Hey, have you heard of Flickr? It is a really cool online photo storage and sharing service. I’ve started using it quite a bit as it is even easier and faster for me to post photos on Flickr than on our family’s web site.

They offer a free account where you can upload up to 20MB of photos per month, and an almost unlimited account for $25 per year. They also provide an upload tool that will automatically resize your photos before upload, so the free 20MB goes a long way! After you download and install their upload program, all you do is right click on your photo and choose “Send to flickr” from the drop down menu to post it in your Flickr photo stream. This is what makes it so fast and easy.

You can also make “photo sets” to group similar photos, and you can join “groups” where many Flickr members share photos among others with common interests. You can order prints of your photos and either have them shipped to your home or you can pick them up at Target.

Friends can subscribe to each other’s photostreams so they can always see their friends’ latest photos. Titles, captions, and comments are easily added to any picture. RSS feeds and JavaScript codes make adding Flickr pictures to a web site quite easy. This is how I have the photos on the home page of FarnellFamily.com set up.

It really is a great service with lots of custom options including options to make photos private, allow certain people to order prints, etc. If you have a digital camera, I would encourage you to give Flickr a try! If you do, let me know your username so I can add you as a contact to my account. See my Flickr photostream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcfarnell/

You’re Invited!

Suzanne will be a young artist soloist performing a violin concerto with the Southwest Washington Symphony on Tuesday, April 11. This is quite an accomplishment and we’re all proud of her. She has put a lot of practice into this and would love to have you attend the concert. Christina’s friend Laurel Shetler also won the audition and will be a second young artist performing a piano concerto with the symphony at the same concert. This is going to be a great concert and you won’t want to miss it!

Spring Classical Concert "Great Ballet Birds"
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 7:30 pm
Columbia Theatre

Guest Artists

• Laurel Shetler, pianist, Mondelsohn Rondo Brillant for piano by Mendelsohn
• Suzanne Farnell, violinist, Violin concerto in C Major by Haydn.

Program

• Swan Lake Suite - Tchaikovsky
• Firebird Suite - Stravinsky
• Guest Young Artist Selection

Tickets

• Adult - $15.00
• Senior (62+) - $ 12.00
• Student - $ 8.00

I’m writing this on my laptop while flying home from Michigan and my week long stay at Verity. I had a great time this past week. I found out Dr. Castelino actually has a PhD in Computer Engineering which is why he has such a good background in math. He was able to help me with quite a few different math problems. He also had a book of practice tests that I was unable to get a copy of due to the fact that it is out of print, so that was nice to be able to practice with. I took a practice math test on Thursday, and got a score just high enough I would have passed if it had been the real thing, so things are looking hopeful!

However, my favorite part of the week wasn’t the long hours of studying! The best part was meeting fellow students who are pursuing degrees in the same way I am, and visiting and doing different things with them. I got to help make about 30 pizzas last Sunday afternoon for everyone, as they give the regular cook Sundays off. That was fun. They have big walk-in refrigerators and a huge kitchen. We also played volleyball three different evenings in the ball room (basically a banquet room as the campus is actually a hotel). They had chapel every morning with singing and a short message. On Tuesday evening they had "Symposium" where everyone has to dress up (men with suit coats and ties) and several of the students gave speeches. Some of the speeches were prepared, and others impromptu (the students were given a topic about two minutes before they had to speak).

The meals were great, but the only lettuce served was iceberg so I missed real lettuce. During the week we had enchiladas, turkey and mashed potatoes, hamburgers, raw veggies, jello, tortilla wraps, muffins, cereal, bagels, yogurt, juice, pizza, chicken strips, cole slaw, green salad, French fries, fresh fruit (bananas, apples, oranges), cake, and more.

A lot of people at Verity say "hey" instead of "hi," which is interesting. I guess a lot of people back home do too, but I really noticed it this week. So now you’ll know why if you here me doing it from now on.

I missed being home, but at the same time it was a great experience. It would be really fun to go there and earn a degree onsite, but I’m happy being a DE (distance education) student. This program has worked out really well for me and I’m thankful the Lord provided the opportunity.

I’m looking forward to being home again. Actually, I can’t wait until this test is over so I can go on to other things! If I can pass this Math GRE test on April 1st, I’ll only have one or two more electives and I’ll be done with my bachelor’s degree. I’m hoping to be done by summer….

Sunday, March 19 - Yesterday I arrived at Verity, an "innovative Christian post-high school facilitation program affiliated with IBLP, where students can study to earn their accelerated bachelor’s degree from an accredited college…" Verity is located in Flint, MI, at the Riverfront Character Inn.

Anyway, Verity is the program I’ve been working on my math degree through. My math GRE test is coming up in two weeks, April 1st, and I’m spending a week here to prepare and study with Dr. Castelino who has a PhD in Mathematics. Hopefully I will be able to focus and learn a lot during this week so I can pass this exam.

I had a good trip yesterday and arrived here about 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. I’ve met quite a few other students who are studying here onsite. One girl recognized my name as she remembers Christina from Verity Prep. One other guy I met in Sacramento last year, and a couple others I remember from when I came here for orientation in 2003.

Today I’m resting and taking it easy in preparation for a week of study. At 10:30 this morning, a bus from Cornerstone Baptist came and picked up about 20 or 25 of us for church. Students go to various churches in the area, and this is the one I went to when I was here for orientation as well. It was a nice service.

I’m told we might go to the park Thursday afternoon to play soccer, volleyball, etc. That would be fun. They also play volleyball in the ballroom quite a bit, but they can’t right now because they’re doing maintenance and are waiting for an inspection.

Hope you all have a good week back home. I wish I was there for Aschenbrenner’s going away party and other events, but I can’t seem be everywhere and do everything. I’ll be home next weekend, so I’m looking forward to that. I would appreciate your continued prayer as I prepare for this test. Thanks!

More pictures are available at the link below, and I hope to be posting more throughout the week:
http://www.farnellfamily.com/pictures/Misc/2006_Verity

Did you know the "three sisters" (mountains) down in Oregon are named Faith, Hope, and Charity? That is so neat! Does anyone know the background or history behind these names? Maybe it has something to do with this Bible verse:

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." 1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)

Hmm, I wonder if they named the biggest mountain Charity? Anyway, I’m writing about skiing on the "Bachelor" mountain, but I thought the names of the three sisters were pretty interesting, too.

On January 27th, 2006, Christina and I went skiing at Mt. Bachelor for the first time. They were having their annual "ski free day," which is a canned food drive where each skier donates three cans of food in exchange for a free lift ticket. Tickets are normally $49, so this is a great deal, especially if you don’t have to rent equipment! The national guard was there with their big trucks to help transport the canned food. We later found out that 7,000 skiers participated and donated 25,500 lbs. of food! This food will go to the poor and needy of Central Oregon.

We invited Jon, Jacob, Ezra, and Anna to go with us. I told Ben about the deal, too, and he brought a van load of 9 more skiers and snowboarders. We met at the Woodland Park and Ride at 4 a.m. and had a wonderful drive down to Bend, OR. We took highway 26 over Government Camp on Mt. Hood, which had gotten 7 inches of new snow the night before. We were able to avoid putting on chains and had a safe drive all the way. We enjoyed visiting and singing songs along the way.

The ski area opened at 9 a.m., and our goal was to arrive by 8 a.m. so Jon could rent skis and the rest of us could get all our equipment ready. However, because of the new snow on the road and several other delays, we didn’t arrive at Mt. Bachelor until 10 a.m.

The slopes were not overly crowded, and everyone had a great time. The snow was awesome near the base area, but near the top of the lifts it was a bit icy. The upper area was also very windy and snowy, and our goggles were freezing over in no time. The summit chair lift was closed. Still, it was a great time! I can’t wait to go back and explore this ski area some more…I may be going again on spring break!

We got back to Woodland at 10 p.m. This will be a day to remember for a long time. I’m already looking forward to next year! This was the 17th annual "ski free day," so I’m hoping I can attend for many years to come. The weather wasn’t the best for photography, but I did get a few shots: http://www.farnellfamily.com/pictures/Skiing/2006-01_Mt_Bachelor

Sorry Jon, you and I aren’t in any of the pictures.

Update, 2/26/2006: I found out that the names of the three sisters were "probably originally applied by members of the Methodist Mission in Salem in the early 1840’s." Also, Mount Charity is about 300 feet taller than Mount Faith or Mount Hope. You can read more about these mountains here.

Update, 2/26/2006: Oops, maybe I spoke to soon…."Here’s an interesting fact about the Sisters: they were almost going to be named Faith, Hope and Charity, but the Oregon Geographic Names Board turned down this proposal in 1975." I found this fact here.

Matt and I had a great day hike up Mitchell Mountain today. The day was crisp and clear, the views were awesome, but the wind was a bit chilly on top. Matt had a thermometer and it showed the temperature at 15 degrees on top at about 10:30 a.m. We guessed the winds to be gusting up to about 50 mph. We had planned on snowshoeing, but the snow was frozen so hard that we were able to hike the whole way without ever using our snowshoes. There were lots of great photos to be had on top, but fingers started freezing within moments of taking the gloves off due to high wind and cold temps. It was a great trip! Sorry there aren’t many words in this report - I managed to throw together 18,000 words over here: http://www.farnellfamily.com/pictures/Climbing/2006-02_Mt_Mitchell

Update, 2/25/06: Mt. Mitchell used to have a fire lookout on the peak. Pictures of the lookout are available here: http://www.firelookout.com/wa/mitchell.html