Well, I am giving up this blog. However, I imported the posts to another blog and the concept will basically be the same.
Why this change: http://freshbychrist.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/new-blog/
Visit my blog: http://freshbychrist.wordpress.com/
Please subscribe there. Thanks
Well, I know I haven’t posted in a LONG time, so I just want to let everyone in on whats been happening lately. July 4 was the obvious. I shot off fireworks and shot a gun for the first time. I got 11 gophers. July 11 I shot off some fire crackers and stuff and had a bond fire. July 12-15 I had driving school. I learned a lot and I’m pretty confident that I will get my license. July 16-18 my family went to Medora, Theodore Roosevelt National Park (we hit both units, the first time being to the North Unit for me), and Williston (never been there before either). It was a good vacation even though it was short. I liked the North Unit too. In Williston we hit an outdoor theater which was cool. July 19-23 I was at a Christian basketball camp. IT WAS GREAT! That’s an understatement. I really have a lot to take back from it. At the camp I met Ty Lawson which was cool. I may make some videos out of some worship songs I recorded. I literally had something going on everyday from July 11 to July 23, so it was a busy time. In the future I got Glacier National Park from August 5-10, My driving test on August 11, and school starts on August 26 (boo!). This summer has gone by really fast…
Anyways, the main reason for this entry is to announce a new direction for one of my blogs and my new reading plan. My new Bible reading plan will consist of reading the Bible straight through once in a year. I will also be reading my Upmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. My current 90 day plan is SO time consuming that I don’t have time for much else. I haven’t really been able to grow or reflect on my reading. The reading is really overwhelming and I basically read just for the sake of reading. So with my new plan, I will only be reading about 3 chapters a day. However, I plan to use that free time to grow and reflect. Every day I will try to post about my reading, or in places like Leviticus or historical books, I will reflect on lyrics (specifically worship that I plan to do every night) and my devotions. This is not an excuse to be lazy. I just feel like since I’ve almost been through the Bible twice and I’ve gotten the basic framework, I now want to dig deeper, reflect, and grow. I can’t really do that in the 90 day plan. It won’t start until August 26, but here is the plan I will be following:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/reader/daily/PDF/Plan1.pdf
There is one thing I haven’t been saying. I am going to bring this over to a new blog specifically for this purpose. I’m not trying to copy my sister or anything, but I would just like this in a separate spot. So besides the occasional technology post, travel journal, etc., this blog is going to die, lol. I’m going to make the new blog now and I’ll post a link l8r.
Here is my travel journal that I did when I was in the Black Hills, along with the occasional note. All times that I used are Mountain Time.
June 27, 2010 – 10:17 AM
Well, it’s vacation again. I am so glad vacation is here because I have been killing myself with Bible reading for the past week. Its extremely hard to get three days ahead on a 90 day plan. I also noticed I’ve been out of school for a
month so summer is one third done. Its gone by so slow and fast at the same time, but its been fun. However, there is a lot of room for improvement as far as productivity goes.
The morning was somewhat stressful. I was going to Bible read (to keep my iPod’s battery up), but I didn’t get a chance. But I did pack a New Testament, so I can at least save some of the battery. It was stressful because I was in
charge of the cooler and ice which is normally not my job. I did get enough time to play basketball though, which is a tradition for me to do before a vacation. We eventually left after 10 (Central). Normally we are just slow to get going, but we
left so we could be in Dickinson after 11 (Mountain) to eat at Bonanza. So far I have just fooled around, but I should get going. Salaam!
June 27, 2010 – 12:47 PM
After my last entry I started to listen to “Between Two Worlds” by Trip Lee. I am writing a summary of each track for my blog, so just four tracks took me all the way to Dickinson. We ate at Bonanza and they had a lot of food. Turns
out I grabbed too much vegetables and fruit to get anything else. I also had a bacon cheeseburger which was good. Oh well, I’ll be eating junk the rest of the trip so it was probably a good thing. Plus I need to prepare for the maze. After that I
drove to Bel Field. I am getting my liscense so I’ve been driving a lot lately. The girls (Bri my sister and my mom) were freaking out the entire time, but I didn’t do anything wrong. Well, we have three hours and thirty-nine minutes until Rapid
City and I still need to read the Bible and watch “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets”. Paz!
June 27, 2010 – 4:45 PM
Since last entry I read some of Luke (I forgot to update my reading plan file from my Dropbox so I didn’t know where to start in most categories), watched “National Trasure 2: Book of Secrets” (Bri and I watched it back in 2008 when
we went to the Black Hills because it has Mount Rushmore and Sylvan Lake in it, but I watched it by myself this time), played Tetris (a game I’m recently obsessed due to having it on Linux), and listened to Trip Lee. We are almost in Rapid City
and we are checking out the visitor center soon. I want to get there to get out of this car; my back is sore from hours of sitting. Shalom!
June 28, 2010 – 10:15 AM
We got to the visitor center after my last entry. I was using the internet there and downloaded my Bible reading plan from my Dropbox. We then checked in at the hotel. Turns out we are in a separate building that we got in two times
ago. That time there was a false fire alarm in the middle of the night, so I wasn’t too fond of it. We (dad, Bri, and I; mom wasn’t feeling well) headed off to Sonic. I got a chicken strip sandwich, regular tots, a hot dog, and a strawberry shake. I
was actually pretty cheap because I got the tots for free using a coupon, the sandwich and the hot dog were on the value menu, and I got a free shake due to a buy one get one deal. We then headed off to Mount Rushmore for a show at 9.
We went about halfway around the loop and then say down for the show. When I was waiting I read about the monument’s history. The show eventually started. It was interesting and explained why the four presidents were chosen among
other things. The show concluded with the lighting of Mount Rushmore. It was cool, but I was having a hard time taking photos in those lighting conditions, but I think they turned out well (writer’s note: They turned out fine, but I sure wish I
would have brought a tripod and read up on nighttime photography). We soon left to go back to Rapid City which is a decent length away. I read the Bible on my iPod. We all called it quits and went to bed.
This morning was the usual. The breakfast has a lot of hot food and is really good (writer’s note: I actually didn’t like it that much because there were never bacon or hash browns, and the selection never changed). We eventually left
for Keystone. We are going to go to the Presidential Wax Museum, which features all the presidents in wax along with audio biographies of each one. Hopefully Barack Hussein Obama is there, lol (writer’s note: As a Republican you may
wonder why, but I explain later). We will eventually make our way to Jewel Cave. Well, I want to read as much of the Bible as I can all the way to Keystone. l8r
June 28, 2010 – 5:10 PM
Well, we went to the Presidential Wax Museum, and it turns out Barack Hussein Obama was there so I got a photo with him (well, at least with the wax) to annoy my dad who hates him with a passion. I don’t like him either as no
Christian should, but my dad takes it to an extreme. The museum was interesting, but I’ve seen it many times and I knew most of it from history class this year. We headed off toward Hill City to eat. We had Subway. I had a six-inch (wasn’t
hungry) ham sandwich, and I also got some of mom’s. It was good. We then went to Jewel Cave. Two years ago we couldn’t get in, so this year we called ahead of time. We got there early and checked out the visitor center. We eventually
went in. I really liked the cave and it had some really unique formations. My camera took some really good pictures. We left and are now doing the eastern half of the Custer State Park loop. Adios!
June 28, 2010 – 8:30 PM
Well, we didn’t do much since last time I journaled. We went by Mount Coolidge, a mountain where my dad was scared to go up in 2008 (no railings on either side and he thought there was no turn around), but it was unfortunately
closed. The rest was basically driving (finally got caught up in Bible reading). We also hit 3 tunnels that offer a view of Mount Rushmore. Bri and I climbed all three of them. I guess that was the highlight of the last few hours. The best parts of
Custer State Park have yet to come: Sylvan Lake and Needles Highway.
Well, we got 22 minutes to go until Rapid City. I’ll probably do some more Bible reading until then. I probably didn’t need to get so far ahead in reading because there are a lot of oppurtunities due to all the driving. Oh well, I need to
get ahead for other things this summer too. Back to vacation… we will be getting food from Godfather’s pizza. It’s great pizza and and we don’t have one at home. I just hope there is time to swim tonight (pool closes at 10:00) because the
poolis in the lobby, is huge, and the hot tub is built on rocks and has a waterfall. I suppose I should get going cause Moses is calling me. Shalom!
June 29, 2010 – 4:51 PM
There is a lot to catch up on… last night I wanted to swim, so we were planning to delay the pizza until 10 and I would swim in the meantime. However, Godfather’s was closed so we got Papa John’s. It is my favorite pizza place, but
we can have it any time. The pizza was great even though I needed to pick off mushrooms (eww).
We did the boring normal stuff and then set off to Holy Terror Miniature Golf in Keystone to get the discount before 11. The course is unique and a lot of fun. However, I didn’t play too seriously and lost (I don’t usually lose by over 10
strokes, lol). We then hit Mount Rushmore to finish what we missed. However, mom was with and took a million photos of Bri and I which drove us crazy. We walked the rest of the loop and did some inside stuff. We then left for lunch. The
Executive Grill (where we normally eat in Keystone) hardly sells anything at all anymore. There are only two franchise places in Keystone: Subway & DQ. Since I had Subway yesterday and I’ve never had actual food from DW, I picked the latter.
Bri and mom however, ate at a non-franchise place. At DQ, dad and I both had a LARGE burger (don’t know exactly what, but it was their biggest item) combo. It was great and A LOT of food. While Bri and mom shopped, I drove the van with
dad. I can officially say I have driven in two states, more than my sister can say. We eventually went to the Beautiful Rushmore Cave. I’ve seen it more than any other cave and it wasn’t as nice as Jewel Cave IMO, but I still liked it and 59
degrees is a nice change from the 90 something outside. My camera worked great once again. We are now heading off towards Bear Country USA. We decided to do that because some of it is driven (to avoid the heat). Well, that’s about it for
now. l8r
June 29, 2010 – 8:09 PM
We hit Bear Country USA which was cool, but a lot of the animals were lazy due to the heat, plus they took the sprinklers away! The best part was the baby black bears, who were active and wrestling each other. I also got pretty
close to incompetent, currupt Democrates (donkeys). We left and went to Dinosaur Park. I felt really dumb because everyone else was a little kid (except for the parents). I was also upset about the 65 million years ago signs
(http://www.answersingenesis.org/). Well, we are now going to Culver’s to eat. I don’t know what I’m getting. Well, I should get plenty of swimming time. l8r
June 30, 2010 – 3:42 PM
Last night at Culver’s I had a free Butterburger Value Basket (with my coupon once again) plus a Rocky Road Custard. Afterwards I went swimming with my dad. There was hardly anyone there which is unusual. Afterward I went to
bed. Well, we are almost at Sitting Bull Crystal Cavers, so its time to get going. I’ll update later when I get time. Shalom!
June 30, 2010 – 7:21 PM
Well, a while day to catch up on. This morning we did the Black Hills maze. Several years ago we (Bri and I) creamed our parents. However, “pride comes before the fall,” which was true twice in 2008. This year we certainly had
pride, and for good reason. Bri and I are better at strategy and memorization, and when considering the fact that our parents walk and we run, it should be a no brainer. We started off pwning them, getting three of the four flags and knowing
the location of the exit before they even had two. But, as usual, something always messes us up: in 2008 the exit, and now the last flag. As you probably can tell, we lost. Of course our parents (mostly mom) really rubbed it in due to all of our
pride. We then left for Reptile Gardens. We watched the Alligator show and then the bird show. Well, we are at Story Book Island now. I will get plenty of time to catch up tomorrow due to the long drive to Custer State Park. Peace!
June 30, 2010 – 7:58 PM
Well, Story Book Island was closed already. Anyways, we hit most of the stuff in Reptile Gardens… including Methuselah! It is a tortoise that is over a hundred years old, therefore it has the name of the oldest person recorded in the
Bible. When we were all done we hit Sonic. I had a Chicken Strip Sandwich, a Corn Dog, a Small Tot, and a Large Strawberry Shake. We then left for the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns, which is the third cave we hit. Waiting for the tour to begin, I
explored a mini cave. The tour was fun but short. Out of the three I think I liked Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns the best, even with the shortness. Afterwards, we took a 20-30 minute trail back to the parking lot. I am surprised my dad let us take it
because he has a fear of snakes, mountain lions, buffalo, bears, and much more. After that was Putz-N-Glo, a neon mini golf course. I played seriously and beat Bri. As part of a deal, we also got to do a maze and gem mining. I was sprinting
the maze. It was smaller and easier. I was actually more tired in my 12 minutes in the small maze than the 36 minutes in the large maze. Turns out I lost to Bri, but I was still fast enough to get a prize, a sticky hand. We then did gem mining.
You put sand in a strainer then put it in water to get gems. It was fun, but I still sucked at identifying them like in school this year. We then went to a closed Story Book Island, and we just got a Pepperoni Tomato Godfather’s Pizza. Just in time,
we arrived. Peace!
July 1, 2010 – 5:25 PM
Well, its a new month and I sure started it right.
But before I get to today, let me finidh last night. We got a $20 tomato and pepperoni pizza from Godfather’s when we could have gotten a $10 pepperoni. The pizza was great and the tomatoes really did add to it. However, I’m not
sure if they were worth $10, lol. After eating, I went swimming. Some people wanted to know if I would race them, so that’s what I did for about an hour. After leaving the pool, I showered and went to bed.
This morning was the usual stuff. We left the hotel and headed toward Custer State Park. The first place we hit was Sylvan Lake. Bri and I climberd a lot and all four of us did the trail. Unlike last time, we didn’t have a
miscommunication and have our parents (especially mom) get really mad. We also put our hand in the rock that Nicholas Cage did in “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets” (and no, that was not behind Mount Rushmore). Around 2:30 we ate. I
shared a 10 inch pepperoni pizza with my dad which was really good. We then left for the Needles. Bri and I (and sometimes dad) climber until 5:10ish. We got on top of an extremely high rock that possibly offered a view of the city of Custer.
We also got on top of the tunnel. We left and are now heading to Legion Lake for a few pictures, and then Rapid City. We will probably eat at Culver’s and hopefully I will get some swimming time. Well, I’m going to get going now. l8r
July 2, 2010 – 12:57 PM
To my surprise, we didn’t eat at Culver’s, but a KFC/Long John Silver’s, because we no longer have a LJS at home. I’m not a huge fan of LJS, so I got a Snack Wrap and a Regular Macaroni and Cheese from the KFC part. I also got part
of some apple dessert that my mom gave me. The food was really good. I convinced my dad last night that we would only swim until 9:00, but we lost track of time and swam until 10:00. The water felt good after another 100 degree day. The
rest of the night I chilled and used my iPod.
This morning we did the usual, packed the car, and checked out. We went to Pirates Cove Mini Golf. I did pretty well and had three whole in ones (four on the trip… I had one at Putz-N-Glo) which never happens. However, directly
after the three, I had a 4, 6, and 6 which screwed me big time. I lost by five. We then went to Story Book Island, similar to Story Book Land in Aberdeen. However, it is smaller and had more people than Aberdeen, so it wasn’t near as fun. Plus,
the temperature was in the hundreds and I had a black shirt on, so that didn’t help. The firls then got a drink from Sonic, while dad and I had a shake from McDonalds, which is good. After some map and GPS troubles, we are now on the
interstate.
Well, it is now a five hour and 20 minute drive to home which should be fun (sarcasm). I am now on the correct day in Bible reading, so that gives me something to do. I suppose I will get going on that.
July 2, 2010 – 6:37 PM
Since my last entry it has just been eating, Bible reading, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and gas stations/rest areas. For lunch we had Culver’s in Spearfish. I ordered two Butterburgers. However, I could only eat 1 1/4 because of the
shake. I’ve never had that much ice cream at once and it left me full and somewhat naseous. I know I will never eat that much ice cream again. We are an hour and 23 minutes away frin hime and well into North Dakota (boo). We are also in
central time, but I am still updating in mountain time. There really isn’t much else worth noting. We did stop at the truck stop where I was September 11 last year as sick as could be. I am 6/7 done with reading so I will probably just watch
some Fresh Prince. I will still do another entry and wrap everything up. Shalom!
July 2, 2010 – 7:48 PM
Well, I watched an episode of Fresh Prince, selected songs for my vacation video, and read two chapters of Jeremiah.
We are nine minutes from home so I will wrap up here. This past week was great and really fun, but it seems like yesterday that we went on this interstate – only in the opposite direction. Just like Yellowstone, my adventurous self
would love to spend more time there, specifically in Custer State Park. Well, I guess we are almost home. Its back to boringness. At least I will get a chance to do the things I’ve been putting off. But hey, its not all that bad. In two days is
debatedly my favorite holiday, the Fourth of July. Plus, I got Glacier National Park and possibly Theodore Roosevelt National Park to look forward to. Well, we are now there. It was a great vacation, but now I am back to typical life. Paz!
Yesterday I gave my first impressions on Firefox 4 Beta 1. Today I am back with a few things I have noticed while browsing.
The first thing I would like to point out is that Firefox has improved its memory usage. I am not getting crashes like I did in the older versions. For that reason, I decided to run a test. I loaded 8 websites just like last memory test, then let leave the browsers alone for 30 seconds and 3 minutes. I left my addons on in Chrome and Firefox (this gives a more life-like trial because addons are enabled in regular browsing). The results were quite surprising.
Chrome always used the most, while Firefox was always the least. Another interesting thing to be noted is that Opera and Chrome increased in usage as time went on, while Firefox decreased. While Chrome may be double Firefox, its still not a big deal at all due to tab isolation, but Firefox now has it to a degree AND uses the least. If things stay the same or get better (which they should) for the official release, I no longer have memory problems. All Firefox would need to do to get my usage is improve its speed and offer addon alternatives to Opera features like built-in e-mail and Opera Link.
Yesterday I pointed out that there are several ways to force addon compatibility. However, they have been replaced by one single addon, the Addon Compatibility Reporter. The features are built right into the addon page. The addon allows you to force all addons to attempt to work, while in turn you tell the developer if they worked successfully. At the moment about 50% of the addons worked, but almost all of my addons are popular so that should be fixed too.
They don’t call it a beta for nothing. I’ve had several problems with Firefox. For starters, on occasion I can’t find some buttons for a few of my addons. While this could be a compatibility problem, it is unlikely because it has happened with several of them (even addons that supposedly work like ABP). Even a built-in button, the “Feedback” button, sometimes disappears. Another problem is that the close, maximize, and minimize buttons sometimes disappear as well (in fact, they are like that right now). This can be fixed for a moment by going into safe mode, but then you have to re-do your settings.
I also talked about an orange Firefox button that allows you access to your most common settings. However, a lot of people do not like the orange, plus the tabs were not on the title bar, thus losing valuable screen real estate. However, there is a helpful trick to change this.
I would also like to show you a video I watched that presents some that tabs should be on top.
As I promised earlier, I would make take a week away from my default browser whenever a major release came out from another one. Just released was the first beta of Firefox 4. Since the changes are obvious and pretty major, I am going to briefly discuss them here. Since it is a beta, I really do not want to judge the performance due to its pre-release stage.
The biggest changes come in the area of GUI. Firefox retains the look of the back and forward buttons and a few others, but that’s about it. When compared to Google Chrome and Opera, Firefox is shockingly similar.
From top to bottom is Firefox, Chrome, and Opera. The first thing you’ll notice is Firefox now has tabs on top. Hooray! The light greys with a tint of blue are also common in all three (that Chrome picture is from XP, 7 has aero). They all have a combined refresh and stop button. All three have also combined all the menus into one or two buttons. Opera and Firefox both have on single button in the top left corner. Firefox does not have the button combined with the tab bar, but it still doesn’t take much room. Firefox and Opera both have a search bar (I got rid of it in the Opera picture). I sure with Firefox would combine the two. Overall, they look extremely similar. Firefox has just boosted itself into one of my favorite GUI’s. I’d be happy looking at any of these three all day. In fact, Firefox isn’t its clunky boring self anymore. It feels like a completely different browser that I’m comfortable using.
Firefox has also made a new and improved addons page. On the side offers easy access to your extensions, themes, and plug-ins. It also gives access to a page that “will soon explain what add-ons are, feature some of the best, and help you pick from thousands of ways to customize Firefox.”
Firefox also has a new and improved feedback system. You can access the features from the “Feedback” button. You can take studies to improve Firefox, as well as reporting things that make you happy and sad. This is all anonymous, and you can view other peoples thoughts on the feedback webpage.
As far as performance and speed go, its a little too early to tell because Firefox is only in Beta stage. However, there have been some improvements. Like most browsers focus as of late, Firefox has improved its HTML5 capabilities. It has also improved its ACID3 score, which was 97/100, up from 92/100 last time. While Chrome, Opera, and Safari all receive 100, 97 is pretty close and it A LOT better than Internet Explorer, last tested by me at 12/100. It has included crash protection from Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime and Microsoft Silverlight plugins, which although not the only thing that cause a crash, they make up a good majority. But beyond these three things, I need to wait for the final release. My memory usage is quite low as well, but without addons this is really too early to tell.
Few addons of course have support at the moment in Firefox 4 (only WOT, Adblock Plus, and NoScript has support out of the MANY I have). However, this will be sure to change when Firefox 4 is officially out. If you want to use the beta and you have an essential addon, simply use the linked Google search which shows many successful methods (these methods work 95% of the time in my experience).
Overall I am excited for the release of version 4. I would honestly like to get back to Firefox due to the addons and great user community, and with a way better GUI, some crash protection, and other improvements, Firefox is certainly more appealing to switch to. The only thing that holds me back from switching is one of the main reasons I switched to Chrome in the first place: speed and performance. If it can become faster and decrease its memory usage (which is good right now without addons), I would probably switch from Opera. However, Firefox will have a lot of work to do because it never competes well in my speed tests.
Well, I am really into photography and I wanted a place to put my photos along with a place where I could occasionally make entries. I decided to make a Live Space for that specific purpose. This is still my main blog, but check the other one out occasionally, especially in the summer when I go on trips.
I got the video up on YouTube that I mentioned earlier of my photos and videos of Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Check it out:
Well, I was looking at some old posts (June 19 was this blog’s 1 year anniversary, BTW!) and thought I should make another post about what’s all up.
June 27 – July 2: Black Hills
My family is taking a trip to the Black Hills once again. We’ve been there several times (the latest being 2008), and I am really excited for it. I am especially looking forward to this maze where I am hoping to get redemption. I’ll make sure to have a journal entry on this and a YouTube video.
July 4: The Obvious – Independence Day
In the past we’ve gone down to my uncle’s (not the one in Dell Rapids) and grandma’s farm on days like July 6th and some other dates due to conflicts, so I am just putting up July 4th as a guess. Anyways, Independence Day could possibly be my favorite holiday of the year. I just love shooting off all sorts of explosives and fireworks.
July 12 – 15: Behind The Wheel
I need to complete behind the wheel if I want my license before 16 (which I do). Although I’m not thrilled at all about the actual thing, I am excited for the result… my license.
July 19 – 23: Basketball Camp
I am going to a Christian basketball camp one again. I really love both aspects about it (Christian and basketball) so its great. Plus I get great food and get to meet a professional basketball player. I am really looking forward to this.
August 26: School Starts
Unfortunately school starts, but at least I still got over 2/3 of summer left.
???: Theodore Roosevelt National Park
We plan to go to Medora some time and make our way up to the North Unit (Bri and I haven’t done this before). I am excited for this assuming it happens.
???: Glacier National Park
I don’t know the exact dates yet, but our family will make a trip up to Glacier National Park (first for Bri and I). We already have applications for passports submitted so we are almost good to go. This will have to be sometime in August though because it won’t work in July (unless we do it the last week).
That’s really everything major going on. So expect me to be gone during these dates (except driving school).
I was just looking at my schedule and like I expected I am busy, but I came to the realization I really need to get going on things. Anyways, I am taking another vacation to the Black Hills just next week, and I figured I should type something up about my previous vacation in South Dakota (14 days late, lol, and my sister already has had one up for 13 days). It really doesn’t seem like it has already been 14 days, but rather it seems like it was just yesterday. And even though most people wouldn’t call it a vacation, I still had fun. But enough comments, lets get to it.
I did take entries on the trip, but I wrote it more as a personal journal because I keep one. So I am going to write a summary right now, and maybe include some quotations from my journal.
Day 1 – June 4th – Aberdeen:
“Aww… yet another vacation. I’ve been waiting for something to kick off summer and here it is, even if it is only four days [and in uncommon tourist destinations]. It’s just nice to get out of here and take a break from things. So we were going to leave 9:30, but as usual we were late and it wasn’t until 10:16 that we left.” And so began my journal. Our GPS said it was a 3 hour drive to Aberdeen, so there was a lot of time to do stuff. However, with a 90 day Bible reading plan the time went by quickly. 15+ chapters a day takes quite a long time. That’s basically what I did along the way (in fact, I didn’t even get time to listen to music or watch Fresh Prince). I had a Hot Fudge Sunday from Jamestown as well (McDonalds). Anyways, we eventually got to Aberdeen and ate at Culver’s. I got a Bacon Deluxe Snack Pack and it was great. We checked in at the hotel and went to Wylie Park. We started with bumper boats and then went to Storybook Land and the Wizard of Oz. I was being dumb most of the time and played along. But I formed a conclusion that as a child I was more interested with Donkey Kong 64 and Super Mario 64, and therefore I knew only 5% of the stories… the rest of my family knew about 95% of them. I got a Blueberry Slush Puppy as usual and went on a balloon ride, which both Bri and I enjoyed. We then went on paddle boats for 30 minutes and played mini-golf. I did cream Bri but I will admit I had an unusually good game, probably the best I’ve ever had. We went back to the hotel and dad got pepperoni and mushroom pizza from Godfather’s Pizza. I of course hate mushrooms so I had to spend a minute or two picking them all off, but it was a delicious pizza. Dad and I then went swimming in the pool afterwards to finish the night. The water was warm and there was nobody there at all so it was quite fun.
Day 2 – June 5th – Dell Rapids:
Not to follow Bri’s journal, but I’ll quote her here, “The reason we took this trip was to see my uncle who couldn’t make it up for my graduation, so we went to Dell Rapids to visit him, his wife, and his son.” So yeah, we headed out right away to go to Dell Rapids. On the way there we stopped at Brookings (I think at least, not too familiar with SD and had to look at a map) and picked up some more Culver’s. I had the Chicken Strips. It was a semi-long drive to get to Dell Rapids, but I was literally reading the Bible all the way to my uncle’s front door because my plan takes forever. I didn’t even get the chance to journal at all. When we got there we were shown around his house. I really loved it and I hate that my own family has such a boring house despite all the space we have. Anyways, we talked for awhile but I got Bri to play pool with me. I was really looking forward to playing even before the trip because I rarely get to play pool and I love it. My dad wants a table in our own house but we have nowhere to put it. Bri didn’t know the rules at all but she learned them and eventually beat me 2 out of 3 games. My uncle eventually came down and asked where we wanted to eat. I said I wanted Italian, so we ended up going to Spezia because we have the other two places here in town. Before that I drove around in my uncle’s golf cart which was fun. At first I was speed shy but soon went pretty fast. So we then drove to Sioux Falls to eat. I had some pasta with chicken which had some sort of dark sauce on it (the name fails me) along with Caesar salad. The food was delicious. Bri and I had plenty of fun drawing on the paper that was set on the table. We then went to my cousin and his girlfriend’s home in Sioux Falls, which was really nice for the small size. Afterwards we went back to Sioux Falls and went to the driving range. Oh, I forgot to mention the house is right along the golf course so they go a lot. I brought up his cart and we got some balls for the driving range. I did better than I expected for my first time ever golfing. I think I had a pretty good swing technique wise and I had pretty good power (got around 200 a few times), but my aim was terrible. I missed the ball as much as I hit it, and I left a huge divot. I took the cart back to my uncle’s house and we said good bye to my cousin for the day. Then dad, Bri, and my uncle went to look at cars. Meanwhile I stayed at the house and played more pool with my mom and my aunt. I think I played my mom in one game and she won, while I beat my aunt 1 game out of 2. When the rest of the family got back I played my dad and my uncle. I lost both games to my dad and the one game I played my uncle in. I actually wasn’t that bad and nearly every game I played came down to just the 8 ball, but I could never seem to win. I played a bit of fool’s ball and then went to bed.
Day 3 – June 6th – Sioux Falls:
In the morning I listened to a sermon on Sola Scriptura, but we eventually left to go to Sioux Falls for breakfast. On the way there I was reading the Bible once again, but the drive was too short for me to finish. Throughout the day I had to pull out my iPod and read which cut it tight, but I got it done. Anyways, the place we ate at was the Original Pancake House. I had 3 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of french toast, and 2 eggs. The food was very good, but it left me full and I wasn’t even that hungry for supper. We said goodbye to my uncle, aunt, cousin, and his girlfriend and went our separate ways. Just us four (dad, mom, Bri, and I) went to Falls Park. The place is absolutely beautiful and I took over 100 pictures. I am currently making a video that will be on YouTube about it. I’ll probably get that out today. We spent a long time at the park walking around and climbing on the rocks. But we eventually left and went to the zoo. I’m not too much of a zoo fan, and I thought it was okay. We then played mini golf. This time I didn’t do so hot. I would make excuses… ok I will. Well, the hole were slightly upward, so if you hit at them there was a good chance it would roll around. I never once made one from more that a foot away, because all my shots rolled around. So I got creamed, but adding up the two games I was still the champ 
We then went to Sonic, which I wasn’t too excited for. The reason I didn’t like it was that a lot of the stuff is expensive so you can’t get that much. Another reason is all I’ve had in the past were hamburgers which weren’t amazing (but still good). I was wrong about both of these. They have a good dollar menu, so I got tots, a hamburger, and a hot dog. It was a lot of food for $3. I also got a shake for free due to a buy one get one free deal. Everything I had was excellent and it wasn’t that bad of a price. So I can now say I am looking forward to it in Rapid City in a few days. We went back to the hotel, and Bri and I went swimming. It was a big and open pool and no one was there, so it was fun. Bri isn’t too much into swimming so we talked a little bit about the vacation and stuff. After that we went to bed.
Day 4 – June 7th – Traveling
Well, we went back on the road for home. In my journal it said the long and boring drive was 275 miles or 4 hours. I actually managed to keep busy almost the entire time and it went by faster than I expected. I read the Bible some of the time and watched the Fresh Prince of Bel Air season 5 that I got a week before. In Aberdeen we stopped for lunch and I had Taco Bell. I had a Chicken Burrito and a Beef Nacho Cheese Chalupa. The food was very good. In Jamestown we stopped for ice cream, and this time I had a cone. We eventually got home. Well, this trip was a nice break from everything and I had fun.
