Top 10 Robots (with a few extras thrown in)

Sunday afternoon Ashley and I stopped by my parents’ house for a visit. While we were there my dad randomly asked “What’s your favorite robot?” Seriously? “What’s your favorite robot?"  I have no idea!

I couldn’t even think of many robots. I finally came up with Rosie from The Jetsons. She seemed like an obvious answer. I mean who doesn’t want a robot that will cook dinner and clean the house? 

After thinking about it a bit we started talking about it and came up with a huge list. From there this week’s Top Ten was born. 

So without further ado here is this week’s Top Ten list. 

The Top Ten Robots from Movies or Television

 Rosie 

C3po and r2d2 

Robot Andrew Bicentennial Man 

Wall E

Bender

Johnny 5

This was my dad's choice for favorite robot.

 

Sonny (I robot)

I can't decide if this is even a good robot or if I just like it because Will Smith is in the movie. So, I give you the robot with Will Smith. :-)

 

Terminator

Optimus Prime and Transformers       

    

KITT Knight Rider

Honorable Mention:

Robocop

David A.I. Artificial Intelligence 

Rodney, Fender, and Piper from Robots

So there you have it. There are my Top 10 (or 13) robots. I know there are several missing from the list. Leave me a comment and tell me who your favorite is.

Wordless Wednesday Germany

Acrostic

I wanted to do something a bit different for the blog today. I have been working hard to find the positive in things lately, so today I give you a poem with some of the positives I find in myself.

Marching Band Memories

It’s that time of week again, time for another round of Monday Memories. This week we won’t jump as far back into the past, but will instead land in the high school years. 

During high school I participated in the school band, which during the fall meant marching band.  I don’t think “participate” effectively describes ones experience in marching band though, as it basically consumes your life for at least 3 months of the year. 

During the summer you go to marching band camp. You learn the new songs, learn the new drills, and sweat your ass off. If you are just in band you get to leave at noon, but if you are in drum line you will be there all day, and it’s a long day. For drum line not only do you come to practice with 

 earplugs, but also band aids as by the end your hands will be covered in blisters from the sticks. 

Summer band camp is just the beginning though. Once school starts you meet first hour every day. After school on Tuesdays you practice as a section until 4. On Thursdays you have practice from 6-9 (plus 3-5 while in drum line) where you practice certain part, run drills, and prepare the entire show.  Then you have Friday night games, Saturday competitions, and the list continues. 

From these experiences many things come. You form amazing friendships and bonds. You learn “If you’re on time you’re late” and that pushups are an acceptable punishment for mistakes. You work as a team, you grow as a group, and in the end you come out stronger. 

There were years we won every competition we competed in, and then there were years where we hardly won anything, but every year we accomplished great things. I look back on that time fondly.  It contains some of my happiest memories, and one of the things I miss the most. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to anyone. It might consume your life, but the reward definitely outweighs the sacrifice. 

If you have not seen this video yet you are missing out. It is a MUST SEE! I saw it for the first time yesterday, and it helped inspire todays post. Enjoy!

Top 10: 80s Cartoons

It is Top 10 Thursday. Today I get to share some of my favorite cartoons from the 80s. There are definitely some missing from this list for a variety of reasons. For one not all of them have you tube clips available, but also it is impossible for me to just narrow my list down to ten. There were definitely some great cartoons as I was growing up. Without further delay here are 10 of the many awesome cartoons from the 80s.


Favorite 80s Cartoons:

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles



2. Duck Tales


3. Care Bears


4. Inspector Gadget


5. The Noozles


6. Strawberry Shortcake


7. Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers


8. The Jetsons


9. Garfield and Friends


10. Popples


Just listening to all of these has brought back some great memories for me, and I hope it has for you as well! 

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Day

Monday Memories

Can you remember your favorite Christmases? Do you remember what made them special?

Christmas is always a special time of the year for me. I have many wonderful memories of Christmas. I can remember all the times we went to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. I remember the Christmas open houses we had as a child where my mom would sit and play the piano. I remember the first year we had steak for Christmas dinner and how that became a tradition. All of those things are wonderful memories, but today I want to share with you the story of one of my favorite Christmases ever… 

When I was little we lived next door to two boys who were some of my closest friends. Ryan was a year older than me, and Cameron was a couple years younger. We lived at the bottom of a hill, Ryan and Cameron lived one door up, and we eventually came to learn that Sheila lived at the top. My brother Stephen (the middle child) and I played with Ryan and Cameron regularly. We went to different schools, but spent most weeknights and weekends together.  We played baseball in the backyard, roller skated in the basement, played at the park and in the creek (sorry mom), and basically any other kid activities you can think of.  

This story isn’t about any of that though. This story is about the year we got snowed in for Christmas. We were supposed to leave town and go to my grandparent’s house for Christmas. However, we had a giant snow storm and were unable to leave town. You might think that sounds like the beginning of a disappointing Christmas, but it was the start of one of my favorite Christmases ever. 

With all the snow there wasn’t much to do, but we decided we would go sledding. Ryan and Cameron were supposed to get flexible flyer sleds for Christmas, but their parents couldn’t help themselves and gave them to them early for us to enjoy on Christmas Eve. Stephen and I (Nicholas was too young) had orange toboggan sleds.  The four of us along with my mom and their dad spent the entire day sledding. We started at the top of the hill and would end in our yard 3 houses down. It was the perfect snow for sledding and we had a blast. Up and down the hill we would go over and over again. There was enough snow that the flexible flyer sleds flew down the hill perfectly, and yet it was compact enough that the toboggans also slid across it with ease. We took turns on all the sleds sometimes going down alone, sometimes going down with partners, and of course many times racing one another or seeing who could go the farthest. Every time someone made it farther than anyone had made it before there were cheers and the bar was raised. 

Sometime in the evening a guy that was dating Jennifer (Ryan and Cam’s older sister) showed up. He was dressed kind of nice and they were preparing to go out. Ryan kept asking him to go on the sled, but the guys refused. He didn’t want to get dirty or wet before they left. Finally after much convincing and persuading the guy gave in. Ryan repeatedly assured him that it would be fine, and there was no way they were going to hit a tree. I mean no one had hit a tree all day. I am sure you can guess what happened next. They got on the sled with Ryan and immediately they slammed into a tree. Picture the movies where a kid hits the tree and tree unloads piles of snow on the unsuspecting rider. That is exactly how this played out. It was the only time anyone hit a tree that day, and man was it funny. 20 years later and I am still laughing about it. 

I don’t know how long we were out there, but I remember how frozen I felt once we gave up and went inside. Funny how I don’t remember being cold at all, until the day was over and I was in the house.  It was definitely worth braving the cold though as to this day it is one of my favorite Christmases. Great friends, great fun, and great memories!

Sunday Comfort

When I woke up this morning I started my Sunday like I start every Sunday, by visiting the Post Secrets website. This has been part of my Sunday routine for several years now. When I first found the website, I didn’t share it with anyone. I felt like I could really relate to the things being posted, and often had an emotional reaction while reading them. I worried that if I told anyone else about it, they wouldn’t have the same reaction and that would somehow cheapen it. It wasn’t worth the risk. I have since gotten over that, and now often talk about the site and recommend it to others, but there are only one or two people I would ever be in a room with when reading them. For me I like to read them alone and really have a chance to think about them without others around. It’s the one part of the week that I always allow for some “me time”. 

After finishing that part of my morning routine I started thinking about what the day had in store for me, and it hit me that Sunday is one of the only days that really is consistent in my life. Sunday is a pretty routine day. 

For most of my childhood, Sunday was considered family day. We would go to church together and then do something as a family. Often this meant tackling a family project such as putting in a new flower bed or cleaning up the house. However, it also meant going on outings, playing games, or just spending time together. 

This tradition is something I have attempted to carry on with Ashley. I try to make time for us to work on things together or go out and enjoy something fun on Sundays. Sunday evenings we typically get together with Larry and Stomie and do something the girls enjoy. We might watch a movie, go play at Burger King, go bowling, or play at the park. 

It’s become a routine in our lives and something all of us tend to count on and look forward to.  Often when we see Stormie during the week she leaves by giving us a hug and saying “Bye, see ya on Sunday.” When I pick Ashley up on Sundays it is typical for me to hear “What are we doing this week?” or “What time are we seeing Larry and Stormie?” 

I can’t quite remember how this routine got started, but it seems to be one of the only consistent routines we have. With everyone having busy lives we have a very fluid schedule and plan throughout the week. Yet, somehow this is something we have managed to hold onto.  We talk about needing to be flexible and just going with the flow on things, and still we haven’t given this one up. Maybe we all need a bit of consistency and routine. Maybe this gives us a sense of comfort and security. Maybe it’s a way of showing that even when everything else is crazy we can come make time for each other… or maybe it’s just how it works out. I don’t know the reason or how it came to be, but I know it’s a day that I look forward to and a day I enjoy, and for that I am thankful.