LaurenandLloyd.com

where our wasted time becomes your wasted time

family

Reservations are open

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I know many of you want to know what actually goes on at the Sommerer Family reunion. Well, I’m pleased to announce that all of the information for the 2015 reunion has been posted.

In total it is about ten pages. I know this, because my mom routinely prints out the internet for my dad to read. You can go to the: Introduction, General Information & FAQ, Schedule of Events, Meals or Reservation page. Each page is guaranteed to be more fun and exciting than the last. That is to say, the last page isn’t very exciting.

If you actually go and take a look, I want you to notice how different the Sommerer Family Website looks as compared to LaurenAndLloyd.com. People say that they look similar, but I’m always quick to point out the completely different color scheme and the slightly different logo. Oh, and we completely stole the motto from the Hofmans. Sorry, Hofmans.

Order Up!

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Well, the book I “wrote” for my dad didn’t get here before Father’s Day, but it really turned out nice. This will sound stupid, but it looks just like a real book. It even has a bar-code on the back.

So, if you were waiting to see the final product before turning your blog website into a book, I would say that it’s easy enough, and turns out okay too. It’s not perfect. The automatic software isn’t the best at laying out pages, so there are some pages that are nearly empty, but there are not many of those. Things that I would do differently…

  • Take more time on the dust jacket. I should have put a title on the cover as well as the spine.
  • Better proof reading. I have two spelling mistakes on the inside front cover of the dust jacket. The only thing that everyone is sure to read.
  • The Sommerer Family Website has a fair number of posts about how to use the website. I can’t imagine that those are going to be interesting in book form.

Now I have to decide whether to mail it to him or keep it until the family reunion that starts on the 1st of July. Oh, and you’re all invited to attend.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

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This was a big experiment. I (1)wanted to see if the video on my phone was good enough that I could reliably use it when things needed to be taped. I (2)needed to learn to use the latest version of iMovie.

About 4 years ago Apple completely rewrote their video editing program that comes with every Macintosh. They rewrote it and cut out about 50% of the features. Everyone was upset about it, and so they made the old version available as a download.

I’ve been using that old version at school for Multimedia Application and Video Editing, two of the classes that I teach. Every year they add back some of the features from the old program, and this last semester some of my students wanted to use their own laptops for their video projects. Nothing wrong with that, except that Apple no longer allows downloads of the old software, so they had to use the new software.

And they liked it. They told me I should try it. The annual Sommerer family ball game seemed like my chance:

My verdict? It’s good enough to use now, but I don’t really like it. Lots of features are hidden and the layout does not seem as intuitive to me. But it is easy to make a nice video.

P.S. If you are related to me, you should post comments on the Sommerer Family Website.

Matthew

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We’re an Aunt and Uncle again! Rachel, Mark’s wife, gave birth to Matthew Anton Hofman yesterday (June 8th) in St. Louis. Her early contractions started early Saturday morning, and they went to the hospital Sunday night, Matthew was born sometime Monday afternoon. That’s too long, if you ask me. They should have tried Overnight or Next Day Delivery . (rim shot)

No comments needed here today. Why don’t you head on over to Mark’s site and congratulate the new parents? (Mark and Rachel know you guys from here. 🙂 )

“Lunch”

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Right before the Brothers left for Missouri, we had lunch together. And by ‘lunch’, I mean that Lloyd cooked up some baked beans, then had his brothers help run speaker cable from the piano, down a hole, across the basement, back up another hole, and hooked it up to his computer. We ate when the food was good and cold.

I'm 'helping'.

We probably have some code issues with these wires.

Thank goodness I'm not tall enough to reach into those cobwebs.

See, his giant new monitor leaves no room for the stereo speakers that used to live by the tiny monitor. Occasionally he likes to blast music throughout the house – usually when he’s cleaning (so no complaints here) – and he needed those speakers set up in a convenient spot. The piano top does very nicely.

piano-top

Thanks, Brothers. You’re welcome anytime.

Something to Crow About

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After a somewhat truncated Sommerer Family February Get-together, most of us retired into Jefferson City to attend a fund raiser for Calvary Lutheran High School. Uncle Ralph organized the event with performances by the Rowden Review and the Homestead Pickers. They played Blue-Grass and Old-Timely music, and both groups were really entertaining. It was a great event. I’d guess about 500 people attended. The Homestead Pickers play at Silver Dollar City, and Uncle Ralph and Aunt Lolly have been watching them for years. They invited Uncle Ralph up on stage to help with one of the numbers. Luckily, Lauren caught it all on tape.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Qsn6nU8bA 520 433]

Danny, Lance and Chance helped behind the scenes, and although Sam served as MC, his dad had the best line of the night: When the Homestead Pickers asked Uncle Ralph what his hat said he replied, “It doesn’t say anything. It just has letters on it.”