Roaring River

So I'm posting for the sake of posting. What should I write about? Don't really know, but I do know that once again, I want to write on a daily basis on this blog. The trouble is that everything that happens, happens so quickly that it's difficult to keep it up and write it down. I have an app on my phone to also blog, but again, taking those few moments to sit down and type it all out is difficult. I figure it is just best to write about whatever is happening, so here goes.

Over the recent July 4th weekend, we went out of town with the Queen's family to Missouri, since her parents and grandparents have fifth wheel spots in the Roaring River State Park area where we also go fishing. I really don't like to fish. The Queen's grandfather has been having some heart related issues, and he has always been the one to "clean" (odd word for skin, gut, chop, and fillet fish) the fish for everyone. I refuse, so my brother-in-law, aka Darth Vader, volunteered to be the one to do it. He did a good job.

He and Padme then suggested we head over to Branson to a shopping center called Branson Landing so they could shop for a particular toy for Luke that they can only get there. The store is called Ridemasterz, or something, and is basically like Build-a-Bear with cars. You pick your chassis and customize it till your heart's content. They invited everyone to go as well, and then they took the longest road possible to get there (in total deference to both our GPS and theirs). We had the "privilege" of sitting through the longest five miles I've ever had to sit through to take in the horror that is Branson, MO.

We called it "Little Vegas" just based on how it was setup and the sorts of sights we took in during that five mile stretch. We had a lot of time to look while parked in traffic. If Vegas is where old stars go to wind out their careers with a steady job, Branson is where they go to die. We saw billboards for artists that seriously made their careers in the 50's. Bill Haley, for example, who is best known for the song "Rock Around The Clock" that came out in 1954. Yeah, he's still performing...in Branson. Also saw a theatre that does concerts of "The Legends" such as Garth Brooks, Liza Minelli, Stevie Wonder...Elvis and Michael Jackson. Oh yeah, they are all impersonators. The real artists don't perform in that theatre. No, when you watch "The Legends," you are watching a bunch of people sing and perform like the actual artists. And this wasn't the only Elvis show either. No, I saw at least three Elvis shows on that strip. In addition, if you're down with the old time photos, you have lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of choices of studios. Heck, there were two of them in the shopping center we went to. There were a couple of interesting amusement parks, but other than that (not to be overly negative) it really seemed like one of the most pointless places I've ever been to.

However, this shopping center had a candy store where we were able to call Rock Girl on something she said once. She said if she could get some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, she would try them. Well, the Harry Potter promo item was made by Jelly Belly, and if their buttered popcorn flavor tastes that accurate, I shudder to think of the vomit flavor. Anyway, this store did not have Bertie Bott's, but they did have some every flavor beans with flavors like puke, booger, skunk spray, curdled cheese, and other equally bizarre and stomach turning choices. Rock Girl declined. So we got Margarita, Strawberry Daquiri, and Piña Colada instead. They were good.

The main lesson we learned from this weekend's experience was that we really need to get the princesses more practice playing Uno, Skip-Bo, and Phase 10.

Oh, and the resort we stayed at had unadvertised Wi-Fi that we totally jumped on.

Church Camp

As I did last year, I have the privilege to play in a worship band for the high school week at a church camp. As before, I play the bass, but this year I'm augmenting my bass skills with a keyboard on the side for a couple of songs. It is minimal switching, but still enjoyable. Truly, playing in a worship group has felt like a real calling in my life. Thus far, it has not been my place to lead anything, but I would not be opposed to stepping in should the need arise. At present, I rotate between bass and keys (not piano) throughout the month, and I'm on every week at church.

This year, I got to meet the worship leader from another church which was interesting. It turns out that not only are there a group of churches like the one I now attend, but the worship leaders meet on a regular basis. Add to that that there is actually a degree or something for worship minister. Had I known anything about that while pondering college, I just might have done it.

It's apparently the year of the worship intern though. Not only does our churches worship minister have an intern, but this other one has two: his son and his son's girlfriend. Distraction anyone?

The speaker at the camp this year did have a couple of amusing stories though. I will post them up when I'm at a real keyboard and not riding along on our way out there.

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Blogger on Android

I think blogger/blogspot has something to do with Google, and as such, I figured Android would have some kind of app to post blog entires on here. There has been a good one out there for awhile that is basic, but effective called Blogger-Droid. But then I noticed that Google came out with an official version of the blogger app, and I figured it would be better.

I really couldn't say.

Apparently, the Google blogger app programmer(s) presumed that when you post a blog, you always do it from a Google address entered into your phone, not from a proxy email address like I do with this one. I cannot enter my geek address on my phone, and therefore, I cannot use the official Blogger app, since I cannot find a way to login to any blog from any email address.

So I'll keep using the other one. It's free, so it's not like it's a big loss. I already know how to use it. It can upload pics and everything else. I used it on our Colorado trip last year for the portions that I did blog of it. My sincere hope is that they figure out that people create blogs under email addresses other than their primary ones.

Seriously, I can't be the only one who does this.