Internet Fun

I am sure that all 7 of my subscribers know that this is the place to find out what is new and fun on the internet. Not every post is new and fun but once in a while, I'll hit something great. Well, here is the latest fun video that is spreading like wildfire around the internet. Remember, you saw it here first.



Don't watch it too many times or you will start singing the song and it will get stuck in your head.

Winna Winna Winna

Those of you that have been to the Twin Falls County Fair and Rodeo will understand the title of this blog. As you walk down the trampled grass cooridors your ears fill with the sounds of "Carnies" yelling at the top of their smoke filled lungs to try and get you to play their carnival games. If you happen to pass by at just the right time when someone has actually one something, you will hear, "Winna, Winna, Winna". This year was no exception.

One of the visits we try to make while at the fair is a wandering wramble through the art buildings. This year Kate had her art project posted on the wall. She beamed as she pointed to her masterpiece displayed as part of a kaleidoscope of art from her elementary school.



Afterwards, the girls got their hands stamped and rode some of the rides. I tried to take some pictures with my camera phone but they don't turn out too well. This was their first ride, which also made Kate sick.



After some more long lines and a few rides, it was time for the girls to go home and it was time for Andy and I to start working at the Fair Booth. Each year our LDS ward has one fundraiser. This fundraiser is a fair booth that sells hot dogs, hamburgers and other stuff.



Coby came out to help as well since it was busy and we were down a person or two. Again, the picture isn't great from my phone. The picture is just good enough that you can see Andy's back (wearing a red hoodie) and Coby.

Meeting with Choir Director

Coby came home from school the other day with a story to tell. He said that he was in class and one of his friends came up to him and told him that Mr. Casperson was looking for him. He didn't think much of it until a second friend came up and told him that Mr. Casperson was looking for him. At this point, he started getting nervous (gulp). He thought for sure he was in trouble somehow but wasn't sure why. He thought that maybe it was for being late or something so he was a little reluctant to run down to his office to find out what it was. Then, while at lunch, four more people came up to him and told him that Mr. Casperson was looking for him. (Mr. Casperson is the Choir Director by the way). So, Coby finally decided to take his punishment and head down to the Music Teacher's office right after he finished his lunch and take it like a man.

Upon arrival, Mr. Casperson invited Coby into his office. The Director politely asked Coby what he had for 8th period. Coby replied that 8th period was when he took his IDLA class online, however, since the class he wanted wasn't available this semester, he was just doing some online html this semester to fill the time during the class. Mr. Casperson was happy to hear this news and replied, "Well, I just found out that I will be needing another boy for my 'JIVE' singing group." Coby paused. Coby had tried out for Jive at the end of the last school year but was not chosen from the group of boys that tried out. He was a little shocked that he had now been asked to join them. He told Mr. Casperson that he would check with his parents to see if this would work into his schedule. Coby brought this news home to Deanna and after a small discussion decided to accept the invitation to join the singing group "JIVE".



We are very excited about this opportunity for Coby. We know he will need to stretch himself but we know he will grow and be successful. It will, however, take quite a bit of hard work. But, I really think Coby will enjoy his time with this group. Way to go Coby!

YouTube

I don't know why but lately I have been obsessed with how many views my video's have been receiving. When you look at the old spice commercial spoof that BYU produced, they received over 2,000,000 views. That is incredible. I mentioned to my kids that I was hoping that the Old Spice Spoof that Andy and I did at Scout Camp would go "viral". They looked at me like I was a little crazy. "What does Viral mean?" they asked. It is when a video becomes so popular that it spreads around the internet like a virus. It isn't an actual virus but it spreads so quickly that it just gets seen by thousands and possibly millions of people in a very short period of time. Businesses pay lots of money these days just trying to get a video out there in the bloggosphere that will go "viral". Anyway, none of my videos have gone viral, in fact, they haven't even been sneezed at. Below are some stats from my Channel on YouTube.

I currently have a measly 6 subscribers.
My most viewed video is "Carters get a Wii" with 665 views.
2nd is "The Super Nerf War" with 479 views.
3rd is "Lower Falls at Yellow Stone Park" with 255 views.
4th is "Banadana skit" with 191 views.
and the one I hoped would go viral at 5th on the list is "Camp Bradley Old Spice Spoof" with 162 views.

Even though the Camp Bradley Video didn't go viral, it definitely moved up the rankings in my YouTube Channel very quickly. It only took a few weeks to hit number 5 on my "most views" list. In comparison, the "Carters get a Wii" video has been out there since December 2008.

Anyway, there you have it. My top five video's on YouTube. Click here if you want and become a subscriber to my YouTube Channel.

Names

I received a comment on one of my videos from a website that had bible names. I decided to track down my name to see what it meant and how awesome or dorky I really was (which I am almost certain is completely dependent on the name given to me at birth).

By traveling around the internet and making several loops around the globe using nothing but fiber optic cables, I was able to confirm my name's meaning.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Clinton

http://www.behindthename.com/name/clinton

Drum roll please!!!! Ratatatattatararararatatatarraratatatat!

My name means: settlement on the summit
My name means: fenced settlement
My name means: Settlement on the river Glyme

So, with this in-depth research and not one step outside my door, it has been determined that my name is pretty close to meaning "A fenced settlement on the summit on a river". I'm not sure how you can be on a summit and be on a river at the same time but who's to argue with the name-meaning people.

Found New Fun/Cool Blog

I always risk sounding too feminine on my blog posts and today is no exception. I have found a new fun blog. (yes, you could hold your arms up on the sides and let your hands droop down and wave them back and forth to get the full feminine effect), however, in my case (to make me look more masculine) I am holding two huge Sloppy Joe's in my hands while flexing my biceps and reporting that I have found a new cool blog.

Ok, enough with the dramatics, give me the stupid (bad word in our house) website address to this "supposed" fun/cool website.

The website is called Going Postal, Stories from the Mailroom.

This little blog is about a student that works at the MTC. What makes it interesting is that she works in the Mail Room which delivers all of the mail to all of the Missionaries. Every once in a while she posts an interesting little event that happens while at work.

Dual Monitors

Maybe it is the computer geek in me but today's post will be about having dual monitors.



I first setup my computer with dual monitors when I was working for Glanbia. I really didn't feel like I was gaining much by having two monitors at the time, I just like the look and the feel of being able to have so much space on my desktop. I also kinda liked the look people gave me when they walked into my office and saw my monitors wrapped around my desk. "Wow, that's cool", was usually the comment made. I felt cool too. When I left Glanbia I also went back in time to the old days of a single monitor. It wasn't long before I started feeling the pangs of how restrictive one monitor can be. However, I lived with it for a time.

Now, I'm back into technology working for Trilogy Network Systems where I have a little latitude on what I can use on my computer and I'm back to 2 monitors baby! I found this article put out by Microsoft that talks about dual monitors and guess what, it really isn't that hard to get it setup. You will need a video card that matches up with your computer that can handle two monitors ports. Plug the video card into the motherboard on your computer, plug in the 2 monitors and Windows will handle the rest. Here is the article.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/organization/twomonitors.aspx.

The only down side is this (and I tell people this all of the time) once you go to two monitors, you'll never want to go back. Maybe because of the desktop space it gives you. Maybe because of the number of blogs you can pull up at once, or maybe you'll get it just so that someone will walk into your office or your home and say, "Wow, that's cool!"

Rifle Merit Badge

Andy went up to Scout Camp this year with the hopes of completing his Rifle Shooting Merit Badge. As many of you know, this isn't as easy as you would think. Sure, the bookwork is a piece of cake and sitting though the hours of safety instruction is a necessity but the hardest part is getting the bullets to land correctly on the target paper. To qualify, you need to be able to group your shots in groups of three, small enough so that a quarter will cover your bullet holes. You can not use a scope for this requirement and it must be at 50 feet away. At that distance, the bead at the end of the barrel is about as big as the circle on the target, so you have to be very steady and very consistent. Unfortunately, Andy was not able to complete this requirement up at camp so I called one of my good friends that is a gun expert and asked if he could take us to a shooting range and give Andy some more practice. He accepted the challenge and we went out to the range on Saturday. We had a wonderful time thanks to Andy's (my friend) generosity. Even the Dad's got in on the action to try and out-shoot the youngsters. Of course, we had to pull out all of our rusty cowboy talk and swagger the best we could to try and be authentic (just kidding). At the end, Andy was able to fulfill his requirements and walked home with some targets demonstrating his ability to shoot like Wyatt Earp. Here is a short video of all of us at the rifle range. Thanks again to Andy Hamblen for taking some time out of his busy schedule to take us to the rifle range to do some target shooting. We enjoyed every minute of our time out there in the dry Idaho wind at the shooting range.




Here is a link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjuHaVni4NY

hair style

I have had the same hair style since I was about 1 year old. My Dad taught me to part it on the right side and comb it over to the left. There was only one time when I drastically changed my style and that was on my mission. I actually had a flat top hair cut for a couple of weeks. As my hair grew out, it reverted back to the part and comb.

Well, I guess it is time for a change so I picked a picture that looked "modern" and told the hair cut lady to do her best to make me look cool. This is what it is supposed to look like.



Below is the result and my new hair style for the next 40 years. Ok, maybe for the next few months. I know, it isn't anything drastic or exciting, but, it is a change.



Here is a link to the video for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjs1E8HrQHo

Bloopers

We have had a pretty good response to the Camp Bradley Video Andy and I made at Scout Camp. It is interesting to note that only a few people have noticed that at the end of the video, Andy rode off without a bike helmet. At Camp Bradley, that's a "no no". After creating this little video, I thought it might be fun to do a "bloopers" video as well so you could see how many times we had to go over everything before we got it right. So, here are the bloopers.



Here is the link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLDctUj4g5w. I don't know why but when my blog post makes it to Facebook, the embedded video is stripped out.

Scout Camp 2010

Yes, it is time again for Scout Camp. It seems like we were up there just a few weeks ago but if you look at the calendar very carefully, you will be able to see that 365 days have passed.

To help Andy get excited about Scout Camp, I promised him that we would make a movie while I was up there. Once I was up there, I kind of lost some of my enthusiasm because I was so tired after serving dinner to 120 scouts. I asked Andy if he still wanted to do it and he still was willing to try it. So, Andy grabbed one of his friends and came with me as I put together this little "commercial".

If you are not familiar with the "Old Spice" commercials on TV and on the Internet, you may not "get" the funniness of the video we made. BYU also made a hilarious commercial as a Spoof off of the Old Spice video that can be viewed at this link.

Enjoy


Here is the link for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsMli_p6Jes

Special Olympics

The Special Olympics just became more special for our family this year. Zach Mayer, my nephew and our kids' cousin, qualified to travel to Lincoln Nebraska to compete in the 2010 Special Olympics USA National games. Grandma Wardle and a bunch of family members volunteered to help support Zach in this endeavor and invited Savanna and Katie to travel with her to this wonderful event.

Zach's events included several entries in the Power Lifting competition. While competing for one of his events, the dead lift, he noticed that he had reached the limit of which he was capable of lifting, however, this weight would put him in second place. He knew that 260 lbs was the most he had ever lifted in this particular event but, he found that if he could muster up some extra courage, and extra strength, he would win the gold metal. With his determination fixed, he made a small comment to himself that he was going to try his hardest for his Grandpa. He steadied his feet and fixed his grip. Giving all that he had, Zach somehow managed to lift all 265 pounds, a personal best, to win the gold metal. Many in the audience did not realize that almost a year earlier, his Grandpa Wardle had left this earth unexpectedly. It brings tears to my eyes that Zack still remembered his Grandpa Wardle and wanted him to continue to be a part of his life even though he was on the other side of the veil. I know Grandpa was proud of you Zack and I know he was giving everything he had to help you succeed. I know the veil is thin and I believe that on special occasions, loved ones are allowed to come and witness special events in our lives.



Below is a video clip of Zach taking second place in another event, however we will always remember his triumphal power lift (with the help of Grandpa Wardle) that placed him on the top podium at the Special Olympic Games.



For those of you that don't know Zach, he is on the 2nd place podium on the left of the stage.

Here is a link to the video for my Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drm5WLUj6Wc

Video Production Studio

I thought I was going to be all cool and start producing some amazingly funny video clips (Like this guy) and post them on YouTube and have a thousand people start to follow my YouTube Channel and start earning a ton of money from advertisements and quit my job and move to Hawaii and live on the beach. So (big breath) I decided I needed a studio. I fiddled around the internet looking for "inexpensive" ways to create my own video studio. I gathered the pieces together and made my first video clip.



I must say, it is horrible, terrible, dumb, pathetic, too hot, the sound is too soft, video is too dorky and my face is too fat.

Enjoy!?!

Here is a link for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc1Y9RLkBtc

GreenScreen

Just thought that I would let everyone know that I'm taking my video producing and editing skills to the next level. I decided to try out some GreenScreen effects and see what I could do. You probably already know what "Green Screen" is but all of you non-video-editing-producers-and-editors, it is a technique where you put a green color behind your subject, take a few video shots, then take a seperate video shot of something else and then blend the two shots. Everything in green is filled in with the second video shot.

Below is my first try at green screen techniques. I know that it isn't very creative but I didn't have a whole bunch of time to play with it. I just wanted to see if it would work.

Here it is, I've named it, Katie walking around the back yard. Ok, not a very creative name either.



Here is the link for all of my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy8QQFC6NZA

Honor Roll

Congratulations to Coby for making the Twin Falls High School Honor Roll again this last year. Here is his name in print.

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/local/community/article_3ccd7a61-c466-5b51-8dac-0baf6a02d91b.html

Kate playing softball

I swear that I just did a video of Katie playing softball last month so I went out to my blog to find it. To my amazement, the "Kate playing softball" post was a year ago. I couldn't really believe it so I looked at the posting date to double check. I'm sure that I just did that video last week. Sure enough, the posting date reflected the same date on the video, June 2009. I guess it is time for some more pictures of Katie playing softball.

Katie has really done well this year. This last game, yesterday, she hit the ball well and was able to advance to 3rd base off of two of her power hits. In one particular inning while playing 2nd base, she was able to get all three outs all by herself. She would get in her ready stance, put her glove down in the dirt and prepare for the worst. She would then inch forward in anticipation of a well hit grounder. When the ball was hit to her, she kept her knees bent and scooped up the ball looking for the nearest base to tag. In these three cases, she simply stood up and ran down the nearest player that was running from first to second rendering them "OUT!".

Here are a couple of photos from my cellphone.

Katie's Power Hit!

Katie running after she crushed the ball.

Katie's smiling face after her triple.

Coby Grylls

Coby has always been good at imitating Bear Grylls from the show "Man Vs. Wild" on the Discovery Channel. We've never really figured out a way to get him on video with his impersionation until now. Deanna forced Coby to do his Bear Grylls voice while climbing down off of Independence Rock. Turn up the volume so you can get the full accent and speech patterns.





Here is a link for my facebook friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CdxJO0GWc

Martin's Cove Trip

Last week our family took a trip to Denver Colorado to attend the wedding of Blake Carter and Estee Blatter in the Denver Colorado Temple. Because we were traveling so far, we decided to make this our "family vacation" for the summer so we looked at our options and found that Martin's Cove was "kinda" on the way to Denver. We scheduled our time and made the trip. Below is my little Flip Video log of our trip. We were happy to have Grandma and Grandpa Carter, and the David and Analee Hirschi family as part of our handcart company. We had a great time. I know it is a really boring description but I'm just really tired from the return trip last night.




Link for Facebook Friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTIPnK0wWpY

Root Beer

Andy had a baseball game last week in Buhl. With all of the schedules we had to mesh together, it ended up that Deanna took Andy out to the game, and I brought him back. Andy's team did well and won 7 to 14. On the way back from Buhl, I had a hunkering for something but I wasn't sure what. On the way out of Buhl I didn't see anything that would satisfy my craving. We slowed down to travel through Filer so we wouldn't get pulled over by the local police in their speed trap but still, nothing caught my eye.

As we reached Twin, we passed several gas stations and several pawn shops. I resigned myself to just go home and scavenge something from the cupboards. Just then, I saw the A&W sign. Immediately I had a flash back to the days when I was a kid and we were driving back from one of the Stake softball games. If we won, my Dad would usually stop at the A&W and buy a gallon of Root Beer. So, I pulled over to the center lane and signaled to turn into the A&W/Gas Station. Andy looked at me with an inquisitorial look and wondered what was going on. We walked in and I order 1 gallon of Root Beer.



After arriving home, I pulled a cup out of the cupboard and poured myself a tall frosty mug of Root Beer. Now, I don't know how many root beer officionados there are out there reading my blog, but draft A&W Root Beer is in a class by itself. Not even the A&W Root Beer in the can or liter can measure up to the taste.

I am not quite sure what it is that makes it unique but it has a little bit of a bitter taste but a little bit of sweet. However, bitter sweet really doesn't describe it right. If you want the taste of a true old fashioned Root Beer, go to your local A&W store and order the draft. If you like it, order a gallon and take it home and enjoy it all week.

First Harvest

I thought I would post something today about my garden. It is still fairly early in the growing season but I have already been able to reap a harvest from my fledgling flora. At dinner, I went out to my patch of radishes and found 3 of the round red rooted plants big enough to pull and clean. Then, I took my sickle and lopped off a few delicate lettuce leaves. I combined them in a bowl, and a nice fresh tossed salad was my bounteous harvest. It will be a while before my tomatoes and cute cumbers will be ready to join my salad concoction. For now, I am satisfied.