TV-Free Family for the Summer

The Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Sara) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Oh,where do i begin...

This summer has been interesting without cable. Half of me liked not having T.V because our family has spent more time together. For instance, my dad and I are now going golfing together every Sunday(unless we cancel). On the other half, I miss T.V. I miss relaxing and watching the shows that are stupid but don't feel like changing the channel because it is kinda interesting. For the whole summer our friends go,"Have you seen the commercial where the animals are dancing? "And our answer is,"No, we don't have T.V. remember."

Overall, this summer was interesting I wouldn't say that i hated the idea, but i definitely wouldn't of said i loved the idea. Well, the T.V. is coming back on...hallelujah(:

Sara

Weekly Status: Week 12

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Well, I can't say that I'm all that happy about the results, but it would appear that the family vote on whether to stay TV-Free is in. It was a hard fought campaign, but I'm afraid it looks like our television is coming back.

I have to give the family credit though, for more than 12 weeks, we have managed to turn it off and leave it off. But the original deal was "...for the summer", and a deal's a deal. School starts on Tuesday.

There will likely be a few modifications to our new lifestyle, though.

I don't think that Momma's going to allow the old living room TV to live on. This will avoid the "background noise" television that always seemed to be on regardless if anyone was sitting in front of it or not.

I doubt that we go crawling back to Time Warner for the full digital viewing onslaught. I think everyone is fine with "basic cable". I, personally, can live with only the Weather Radar Loop channel, but I am sure Kate and Shortie are looking forward to Survivor and Momma won't go much longer without a LOST fix.

After spending a summer getting my news from RSS feeds and such, I won't be watching much CNN, FOX, or MSNBC -- and the newspaper is truly DEAD and buried. I like being able to manage subscriptions to dozens of publications all in my Google Reader. However, it might be nice to catch a Jon Stewart monologue on the 42" LCD in the family room every once in a while.

We've read more books, listened to more music, and discovered more new things on the Internet than we thought possible. And yes, we've even managed to talk to one another.

So here we sit at the end of the grand experiment. The days are getting shorter, and the cicadas are buzzing. Summer's winding down, and football season is just around the corner. Even if it was only for a short time, we tried to make a minor change in our world and we succeeded. That's pretty cool.

If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

-Bob Dylan

Next summer? Vegetarianism! LOL!! :o)

Weekly Status: Week 11

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:44:00 +0000

We had a big soccer weekend so this post is a little late. Nothing all that new to report except I once again floated the subject of not turning the cable back on at the end of the summer. Kate was concerned about missing Survivor. Sara was worried about the ever-present threat of a profound boredom setting in. The topic is still open for discussion.

For those that might be further interested in streaming internet to their televisions, the New York Times had an interesting article about some of the more useful gadgetry that is available.

August 17, 2009, 6:41 pm

Why Your PC May Be Your Best TV

By Sonia Zjawinski

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/why-your-pc-may-be-your-best-tv/

Camp L.E.E.D

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:42:00 +0000

For the past 3 weeks Sara and I have been attending a camp called L.E.E.D. I'm almost 100% sure a lot of you are wondering what L.E.E.D stands for, or what you do in the camp. Well this is my explanation in a nut shell:

What it stands for:
L - leadership
E - ethics
E - esteem
D - duty

What do you do?
First of all, you do A LOT of different activities. But mostly it has to do with volunteering in the community, at camps, and cleaning up the enviroment. But you also have a choice; you can volunteer or you can stay back. When you choose not to go volunteer you usually play in the gym, go outside, rent and watch a movie, or play card games all day.
Personally, I'd rather get out of "The Dublin Bubble" and see what's happening outside of it. But when you DO volunteer this is some of the things you can do.

Volunteering Opportunities:
- Help set up the Irish Festival
- Go to the Soup Kitchen
- Go to the Free Store
- Go to the Faith Mission Shelter for Men
- Go to the Ronald Mcdonald House
1. Make lunches for the families
2. Clean every nook and cranny of every floor(: <-- this was fun.
- Help at the Wyandot Camps, Kidzone, My first Camp, and Wee Folk.
- Go to Faith Mission on 8th Street and help serve lunch
- Help sort donations at Faith Mission on 8th
- Go to the Cozy Cat Cottage
- You also learn a bit about CPR and Bullying.
- Pick up trash at Hayden Run Falls

These are just some of the things you do!

L.E.E.D are for kids in the range of 6 - 8 grade and it's a lot of fun. It's such a great exprience too! I learned so much about what's going on in the world and how I can help. So check it out, and maybe even sign your kids up for it next summer.;)

- Katie

Weekly Status: Week 10

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Week 10 and we're in the last few weeks of summer and our grand experiment. All continues to go well, and we've not broken our promises.

This week, fall sports start up again. We have our first Soccer tournament this weekend, and Cross Country practice begins tomorrow morning at 9am. So, the girls have been busying themselves and sorting out athletic equipment situation and such.

Kate needed some new runners, so we had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite old haunts -- The FrontRunner store on Lane Ave. If you're an experience Columbus runner, you already know about this place. If you're a beginner, you'd be doing yourself a favor to get down there and check them out. As per their norm, FrontRunner staff had us in and out with a great fitting pair in no time.

An Authentic Beach Vacation: Revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:31:00 +0000

A friend of mine after reading my post on looking for authenticity in a beach vacation dropped this article on my desk. Based on the report, this is the place we're all looking for -- so get there quick, they are probably already running low on sponge cake.

A Florida Island, End to End, Table by Table via the New York Times.

Looks like fun.

Music: Stumbling onto Music

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Stumbling onto Music

Having much more time to spend on the computer lately, I have visited about as many websites as I could remember, and have Google'd about as many subjects as I could think up. At some point, you're just out of ideas -- and start feeling like you've reach the proverbial end of the Internet. As I was spiffing up the site the other week for the social media folks, I re-stumbled upon StumbleUpon.

For those unfamiliar with StumbleUpon -- you sign up for free, specify which topics interest you, add a toolbar, and by clicking a button -- StumbleUpon shoots you to a website that you might find interesting -- presumably because other people with similar interests have identified the site as "interesting". It's great for casual browsing. I setup my account and selected "Music" as one of my interests.

AAannywho... this has dropped me into some great music sites, and pointed me to some interesting music-related content. It pointed to me to this video of Bobby McFerrin ("Don't Worry - Be Happy" - remember?) doing a demonstration using the pentatonic scale. What's the pentatonic scale? Umm..It really doesn't matter. Let's just say that in a lot of ways -- you already know what it is. Bobby proves it in this video. -- Enjoy.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Music: Pandora - Personalized Internet Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Internet Radio

I got a Blackberry a while back, and on my way back from Florida I was messing around with a new application that I downloaded. The goal was to use my Blackberry as a music player so I could ditch my iPod. So, scanning the new Blackberry apps one day, I came across the Pandora application for Blackberry. On the way back from Florida, I tuned into the new App to see if I'd like it.

Pandora starts you off by having you name an artist you like, and then it plays that artist and other similar artists thus presenting a "personalized" radio station for you. I was skeptical. I figured sure, you put in "The Beatles" and it also plays the "Rolling Stones" -- even though everyone who knows anything about music knows that there are "Beatles people" and "Stones people" -- and they're very different groups.

I put in Ani DiFranco because while she's one of a dozen female singer/songwriter that came out of the late 90's -- she's has a unique style in what she does. Simply put, she's got a bit of an angry streak, and she flat tears up the guitar. I especially like that about her.

In short, almost 3 hours of listening later, I was sold. Pandora uses a database from their Music Genome Project to categorize the songs it plays for you. It then asks you to rate each song and analyzes your picks to fine tune the songs it selects for you. This, then, creates a personalized radio station that plays songs that you've already said you liked and adds similar songs to see if you like those. Very cool. It'll even explain to you why it picked the songs it picked. It says stuff like this:

Based on what you've told us this far, we're playing this song because it features folk roots, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, acoustic sonority, and extensive vamping.

Funny.. I thought I liked Ani because she can flat tear up a guitar.. but yeah, all that stuff is good, too.

Pandora is one of several similar internet-based radio sources that you can try. Here's a big run-down of the service on Tradevibes. It has a list of competitors on the site, too, so if Pandora doesn't do it for you -- look around.

TV-Free Alternative: Music

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:45:00 +0000

The Dublin Irish Festival always brings with it some of the best musical entertainment to be found in the summer. It always re-energizes my appreciation for music of all types.

As I sat listening to some of my favorite Irish jigs and reels yesterday, I realized how large of a part music has been playing in our lives lately. The reason is that because we have much more time to listen to music -- we listen to more and varied music. Because we listen to more music -- we have found more music sources. All of this grows into a greater music appreciation and a richer experience when listening. That's been a nice TV-Free win!

This week I'll be posting a couple more posts dealing specifically with music. Here's a quick run-down on some of the local live music we've enjoyed lately.

Support your Local Musicians

During the Dublin Irish Festival, the wife and I enjoyed many of the bands, but especially enjoyed Slide and Scythian. Slide plays those great irish reels that get you banging on the table, and Scythian plays the more raucous flavor with an eastern European spice.

In prior posts, we've called out local live music at The Columbus Arts Festival and the Park Street Festival. We also went up to the Dam Jam in Shawnee Hills, Ohio and saw Conspiracy play. Covering some great old R&B songs, you can't beat this band for its vocalists and that horn section just gets you up on your feet.

Benny's Pizza in Marysville has been supporting the local live music scene this summer -- and a few weeks back we saw the Menus. What a great fun band those guys are even after 26 years!

This is just the stuff that the family and I have covered. This is probably less than 1% of 1% of the live music opportunities that abound in Columbus. Pick something you'd like, shut off the TV, and go see them. Support your local musicians.

Weekly Status: Week #9

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:34:00 +0000

All things are going well this week.

We visited the always interesting and fun Dublin Irish Festival both Friday Night and Saturday Night. The girls spent time with their friends roaming around the 27 acres of festival grounds. Once again, as large as the grounds seem to be -- it always seems that there are plenty of people there.

I met a couple there on Friday night while I was enjoying some fish and chips who had just moved into town from New Jersey. They'd lived in Dublin all of 2 days, and happened to arrive on this weekend. They were treated to a nice welcome from the city, and seemed happy to have found an unexpected treat in their new hometown.

Welcome to Dublin, folks.

TV-Free Family Fun: The Dublin Irish Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:46:00 +0000

This weekend is the Dublin Irish Festival. Great Family Fun. Great Entertainment. Opportunities to Volunteer and (more importantly) introduce your kids to volunteerism. And... there won't be a television anywhere near it.

Weekly Status: Week #8

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Weekly Status

Eight weeks in and we're still going strong. I'm now more convinced than ever that this was the right thing for us, and this week I raised a question to the TV-Free family that they probably knew was coming all along.

After the summer is over, do we want to go back?

The question was answered with some thoughtful looks and some non-committal shrugs. We'll let that one stew awhile, and come back to it.

An Interesting Poll Result

Since there's not much else going on, I'd like to share this with you. It is the results of a Time Online Poll. The question was asked:

Now that Walter Cronkite has passed on, who is America's most trusted newscaster?

The winner was Jon Stewart...

Our most TRUSTED NEWSCASTER is Jon Stewart from the Daily Show on the Comedy Central Network. Umm...that's CCN, not CNN.

Sure, it's a unscientific, online poll, and the demographic of respondents is probably skewed to the young, liberal, and tech-savvy, but still... It makes me wonder whether CNN and the rest of the mainstream media types are really paying attention. They should be.

The Complete Results

You absolutely CAN go TV-Free, too.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:17:00 +0000

"Are you frakkin' CRAZY?!"

This was the reaction of a good friend of mine after I explained to him our family's TV free experiment. His prediction, if I remember correctly, was "I'll give you until the first rainy day."

Well, we've managed to persist through the first, and several more, rainy days, and it hasn't been nearly as difficult as he might have expected. In fact, it has even been easier than I expected. A quick poll of the TV-Free family is unanimous -- "Easier than we expected."

At Momma and I's golf league this week, a quick conversation broke out after I once again explained the experiment. It's inevitable really. It happens every time. One side of the marriage looks at the other and asks slyly, "So..could you do it?" The answers are generally a boastful, "Absolutely! No sweat!" -- and then "... for about 4 hours." is added. Then, we all laugh.

But here's the thing, you CAN do it. You absolutely can DO it.

Talk it over with the family. Just talk about giving it a shot. It'll be fun. It'll be interesting. It'll be something different. It'll be temporary... for a week.. or a couple days.. or just a few hours. Get together as a family... toss your hands in the huddle. Work together as a team. Go Team!

Then, just go down in the basement and disconnect the cable. You'll be surprised how easy it really can be. Good luck and shoot us a message to let us know how it's going.

Subscribe, Share, and Tweet

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:54:00 +0000

With the help of a few "How To" articles found on other folk's blogs, I've added some features to the TV-Free blog that some might find useful.
Over there ... you should see some new subscription links so that you can have new posts pushed out to you instead of coming to us.

Down below that... you'll find the, always fun, reader poll. Asking the question, were we cheating (as one commenter suggested) when we streamed Tour de France coverage over the net?

And.. down there.. for all you social media, Web 2.0 types, there are links to Digg, Stumble, and Tweet, etc., as desired.

It was an interesting diversion to learn how these little sniglets work. I hope they come in handy for you.

Can you believe it...

noreply@blogger.com (Momma) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:26:00 +0000

Can you believe it.......As so stated by Sara, I too haven't been on to post a blog lately. I've been on to read what the rest have blogged and frankly, I think they have done well...

Like those noted before me, our summer vacation was perfect (once we got the car situation worked out - borrowed a vehicle that ended up needing repairs that prevented us from using so had to reach out and find another vehicle - very grateful for the help !).

Headed out of town early and decided to stop in Cool Springs, Tennessee on the way down to Destin, Florida and spend the night. It was about 6 hours from Dublin and we weren't going to check into condo in Destin until the next day so had plenty of time. Mike found a famous breakfast joint that we all wanted to go to so we got up early and headed out to the Loveless Cafe & Motel. They are known in the area for the biscuits, and boy were they good. We all got souvenir t-shirts and headed back out of town....we could hear the water and waves calling our names....

Our condo rocked...... 3rd floor with 3 separate balconies (each bedroom and family room) and view of the ocean.....The Mediterranea was the perfect place for our family, close to the ocean, had a pool, restaurant close by, what more could you ask for.

We rented scooters, and took them all over the area. We went to Henderson State Park and hung out on the beach and played a little in the water, then back off to check out the area and see all the beautiful huge houses and scenery. All so pretty. We had the scooters for 2 hours that went by really fast.

Spent a lot of time on the beach and in the pool. Something about the salt water in the eyes and mouth that none of us could get used to....we'd run up to the pool and swim awhile then go back to the ocean and enjoy the huge, huge waves.

Mike snorkeled late one evening and I was very uncomfortable as I didn't want him to end up as Shark bait, luckily the sun went down pretty quick and he headed back to the shore...

We ate at some cool restaurants (Hard Rock Cafe, Pompano Joe's, Kenny D's, Fud Pucker's) and did some awesome outlet shopping (Silver Sands Outlet Mall, Destin Commons). It did rain a few times, but, doesn't it always.....and then the sun would come back out... I love Florida and it was hard to pack things up and head home, but like everything else in life, you gotta do it....

It was nice to have the following week off for vacation too, just we were at home. We were able to visit my parents in St. Mary's and do some boating while there, went to the movies, played some golf, watched a live band at Benny's in Marysville and also one at the Dam Jam in Dublin.

All in all, it was a great time for our family and great memories were had by all... Only one question though, where is the warm weather ?

Pam

Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Sara) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:34:00 +0000

Okay, so I know I haven't wrote a blog in a while. I'm sorry for that and lets move on.

When my parents told us we were going to Florida I was really excited. Warm, 24/7 sunshine, warm water,white sand, and beaches...What every girl wants! It was the perfect vacation. Unfortunately, the flag (which I will explain later in the blog) was waving red 6 out of 7 days. Literally, I was knocked off my feet from the waves. Which, was great if you wanted huge waves for surfing, boogie boarding, or even skim boarding. By the end of the day I was sick of the salt taste always in my mouth! But, I got over it and had a blast the rest of the week.

The Flag Key:
Green: No worries
Yellow: Caution
Red: Dangerous
2 red flags: Ocean is closed
Purple: Marine life

Luckily, we had the yellow flag waving on the last day which was really nice.

Wednesday, we decided to rent motor scooters which was a blast, if i do say myself. We rode our scooters down from Destin to Henderson State Park. The park had beautiful beaches, white as could be. We didn't stay there for long because we didn't have towels.

Overall, it was a really fun vacation and I would totally recommend it to any family.

Thanks for reading,
Sara

Family Fun: An Authentic Beach Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:34:00 +0000

We just completed a nice, long summer vacation. This year we spent a week on the beach in Destin, FL. I was very much looking forward to nibblin' on sponge cake and steppin' on pop-tops, etc., etc.

Destin FL, in the panhandle, is a very well-established and beautiful beach town with all of the typical beach town adornments. You could rent scooters, wave runners, and boats. You can parasail or surf. You can fill your belly with fresh grouper and boiled shrimp.

We went to Pompano Joe's beachside restaurant. We went to AJ's on the wharf. We went to the Back Porch restaurant. All highly recommended by recent travelers. And, all pretty good -- but just pretty good. The food was pretty good, the service was pretty good, the price was pretty good (although there must be some sort of city ordinance that prohibits the sale of a long neck bottles of beer for under $4). The location of all of these places was incredible. You can't just sit there and eat. You have to sit there and eat and look over the beautiful emerald coast. The views were truly gorgeous.

But something was still missing. While at the Back Porch, I discovered what it was. I checked the very bottom of their menu and found that Pompano Joe's and Back Porch were both owned by a company called the Southern Restaurant Group. They're corporate. Then, I started to inspect all of the menus and information on the places we were going. They were all corporate.

Maybe I'm naive, or maybe I'm just getting old. But when I stop into a little sun-drenched, beach side restaurant called "Pineapple Willy's" or "Pompano Joe's" or "Seaside Sally's" --- I'd like to think that Willy, Joe, and Sally are back in the kitchen sweating over the grill and making sure all the food is just like it was when their momma used to work in the kitchen.

This authenticity is vanishing I'm afraid. Willy, Joe, and Sally are no longer real people, just caricatures that fit nicely on a t-shirt available for $24 in the gift shop (apparently there's an ordinance on minimum pricing for souvenir t-shirts, too.) These restaurants are all stamped out like cookies using age old formulas.

It was a really nice time in Destin, but I'm still on the look out for the truly authentic, truly American beach town vacation. I'm afraid, though, that in order to find it -- I'll have too look outside of America. If you know where Margaritaville went -- please drop me a comment let me know.

Weekly Status: Week 7

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:53:00 +0000

"Lance Time" is back!

I've wandered through the knee-deep internet information forums to come up with a way to be able to allow the family to watch live or re-broadcasted, or summarized video reports of the Tour de France.

Actually, this was fairly simple, and I'm sure all of my tech-brothers are saying "Well, yeah - you knucklehead." The cheapest way to connect a TV to the internet is just to connect the TV to a PC or laptop. This cost me about $20 for a VGA cable and a audio cable. The quality of the picture isn't great, but that's more a function of the source than the method.

This gives the family its nightly dose of "Lance Time" just in time to watch Lance destroy the field in the Alps. Shortie has also become a Mark Cavendish fan. I have, too.

For those interested in various aspects of the internet video to TV connections... Here are some fairly good resources...

A discussion of resources that offer video streams of mainstream television programming:
http://www.obsessable.com/feature/throw-away-your-television-how-to-watch-all-your-tv-on-the-internet/

Some detailed information on scan rates, resolutions, and the like:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/how-to-connect-computer-to-tv.htm/printable

A comparisons of different methods and available products:
http://www.seanpaune.com/2008/02/16/how-to-watch-internet-videos-on-your-tv/

YouTube video showing all the necessary connections:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyMYbmB_k6c&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldtvpc.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-to-connect-your-pc-to-your-big-screen-tv%2F&feature=player_embedded

Enjoy!

Weekly Status: Week 6

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:16:00 +0000

This week, the TV-Free Family was on vacation in lovely Destin, Florida. We watched some TV. The condo we rented was well appointed, and well...

The programming choice is my current rationalization. We watched the coverage of the Tour de France on the Versus channel. Normally, I would have slapped the remote and turned it off, but Lance Armstong's story is such a shining example, I considered the broadcast a rare gem. (By the way, the commercials for "Fanarchy" then went forward to reinforce my TV-Free views - what dreck!.)

Annnywho... we're back from vacation, and now there's no "Lance Time". So I started to consider how I might still follow the Tour without the aid of the demon box. Watching it on the Internet is the obvious choice, but each family member watching it individually from the small screen really shorts the appeal. Lance time was actually family time.

So, I'm off on a journey to discover how truly feasible it is for the average Joe to hook up his bright new shiny LCD Flat screen to a computer for delivery of content. Hmm.. I'm probably going to need some type of cable...

Reader's Digest asks the question "Which would you give up?"

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:35:00 +0000

Well, there ya go. You see our little experiment might just have become a "movement". Imagine that! We're trendsetters!

Which would you give up? TV? Cellphone? or Web? Around the World!

The Kids are Fine! They're watching "The Disney Channel"

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:13:00 +0000

During a conversation with a friend of mine about his young children watching the Disney Channel -- he articulated well some of my concerns about this channel's programming. This is just one more chip on the stack of things that made me want to go TV-Free this summer.

In my, admittedly, middle-aged mind when I hear "The Disney Channel" -- I think Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Chip and Dale. But, in today's Disney Channel these have been replaced with Hannah Montana, Zach and Cody, and the Jonas Brothers. Hey! Kudos to the marketing machine that keeps churning out fresh faces using a tried and true formula. But -- remember parents -- this is not the Mickey Mouse Club that we remember.

Today, this channel seems obsessed with the teenage dating exploits of high-school aged children -- who's cute? who's kissing whom? How to handle a date with two girls at one time?

What's wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. Admittedly it's pretty tame by today's standards. I'm OK with it as long as the kids that are watching it are high-school aged or at least close to that. I'll even accept the 12 and 13 year-olds. But, what about 8, 9, or 10 year-olds? Back it up there Steamboat Willie, that's too young for this stuff..

Think I'm over-reacting? Maybe. But before you decide, go to the Disney Channel home page, and read the ticker messages and the age of the kids who are entering them. I'll wait.

All I'm saying is that if your kids are watching the Disney Channel -- have a seat next to them on the couch -- and judge for yourself whether the content is age-appropriate for your little Chip or Dale.

Weekly Status: Week #5

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:06:00 +0000

All's well in the TV-Free household. It's week 5 and we still haven't caved although I have to admit that I did watch some Michael Jackson videos on YouTube this week (as I'm sure many of us have). Two things came to mind. First, Michael Jackson was, at one time, an incredible entertainer. Second thing, YouTube really sucks lately -- I did nothing but wait for it to stream. So here's a couple of other video links I found: 1995 MTV Music Awards Performance and the Thriller Video.

ummm.

noreply@blogger.com (Sara) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:38:00 +0000

okay so in my last blog I had made hyperlinks to all of the ride information....well they didn't work very well so you can go to http://www.visitkingsisland.com/#actions to find them there or you can just go to one of my dad's posts and look at a few of the rides he put down...

sorry about the confusion,

Sara

I fixed your links for you, Shortie!! -- Dad.

Kings Island

noreply@blogger.com (Sara) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:05:00 +0000

Kings island....what a blast!

So over last weekend we went to Kings Island. I had said to myself on the way there that I will go on EVERY single ride. When we pulled in I second guessed myself "maybe not every ride."

So over the 13 hours we were there I made a list:

Top 10 rides at Kings Island,
1.Diamondback
2.Invertigo
3.Vortex
4.Flight of Fear
5.Son of beast
6.Beast
7.Racer
8.drop Tower
9.Delirium
10.Firehawk
11.Crypt(this ride sucks...don't take the time to ride it!)

I didn't go on drop tower , delirium or firehawk . They are put in the list because of everyone else says they are really good rides.

Overall, Kings island was a great trip and if you haven't ever been there,you should because it is a lot of fun.

Sara(:

Irish Attitude : A great little blog for fellow Dubliners

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:58:00 +0000

Hey, I just found this blog with some great Dublin area information. Some great Family Fun ideas here within a bike ride of my house. Enjoy...

http://irishattitude.wordpress.com/