September 30, 2009

The Christianville Spirit: Special Olympics is Fun


The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches Your Life
September 30, 2009-TCS # 167
So, a couple years ago My Best Friend Steven and I decided to do Special Olympics Bowling one year and it was really fun. We went all the way to the area tournament and I think I got 4th place and I got a ribbon, however I had forgotten I put it. Anyway, after years of not playing on the team, this past summer I decided to join the team again and it is fun. You would be amazed at how well we bowl. You see, just because we have special needs and bowl differently doesn’t mean we don’t bowl well. I mean, take me for instance I can bowl from a 96 to 135 and get many strikes. Some of my friends on my team bowl just as well. Even the parents are amazed and my brother, even though he’s seen me bowl before is really amazed. A dad of one of the kids on my team said, “A lot of people don’t see the potential that these kids have”, even though we’re young adults but I have to agree that he’s right, some of these guys are very good. We play every Sunday for 2 hours, the parents come to cheer, and we all have fun. Some of the families with kids of PTLS reading this might want to have them join a Special Olympic sport because they might have fun as well. All in all here, we all do pretty well and better than you would expect from someone with Special Needs.
Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. Don’t misjudge someone’s potential because you will be awed at what they can do.

September 23, 2009

The Christianville Spirit: My Awesome Cyber Trip, Continued


The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches Your Life
September 23, 2009- TCS # 166

So, right after I wrote last week’s newsletter I had forgotten to give to the totals of my cyber trip and that my trip wasn’t finished. So, here is the last leg of it. From Shreveport, LA I drove further into our home state of Texas and drove the rest of the way into Dallas and then, home. So, here are the grand totals for this long cyber trip…
72 Hours on the computer driving
19 days altogether
15 States
112 Counties
$36.45 in tolls
I wrote Notes about things I saw, Passed, Facts about places, or just things I wanted to note: all ending in 84 Pages of Notes
3 Pens used to write those notes
And, of course all of adventure and culture
All of this added up was one long cyber trip and I’m actually marking it as the longest trip ever taken.
What I learned from this 19 day trip is that there’s a new kind of culture each time you cross a State Line or even just a County Line. As I narrated my cyber trip to you, you could probably in vision all the beautifulness of the places I went. And, of course all the many changes in English dialect and many regional jokes about themselves and other parts of the country. In fact, a lot of Jokes about Up North(From New York State and New England) say things like their “deep south” is Philadelphia, PA and that as far south as they’ll go. Then, the mid-Atlantic with all the politicians living around Washington D.C, and then, last but not least The South, with their sweet Southern Hospitality, Sweet Iced Tea, and Classic Southern Roots. All in all, here is that all this culture you see from State-to-State is why our United States of America is great.
Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. Culture and dialects from State-to-State is makes our country great and amazing.

September 16, 2009

The Christianville Spirit: My Awesome Cyber Trip


The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches Your Life
September 16, 2009- TCS # 165
As I mention a lot, I love to use Google Maps’ Street View and do a “Cyber Trip” a lot. So, the one I’m going to tell you about isn’t that much different. Except for the fact that it could be the longest cyber trip I’ve been on. You see, it started out as an idea of cyberly driving from Maine, back home to Plano, TX and how many days it takes to drive without flying. See, usually I’ll drive from say The Adirondacks and to New York City, then fly to Baltimore and see Washington D.C. then fly again to Atlanta and see my family and then, drive home. But, this trip is all about driving; In fact, I’m still driving, I’m going to cyberly drive later today. So, I decided where to start and I started in a town called Bethel, Maine because they say it’s the most beautiful village in Maine. Next, I drove across New Hampshire going up and down Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain in northeast and the meeting of many storm tracks, hence the extreme weather there. In fact, it’s so extreme here are some facts for you…
The highest wind speed on earth, 231 MPH was recorded on Mt. Washington’s Weather Observatory
Yearly snow amount is 314.8 Inches of Snow
It is the meeting of many weather systems like Gulf Moisture Storms, Nor’easters, Alberta Clippers, and Pacific-Northwest/Cross Country Storms, and finally a couple Lake-Effect Storms from the Great Lakes.
So, now you can see why it gets so extreme. Anyway, then I continued across New Hampshire and into Vermont. Following That, I saw the Adirondacks(or what I call A-Dacks for short) in New York State which were very pretty and then, drove to New York City to see Times Square, Rockefeller Center, The Empire State Building, and a place in Uptown Manhattan called Serendipity 3. Serendipity 3 is a General Store/Restaurant on E. 60th St. between 2nd and 3rd Ave. They say that they have the best desserts including a treat called the frozen hot chocolate which they say is really good and believe it or not, a $1,000 sundae with edible gold. After that, I drove through New Jersey (which had not been done before) and down to Philadelphia. I went into D-town Philadelphia (Downtown for short) and saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Still in Philadelphia, I went to a restaurant featured on The Travel Channel called Pat’s King of Steaks which is said to be the birthplace of the Philly Cheese Steak. After That, I went to Broad St. in South Philadelphia not meaning to find much and I found the flags of the United States in alphabetical order hanging on the street lights. They say that they call that section of S. Broad St. “Ave. of The States” After That, I drove past the Mason-Dixon Line which is the cultural divide of The North and The South. After that, I went to Baltimore which was where the Star-Spangled Banner was sewed and inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” to be written. In Fact, in Baltimore a place called The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House and Historical Museum which is the home of Mary Pickersgill who sewed The Star-Spangled Banner Flag that inspired the written of our nation anthem. Before D-Town Baltimore was the last of may toll booths along the way from Albany, NY to Baltimore, MD. So, here are the toll booths I went through and what they cost…
New York State Thruway
$2.50 from Albany to Kingston, NY(Kingston is Where I spent the night)
$ 2.75 from Kingston to a toll booth south of West Point
$5.00 to cross the Tappen Zee Bridge
$ 1.25 at End of the New York Thruway
New York City Area
$5.50 to take the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
$11.00 to cross the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island
New Jersey Turnpike
$0.60 from Perth Amboy to New Brunswick(New Brunswick is where I spend another night)
$ 2.60 from New Brunswick to Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension
Pennsylvania Turnpike
$1.25 from beginning of turnpike to Bristol Pike(one exit after beginning)
Other Tolls
$4.00 for Delaware Turnpike(one toll booth)
And, the final toll: $ 2.00 for the Fort Mc Henry Tunnel
And, final total is $ 36.45
After that, I drove down Baltimore-Washington Pkwy. Which is sort of a scenic highway between Baltimore and Washington D.C.? Then, I drove into Washington D.C to see a place outside of Union Station that should be called “50 State Flag Plaza” because it has the flags of the states of the US in order by state admitted to the union. Still in Washington D.C I drove down Pennsylvania Ave. to what is known as the Zero Milestone which is just south of The White House. The Zero Milestone is supposed to be to where all mileages to Washington D.C should be measured. But, the sad thing is that only mileages in the Washington D.C area measure to it. Anyway, after that I drove through Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina (which also hadn’t been done before) and along the way I almost passed a town called Thomasville in North Carolina; and, it’s good thing that I didn’t miss it because first off it’s where the furniture store, Thomasville Furniture originated and also, they had a big chair in the town square that is the world largest chair. After That, I drove passed something that I didn’t know I was going to see. The funny thing was that day I watched a You Tube video about a huge peach water tower in Gaffney, South Carolina called “peachoid” and when I was cyber traveling I saw it that day I saw it and I thought “how ironic that I saw that on a you tube video but, I didn’t think that I would pass it!”. After that excited, I drove to Norcross, GA and stayed there for a little break in my trip and 2 days later, I drove to my Grandma Honey’s House to see her. After Grandma Honey, I passed The Weather Channel and started driving west across The Eastern/Central Time Zone Line and of course, the biggest cultural divide, The Mississippi River. And, I write this newsletter today I’m cyberly in Shreveport, Louisiana. But, all in all here the trip has been awesome and it teaches you how much culture can change as you travel.
Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. The Culture I’ve seen is so amazing; it can change as soon as you say “Happy New State!”

September 9, 2009

The Christianville Spirit: My Road Trip Preferences


The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches Your Life
September 9, 2009(9-9-09)-TCS # 164
If you remember that a couple months ago I wrote a newsletter about My Radio and TV Preferences. Well, I’m going to tell you something in the area of Preferences. This one, I’m calling My Road Trip Preferences. Now, remember I don’t HAVE to do these things I’m going to list but, I like to. Now, first off I have to sit in the front seat or on the right side of the car so, that I can see the front and back of the Road Signs on the side of the road which we’re on. Now, in case you’re wondering, the Radio preferences stay pretty much the same. The next one is when we cross into another county, I have to announce it. Like saying “Hey Mom, now we’re in Smith County” and of course, then comes the most fun preference of road trips, when we cross a State Line, I have to count it down from 10 Seconds and then, when I enter that state, I say “ Happy New State!” like we say “Happy New Year!” on New Year’s Eve. Now, once we’re in the new state, I immediately look at the front and back of the road signs to see what the style of the new states’ signs look like. Also, I like to listen to a radio station from that state. If we stop for the night, I feel like I have to watch the news in that city because I like to see the logo of the channel in that city. For example, I like that Atlanta’s WSB-TV, the ABC channel in Atlanta has a yellow number 2 with a blue background. And, at the end of the newscast it shows that and below it says in white with a red background “WSB-TV- Atlanta”. And, finally, if the state has a different color surrounding their traffic lights like Georgia’s is Black, and, Maine and New York’s are dark green then, I like to look at those also. All in all, those are my Road Trip Preferences. Now, who wants to go a trip with me?
Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. Life is a Highway. So, hop in your life car, take a couple exits, and explore the unique towns along the way!

September 2, 2009

The Christianville Spirit: Stop and Smell The Passion


The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches Your Life
September 2, 2009-TCS # 163
So, This past Sunday, My Mom and I where watching church online like we always do and our Pastor was talking about Passion; Well, here’s a test how much passion people have today, someone did a study where they sent a someone to play a Violin in the middle a busy Washington DC METRO station to see what would happen. Well, after he started playing the violin it took 30 minutes for someone to stop only for a minute or two and then, they continued walking along their normal busy lives. A couple children turned their heads and wanted to stop and listen to this guy but, the parents pulled the children away so, that they could continue going. The sad thing is that very 30 or 45 minutes later, someone would stop for a second to listen and then move on to work or wherever they were going. Now, here is the most shocking part of this study, the violin player was the most famous violin player in the world and actually, he sold out seats at his concert the night before. So, what’s the point here? Well, it says that people these days are such in a hurry and don’t have a lot of passion that they don’t “Stop and smell the roses”. But, you know that if you did stop and smell the roses you would actually be very enlightened and even surprised at what you’ll find or see. So, all in all here don’t be one of those people who hurry on with your lives, stop and enjoy it. Talk to someone with Special Needs and see what enlightening things they tell you, drive through a small town on a US or State Highway/Route and see what amazing things you’ll find in that town, or literally stopping the smell roses, other flowers, or even trees. And, you’ll be surprised what you find or learn.
Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. Have passion to stop see things for what they are and you will be surprised, learn a lot, and be enlightened.