You Tube Fun

Who doesn’t love youtube.com at least a little? I’m not one who visits everyday for hours by any means. I’m more of an occasional video surfer for particular things I want to see.

While browsing it this month I came across some cool and funny things I’d like to share with you all. Enjoy!


Dog Saves another Dog in Traffic in Santiago, Chile
This is just amazing! Who says dogs aren’t caring animals?



The Twilight before Christmas
You know I love my Twilight and parodies so why not add the two together for a Christmas themed one? Love it!



So You Think You Can Dance – Ashleigh and Jakob dance to “Whatchya Say”
I can’t believe I forgot to add this routine to my favorites of the season…



So You Think You Can Dance – Russel and Kathryn dance to “I Can Transform Ya”
Congratulations to the winner, Russel – he is an amazing hip hop dancer!



Swine Flu + Justin Bieber Parody of “One Time”
It isn’t the best, but it is pretty funny.



HBO 2010
Looks like HBO’s series are going to be great in 2010… I can’t wait for True Blood though. More Eric Northman please!

Christmas, Life, Games and More!

Sorry for the lack of updates this month. Looking at my posting from this year (which went up drastically), I noticed I really haven’t posted much this month and I am sorry for that. Life, health, work, etc really drained me this month.

I’ll use this post to do a little catch-up on what is going on with me and my thoughts on some recent events.

Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you are all having a great holiday season. Mine has been okay so far. We had a family gathering here last weekend with my brothers, sister and their kids (well most of them and notice I don’t say “half” brothers or “half” sister – wtf is a half person anyways?). It was nice. I don’t want to post pictures of my family because of privacy reasons, so here is a picture of our tiny tree this year.



We just didn’t feel like getting the huge tree out this year. Plus, with the small one it allows for more room in the living room for people to talk and sit down while visiting.

Tomorrow for Christmas we’re going over to my aunt and uncle’s house for their traditional Christmas breakfast/brunch and present opening.


Wintersday
Guild Wars Wintersday is in full swing. When not busy, working or ill, I’ve been on here doing their quests and trying to get some of their holiday items. What is really cool about this Wintersday though is the “costume” feature they came out with. I gave in and bought it since I love the Dwayna costume and for only $3 more I got the package that has Grenth’s as well. I probably won’t wear it though, but who knows?



The festival hats don’t come out until January 1st, so I’ll make a more in-depth post after those come out. I hope they are good this year.


Wii Fun
I never played on a Wii until earlier this week. My nephews have one that they got for Christmas last year and they have basically everything you can want for it. Well, I went over to their house this week and spent some time with them and played some games on the Wii with them. The first game I played was the basketball point one on the Wii Sports Resort and I scored 23 points – highest out of any of them and my brother. That score is probably beaten by now, but still it made me feel awesome. I gradually got worse as the day went on though. How does that happen? Wii is awesome though and it sadly made me want one even more.


Twilight: New Moon
I did go and see New Moon – and I loved it! Taylor Lautner even made me hate Jacob a little less. I’m still Team Edward all the way though so don’t worry. I can’t wait for this movie to be out on DVD.


Health
I’m getting used to my new glasses, but I think I need to get them adjusted because they slide down my nose a lot.

I have one more dentist appointment this year, so after that my teeth should be good. Next year I *hope* I will get invisalign.

Still unsure if I have celiac disease or not, but I am going to go with most likely. I have a doctor’s appointment in January and hopefully they’ll test me for it soon.


Nursing?
I’m seriously considering going back to school at a 2 yr place to become a RN. I have some classes that I won’t need to take, so it shouldn’t take me 2 yrs. I know it’ll be really hard, but I think I can do it – and they make a lot of money so that is a pretty good driving force.


Facebook
I stayed off Facebook for a long time. I knew it would be addicting… Yet somehow I fell into the trap. It all started with an invite from my nephews on Farmville. Now I have Farmville, Café World, Sorority Life, Mafia Wars, Fairyland, Fishville, etc. Help!

I opened all my 100+ presents on Farmville last night and my farm looks like Santa threw up on it. My farm is just not big enough for all the animals, trees, farm stuff and now Christmas themed items. It’ll take forever just to make it look decent again. All in all though, I do like the presents I received from it.



Sorority Life didn’t spend much effort on their Christmas items though. Not sure about Mafia Wars yet since I can’t open those up yet.

Addicted to Facebook too? Add me! Just do a search for Sheri Newton and you shall find me.

From Peanuts to the Pressbox: Insider Sports Stories from a Life Behind the Mic

Thanks to Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger program I was able to review the book From Peanuts to the Pressbox: Insider Sports Stories from a Life Behind the Mic
by Eli Gold.

I chose to review this book because my family is big Alabama football fans and Eli Gold is known as the voice of the Crimson Tide.

Personally though, I’m not a huge sports fan. That however didn’t lower my enjoyment of reading this autobiography by Gold. It is told in a personable manner that captivates his audience into wanting to read more of his story.

I found this book to be enjoyable. However, maybe due to subject matter it wasn’t a real page turner that made me finish it in one day. It is a good book to read a few chapters a day and then come back to it when you can.

Book Description

In this behind-the-scenes look at sports broadcasting Eli Gold tells how a kid from Brooklyn, New York, went from selling peanuts at Madison Square Garden to being one of the most recognizable voices in all of radio sports broadcasting.

From Peanuts to the Pressbox is an intimate walk down memory lane, reliving some of the greatest moments in Alabama sports (basketball and football) and NASCAR. Gold also shares stories from his early days with Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen and Red Barber and other broadcasting greats, such as Bob Costas, Tom Hammond, Verne Lundquist, Kevin Harlan, Ron Franklin, and Mike Tirico.

Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura

“You won’t believe what you don’t know.”

Tru TV has a new show out called Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. It is about what it says – conspiracy theories.

“Jesse Ventura and a team of expert investigators are on a mission to examine some of the most frightening and mysterious conspiracy allegations of our time. They examine available evidence as well as talking to experts and eyewitnesses to learn more about such topics as global warming, possible 9/11 cover-ups, secret government weapons and apocalyptic prophecies. "This is my personal journey," Ventura says, "to prove that there is more to these stories than you know about."

So far only three episodes have aired. The first I saw was about the 9/11 cover up. It really brought up some strong points, questions and concerns about the attacks. I don’t know what really happened, but something fishy definitely went on with it all. The episode that aired last night was about global warming. I consider myself “green” so thinking that all of global warming is a scam is hard for me to believe. However, I do think that governments, companies and people are profiting off of it in an absurd way. Future episodes are about big brother, secret societies, Manchurian candidate and the apocalypse.

This doesn’t seem like something I’d generally be interested in, but I am! My Aunt actually got me interested in wanting to know more about conspiracy theories. I’ve always been a believer in some unconventional things (ghosts, ufos, etc) so really it shouldn’t be a big surprise I’d want to know more about other things too.

I’m not saying that everyone is out to get us and to build a bomb shelter and horde food, toilet paper, guns, gold, etc. I don’t even agree with everything featured on the show. I am however saying just to think and not blindly accept things as the government and companies tell us.

Remember the billions of dollars the USA gave to banks to help our economy? Where did that go? Why didn’t they just give it to the people to help “stimulate” the economy? Question things. Use your mind and the power of free speech (while we still have it).

Any comments about any of this? I’d love to hear it whether you agree or don’t.

Exhausted

I’m so exhausted. I’m surprised I’m getting this post in even. I hope it all makes sense and I don’t fall asleep while typing it.

I’ve been working from open until rush was over pretty much all week so far and I only get one day off this week and it isn’t until Sunday. Only two people work during the day (manager and me, the driver) so we get to do everything. Fun stuff let me tell you.

What makes it really worse than anything though is that I’m not just exhausted. I have severe stomach pain (and all the lovely things that go with that), joint pain, and other things I don’t really want to get into.

Basically, I’ve had stomach issues for a few years and my old doctor couldn’t figure out what it was even with an endoscopy and look at my stomach from the inside. I’ve been told I have acid reflux, anemia, IBS, etc. Medication for it didn’t work so obviously that is not it.

With some help and with Dr. Oz’s show on celiac disease, I think I may have that. I have most of the symptoms for it. I’m going to get the blood test for it hopefully soon. If I have it, it would be nice to know. It will also be really hard to deal with because it means I can’t have gluten. In other words, no bread or pasta and many other things that contain gluten in it. No treatment or pill I can take either, only “treatment” for it is – not having gluten.

Oh, and to top it all off I have a headlight out and my other one that was messed up from the deer accident a few years ago still isn’t working right. Hopefully it can all be fixed tomorrow. If not well I’ll be even more irritated and exhausted than I am right now.

Faerie Wisdom Book and Card Set

The Faerie Wisdom Book and Card Set by Gillian Kemp is as it says, “A Faerie-sent Book of Wisdom.”

The set contains 52 magical message cards with a book which explains about faeries, shows how to lay the cards and give a reading and then how to interpret the cards.

“Faeries teach the principles of right and good conduct and help humans to make the best decision at moments of change, in just the same way that faeries themselves choose to be in the human world. Faeries are both revered and feared, but only the pure of heart can see them. All peoples throughout the world, from Europe to Australia have believed in the legend of these supernatural creatures.”

The cards each contain a faerie message from all aspects of faerie lore “from the troll who lives under the earth to the healing roots of the trees to the mischief-making imps and pixies.” The cards are beautifully illustrated and when used properly can help you make decisions or answer questions you have about your life. Even though it is for “entertainment purposes only” it really is fun and helpful to use. I used the cards to ask some personal questions in my life. I did get some very relevant answers and hopefully the outcomes do indeed come true.

The author of this set, Gillian Kemp is an internationally acclaimed author of magic books and is also a clairvoyant and medium. She uses astrology, tarot cards, a crystal ball, and tea leaves. She really knows what she is talking about and this set is an amazing source to faerie land.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the Faerie Wisdom Book and Card Set. The book was especially informative of faeries and was a fantastic resource for using the card set. It also had many different layouts of cards that I’ve never seen before, so I loved that! The card set was so beautifully illustrated that I had fun even just looking through all of the pictures of the faeries.

* Thank you to CICO Books and Ryland Peters & Small for providing me a copy to review.

So You Think You Can Dance

Have you been watching this season of So You Think You Can Dance? I love it! Not sure which season is my favorite though. I love so many of the routines the show has had. Here are a couple of my favorites so far from this season.


Ashleigh and Jakob performing to Relax


Russell, Kevin and Legacy performing to a hip hop routine

My favorite dancers are Legacy and Ashleigh. I was so relieved that Ashleigh wasn’t voted off because she couldn’t dance last week due to an injury. However, Legacy somehow was voted out and won’t make it to the finale. At least this gives us a chance to see Ashleigh and her hubby Ryan dance together!

Are you watching this season? Any favorite routines or dancers?

The Sims 3 Review

You’ve seen the commercials, ads and even some videos or screenshots of The Sims 3 by now, right? It isn’t an unknown or obscure video game franchise by any means. Why should you play it though, or perhaps give it to someone as a present?

I’ve been playing The Sims since it first came out and then all of the expansion packs to add to it. I hopped on board for The Sims 2 games too. It is one of my favorite video games to play and I can get lost in my own Sim-world for hours on end. It never really gets boring and you can’t really run out of new ideas to play around with either. The Sims 3 though brings the gaming experience to another level.

The graphics are so much better than The Sims and The Sims 2! That is to be expected, but it is amazing!

Character customization is fantastic! You can create a Sim that you want to look like, a funny looking one, or even one of yourself. Check me out as a Sim. You can even give them favorites and character traits. I gave mine: Bookworm, Artistic, Charismatic, Computer Whiz and Lucky.

I also downloaded the Toyota Prius (free download) from The Sims 3 Store online. It looks sort of like the Toyota Celica I have, so I had to get it for her too!



The lessons at the beginning really help in explaining how to play The Sims 3. It is different from The Sims and The Sims 2 as it goes into much more detail and allows you to fully move around your town as your Sim.

After you moved your Sim into a house or lot you wish to build a house on, you can get started playing as your selected Sim. The biggest thing to watch for is the “needs” tab which monitors how your Sim is feeling. You have to make sure your Sim eats, uses the bathroom, goes to sleep, is social, bathes and is having a fun time. If you don’t want to monitor your Sim at all times, you can go into the Game Options and give your Sims “high free will” and even extend their lifetime so they don’t age or age slowly.

Your Sim also needs a job to make money and fulfill career wishes and goals. I started my Sim out as a part-time worker at the bookstore. She started writing novels on the side and started earning so much money in royalties each week that she quit the job at the bookstore.



I would have had her delivering pizza in there too, but I couldn’t find that as a part-time career option. Maybe they’ll offer that in future expansions. You can however order pizza still.



I love how they setup the novel writing feature because you can learn new styles of writing and even name the novels you write. Same goes for paintings your Sim creates. I also really like how the “Skills” tab which keeps track of all of your Sim’s learned skills also shows your statistics of each skill and further challenges to master that skill even further.

Your Sim’s social interactions are much more advanced than previous versions of The Sims too. You can interact with other Sims (depending on your Sim’s characteristics) in an amusing, funny, flirty, charismatic and romantic ways.

I didn’t focus on too many relationships right away. I played in the anti-aging mode (too bad that mode isn’t available in real life) and focused on my writing, painting, gardening and cooking skills. I did however find a perfect Sim to interact with from the Sims Exchange, a Robert Pattinson Sim!

Needless to say, it was love at first sight!

Your Sim has immediate wishes and lifetime wishes too. When fulfilling these wishes, you get “lifetime happiness” which gives you points to purchase rewards like being “extra creative.”

Some other big changes that I really enjoy include: being able to garden and harvest food, the bookshelves contain books and fill up as you buy more, the refrigerator is able to store food and meals you already prepared, your Sim has an inventory including a cell phone and you can put items into your inventory, being able to jog around town, I also love the Sims exchange and store which has great items available for easy download to your game (some do have a fee though).

I highly encourage any gamer to check out this video game. If you’ve played The Sims in the past, or are new to The Sims, you don’t want to miss out on The Sims 3. This is also a perfect gift for a gamer on your list for the holidays, their birthday or just as a fun present in-between.

You all know how much I love the Twilight Saga, so check out a funny parody of New Moon made with The Sims 3.



Before playing The Sims 3, make sure your computer is up to par with the system requirements or it may not work or run poorly. System Requirements can be viewed at http://www.thesims3.com/game/systemreq

Thank you to the publisher of The Sims 3, Electronic Arts and Gamers Gate for providing me a digital copy of The Sims 3 and allowing me to review one of my favorite games of all time.

Guild Wars 2 Trailer: The Races of Tyria

Check out the new trailer to Guild Wars 2. In this one you can see more of the game and the races that you can play in it. In the original Guild Wars game you can only play as a human. So, I'm looking forward to playing as a Sylvari. If you play (or want to), which do you want to try out?



Amazing that they still won't be making you pay to play each month huh?

A Vampyre Story: Video Game Review

A Vampyre Story is a point and click adventure game in a 2D world where you play as Mona De Lafitte – a vampire who doesn’t quite believe she is a vampire. She thinks she drinks wine, not blood!

The story is that the vampire that turned Mona into a vampire, Baron Shrowdy Von Kiefer is keeping her at Castle Warg in Draxsylvania surrounded by water (and Inky – a lake monster) and has somehow cursed her so that she can’t turn into a bat and just fly away. He loves her, but she can’t stand him.

Mona wants to leave the castle with her bat friend Froderick so that she can return to Paris, France and resume her singing career. We won’t know the ending to that until more chapters of this story come out though.

The characters and world are much like a humorous cartoon filled with clichés that are quite funny – at first. After awhile though, it seems a bit overplayed. I also found Mona to be irritatingly funny.

The gameplay itself is easy to move around in the 2D world. However, not being able to move around freely wasn’t very freeing. It was too structured for my liking, but once I figured out how to move around quicker (right click on the arrow to immediately change rooms) and see everything that is interactable (press Tab) it wasn’t so bad.

Graphics for the game are fun and the best cartoon vampires I’ve seen. The voice acting was also spot on from the main characters to the smaller parts like the “rat pack.”

Overall, I found A Vampyre Story to be a cute gothic humorous story fun and well worth playing.



System requirements
• Windows XP / Windows Vista
• CPU 1,6 GHz
• 512 MB RAM
• 256 MB Graphics Card GeForce FX- Generation or ATI Radeon 9500
• 3 GB hard drive space
• DirectX 9.0 compatible
• DirectX 9.0 compatible Soundcard


* Big thanks to the publisher of A Vampyre Story, Crimson Cow and Gamers Gate for providing the download for me to review this fangtastic game.

Sculpting Mythical Creatures out of Polymer Clay

Sculpting Mythical Creatures out of Polymer Clay by Dinko and Boris Tilov is a magnificently beautiful how to book that teaches you how to make gnomes, pixies, Halflings, fairies, mermaids, gorgons, vampires, griffins, sphinxes, unicorns, centaurs, leviathans and dragons out of polymer clay.

This book is an excellent source for learning how to create the mythical creatures in this book because it was written by internationally known clay sculpting experts. The projects outlined in this book are done so that each project gets more difficult as you progress through the book.

Gnomes are the first project, and while it isn’t my favorite – they actually end up being quite cute in an odd sort of way. It is also shown step by step (as in all sections) on how to do it as well as variations on the project if you want to make something a bit different.

The fairies chapter is my favorite section, even if it is a bit more difficult. The braided hair, fairy wings and clothing looks quite difficult but it gives an enchanting effect. I love too that they show that the wings could easily be made into a butterfly – quite easily too.

The vampire section is also another favorite of mine; my only suggestion was that the vampires should have been made out of white clay (not green). If I ever get really good at making these, I could make variations of the Cullens from Twilight.

The characters are all great for inspiration and the knowledge on making these mythical creatures could be used to make other mythical creatures - or real creatures as well.

The resource page in the back of the book is also a fantastic addition for this book. It is really helpful for those that want to learn more about sculpting, polymer clay, mythical creatures and more.

Overall, I think that Sculpting Mythical Creatures out of Polymer Clay is an extraordinary book that really is able to help everyone from beginners to experts on sculpting these mythical creatures out of polymer clay. I highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a whimsical creative journey into a mythical world of fun.