It is useful to post updates on a regular basis....sooooo, I will see if I can keep up with a weekly post. I think though, that a better place to do this would be on my actual wordpress website so I will be posting primarily over there. The address is www.hakesdesign.com.

Woah......I didnt' even know this was still up...

Well, I guess this blog is still up......even though I've not checked it in like, ohhhh, 20 years or something. Been busy lately and haven't had a chance to......er wait, no that'd be a load of crap, I just kinda forgot all about this blog and updating it and was basically thinking, hey, who the heck checks this thing anyway?

I started looking up people on myspace that I went to school with just to see who I could find and it's crazy who you are able to actually locate on there.

My life has been pretty good lately. My daughter is getting older. The big 2 just occurred and it is getting very fun having her running around talking, "riding bikes", and other crazy wacky 2 year old stuff. Having a kid is great!

Andrea is teaching jr. high english now, which is a little bit different than the ol' 2nd grade class she had her first year of teaching. This will be the 2nd year she is teaching English and well, even though she says she'd hop back to grade school in a heart beat, I know she likes teaching Jr. High.

I am going back go school here this fall to get my master's degree at Western Illinois University. They have an extension in the QC and I'll be majoring in Instructional Design and Technology. Really, i want the pay jump that getting a masters degree will give me. But, if i find a way to use this degree at work by taking over some of our tech stuff, than so be it.

Other than that, just been hanging out doin the family thing. Perhaps I will get on more frequently and update this thing......ya never know.

-Dan out-

currently listening to : Weezer-Red Album

Almost October

Man, this year seems to be goin by quickly. It is already a week away from October....well, 8 days anyway. Our bathroom project of justice that seems to NEVER end, is well, still going on. I got the plumbing all done though, and the tub is being used for my daughter's baths.....since at 14 months, she's a bit big for the little table-top tub. Maybe this bathroom will be finished by Halloween...oh, that'd be nice. We'll see.

In other news, I am working on this huge mural for the Hennepin Canal's 100th year anniversary. My Art 1 class, Juniors and Seniors, are painting most of it, and it's coming along just fine. They need it by October 7th I believe...so we have about a week left to complete it. Here's hoping we get it all done! Well, it will get done whether I do it all or we finish it in class.

Homecoming week is next week, which sometimes = chaos. Hopefully the classes won't be to crazy and pull to many pranks that will then get everyone into trouble. It's happened before though, and I'm sure it will happen again.

We went out to this Nature Preserve on Friday, and did all kinds of different things with the Jr. High School. I taught a lesson on recycled paper making....it worked somewhat, and all of the other Jr. High teachers did other various lessons with the students outside. We had hotdogs for lunch, played some capture the flag, went on a very quick nature hike and then finished the day off with a scavenger hunt. All in all....a pretty fun time. I'm looking forward to the next time we do this.

FINALLY, we got rid of our stupid Sprint Phone service, and switched over to Verizon. They have a teacher discount available, so we lucked out and got a pretty decent plan for pretty cheap. We snagged two Motorola Razr V3m phones and so far, I am quite pleased with them. Already looked up how to unlock the full features of the phone. I don't think it should be legal for Verizon to turn of parts of the phone you now own. I mean, it's your phone now....it should be completely ready for you to use in every way that the phone was meant to be used. This will be rectified here soon on my phone at least. Being able to grab the pictures off of my phone will certainly be nice.

Still playing Lord of the Rings Online.....and having a good ol' time. My character is getting up there level wise. Good times....good times.

and with that...I'm done!

-Dan-

UPDATE of JUSTICE

Currently Playing:
Lord of the Rings Online - PC
Battlefield 2 - PC
Zelda: Twilight Princess - Wii

Currently Reading:
Blood of the Fold - Terry Goodkind
Wolves of Calla - Stephen King
________________________
It has come to my attention that this blog needs some updating, and since I'm sitting here letting my computer grind on some movies, I figured, hey, why not update this beast! It's been crazy busy this summer so far.

First thing we did upon getting off of school for the summer, was hop in a car and drive to Disney World. I'll throw some pictures up on here later on. It was a blast, and since I'd never been before, I took close to 600 pictures. I won't bore you with all 600, although those of you who know me, are well aware that if you so desire, all 600 can be made available to you....and I can explain each of the 600....and why I chose that specific angle or layout...haha. Disney World really is not as over-rated as I thought it would be. As a matter of fact, Disney World is as awesome and perfect as they make it appear. I'd say absolutely NO false advertisement that I saw. All of the employees seem genuinely EXCITED to see you and are hopping at the opportunity to help you out. The rooms are pretty nice and I would imagine if you spend the mega bucks, the rooms are even better. It was an amazing time and I can't wait to go back.

Here are a few photos from Disney World. I'll have a brief description under each one. Enjoy.....cause lets face it, looking at pictures of other people's vacations ROCKS!!!!
























The Castle....who doesn't love this place?




MGM Studios was probably my 2nd favorite place.




Epcot was also pretty cool, and that ball thingy is HUGE!



Here Andrea and I are riding across the lake to
Magic Kingdom on a ferry they have running all day.



Gotta love Walt....!



The whole family at Animal Kingdom...and yes, we had matching shirts made....screw you for judging us!



Maya's first DUMBO experience....gotta love flying elephants.



Maya chillin with Cinderella...although I'm pretty sure she is just trying to figure out why she's wearing those long gloves when it is 98 degrees out in the shade!



And......Maya with Ariel....although I think she's freaked out by this lady...haha.



It was also Star Wars Weekends the first day we got there
and storm troopers had taken over some parts of MGM.



Of course I had to go see the AT-AT walker in MGM as well.
Man, Star Wars rules!



Animal Kingdom was VERY cool in that we took this
Safari ride, and got to see TONS of animals just walking around
Lots of great photo opportunities.



We also just plain CRASHED every night when we
got back. I knew this picture was being taken, so
decided to put a slight smile on my face....thus making
me look AWESOME...ER.....SHWAM...I love inventing
my own words.



After Disney World, we drove over to Daytona and
hung out on the beach for a day. Just happened
to see a rainbow when we were there and got to have
a great shot taken.



The ocean is...well, pretty at night, there is no other
manly way to say it. Oceans rule!

Well, that's about it. Like I said, I have a TON more pictures, but I don't want to crop and upload 600 photos....and who would seriously look at them all. Either way, Disney World rules and if you haven't gone....uh, start saving.

-Dan out-

A Lot has Changed

currently playing: Neverwinter Nights 2, Battlefield 2152, Fable, World of Warcraft

Well, alot has happened since I last updated this thing...first and foremost, my daughter Maya has gotten pretty big and she now can roll over! Pretty good times...it was the craziest thing. She was laying on her stomach on the table, and started rolling over to her side. We stood there going, "c'mon...roll over here", etc, and then, poof....she just did it. Pretty exciting! I know, some of you are like, uh...who cares...but when you have a kid, you'll realize, it is a exciting and big deal. She is almost five months old now and enjoys smiling, gargling, blowing bubbles and occasionally laughing. It's a lot of fun.

In other news, Andrea, Maya and I all got our Christmas tree last two weekends ago and put that beast up. That was a crazy time, but it's up now and all decorated. It looks pretty good.

Well, school is keeping us both pretty busy, but, it's alright, because I'd rather be busy than bored!

In other news, the PS3 and the Wii launched a few weeks ago. Very exciting times to be interested in video games of any kind. The only thing is, the PS3 is frippin' expensive, and the Wii, well, lets just say I'll be waiting until I try one out first before dropping the incredibly reasonable $250 on one. Gotta watch out for the ol' Wii Elbow though....so dumb!

Anyways, I've gotta go watch some Survivor. Hopefully I can keep this thing updated on a more regular basis than oh...every 4-5 months!

-Dan out-

NINTENDO DS - LITE

The Nintendo DS LITE is truly a wonderful handheld gaming device. I played my Gameboy SP to death and really enjoyed the heck out of it, but when the DS came out, I just had this feeling that I would be snagging one sometime. I waited though, because I wanted the price to go down, and I wanted there to be enough games to warrant my getting one. I looked at the Sony PSP for quite some time as well, but decided that the $250 mark is just a little big to much for a handheld...even if it is a graphically superior machine to the DS. Then I got wind that the DS-LITE would be coming out in June...and I went...wha wha whaaaaaat? After reading up on the LITE I knew that I would be waiting until this variant came out because of all it's upgraded features. The battery life is longer, the screen now has different settings depending on where you are playing it, and the max brightness setting is significantly brighter than the original DS. The size had been slimmed down as well. Now this slimming process also took away some of the comfort you get while holding the original and larger DS, but once you figure out a comfortable way, (holding it lightly in your fingers), to hold the new DS-LITE that obstacle seems more like a user preference problem than anything else.

Game wise, I have picked up quite a few different titles. The most exciting, which I have been playing like CRAZY, is the new Age of Empires: Age of Kings game. This game is so much fun. It has all the different features that the original games had, but is now turn based....which is really for the best because of the stylus use that is required. There is a complete TECH tree, upgradable units, different ages to go through, tons of different units, even MONKS! You can make castles like the original, which gives you a special unit that is only for your race ( a better word could be used here but I can't think of one), and all in all, I am just hooked on it. It's also not an easy game. The computer AI is pretty smart and will really screw things up with their Hero units if given the chance. All in all, probably my favorite game on the DS so far.

Another game is the new Super Mario Brothers. Great game, sort of a remake in some respects, but lots of new things to make it feel really new and different. The mini-games are also pretty dang fun!

Resident Evil is also pretty fun on there. It's a remake of the PS game from a long time ago, but the DS version really holds onto all the scary moments, and the feel of the original game. And YES Mark, I did play the original game over at my friend Jarod's house....even if I didn't beat it. And YES Mark, sometime here, I will get around to beating it on GameCube....haha.

One game I don't have yet, but want to get sometime, is Mario Kart. Matt and I have been playing that over the DS WIRELESS LINK and it is pretty sweet. He just sends me a multiplayer only version of the game, via the wireless feature on the DS, and we race....very fun and very cool idea being able to share the game even if one person doesn't have the game.

One thing that is coming out very soon, is the DS WEB BROWSER. There is a SWEET video that details how the whole thing works over at YOUTUBE.
Now, the load times are not great on this thing, but hey, it's the internet on your Handheld gaming device...how sweet is that. All you need is a wireless connection. You can do e-mail, check any website, no chatting though....yet. That might be kind of hard to do though, without a real keyboard. Who knows though, there may be something adapted that will enable people to chat on AIM or what not over the DS. Not sure when the US release will be for this browser, but it is already on in Japan and I'm hoping it comes state-side sometime this Fall.

Other than all of that....life is going well. Maya and Andrea are doin good and my life is hectic, but exciting with the new addition to the family.

I also found out that my buddy Andy just picked up World of Warcraft. Let the questing begin baby!

-Dan out-

FATHERHOOD!!!!

Well, it has indeed been a while since I have posted on here and a LOT has changed since my last post. The first and most important thing that has happened is that I am now a Dad! Very weird feeling...let me tell ya. Allow me to introduce to you...


MAYA ROSE





She was born on July 16, yeah, the day after my birthday....weird. Andrea's water broke around 2am...and we got over to the hospital about 4am. As soon as we got there, her contractions started up like CRAZY! We got to the delivery room and she started laboring pretty heavily. As soon as she got far enough along, the pushing began. After 3 hrs of pushing....and alot of headway....it became apparant that the baby's head was at a slight angle, and there was no way it was going to come out the natural way. YEAH FOR C-SECTIONS!!! So, after a c-section....Maya was brought into this world screaming quite loudly I might add. Her stats are as follows:

9lb, 1oz
19" long
35cm - head diameter

She is a rather large baby.....but, she's cute and the chunk only adds to the cuteness. Andrea is doing GREAT and Maya is as well. We've had a few late nights, or early mornings, however you wanna look at it, but, all in all, we're adjusting pretty well. Very exciting stuff.....if you happen to be in our town and wanna stop by...you are more than welcome. Call first of course...we've been in the Quad Cities alot lately.

Until next time...

enjoy these HIGH RES pics of Maya from her Birthday.

PIC 1
PIC 2
PIC 3
PIC 4
PIC 5


-Dan out-