Life From the ToasterLife From the ToasterThe fanatical, strange and sometimes boring thoughts and rants from inside the toaster that is my brain. With occasional color commentary from my sister. Articles
People being stupid news item of the week
2008-02-08 20:36:00 Vandalism Claim Nets Arrest in BurglarySUTHERLIN, Ore. (AP) ? They say problem gamblers never quit while they're ahead, and one properly insured Oregon man apparently didn't, either.Authorities recovered a stolen antique slot machine worth $4,000 and arrested the 30-year-old, who they said asked his wife to help file an insurance claim to cover damage done to his van during the heist.The slot machine was reported stolen in a burglary Monday night at a home in Sutherlin, 170 miles south of Portland, Douglas County sheriff's deputies said. Investigators learned that the victim's housekeeper filed a police report a day earlier claiming someone had thrown a piece of sheet metal through the window of her parked van.The sheet metal turned out to be from the back of the stolen slot machine, with the serial number attached. Deputies said the housekeeper's husband stole the machine, which tipped over as he drove away, breaking the van window. He told his wife the van had been vandalized... More About: News , People , Stupid , Item , Week
Notebook Blogging #4
2008-02-07 22:47:00 Sorry the blog has been so quiet, it seems my sisters have forgotten that they were to keep the blog updated. :p I have decided to build the shelf/bookcase rather than the dresser because the wood for the dresser was going to cost me a little more than I really want to spend right now. I have yet to starting building it though because in true loopy NC weather this whole week has been around 75. 75 in February! It is a hard lot we in the south must endure let me tell you.Because of the unseasonal weather we started construction this week on a 1,344 sqft house. So far all we have done is built and leveled off the foundation but on Monday if the weather holds up we should be putting the floor system in. Also to the horror of my mother I found out there is a guy in class who has had some trouble with the law. So much trouble he has a curfew of 7pm, is not able to drive and has to call his parole officer regularly....Oh and he can't get near a blade longer than 3 inches!We also lost p... More About: Notebook , Blogging
People being stupid news item of the week
2008-02-02 05:55:00 Man rides lawn mower to liquor store ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) - A man was charged with drunken driving after going through two bottles of wine, cutting through a snowstorm on his lawn mower and riding down the center of the street to reach a liquor store, authorities said. Police found Frank Kozumplik, 49, homeward bound on a John Deere tractor Saturday night, toting four bottles of wine in a paper bag, officials said. He told officers that his wife had taken their car to work, and that the mower was the only way he could reach the store, two miles from home. His blood alcohol level was 2 1/2 times Michigan's legal driving limit of 0.08 percent, police told WLEN-FM. They arrested him and confiscated the mower. Kozumplik declined to comment Monday night.Poor guy all he wanted was a little more wine... :D More About: News , People , Stupid , Item , Week
Notebook Bogging #3
2008-01-31 22:58:00 Class has been going well. I am the type of person who likes to "learn on the job" as in, I like to actually do what I am learning to do as I learn, if that makes any sense. :p There are so many things I have learned that I want to get out and do construction-wise it is not even funny. This past week I learned how to build kitchen cabinets and fortunately I actually got to build them. We have every tool you can imagine in class, so I was able to dovetail the drawers for the cabinets which was very cool.This week we also had a new class member, Rosco, who happens to be a dog, a Beagle and Chihuahua mix to be exact. Mr. T got him Sunday night and since he is only a little puppy and was yapping and missing his brothers, sisters and mother, he was brought to class. The first day unless he was being held all he did was whine, but by the second day he was scampering around the class and following Mr. T everywhere. I am not the type of person who fawns over puppies but I have to say Rosco ... More About: Notebook
Polo shirts.....
2008-01-29 22:42:00 I like "polo" shirts, aka a short sleeved shirt with a collar which typically has 2-3 buttons below the collar and is usually made of cotton. Like this:They have been adopted by most people in today's society as "business casual" attire. Not as dressy as a button down shirt with a tie, but nicer than a regular old t-shirt. Actually for most people today, a polo is considered "dressy". I have a whole post on society and the standards of clothing but it will have to wait because that is not today's topic. Today the topic is polo shirts, or rather one thing about them that is slightly irritating.When good ol' René Lacoste started making his "polo" shirts (They were not called polo shirts back then) I am not sure if the shirts had the two small slits on the bottom of either side but most polo shirts today have them. I know there must be a purpose behind those two small slits, after all, fashion always has been created with a purpose, no? :pAnyway those two slits at the bottom of a... More About: Shirts , Polo
Something to brighten your day !!!
2008-01-28 01:24:00 I have been told that I do not post enough. I will try to work on posting more. :)The following picture I drew..... I can't draw........unless it is stick figures.....so don't expect too much from this picture.Also, if you have not watch Napoleon Dynamite, then you probably will not appreciate it to the fullest extreme. :) :) More About: Sarah
I am a landlord...
2008-01-26 16:48:00 First, I am sorry I have been lax in posting recently, I was not even able to get a "stupid people" post out until this morning and I have yet to find the time to type up the post I have in my notebook. It was not that long anyway, hopefully by next week I will have more written up. My reason for not posting is because I have been busy but also because I have been trying to spend less time sitting in front of the computer screen. It is good because it gives me more time to do things like drive Nick crazy with my woeful guitar playing, :D but it is also somewhat bad, since I checked my email this morning and had 17 new messages! Anyway on to the post title!I am now a landlord....I have had my apartment up for sale since mid-October. While several people have been very interested when they go for a loan because the mortgage industry is in a bit of a mess right now most buyers have not been able to get funding. Rather than let my apartment just sit empty and collect dust, I decided I m...
People being stupid news item of the week
2008-01-26 15:35:00 "Too cold to walk" for car thievesTORONTO (Reuters) - A group of teenage car thieves took a joy ride to a court-ordered counselling program aimed to keep them away from stealing cars, Winnipeg police said on Tuesday. The four suspects, aged 16 and 17, were attending the counselling program in the Canadian prairie city as part of a court order relating to previous auto thefts, said Detective Sergeant Kevin Kavitch of the city's stolen-autos unit. A local newspaper suggested the teens had stolen the car because it was "too cold to walk" to their court ordered training program, although Kavitch described it as a crime of opportunity. Winnipeg daytime temperatures dipped to -40 degrees Celsius last week, with wind chill. Kavitch said three of the four suspects are level four offenders, the highest designation for chronic auto thieves in the city. More than a dozen cars are stolen every day in Winnipeg, and the cit... More About: News , People , Stupid , Item , Week
By the fire
2008-01-24 17:13:00 I am always on the look out for a great book to read or movie to watch! This week I read a WONDERFUL book called God's Smugglers by Brother Andrew and watched a good movie called Saving Sarah Cain.The book God's smugglers is about a Dutch missionary who becomes legendary in the Evangelical Christan world for his ability to smuggle thousands of Bibles into Communist countries in the 1960's and later. I really loved this book because of how much faith,trust and love this man had for God!The movie Saving Sarah Cain is a sweet film! It's about a woman who is forced to take in her sister's 5 kids after her death. The children are Amish and have lived very different lives than their aunt! She takes them to live in the city with her, enrolls them in public school and their journey as a family starts! This is a great family film that will leave you in tears!I also wanted to add two songs that this past week have meant a lot to me! One is "My Savior" By Krystal Meyers. My favorite pa... More About: Fire
You Are Everything
2008-01-24 01:40:00 I am not really into posting lyrics from songs but Matthew West's new album, Something to Say, was released last Tuesday and he has a song on the album called "You Are Everything" The single has actually been out for a while so you may have heard it playing on the radio. You know how sometimes a song will hit you and get stuck in your head? Well this song has been going around in my head since I first heard it several weeks ago....Verse 1I?m the one with two left feetStanding on a lonely streetI can?t even walk a straight lineAnd every time you look at meI?m spinning like an autumn leafBound to hit bottom sometimeWhere would I be without someone to save meSomeone who won?t let me fallchorusYou are everything that I live forEverything that I can?t believe is happeningYou?re standing right in front of meWith arms wide openAll I know isEvery day is filled with hopeYou are everything that I believe forAnd I can?t help but breathe you inBreathe againFeeling all this life withinEvery sin... More About: God
How about some more snow pictures?
2008-01-22 00:10:00 Yes! Haha I know blog readers are probably rolling their eyes right now and mentally groaning. You may be thinking to yourself, those crazy Toaster bloggers keep posting pictures of their 1-inch snow storm, and they are not even great pictures, enough already!!! Well since not much has happened in the past few days except our paltry snow fall all I have to blog with is snow pictures. :p While my sisters were spending their time trying to toss each other and various articles of clothing into the creek, I was wondering around with my lens cap in my mouth taking pictures, some of which are worth taking a gander at if I do say so myself....*Note* unless you click the picture to zoom in you will not see all the detail. ;)Ok, I promise no more posts on snow...at least until it snows again :p More About: Pictures , Snow
More snow pictures :)
2008-01-20 23:19:00 Little man walking.. Samuel fishing Molly's hat out of the stream.Somebody told him to throw it in ...... alright I confess... it was me :)Molly WAS not at all pleased.After Sam threw it in however... he realized that since he threw it in....he was now expected to some how get it out. Hence the fishing stick...... you can see it if you look really closely.Fishing..... Still fishing...... Ah ha........once he was sucessful He promptly tossed the hat to Molly.... and fell in the stream :) More About: Pictures , Snow
Snow day at CLF
2008-01-20 20:43:00 Since yesterday it snowed an inch, today we decided to explore the woods. Samuel wandered around ahead of every one.Matthew and I pretty much scraped every fallen tree to make a huge snowball. Well...... the snow ball was huge for Matthew.......He was quite excited about the snowball as you can tell from his face here.Here he is... thinking serious thoughts......like I wonder what will happen if I throw this at Anna??? William has a strange facial expression...... what can I say?????(He says it is because I stole his tea......not true... I was merely holding his empty cup while he took pictures of....... stuff) If Anna and Molly stay outside too long they start acting like cats, 'nuff said More About: Snow , Snow Day
There are snowflakes in my eye
2008-01-20 01:51:00 Last night we had a ring around the moon which is supposed to mean we are going to get some type of bad weather be it rain or snow.... I tried to capture it but my camera's lens is on the low end so this was the best I was able to do: The ring around the moon is still pretty easy to see, itis caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere BTW So it started to slowly snow this afternoon...It started falling a little faster.... Then it really came down for a while...But alas since the ground was not all that cold even though we had a pretty good amount of snow falling, the amount we ended up with on the ground was slightly more than an inch....Ah well not much you can do with an inch of snow it is almost worse than not getting any at all. More About: Flake
People being stupid news item of the week
2008-01-18 20:27:00 Dummy Carpooler leads to fineKENT, Wash. ? The solo driver attempting to use the carpool lane had worked hard to fashion a realistic "dummy" passenger but failed to secure his mannequin with a seat belt to make sure it was visible to state troopers. That led to a $124 fine.A State Patrol trooper stopped the man early Wednesday for traveling alone in the carpool lane of State Route 167. Only once the car was stopped did the trooper see the elaborately dressed mannequin, which had slumped forward in the rear passenger seat because it was not belted in and thus was not visible to the trooper as the car rolled by.The dummy sported a denim jacket, hooded sweatshirt and glasses. The driver had also painted on bright blue eyes and a heavy black beard. "This guy, he went to great extremes," State Patrol spokesman Trooper Jeff Merrill said. The 41-year-old driver was cited for a high occupancy lane violation.The dummy:Unrepentant, the driver told the trooper that next time he'd prop the ma... More About: News , People , Stupid , Item , Week
Notebook Blogging #2
2008-01-17 20:28:00 There is a guy in class named Anthony who always sits next to me. Anthony is a pretty funny guy but he has a slight issue, he always seems to be sleepy. My alter ego being as it is, I am able to notice the signs of sleepy people, it is one of my special powers you could say. Besides that, I also know Anthony is sleepy because he has fallen asleep, in class, next to me, more than once!!The first time it happened Mr. T. our teacher, was talking about footings and estimating the amount of concrete you need, very basic stuff. Anthony had pulled his hood over his head and was just sitting on my right occasionally nodding. After a while I hear this slight humming sound to my right that keeps getting louder. It takes me a second to realize it is coming from Anthony, he has fallen asleep.People who have been around me know I laugh a lot, I have a funky sense of humor and ordinary things will sometimes just hit me and I will start laughing. Well I am in class trying to make sure there is no... More About: Notebook , Blogging
William's Birthday !!
2008-01-15 21:08:00 Last Monday was William's 23 birthday !!!:) Yes I know that was a little over a week ago but, I felt bad since no one said anything about his birthday! William was very sad that it did not SNOW!!! ( He is still upset about this!) Instead of snow we had beautiful 70 degree weather!:)My brother is : crazy.....But I guess we all are!:) VERY strong! Can make every one smile ! and looks great in anything!I could go on, on, on, about my wonderful brother !! We love you William and happy late birthday!!! More About: Birthday
The fastest dryer this side of the Smokeys
2008-01-14 23:53:00 In some complex and weird equation yet to be completely understood by man, I occasionally end up in the kitchen with the job of cleaning it firmly on my shoulders and my shoulders alone. It is times like this that I usually turn on music and clean the kitchen as only I can, very slowly while singing.... :p Several nights ago I found myself in this situation yet again, I looked over at my brother Matthew who was sitting on the couch and asked kiddingly if he wanted to be my dryer. Matthew jumped up with an enthusiastic YES and so I washed and Matthew dried. Let me tell you, Matthew is a fast dryer, faster than anyone else in our house. If there was a kitchen cleaning contest I know who I would want on the towel drying! Sorry the pictures are slightly overly dramatic funny things happen when Matthew is around a camera... More About: Side , Dryer
Win a bag
2008-01-12 22:22:00 Go HERE and enter to win a free bag.I think they are so cute... just the perfect size to carry my piano books in. :)
It's late....
2008-01-12 07:08:00 I was in bedbut all I did was toss and turnI closed my eyesbut my brain still churnedI roam the hallsit's past midnightmy stomach growlsmaybe it needs a biteWeaving in and out offurniture in the pitch blacka chair out of place givesmy shin a bruising whackIn the kitchen I arriveand food I do find thoughit does nothing to ease myoverly active mindAll I want to do is sleep in my bedbut there are so many thoughtsrunning..through..my head!I sit down at the computerstare blankly at the screenthat sounds so cliche if youknow what I meanI type up the lines thatyou have read abovemy fingers tapping thekeys they are so fond ofI think I will go read a bookSomehow this post just lost it's rhymingsorry for that I am sometimes not the best person with timingIf you ever awake and can't get to sleepmy advice would be just to get something to eat :) More About: Late
People being Stupid News item of the Week
2008-01-11 22:23:00 Two men try to cash dead friend's check (NYT) Two men in New York are facing charges in a bizarre case where they were caught with a corpse at a check cashing store. Police say they were trying to cash in on their friend's death. NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says "if you like 'Week end at Bernies' you're gonna like this story." Even the police commissioner couldn't believe the story. Today a first glimpse of the two men who police say wheeled their dead friend's body in an office chair to try and cash his $365 Social Security check. They said they didn't do it. But 55-year-old David Galoia and 65-year-old James O'Hare are accused of trying to pull off the stunt at this Pay-o-Matic on 9th Avenue, a stunt out of a Hollywood movie. Police say when their good friend, 66-year-old Virgilio Cintron, died they saw an opportunity. They put his dead body in an office chair, somehow got him down the stairs of his Midtown walkup, and literally wheeled him over to the chec... More About: News , People , Stupid , Item
Ummmm... My mind is not like a sieve....most days!
2008-01-11 01:58:00 I know... I was supposed to pick up the slack when William started school... But this week it really was like my mind was a sieve. Have you ever have so many thoughts going through your head that it is impossible to separate them? I'm not sure that make sense but that is how I have felt this week. I had so many things on my mind that I couldn't just sit down and blog about one thought. Plus, due to the gorgeous weather, I was outside with Sam and Matthew a lot this week. One thing to mention...... Don't ever play the Daisy game with Matthew..... just don't!!!!Hmmmm... now that I have got you interested, I guess I will have to tell you why that game is dangerous. The daisy game involves everyone spinning around in a circle as fast a they can with their arms outstretched until they fall down. The last person standing is the winner...... (fyi I wasn't the winner, Sam was.) The daisy game can give you a very bad headache and make you feel queasy. I am not sure why it i... More About: Mind , Days , Sieve
Notebook Blogging #1
2008-01-11 00:01:00 The day is overcast, a crowd is gathered outside a doorway. Smoke rises like a cloud above their heads. It is break time and that means it is time to kill yourself, slowly, painfully, carcinogenicity. The group is comprised of young men in their 20s, their whole life in front of them and yet daily they stand outside and slowly destroy the most unique machine they will ever control, their own bodies. I think all this as I walk past them into the building, what caused them to get hooked on tobacco? Was it the need to fit in with their friends? Maybe it is how they deal with the stress of their life, standing outside, crowded under a brick overhang, in an attempt to avoid life's trials. It does not really matter how nicotine got it's addictive hands in their life, they are hooked. Rather dismal wouldn't you say?Classes started this week, hence the lack of blog posts. I have urged Sarah several times to post but she keeps saying her mind is like a sieve or something. During my breaks... More About: Notebook , Blogging
Cell phone Tip #12
2008-01-08 20:41:00 Turning off your cell phone is effectively turning it into a wimpy paperweight. If you are in a location that will not allow you to answer your phone, rather than TURN OFF the phone, switch the ring method to vibrate. That way you will still be able to know that people are trying to contact you even if you are unable to take a call at the time. If you happen to be someone who is in the habit of texting you might even be in a position to text the person calling you and find out why they were calling. Unless you have a dead battery and the phone dies, under no circumstances should a cell phone be turned off! Thank you, that is all :) More About: Phone , Cell Phone , Cell , Cell-phone
The weather is messed up
2008-01-07 22:03:00 What to blog about.....Not much has happened to me in the last week, sure we had some old friends come over last Monday, then a family from church on Tuesday but nothing really blog-worthy. Well we did learn this funny game from our friends but it would be hard to describe it on here. ;) So for this past week I have mainly read books from my never ending pile...I could go into more detail about the books I finished except I know that if I start typing about the books, the post will end up being my thoughts about the subjects the books talked about rather than the books themselves and I feel slightly lazy ATM and my brain does not want to think about all I feel I could type up so I am not going to do it!I have now typed out a paragraph that has really nothing to do with the title...The title has to do with the weather, the weather where I live to be exact. To put it simply, something has happened to it! I know readers in colder states may read about our weather and think to themselve... More About: Weather , Mess
Huck's Rising
2008-01-05 19:21:00 Anyone who has been following the Presidential race or for that matter, just listened to the news over the last two days probably knows there was a Presidential primary in Iowa Thursday night and the eventual winners were a bit of a surprise to the political pundits and so called experts. Obama won on the Democratic side with 38% and Huckabee won on the Republican side with 34%I personally think it is rather silly to put so much weight on who a handful of people in Iowa or New Hampshire and South Carolina think should be the President. But ever since Jimmy Carter won Iowa and went on to win the Presidency our news media seems to think the people in these states have a better grasp over the political climate than anyone else. The news media certainly does not have a grasp as evidenced once again by the "surprising results" out of Iowa.If you have been a constant reader of the blog, you probably know I am a Mike Huckabee supporter. I know he is not perfect and his record for 10 years ...
People being Stupid News item of the Week
2008-01-05 01:39:00 Teens buried speed camera Two Austrian teenagers have been fined £75,000 for hacking down and burying a roadside speed camera. Peter Hochstacher and Thomas Moebel, both 19, were snapped by the camera speeding in the town of Lustenau in Austria. They used a pair of axes and a saw they had with them in their car to chop it down and then buried it in a nearby field. But the box was found by a local farmer as he plowed his land and police who examined it found pictures of the pair on the camera inside and they later confessed to tearing down the device. A local court said the fine would cover the cost of replacing the machine.For those not in the know, £75,000 is around $150,000....Also, unless these guys are loggers or something of that like why on earth did they have a pair of axes and a saw in their car? :p More About: News , People , Stupid , Item , Week
Some views on the chicken and the road...
2008-01-03 16:54:00 I was reading another blog, and I came across a great post about what people in society would say about the infamous "Chicken and the Road " All credit goes to them.DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems. OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens. BILL O'REILLY: The folks don't want the chicken crossing the road. It's clear to any clear-thinking American who thinks clearly and doesn't obfuscate or... More About: Views , The Road
Will's thoughts on 2007
2008-01-01 17:40:00 Today is January 1st, the first day of a new year when we usually look back at the previous year and make resolutions for the year ahead of us. For me, this past year had been amazing, I am not just saying that, this past year for me really has been the type of year you look back on and go, yeah things have changed. B)When I think about it, my mindset is so different than it was last January it is actually a little freaky. I had planned to do a "year in review" post and talk about stuff that happened each month but after thinking it through I realized I could write a multiple page editorial and it still probably would not cover all I would like to say...I also figured people don't really want to read that much about my year anyway. :p So how about the cliff notes version?In January, my friend Daniel and I decided to go on a road trip up the east coast in June. It is something I had wanted to do for several years but never actually planned out. It actually took less planning than I... More About: Thoughts
June Road Trip pictures
More articles from this author:2007-12-31 23:10:00 Rather than add even more pictures to Sarah's picture thread here are a few pictures from my road trip in June . (more on the trip tomorrow)The above picture was taken in Penn Station in New JerseyLooking toward the financial district in NYC, if you view in full size you can see the Statue of Liberty as a little dot to the rightRandom farm in PA we passedNiagara Falls More About: Pictures , Trip , Road Trip , Road 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |



