Adam has also been involved in the Technology Student Association (TSA) so he misses school and practice for contests with other TSA clubs from other schools, counties and organizations. This picture is from a trip to the state capitol building in Frankfort.
This site makes fun of leaders and the things they do. It's convicting and sometimes painful to see the truth of our selfish flesh when it is amplified.
Your results:| Green Lantern | 95% | |
| Superman | 70% | |
| Spider-Man | 65% | |
| The Flash | 55% | |
| Hulk | 55% |
Monday was a bummer as we had hoped to face a few teams that we saw playing on other courts that were very beatable. I don't know what tournament bracket those teams made it into, but they weren't in the Ruby Tournament where we hoped to meet them.
The girls are improving and they have several tournaments to go. Carmen got a lot of good experience returning 16 year serves and that will help her much more than last year's experience on the 14-2 team.
The coach has goals of getting the girls to play together more as a team and I think she has focused on the right thing. They all need to be more vocal and assertive. By the end of the year, I am sure they will be clicking like clockwork.
Our second day in Columbus started out with a late lunch with Keith at Buca Di Beppo Italian Restaurant.
Carmen's first match was at 4:00 and her team played very well again. Her second match at 5:00 was the most difficult of the weekend. After watching them play at 3:00, we really thought that might have been our first win of the weekend. We were wrong. This team won our pool and we lost our pool, so it was very disappointing.
There were 28 courts of volleyball and most were busy all day long.
He spent most of his time dealing with Becca's energy. She doesn't pay much attention to the volleyball game.
I finished reading a book that my nephew gave to me. His family knows the author because they have worked together on mission trips.
At this website, I found a new book to put on my wish list.
A lot of people have been teasing Adam about his long hair, and others have asked me why I let him look like a hippie. "Can't you control your children". I usually tell them it is just a fad and it will pass. Given that he had a butch from the time he was six to the time he was 12, I think it is alright for him to have long hair.
Carmen started out her club volleyball season with BAVA this last weekend in Indianapolis at the Central Zone tournament. The team did very well. They played four different teams and played well together against all four. After losing two matches to teams that were very beatable, they ran into a very tough team from Fort Wayne. They hung with that team very well, but were clearly under experienced as mostly 15 year olds in that game.
I think it is going to be a great season. I caught Carmen smiling a few times, so I know that she enjoyed playing with seven other players and a coach that want to play well, improve and win.
For Dr. Kim's birthday, a group of us went riding in the mud. I had to get the bikes down from the ceiling of the garage, put air in the tires and oil the chains and derailures since we didn't ride very much in 2006.
In fact, I think that our ride today was longer than the total for 2006, so we're off to a good start for 2007.
Carmen and Matt headed home after our first two loops and Kim, Kelly and I took a third loop. I told Matt that I wanted to take pictures of the muddy bikes and people so he was stuck with the assignment of keeping Carmen from washing her bike when she got home.
I write about the Etsinger traditions more often than the Eby traditions but after reading some of my brother's blogs about the Eby Family, I think that it is important to document some of my perspectives as well.
Every year, at every age, the kids have amazed me at how intensely they compete with each other and with Uncle Keith. They normally are competitive, but somehow or the other, their view of Keith being the ultimate game player and their ability to win with him on their team is like adrenaline to their competitive spirit.
Keith only has a short time each year to influence the kids but he is very effective in that short period of time. I was really impressed this year at how he responded to Adam's comment to Carmen about getting a new and better iPod because he destroyed last year's model. Keith quickly pointed out that Carmen now had the chance to have an iPod AND a new gift.
The target on the right side is a fungus that is growing on one of Dad's trees. This is a target that is marginally appropriate because it will be a constant reminder to Grandma and Grandpa that "Adam was here" ( Good ) but will also be a concern that it will damage the tree.
The target on the left side is one I never would have attempted as a child. Keith wisely claimed that he was not good enough to hit the post and that Adam was the only one who could.
When Adam starting taking drum lessons over two years ago, Michael Harrington warned us that he would begin to get in trouble at school for tapping his desk with pencils, stomping his feet and general disruption associated with the rhythm in his head.
The first set was the combined percussion from the 6th, 7th and 8th grade. Adam played the snare for this song. On Monday, Adam and the rest of the Southern Middle percussion section will be performing with the Tates Creek High School percussion section at the Singletary Performing Arts Center at UK. We're looking forward to that.
We sat with the Cornett's and were asked to help count how many times Olivia rolled her eyes. I captured one in this picture.
Tomorrow afternoon, Jackie will move the last refrigerator box to a VPE City. Becca's group entrepreneurial project is a Hair and Nail Salon. The pink polka dot patterns should grab lots of attention.
Becca worked with a group of six girls on the project and they have a tight schedule for selling manicures, face paintings, hand made jewelry and other strictly girl stuff.
When we moved into our house 6 years ago, it came with an adjustable basketball goal. That goal saw some good usage in the first 6 years, but this summer, someone decided to dunk the ball and hang on the rim. After that demonstration, the goal hung at 30 degrees for the remainder of the summer.
I just finished reading a book that was given to me by a friend who thought I might enjoy it. The title of the book is Freakonomics and the authors, Steven D. Levitt (economist) and Stephen J. Dubner (writer), present their data on many topics from an economists point of view.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue football team today accepted an invitation to play in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 29. 
Becca's class celebrated Colonial Days today and Jackie braided Becca's hair up so that she would look like Laura Ingalls. Since I'm on vacation today, I got to see them in the classroom as well.
When I asked Becca what she did for Colonial Days, she replied "Nuttin". It sure is nice to have Jackie involved in the school so we know something goes on there.
Last year, Adam and Carmen both asked for iPods for Christmas.
We all headed for Nicholasville last night for the first ever One Way Bonfire. I don't think it will ever get to be as big of a tradition as it has at Texas universities, but the kids seemed to enjoy each other, the discussion of life as a Christian, and sharing concerns with each other.
Robin brought her guitar out to the fire and led the group in a few songs. You can see the extreme heat from the fire in this picture of the kids singing the "fruit" song.
In addition to the middle schoolers from Southern, there were a few youth from local high schools, some of them were former One Way members. The crew from Tatesbrook was there as well to help set up the fire and support their sister Robin. The high school kids were not as energetic.
As I've mentioned before, Jackie likes to celebrate birthdays all month if she can. Another tradition that she has is to have breakfast for the birthday child. Carmen picked cinnamon rolls and chose a rather late time for breakfast. We ate around 10:00 AM and she had opened most of her presents by 10:30.
I was particularly proud of the items that Carmen put on her list. I was even happier when Jackie supported the developing of Carmen's analytical mind with the purchase of a Wireless USB Mouse, USB Flash Drive (with necklace), and the best of all a graphing calculator for algebra and geometry.
