Thursday, October 8, 2009

Virginia State Fair time

We went to the Virginia state fair a couple of weekends ago. Let me state that it is no Indiana state fair, but we still managed to have fun. The fair is in Richmond, which is about a four hour drive from here, so we stayed the night at Jerry's parents house. We got a whole day of the fair in on it's first Saturday open. The weather was perfect, overcast but no rain. My friends were most excited to go on all the carnie rides, I was more interested in looking at the animals and all the exhibits in the barns (I guess this is where the age difference shows, huh?) I went on one spinny swingy ride and it made me sorry that I did. None of us vomited the whole time we were there, so that was a plus. We got your basic fair food staples; funnel cake, candied apples, Ian got fried oreos. I think the highlight of the whole thing was the pig races, and I think every one who went would agree. You would be surprised at how entertaining a few pigs running around a small track can be. We also so a cool stunt dog show but I didn't get good pictures of that. We had a really good weekend, and just might go back one of these years.
Our first ride: the swings. Barf city. I was done with rides for the day.

Mona and Nick on the hang glide ride. Looks like fun!

Doggie stunt show. One dog was trained to walk on his front legs. My camera wouldn't work at that moment.

Alpacas. Neat.

Chicks, man.

Fluffy haired chickens.

Ian and Jerry shootin' em up!

Pig races! Run, pig, run.



Monday, September 21, 2009

Italy trip coverage

The Institute of Packaging Professionals, who partly sponsored my Italy trip, has published some coverage of our trip, as well as the papers we wrote to win the competition. So if you like packaging, check it out!

http://www.iopp.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1742

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Winner! Winner!

Its time to announce the winner of the Happy Birthday Hokieville beer cozy competition. I had three entrants, so I asked the random number generator (found at random.org) to please give me a random number and it told me...

True Random Number Generator 1

(I copied and pasted this, the max box read 3, now it reads 100, I don't know why, but I really did have it generate a random number from 1 to 3.)

That means our winner is entry number 1...Susie/Mom! How exciting. I will send you your new beer cozy ASAP!

And to all those who entered but didn't win, don't worry. Since I only had three entries, I can afford to make a beer cozy for each of you. We are all winners here at Hokieville! So check you mailboxes in a week or so (I still have to make them). Thanks for playing, this was fun.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Happy Birthday Hokieville!

You may recall that Sept 14 is my birthday, but you may not have realized that it is also Hokieville's birthday too! That's right, one year ago this website was created. Thanks to all my faithful followers who check the site on a regular basis. As a reward to you, and also to promote some usage of the "comment" feature on this website, I want to give you something. Here it is...


A beer cozy!!! Hand made by me, for you. Here is how you win it. Leave a comment on this post. Say anything. Hi. Happy birthday hokieville. Anything. If you leave a comment, it will enter you in the contest. If more people post than just 'the dude', I'll have a random number generator pick the winner. This should be exciting, you guys, you can finally learn how to leave a comment and get rewarded for your adventurous behavior. I'll let the contest go on until Wednesday and then announce the winner. So start commenting!!

Hokie football game!

Ian and I scored an extra pair of tickets to the Hokie football game this weekend. It was pretty fun, especially since they were good seats, it was a beautiful day, and the Hokies won big. We tailgated before the game, and the set up went like this: We had a parking pass for an excellent spot very near the stadium, we all wanted to ride together, and the most appropriate vehicle we could think of to accomidate our needs was...the 86' Volvo. It was hilarious when we pulled into our assigned spot, which was right inbetween an Escalade and an H2 Hummer. I think we fit right in.

Judge for yourself. The Volvo looks GREAT next to the Hummer, yes?

Inside Hokie Stadium. Must be a time out or something.

Another view from in the stadium. No clouds in the sky. Sunburns for everyone!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Hokies in the Smokies!

Ian talked me into getting back on the motorcycle for a weekend of riding. We met up with Mom and Dad and Andy and Diane in the very southwest Virginia/Tennessee area for scenic rides through the Smokey Mountains. We stayed at a campground/resort that is tailored for motorcycle riders. We mostly rode all day and enjoyed the campgrounds at night. It was a good getaway, although its not easy on your butt to ride all day. Unfortunately Dad's bike had a little issue and he was done riding for the weekend, but he and Mom got a solid day in before it happened. Other than that, perfect weekend, might do again.

Iron Horse at night

Andy about ready to ride.

Dad, ready to ride.

Riding

Went through Deal's Gap without any bites from the dragon

Tree of Shame at Deal's Gap. Glad not to be a part of that.

Riding

Beginning of Dad's bike troubles. At least it happened in a pretty spot.

The Smokies!


Friday, August 28, 2009

Mill Mountain Zoo

I love zoos. It doesn't matter what kind; big, small, I love them all. Roanoke has a tiny little zoo on top of a mountain (Mill Mountain). Its actually right next to the Roanoke Star (see older post). We had beautiful weather last weekend so we road the motorcycle to the zoo and then stopped in downtown Roanoke for a mexican lunch. It was a tiny zoo but we still managed to spend 2 hours or so there. And...we saw an escape! Thats right, one of their large heron-type birds flew the proverbial coop and was running around the zoo looking for an escape route. Soon all the zoo employees were running in circles looking for the bird until they finally got him. It was pretty entertaining. So our overall rating of the Mill Mountain Zoo was very high, 5 stars, would do again.

Me with the Mill Mountain Zoo sign. The bird depicted in the lower right corner of the sign is the bird that almost escaped. I did not have a photo op with the actual escapee.

The wolverine. It kind of looks like a little bear, and looks nothing like Hugh Jackman.

The black vulture. Its the only kind of vulture in the world that will eat live carrion if it needs to. It kept giving us the eye. We were uncomfortable.

Red panda. Cute and funny.

Giant porcupine. All of its needles were on its butt portion.

Pink bird. I like birds, by the way.

The monkey display was less than stellar. There was plexiglass between the observer and the primates.

Here is the linx. We stood there for several minutes trying to find it and were almost about the leave the exhibit before we saw him, sitting right there, plain as day, on the rocks. He blends in really well, yes?

Everyone loves a fat pig.

Here the cougar was giving us the eye through the brush. She was probably checking out Ian (get it...cougar...ha ha?)

Well that pretty much sums up the Mill Mountain Zoo. Cute, fun, worth checking out next time you come to visit :)