The camera is finally back, and a Redsfest slideshow has been created with the pictures that were on it! (We're thankful to whomever turned in our camera!) Mom and I arrived in Cincinnati on the evening of Friday, Dec. 1. We went straight to the Duke Energy Center to check out Redsfest, where we discovered that everything was larger than life! The next day, we went back so I could compete in Reds Idol, a National Anthem contest. The judges panel contained Reds baseball players and a DJ. I sang second, and was happy with how it sounded. The baseball-player-judges each gave me a "10" which thrilled me! Then, the DJ-judge gave me a "7" for singing the Anthem "too traditionally." The audience booed him, then I actually said, "Sir? It's the NATIONAL ANTHEM," which brought cheers from the audience. I was disappointed that I didn't get a better score, but Mom and I had a blast in Cincinnati. Check out my Redsfest slideshow to share the fun!

The camera with Redsfest pictures hasn't made it yet, but I have other news anyway. Mac and I both sprained ankles this week. I sprained mine on Thursday night while training for the Mini, and he sprained his while skateboarding on Saturday. His is much worse than mine; he's on crutches and in an air cast, while I'm weight-bearing in a brace. However, we're both bummed that we've been sidelined for the time being. No skating for him, no running for me. *sigh* Click the pic to the right for a close-up of Mac's injury.

Good news: the camera with Redsfest pictures is on the way! The Duke Energy Center (where Redsfest was held), sent it this morning. I'm excited to share the pictures because Mom and I took some pretty silly ones. I've added a new Christmas site to the Fun Stuff page: The Twelve Days Of Christmas. Keeping with the Christmas spirit, I've posted some pictures of some of my Christmas decorations to the left. The top picture shows my Care Bear Christmas tree, and the bottom picture shows some salt dough ornaments I made to put on that tree. In addition to the Care Bear tree, I have patriotic and traditional trees too. Now all I need is a beach tree! Speaking of Care Bears, I hope to make my own Care Bear web site someday. However, between teaching, making sites for other people, singing, and training for the Indy Mini, I just don't have time right now! Maybe this summer. Only 103 days of school to go!

Well, Redsfest wasn't the resounding success I'd hoped for (much like Circle of Lights). I didn't win Reds Idol, but a lot of other cool things happened: Mom and I had a BLAST in Cincinnati, I made a new friend (Whitney, who I'd previously met at Circle of Lights auditions), I got some cool Reds stuff, and I was happy with my performance of the Anthem! I plan to make a slideshow of pictures, but we left the camera at Redsfest! Mom called them, and the camera was found; so we should have it soon. In the meantime, here is a picture of the new BMS ID Badges!

Happy fifth month-iversary, Ed! This weekend, Mom and I will be attending Redsfest in Cincinnati, Ohio. I will be performing/competing for a chance to be a National Anthem singer for the Reds next season. Should be fun! I'll post pictures next week. Speaking of pictures, check out little Abbi waiting at the door (to the right). Cute! Finally, I added three sites to the Fun Stuff page: Resources For Web Design, Flash Mind Reader, and Mrs. Indiana. If you have a guess as to why I added the Mrs. Indiana site, you're probably right. We'll leave it at that for now!

Do you like the new Christmas look? (If you can't see it, delete your temporary internet files and refresh your browser.) The entire layout (except for the Rudolph cursor), was made using photos of Hackney Christmas trees and ornaments. The ornaments at the sidebar on the left were all made by either Dad or me. Merry Christmas! I already miss Thanksgiving, but had a great one with both sides of my family. In other news, a major genetic link to Crohn's has been found! Hooray! Maybe Crohn's is on the road to being cured! What is most exciting is that CCFA funds helped to pay for the research that found the link—funds I (and you!) helped to raise! Click here to read about the new discovery, and click on the pictures at the right to relive my 2005 Crohn's fundraiser and celebratory skydive.

Yesterday, Mom, Dad, & I went to the French Lick Casino. (Ed missed because he had Guard duty.) Boy, did we have a good time! Even though Mom and I didn't end up being winners, it was still really neat to see all the cool new stuff. The hotel looks great! We can't wait to go again! When we got home, I helped Mom put up the Hackney Christmas Tree. I took some pictures and hope to use them to make a new Christmas layout for JoKai.net! I also took some pictures of Abbi, which I added to her site. Added to this site today is a new Fun Stuff game: Jigsawdoku! If you're a Sudoku fan, you'll love Jigsawdoku as much as my Dad and I do. In other news, I have entered the Indy 500 Mini Marathon (13.1 miles) to take place on Saturday, May 5, 2007! I'm not a runner, but I want a challenge! I've joined Let's Go, a Lawrence County training group, to prepare myself for the race! This afternoon, we ran together. It was great! However, I think I'm getting strep again...

Fall weather here has been quite varied: 70s and sunny one day, 40s and rainy the next. My cousin Kat made good use of a sunny day by spending it at a pumpkin farm. In other news, I will be performing at the Cincinnati Reds Redsfest in December, and will be competing for a chance to sing the National Anthem at a Reds game. Should be fun!

What's fall without Lawrence County Junior Miss? Last night, fifteen contestants competed for thousands of dollars in scholarships. I was co-choreographer for the program. It was a busy week, but we all had a lot of fun! Meredith Root was named Junior Miss, and my good friend Bekah Lineback was first runner-up! I was so proud of all of them! Check out the slideshow of Junior Miss pictures from last night. Also, I sang "I've Been Everywhere" at the program. It was a little difficult, because I had strep throat and a fever of 101.6. (This hasn't been my month health-wise.) My father-in-law, Steve Cobb, shot a video of me singing. "I've Been Everywhere" is a really wordy song. Dad asked me last winter if I could learn it. It took me six weeks, but now it rolls out without me even thinking about it! Go watch the video! Finally, I added three sites to the Fun Stuff page: Road Blocks (a game), Birthday Calculator (a site for those who like factual birthday information), and Ball Toucher (another game). They're all Fun Stuff worthy!

BOO! Did I scare you? Happy Halloween! Mom subbed at BMS today and we wore our matching pumpkin shirts! Then we went to Bedford's "Trunk or Treat" in the evening. My supergoodfriends Jon & Di were dressed in a unique costume; Di was a ballerina and Jon was her "ballet bar." Cute! See pictures to the right. In web site news, I changed the little pumpkin cursor to a little turkey cursor! (Only Internet Explorer users can see the stylized cursors.) I also added some cute cursors to four of my slideshows: the Good Vibrations, Indy Indians, JoKai.net First Birthday, and Wedding slideshows. If you're an IE user, check them out!

Goodbye, Daylight Savings Time! I'm looking forward to its March 11 return. It's also time to say goodbye to my favorite month, October. To alleviate the pain, I have two new sites on the Fun Stuff page: Care Bears Care-A-Lot and String Spin. Check them out! Also, the picture to the right was taken on my Fall Photo Extravaganza on October 20. It's a duck!

Check out the updated Good Vibrations slideshow! I added 18 pictures to display the fun we had at Forever Gold's first dinner theatre event! The show was slightly shortened (to make time for dinner), but the fun was doubled! Also, there was an article called "Sending Good Vibes" in the Times-Mail the day before we performed. Check it out, too!

Can you see the new fall layout JoKai.net is sportin'? If not, delete your temporary internet files and refresh your browser. They should be there then! I went to IU yesterday and took dozens of pictures of fall foliage. Today, I decided to update the JoKai.net look with the new pictures I took and the leaves I collected. Also, Internet Explorer users can enjoy the cute little pumpkin cursor! If you don't like the new JoKai.net layout, don't worry; the beach layout will return eventually. Besides taking pictures this Fall Break, I've been super busy with the re-revival of Good Vibrations. We played to a sold-out crowd for our dinner theatre event at the Bedford Convention Center. It was a blast! Check back this week for new pictures on the slideshow! Also, Abbi is proud to announce that she has some clothes she likes—her new Christmas collar. Go to her site to see her in it! Finally, I added a new site to the Fun Stuff page—Pun of the Day. Go have a "punny" time!

Check this out! I am 10,000 days old today! To celebrate, I've been working on cleaning up the code on this site. If you find any dead links, email me and let me know which one(s) I need to fix, please! This weekend, Mac was in the Bedford Middle School Mr. Cutter Contest. Two colleagues (and friends) of mine organized the contest to promote school spirit and to raise funds for the school's Renaissance team (an academic improvement group). Mac received the People's Choice award! His drum solo and other performances were outstanding. While Mac was performing, Ed was drilling with the Army National Guard. I'm nervous about him being part of this, but I'm as proud of him as I can be! Fall Break will be here Wednesday, which means Good Vibrations will be here Friday! I found a new song I need to sing—Weird Al Yankovic's "White & Nerdy." Some lyrics: "I got a business doing websites; when my friends need some code, who do they call? I do HTML for ‘em all. Even made a homepage for my dog." Ha! It also has lyrics about doing Calculus for fun. I'm afraid this song might've been written about me...

Krankenhausfest was a success! I was honored to have the Good Vibrations crew sing some songs with me at the event. Good Vibrations rehearsals are in full swing as the show opens (again) in only nine days. Luckily, the performance is going to be over Fall Break, so we won't be completely worn out. You can bet I'll post new pictures on the Good Vibrations slideshow that weekend! In other news, remember the Jumping Blue Beans fundraiser I did for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation in 2005? My friends Scot and Brittany were recently able to make their "jumps for the cure" at Chicagoland Skydiving Center! (They were rained out three times over the last 17 months!) One of Scot's pictures is to the right. Looks like he had fun! You can check out my skydiving pics from July 2005 at My Skydiving Adventure!

Happy October! I'm kicking off the month by enduring an upper respiratory infection and flu-like symptoms. I had to miss work today, which I don't like to do; but Mom subbed for me, so I know everything in my classroom was OK. With K-fest and Good Vibrations coming up, I need my health back! In other news, did you notice the Abbi cursor on this page? (Only Explorer users can see it.) Neat, huh? I bought Abbi some new clothes last week (see right). She hates them.

Singing is in the air! I have two gigs coming up in October. First is Krankenhausfest on Saturday, October 7, from 11:15-11:45 A.M. at the National Guard Armory. Come enjoy K-Fest and some singin'! It's always more fun when there are people in the audience! I'll be doing some new songs, and the Good Vibrations crew (now known as Forever Gold), will join me for a few numbers, too. We're promoting the reprise of Good Vibrations that will take place on Friday, October 20, at the Bedford Convention Center. It's going to be a "dinner theatre" event catered by Hoovers! Yum! Email me for tickets! In web site news, I've archived the Summer 2006 What's Up files and added a link to them at the bottom of this page. I've also added three new sites to the Fun Stuff page: An Amazing Ad, Glitter Graphics, and RhymeZone. Also, on the new silly survey, someone commented, "What do you plan to do with this survey? " I just want to have fun reading the results! I save the analysis for my students to do with their survey. (The 2007 survey is coming in four months.) Finally, I haven't highlighted Mac's successful football season. Check out some pictures to the right (including one of Mac making an interception)!

It's Fall—my favorite season! And what better way to celebrate than with... A NEW CAR! Actually, it's a new truck. The Sunfire was a great buddy for 10 years, but it was time for something new, and new it is! I purchased a 2006 Red Chevy Colorado. I ♥ it! Big Bad Red is pictured with me to the right. I've included a bonus picture of my Sunfire that was taken in 1997. Dad helped me simulate the old picture (minus me wearing a Prom dress). I spent a lot of time in the new truck this morning; Mom and I drove to Indy for the Circle of Lights auditions, where I sang "O Holy Night." I hope I make it! Dad, Ed, and Sam are in the City Tournament this weekend at Otis. Too bad the weather is so yucky for them!