time it takes to render a video is directly proportional to the speed of your processor... Now for the fun stats: My old computer took a little over a minute to render one minute of standard definition video. My new one takes about 9 seconds! My old computer rendered one minute of 1080P HD video in about 12 minutes (!), while my new one can do the same task in a minute and a quarter! As you can imagine, that drastically cuts down on the amount of time required to work with video files. :-)
That's all for now,
Andrew B.
Today is a nice cold "Almost Winter" day here in ND, the temperature is currently 6.3° outside with a light breeze from the East. There must have been fog again overnight, because everything is covered with a good layer of frost... :-) It is really quite beautiful, but sitting here in front of my computer and looking out of the window, I am rather glad to be inside!
As the title of this post implies, I have just finished updating several parts of my blog. Be sure to check out my updated list of favorite books and movies on my profile page, as well as the updated list of blogs I follow. ----->
Yesterday we all (Except Cora, who had to work...) went to Bismarck. Mom had a bunch of sessions to do at her office, Jacob and I were hoping to be able to skate/play hockey at one of the rinks up there, and Dad had to go talk to our banker in Mandan. Unfortunately we weren't able to skate up there, as they were just in the process of flooding the rinks, which will then need a couple of days to set and then a couple more layers besides... Maybe next week... :-) I have been pondering trying to get a Homeschool Hockey League going in Bismarck, if I can find enough people who would be interested... Readers, what do you think of that idea?
On the joys of a NEW computer:
For those of you who have been reading my blog for quite some time, you probably know that I enjoy working with anything electronic, especially computers... And you probably also know that I recently built myself a new one. :-) Here is a report of what I have been doing with it, and how I am enjoying the great increase in speed.
I have been working on editing some video that I took last summer of our friends, the Dagley's, "Prairie Days". (Keep posted for clips from that...) Now, as anybody who has worked with video before will know, rendering video takes A LOT of computer power, and the amount of time it takes to render a video is directly proportional to the speed of your processor... Now for the fun stats: My old computer took a little over a minute to render one minute of standard definition video. My new one takes about 9 seconds! My old computer rendered one minute of 1080P HD video in about 12 minutes (!), while my new one can do the same task in a minute and a quarter! As you can imagine, that drastically cuts down on the amount of time required to work with video files. :-)
That's all for now,
Andrew B.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
More snow!
It's beginning to look like Winter around here! I know it's actually still fall, but when there is 6+ inches of snow on the ground, it sure feels like Winter! It reminds me of the saying:
"There are four seasons in North Dakota; Almost Winter; Winter; Still Winter; and Road Construction!"
We were up in Bismarck again yesterday, moving Mom's office from one room to another larger one in the same building. We were also hoping to be able to get our truck back from the shop, where it has been for the past three weeks! It went in with a transmission problem, and after we got it back the first time there were several other problems with it, so it went right back... They thought they had it working finally, but after they took it out and drove it a little, they found more problems... ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! The whole situation has been frustrating, to put it mildly...
It looks like it is going to be a nice day out today, maybe we will be able to have some fun outside! The sun is shining, there is a light breeze, and the temperature is 16°! Just right for snowmobiling... :-)
That's all for now,
Andrew B.
"There are four seasons in North Dakota; Almost Winter; Winter; Still Winter; and Road Construction!"
We were up in Bismarck again yesterday, moving Mom's office from one room to another larger one in the same building. We were also hoping to be able to get our truck back from the shop, where it has been for the past three weeks! It went in with a transmission problem, and after we got it back the first time there were several other problems with it, so it went right back... They thought they had it working finally, but after they took it out and drove it a little, they found more problems... ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! The whole situation has been frustrating, to put it mildly...
It looks like it is going to be a nice day out today, maybe we will be able to have some fun outside! The sun is shining, there is a light breeze, and the temperature is 16°! Just right for snowmobiling... :-)
That's all for now,
Andrew B.
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