Nate's Argentina pics

It's really hard to go through all his pictures and find the ones to use here. Everything is out of order. But just to give you a random glimpse.

Here is an oven used to cook meat. Nate said they eat a LOT of meat. This was an indoor "grill" and they also cooked this stuff outdoors. (I found a much better picture of the big LOAD of meat cooking on the grill, but it didn't load properly... and then I couldn't find it a second time).
Nate went to the mountains with his family for a week.

They hiked and biked and played ping pong and ate lots of meat and danced and sang songs together. What a delightful family that hosted him!!!! Seriously amazing!!!

He also worked in an orphanage for most of the time he was in San Juan. The kids loved him, believe it or not. HAHA

The dogs loved him too.

This is some of the family making empanadas while they were away at the mountains.

Beautiful views

Interesting views... this is one of Nate's sisters.

They played games, like find the candy in the bowl of flour without using your hands. Nate has Polaco on his right and his sister Sol and her boyfriend on his left.

Here is Nate with madre and poppy. Of course he made his way into their hearts. Analia told me in an email this morning. So sweet. (I've been using a google translator and my basic knowledge of Spanish to communicate and it works fairly well).

I'm not sure if it's the Andes or the mountain range just east of the Andes pictured here.

Glorious

Good times with the fam

Sisters, Vero and Sol. Nate grew over an inch while he was there.

Nate brought his family a few boxes of brownies from home and baked them himself. Analia (mommy) made him wear an apron. HAHA. He also cooked a full american breakfast for them (scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, bacon) but I couldn't load those pics either for some reason.

So, this post is at least something for ya. Right now I have other things to contend with besides Nate's 1500 pictures and blogging... like Luke's college bill which is due on Friday. WHERE ARE THOSE SCHOLARSHIPS PEOPLE???? I wish the organizations who have awarded him would get their money into his account already. (BIT OF A PANIC HERE).

Airport Run Tomorrow

Yay! Nate's coming home tomorrow and I get to hear all about his 5 weeks in Argentina. He took about 1500 pictures. I figured, that's about right. HAHA.

So excited.

People Keep Swiping My Awesome Camera

Just to take pictures... not to actually steal it!

I don't know who took any of these... maybe Terry, maybe Jennah, maybe Anika, maybe Elizabeth.

But I edited all of them, and picked out my favorites to show you. (There were 275).

Now this one below is a really Kool shot!!! Was Elizabeth the photographer? She's really good at 11 years old.

And I like this too.

Lizzy probably took this one of Jennah jumping off the stand.

Lizzy definitely took this because I saw Gen's mirror photo of her, using the same camera I might add! NIKON D-40.

I actuallty took this one myself... one of the few I took that night at the beach party.

Annabel avoids getting her picture taken.

I didn't take this one for sure, but I don't mind it.

Did I mention that the party was AWESOME!!! And I want to go play some more beach volleyball. Any takers?

Joke Thievery

Excerpt Taken From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joke thievery is the act of performing and taking credit for comic material written by another person without their consent. This is a form of plagiarism and sometimes can be copyright infringement.

HistoryFrom the Catskill and Vaudeville beginnings of stand-up comedy, joke thievery was common[2] as there were few chances that a performer from one area would meet one from another and a single twenty-minute set could sustain a comic for a decade. Most jokes at the time were one-liners and there was little in the way of proof of a joke's origin, but the value of each joke was immeasurable to a comedian.[2] Milton Berle and Bob Hope had a long-standing feud due to Hope's accusation that Milton Berle had stolen some of his jokes.[2] Berle never refuted the claim, but instead embraced the title "The Thief of Bad Gag".


In the late fifties and early sixties, Will Jordan perfected a caricature performance of Ed Sullivan (Incorporating mispronouncing the word "show" as "shoe") that became the basis for all other impersonators that followed.[2] Soon after, Jackie Mason, Rich Little and others began adapting Jordan's caricature to their own acts. This resulted in many of Jordan's shows being canceled due to other performers doing his bit two weeks previous to his shows at the same venue.[2] John Byner, in turn, developed his own, oft-imitated, version of Jordan's caricature that George Carlin cited as being set up with the words, "Now you know!"


In the sixties, comedy took a turn for the more personal. Comics like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin were no longer regurgitating joke after joke, but instead were offering insight to their own lives from a comedic point of view. As a result, the jokes were largely unique to the performer. Theft proved more difficult, but also more offensive to the writer.[2]


Even the most respected comics have found themselves, knowingly, or unknowingly, stealing material. Bill Cosby admitted to stealing a joke by George Carlin involving an uneducated football player doing a television commercial. Cosby said that what makes the routine his own is the surreal phrase “little tiny hairs.”[3] In turn, Carlos Mencia, many years later performed a bit about athletes and their parents that hearkened back to a Cosby bit from his album, Bill Cosby: Himself.[3]


[blah blah blah]


In the seventies joke theft became more prominent again with the boom in popularity of comedy and the eighties and nineties saw the popularity of stand-up comedy increase. With the advent of pay-cable networks, comics were afforded the opportunity to perform their routines unfettered. With this came a new type of joke theft wherein the first comic to tell a stolen joke on some sort of media became the one associated with the joke. Robin Williams gained a reputation for stealing material from other comics to the extent that David Brenner claims that he confronted Williams personally and threatened him with bodily harm if he heard Williams utter another one of his jokes.[4].


[blah blah blah]


To a lesser extent, George Lopez has also accused Mencia of plagiarizing his material. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged plagiarism.[13] Comedian Ted Sarnowski countered this claim, however, stating that he, himself, had actually written the joke and given Mencia permission to use it after Lopez had stolen it from him.[14] The Comedy Central show, South Park made light of Mencia's alleged joke theft in the 13th season episode, "Fishsticks" by portraying him claiming authorship of a joke written by the handicapped character Jimmy.

So, here is my confession... I think I may have "stolen" a few one-liners and some basic skeleton ideas from someone else's speech... to help Luke with his valedictorian speech--to pepper in some jokes to keep the crowd entertained. I didn't realize it to be joke thievery! and he made the speech and the joke his own. Nothing was word for word. The fact was, Luke never knew where my humorous ideas came from. Furthermore, it wasn't an academic paper or a comedy routine from any famous comic--it was basially 3 or 4 ideas gleened from someone else's graduation speech and slightly reworked to aid in his own graduation speech; a speech that terrified him and didn't ever want to do in the first place.

Anyway, a few people "called him out" via the principal via me... for plagiarizing (which wasn't HIS doing at all). The whole thing really burned me up, but what's done is done. I want everyone to know that the prompter for applause and laughter was totally our own idea--although... people have used prompters before... So does that mean we stole that idea too??? Where does it begin and where does it end?

The String of Company. It's all a blur.

It's been fun and kind of crazy--not so bad at my own house. Nate's been gone, so we've had an extra room available. Terry's folks came for Luke's graduation. That's all a blur with all the work that was happening in the back yard [*gulp* on having to pay for that]. It was also a blur because of all the activities that normally come with the end of the school year, as well as having a graduating senior--as valedictorian. Terry's folks are always a great help to us when they're here.



My parents arrived to the area the week prior to Luke's graduation, but they stay in their own camper at my brother's house. They keep things as easy as possible for their summer stay. They are definitely a tremendous help for all of us.



So, as you may recall, we had a graduation party for Luke the day before we left for Ireland. It was a great party... I think. It's all a blur. My friends and family were amazing. They helped me all the way to the end. I'm not even sure how everything got cleaned up.



Ireland was awesome. The homefront was run without a hitch by my amazing parents. And my dad even got the outdoor lights working again (ok, one of them just needed a bulb--but still).



When we got home my sister and couple of the nephews came for a visit. She didn't stay with us either. Sammy did... but that was up in the boys room--which is kind of like staying lost in space. We had a great time with everyone, but had a few more family parties at our house before the company died down. Just a blur really.


Now that most of the extras have come and gone, I do still want to have some more parties at the house... or maybe at the beach. The beach sounds more enticing actually. My kitchen sink is not draining properly... which is really annoying!! Can someone please tell me why people take the drain out of the sink when washing dishes? or maybe it's after washing dishes? It seems like it could be common to folks in the mid-west or something, but I never have heard the reason why... it just encourages food to go down the drain, doesn't it? If only I had a garbage disposal--then I would understand.


Nate comes home on Wednesday. I can't wait to see him again. Miss him!!


Stay tuned for true confessions next post... maybe.

Been Raisin' My Voice Today

It sounds odd--my "raised" voice. I used to be quite the yeller. Serious YELLER!!! I have changed a great deal since those daze. I rarely ever yell with anger anymore... not if you were to compare today with my former parenting days. I will occasionally yell... but it's usually in jest or on the volleyball court or up the stairs to let someone know that dinner is ready. You know the drill.

So, what was I all in a huff about this morning, you ask? Nothing new. Chores not being done! The passing-of-the-buck when asked why the dog hasn't been brushed in the past week. The house being a totally wreck as they kids happily sit in front of the TV watching the Disney channel. The clean, folded clothes getting mixed in with the dirty ones because they were never put away, and discovering it as I'm seperating the mounds and mounds and more mounds of laundry piling up on the very dirty kitchen floor. These kids all have their appointed chores listed on the frig. Stuff like sweep kitchen floor daily, brush dog daily, seperate clothes for laundry twice a week, breakfast dishes daily, vacuum twice a week, tidy room daily.

They started out the summer fairly well... but it's dropped off to NOTHING DOING at this point and they are always gone i.e. tennis camp, pottery class, sleep-overs, playdates, the beach, Jonas Brother concert, beach parties, et cetera. Isn't summertime a BLAST!!!???!!!

So the yelling was about no more TV, no more leaving the house, no more food in the family room, yada yada until everything gets done! (I still hear the TV--uh-oh).

Ok. The jack hammers going outside my house may be making me a little crazy too.

A Few More Ireland Photos

The Cliffs of Moher--AMAZING!
The rise 700 ft from the sea.
So be careful when leaning over the edge for a "closer" look.
Aren't they beautiful?
Tour buses filled the parking lot. (BOOOO!)
This was my first guiness... and last! EW!
We came across this cow with her newborn calf. Terry felt quite at home.
The ruins are historical sites and are the responsibility of the land owner. The aren't to be demolished or removed and many of them are houses from the potato famine.
The cliffs again. We saw these on our first day. Yup! We arrived in Shanon at about 8:30 am and were at the cliffs by 10:30. I think we may have taken a nap in the car in the parking lot before we ventured over to view the sites. HAHAA. Nothing beats a powernap.
My love of 20 years. He was the one to make this trip happen. He planned the whole thing from beginning to end, and it was phenomenal.

There's So Much to Say that Basically I've Got Nothin'...

Many things have being going on over the past month which have kept me from blogging regularly. I haven't gotten to anyone else's posts much either... and I just don't know what to blog about at this point. I feel like I can't skip over everything that's happened, and yet... it would be boring to go back and give you a bunch of old news... but then again, you probably couldn't care less if it were old or new... Honestly, I don't know if anyone even visits to read about my Kool Daze anymore. I've become so boring. Blah blah blah.

Blogging everyday helps to dig deeper and come up with some real nuggets. But all I've been doing is playing catch up. Not my favorite way to blog.

I miss those good ol' daze at bloggerville, for sure. Aaahhh, but modern technology and cybertrends continue to lead us all on to the next webfad. It's all so adventurous and exciting. I must admit that all things technological continue to get me into trouble (in very ridiculous ways). This time my trouble had to do with youtube. WHAT.EVER. Why people like to head hunt and find ways to knock others down, especially when they are supposedly on the "same side" is beyond me. It's STUPID, is what it is. And discouraging. I won't bother going into all of that.

My blog-rages. back in the day, were so spicy and fun, weren't they?

Ok. One thing I skipped over, which was around Luke's graduation, was Terry's parents visiting... and Luke having his 18th birthday. Nate was in Argentina (still is) so Luke was getting all the attention.
Luke received a few birthday gifts from us. He got towels and a new comforter for college and a LOT of tools from the grandparents and us ($$)--because it's a requirement for his course study. The tools are worth enough money that the college suggests we put them on our homeowners insurance policy. YAH. They were big time presents.
Here are three Hochstedler generations, Verl, Luke and Terry. Caleigh asked me the other day where Luke was going to live when he got married and had children. HAHAH. I told her, probably the junkyard. :-D

I just wonder if Luke'll always sport the butt crack. These fads don't always fade easily... or ever, when it comes to the male specimen and their clothing preferences.

Here I am--cute as ever! LOL.

How many people does it take to clean a pool? Well it depends if the pool vacuum is cooperating or not. Looks like we're all stumped here. And we were.

My mom and Terry's mom always enjoy each other's company when they are able to see each other. I'm glad they got to all visit at the same time. Mine come from Florida while Terry's come from Indiana. They get along great.

Here are both our dads. We love them all very much!

The girls had some amazing face painting done at the Greek Festival. I think it's beautiful, but this took place while we were in Ireland.

Just as we got home from Ireland, my sister Jane came up from North Carolina with her two youngest sons--Max (11) and Sammy (18). She was coming to meet her oldest son's in-laws-to-be. We hosted a couple family get togethers while they were all here, and it was great fun. I have those pictures too--but I just don't feel like it... Here's two simple shots. Jane at the grill (above) and Jane with Kris's soon-to-be family (below).

My sister is in the middle. Jamie is on the right. She's engaged to Kris. And Aggie is on the left--that's Jamie's mom. Great times. We love Jamie and her family.

Side note: In the same way as my Suburban... I'm no longer the only person using my camera. My suburban was brought home yesterday completely out of gas. Wouldn't start this afternoon as I was planning to go go the post office!!!! ARgh!!! Anyway, I have my two girls always grabbing my Nikon now, and my husband also helps out with picture taking. My dad has a nice camera, too, and passes along any photos I'd like to have on my own computer. So, all of these photos posted today are from a variety of photographers. No one cares who gets the credit. I think I didn't take very many of these.

...one last thing. My brothers, David, Russ and John, took a bunch of the family out para... paratrucking. David bought a parachute off eBay last summer and uses it for good times on the beach. He attaches a 400' rope from the parachute harness to the truck. Whoever wishes to get in the harness gets pulled along the beach and the parachute goes up up up for a ride and then down down down as he slows the truck down. I thought I'd post a video clip of Luke's perfect ride. I wasn't there to watch so I only got to see the clips. It's my parents and sister jib jabbering on the video. I haven't seen Luke's video, yet, taken from above. He's such a show off. I can't imagine where he gets it from.

Favorite Pics from Ireland...

...at least from the last half of the trip, because that's as far as I've gotten in trudging through my photo edits. I took over 500. Aisha knows what it's like. [wink]

We rented a car and drove everywhere. These signs were "ever-so-helpful".

Sheep are marked with colors by their owners... kind of like branding cattle. They tend to wander into other fields, so it's an easy spot.

We saw scenery like this an much more dramatic practically every day.

The flowers growing wild everywhere were such a delight.

We found hidden picnic spots and the road less travelled because that's how we like it.

One of our favorite spots was Old Sheep's Head on the end of one of the peninsulas. I can't remember which one anymore.
Ruins were everywhere and free to observe and venture into.

My favorite was the picnic.
Such amazing views...
And we watched the golfers (NOT!). Terry kept calling them goffers (using his Irish brogue).

This was a quaint little town we stopped in for lunch and a potty break.
The kids were swimming off the dock just beyond this picture. They all wore wetsuits.
Here is one of the many photos I took of church cathedrals. This one was inside the Dublin Castle. Regular modern buildings were build all around it, but I thought it was quite terrific.

This was our last evening spent in Ireland where we had a lovely stay at a golf course near Shannon. It was actually the cheapest place we stayed all week and it was amazing.

I'll have to share photos from the first half of the trip in a few days from now. This post should make you happy (those of you who have begged and begged for pictures--haha--and I know you're just trying to butter me up by doing that).

My sis and family arrived to the Hamptons for a visit just as we returned from across the pond, so my attention has been elsewhere then blogging, keeping in mind all that needs to be caught up after being out of the country for 8 days. I want to go read all the posts I've missed from ya'll but I must vacuum and clean the pool before dinner guests arrive. Tah tah.