Too busy with school!

Sorry, I've been too busy with school to post. It started Wednesday the 5th, and I'm already overloaded with homework. Also, I'm trying to save up $400 to buy a new iPod touch, so I've been doing lots of yard work. Wish me luck! :)

iTunes trouble, new blog template

I didn't tell you about this yesterday, but it did happen to me yesterday. I bought a live CD last two weeks ago (it happened to be Sarah McLachlan's "Mirrorball - The Complete Concert"). Once I listened to it, I found that some of the tracks were incomplete. The songs themselves were complete, but some were missing some clapping and Sarah talking, so the CD didn't flow very well. I could not "Report a problem" with my purchase before we went, because the only way I knew how was to click on a link in the email receipt, and mine hadn't come yet. It came while we were in DC, and I only got to it yesterday.

Here's another complication: I found another site (Nettwerk itself) offering a complete MP3 download (I could tell by the running times), at a higher quality, possibly even including all the album artwork, for, get this, less money.

First, I basically reported a problem saying I didn't get the whole CD and I wanted my money back. I really wanted the version from Nettwerk itself, but I didn't say so. :) They sent me back an email saying it didn't download properly, and to try again. I could tell that was not the problem, so I wanted to send them another "Report a problem," but the silly iTunes store wouldn't let me! I even tried re-downloading my music, the problem wasn't fixed, and I still couldn't report another problem! After a bit of speculating whether to try to call them for customer service, I tried to reply to the e-mail. To my surprise, I got a reply stating that they had reversed the credit. Sure enough, when I checked back into iTunes, I had $17 more left! :) I guess you succeed if you keep trying! =D

Also, I changed the template (obviously). I was getting a bit tired of the green. Tell me how you like it!

Middle of night (or morning) return

Last night, we arrived at the airport from Washington DC at about 1:30 AM. We got home at 3:30 AM. And we were still on EST, so it was 6:30 AM our time. So we were up about all of the night, and I barely slept. You’d think I would sleep like half the day, but I actually woke up at 6:15. I guess I was still on EST, because that’s 9:15 EST. (Either that or I did actually sleep on the plane).

OK, enough ranting about the night. How about the trip? We’d been to DC once before, and seen some of the more major sights then, so this time we looked a little closer at some of the smaller things to see.

We went to the top of the Washington Monument (the tall building in the middle of the mall). The first time we went, we found out that we needed tickets. *rolls eyes* Silly us. We bought some 10:30 tickets online for the 10:30 walk-down tour. When we got there, we found out that you needed 10:00 tickets to walk down, because the walk-down tour is at 10:30. *rolls eyes* Oh, well. We took the elevator down. At the top, they had four windows that looked out each of the four directions. I took a picture out of each window, and I will post them along with some other pictures in my gallery (once I get them downloaded off my camera *rolls eyes*). (Geez, they really need some emoticons on blogger).

We also went on a tour of the White House. It was exciting, but not as impressive as I thought it would be because it was smaller than I thought. They didn’t allow cameras in there, so I have no pictures to post. Sorry. =D

We also went to see this cool statue called the Awakening. I will post a picture in the gallery. My cousin kept trying to run up the knee, which was tricky because it was a steep smooth metal surface. It was also pretty hot. I tried, but I got freaked out about 3/4 of the way up. Oops. =)

I don’t think there’s much else to talk about right now. I need to get those pictures uploaded and posted in the gallery. They’ll come eventually. ;)

Quick Update

Nothing much has been going on lately. It's been pretty boring. However, we're leaving for Washington DC tomorrow. That will be exciting. =D We've been there once before, but it was a long time ago so I don't remember much. I'll tell you guys about it when we get back (because I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do there). =|

My photo gallery website is up (at least temporarily). I put up just a few of some of my favorite pictures. Look around as much as you want, but please don't steal my photos! They have watermarks on them for that reason. Oops, I almost forgot to give the address! It's here: http://www.twintreeac.com/gallery2

Cya when I come back from Washington! =D

Trying out email to blog

Hi guys! I'm just trying out the email to blog feature, where I email a post to a certain address and it supposedly gets posted to my blog. Hopefully it works!

I changed the video to another Capercaillie one. Not a particularly good one, but I wanted to put something up.

Nothing else to say. Bye!

EDIT: It works! That is so cool! =D

Back from Massachusetts

We are back from Massachusetts, where we went last week. We were out on the Cape, visited Martha's Vineyard, and ate a lot of ice cream. I've recently had an obsession with ice cream. =P The trip was a lot of fun, but it's nice to be back home.

There hasn't been much going on lately. I have been playing Myst a lot more than usual, and yesterday we got my favorite game in the series (Myst IV Revelation) working, so I've been playing it a lot. At the moment I am listening to the soundtrack to it. =D I also beat 2/3 of Uru, another fun one.

I've been trying to think of a video to put on here, but I can't think of one yet.

Not really anything else to report. I'll think of something else later, I bet, but we have to go soon because we are going on a walk/hike. Later today I might try to email a post to my blog (I think that's what the feature is, unless I misread it). Sorry I haven't been posting much, it just isn't the highest priority on my list. Cya later. ;)

Camping

Last weekend (yes, it's been a while) we went camping to a place about 1.5 hours from here. We got a site right next to the stream. It was a pretty nice place, but it rained a whole lot the first night. In the middle of summer! We had lots of hot chocolate and s'mores. (Btw, I love the spanish word for hot chocolate! It makes it seem like you're an expert because it's very easy to say fast =D )

For dinner on Saturday, we had hot dogs. While my brother and dad cooked two each, I completely failed to cook even one. I stuck it in the embers and ended up burning the top. I tried to peel off most of the black, but then I felt the bottom and it was barely warm. I finally resorted to the grill, and then when I went to take it off, it fell into the ashes. D= But then my dad cooked one for me. =D

Usually, when I cook s'mores, I put the marshmallow near the embers, and it gets nice and brown on the side. The problem is, the bottom/middle usually don't get cooked, and I don't like the texture of uncooked marshmallows. Then, my dad suggested a way, to stick it above the flames. It didn't get brown, but it was wonderfully cooked all the way through, so warm and melted it was falling off the stick! Unfortunately, that was on the last night we were there, so no one else wanted any. I ate about 5. =3

Am I spelling marshmallows right? :-?

ZaPaper, I added that ClustrMaps thing you have on your site. It hasn't done anything yet, I guess it will soon. =D

Sorry I haven't been replying to comments. I appreciate them all, but I barely even have time to blog!

Nothing else to report. I might change the video, but I won't tell anything about it unless I really want to. =P

EDIT: Actually, I am going to say something about the video. It's (another) one of my fav bands, and a great song, Seanchas. The person who put it on Youtube does not allow embedding, so you just have to click on it to watch it. It is a great song, but the video is not that great, so just pay attention to the song. =D

ANOTHER EDIT: I just remembered something else I should say, to make this post a boring post. I'm back into Myst, which is a very fun computer game series. I beat Exile in 2 days, and I also played Uru a bit. Unfortunately, I was reading the manual for my favorite of them, Revelation (I hadn't yet installed it, 8GB =O ), and it said "Laptop video cards not supported." *cries* I can't play it on my computer! We have another computer, but it can't read DVDs! =(

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Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Wow, I'm really bored. I typed that all by hand, no copying+pasting. I am very good at it, I hate to admit, and I could have done a lot more if I hadn't been capitalizing the 'B's and putting periods at the end. Too bad blogger doesn't have an AutoCorrect feature. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blha blah blah blah blah blahlb alhbla bhalb blahb blah blah blh blahb blhab blhbalbh blahbhlb ahb. I did that all in about 15 seconds. Why am I wasting time (and blogger space) like this?

OK, nothing sane to report, really. I shut down my website a few days ago because I received an email that I thought was from it, but the information it had couldn't be possible (plus most of it was in Arabic), so I thought I had been hacked. In a panic, I deleted everything. Then, I looked closer, and it was from a different website. I'm trying to restore mine right now, as I'm typing. (In fact, as I was blah-ing, I was also uploading files).

My brother and I have been playing this fun board game called Carcassonne. You build cities and roads by drawing tiles that fit together, and get points for completed ones. It's a pretty fun game.

And to let certain readers of this blog know, I have been playing Pokemon Pearl, but not too much. I beat the first two gyms easily, but I cannot beat the third gym. Maylene's Lucario is ridiculously strong! I gave up for a while and haven't played for a couple of days, but I might play again soon (I'm going to have to train before fighting her again).

EDIT: If any of you three (you know who you are) come reading this before checking your email (unlikely, I know), my site is back up.

Back to Boredom

Life is boring again. Nothing to report. Except that I burned my hand this morning and I can't type very well because it hurts.

But, I am in the process of making a photo gallery that is on my website. I will post it when I finish.

Sorry about the second short post in a row, just wanted to let you know I am still here!

Ratatouille

Tonight we went to see the movie Ratatouille, about a rat who wants to become a chef. It was a pretty entertaining movie. I usually don't go see movies, so this was a special occasion for me.

Also, happy 07/07/07 (July 7, 2007)!

This is a short post, as I have to go to bed.

Hawaii Pics

Here are some pictures from my trip to Hawaii.

This first one is at a beach. It's just a nice picture of a palm tree. I liked how the sun was shining through it yet you could still see its color. I also managed to get the shadow in there for a nicer effect.

The next one is walking to a second beach. There was a nice view of a mountain. My brother and dad have agreed that it was Mauna Kea.

This one is at the beach we were walking to. There was an interesting dead tree there, so I took a picture of it and its shadow in the sand, with the ocean in the background.

The last one is one my brother took with an underwater camera while snorkeling. There's some coral in the background and a nice fish.

I know this is a small portion of pics, but I certainly couldn't upload all of them. I hope you enjoy these, which are my favorites! You can use them for your own personal use (desktops, etc.), but please don't give them out anywhere. Please link to this page instead. =P

Oh, and I decided I needed to change the video already because I found one I liked better and couldn't wait. Never fear, all of the previous ones are listed under the video and you can still watch them. =P This new one is Karen Matheson (also the lead singer of Capercaillie).

Good night!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July (Independence Day) to everyone who reads this! (I only know of two. lol)

Last night, we went down to the riverfront to watch the fireworks, the first time I had ever done that. At first, they were right behind a tree (groan), so we had to move. Then it was okay. I got cold, so I had a blanket wrapped around me. The fireworks were really cool, though. They kept taking long breaks, so we kept thinking they were over. Part of the grand finale exploded where we couldn't see them, but oh well. We got to see the hugest ones. =)

You may have noticed that I changed the video on the right. While Enya is not my favorite artist, I like this remix of her song Only Time.

That's it for now. See you later!

Back from Hawaii, planes, planes, and more planes

Well, we're finally back from Hawaii. It was a pretty fun trip overall. (Except for yesterday, which was all planes, driving, and sitting in the airport from 6 AM to 12 PM.)

We went to the big island, which is where we went last year (I really want to go to Maui sometime to see a silversword). I went snorkeling twice. My brother, mom, and some friends that we went with also went snorkeling twice more, at a beach that I hate because it's so shallow. All of it was beautiful. My favorite snorkeling was at the Captain Cook monument, but the boat ride over made me seasick. D=

The food was yummy. There are actually not many good restaurants around Kona (where we were), but you just have to find the best ones. My favorite is a breakfast and lunch place called U-Top-It, where they have crepe like things and you put whatever you want on them.

I mainly forgot about my camera until the last day (Monday), but we went to a nice beach and I took some great pics. (I can't spell beach today.) I will post some pics when I get them uploaded. (Uh oh.)

And of course, yesterday. That's a whole different story, but I'll tell it anyway. =P Yesterday, we had to get up at 5:30 AM so we could eat, drive to the airport, and still catch our 8:20 flight to Honolulu. Then we had a 3 1/2 hour layover in Honolulu before our 12:30 flight to San Fransisco. Because of the time change, it was 8:15 PDT when we got to San Fran. And then we had to get one more flight back home. Because of the baggage, and the driving home, it was 2:30 in the morning when we actually got home. (And here I am, less than 10 hours later, typing on the computer. Typical of me. lol)

So that is the conclusion to our interesting and fun (except for yesterday) trip.

Nothing much..

Nothing much has happened over the last few days. Last night I bought a new CD (which I'm listening to right now) off iTunes, and it's pretty good. (Yes, it's been so boring I'm writing about a CD I bought. lol)

On the other hand, we're leaving for Hawaii on Tuesday! Pretty excited about that! =D

Water Balloon Catapult

My mom is on a work trip, so my brother and I are having various people stay with us. Yesterday, our uncle stayed with us. We built a water balloon catapult using poles, surgical tube, and red tape (all from Bi-Mart =P ) ! It goes so far! We were launching it yesterday, and we got it to go 4 houses down the street (a big hill). This morning we launched it the other direction. My brother pulled it back really, really far, and not far enough down, so it hit smack on the mailbox. It made a huge dent! Fortunately, we pushed it back out. =P We also tried to hit our uncle's car, but we didn't succeed. =P

This morning my brother showed our uncle the demented cartoon movie. It is probably more than 15 minutes long (of total randomness), and I can't really stand it for that long. Only watch it if you are completely bored and will do anything. It is the most random thing. (For example, the first part is random people walking in, saying "blah," and having their heads blown off.) If you really have nothing better to do, the link is on the right.

I will also try to more frequently rotate the videos on the right column. At the moment, it is showing my favorite band, Capercaillie, playing a song called Mile Marbhaisg. This is not the best version of the song, but I still like it. =P

Oh, and ZaPaper, would you happen to know a chinese song called Gan Lan Shu, or The Olive Tree? Misty River (a favorite band of mine) does it, and they have an interesting story that goes with it.

Nothing else to report. See ya!