Hello hello hello. Here I am, back again, for another great blog entry. :-)

First off, I now realize something. Look two blogs down. See how I say that my whole entry just dissappeared and that I thus had to do it over? Look one more entry down. There it is! The missing entry! I suppose it hadn't gone missing after all, though I maintain that it was not there immediately afterwards. Anyway, now you can compare the two, seeing little details that I forget or other ones that I remembered to include in the second version. :-)

Anyway, on Sunday, June 20, we left for -- Dallas. Yup, that's right, to go to Anchorage, Alaska we for some reason ended up in Dallas. While we were there, we saw a little Dell store and - BAM! - bought a laptop. Hehe... that was sudden!

Next stop, Anchorage. Alaska was lots of fun. We saw a giant glacier, several bears, some moose, and lots of mountains! One thing we didn't see was nighttime. In summertime Alaska, it never really gets dark. I took a picture at 10:30 or so PM, showing it was still broad daylight!

Our itinerary stated that we'd be in Alaska for about 5 days, then in San Francisco for 5 days. Unsurprisingly, that remained true. The trip from AK to SF was uneventful, and we arrived in time to see two things that were absent in Anchorage: our older brother Johnny, and darkness. (All the other things unique to San Fran would have to wait until morning.)

In San Francisco, our hotel was right accross the street from the Sony Metreon, a kind of Sony-only mall that we first discovered on our trip to SF three years ago. Unfortunately, 3 years ago it had a store called "Microsoft SF" with fun PDAs, software, games and more. Currently, it doesn't. Apparently, Sony took offense at Microsoft releasing the Xbox (which competes directly with Sony's PlayStation 2) and kicked them out. Very sad indeed...

At the Metreon, we played with projected marbles, ate ice cream, and saw at least a few dozen fancy Sony TVs showing the trailer for Spider-Man 2 -- which, might I add, is a Sony movie. (It also wasn't out yet during our visit. It is now, though, and I hear it's great.) In addition, there were tons of Spidey posters and giant Spidey wall displays. There were even more ads for it once you stepped outside, on busses, billboards, and so on. Despite its supposed greatness (I haven't seen it yet, so I can't be sure!), I think that's a bit much.

In SF, we also went to the beach (and made two giant sea forts -- the second only after the first was obliterated by a giant wave), saw plenty of restaurants, and saw my older brother's apartment. (In there, the day before yesterday, we played a board game called "Settlers of Catan." If you've ever played the computer game Civilation III, it's a lot like that. I love them both!)

The day before yesterday -- our last full day in SF -- we saw the best thing of all: Skywalker Ranch! We saw the giant sound/screening room, their artificial lake, and original props from Lucasfilm movies! I took at least 100 pictures of that place -- I hope to post some photos from the trip on my site soon, and those will be included.

Of course, I've been talking about putting stuff on my site "soon" a lot, and not much has actually gotten up there. We have plenty of free time ahead, though, so I assure you: there WILL be more updates SOON. :-D

Speaking of the web site, I spent some time discussing that with John while in San Fran. Fear not, version 4.0 is still on the way, and looking better than ever!

Random Rosie Comment of the Day:
We just got her back from her stay at the kennel today! YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

Well, that's all, folks. Check back next time for another edition of...
TOPH'S AWESOME BLOG!!!!!!

Hi everybody! Just got back earlier tonight. While I suppose that was technically yesterday -- it as, after all, 1:24 -- that equates to only 10:24 San Francisco time.

Anyway, I'll update with all the details... umm... later today, I guess! In the meantime, I better get some good ol' sleep.

Adios!

Uggh, my ENTIRE last post just dissappeared into the ether due to Blogger problems, so I'll have to do a brief recap:

Random Rosie Comment of the Day:
She's just realized she can jump up onto the kitchen counter, so over the past week she's eaten 5 sponges, 1 wooden spatula, quite a lot of cheese and a little bit of coffee frappe. Yum!

Our cousin Alex came over today for most of the day -- we played LOTS of Super Smash Bros. on N64! Then we went over to my friend's house and played Halo PC multiplayer -- with Banshees! That was a lot of fun. (We had another couple cousins come over... was it Tuesday? Or Monday? Or Wednesday? Somewhere around then. We went to Shrek 2, which was fun.)

Yesterday a guy from Dell came over and replaced the motherboard on our downstairs computer, complete with a functional Ethernet adapter, which means that we now have internet access down there! Yippee!

Also yesterday, I went to Dodgeball with some other kids from school. It was so-so... nowhere near as good as Star Wars, that's for sure! :-D Hehe... I love Star Wars...

This'll be my last post in a while. Tomorrow we leave for Anchorage (by way of Dallas -- how odd)! (Rosie's already gone to her little puppy camp, where she'll stay for the next ten days or so.) We stay in Anchorage for 5 days, then go to San Francisco to see our older brother and sister and stay there 5 days! That'll be fun... while I might get my hands on a little internet access during that time, don't count on it!

While I've tried getting a little web site work done, it just hasn't really worked out for me. :-) However, when I get back there's plenty in store for good ol' tophtucker.com. Updates I'm working on include a better News page and plenty of new Photo Album content, as well as finished off the School and Lessons section. To top it all off, I've started planning out version 4.0. That'll be a mighty big update -- bigger than 3.0, I'm guessing. That might come by September, if I'm really productive, or by next summer if I'm not. :-) (I'd say early January would be the most realistic guess, though I'll do all I can to get it done before going back to school.)

Well, that's it! T-minus 9 hours and counting (that's until we leave for the airport). Adios!

Hi there! This'll probably be my last post in a while, since tomorrow we're flying to Anchorage (by way of Dallas -- how odd)! We're there for five days, then we go to San Francisco to visit my older brother & sister for five days, then we come back. All in all, 19 hours of flying -- which means 19 hours of quality time with my latest Star Wars books!

Random Rosie Comment of the Day:
She's just recently discovered that she's able to jump up onto the kitchen counter. Over the past week, she's eaten 5 sponges, one wooden spatula, quite a lot of cheese, and a little coffee frappe.

Today we had our cousin Alex over for a good chunk of the day. We played lots of Super Smash Brothers on N64! :-) Then, around 3:30, I went over to my friend's house and played some Halo PC multiplayer -- with Banshees! Fun fun fun!

Yesterday a Dell guy came over and installed a new motherboard on our new PC downstairs, complete with a functional Ethernet adapter! Finally -- internet! My life is complete! :-D Hehehe....

Well, that's all folks. I've tried getting web site stuff done, and to be honest I have gotten a tiny bit done, but it just hasn't been working out for me. ;-) Don't worry, there's plenty in store for when I get back! I'm working on updates to the News section, the Photo Album, and a bunch of other stuff. In fact, I'm starting to map out version 4.0! It'll be a biggie, quite a lot bigger than 3.0. I can't wait! :-D

Well, T-minus 10 hours and counting (that's until we leave for the airport)... While I might (if I'm lucky) be able to get my hands on some internet access during our trip, don't count on it! Adios!

Our friend came over last night to help us with various computer issues, including the issue of internet on our new Dell Media Center PC that I mentioned last post. Well, it turns out there's a very good reason I was having trouble connecting: somehow, it lacks an Ethernet adapter. Whether its simply missing it or whether something burned out we don't know, but tomorrow Dell is supposed to call us to let us know when they'll be able to come install a brand-new motherboard. Since we leave for Alaska on Sunday, go to San Fran 5 days later, and come back home after another 5 days, these issues might have to wait until then.

On a much higher note, computer-wise, I was able to connect the new Dell to our TV and play music & videos on both our TV and computer monitor simulataneously! Yippee!

Goodbye for now...

Just finished setting up our new Dell! :-D Actually, it's not connected to the network yet & thus doesn't have internet yet, but it's pretty much set up...

More on all that tomorrow!

Hi there! Sorry I haven't updated in a while... I've actually been working for the school this past week, not including Monday, updating computers and such.

Monday I went to Harry Potter 3 in IMAX with a few other people... we went to the Jordan's Furniture Comcast IMAX theater. It had Tempur-Pedic seats and armrests and a subwoofer built into every chair! WOW!!! That was fun...

Today was my last day working at school, so it was really only four days. Today I ended at 12:00, since they were taking down the network for repairs and thus I wouldn't be able to do any more work.

After that, my brother and I went down to our neighbor's house and swam some, had dinner, and then watched the third Zenon movie on Disney. It's bad enough that they spelled xenon wrong -- to make matters worse, that people in it (who are supposedly "futuristic") use expressions like "mondo-fabulous" and "macro-cool." Oh well -- it's so bad it's funny! ;)

Random Rosie Comment of the Day:
While she swam a few times while we were in Maine a couple weeks ago, so has thus far avoided any swimming in our neighbor's pool.

Random Rosie Comment of the Day:
Last Friday was the first time she's ever met my older brother John.

Today I went to a friends' birthday party (we went to Blue Man Group), tried to fix our wireless network and partially succeeded (accidentally deleting some stuff on my iPaq in the process -- oops!), and... umm... "won" (not really) Monopoly in a game with my older brother, who was visiting from San Fran.

(At one point in the game, I dove across the board and tackled my brother Willy, vanquishing him eternally -- yippee! Hehehe...)

As for Friday's in-depth recap, here goes...

We started the day with a little down time / yearbook-signing time. During that time I learned that my aforementioned brother John was here from San Fran! YIPPEE!!! We lined all then lined up (in alphabetical order) out in the front circle, and at 8:30 we headed in to Bradley Hall for 8th Grade Promotion. Jessica and Max, our two elected student speakers, and our elected faculty speaker, Ms. Mathieu, spoke. We also saw an 8th grade reflective video, and CSP prizes were awarded.

After that, we had a little reception thingy with snacks -- yum! My brother tried tossing various foods into other people's mouths, with little or no success. We introduced John to a couple of my teachers and took plenty of pictures.

After that, we headed back to Bradley Hall for Final Assembly. There, awards were... well... awarded, and some last words were spoken. At 12:30 or so we were free, and I finished getting teacher signatures. (Many kids I would see again that night, and some more I would see Saturday.) We headed to Johnny's (that's a restaurant -- no connection with my brother) and had a celebratory lunch with my younger brother and a couple of friends.

Next we headed to Circle Cinema to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It was pretty good. They have a new director who changed some things, as well as the general feel of the movie, to an extent. He made some good decisions, I think, but also a lot of not-so-good ones. The movie went by REALLY fast, they skipped a whole lot of content, and the supporting characters had little-or-no roles -- we only ever got to see the main guys, the pace was so fast. They changed a few bits of the book around, too. Oh well. It's bound to happen whenever a book makes the leap to the movies. Ha! Get it? A pun! BOUND to happen, like you BIND a book! Hehehe....

Immediately after that, I got a ride to a graduation party. We arrived around 5:35 and stayed until about 7:45 -- we were the last ones to leave, due to a bit of carpool confusion. Just for reference, I believe the party was supposed to last from 5:00 - 7:00. That was fun -- I took eleven pictures using my friend's mom's camera, which is one of those super-satifying ones that makes a nice "click." Fun! :-)

Last night's party was fun, too. There wasn't too much overlap, in terms of who went, which made it interesting. Other differences: Friday's was 100% outside, this one was 100% inside. Friday's went from 5:00 - 7:00, this one from 5:00 - 10:00. We played with some balloons at the beginning, listened to a bit of Beatles music, and marveled at the REALLY old TV in the basement. Then my friend arrived with his Xbox and game collection, and we started up Halo for some deathmatch / team deathmatch fun. Then more people arrived, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean, and headed downstairs for... I forget. Balloon fun? Yeah, some of that.

Anyway, later on, as some kids started to leave, another friend and I snuck upstairs for some more Halo. Unfortunately, he didn't have much experience, and the game wasn't very balanced. Once we got everyone playing and rotating out after losing, it got more fun. The later games were CTF; the earlier ones were team deathmatches.

Then I had to go home. Sad. My friend (a different one here) and I had quite a chat in the car, delaying my return to home -- as you could see from last night's entry. Well, that's all for the recap stuff folks. More real content tomorrow! Hey, maybe I'll get that iPaq working... ooh, and some web site work, too....

Just so you know, Star Trek AND Reading Rainbow star Levar Burton just won something like $167,000 for some teaching charity on "Star Trek" celebrity Weakest Link, as seen just now on the Game Show Network. The winning answer was antebellum -- but what was the answer? Unfortunately, some dumb aliens just came and blew up our planet-sized supercomputer that was only minutes away from the question. Alas, we may never know. Or will we? Find the hidden code, and post the question as a comment on my blog in our first-ever audience contest! May the Force be with you!

By the way -- I'll (still) update with a bigger recap a little later. No time now! :( Bye.

Howdy! Another fun day...

1. Opened some graduation gifts, incl. 2 Star Wars books -- yippee!
2. Played some Xbox
2. Headed off to another graduation party at 4:00; party went 5:00 - 10:00, though we stayed a little over 15 minutes late. Played plenty of Halo, which was great for me -- only 2 people (my friend & I) owned the Xbox version, so we had a clear advantage. Just to give you some idea of that, in one 4-person game, the final score was about 46 - 43 - 6 - 2. Not exactly evenly matched. :)

Well, gotta go to bed now. Believe it or not, I just got back from the party -- my friend and I (we were carpooling) ended up talking for a while after dropping him off at his house. Anyway, adios!

Wahoo! I'm a 9th Grader! :-)

I graduated from Middle School today, went to lunch, saw the new Harry Potter, went to a graduation party, came home, and wrote this -- all in one day! What an accomplishment! :-D

It's bed-time for me now, but I'll update with my impressions tomorrow -- my first full day of summer break! Yippee!

And just a bit more than 348 days left! YIPPEE!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Adios.

Today we had Community Service day at school. I actually just stayed at school and helped completely empty three classrooms.

We only have 4 more hours of middle school! Yippee! :-)

Today was our two-hour math exam. We had one 13-page packet to do on most all the stuff we did throughout the year, and then another 6-page packet only on "Chapter 10," which is the most recent stuff we've been doing. Even using all the extended time, I was only able to get a little less than half of it done. Oh well! The good news is: it's all over. We have no more work in Middle School -- ever!!! :-)

After the exam, we had little 20-minute sessions of each class. In Science we cleaned up a bit after the CSP chaos, in History the whole class played hand games, and in English we reminisced about the year gone by.

In Computer Class we did pretty much nothing other than surf the internet, though the winner of the recent "business plan" project won. My team -- "T-Ned Toys" -- won! Our idea was to make action figures based on NBC's hit reality series, The Apprentice. The best part was that they talked and had certain actions associated with them! So, for example, by pressing the button on its back, you could make the Donald Trump figure might say "You're fired" and do that weird hand thing. Donald Trump action figures... what an idea. Too bad it wasn't mine... ;-)

For our last Middle School class EVER -- Spanish -- we went outside to the tennis courts and just kind of played around. In started raining a little bit at first, and then it started raining A LOT. I got pretty wet. ;-) Of course, not as wet as the 6th graders, who had a water balloon fight.

After that, my carpool & I took a little trip to the local Barnes & Nobles, which also has a Starbucks cafe. While we were there it started REALLY raining -- about 100 times worse than the worst of before -- but, fortunately, by the time we left it had subsided. I love B&N. :-) We go there so often we even know the manager! Hehehe...

Well, that's all for now. Maybe I'll update again tomorrow and go into a little more depth... or who knows, maybe not! :) Adios.

Hello there! First of all, I'd like to point out that I have a new, secondary blog: Toph's Star Wars Blog. Check it out! (That means that I won't be posting much Star Wars stuff here anymore.)

Today in school we started off by practicing for our "promotion" on Friday, aka graduation. Then the whole middle school went to Dave & Buster's in Providence, Rhode Island. A little while ago we were given the choice of going to either "Good Times" (another arcade place) or Canobie Lake Park. However, Canobie Lake Park was rained out, and thus we all went to Dave & Buster's. It's on the very top floor of this giant mall - which, by the way, happens to have at least a couple dozen escalators. Oh well. It was fun anyway.

We started out with lunch at "DAB," as I'll call it from now on. We were served by a nice guy named Jon. Anyway, after that, we headed out to the arcade portion of DAB. I played Star Wars Racer a few times, some cop-chase thing a few times, a Ferrari racing thing, and maybe something else that I'm forgetting. Unfortunately, at that point my little "credit card" ran out of credits, and I had to stop playing. :(

We also went to DAB earlier in 8th grade, a couple days before winter break started. That day we went to some play -- the one with all the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future -- and then we went to DAB. That time they had another Star Wars game, called -- imaginatively enough -- "Star Wars Arcade." It was lots of fun, and it's too bad they took it away. I complained to the management, but they just said that they rotated games from time to time and that there were still plenty of good ones out there.

I actually still have my DAB credit card from that time around with a few credits left, which I suppose I could have brought this time for a little extra play time. Oh well. Maybe next time! :)

This was the 8th grade's last bus ride together. :( So sad... less than 3 full days of class left! Actually, NO full days left -- Wednesday and Thursday are 2:10 releases (the norm is 3:40), and Friday's a noon dismissal.

On a totally unrelated note, I discovered something REALLY cool in Microsoft Word today. (That program has SO many undiscovered features that 99% of the world never even realize exist.) Go to Tools > Options, then click the Spelling & Grammar tab, then check the "Show readability statistics" checkbox towards the bottom. (Last item under "Grammar" section of the tab; second-to-last checkbox.) Once that's checked, after every session of Spellcheck MS Word will tell you various stats about your document -- number of words, blah-de-blah, and so on. The best stuff is at the bottom. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, for example, predicts what grade-level student should be able to understand the document. Cool, huh!?!?!? I certainly think so. Try getting as high a grade level as possible. My record is 12 -- which, I believe, is the highest possible.

Bed time for me! Good night moon. And good night to you, too! :)