The Coveted iPod

Earlier this year I entered a t-shirt design contest on Sitepoint.com. The winning design would win a 40 gb iPod Photo. So I entered. I entered about 20 different designs pretty early in the competition and had to sit back and wait as entry after entry came in. I would check the post fairly often to see how the competition was stacking up. Every once in a while an entry would come that would worry me a little.

In early July the contest was closed and the members of the forum were asked to nominate entries for voting. I had four designs nominated. (the most of anyone) Now all of the members would vote for their favorite design. The voting started off slowly for my designs but I was consistantly in the top 5. Near the last day of voting one of my designs picked up steam and chugged into second place. And that was how the voting ended.

A few days later administrators on the forum posted an announcement that the 1st place vote getter had cheated and was losing nearly half of his votes – which vaulted me into first place.

I hadn’t won yet. The top five designs were sent to the Sitepoint administrators for the final desicion. At this point I really didn’t know what would happen but I felt I had as good a shot as the other four.

We were in Winter Park on vacation when I checked my email and found out that my design had been declared the winner! Oh the joy, oh the joy! ipod! ipod! ipod! Whooohooo!

Okay, after I collected myself I informed my family of my accomplishment. They all said cool, good job and then went back to whatever they were doing. Hey! Shouldn’t there be a parade or something? Come on – I just won an iPod!!

It took awhile for me to realize that not everyone considers this a world changing event but for those of you out there with iPods let me feel the love.

written on July 29, 2005 in Other Stuff · 3 Comments

A New Era

So this is the first entry in the new blog…better make it good.

Greetings to you all! It’s been awhile since we last talked. Hope everyone is doing great. The Byers household is slowly getting back to normal. We have had a crazy July. It started off with a trip to Indianapolis to visit our friends the Longs over the 4th. There was some good golf and a crazy wait at the Texas Roadhouse (another story for another time.)

I then broke my 26 year streak of not attending a funeral by going to 2 in 3 days. Mickie’s aunt passed away so it was off to Missouri and then we went to Wisconsin for my grandpa’s funeral.

We had a few days at home but then headed to Winter Park, CO for vacation. It was a lot of fun. I’m glad we were in the mountains with the 90 degree heat instead of in the city with the 105 degree heat! Look for a video of Mia’s first Alpine Slide ride soon.

So now we are back to normal – whatever that means.

Mia is growing up faster and faster. She decided today that she needed to kiss Mickie and me (multiple times) and no, I am not complaining. She is really into the game of peek a boo as well. She will hide behind a wall, couch, or whatever and stick her head out and say “peek.” It really doesn’t get any cuter than that.

One last thing, if you subscribed via RSS to our previous newsletter, you will need to change your feed address. I was cleaning out my server and accidently deleted my entire newsletter…which contributed to the swiftness of this new design and format. Sorry for the inconvenience.

So, hope you enjoy the new site. Make sure to leave your comments below!
Technorati Profile

written on July 28, 2005 in Annoucements and family · 6 Comments

Choose Your Own Adventure

In the spirit of complete and utter plagiarism or possible flattery, this update of the newsletter is courtesy of Jeff Long. He introduced me to a fun new game I like to call “those wacky options.” Here is how you play. I will type a sentence and then leave several descriptive words for you to choose. Based on however you are feeling at the moment pick the word that fits best. Here is a sample. I am feeling:
[good, okay, bad, like I am in a human 'whack a mole' game]
Okay, which did you choose? That’s not so hard is it? Here we go for real.

Tonight we went to [Chilis, Applebees, Culvers] for dinner. It was really [tasty, bland, nasty]. Mickie and I split the Cajun Chicken Pasta. I wished that we could have had more bread. After that we went to the Marble Slab Creamery which my mom likes to call the “Flab Slab” and had [ice cream, sour cream, a giant butter cow]. It was definitely tasty.

Mia has been [jabbering, walking, sleeping, performing complex mathematical calculations] a lot lately. She is growing up so [fast, slow]. She has started to move her arms and legs when she is [on her stomach, in her swing, close to dad's face] and is beginning to start the process of crawling. We need to baby proof our house still. This was very evident when we had some friends over last [night, week, month] and their little [girl, monster, adorable munchkin] tore the place up.

I can’t believe I actually did this but last week I drank several diet cokes and [liked it, gagged, tolerated it because there was nothing else to drink, almost died]. Thankfully Nancy bought a fresh 24 pack of regular coke, one of which I am [drinking, cooking with, cleaning rust with]

It was a lot of [fun, pain, boredom] to have both mom’s and sisters here the past couple of [days, weeks, months, years]. They really [helped out, got in the way, slept in].

I saw the movie The Village last week and unlike most people I actually [liked it, want my money back, slept through it, cried because I was so scared]. All I have to say is “beware of the bad color for it attracts those we don’t speak of.” Unfortunately, it hasn’t been attracting much in the color of green.

Well, it is time to end this [charade, irritating update, fun game] and get on with [life, napping, counting down the days till football starts]. Hope everyone [enjoyed, was mildly amused, hated] this! If anything you get to be a part of our lives for a few paragraphs. This is interactive internet at its finest moment.

I’m [out, here, out, here, out, over there...]

written on August 13, 2004 in Observations · no comments

The Updated Newsletter

Alright, so it’s almost August and I haven’t updated this section for about a month. So here goes. Interesting speeches at the Democratic National Convention last night… I especially liked it when Jimmy Carter took partial credit for ending the cold war and tried to compare the Soviets to Al Qaeda. And is Al Gore ever going to get over the 2000 election? Come on man give it up! It was 4 years ago and you still don’t have the votes. It was also rather humorous when Howard Dean was talking to Sean Hannity on Fox News and stated that the 9/11 Commission’s report claimed that there was no connection whatsoever from Iraq to Al Qaeda… Hmmm, he must have skipped over that part.

Anyway on to news a little more local. As the pictures and video testify our little Mia is growing up before our eyes. She is saying new “words” all the time. In fact I think she invented the term “travishamockery…” I have been getting a lot of practice in on my woodchuck voice though it is used for a purple elephant we have so creatively dubbed “purple elee.” Whoo-hoo! Who can hurl the smell the farthest?!

For those of you wondering, yes I do change diapers and I am good at it. In the effort to make everything some sort of competition and big league pipedream, I see how fast I can get the diaper off, bundled up into the shape of a football, and then into the trash can in the bathroom across from Mia’s room. Luckily the trash can is against a wall. I have been banking most of them in lately. Mia is impressed. She knows she has the best diaper-shooting daddy in the whole world. I expect this to be a competition at next years x-games.

Mickie is going back to work on Friday and she is not looking forward to it at all. She is cutting her schedule in half however which will be nice. This next semester I only have class on Tuesday’s so I will be able to continue to work full time. Nancy is coming up for the first couple of weeks which will be a nice transition. Mom has been here the last couple of days which has been nice. My bathroom got cleaned-with bleach. Not that I don’t clean my bathroom, but she is mom after all.

Caleb and I went to see the Bourne Supremacy last night. The theater had problems with their equipment and had to move us all to another theater. For our trouble they gave everyone 2 free passes. That was pretty cool. The movie itself was pretty good. I was on the edge of my seat throughout.

So, what else is going on? I got a cool new water bottle that is supposedly unbreakable, we had some really good ice cream at the Marble Slab last night and I haven’t played golf since going on vacation. I am looking forward to the men’s retreat coming up later this month. We will be going up to the camp in Clear Lake, IA. I am also speaking at a youth retreat in September which should be a lot of fun and a good experience.

Well, that is about all that is going on in our lives. Tune in next month to get all the dirt straight the source. You’ve been great. I’m out.

written on July 27, 2004 in family and Mia and Movies · no comments

The Crazy

Well, I guess it’s about time to update this section of our website. With Mia’s birth and all things have been a bit crazy. Obviously she was born and she has been awesome! She is such a good baby…even though she is screaming as I write this. But that is the exception rather than the rule.

So much has gone on so I will just summarize a few of the things that have happened in the past couple months.

  • Baby was born
  • School ended
  • Was laid off from job
  • Looked for a new job
  • Helped out a lot around the house
  • Helped out more because I still don’t have a job
  • Checked monster.com for the millionth time…a lot of nothing.
  • Changed diaper for the millionth time…a lot of something…
  • Got my motorcycle fixed
  • Took about 50,000 pictures of Mia
  • Contemplated a low-carb diet
  • Decided that I liked potato chips too much
  • And bread
  • PB&J just aint the same on a spoon
  • Got a new driver (golf club)
  • Found out my slice goes even farther
  • Got my old job back. Whohoo!!!
  • Went on vacation with Mickie’s family to Branson
  • Contemplated going into the sign business after reading about 1000 in a 3 mile stretch on the way to Branson
  • Decided I didn’t want to see “Country Jubilee” but the “Baldknobbers” didn’t look too bad
  • Went golfing with Denny
    • The day when golf finally pays you back.

    The day when golf finally pays you back.

  • Saw him get a hole in one
  • Went to Olive Garden
  • Stared for about on hour at the beeper light thingy they give you waiting for it to light up
  • It still hasn’t lit up…
  • Got home and wrote two papers that were due that day
  • Decided I wouldn’t procrastinate anymore
  • Decided to put off my procrastinating vow
  • Updated web site

Well, that should about bring us up to date. Hope everyone likes the new address. If you don’t just go to the old one it’s still there. War Nuggets, football season starting, and homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I’m Out.

written on June 26, 2004 in family and Observations · no comments

No Baby – But A New Car

The Lord blessed us with a new car this weekend. We were able to get a great deal from a friend of ours. It is a 2002 Chevy Impala LS. It has really low miles and has tons of room. Thanks for praying for us. No baby yet…

newcar

written on May 2, 2004 in Observations · no comments

No Baby, Yet…

Well here it is. Almost May and no baby yet. We thought it might happen last Saturday, but it wasn’t ready to come. We are ready how ever… Everything is still okay as far as we know. It is interesting how emotionally attached you become to a person you don’t really even know. I already love “it” (I hate calling it that..but we want to keep the surprise) so much.

I know that most of you can totally relate and this is nothing knew but it’s pretty cool. It is also interesting how emotional I have become about other babies and newborns. My Greek professor has a sister who recently had a baby that they thought would die and now his brother’s wife just found out that their baby is dying. I am not normally an emotional person but the thought of losing a child like that brings tears to my eyes even as I type. I praise the Lord for working in my life and giving me more compassion.

I am ashamed that I don’t pray more for this is my own family. We can always be confident that God is in control however and his will is perfect. The Psalmist said that “my times are in his hands.” What an incredible and personal thought.

My first car bit the dust last weekend. I loaned it to Caleb for the weekend and as he was driving it to Southern Iowa it blew a head gasket about 40 miles outside of Des Moines. The repairs were estimated between $1200-$1500. Needless to say I am not going to get it fixed. Caleb did however put me in contact with a guy who wanted to buy it. When the potential buyer showed up he wondered where the truck was. (I was standing right next to it) Come to find out Caleb told him it was a Chevy 1500 (It is really a small Toyota pickup) However he had driven 3 hours and was not going to go home empty handed. We had originally agreed on $250 and settled for $175. I was a bit sad but I will get over it soon. He was a good friend-a little rusty around the edges but reliable none the less. He will be missed.

Since we lost the truck we have been searching for a new car. We need something will more room, low miles and a good price… We are looking at Bonneville’s and Impala’s. We have test driven a few but haven’t found anything that works. We almost bought one yesterday but thankfully our heads took over our hearts and we didn’t buy it.

We got a new digital camera in lieu of the baby coming so I thought I would try it out. It has a neat video feature, so I thought I would take a tour of our house. Click this link for the tour. (you will need realplayer) and the video is sideways… I will update it soon.

School is almost done. We have finals next week. I need to do a lot of studying on Greek and Hebrew between now and then.

Well, I need to go pick up Mickie from work. Hope the Nuggets win tonight. Good to get emails from a lot of you. Dan and Lilian, we are praying for you.

written on April 27, 2004 in family and Mia and Thoughts 'n Theology · no comments

Life Update

nusery1Good morning, at least to those of you that are up at 2 am CST… I should be doing Greek homework, but I thought I would update the status of our life. Our girl scout cookies are almost gone. I know, I know you wonder how we make them last so long. It is called discipline-or maybe its because Mickie hides them… You decide.

Speaking of food, awhile ago I found a really cool website that gives you all the top secret recipes of your favorite restaurant food. My favorite is the Starbucks Frappuccino.

I put up a new page for the baby tonight. You can see some photos of the nursery. The photos are the same as on this page but I will update soon. We have a little over a month to go although we wouldn’t mind a bit if the baby came a little early. We are both really excited. I’m not nervous yet so somebody needs to let me know when I should be. We still need to buy a stroller and car seat. We are waiting on a friend of Mickie’s who said she would give us one, but we haven’t seen her for a while.

I was trying to get a new driver this weekend on Ebay but was unsuccessful. I bid on a 320ti Taylor Made driver in two separate auctions and both times lost by one dollar. I am also bidding on a new bag for my golf clubs. I want to get one that has the back-pack straps. They are a lot easier to carry and more comfortable. I decided that I am only going to buy one new golf item per year-I just haven’t decided if it will be a driver or bag. (I am also looking at a new putter…)

nusery2We went to Mickie’s parents for the weekend. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun. Friday night we went to an silent auction/pig roast for Kelsie’s (Mick’s little sister) school. They had a lot of stuff but most of it was crafty and and not that great. They did have a really cool americana quilt I tried to get for Mick but alas much like ebay I lost. We did bid on a shelf and won. That was part of the live auction. I have never been to one of those before but it sound like the auctioneer is just making truck sounds with his mouth-I can do that… They also tried to auction off some donated 4 wheel ATV’s and a motorcycle but nobody bid. I felt kind of bad but there weren’t a lot of people in the room with that kind of money.

Saturday I tried to help Denny build a chest of drawers. I got to run the hand held circular saw and he even let me cut some stuff on the table saw. I would like to do some word working but I have neither the time nor the tools. The dresser should turn out really nice though. He is doing a really good job.

We have missions conference at school this week. I am looking forward to it-not because of the great messages and missionaries we get to hear from, but because it will give me a chance to catch up…

I have to praise the Lord for his providence and safety. [mom you can skip to the next paragraph if you want] I took my motorcycle out for the first time trying to get it warmed up after sitting through the winter. I was taking it slowly on the road in back of our house when the front brake locked. I wasn’t going fast so I didn’t fly off, but it wouldn’t move and I was stuck in the middle of the road just around a curve. Right then 2 other guys on bikes road up and helped me get the bike off to the side of the road. It sat for about 10 min and was fine. I will try to get it in to be looked at soon.

We have some new neighbors. Pray that we will get a chance to witness to them. I am going to invite them to our easter cantata so pray that they will be able to go.

Well, my NCAA tournament brackets are surviving…barely. I still have chance in a couple of the challenges that I am in. I entered about 4. In the espn challenge I was in the 99th percentile after the first weekend but now I am in the 80th. Still pretty good but nowhere near the top. I should have entered Mick because she absolutely obliterated my bracket. She got 3 out of the final four. I am not sure how she picked her bracket but needless to say she is filling out mine next year… She picked the East Rutherford region perfect except for one game.

Mick's Bracket

Mick's Bracket


Josh's Bracket

Josh's Bracket

written on March 29, 2004 in family · no comments

Newsletter Update

BERTUZZIS PUNCHWell, here it is the middle of Spring Break and I haven’t really done anything productive except go to work today. I was lucky enough to catch the avalanche game last night on the internet and hear the shellacking (is that even a word?) they put on the Canucks. Too bad that goons like Bertuzzi exist. I hope that he is suspended for a long long time.

On a related note, girl scout cookies came today. 5 boxes of pure enjoyment.

Not like I need them. I wonder if the girl scouts make an Atkins friendly cookie? Everything else in the world is Atkins friendly-even this website is Atkins friendly-no carbs here…

I bought a range extender the other day for our home network. This will allow us to take the laptop anywhere in the house and be able to connect to the internet. We will even be able to be in the backyard and surf. No more gettin up and walkin to the computer…

I still haven’t seen The Passion yet. We are probably going to go on Friday. I can’t say that I am really excited but I am anticipating it in a weird way.

I landed a new contract with a church in Battle Creek MI to build their website and the GARBC is thinking about placing my link on their resources section. That would certainly help business. My desire would be to do this full time in the fall. Pray that the Lord might work in that direction.

If you ever get a chance log on to helives.com, do it. This is an incredible site that is having an incredible ministry. I spend most of my time on the teen forum answering questions. They can always use help, so feel free to log on and minister to hundreds of teens around the world!

I am tired so I think that I will go to bed now.

Out.

written on March 10, 2004 in Observations · no comments

The Byers Family Launches a New Website!

summer-va-ca-03-017Well, I guess because you are reading this you have discovered our new website. I plan to try and update the content as much as possible, but with life as nutty as it is an email is all you might get. But I will try!

I would like to include a family section, but I need some help. I would like to have a family picture of all the relatives in our families. I think it would be a good place to see what everyone looks like and to keep up. I would also like to be able to put contact information for everyone as well. That way keeping up could be as simple as a click.

If you could please send me a recent family photo with names (I am sure I wouldn’t recognize everyone!)

written on March 1, 2004 in family · no comments