Stockton Thunder!

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Picture 2Our new October tradition... Stockton Thunder Hockey!

Early last year, when we heard that Stockton's new arena would be home to a minor league hockey team, we were less than impressed. Hockey was never a sport that we followed in our house and it didn't seem to match very well with our warm weather and culture. We were much more excited to be getting Arena Football and Major League indoor soccer.

As the season started to get closer we decided that we wanted to be part of the hype of the new team and went to the second home game. From the moment we walked in the arena we knew this was going to be cool! When the game started we were on our feet, along with 9,000 other Stockton Thunder fans and we have been hooked ever since.

So, tonight we showed up, decked out in Thunder gear, ready to scream our lungs out for our hometown Thunder!

If you're a sports fan and live within an hour of Stockton, you have to check this out! Trust me when I say that hockey is meant to watched live; so many people have the same comment after watching their first game: "I could never get into hockey on TV... but this is awesome!"

What a game! The Thunder start the season 2-0 and right in the middle of the Pacific Division and end tonight's game being the only undefeated team in the ECHL.

thunderfight1 The first fight of the night. The Arena went crazy when Huxley (Stockton) knocked Neilson right on his bum.

The Long Beach Ice Dogs scored an early first goal but the Thunder tied it up before the end of the first period (click here for the video from the first goal scored at home this season). The same pattern would continue for the second and third period with Long Beach scoring first and then Stockton getting a goal. The final shot in regulation came from Stockton with only 34 seconds left on the clock. The 5 minutes of overtime passed with no scoring so we were treated to a nail-biting shoot out. We tied throughout the first group of attempts so then we went into sudden death shoot out mode!

After 6 failed attempts by each club, Brendon Hodge slaps one in and the Thunder win a close one!

Congrats Thunder... you rock!

game stats click here for pictures

Hopes & Prayers now on YouTube

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hopesandprayersvideoDue to overwhelming fan outcry, I have finally posted the video for Hopes & Prayers on YouTube (check it out here). Ok, so there are really no fans... but I thought I'd post it anyway. The song was recorded in early 2003 in The Outback. Jason wrote the song, played all of the instruments and sang lead vocals; Rich and Tish sang background vocals and I got to put the whole thing together. I have always thought this was the coolest song I ever worked on... in fact, it is so cool, it needed a video. Enjoy!

You can also view the full quality version of the video here.

Old Home Movies

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We finally started copying some old videos to DVD for Grace. Here are a couple of highlights from the first tape. Now, this is a total coincidence that I happened across this shot but the next time someone asks the bros where we learned to do the crazy things we do we can say we learned it from Ma. Picture 2 Picture 12 Picture 1 - from the top: Hope, Ma, KW, KW's dad (I believe) Picture 2 - from the top: Kenny Jr., Emily, Me, KW

Another observation... Hope (Jo Jo) was always dancing! Picture 14 Click here for a quick video of the Jo Jo dance.

The quality on these old home movies isn't all that great but wow... how cool is it to see Papa, Mimi, Ma, Grace, Hope and KW from 45 years ago! Picture 4

The Tech Museum

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What a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than to cruise up to San Jose to check out the Tech Museum. We wanted to see the IMAX movie on the Tour de France but there was only one showing early in the day. We spent 15 minutes outside checking out the huge pool ball kinetic exhibit. It was such a challenge to follow a single ball all the way through the high tech maze of ramps, pulleys and loops.Picture 8

There was a lot of incredible things to do and see and an easy place to get lost for a few hours. One of my favorites was the planetary exhibit... the girls really liked it too. Picture 7

Mik, KW, Twon, JR - check out this video (64 MB). reeeb blocks (also videos of 'emily' and 'makenzy', 36 & 24 MB)

Of course... you can check out pics of our trip to The Tech here.

Old Videos

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What is there to do now that 24 is over and that AI will picks it winner (Taylor) on Wednesday? Well, hopefully, we can finish converting all of our old home movies from VHS, 8MM and even some old film format, to DV. This one has a little of everyone, Ma, Mike, Jerry, Joe, Hope, Mimi, Rene, Grace, Chris, Bob and Dale. I did have to size it down to keep it reasonable for most. Coming soon... Christopher, Christopher and more Christopher. clip61rranchall88image

Check out the video here (click to play or right click and save).