New England Trip June 15-30 2008

Here are the pictures from the New England tripwith the Chinese National Team.

Bus to Torrington CT




Late night passing around of peppermint sticks. (Random much?)
Torrington CT. Downtown 1 am.
Torrington Twisters. Press conference. Coach Yi Sheng interprets.

Kang Kang and Zhang Rong from CCTV. Shooting a documentary. Travelling with the team.

Torrington's Mayor Ryan Joseph Bingham
Lobby
Yankee Pedlar Inn

View from hotel window. Warner Theater in background.
Torrington Twisters vs. Team USA.
Me and the tiger-mascot.
Dad threw for Torrington at the bottom of the seventh inning. http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stories/061808aan.html

Action Wildlife exhibit.


Fuessenich park, Torrington CT. Team USA vs. Team China
After the game. Local kids shake hands and take pictures with Coach Wang

One of Torrington's mansions. Hotchkiss house. We got a tour. Pictures were not allowed inside... :(
Torrington graveyard in the background. Mom sniffs nearby flowers. She said they took her back to her childhood or something.
Volunteers picking weeds to maintain the property of the Hotchkiss house.

Staten Island ferry ride.

Yankee Stadium

9/11

Ground Zero monument. Building site for another tower.
New York Stock Exchange
Press conference. USA wrestling team with Chinese National team. Sports Museum of America. New York City.

New York City

Sports Museum of America. Pictures were not allowed. But I took this one ONLY because there was another photographer in the room; snapping away.
Walking across the street. Chinatown.

Typical New York couple.
Tour of city hall.

George Washington's writing desk.

Madame Shen Wei and the Deputy Mayor of New York.
City Hall. New York City.Fenway Park

Steve, Cindy, Zhang Yufeng, Kang Kang and his wife, Zhang Rong.


IHOP breakfast. Newport RH. Wang Chao and Peter Burns.

Autographs in Rindge NH.


Dad throwing batting practice. Newport RI.
Last picture with the team.

Easy-Bake ovens and Canon lenses

For those who know me.
Every week I'm on to a new obsession.
Last week it was Monopoly and neon highlighters. (Hey, don't judge me!)
Whatever it is, it sticks with me until I find a replacement.

The Story Thus Far: Part One
I was cleaning my homeschool room and in one of the bins was an old doll from 1996.
I got side-tracked online researching to see who made it and such and such.
Then through a series of websites after another, I wound up on Easy Bake oven.
After drilling questions at my mom, I found out she gave my Easy-Bake oven away.
*EEK!*Well, It's not like I ever played with it past 3rd grade...
Sidetracked--yet again.

I remebered that my cousins (whom I will be visiting in less than two weeks) have an Easy-Bake oven. So I searched online for some cute recipes to try! I don't know about you but I don't like 'add water to the powder' desserts.
http://www.thefunplace.com/recipes/00604.html

As a sucker for cute ideas, one of the things on my list today is to print that cute cookie recipe out and take it to San Diego.


(This looks like my old one. It resembled a microwave... I never understood that.)






The Story Thus Far: Part Two

How infuriated I felt!
I only had my Canon Rebel XTi for 8 months and they have the nerve to



COME OUT WITH A BETTER, and IMPROVED model!!



Introducing... the Canon Rebel XSi!





Everything being faster, quicker, better-looking, and more expensive.
stood over the model and snapped a few pics.
"GAH! It made a cooler sound!!"
I drooled over it and stared at the lens.
Image Stabilizer.
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooohh!" you would of had to pry me away from it.
"Well, to 'upgrade' my semingly OLD camera, I guess I could always buy new lenses!"
Tick-tack. At home I furiously typed away.
"Darn... too expensive..."
"Darn too expensive."
Some of these prices almost gave me a heart-attack.
"Who has 500$ floating around anyway!?"
Dead ends at every turn.
Until I came to a good one.


Small enough to get into a ballpark without carrying a press pass.
Similar design to my exsisting lens.
Gets close enough for a decent looking picture.


EF 28-90mm f/4-5.6 III

I bet I could fork over 70-something dollars for a used one or something.

Call me a nerd... spending any valuable free time... shoping for lenses.

Hmm. Original Polly Pocket compacts from the 90's are calling my name.

Ebay? no.

New obsession... maybe.

Olivia, Explorer

Very well done video!
I loved the camera work.
About a girl who gets left behind on a trip and decides to go to Wales by herself.

Tori and Alex's House

Here are some funny pics.
I had a blast!

Tennis

I have to say, I am floored!
Zheng Jie's playing at Wimbledon amazed me!
She moves so fast!
Periodically Serena would let out a victory screech. And flare her nostrils at Zheng on the court.
Serena scares me!

Happy (?) Fourth of July

Yesterday I was catching up on every one's blogs.
For the fourth, they had a picture of a flag and a quote or something.
"Oh geez!" I thought, "I haven't done mine yet!"
I don't want to take America for granted; I should at least honor it somehow!
So I set out some history books with cool covers of different points in history.
A Bible, a little antique church, an old flag and the picture of the current U.S. president.
I wanted to show what America is all about. What it started on, what happened in history, and to remind people to pray for our president.
So I made a little collage, and took a picture.
One hour later...
I'm frustrated and I only have 1 picture left on my card.
I walked away,
sadly, It could not give justice.
(I wonder if it was the lighting?)

*Eve

Coldplay's New Album

Long article, but worth the read

Coldplay: 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends'
Larry Rodgers - Jun. 12, 2008 10:36 AM

The Arizona Republic

After releasing an album in 2005 (X&Y) that didn't quite match the growth between its two predecessors, Coldplay took a new approach in the recording studio for its latest.
Adventurous electronic producer Brian Eno was brought onboard, and the result is a stunning expansion of the British band's sonic landscape.
Strings, bells, congas, churchlike organ, guitar passages that barely sound like guitar, a piano made to mimic a harpsichord, synthesizers - all of these sounds fade in and out of this CD's songs, many of which have multiple movements and changes in rhythm.
Singer-pianist Chris Martin and his three bandmates seem to have abandoned concerns about recording at least a track or two that could hypnotize radio the way 2002's Grammy-wining single, Clocks, did.
It's not that Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion aren't still writing hummable melodies - there are plenty here. But Eno's presence guarantees that much of the CD is far more layered and complex than basic rock-radio fare.
The debut single, Violet Hill, of course, has gotten plenty of airplay because the world had been waiting three years for a new Coldplay song.
But even Violet Hill starts with 35 seconds of ambient synthesizer and strings before Martin's voice and his trusty piano drop in. The track then plods along with gritty guitar chords and interwoven leads by Buckland combining with Martin's storytelling to give things a cinematic feel. It ends with a quiet 30-second bit featuring just Martin and his piano, all in the space of three minutes and 30 seconds, hardly a recipe for a hit single.
The haunting Cemeteries of London takes a full 45 seconds to get moving, with a syncopated rhythms and handclaps giving it a Spanish edge. The song later shifts gears to fade out with atmospheric processed guitar and gentle piano.
Rich organ and more handclaps, as well as congas, power Lost! One of Buckland's many piercing but economical leads takes over the second half of the song before quiet organ closes things.
The most ambitious and diverse track is the seven-minute Yes, which moves from strings, to acoustic guitar to deep vocals by Martin to more Eastern-flavored strings to heavy rock chords to processed guitar.
"God only knows, I'm trying my best / But I'm just so tired of this loneliness," Martin sings in the wistful style that he has mastered through the years.
Four minutes into Yes, a pause signals a final movement built on ringing guitar and surreal vocals.
The title track (the CD's second single) starts with brisk strings and vocals by Martin that are reminiscent of the band's earlier work: "I used to roll the dice, feel the fear in my enemy's eyes / Listen as the crowd would sing, now the old king is dead."
As deep bass and chimes are added to further expand the instrumentation, it's clear just how far Eno and eight years of experience in the studio have taken this band.
This album ends up covering a lot of ground, and it can't be pigeonholed.
Martin and his band have earned the right to stretch as far as their considerable talents can take them.
This more mature and complex sound should quiet some of the group's critics while rewarding longtime fans with new territory to explore.

Anything Coldplay; I'll listen to it.

I remember cruising in the car with my dad and listening to 'Parachutes.'

Early in the morning driving to go on a quail hunt.

'Don't Panic' 'Shiver' and 'Spies'

Beautiful music.

Good childhood memories.

Good Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BybQROqvkyY&feature=related

I love flying.
It's so exhilarating.
Since I was one month old, I've had 2, 3 or 4 flights every year.
That's a lot of trips.

Death to Idol

I am so sad that Michael Johns got voted off.

He was truly amazing. Ugh, now we are stuck with the rest of 'em.

This isn't the end for Michael Johns.

GodTube

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9e7c4b40cf5a13cea6ca

What a cute movie!
Just take a moment out of your time to watch this cute kid recite Psalm 23.
~Eve

Today mom and I went on a bike ride.
It was sooo nice out! Didn't even reach 75 degrees.
Then we got a Chipolte and ate it at home.
I promptly got a stomach-ache because I ate the whole thing.
I know, I'm bad.
Waaahhhh i feel soo bad right now.

Pool in Montevideo MN Summer 2007 With my cousins

Summer Memories~



Goofy Hayden
Courtney and Emme
This picture is so cool!
Emme, Ian, Courtney, Sammie, Caleb, Maddie, Havilah and me. (But you can't see me)
This is the ladder that leads to the water slide.