Giddyup for STAR

Paypal problems?

cathy — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:36:09 +0000

STAR’s paypal account seems to have some problems. If you get stuck in their system, please just drop a check in the mail to their snail mail address:

STAR
11800 Highway 11E
Lenoir City, TN 37772
Phone:865-988-4711

Thank you for your patience!

2007 Table of Contents Complete

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:09:10 +0000

If you want to quickly see all the titles of the 2007 Giddyup for STAR blogathon, check out the table of contents.

Sunday sponsors!

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:47:56 +0000

We love Sunday sponsors, too.
Thanks Matt & Carmen! Cathy says that her OTHER brother must not love her as much as you do.

He joins the generous and caring:
LissaKay
Mark
Notameangirl
Jeni & Dean
Tommy
Lisa S.
Michael Silence
Atomic Tumor
Angie
Library King
Dennis Wallace
Rex Wilder

Sponsor us.

Thank you! Now how do you donate?

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:29:32 +0000

Thank you everyone! I really enjoyed that (despite my late start…can’t thank Barry enough!). If you have sponsored us (or want to sponsor us within the next 48 hours), you can log your commitment to sponsor at the Blogathon site which really just creates a total to be able to say, "our effort created $___.__ for STAR." The really important part is following through with your sponsorship by going to STAR’s website, scrolling down in the left column to find the "Make a Donation" button, and sending in your contribution. If there is an opportunity to mention "Giddyup for STAR blogathon" we certainly would appreciate it but the donation is far more important than any reference to this website, Blogathon, or anything else. Thank you again for your wonderful support! Donations can also be mailed to:

STAR
11800 Highway 11E
Lenoir City, TN 37772

thanks everyone!

cathy — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:00:42 +0000

I cat-napped on the couch to keep Doug company last night. Doug talked to himself, his computer and God a whole lot. He also groaned, whistled and made body noises. My rest attempts were only good enough for Doug to point the camera at my gown when I wasn’t looking. Thank you sweetie. Now I’m going to do what anyone whose house is nearing 90 before 9 a.m. would do. Take a bath and get out of here. I wonder if we could sleep in the play area at the mall? It has such a nice squishy surface. Mind drifting… Doug wants to say something, so I’m off to a cool bath. Thank you for reading and sponsoring and blogging and laughing along with us. We have gotten over $400 in sponsors for STAR and anyone reading this for the first time on Sunday, go ahead and make a donation too! Thank you! See you later tonight at my old spot. Bye.

Did he really get naked?

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 12:41:04 +0000

Seems somehow it got started that with a certain level of sponsorship I would either a) blog naked or b) not blog naked. I was never clear on which, however, the house has been maintaining a cozy temperature of 85°F so blogging naked seemed an attractive solution. To the request of our sponsors, I came out at 10:12pm naked. Granted, the Intertubes censors slapped up some black bars over my privates to protect your eyes, but to some it was still a scary sight (and peeling the glued black bars off my what-used-to-be hairy chest kept me awake another 2 hours). Now, I faded after recording NotAMeanGirl’s video and at 12:02am I went downstairs for a nap and woke three times between then and 3:30. 3:30!! My alarm had gone off at 2:40 and I turned it off and went back to sleep. Without thinking, my naked body (remember, its 85°F in the house) bolted upstairs to relieve Barry and get a post in. I rounded the corner at full speed to get to the computer to post and what to my surprise do I see? 2, count them two, webcams broadcasting my nakedness around the globe! I quick flick of the wrist and a prayer that no one was looking and the cameras were quickly broadcasting the paint on the walls. So, yes, I did appear on camera naked, twice, during blogathon!

Serious Bloggers

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 12:04:03 +0000

Cathy and I really enjoy blogging. We value it so much that we have encouraged our children to blog (Noah, Sarah, and Tommy). We even have our special interest blog although we have slowed down posting on it since 1) Tommy is doing his own blog now and 2) we really reflect our Asperger thoughts on our own blogs.

Blogging often involves citing sources, cross references, and quoting content. There are many tools out there to help a blogger particularly if you use Firefox or use Wordpress. Whenever I copy a link, it is a multi-step process. First type then copy the text and insert it then copy the link and insert it. Tedious but highly necessary. Blogs should have links in and links out! i finally got off my rear and sought out a tool that I needed to help with this. The CoLT extension to Firefox is a life saver! Now on Cathy’s machine (and soon on mine), you can simply right click a link and copy BOTH the url and the text in pre-formated ways. What a time saver! I’m using it to help build an index to the blogathons. 2007 is coming along.

And hour and a half to go

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 11:38:48 +0000

The end of Blogathon 2007 approaches! Of course, I feel like I should run until 9:30am. As I understand it, you can sponsor us for 48 hours past the end of our blogging. Please do!

Doubling capacity

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 11:22:01 +0000

A riding lesson at STAR can be 4 riders with 1 instructor (plus volunteers for safety). As soon as STAR gets the indoor arena built, this:

Can start to look like this:

Thank you for your help!

Tommy’s 2004 Horse Show

Doug — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 11:07:04 +0000

If I count the ribbons on Tommy’s wall I see that he has participated in 4 horse shows (12 ribbons- 7 blue, 3 red, 2 yellow). That would put him with his first horse show in 2003. Unfortunately, 2004 is the earliest entry I can find.

Dad reports this morning:
Tommy did GREAT yesterday! He was scared to death so when we arrived at the horse show he sleep in the car..hid in the car would be a better way to put it. They announced the schedule and after a brief riding demonstration the judges would break for lunch and then Tommy’s class would come up. They skipped the lunch and Tommy had to get hastily prepared in front of everyone (which meant changing his shirt but that is a big bother to him) so he bit into his mother pretty hard. However, he got in the arena and performed exceptionally.

While the riders were lined up to hear who got what ribbons Tommy was going to town on his lips so much that you’d think he was going to bite through them. He received two first place ribbons and a second place (I’ll have to look up the specifics and post later). The glee on his face is almost beyond words. He almost floated out of the saddle. It was a very good moment!

[Source]

I like seeing Tommy happy and proud of himself!