Pitchers and Catchers Report (A Poem)

Pitchers and catchers report 
We know the season soon starts 
Catchers are crouching 
Pitchers are tossing 
We will be hearing "play ball!"  


Two thousand ten has begun!

Mid-Winter Resolutions Progress

Today I read a Michael Nobbs post about doing a little at a time to reach your goals and making sure you recognize what you have accomplished. It inspired me to take a look back at my blog post “More to me than sports?!?” to see how I've been progressing.
My “mid-February resolutions” should really have been “mid-winter” resolutions because I’m not going to get them all done this month. To be honest, I won’t get them all done ever, but you get the idea.

Here is a look at my list and my progress so far:
take more photos-I posted a few today to my twitpic account
learn to use GarageBand better-I still have a ways to go, but I did use GarageBand for the background music for my “Boston Red Sox Truck Day 2010” video
add new music to my iTunes library-does the “Free Single of the Week” count?
learn to draw-I’m still light-years away from checking this one off, but I did draw this:

Ok, I traced the B, but I colored it and wrote the names!
read more books-I’m making progress in Blogging for Dummies by Susannah Gardner and Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado
learn how to make a new recipe-I haven’t done anything with this one
play my violin more often-Or this one
learn a new chord on the guitar-Or this one (Apparently, I also need to add spelling to the list because I originally spelled "chord" without the h!)
write a short story-I have outlined a few ideas, but have not made much progress on this one either
spend more time in the Word-I have this week off, so this one has been easier. The real question is: will I keep it up?

On a more positive note, I have done a few things that weren’t on the list. I wrote a short poem (coming on Wednesday) and I have started another video (coming by the end of the week). And I am 5/8 of the way through a major bedroom cleaning.


I hope to keep plugging away at my list. As always, I appreciate any tips or suggestions you have!

Truck Day 2010

My first YouTube video! And I made it in honor of Truck Day 2010!



In case you are wondering what Truck Day is, I'll explain. Truck Day is when equipment is loaded up from Fenway Park and taken down to the Red Sox Spring Training facility in Fort Myers, Florida. Truck Day, this year it's February 12, marks he unofficial beginning of Spring Training. The official beginning is when "pitchers and catchers report" on February 18.
I made the still images in Pages and imported them into iPhoto. Then I played (poorly I might add) "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in GarageBand and exported it to iTunes. I opened iMovie and brought the video and audio together.
I love how I mostly used programs that come already on the Mac! I wanted to get to know iMovie and Garageband better. This project taught me that these are very capable programs and I still have a lot to learn!

More to me than sports?!?

After the Super Bowl I had this thought: What will I do until March Madness starts? I know that there is still regular season professional basketball, but I don’t get to see many Boston Celtics games where I live, plus they always seem to lose when I do get to watch! Spring Training is cool, but not all that exciting since the games don’t mean anything and everyone is still getting into the swing of things - pun intended!

Then it hit me: How sad is it that I spend my life going from spectator sport to spectator sport? I have other interests. I’ve been lazy and haven’t been pursuing them. Now is as good a time as any to begin, right?

I can't accomplish them all, but here are a few of my “mid-winter” resolutions:

• take more photos
• learn to use GarageBand better
• add new music to my iTunes library
• learn to draw
• read more books
• learn how to make a new recipe
• play my violin more often
• learn a new cord on the guitar
• write a short story
• spend more time in the Word

But I can’t do it alone. I need your help! Recommend a book to read or a song to download. Let me know what websites have encouraged you with your art. Most of all, keep inspiring me with your pictures, blogs, and links!