2013 was a great year

I had a really crazy but overall great year in 2013. My year on YouTube was even greater than in 2012. It was once again my most successful yet. I hope everyone has a good 2014.

My deleted SodaHead post

I made a post on SodaHead about things my home state (Maryland) is good and bad in but then I deleted it, and I regret that. So here it is on my blog:

I live in Maryland and I completely agree with the honor of "worst access to clean water". We have countless water-related health issues every year, not to mention pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. I'm also annoyed by the people who say Baltimore is the best city in the United States, if not the world, although Baltimore is the city I was born in, and I've lived in the Baltimore metro area all my life. However, I'm proud of the things we've approved in the past few years, like same-sex marriage. Also, we have many different types of landscapes packed into just over 10,000 square miles. We have mountains and beaches, sprawling urban areas and farms.

Midway through "post-Christmas"

We're now halfway between Christmas and New Year's Eve/New Year's Day. This is what I like to call the "post-Christmas" week, when life returns to semi-normality after all of the holiday stuff. I hope everyone is having a good week and my next post will probably be a new year-related one. Bye for now!

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas today!

Now I'm off to bed :D

24 hours till Christmas

I just thought I would do a quick post before I went to bed. Christmas is just one day away and I'm finally feeling the holiday spirit. I did some baking today. I made a Christmas tree cake and fudge. I'm going to finish baking things tomorrow. That's all I can think of for now. Good night!

Did I end up in the Southern Hemisphere?!

Today was the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere, and the first day of summer in the southern hemisphere. I live in the northern hemisphere. But we're supposed to have record temperatures and maybe even severe weather in the next couple of days here. It's supposed to get up into the 70s tomorrow, three days before Christmas. So it might as well be the first full day of summer tomorrow!

I did some holiday videos today

Here are some videos I did today about Christmas.

So much snow!

So Christmas is less than two weeks away and we're getting plenty of snow here. We got snow on Sunday which turned into an ice storm. My mom slipped and broke her ankle just before it got really bad. She had surgery on it just yesterday. The second round came on Tuesday, and now a third is supposed to come tomorrow. So we'll see how it plays out here.

First snow in eight and a half months

As I type this post, it's snowing at my house. This is our first snowfall since late March. We have maybe three or four inches now. That is a lot more snow than previously forecasted. Here are a couple of pictures.

I had a great Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving here in the United States was Thursday, the 28th. I ate a lot of food which I helped prepare. We ate a turkey with honey teriyaki marinade. It was very delicious. My mom's boyfriend fried it in peanut oil so it smelled like french fries from the burger joint Five Guys. I had a couple of my friends over. It was my first Thanksgiving without one of my triplet brothers, who's attending a computer college in Utah right now. I think he just ate some ramen noodles on Thursday because my dad told me that he said he ate ramen literally every day. I think the only think I'm really thankful for is that I'm in college now. I was really getting tired of high school at the beginning of this calendar year. Now we're going into December and we get to celebrate Christmas.

Called into work this morning

Today (Saturday) I was going to stay at my house all day and be lazy. But at about 6:45 this morning my mom woke me up and said somebody called out of the grocery store where I work as a porter, and they wanted to know if I could fill in for them. I didn't want to, of course. But then my mom said I would get paid extra money for this unscheduled shift. I'm always wanting money to buy things so then I said yes, I would go to work this morning. It was a six-hour shift from 8 to 2. I kind of prefer working in the morning over my usual shift, 12 to 5. It still felt like a normal day at work and no one mentioned that I wasn't scheduled to be  there today. So the bottom line: I hated going into work on such short notice, but at least I made some extra money from it!

My reflections on the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season

Last year, I talked about my thoughts at the end of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season. I decided to do another reflection this year now that the season has officially ended.

The Daytona 500 opened the season on February 24. Jimmie Johnson won the race for the second time in his career, the first being 2006. Johnson then held the points lead for the entire regular season and went on to win five more races,  including the July race at Daytona. This made him the first driver to sweep Daytona in a season since Bobby Allison did it in 1982.

When the Chase for the Sprint Cup started in September at Chicagoland (in a race delayed several hours by rain), Matt Kenseth won and took the points lead. Kenseth won seven races in 2013, more than any driver. His first win came on March 10 at Las Vegas on his birthday.

In the end, it was Jimmie Johnson who picked up his sixth Sprint Cup title in the season finale at Homestead on Sunday. Johnson has now won six titles in eight seasons, the first five of which came consecutively between 2006 and 2010. The race was won by Denny Hamlin, who ended his season on a high note after having several struggles, including a hard crash on the final lap at California on March 24. It was Hamlin's first win of the season (and therefore his only win of the season due to it being the last race of the year). This marks the eighth straight season that Hamlin has won at least one Cup race. Matt Kenseth finished second in both the race and the championship on Sunday.

Sunday's race was a bit painful for me to watch because it marked several "lasts", as the season finale every year does. It was Kevin Harvick's last race with Richard Childress Racing in their #29 car, which he had driven since his first Cup season in 2001. The #29 car used to be the #3 car driven by Dale Earnhardt. After Earnhardt died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Richard Childress tapped Harvick to replace him, and also changed the car's number from 3 to 29. Harvick's teammate, Jeff Burton in the #31 car, also made his last start with RCR on Sunday. Harvick will move to the new #4 car owned by Tony Stewart, and Richard Childress' grandson Austin Dillon will replace Harvick. There are rumors that the #29 car will also be changed back to the #3 car. Burton is without a full-time ride for 2014, but it has been confirmed that Ryan Newman is leaving Stewart-Haas Racing to replace him in the #31 car. In addition, Ken Schrader made his last Sprint Cup start ever on Sunday, while Mark Martin has said it was likely his last race ever as well.

The season was also marked by injuries and two indirect deaths, as well as a race-fixing scandal. Denny Hamlin's California crash was mentioned above. In August, during a sprint car dirt track race, Tony Stewart suffered a broken leg in a violent flip and was forced to miss the rest of the season. Stewart had competed in every Sprint Cup race run since his very first race in the series, the 1999 Daytona 500. He was replaced in his #14 car by Max Papis (at Watkins Glen only), Austin Dillon and Mark Martin during the rest of the season. On May 16, former driver Dick Trickle committed suicide at a cemetery in North Carolina, and on June 12, Jason Leffler was killed in a sprint car crash in New Jersey. In September, at the final race of the regular season at Richmond, Michael Waltrip Racing was accused of getting Clint Bowyer to spin out on purpose so Martin Truex Jr. could get into the Chase. This led to NAPA Auto Parts leaving Truex's #56 car effective at season's end. NAPA had been affiliated with Michael Waltrip since 2001, when he joined Dale Earnhardt Inc. as the driver of their #15 car.

My favorite races this year were the rain-delayed Aaron's 499 at Talladega on May 6 won by David Ragan, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma on June 23 won by Martin Truex Jr. (his first win since 2007), the Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire on July 15 won by Brian Vickers (the first win for Michael Waltrip Racing's #55 car) and the second Talladega race last month won by Jamie McMurray.

A couple other driver changes for 2014: Kyle Larson will drive Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's #42 car as Juan Pablo Montoya's replacement as Montoya goes back to IndyCar, Kurt Busch will drive a new fourth car with Stewart-Haas Racing, and Martin Truex Jr. will replace Kurt Busch in the #78 at Furniture Row Racing after being ousted from Michael Waltrip Racing due to the Richmond schedule. Kurt Busch will now have been in five different cars in each season since 2010, his last year in Penske Racing's #2.

So there you have it. Those are my words at the end of the 2013 Sprint Cup season. I hope 2014 will be another great year.

I'm having a nice November so far

November is almost half over and it's been my most productive month since the summer. I'm starting to get back into some things that I sort of just totally forgot about and stopped doing. I've also been more active on YouTube. Also, I'm getting a lot of my energy and motivation back. I definitely had a low period in my life from about late August to late October. But my November has been really good so far and it's about time I had this kind of phase again.

One extra hour of sleep tonight

Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 this morning (at least in the U.S. Eastern Time Zone). That means I get to sleep for one extra hour tonight, which means I'll be more well-rested that usual for work (at a grocery store 15 minutes away). It also means that tomorrow, November 3, will technically be 25 hours long instead of just 24. I think I like "falling back" a lot more than "springing forward" when it comes to changing clocks.

Great weekend

Yesterday, I went to work at this grocery store 15 minutes from my house. When I was off, I bought a bunch of food that I wanted because there was no food left in my house. I was happy after that because then there was actually food at my house, but that's obviously a given.

Today, I went to work again for the same hours. It meant I had to miss the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Martinsville, Virginia. But then I went online to see how it turned out and I found out that Jeff Gordon won the race. Since he's one of my favorite drivers, I was naturally happy. So I guess I had a good weekend overall.

(sorry this is so hasty, I haven't had a good blogging inspiration lately XD)

Going back to my mom's house tomorrow

Tomorrow after my community college classes, I will be going back to my mom's house after a week at my dad's house. I don't go to my dad's house very often, though.

Got a new iPod Touch

I got an iPod Touch last week. Now I can show it off to all my friends. I am NOT going to post any pictures of it. But I did really buy myself an iPod Touch.

End of September post

This is my post for the end of September.

My dad's birthday today

Today was my dad's birthday. He turned 55 years old. Happy birthday to him!

Got a new job

I got a new job last week as a cashier at a grocery store. The store is called ShopRite. My mom has worked there as a pharmacist since 2001. My trainers have all said I'm already really good at being a cashier. I think I'll like this job a lot more than my first one selling kitchen equipment.

Twelfth anniversary of 9/11

Today, September 11, 2013, was more or less a normal day for me. But twelve years ago today, a series of terrorist attacks on the east coast of the United States changed some things forever.

I was six years old on September 11, 2001 and I had just started first grade. I live in Maryland northeast of Baltimore, right in between the locations of the first two plane crashes to the north in New York City, the third crash at the Pentagon just outside Washington, DC, about 75 miles southwest of my house, and the fourth crash to the west-northwest of my house in southwestern Pennsylvania. My dad was in Cleveland, Ohio on a business trip that day.

At school, my class was having art class upstairs from our regular classroom when the principal announced on  the loudspeaker that they were sending us home early because several planes had crashed in areas all around us. On the bus ride home, all I could think about was how it was even possible for something like that to happen.

When I got home, the TV was on the news with footage of the World Trade Center towers from earlier. Being only six years old, I had no idea what was going on or why it had happened. Later that night, my mom, two brothers and I finally managed to talk to our dad on the phone. Since every plane in the country was grounded, he said he was taking a rental car from Cleveland to the Baltimore airport the next day and then taking his own car from there the rest of the way home.

My dad got home the next day and we were so happy to see each other. We hung our American flag out by the front door and kept it there for a while. In the months and years that followed, I learned a lot about terrorism, the people who do it, and why they do it.

Every year, I think about that horrible day along with many other Americans. Today was no exception, because my college had voting registration and I decided to register. I soon learned that they had intentionally scheduled voting registration for today because it was the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. But it still felt good to become a registered voter on this day because it helped me feel a sense of patriotism instead of thinking about the attacks twelve years ago and feeling sad. And that is my blog for the twelfth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

First day of college tomorrow

Tomorrow is my first day of college so this is my post about it.

lol....

i don't know what to write about right now

Would have been my first day of school

Today was the first day of school for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade in my county's public school district. But since I just graduated high school and I'm going to college, today was just another lazy day for me. My first day of college classes is September 4, two days after Labor Day. I love having one extra week of summer break, and sleeping in while kids just one year younger than me have to get up early to go to school. From my dad's backyard this afternoon, I watched as the school bus pulled up to a stop behind his house, then opened its doors to let children off. It kind of made me feel like I was breaking the law by skipping school, but in reality I don't have any school to go to for another week. Bye for now!

Update

This is just an update to let everyone know I'm still here. I can't think of anything to blog about right now. so bye for now!

My mom's birthday today

Today was my mom's birthday. She is now 53 years old. So happy birthday to her!

Crazy day on Wednesday

I had a crazy day on Wednesday. First, my brother had bloodwork first thing in the morning. Then, my other brother had his wisdom teeth pulled. Finally, I had a work meeting 20 miles away and then we ate at a restaurant. I drove home with my friends in dark, rainy conditions. I didn't get to bed until 1 in the morning. Crazy indeed!

Pocono Raceway is boring

Today, when I was watching the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Pocono Raceway in eastern Pennsylvania, I realized something: The races there are long and boring.

I actually like the track itself. It's two and a half miles long, the same distance as Daytona and Indianapolis, and shaped like a triangle, so it only has three turns. So Pocono Raceway itself is unique because of its shape.

But stock cars here race so much slower than at Daytona and Talladega, which are comparable in length but have much faster speeds. Today's race, a 400-mile race, lasted just about the same amount of time as this year's Daytona 500, which is 100 miles longer. Both Sprint Cup races at Pocono used to be 500 miles as well until two years ago. Starting last year, they were both reduced 100 miles. Now I can see why.

The race in June was just as long and boring. So I kind of expected the same thing anyway coming into today's race. Next week the series goes to Watkins Glen, a road course in New York. That should be more interesting than today, especially considering it's one of only two road course races in the series every year.

:)

this is my first post for August.

Text color tests

black
red
orange
yellow
lime
aqua
blue
purple
fuchsia
:)

End of July post

This is my first end of the month post. Today was the 31st and last day of July. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be the first day of August. This means there are five months remaining in the year 2013. Tomorrow, I will do a beginning of the month post.

Me eating Reese's pieces

recorded on my laptop's webcam

update

This is just an update post to let everyone know I'm still here. so here I am!

I saw the Google Street View car on Interstate 95 in Virginia

Today, my mom and I were driving from South Carolina back to my house in Maryland. At about a quarter to noon, we were 20 miles north of Richmond, Virginia when I saw a vehicle with a large camera at the top. I immediately recognized it as that car that takes those pictures on Google Maps' "Street View" feature. I had to take a picture of it. Apparently it was driven all the way from Google's headquarters in California, which is 3,000 miles to the west!

About my South Carolina vacation

I'm now in my last night of my vacation in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina vacation. I'm going back to Maryland tomorrow.

I spent the night at my grandmother's house the first two nights and then we went to my aunt and uncle's house yesterday afternoon. We went to the beach twice and did a bunch of other things. I'll explain some other things in more detail on another day. I'm going to bed now, because I have to wake up no later than 5:00 tomorrow morning because we're leaving early. Until then, see you later.

About to leave for vacation

As I type this post, I'm  just about to leave on a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It's going to be fun as always. I probably won't do any posts for a couple days either. So that's it for this quick update!

Boredom

I am so bored right now! I get bored a lot. I needed to do a post today though so here it is. lol.....

Gingivitis and two cavities

I had a dental appointment this morning. I was a little nervous about it because I almost never brush my teeth. So to prevent anyone from getting surprised, I told them that as I was sitting down in that long chair thing at the start of my appointment.

I had some x-rays of my teeth, and then a thorough but quick cleaning. It caused my gums to bleed a little. They also noticed the considerable decay on some of my front teeth from not brushing. So they said I had gingivitis, which I knew all along. They also discovered that I have two cavities. I already had a cavity filling back in November. So this will be my second in eight months, and this time there are two cavities to be filled.

Now I have to make sure I brush my teeth and rinse my mouth with mouthwash at least twice a day, and floss at least once. I also can't eat any candy for a while. I guess I should have seen this coming...

Switched here from Tumblr

Hey everyone. I decided to switch my blogging operations from Tumblr to right here. When I joined Tumblr last October, it was my first foray into blogging. Now I've decided that I like Blogger better that Tumblr, so I've now "migrated" here from Tumblr. In other words, I intend this to be a continuation of what I started on Tumblr nine months ago. I'll also try to update this blog more often than my Tumblr blog. So that's my introductory post to Blogger!