Life on the Road

By Nick

Hi all!

This is the first of a series of epic failures by the average person. I often visit a site called failblog.org, which is a site on which anyone can place pictures or videos of incredible mistakes. When I saw this, I just had to share.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCJ3Oz5JVKs[/youtube]

So my mom isn’t the only one to have trouble with Verizon…

Watch for more!

And I’m out.

by Nick 

Hi All!

I have to say, I did not particularly enjoy that Superbowl, since I don’t really care about the Steelers or the Cardinals. I did enjoy the seriously good plays, though.

The Steeler’s linebacker’s unbeatable 100 yard interception. Go Steelers!

The Cardinals surprisingly good 4th quarter. They almost had the game there.

Hopefully next year there will be a team that I have an attachment to in Superbowl XLIV.

Catch ya later! 

by Nick 

FINALLY!

In case y’all are wondering why I haven’t posted for a while, it is because Mama uses her computer almost all the time, and mine didn’t have an Internet connection. Until now…

So, expect a flood of posts about everything from aardvarks to zymurgy, to make up for a long absence.

Catch ya later!

Hi, all!

I haven’t posted for a while because I either didn’t have anything to post about, or something happened and someone else posted it. Now, I have decided to write reviews on video games because no one else in the family is a serious gamer so they won’t steal my posts. 

Rock Band was made by Harmonix, who also made Guitar Hero I, II, and III. I also own GH3 and might write a review on it later, but this review is on Rock Band. In Rock Band, 1-4 people can play: one person can go on a solo tour or get together with friends or even people on Xbox Live to do a band tour.

There a 4 positions on the band: guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. The game box, however, only comes with one guitar controller. Because I own GH3 I can just use the guitar that came with it as my bass, so that works out well.

The drums are my personal favorite. They consist of four drum pads and  a foot pedal, all supported on a metal and plastic frame that you have to assemble, but don’t worry. It comes with directions and is easy to assemble without them. They also come with to real drumsticks that would be just as good on a real drum as in this game.

The guitar that came with Rock Band is very cool. It has fret buttons on the neck, and a strum bar on the body, which you strum as you press the frets. The GH3 controller strum bar made a slight clicking noise every time you strummed, but the Rock Band strum bar is silent. There is also the whammy bar, which bends the sound of your notes making them really cool.

The mic is, well, a mic. You have to have a normal Xbox 360 controller to use the mic, which, in some songs, is also used as a cowbell or tambourine.

The game is, if possible, cooler than the equipment. If you make a band, each person chooses the gender, height, weight, face style, hair style, hair color, eye color, skin color, attitude, name, and hometown. Then you choose the band’s name and starting city. The first time I played I was the drummer, and I maxed out the height and weight (which makes him buff, not chubby), gave him white skin and hair, red eyes, and dressed him only in black, preferably leather, accented with chain armbands and spikes and the like, and gave him a heavy metal attitude. He is awesome.

When you play a  gig, notes (or words, with vocal) start coming down the track to the target bar. Guitars have to press the correct color fret button, then hit the strum bar when the note reaches the target bar. Drums just whack the right color pad, and vocals have to sing at the right pitch, but don’t have to get the words right.

After each song, you earn stars, between one and five. As you get more stars, you unlock new songs, places and things. You also get money, which can be used to get tatoos, clothes, and instruments.  You will often be challenged for things like a van, a tour bus, roadies, and people to lug all your gear around, and that’s not all!

All in all it is a great game that I would recommend to anyone. Rock on!

Hello Everyone!

I haven’t blogged in a while, been really busy, plus we’ve had no internet for a few weeks so I just haven’t had the opportunity. I’m writing this post from Berea, KY in our RV in the Wal-Mart parking lot. In Bowling Green, where we’ve been for a while, we could not get online in the RV. Now that we are in Berea, I can blog all I want to.

I am writing this over a piping hot bowl of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs. They are very good for the RV because cans of Chef can cost just $1 if they are on sale and there are 2 servings in a can. It is best if you put some pepper in it because it is somewhat bland, and if you have a banana with it to make it filling enough.

I am trying to lose weight and so am on a 2,000 calorie a day diet. I am having 5 small meals a day of 400 calories or less (400 X 5 = 2,000), and half a can of Chef Spaghetti and Meatballs has 270 calories plus about 50 cals from fruit, which is 80 under max which is good because dinner is usually bigger than 400.

Hello world! I’m Baaaaaack!

I’ve been at the Summer Camp for Academically Talented middle school Students (SCATS) for two weeks, and have been having a seriously sweet time. My classes were, in this order: Robotics at the top of the hill, Shakespeare at the bottom of the hill, Renaissance in the same building as Shakespeare, then Spanish at the top of the hill right next to Robotics. The best part was watching the movies in the big auditoriums. We saw The Rocketeer and Night at the Museum.

I had a roommate in the dorm room, but even with only half of the room to myself, it was still bigger than my room in the RV. Next year will be much better because the dorm will be in a totally new building that was under construction while I was there. Everything will be bigger and their will be one bathroom per two rooms instead of one per floor. Sweet. Plus, the building will have a computer lab. Double Sweet.

Next year, I will be going to VAMPY, (Not exactly sure what it stands for) [ed. note: Verbally and Mathematically Precocious Youth] which is three weeks long, has only one class, and is for older students. Definately looking forward to that.

I gotta stop blogging and relax some ’cause I got a slight sick bug from not sleeping enough. Catch ya later!

Bleaaahhh… This part stinks. Traveling out of one state, across two more, and into a fourth, crossing into two time zones, all in the space of three days… Double Bleaaahhh… Still, there is some good.

If you are ever in Amarillo, TX…wait, strike that… if you are ever within a hundred miles of Amarillo, TX stop at the Big Texan Steak Ranch. They have such good, no, great, no, amazing, no, (insert best descriptor you have ever heard here) that I can’t think of a word that even comes close to describing it, food.

If you like Ranch dressing at all, you must try theirs. I was in ecstacy! I had it with everything! I had ordered a Cheeseburger, side salad, and it came with rolls. I had it on the salad and fell in love. Mmmmmm… I put it on my burger, on the rolls, and bought a jar of it to take home. Double Mmmmmm…

My mama got prime rib and said that the only prime rib that might have ever been better was at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills. Triple Mmmmm… Papa got a steak and said it was the second best he had ever eaten. Coming from him, that was an extreme compliment. Quadruple Mmmm…

And afterwards, they have (insert same as above) fudge and a really, really, really, really, really, really, cool shooting gallery and slot machine setup. They slot machines are only for fun you don’t get money if you win, but it’s still fun.

We were parked behind them in their free lot for RV’s and trucks. It rained so hard that night I thought we would be flooded and be mired in mud. In the morning being alive and not mired we ate at their breakfast buffet. The stuff sitting in the bins wasn’t fabulous, but their fresh made omlettes and waffles were fabulous.

We are in Oklahoma and I am zzzuffering from jet lag zzo I better go to Zzzzz…

Hello World!! It’s me!

We’re finally leaving Prescott, AZ for Mississippi, with a stop in Misery, I mean Missouri, to see Grandma Karen, Papa’s mom.

In Mississippi we stay in a really cool spot. Our church (East End Baptist) has a HUGE shed behind them with a BIG slab of covered concrete where they park their buses. Now get this… they let us park there!

On flat, level concrete, with water and electric hookups, and a bathroom, for free! It’s amazing! We sometimes pay 25 bucks or more to stay in an RV park that isn’t half that good.

After that, we are going to Kentucky to maybe buy some property, but for now just looking. Also, the Western Kentucky University (there isn’t a lot of North-South, so they had to go East-West) is having a Summer Camp specifically for gifted students, and guess what? I’m a gifted student.

After that we are going to Jamestown, VA for their 400th anniversary celebration. It is going to be so awesome!!

Then we are going to the Ameriplan conference which is about a week long. Wonder what Ameriplan is? Check out our website and be sure to click the Nick sent you link. I can’t go so I will mostly be playing Xbox. Yes!! I will probably rent a game from Blockbuster which will be free with Total Access. Double Yes!!

We’re in a hurry to leave so I better finish up so we can start the laundry. Bye!

Hello again!

You may not know, but we’ve been working in our storage units trying to downsize from 2 10×15 units into 1. Didn’t work. We got a much cheaper (no a/c) 10×10 unit in additon to the 1 10×15 unit we were keeping. Two words: Head Ache.

Their policy was we had to have a round lock on our unit. We were planning to use the one off the 10×15 we were vacating. But, since it took 3 days to move, 2 of those 3 days we were locked out and had to go to the office to get them to unlock it. Heh…

Then, every time we opened our new unit the alarm went off. The storage people had said they had put our new unit on our alarm-deactivating card, but no. Double Heh… Anyhow, yesterday we finally managed to finish it, and now I basically have a free day.

Among the things I am doing today are: writing this, doing laundry (pretty fun because I can just sit there and play on the gaming laptop while I watch it), playing Xbox (more on that later), and schoolwork.

I really like playing Xbox for a variety of reasons. One, it’s entertainment. Two, the controller setup is really nice. Three, those “Ooohhh… NOW I get it” moments. I got one of those today, beating a level I previously thought was impossible. Gotta love it.

I am also really good at chess, though I don’t get to play much. I came in second in my last (and first and only) tournament, behind a kid who was then moved up to the “advanced” class. He beat me, but no one else could.

We also like to watch movies, but in an RV space is an issue. The answer:

Blockbuster Total Access

They ship movies right to wherever we stay, and we ship them back and get more. Also we can return them to a Blockbuster store, get a free movie there and get the next one on our online list shipped. But wait, there’s more! Once a month we get a free movie or (even better) game rental. Awesome!

But there are dishes to be done, schoolbooks to be read, and games to be played. Bye! Talk to ya later!

Hello there! I’m Nick, age 12, homeschool student and full-time RVer.

I like the RV setup, and my room specifically. There are 3 bunks, 2 on the back wall, 1 on the side. The lowest one on the back wall is reserved for Jewel, my 2 year old sister, though it feels like she’ll never be there. I am glad of that… more room for me! I have the next highest bunk, the one on the side.

It is extra comfy because we took the mattress off the top bunk to turn it into storage and we put it on my bed in addition to a TemperPedic pad. Aaahh… There is also an air conditioner vent that blows right on me when I sit up. Double Aaahh…

It’s good that it’s comfy because I spend a lot of time there; doing homeschool work and playing computer and Xbox and Xbox 360. I just beat Halo 2 on easy and am eagerly awaiting getting Halo 3 for Xbox 360.

I really like it here in Point of Rocks RV park, partially because of being hooked up, but specifically here there is a lot of great rock climbing around. I go out by myself a lot on some really hard parts but it is also fun to do easy stuff with Mama and Jewel.

Aaanyway… got lots of work to do… we just did laundry and I gotta put clean sheets on the bed… Mama wants the computer… gotta go now, bye!