Great News!!!!

I have been planning a trip to New York City for my birthday and am using money that I got from investing to fund it. Well, right before christmas I did not have enough money to start booking hotel and plane tickets with confidence. Its a good think I asked everyone for cash for Christmas! I now have enough money to go!!!! I actually booked my hotel and plane reservations last night! My mom and I will be going to NYC Mar. 23 - 27. We will be staying at the Radisson Lexington Hotel and the Grand Hyatt New York.

Btw, the Radisson Lexington Hotel is the only hotel in Manhattan to have a starbucks IN the building!! I am SO excited!!

Last Minute Gifts

If you are stumped on gifts this year and can't figure out what to get me, I am about to save you.

There is still time to get an amazon.com gift certificate! So if you *cough jeff cough* are doing some last minute shopping today *cough jeff cough* I suggest going the amazon route.

Its Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas

It is finally getting below 50 degrees!!! For the past week it has been in the high 70s and that is no fun for Christmas. So finally in the mornings it is getting cold. However, the highs are still in the 60s. But whatever...as long as I get to use the seat warmer on the car at some point during the holidays I am happy.

New Poll

A news poll has been put up. This time it asks how you like your Christmas gifts.

Do you like them to be actual tangible things?

Do you like cash?

Do you like gift cards?

Oliver! Update

I bought the vocal score for Oliver! and went through it to look at the Mr. Bumble stuff. It turns out that I have 5 songs! It is a bigger part than I though!! I am so excited!

Tickets for Oliver! go on sale Jan. 11 at www.classactproductions.org

The dates are Feb. 29, Mar. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9.

Christmas Time is Here...Happiness and SICK

I'm sick....yesterday I felt like I was dieing. I had a fecer and could like barley walk and was all cold and was like dieing...if I am sick on Christmas day two years in a row I might scream...oh yeah...and to all of you who didn't believe that I was sick last year: BOOOO!!!!!!! When someone collapses on the bathroom floor while everyone else is opening presents and can barley crawl out...THEY ARE SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing News!

I got cast as Mr. Bumble in Oliver! which is being done by Class Act Productions in early March. For those of you who are wondering who Mr. Bumble is...he is the guy who says "MOOORE?! YOU WANT MOOOORE?!". But that is not all he does! He also has three songs!! I am so excited!

The show dates are:
February 29, March 1, 7, 8, 2008 - 7:30 PM
March 2 & 9, 2008 - 2:30 PM

Tickets go on sale Jan. 11 at www.classactproductions.org

Christmas Weather/Giant Tree Rant

I love Christmas for many reasons including the weather. I love the cold weather because it makes me not sweat (I have sweating issues). This year however, I am still sweating. No, my sweating issues have not gotten worse. The reason for the continued sweating is because it is spring time. Last night I literally drove with the windows down. It was 76!!!! AND I saw butterfly yesterday in out backyard! As much I love the spring weather, I want cold!

I am not the only one who is complaining though. We planted some bulbs in our backyard and in order for them to bloom in the spring they need cold weather to trigger their biological clock.

I am blaming all of this on the global warming.

Oh yeah, speaking of global warming. Did anyone else hear about how at a tree lighting ceremony in Seattle the mayor went on a rant about how the North Pole is melting and how Santa won't have a home? Yeah...that was a bad move. For such an environmentally concious city you would have thought that instead of depressing children and possibly educing nightmares they would have done like GE/NBC who put solar panels on the top of the GE building in Rockefeller Center which will power the enormous tree in Rockefeller Center. And oh yeah, the lights on the Rockefeller tree are super efficient and super eco friendly LED bulbs. So to NBC, GE, and Rockefeller Center I say, "YES! I LOVE THAT!" and to the mayor of Seattle, whoever let him give that speech, and whoever did not think to make the tree "green" I say, "BOOOOO!!!". Hopefully more giant Christmas trees will go green next year following the example set by NBC/GE.

the Christmas is upon us...we have begun decorating...

Billy Bob is hidding with the news paper...

The 6th season of 24 has come out on DVD!!!!!!!!! We will now be in a semi-hibernation. But instead of sleeping like a bear we will be watching 24 non-stop!

New Poll

I just put up a new poll.

This time is asks: What is your favorite thing about Christmas?

More Thanksgiving Photos

Here are the rest of the Thanksgiving photos.

Click here for part 2...

And click here for part 3.

im at the zoo!

Photos From Seattle

Here are some photos from Seattle. These are of the first Starbucks and of the Seattle Aquarium.

Click here to see them.

Jonah is living the good life at Cheesecake Factory

My Amazon Wish list

If you are struggling to figure out what to get me for Christmas you can click here to see my Amazon wish list. There is not much on it right now but I will be adding lots of stuff to it soon.

About the poll

I just want to say that the poll is not necessarily about your favorite pie in general, but about your favorite pie for Thanksgiving. Vote with that in mind.

flo from finding nemo?

New Poll

There is new poll that asks what your favorite pie is. The winning pie will be made for Thanksgiving.

The Nut House Goes On Tour

I am sitting in the Houston airport blogging right now. Dad got one of those things you plug into your computer so you get the internet anywhere and I am loving it. I even used it in the car on the way to the airport!! I love it!! Anyway...we are on our way to Seattle for Thanksgiving...and the in-flight movie is No Reservations...the romantic cooking comedy with Catherine Zeta Jones and the little girl from Little Miss Sunshine. Most Continental flights are getting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix...I am jealous...ugghh...

Isn't our new flower arrangment beautiful?!

Juicy Tidbits

Barbra Walters talked about how Heather Mills was pretty strange during an interview she did with her. I wish Barbra would do a special where she talks about all the strange stuff that has gone on during her interviews with celebrities. Her brain must be a gold mine of juicy tidbits. Here is what she said about Heather Mills on The View.

Starbucks Magicalness

I have been saving up money to take a trip to NYC for my birthday this year and I am finalizing the budget and was looking for hotels and the one I will be staying at is called the Radisson Lexington Hotel and...drum roll, please...It is the only hotel in Manhattan to have a Starbucks in the hotel! Yes, you read correctly. There is a Starbucks in the hotel! I am so excited!!

New Poll

There is a new poll up about what type of device you listen to music with. Please limit your self to one vote per person (Dad!). The results of the last poll about the presidential candidates was tampered with and the results were not accurate (Dad!). And having so many votes gave me a false sense of lots of readers of my blog (Dad!).


(Dad!)

We Are Boring

So this Halloween we here at The Nut House decided to be really boring and not do anything for it. No decorations...no candy given away...no nothing. We decided to turn off our porch lights and just watch TV. We have many Halloween decorations and have gotten many complements from the peeps who come to the door about how amazing our decorations/special effects are. ...we got lazy.

I did have a little Halloween excitement though! I wanted a hamburger from Beck's Prime for dinner so I went through the drive-thru because I try to limit direct contact with people to a minimum. Anyway, the air conditioner was on a little to high in the car and when that happens I tear...a lot. So by the time I got the window my eyes were all read and I had tears running down my face and the people inside Beck's must have thought to themselves, "Oh that poor kid! He has no friends to go out with on Halloween and is eating his feelings and is crying! Lets give him some candy to cheer him up!" That's right...the person at the window brought out a basket and asked me if I wanted some candy and so I toke one piece...she then said I could have more...so I took another. Then she said to just take as much as I wanted and to grab a handful. So I did...and gave a face like "oh my gosh! Thank you so much! This means so much to me! I have no friends to go out with and have been crying my brains out and am now here to eat my feelings...but now that you have given me candy I feel much better!" So the bottom line of this whole thing is this: Always keep your air conditioning on a high level...you never know when someone might mistake your over active tear ducts for actual emotion.

we put billy bob's favorite blanket on the table/geometry area thus combining his two favorite things, blankets and paper.

So in the scenes program I am doing the Act 1 finale from Phantom of the Opera (the part with the chandelier crash) and i get to wear this really really authentic looking mask that the brilliant choreographer made. So here I am in it...and my hair has a middle part....i slick my hair back for the scene and i am always too lazy to take a shower after shows so that is what happens after sleeping with the gell....my hair forms a middle part lol.

Meow Mix Update

My Meow Mix video has gotten a small fan base!! It is starting to spread around The Woodlands and a friend of mine told me that her friends are promoting it! So spread the word, people! I want to make this thing the next phenomenon.

Harry Potter Encyclopedia

I wish JK Rowling would come out with an encyclopedia about Harry Potter. I have always wanted one but since she announced that Dumbledore was gay I have wanted one even more! There must be thousands of tidbits, like Dumbledore and his arch nemesis Grindewold's (sp?) former love, that no one knows about. Lets start a petition!!

On a bit of a side note...While I was not completely surprised by Dumbledore's sexual orientation, I always thought that he and Prof. McGonagle (sp?) maybe had a little fling...who knows...maybe I am right and Dumbledore was bi for a bit. Those two always seemed to have good chemistry.

The People Have Spoken

Apparently, the people who read this blog want Mitt Romney to be the next president. That is what the recently closed poll on this blog says.

OMG APPLE STOCK

I normally do not post about stock until a publicity-hungry semi celebrity rings the closing bell in NYC but today I make an exception. Apple (APPL) just exploded in everyone's face (in a good way). Right now (11:25am) it is at $185.43 +11.07!!!!!!!! The Nut House is very happy about this!!!!!!!!!!

all cats love bags

New Additions to the Family

No, my dream of Billy Bob having kittens has not yet come true. The new additions to the family are three new plants in our backyard! We did not like one of the plants on our patio so I trashed it and we got a Mum. We also got two vines that will grow and flower along one pillar and a brick wall outside the laundry room. Btw, when we got the Mum it had not flowered...It just flowered and I believe this is the first time in history that a plant has actually grown and developed in the care of The Nut House...we bought all of our other plants after they had flowered. Here are the pictures: (click on a picture to make it bigger)

It is intermission at Dreamgirls...its pretty bad...

And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to...

Al Gore!!!

Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday.

The prize was awarded "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change", the Norwegian Nobel committee said.

I hope he will run for president...If I was 18 I would so vote for him...or wait...even better...lets have him be Hillary's Vice President!

New Poll

A new poll has been put up. This time its political!

Out of the five, who would you like to see be President of the United States?

Hillary
Obama
Rudy
Mitt Romney
Al Gore

Joey

Joey has started to snore a lot lately. He as always snored but not really loud and all the time...he gets more like Dad every day.

My Next Phone

Since I have Verizon I do not have access to the iPhone. Verizon has unveiled their iPhone competitor. It looks like an iPhone rip off (which it partly is), but it has a twist.

Here it is:



















The screen is touch screen and yes, I know it kind of stole the iPhone interface...but wait for the twist.

Drumroll please.













It has an interior screen and keyboard like my current phone!!!! It also looks like it has gone wide screen...I wonder why that would be....oh yeah....it has mobile TV!

I must have this phone...its amazing...the end.

Sea World Pictures

I have been lazy and have taken a long time to post this.

Here are the pictures from our trip to Sea World San Antonio.

Click here to view them.

we are still watching 24...

mom and dad are having tons of fun at Sea World

the season premire of The Office was so funny....this was one of the funniest...lol

we are so addicted to 24 that we have to bring it on vacation!

Mom and Dad at dinner at the Hyatt

there was a bunch of ducks around a bird feeder on our way to dinner

I'm So Impressed

When we were booking our room on hyatt.com they said they had just renovated their rooms here and I took it very lightly. I was wrong. They got new beds!!!!!!!!!!!! They are the best beds I have ever slept in in my entire life. They are ultra soft w/pillow top. AND they are even making an effort to be green here! They lightbulbs in the rooms are the good ones that done use as much energy and save the world!!! Also, they have something I am extreamly impressed with. Instead of your normal alarm clock/radio this resort upgraded...they have an iHome in every room. Yes, the iPod speaker...in fact I am listening to music on it right now as I am typing. I am really impressed.

We are going to dinner now...more updates to come tonight...stay tuned!

Famlies, Lovers, and Tons of Booze

The title pretty much states the people here at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort. We were going around the famous lazy river and that is basically all we saw. There were lots of families with screaming children and lots of couple who are obviously here to have sex. Don't act you have never seen those types of couples. You know you have. So know the booze...there was more alcohol by the pool than at the DLP Productions Scenes Program cast part. Now that is saying something! There was beer everywhere!! I was shocked. So a bunch of liquored up parents with screaming kids, and liquored up people having sex...sounds like this is going to be an interesting weekend...

Guess What I Learned to do.....

On our way to San Antonio today I learned how to drive on the freeway!! It was not a full crazy loop-de-loop free way but it was a start. I started driving when we got out of the crazy parts of the freeway. I did really well, if I do say so myself. But I did not realize there were so many rules when driving on the freeway! There is a lot to remember!

Random Vacation!

All of us here at the nut house, except for those who meow, bark or squak, are going on a random vacation!! We are going to San Antonio for the weekend and will be staying at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and Spa. While in San Antonio we are going to Sea World!! You can expect many postings while we are there.

I am sending this from my car! Mobile blogging! yeah, i know...its amazing.

The Power of the Sun

The sun seems to do something to Billy Bob and Lizzie, the cats. Every morning the sun comes through the kitchen window and onto the floor. Both cats love to lay in the sun. There is certainly enough sun on the floor for both of them to sleep and not touch each other but they don't think so. Almost every day they get in a big fight about laying the sun in the kitchen. It gets crazy! Fur flies everywhere! And when it is over, both of them end up leaving the sunny area and going to separate ends of the house, leaving wads of fur laying in the sun.

Ricola

I have been taking Ricola like a crazy person for the past couple weeks because my voice has been working so much. Someone at rehearsal, and the director, told me that menthol (which is the main component of Ricola) is bad for your throat. Ummmm...yikes? I had never heard this...does anyone reading this know if menthol really is bad for your throat? I really hope not because without the Ricola right now my voice would be gone...

Please leave a comment if you know anything about this!

The New iPods

I just realized that I never talked about the new iPods when they came out a couple weeks ago...so here I go.

The Redesigned iPod Nano:

I am not a fan of the new design. It looks fat. When I hear "iPod Nano" I think small, tiny, miniature, etc. While the actual size of the device is small, it still looks fat. Also, they added the ability to playback video on the Nano. I think that is really great, but would not want to use it myself. I get enough of a headache already trying to watch a video on a plane on my regular sized ipod! I want a portable 60 inch plasma for planes.

The Redesigned and Renamed iPod Classic:

I pretty much have the same problem with this one...it looks fat. Not as fat as the Nano, but it could loose 10 pounds. I want sleek and streamlined and I wants it bad!

The All New iPod Touch:

I love it! It is the perfect iPod! It has the music, photos, video, full screen and now, internet! It has wifi capability! I would be buying it right now but there is one fault in it. It only goes up to 16gb of storage. My current one is 30gb. And I payed less for it than the 8gb iPod Touch costs. So unfortunately, I am waiting till a version with a lot more memory and lower price comes out. But I love this one!

wow

Geometry in Architecture

I did a power point presentation about geometry in architecture for my geometry class.

Click here to download it.

It opens in Quicktime and works just like a power point. Click on it to go forward in the presentation.

If you do not have Quicktime click here for your free download.

Dance Rehearsal

I was at a dance rehearsal for the upcoming scenes program with DLP Productions and we were learning the dance for "Marathon". Ms. Peden, the director and my voice teacher, just got a new Blackberry that has a camera on it and snapped this very flattering picture of me.

Winter

I really wish my favorite season of the year, winter, would come!! It is so hot! Yes, the only reason winter is my favorite season is because when it is cold, I don't sweat.

...I have sweating problems...

A Slight Change in Plans

This blog was originally created so all the members of the Watkins' Nut House could contribute. But it seems not everyone wants to...So I, John, will be the sole writer on this blog. The content will be the same but you can loose your hope of seeing Sue or Dave write on here.

Survivor: China

So I was bracing myself for another mediocre episode of Survivor. However, it was not mediocre at all!!! Survivor: China is really good! I am actually going to watch this season. I have not watched a full season since the first one. Normally I get bored. But this one is going to be sooo good. Plus, I hears Jeff Probst say on some show that this year the contestants get to kidnap people from the other tribe!! This will no doubt supply tons of material for The Soup.

New Poll

There is a new poll located on the right side of this page. The previous poll has closed and the winner was Diet Pepsi over Coke, Diet Coke, and Pepsi. The new poll is all about cars. I hope everyone votes!

Yet Another Crazy View Moment

Thank you, Sherri!

The Upcoming TV Season

Our DVR is going to be going nuts with the upcoming TV season. In addition to the shows we already watch (Regis and Kelly, Ellen, E! News, Nancy Grace, The Soup, Best Week Ever, Samantha Brown and lots of home shopping) it is going to get packed with all the new episodes. Our current plan is to watch the following shows: The Office, Desperate Housewives, LOST (not till February booo), Pushing Up Daisies, American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Survivor: China, The Amazing Race, Project Runway, and probably a lot of other stuff I can't think of right now. The point is that our DVR is going to be busting at the seams!! I think that we should get another DVR. One of the perks of homeschooling is lots of time to watch tv...but it is a curse for the DVR.

P.S. If someone reading this does not have a DVR or Tivo or a similar device, go get one right now. Seriously, get in the car and go buy one right now.

P.P.S. Comcast is a stupid name. I miss Time Warner.

24

We finished season 5 and are now watching season 1 of 24 (we started with season 2...). Season 6 does not come out on dvd for a while. I am hoping that season 1 will be able to give us enough of a fix so we don't have to resort to buying the entire 6th season on iTunes.

Meowlingual

Do you remember the dog translator that was all the rage for about 10 minutes a few years ago? The Nut House does! Well, now we can understand our cats with the new Meowlingual Cat Translation Device!!! It is $75 and I can't wait to get one! I will finally be able to understand what Billy Bob is saying to me! I am thinking he is always saying "Foods! Give me foods!!" I guess now I will find out! Btw, if anyone is in doubt about what to get me (John) for Christmas this year...Meowlingual, please.