Celebrating 7-Eleven's Birthday

Today, July 11th, is the "Birthday" of 7-Eleven..

Creative, right? haha.. 7-Eleven is 84 years old now.  Every year they have been serving free 7.11 oz slurpees on this date.  Today I got my fair share of free slurpees from the 7-Eleven down the street.

The free slurpees are small, (fairly obvious) but nonetheless they are awesome and FREE! 

Since Slurpees are so rad, I'll share some cool facts about them.. 

• 7-Eleven began selling them in 1967
• They made a deal with ICEE to change the name and only sell them at 7-Elevens
• The "Slurpee" is named after the sound made when drinking them, a term coined by Bob Stanford

They've got a bunch of good flavors, but my favorite was when they introduced the Sour Patch Kids flavor last year!  That was THE best in my opinion..  

Today I got brain freeze even off those 7 oz shots of slurpee. haha I've been told you can get rid of the brain freeze by sticking your tongue on the roof of your mouth.  I think it works too..

Cheers, and Happy Birthday 7-Eleven!

If you are still interested in a free slurpee, head on down to the nearest 7-Eleven and celebrate the occasion! 

Boating on Lake Oroville

Today my family went on the lake with our boat.  The only different thing was since dad wasn't feeling well, mom and I ended up doing the driving.  I hardly ever get to drive the boat, which is understandable.. but still, today I got to drive TO the lake then drive the boat ON the lake!  Quite exciting for me.  I didn't hit anyone on the road, nor did I ram anyone or anything on the lake.  Actually the whole process was quite pain free, aside from minor (and major) sunburns!  Sunscreen that "works in water" is overrated.. it "works" but then really it doesn't.  Not all sunscreen lasts in water, and no matter how much you apply you're bound to burn!  

All in all, I had a blast on the lake!  It was a great time spent with my family, girlfriend and sister's boyfriend.  

Here are some cool pictures from today's adventure. 

Ashley and I tubing!! 

Ashley and I hangin' out on the boat (:

 Here are us kids after lunch 

Mom too.

I got to drive the boat!!

Russell got the hang of skis pretty fast! I've got a few shots of him falling though! 

And he's about to hit the water!

And for my sister, she tried to water ski today.. It takes a lot of tries, and right here is the look of determination (: Hang on sis! haha

All in all, a great day on the lake.  The water felt amazing, sunburn not so amazing.
Food was great, family and friends was great too. 

Consistency or Variety?

I'll ask you, since I'm in a blogging mood.. (thus blogging here)

What do you prefer?
Consistency or Variety?  This question is aimed at things online.. such as websites, social networks or even blogs like this..
For example, one day I get on myspace and all the sudden the title is [My___ ] and the layout is (I kid you not) radically different.  Want to know how fast I left that site?.. within minutes..

And when Facebook makes changes, it's quite minor.. (A smart move), plus things like the Facebook logo are things that shouldn't be changed.. why?  Well because we make the mental association with the symbols, shapes and colors.. etc. yada yada..

I guess what I'm getting at is, should I keep my bog title eternally the same?  And the same for my "picture strip" beneath the title?  Is the "consitency" better so each time you go view a blog post, you can surely rely that you're looking at THE Anthony Ferretti's blog spot?  As for the picture, wouldn't some variety be nice, since all in all you keep coming back for more posts it would be nice to see something different than the same blasted picture!

As for variety, I like variety.. it's the "spice of life"..  Somewhere in here is the balance between the two, that's what I'll shoot for.  If you did in fact read this, feel free to add your input!  Comment on here or Facebook! (:

By the way, my latest title is from my most played song on iTunes.. fair enough right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2lav8rqK4Y#t=00m30s Now enjoy.. (:

-Night for now!

Making money stretch... falsely..

I was trying to explain this to my girlfriend today, lets see if writing it makes more sense..

So, have you ever done this?  You make money, both in the past and future.. And of course you've got things you want to get.. The money justifies the spending, right?  "I can buy those $100 Nikes because this week I made $40 for mowing the neighbors lawn, and I made $10 from ..... " AND I'll make another $50 for mowing next week, etc.."
That sounds great so far, right? Make $100 for the $100 shoes that you'll buy.

Well here's the problem I'm getting at.. Next week you'll start the cycle of reasoning over again, saying for another 'wanted item', "I can buy that _____ because this week I made $40 for mowing the neighbors lawn, and I made $10 from ..... "

but WAIT one second!! That was the same $50 that was for "last week!", now you're stretching the $50 over two weeks!

End result?  A credit card bill twice as large as your bank account (:   Haha, I try to avoid this, however it's so easy to do when you're mentally trying to calculate how you're going to pay for what..

Posters, for ME!

The day has come, it's like Christmas!! Or better yet, my birthday!!  I went to Michael's and bought poster frames.  The nice kinds.. I got them for 70% off, but still five frames added up to be quite a lot.  The prints from Costco, I was quite pleased with their quality.  Also pleased with the quality of my photos!  It's very rewarding to see my hard work in print form, not to mention on my wall!

I'll take a picture or two to show what's up, but they don't nearly do a good enough job showing how amazing they look in their frames!

This is the 20x30 poster that I originally had in the room.  The sunset looks nice, the frame adding a lot to the completed look. 

Here is a 16x20 (a step down from the 20x30 poster), and I like it a lot for the portfolio layout.

The colors and detail are incredible with the 16x20, allowing me to see all the detail in the photo.  I feel like I'm there! (:

Another awesome picture, quite wall worthy in my opinion!

Bermuda Falls, Oroville's very own.

Another poster I cannot see yet, however I've heard the "oohs" and "ahhs" from my family, since I framed it (not looking at the finished print), and it's a gift from Ashley.  Quite a surprise because I have a feeling it's the BEST looking one out of them all.  I can't wait to have these on my wall, proudly showing off some of the work that I've created in the past year. 

Here it is!! 

Thanks Ashley!!

Avocados

Avocados are so delicious.
I could eat them all the time!  In moderation that is.. I had a chicken sandwich with avocado, bacon, cheese and tomato on it.  Talk about eating good, dang it was good!!  Since I love avocados so much, I think I'm going to do some research.. and I will get back and post what I found out.

Well well well, I found out that California produces 90% of the nation's avocado crop, and San Diego is the biggie where 60% of California's avocados are grown.  Now that we can be proud of our home state produce, lets move on to the nutritional facts.  Avocados have no cholesterol or sodium, with only five grams of fat.  Is that healthy?  Um, sounds like it. And I'm too lazy to tell you the nutritional facts, so i'll link a page if you're interested.. (http://www.avocado.org/nutrition/)

Man they taste good on burgers!  And in burritos, on EVERYTHING!!
That reminds me of that Subway commercial, Avocados on your this sandwich, that sandwich, etc.  Then the kid says "Avocados on my cookie?"  .......  SURE!! hahaha
Yep, Subway's jumping on the Avocado band wagon.. http://www.subwayfreshbuzz.com/menu/avocado/index.asp?rdr=PartnerSites:Subwaycom:Avocado:SecUnit:W5:2011

Well, I like avocados. I'd put them on a lot of things.  Kinda like Teriyaki sauce.. haha, that goes on anything too!

June Update

It's been a while since I've last blogged. So much for my "I'm going to blog every night" plan for the summer.

It's the lack of a schedule that's derailed my consistent blogging..

To go back in time, I'd like to quickly touch upon the highlights of this month.
June 2nd -5th, I raced in Hood River, Oregon.  The stage race was wicked hard, full of ridiculous hills.  Not only were the hills difficult, it was the fast pace of the Pro/1/2 race that made the race challenging.  Most of the stages I lasted like less than ten miles with the pack before falling off the back, completely fried.. spending the rest of the stage riding in solo trying to make the time cut.  As for the racing, it was a great great experience.  I gained a lot, and it was an intense four days of racing.  At the least, it was a great chunk of training with the team.   Racing with the best climbers in the nation was a great experience, however my performance was not tip-top, showing me that I've got a bit of work to do.  I finished in last place overall, 106th of the initial 150 riders.  Getting the "lantern rouge" was harder than you'd think, and I think it says a lot to have finished a four day stage race, despite being quite literally one of the worst climbers in the P/1/2 field.   The fourth stage was insane.  It was 90 miles, full of hills.  I got dropped on the first roller because I spent so much time chasing the pack from the downhill start.  The hills were hard, and we had to do 4 KOM's.  I even managed to take a wrong turn, doing extra mileage!! On the descent of the third KOM I got a flat tire.  That was just about it.  I was ready to call it quits since at that point I had gotten passed by quite literally every category.. I got a spare wheel and managed to ride up the last 10km of hills to the finish with the P/1/2 women's field.  The KOM's were high up in the snow.  That was a cool experience because the weather was perfect and the snow and runoff was a great contrast with the cool air and breeze around me in the hills at the base of Mt. Hood.

On to other cyclings news.. Nevada City Classic.
I dreaded doing this race because I knew exactly what was coming.. Fast racing, painful hills and getting dropped.. and lapped..
Sure enough (not that I was "sticking to the plan"), I started in the front.  Right behind Ian, we rolled out and had great positioning for the neutral lap.  I managed to hang with the top group for a total of about five laps before I got shelled off the back.  The gaps that started out as 2 ft and 3 ft gaps turned into 5 and 10 ft. gaps.. I got dropped, finding myself in no man's land.  The rest of the field was way off the back, and I managed to ride by myself (having blown up from those initial five laps) and found some other riders off the back.  I had blown up so bad that I couldn't hang with anyone, getting dropped one by one by each group that passed by. The hill was brutal and I kept plugging away, despite getting lapped numerous times.  I figured they'd pull me but they never did. All in all, after about an hour I was beginning to lose hope.  I asked the Chico crowd how long I'd been riding and someone (Jeff O.) shouted "Not long enough!"  That irritated me a bit, so I kicked it in gear with what little energy I had left, zipping up the jersey and grabbing extra water bottles in an attempt to dig deep for the remaining time left.  The next lap I found out I'd been going for over an hour.  A few laps later I saw 5 laps to go.  That's when I knew the end was near.  I finished the race, practically dead last.  I am beginning to see a pattern.. Sign up for big "classic" races and get dead last.  Hmm.. my form isn't here yet.  Probably because I don't spend enough time on the bike..

Speaking of time spent off the bike, the rest of my summer has been quite enjoyable.. Lots of time spend with friends, making the most of things with the given opportunities to hangout.  Juan had been our (Ashley and My) main focus since he was leaving for the Air Force Mid June.  We spent quite a number of days and nights together, it was awesome. We swam a lot, went to Fosters a lot, watched a lot of movies and stayed out late a lot.  Between the three houses, we spent a lot of time together.  I am so glad we had the chance to do that.  After Juan left, I have been spending time with Ashley and Patrick, since with Patrick's help I've been fixing up my car.  I replaced my CV Axles, that was quite a project!

At the moment, that's all that's really been going on.  Lots of fun, and this summer has been quite productive so far!