Steelers Stanley, etc.

Fall is in the air, it's been cool in the morning and evening and the trees are starting to change colors...I really love this time of year, actually...just hate the fact that I know winter will be right around the corner.
My newphew Derek sent me (and the school) a project to work on called Flat Stanley, it's from a book where a boy gets crushed by a bulletin board which enables him to travel around the world in an envelope. Basically, kids send Flat Stanley (FS) to friends or family and then they can decorate him and take pics with him, and tell about the area they live in, and then send the pics and info back to the kids. I think it's a cool way to learn about new places around the world. So, after getting FS from Derek, we decided to let all the kids at the school in on the project, and finally after a little more than a month I think we're ready to send it back to Derek, so...DMan, be looking for your stuff buddy! Anyway, I wanted to post a few of the pics I took with FS in my area just so you can get a bit of the feel for the project.
As I said, it's also been getting a little cold so I've been looking for a new winter coat for the upcoming year. There is a really cool girl at our school, and her church was having a sale to raise money for people in SE Asia, well, her mom invited Dana and I to go to the sale. I was surprised when I got there how many cool things they had there, and I found a GREAT new coat that had been donated to the church...all for $4! Yep, $4! I had been planning to go and get a new coat and had anticipated spending around probably $75-100,so I was amazed when I found this one. To make matters even better, Dana said she wanted to get me a present there at the sale, so I actually got it for free. How good is that?! HA!
As some of you may (or may not) know the NBA millionaires and billionaires are feuding over money and so as of right now they are not playing. Also, as some of you may (surely you know) know, I love fantasy sports. Well, I've gotten into hockey over the last few years, and so I was lucky to find a jersey this weekend from my new favorite player for the Chicago Blackhawks Jonathan Toews.
Also, I figured I'd update people a little on my Christmas 2011 trip. I will be flying out of here on Saturday the 24th and down to Melbourne. I'll arrive there on Christmas Day and from there catch a short flight down to Hobart which is on the island of Tasmania, Australia. I get to spend Christmas night in a swanky little hostel (this will be my first hostel experience, the hotels there for Christmas were RIDICULOUS) and then head out for a week long backpacking adventure across the island of Tasmania. I'm pretty pumped and can't wait. I'll get back to Melbourne late Friday night and have a full day to bum around the city before leaving out that night at 11 PM. Of course, I always wish I had more time, but I take what I can get and enjoy the time I do have.

I wanted to share a portion of a poem from William Wadsworth called Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.