Video on Blog

This is cool. My Dad showed me how to put video on my blog. The screen comes up very big and takes awhile to stream with out breaking up. But hey, this is a start to a whole new blogging world.

If it's not too difficult, I'll post some short videos of the kids from time to time.

I had a video on this post earlier...but because the screen size was so big, I took it off until I can control the size of the screen that comes up. In the mean time, go to my parents web site to watch the video in question.

AJ

Crib for the First Time

Parker slept in his crib in his and Kallsen's room last night for the first time. He has been sleeping in our room. We just needed to wait for Kallsen to get to sleep before moving Parker into the room. It will be interesting to see how Kallsen will react to sharing his room. Parker woke up this morning before Kallsen did so Kallsen is not aware he has a new roommate yet.

Parker went down about 9:00 and didn't wake up until 3:30. So that was good.

Really Nice Weekend

This weekend was great! In this picture, Kallsen gives his brother, Parker, loves after the baptism. The picture was taken at Kingwood, where we had the reception following the baptism.

Parker was in a really good mood during the ceremony. Before the baptism when our church minister, Warren Huddleston, took Parker around the church to show him off, Parker was all smiles and was giggling. He really puts on a good show!

When Kallsen was baptized, he was only a month and half old had had just gotten done with surgery and wasn't as lively as Parker. Parker is now three and a half months, so he has begun to develop a personality.

My Dad got some special time with Parker in this photo.

All three of the boys were baptized by my Dad, who's a retired Methodist Minister. I believe my Dad has also baptized some of my nephews.

AJ

Baptism

Parker Joel was baptized this morning. It was a really nice service. It started off right with the hymn Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee and finished with Amazing Grace and in between was a great sermon and Parker's Baptism.

Parker was in a great mood and was all smiles for the baptism.

My Mom Blogs!!!

My Mom has entered into the world of Bloggers!

I call this picture, "A couple of Bloggers"



Click HERE to go to my Mom's blog

AJ

Flat Stanley Comes For A Visit

Flat Stanley has come to the North Georgia Mountains from Chaska, Minnesota to visit with my family. Flat Stanley is a is a boy who was flattened as a boy and now travels via the US postal service.

This picture of Flat Stanley is taken with my parents, who are in Georiga visiting this weekend.

My niece, Amelia, sent him in the mail to us this week and we're to take Flat Stanley with us on some adventures and then mail him back to Amelia with a souvenir from his travels to Georgia. This week works well because we have lots of family in town for Parker's baptism. We'll be able to take Flat Stanley with us to church for the baptism, to Sunday dinner at Kingwood and even to North Carolina one day. Flat Stanley is going to have a great time!

AJ

Earthquake

Jonesville, South Carolina was rocked by two earthquakes earlier this week. My wife, Sara Beth, is from Jonesville. The earthquake, as you can see in my crude map, was less than a quarter of a mile from where my wife grew up.

My father inlaw said it sounded like an explosion.

AJ

Finally...

It took more time and effort than I thought it would...but the Coffee Break Show is finally ready for download. 1and1.com, the site that hosts my webpages, changed the rules and I wasn't aware of the changes.

This particular Coffee Break show is with my parents, Tom & Judy Wright. They're marriage and family councilors. They're in town this weekend for my son Parker's baptism.

You can find the show, in four segments, at The Wright Family Page or at my parent's web page.

The show talks about marriage and how couples can get back the romance after the kids have left, they've retired and find themselves spending much more time together then they've spent since courtship.

It's a really good show.

AJ

Great Show

The show with my parents was great. I may submit it to the Radio Hall of Fame. It should be available for download later today. I'll make it available at my new site

AJ

Show Update

For what ever reason, the link to hear the Coffee Break live is not working. I'll have the show posted asap for those who are hoping to hear the show.

AJ

adamandsarawright.com

I learned yesterday that when I purchased partywright.com, the package I paid for gave me two web domains and not one. So I decided I need a family page.

I will probable begin designing the new page in a couple of weeks. The page will feature pictures and stories about my family. Sara Beth will hopefully be a contributor to the page and I will have more photos and more in depth stories on our family.

I will also invite visitor comments and will have links to my blog and blogs of family members and friends.

AJ

Arrival

My parents are flying in today from Minnesota. They're coming in for Parker's baptism. My Dad is a minister and will be part of the baptism. My Dad also baptized Joseph and Kallsen.

Sara's family will be arriving on Friday. Her Mom and step dad, her two brothers and her sister are all expected.

With both families here for the weekend, that will be 16 people in our house on Friday night and Saturday. It will be one tight fit.

AJ

The tide is high and rising

I came across this picture of my Wife with my Mom taken when we did a weekend at St. Simon's island in the fall of 2002. It was the day we got back from that trip I opened an email that offered me to move to Rabun County and take the position of manager at SKY 104.

I think our visit to St. Simon's Island was one of the best trips we've taken.

AJ

Thank goodness these aren't my kids...

I wonder if those were water soluble markers?

If I walked in on Kallsen coloring Parker's face in the same manner, I don't know if I would have taken a moment to take a picture. I bet it took the mom of these kids several days to get the marker off of the baby's face.

AJ

Funny Conservative T-shirts

I'll never be confused with being a conservative. I, did however, find these shirt humorous...

Freaks & Geeks

My Dad sent me this picture tonight. This was taken in the Spring of my 7th grade year. My Dad checked me out of school so we could use my telescope to look at the eclipse. While I've never seen the TV show Freaks and Geeks, I'm guessing I would have fit right in with this picture.


Speaking of pictures, after I did my now infamous self portrait, my wife did her take on her husband...

AJ

Smart Boy

Joseph, my nine year-old, has been asked to take a placement test for the gifted and talented program in our schools. He was requested last year but forgot to bring the paper work home and by the time we found out, it was too late.

Joseph is a very bright child. While he always has been bright, I have felt he has not always been challenged in school. Hopefully, he'll do well on the test and will be more challenged.

AJ

Streaming is Working!

After several failed attepmts, we have finally gotten the streaming of audio from the radio station to work. That means we should be able to stream The Friday Morning Coffee Break on our radio station web site. I'm not sure why, but the streaming option has been giving us difficulties lately. Anyway, it's working now and that means we'll be streaming the Friday talk show, Sunday church service and local sports.

I'm excited because my guests for this coming Friday Morning Coffee Break are my Mom and Dad and I expect that friends and family in Minnesota will want to listen. I'll also make the show available for download later in the day.

This also means we'll be able to offer a lot more at the radio station's web site. And that's one of my goals...is to start offering a lot more for our listeners. One of the ideas is to stream the League of Women Voters Political Debates and round tables they put on each year. They'll do several of those for the primaries and for the general election. That also means that when politicians come into the station during times when were are not able to do live on-air interviews, we can still stream the interviews. Probable even take phones calls while streaming.

I'm convinced that we need to embrace the technology of streaming audio and making interviews and other items available for download before its too late. Everyone is trying to make a buck and offers a lot more than they use to offer.

AJ

Pond Hockey Continues...

I reallllllly wish I could be in Minneapolis this weekend. Just read what's going on.

And they have corporate sponsors. Wheaties and The Mall of America. Teams from all over the country and all over Canada are there. Amazing.

AJ

It's Been A Good Week

It's been a real good week. Both at work and at home. At home, I think Kallsen has been having his best week to date. He has been full of energy and just so happy it's contagious! Here's a picture of him acting cheesy for the camera. I wanted to get a picture of him in the chair because he propped his feet up on the coffee table like his Daddy.

Parker also had a good week. He reacts when he sees his Daddy now. He smiles. And he laughs a lot. He is really developing a personality. Here he is actually holding his bottle on his own. I was holding Parker at the time and Sara wasn't available to take the picture. I'm just glad I was able to reach the camera without disrupting him.

Parker is being baptized on Sunday the 29th of January. My Mom and Dad will be here from Minnesota on Thursday and my inlaws will be coming in from South Carolina on Friday. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures from the baptism and I'll even try and get some audio too.

My Dad, a former Methodist minister, will be involved in the baptism. My Dad baptized Joseph and Kallsen. I believe he also baptized two of my nephews and my niece.

AJ

Pond Hockey

The Pond Hockey Championships are this weekend in Minneapolis. I've been following the coverage on the Star Tribune web page. One of the most amazing things is for a first time event is the amount of teams from all over the country that are in Minneapolis for this tournement. I'd love to be in Minneapolis just to see all the activities going on this weekend.

This is taken from an article on line about the tournement...

Set for January 20-22, 2006 on the frozen waters of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, the USPHC will be a three-day, 96-team, four-on-four competition for men and women, and calls on outdoor hockey enthusiasts nationwide to participate. A percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Herb Brooks Foundation and the DinoMights Inner City Youth Hockey.

When looking for information on Pond Hockey on line, there's an overwhelming number of clubs through out Canada and the U.S. dedicated to the sport. I have a love for winter sports. I need to live where I know I'll have snow again on a regular basis.

I grew up where we could walk through the woods in the back yard down to a pond and play. I was never a strong skater but I always enjoyed taking in a game. And I would bet that there could be another type of competition...one for the best back yard rink. Building your own backyard rink is another Minnesota tradition.

I hope to live somewhere one day where my sons have the chance to learn how to skate and have a chance to play pond hockey.

AJ

I've done gone global

As of this morning, my blog has been seen by someone on all but one of the continents. I've had hits from someone in Chile, South Africa, England, Germany, China, Australia and, of course, North America. If I can get lucky enough for someone in Antarctica to log on one day, I may just become a worldwide sensation.

I'm not saying these people from all over the world are reading my blog on a daily basis but some of them have checked back more than once...and on different days.

As for regular readers, my stats show 27 regular readers. That's people coming back on several occasions over several different days. While I assume most of those that read regular are friends or family, I can't be certain. I do know that several times a reader of my blog has spent more than an hour reading different posts. It's amazing that a free counter service can tell you this many things about those that end up reading my blog.

AJ

Big Brother

Do you really want this man looking over your shoulder?








The government is at it again. While I understand that porn sites being available to minors is a serious problem and something that we all need to help in policing, but trying to force a business to turn over it's confidential records that would invade privacy rights of those of us that use google is just down right wrong. For those that are in support of the governement action, be careful what you wish for. This is an excert from the article I found...

The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law was meant to punish online pornography sites that make their content accessible to minors. The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

If google loses this case, It will make everyone that uses google think twice about the information they're searching for on google.

It's like 1984 is coming true more than 20 years later...

Sledding

One of the things I enjoyed most when growing up was going sledding. I took Joseph and Kallsen sledding this past Christmas while in Minnesota.

In this picture to the left is my wife, Sara Beth, holding Kallsen before heading down the hill. Notice Kallsen's cheek...that's his first sledding injury. His first time down the hill gave him that little scrape.

This other picture is of Joseph headed down the hill. I think this must have been the most fun he had while in Minnesota.

We spent about an hour and a half sledding that afternoon. I wish I was able to climb up and down the hill as often as the kids were able to. My niece was with us and I bet she went down the hill 50 times or more.

AJ

Where are the keys?

Yesterday, Kallsen grabbed my keys, held them with both hands over his head and then dropped them behind his back. Instead of falling to the ground, the keys caught on the back of his shirt. He looked for the keys and couldn't find them, he then realized the keys were on his back...he reached for them and kept on turning, trying to grab the keys. It was like watching a cat chase it's tail.

Funny stuff...I just wished I had gotten a picture or video of it.

Breaking Down the Awards

I don't watch a lot of network TV. But I do watch some. And I just thought I would comment on my choices versus the choices of the The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the Golden Globe awards. Which I didn't watch. I'm just seeing the results for the first time this evening.

Drama Series:
"Commander in Chief," ABC
"Grey's Anatomy," ABC
"Lost," ABC
"Prison Break," Fox
"Rome," HBO

WHILE I'M A FAN OF LOST, HOW ANYONE COULD VOTE FOR A SHOW OTHER THAN ROME IS BEYOND ME. ROME IS BY FAR A MUCH BETTER SHOW THAN ANY OTHER DRAMA ON TV.

Actress, Drama:
Patricia Arquette, "Medium"
Glenn Close, "The Shield"
Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
Polly Walker, "Rome"

POLLY WALKER...COME ON PEOPLE, DIDN'T ANYONE WATCH ROME? NOTHING AGAINST GEENA DAVIS, BUT ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Actor, Drama:
Patrick Dempsey, "Grey's Anatomy"
Matthew Fox, "Lost"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
Wentworth Miller, "Prison Break"
Kiefer Sutherland, "24"

NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT. I WOULDN'T HAVE VOTED FOR ANY OF THE ABOVE

Series, Musical or Comedy:
"Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO
"Desperate Housewives," ABC
"Entourage," HBO
"Everybody Hates Chris," UPN
"My Name is Earl," NBC
"Weeds," Showtime

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIUASM AND ENTOURAGE BY FAR OUT DO ANYTHING ELSE AS FAR AS COMEDY IS CONCERNED. HANDS DOWN. THE SIMPLE FACT THAT A SHOW ABOUT UPTIGHT MIDDLE AGED WOMEN IN A FANCY SUBURBAN SETTING ISN'T ENTERTAINING. THE INTER WORKINGS OF TRUE HOLLYWOOD AGENT AND HIS CLIENT AND HIS CLIENT'S ENTOURAGE IS REAL LIFE AT ITS BEST LET'S GET REAL PEOPLE.

Actress, Musical or Comedy:
Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives"
Teri Hatcher, "Desperate Housewives"
Felicity Huffman, "Desperate Housewives"
Eva Longoria, "Desperate Housewives"
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"

NO DECENT ACTRESS WAS EVEN NOMINATED.

Actor, Musical or Comedy:
Zach Braff, "Scrubs"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Jason Lee, "My Name is Earl"
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men"

GREAT CHOICE. GREAT SHOW.



The best shows on TV are as follows...The sopranos, Deadwood, Entourage, ROME, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office and Lost. Notice that only two regular show make the list. If you don't get HBO, you're missing the best entertainment available.

Let's Watch TV! At WAL MART!

So I headed to Wal Mart late last night to pick up washing detergents because we're out and my wife is wanting to finish up the laundry. As I head to checkout, I notice that there are TV's at every check out mounted above the register with Jay Leno telling jokes and the bottom and side of the screen is running ads for even more products you could buy while at Wal Mart.

As many folks, I view Wal Mart as a necessary evil in my life. I don't need to be bombarded with their advertising messages while I'm in the store...at least not with TV's pitching their messages making me wish I had picked up this or that while at Wal Mart. And we all know there's going to be some one that will see something while in line and send their husband or child running through the store to pick up one of those items...trying get back before mom checks out.

Sickening.

Self Portrait

I did this on Microsoft Paint.

AJ

Newest Member of the Family

This is Paiden. She was born right before the new year. She's the daughter of my brother in-law DJ.

AJ

Friday's show now available

The Friday Morning Coffee Break is now availbale for download.

No Streaming Today

After looking into streaming the audio from the AM on the station's web site, it will not be possible this morning. I will have today's Coffee Break on the web site available for download later today.

AJ

Almost 5,000 visits...in less than a year

I was looking at statistics for my PartyWright website this morning and I found out that through the host company, I can find out all kinds of information. I had 4,999 visits to partywright.com in 2005 and have had almost 100 visits so far in 2006. I think that's amazing.

The other thing that was interesting is the number of hits per month were broken down and the best months last year as far as when bookings were made go hand in hand with the amount of hits I was receiving at that given time. That helps me see how important the web site was to the business.

I also think this will help in expanding what I do in the future. Knowing the amount of hits and also where those hits come from. I just wish I had realized I could access this information when Party Wright was still in business.

I know there are a lot of places to go on line to build a web site and there are a lot of price structures out there. I pay $39.95 per year for my domain name and for them to host my site. I have not found anyone cheaper than 1and1.com.

AJ

Getting The Word Out

I've been appointed to the Communication Committee at my church. And being that I am the only one that's been appointed, I guess I'm also the chairman of the committee.

I was appointed mainly because I work in radio and as all groups do when they get media people in their organization, they put you in charge of public relations or advertising. Normally I would defer such an assignment or appointment because I don't enjoy volunteering doing what I normally do during the working day. But this is different. The church has a lot of potential. And I think I can help.

The communications person is in charge of overseeing the TV, radio and web ministries of the church. The radio ministry is working just fine, the TV ministry needs some help and the web ministry, let's just say there isn't one right now.

My plan is to focus in getting the church 11am Sunday service streamed on the internet every Sunday and to make the services also available for downloading or podcasting as soon as possible. I also want to work with the preachers about them writing daily devotions on a blog of their own. Give people in the church a reason to go to the church's website on a regular basis.

I think a page for the youth and for the FAITH builders is needed as well. A page that all information on church activities is always updated regularly. I think we can make the church web presence a major force for the church.

I'm up to the challenge.

AJ

We can read...

I have a pet peeve I want to share...when doing a presentation in front of a group and you're using Power Point to enhance the presentation, don't read what's on the screen. It's insulting.

When doing a presentation with Power Point, let Power Point enhance the experience. Power Point presentations should be very brief outlines with the majority of the information coming from you in a conversational way. It makes the presentation much more interesting. And we can all read. Reading to us while we read what's on the screen defeats the purpose.

Also...use bigger font. The rule of thumb is to use a font size that is half of the age of the oldest person you're talking to. If the oldest person is 60, use a 30 point font.

I'm tired of going to meetings, rotary club or other 'events' and having someone read to me what I can clearly read on the screen. Add something to the presentation. After all, if you've been asked to present something to a group you were asked because you're an expert in the field.

AJ

Streaming on Friday

Rabun County DEFACS is now being run by the state and the staff at Rabun County DEFACS are now acting as support staff until the investigation is complete. The state director of DEFACS will be our guest this Friday. And we plan to stream the audio on Rabun Radio's web site.

If the show isn't able to be streamed, it will be available for download later in the day.

AJ

Parker's First Time Eating Baby Food

Now that Parker's eating every two hours, we decided to start feeding him baby food. He seems to enjoy it...

Notice that Kallsen is right behind Parker...

As we all know, no one eats with out sharing with Kallsen...

As you can see, Joseph is so involved in his PSP, he had no interest in the baby food...



AJ

My newsman's family is dealing with this...

DK Republic: Atlanta Prefers Dead Cops to Law and Order

Audio on Blog

I just learned how to do this today. Hopefully, I'll be able to feed audio of the kids when they laugh or something else fun happens.

Now I just need to be able to get video...

AJ

Fat Lip

Kallsen had his first fat lip this weekend. He fell when we were walking out of church on Sunday. Amazingly, he didn't really cry much.

AJ

Same Issue, Different Guest

I've received several comments about this past Friday's Coffee Break and I thank everyone for taking time to listen. This week our guest will be the State DEFACS Director. Should be another great show.

A lot of the credit for lining up the guests for the Coffee Break goes to my newsman David Shideler. He is excellent in getting these folks on the show and he is the one that follows up on all the issues.

David's blog is a great read, too.

AJ

Great Show

We're making a difference. On our talk show, The Friday Morning Coffee Break.

This past Friday, State senator Nancy Schaefer was our guest and she talked about the state of Rabun County DEFACS (Department of Family and Children Services.) Our local DEFACS is in some serious disarray.

According to Senator Schaefer, the Rabun County DEFACS office is targeting families that are unable to fight or don't have the means to fight DEFACS. She blamed DEFACS, local school officials, law enforcement and others. A state investigation has begun. And a lot of what's been going on came to the public for the first time on Friday's show.

Next week, the state director for DEFACS is suppose to be our guest.

You can go to rabunradio.com and listen to the show. We've made it available for download. If I can make everything work next week, I'll try and have the show broadcasted on our site live. That way, anyone not in Rabun County that would like to hear the interview will be able to do so.

This is the kind of radio I like.

AJ

Duck, Duck, Grey Duck!

This is a battle that is being waged among those of us raised in Minnesota and those of us raised in South Carolina. My son Kallsen, 18 months old, came home from his day care recently and was saying Duck, Duck, Goose! I about died. Any self respecting adult knows its Duck, Duck, Grey Duck. My wife disagrees.

Shortly there after we're in South Carolina at my inlaw's and the discussion turns to this classic children's game. And I'm the only one fighting for the side of Duck, Duck, Grey Duck! I can't believe some people have been snowed to believe its Duck, Duck, Goose. Makes you think the group pushing the Goose has the same spin doctors as president bush.

As a Minnsotan and as a Duck, Duck, Grey Duck! supporter, I can't go without a fight. So I did some research on the 'net and I found that only in Minnesota is it Grey Duck and not Goose.

The World Will Never Be The Same.

AJ