The Day on Which we are Called to Jump

As some of you may already know, today, January 29th, is leap day.

Despite popular belief, leap day is not the gregorian calendar inter-calculation. In fact, leap day is the day on which Irish women are called to jump as far as they can in hopes of making it to the next month.

Ahem...well.....not entirely....

In all seriousness, that isn't very true...at all...in any shape, form, or alternate state.

Leap day, in reality, is the summation of four "1/4days" put together to create a full day. In our calendar, which is gregorian (the western calendar accepted ever since Pope Gregory XIII), a year is 365.25 days long. Despite the 1/4 at the end of it, we consider a year to be only 365 days long. So what do we do with the extra 1/4 you ask? We make up for this discrepancy every 4 years by adding an extra day in February: the 29th! We call this process inter-calculation (inter-calculation is just a big word for the insertion of an additional day to keep our calendar in line with the solar cycle). So every fourth year, we have 366 days! How awesome is that!?

Real reason?
This is necessary so that 400 years or so from now, our sun would not be completely out of whack with our own calendars due to the offset...the moon would be in the wrong place with the sun and the earth would turn on axis, spinning closer to its eventual doom within the sun. All of that would result in endless explosions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and countless disasters of all kinds, which would gradually get worse and ravage the world till civilization teetered on the precipice of extinction.

Why?
Because our calendars would be off.

As you may have noticed by now, I'm practicing my sarcasm. None of this would happen. Really guys...don't believe it. Put away your backpacks and baseball bats, an apocalypse is not going to occur. The only problem would be that our days wouldn't exactly line up with the sun; this problem would get worse as time progressed. The interesting truth about leap day is that many people consider it to be a holiday. To others, it carries a quality of mystical European romance. Many folk traditions are observed on this day, including an Irish day of female proposals (popularized by the movie, "Leap Year"), a Scottish day of compensation for female proposal denials, as well as other strange traditions. One thing surrounds these traditions, the reversal of male and female roles. One could wonder why the traditions concern women, but the truth behind it is that leap day is a fascinating day for all. Whether you are going to propose to your boyfriend or go prepare for an apocalypse, make the best out each day of the this year, you only have 366!

And remember, this year is longer than the last, make sure you make that extra time count!

Godbless

Verse of the Week #4 (Zephaniah 3:17)

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone! It is that time again; time for our weekly Bible verse! This week I decided to find a verse from one of the lesser read books of the Bible: Zephaniah. Zephaniah was a prophet in Israel during their perpetual wickedness. He spoke words from God trying to turn his brethren around. This verse is taken from a section where he is describing the (hopeful) future goodness of God.

The Lord your God is in your midst, The Mighty One will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 (NKVJ)

This is a wonderful description of God's caring hand and his calming love. Remember his word during the rest of this week and beyond and you will be comforted.

Godbless

Good News and Bad News (Survival #5)

Well it has been multiple, multiple days since I last updated you guys on my dedicated survival world (like 4 days?.......). Anyways, as expected, progress has been made in turning my wilderness hut into a beautiful home. I did a lot of tree farming (like 15 stacks of wood), did a lot of construction, went exploring, went mining, swam in lava a few times...and in the process ended up carving out quite a nice piece of property.

Features now include:

• A stair system that ascends from sea level, up the mountain, over a waterfall, and to my doors, 
• Another lodge that is connected to the first one by a sky-bridge
• A tiered mountain farm
• A large room with bay windows
• I'm raising few baby wolves!

As expected, I've taken pictures all along, so here are the notable ones!

Here is a cliff-face view of my second expansion

This is an arial view of the grounds, the mountain staircase begins at around the middle of the picture

Here is a part of my tiered mountain farm, it functions great (It was inspired by Incan farming)

Overall I'm excited with my progress. I'm still open to anyone's suggestions as to what I should do yet, so leave a comment!

 I do have some bad news to report: during my ming excursions I lost over 16 diamonds/ diamond gear. It was so frustrating encountering lava every 4 blocks during my strip mining...so I ended up being lazy and careless and I payed for it. I still have some diamond tools but I'm lacking any raw diamonds... 

My next task is to gather as many diamonds as possible and build an enchanting table. I'll keep everyone posted later on! "Blogger World" is turning out to be awesome!

Godbless

Quote of the Week #3 (Mark Gonzalez)

The week has started and the weather is great. All you skaters out there know what that means...time to go skate! Every monday I pick a quote for the week, and this week I decided to use the words of a great skater....


"I mean, what, what can someone do, say, like words don't hurt me, like, concrete don't hurt me, the only thing that could probably hurt me is if you try'd to be my friend, I don't like people." -Mark Gonzales


What characteristic words of skaters...:P anyways, everyone have fun, enjoy the weather, and have a great week!

Godbless

Dollar of Sand

It's time for another tidbit of photography! Back when I lived in Florida I used to walk the beach for hours and explore. One of those times I brought my camera with me and got some photos. One of those photos happened to be of a currency that not to many people use very often....sand dollars. Everyone has been to the beach when they were a kid and found a sun bleached shard of a sand dollar and then went, screaming, to their mom, "MOM! Look what I found!"

In my case however, the sand dollar was alive. I had never seen a sand dollar with it's whole body before and it took me a little while to figure out what it was. I put it on my hand and its thousand little "tentacles" wiggled and twisted. It was one of the weirdest feelings I've ever experienced. I ended up taking it home and setting it down. One really strange thing it did was when any fresh water substance touched it, it would ink this yellow substance out, which would then permeate and dye your skin. I put it on some rocks and took a picture of it and this is what I got.

It was such a strange creature and I never expected the simple sand dollar we all saw when we were kids to be such interesting animals when they were alive.

Godbless

Video of the Week #2 (The Pool)

Well here we are saturday night. Sorry that I didn't post a video of the week earlier, but I was out skating all day! I have a massive bruise on my hip and my fingers are raw...other than that it was a sick day. Regardless, here is the video that intrigued me the most this week.

I know BMX isn't my usual, but it caught me off guard, I thought it was great, watch it all!

Godbless

Minecraft Snapshot (12w08a)

New snapshot out! This one doesn't add too much new content but I'll outline what is going on.

• Upside down stairs added for you builders out there!
• New world changes and lighting changes (underlying structure)
• New defensive mob for villages! (they drop iron bars and red roses....they have  50 hearts)

These Iron Golems can also be crafting using 4 solid iron blocks and a pumpkin in a cross pattern!

Well that is all guys leave a comment if you think iron golems should look different. Thanks!

Godbless

Verse of the Week #3 (Luke 6:35)

Today we have a verse from one of Jesus's most famous sermons: the sermon on the mount. Jesus speaks of what we Christians must do.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Luke 6:35 (NKJV)

He is so kind to the unthankful and evil...And we are called to be like our Lord... Keep that in mind through out this week!

Godbless

Mountain Estate (Survival #4)

Well here you go, an update on some progress I've made in my survival world. I went mining, got lava'd a couple of times, slayed some beasts, went exploring, fixed my house up a bit, and organized my materials. Since I am a fan of photography, I have a habit of cataloguing my minecraft adventures with screenshots which I then file if they are worth keeping.

These are two pictures I thought were noteworthy:

This first one here is my water-matic wheat farm. It works wonderfully!

And here is famed pink sheep I discovered while out exploring! This is the second one I've ever seen.

My next project is gathering tons of wood and cobblestone. I am planning on building an extremely large tower lodge. It's inspired by Swiss ski lodges so I think it'll be interesting. My project is on a pretty large scale, but I think I can handle it. Leave any comments for things I should add to my world! Thank guys!

Godbless

Riley Hawk

So I just got home, checked my facebook, and Thrasher had just posted this...Such an insane video I HAVE to share it. Riley Hawk is ill....I guess it runs in his blood...

Check it out!

Godbless

Quote of the Week #2 (James Polk)

What better way is there to start of the work/school week with a quote? Since today is presidents day I chose to take one of James Polk's most famous quotes

"No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure."- James k. Polk

Ironically most of us take off on presidents day...regardless, enjoy your time off!

Godbless

The Gilded Sky

A year or so ago you would have found me sittin on the computer. After my eyes started to hurt I got up to stretch and looked out the window...and what I saw was one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen...I didn't have to travel to some foreign country to see it either...it was in my own backyard. Sometimes we just go through our days without even realizing how insanely beautiful some things are that sit right in front of us. At this moment, it just caught me off guard. So I ran up stairs, grabbed my camera, and snapped a pic. This is what I got...

Breathtaking....God did a good job didn't he...

Godbless

Video of the Week #1 (Dan Brisse)

It's saturday! Time for the video of the week. This video has impressed me more than any other video so far this week. It happens to be a snowboarding video and it is freaking legit. The snowboarder is Dan Brisse and he is insane. Enjoy!

Godbless

School Tips

Another school day is coming to a close. I feel especially successful with this day because I had a project due. If any of you have been through high school you know exactly what I'm talking about. Lucky for me, I picked a topic I was interested in, and aced the project. That is the most important step in starting a school project. Pick something you are interested in.

I happened to discuss my family's immigrant heritage during the 1900's and since I was interested in it myself, the research wasn't burdensome and I was excited to give the presentation. So for anyone who is having struggles with presentations or projects, here is a little list I put together that may help you.

• To the best of your ability, pick a topic you are interested in.
• We all know procrastination is inevitable...but do your best to keep a reasonable handle on it.
• Think on your feet. Teachers will pay more attention to your presentation if you offer more energy and personal understanding. Rather than just reading a paper or clicking through a powerpoint...
• Practice at least once. A 10 minute run through on your presentation will go a LONG way. You will feel a lot more comfortable with your material and you will look more prepared.
• Dress well. You will feel more confidant and look more knowledgable. This goes further than you think it does.
• Make sure you know what your teacher is looking for. If they pay close attention to eye contact or body movement, focus on that. If they only pay attention to content, focus on that. Pick your battles depending on your teacher.

These are just some practical tips for presentations/projects. These will help you no matter what level of school you are in. Simple sure-fire ways to improve your project grades I hope they help you!

Godlbess

Minecraft - Higher Worlds!

Here is a great video highlighting some of the awesome things you can do with the new world height. Done by the famed "yogscast"

Check it out!

Godbless

Minecraft Snapshot (12w07a)

A new snapshot is out for minecraft! Minecraft snapshot 12w07a is up for testing and it adds some great new content. (Just make sure you back up your save files for this one...it changes a lot of the structure underneath the game)

• Village chests now contain better loot
• Animals now have new AI system 

• Rare mob drops are decreased :(
• Villagers now mate and reproduce if their population is down

• On the processing side, chunks are now generated as cubes (This will greatly increase map generation)
• Map hight now at 256!

• New world file format called "Anvil" (changes a lot of generation and processing structuring)
• New block: Redstone Lanterns-Require redstone energy source to light (Brighter than torches)

This appears to be all for this snapshot! I, personally, am excited for Minecraft 1.2 to come out. I nearly left the game after "The End" was added because there just wasn't enough content to keep me going. But the development team at Mojang seems to picking themselves back up! Lets review, so far they've added jungles, ocelots, a new potion, fireball, new AI, higher terrain, new blocks, rare drops from mobs, chests in villages, jungle wells, and other new tidbits. Minecraft 1.2 is looking to be an exciting update so far. It sure has kept my interest up in the game, let's see what they come up with next.

Godbless

Verse of the Week #2 (Colossians 1:13)

Home from school. Long day. Bothersome people...Some days you just get tired and annoyed and sick of evil. Thank God for his word that just helps me in every way. 

This is one of those verses that have just helped me this work.

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Colossians 1:13 (NKJV)

What a wonderful reminder from Paul for those who are in Christ!

Godbless!

Mountain Lodge (Survival #3)

Progress has been made! My lodge is now ready for furnishing. It is pretty sick.

Features include:

• A diving walkway over a massive cliff overlooking a lake
• Multiple balconies
• 5 leveled lodge tower
• Beautiful landscape
• Beautiful bay windows on each level

View from the bottom of the lake

View from above the house

This is looking like a great house, and I haven't even gone mining yet. Will post updates later!

Godbless

Quote of the Week #1 (Harlan Ellison)

It's monday night! Time for my hand-picked, poured over, deliberated, well thought out quote of the week... drum roll........

"The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity" -Harlan Ellison

And there you go, have a great rest of the week and remember...don't be common.

Godbless

A Mountain Hut (Survival #2)

So I've found a nice place to set up camp in my new world and it's looking pretty legit. I have a bunch a freaking awesome ideas I'm going to implement later. Here's a couple pics to give you an idea... ;)

This thing is gonna be insane...maybe an Alpine lodge? Who knows...you'll see! Stay posted!

Godbless

From the Old to the New (Survival #1)

That's right, it's monday and there is nothing more annoying than nearly missing your bus in the morning and listening to random kids screaming about random stuff while you're half asleep. Luckily for me, school is over and I can come home and do what any normal kid wants to do to relax...Minecraft.

So I started a new world, it's survival mode and I'm excited to see whats going to happen.  I was exploring the mountains and I was reminded yet again why this game is so freaking awesome...

I decided to name it "Blogger World" because I will keep this blog updated on what's going on in it!

This is such a beautiful landscape especially since it is procedurally generated! Regardless, I kept going and I built a base somewhere. Super fundamental, I plan on playing this one for a while so let me know what kind of things you'd like to see me do in the future. I've played this game for so long so I need some new inspiration. I have played on an old survival world for quite some time and I'm not going to play it again so I'll put up some pics as a memorial to what great fun it was. Here they are!

My main castle

Different angle

 View of the grounds

 Servant's  quarters

 Trophy room

View of garden from balcony

My epic mineshaft to bedrock

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well there are the highlights of my my main survival world, hopefully my new one will be bigger better and crazier. Leave comments on what you would want to see!

Godbless

Saturday Snowboarding

So yesterday was one of those days where you end up doing something awesome. I went up to Whitetail Mountain and went snowboarding for like the first time ever. At first I looked like a dumpling slipping and sliding down the hill. Eventually though, I got the idea that I needed to carve... So 2 hours and 40 falls later I could hold my own on the bunny slope. Lucky for me, I had a 8 hour lift ticket so I nailed some slopes later on!

The first real slope I went on was a long icy run that snaked back and forth. I was going so fast and I nailed all of my turns. I was so proud of myself. Too bad I ate the ice at the bottom... After a while I got the hang of it. I started going down the blue diamond slopes and got some air off the moguls. Even though I pretty much annihilated my body, by the end of the day I was shredding the expert slopes.

I'm glad I wasn't being filmed, because it probably would have popped my bubble of how good I looked... Regardless, I had an amazing time. For the first time snowboarding legit.... I'm pretty stoked. I would definitely go again. By the way, Whitetail Ski Resort was a great place to go. I would suggest it to anyone who is new to snow sports and would like to try it out. Here is a link: Whitetail Ski Resort

On the way back, the wind and snow was getting pretty crazy...We flew around this corner in the middle of the woods and found a broken down car on the side of the road. We stopped to check it out and there turned out to be 3 dudes who just came from the mountain in there...so we took two trips, taking them to the local town and helping them out. When we got back on track it was around 10:30. We still hadn't eaten so we grabbed some food from Olive Garden and headed home. About 30 minutes later the snow and wind got so crazy that our car started drifting a little. We made the to call and hole up for the night at some random hotel. It was around 12:30 when I finally got to bed. I was so tired I just slept in my clothes and my bruised and battered body just stopped moving for 8 hours till we left in the morning. And guess what...we checked the roads in the morning, there was about 1cm of snow on them. We could have made it perfectly fine...Oh well that's how life turns out, but I had a great time boarding and I would do it again in a second. Well at least when my body heals.

And here you go, this is one of my favorite snowboard videos ever...so beast. Check it out.

Maybe you will see more of me snowboarding in the future...Godbless!

Minecraft Snapshot (12w06a)

So I come home from school, check the minecraft forum and tadah! A new snapshot is released. Minecraft snapshot 12w06a was posted for testing. Here is a list of features I saw on the page, and some I noticed playing.

• The weird double door effect is finally fixed...
• Bug fixes of course
• Mobs drop rare items! (Metal ingots, weapons, tools, etc.)
• Villages now have chests with loot

• Cats make noises. meow
• Mobs move better in water

• Most significant change: Zombies can now break down wooden doors on hard mode
• And of course more villager AI
• Mine shafts appear to generate floors over caverns now

This snapshot appears to be pretty significant. Rare drops from mobs adds more gameplay, who knows exactly what drops there are! Zombies breaking down doors (maybe player-placed blocks later) is almost a game changer. Moats just got a lot more useful!

Snapshot link here: Minecraft Forum Post

If you know noticed any other features, comment, I want to know! Godbless

A Squirrel Named Charlie

Have you ever had one of those moments in life when something just falls right out of the sky? Not expected, or necessarily wanted, yet there it was. Seems deep right... Well in my case, this came quite literally....

If you come from a family like mine you'd understand what "we're going to work this saturday" meant. For us it meant that we'd end up moving piles of gravel, digging up random parts of the yard, and of course the "annual moving of the stack of wood around the yard." In this case however, one beautiful saturday we were tirelessly manipulating stacks of raw materials in our yard when the unexpected happened.... A baby squirrel decided he wasn't quite satisfied with his little tree hut anymore so he toppled out of the 60 foot tree to our "worksite".

Out of all the strange things to happen to us on our saturdays I didn't expect a baby squirrel to fly out of the sky. It turned out that our weekly shenanigans had disturbed the squirrel out of its nest. The squirrel didn't seem much more than a couple days old. It's eyes weren't open, it's body looked a bit more like a fuzzy rat carcass, and it moved like worm. Being the compassionate animal lover that I am I nudged it with my boot to see if it was still breathing. It was...

At that point, my "get out of work" instincts kicked in. I immediately showed the squirrel to my dad and ran inside. From that moment on, I nurtured the squirrel and took care of it. I eventually stumbled upon the name "Charlie" because I thought it was appropriate for the lil creepy lookin animal. My mom and my Omama (Czchech for grandmother) helped with their maternal advice and soon the baby squirrel started moving around a bit. I'm sure many of you can remember the first time you took care of a baby animal, and of that warm fuzzy feeling inside when you knew you were saving an animal from its death.

All feelings aside, it pooped all over the little box, bit me when I fed it, and threw up milk and seeds on me... After about 2 months of babying it, it was time to take Charlie outside. It thoroughly enjoyed itself on our porch and I realized it would soon be time to let go of my baby.... sadface.

Well anyways...he was a cute lil' fellow, but he was sure pretty annoying. After about 6 months of taking care of him, one day I let him out and he never came back. I never really knew what happened to him since then but every once in a while I see one of those obnoxious squirrels running around our yard and wonder....is that Charlie?! I guess it's just my mind trying to make myself feel special, rather than assuming he instantly died when he entered the "wild" due to my babying and human nurture. Oh well...it was one of those experiences you laugh at but don't tell everyone because they'd look at you strange...It was an invigorating experience to say the least.

Makes me wonder though, what kind of strange animal stories did you have while you were a kid? I'm kinda a tidbit scared but I'd like to know ;) Godbless!

Verse of the Week #1 (1 Peter 3:11)

Here it is nearing the end of a winter wednesday. I always end up wanting to stay up late and then I end up wanting to get up late. Oh well, here is a great way to wrap up the day. The verse of the week from 1 Peter 3:11

Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. 1 Peter 3:11 (NKJV)

So simple, yet so difficult. Hope this helps someone. 

Godbless!

Hello Everyone!

Here we are mid-winter and I'm getting cabin fever. I need to start being more productive so I'm going to start a blog! I'm creating this so I can share things in my life that interest me and hopefully you. I've found that the older I get, the more I am interested in others life experiences and what I can learn from them. I hope I can offer that to anyone on here. If you are interested, email me with any things you would like me to talk about!

Here is a list of some things I may be putting up in the future.

• Photography
• "Quotes of the week"
• Studying advice
• Skating product/video/company reviews
• "Bible verse of the week"
• Things suggested to me!

I hope all goes well, I'll be posting things on a regular basis hopefully!
Here's one of my favorite videos of all time to kick it off!

This is one of the craziest vids out there. The aspects and camouflage make this something truly creative. Oh, and try to find the hidden guys. Skate and Create!

Peace, Godbless

Tim Snyder