When the singles first came out from this album, no one was expecting this to beat Rebel. The album dropped and everyone took that back, becoming #3 on iTunes with a 5 star rating, all while achieving very little criticism. I do not consider myself a critic at all (I find I am too lenient of a reviewer compared to others and am not great at finding flaws), so it is ironic that that is about to change.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy everything from Reach Records and this is still a great album, but I would still say Rebel is better and Between Two Worlds is definitely better. In fact, I would go as far to saw Between Two Worlds is my favorite HHH album of all-time.

So what’s my beef with Rehab? Basically it falls along the biggest criticism from fans: the features. Let me go back a bit though. One of the biggest reasons I loved Trip Lee’s album was that his features were all very good. While only 6 songs did not have a feature, the features he did have really added to the album. Another thing I loved was how Trip Lee used auto-tune on his features. Due to secular music, I used to hate auto-tune. However, when Trip Lee used it sparingly and to help the track, it was a big thumbs up.

Unfortunately, Rehab is a little different. There were features on every single song, but it gets worse. The features were not very good at all (minus the ones that were rap like Trip Lee) and most had auto-tune, unlike Trip’s album. You got the same old feel from most songs back-to-back and the artists featured weren’t very good. Finally, I would like to point out that Trip Lee is more of a feature artist than Lecrae. I just think Lecrae would be better off on his own and for me that just really came through in this album.

Before I get to what’s good, I would like to offer one more piece of criticism. Perhaps due to the auto-tune and not so good features, there really aren’t many songs that will get frequent plays after I stop bumping this CD in my car. A year from now I know I will be listening to “Real Life Music”, “Snitch”, “Invade”, “No Worries”, “Covenant Eyes”, “I Love Music”, “Twisted”, and “The Invasion (Hero)”, all of those songs from Trip’s CD. A good portion of the album. I can’t say the same for Lecrae as much. “Check In”, “Killa”, “High”,”40 Deep”, and “God Is Enough” will all get a lot of plays. That’s 5 of 17 tracks, not near as good as the 8/16 from Between Two Worlds. So basically, I find that most of the songs really aren’t deserving of getting much attention at all.

Well, now that I got that out, I would like to say the album is still great. I love anything from Reach and this is no exception. One of the things I love about this album is the title. After Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden, we became separated from God. A basic definition of rehab is “getting back to a former state”. As Christians, we need to get back to that state of union with God. As the Reach site points out, Jesus Christ is the one who does our Rehab.

Finally, the tracks that are good are insanely awesome. Personal favorite? Maybe “40 Deep”. Cliqued up 40 deep all saved all serious! I am loving it, great song! Definitely one of the best out there.

So yeah, it may seem like I am hating, but it’s just a little criticism. The features aren’t very good and not many tracks will get a lot of plays from me, but the songs that are good are definitely faves for me plus the concept of the album is great. Oh, one more thing. Great beats all over, just listen to 40 Deep! Oh, and watch out for the extra 11 tracks droppin 1.11.11! REHAB!

P.S. Read how God is working through Lecrae. This is really a great article:

http://reachrecords.com/blog/show/REHABILITATION

In the meantime, why don’t you check out my Bible blog?

http://ericsbibleblog.wordpress.com/

Thursday, August 5, 2010

10:49 AM CDT

Well, it’s vacation time again. I need to make the most of every second because school starts pretty soon. I’m really excited for this one because it is some place new. We always go to the Black Hills, Yellowstone, the Twin Cities, etc., but I’ve never been to Glacier let alone Canada. The only sucky thing is the long drive, but I have my KJV and my iPod to keep me busy. Our first stop will be Dickinson where we will eat at Bonanza. Time to read. Salaam!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

1:47 AM MDT (all entries from here on will be MDT until I specify)

Reading took me all the way to Dickinson where we ate at Bonanza. The food was great, as usual. From Dickinson to Wibaux I drove. I easily had the best drive, as far as scenery goes, for the day. I got the Badlands instead of the boring plains. I drove to Skillet and Red to pass the time. At a Wibaux visitor center, Bri took over driving. That’s basically all for now. Time to read for the 3 hours and 32 minutes and enjoy the beautiful Badlands. Sure amplifies Bible reading by seeing what God has made. Well, later!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

5:02 PM

I was certainly wrong about me having the best drive, that belongs to Bri who got part of Montana’s interstate. Not much to say besides driving and of course reading. We got 37 minutes until Billings where we will check in, get $0.39 tacoes from Del Taco, and go to a Mustang baseball game. Back to the usual… l8r

Friday, August 6, 2010

11:49 AM

We checking in when we got to Billings and then went to Del Taco. Turns out the tacos were $0.49. I got 4 of them because they are small and cheap. They were good. We then went to a Mustangs baseball game against the Helena Brewers. The stadium was cool and the game was fun. I also got a hot dog. Unfortunately the Mustangs lost and only got 1 hit. When we got to the hotel, dad and I swam. Around 12 we went to bed. Usual morning, but there was bacon for breakfast. We headed out and are now going to Kalispell. I have basically just been listening to my iPod in the city that I got it in. We’ve seen some mountains so we are at last getting somewhere. Time to start reading again. I have no clue how much reading time I’ll get in Glacier, so I am reading ahead as much as possible. Shalom!

Friday, August 6, 2010

4:07 PM

Well, I never got to read. Bozeman came up pretty soon where we got Taco Bell. The items were cheaper than home. I had two $0.99 Chicken Burritos. I then drove to Butte. It was fun to drive in the mountains. However, when I was driving, the anti-lock break [light] came on. The breaks were working, but we were going to check it out at a dealership. The light did go off, but we still went. However, the dealership said they could look on Monday. We obviously left after getting free popcorn and coffee. We got gas and now Bri is driving. So our late arrival got set back more. If all goes well, we may get to Kalispell around 8:30. Time to finally read. Paz

Saturday, August 7, 2010

11:19 PM

I did read all the way to Kalispell. Not much worth noting except we took pictures at Montana’s biggest lake, Flathead Lake. Once in Kalispell, we hit HuHot. I’ve never had it before and all I can say is that its great. You just need to make sure you get the right sauces because there is a lot to choose from. We checked in at the Super 8 and went to bed soon after.
We got an earlier start this morning. Breakfast wasn’t that good, but they did have hot chocolate. We hit Albertson’s this morning to get some meat and bread. We are now only 20 minutes from Glacier which is great considering all the driving we’ve done. Now I will do a bit more reading. l8r

Monday, August 9, 2010

10:33 AM

I was just too busy the last two days to journal, so I will do my best to write the important stuff that I remember. I definitely have time considering the 9 hours of driving today. After my last entry, we shortly hit the west entrance of Glacier. We stopped at Apgar to take pictures of Lake McDonald. At the gift store we called mom (she stayed home) to tell her to look on the webcam because we were on it. She did a print-screen and saved the photo. I drove some of the lake when we left. We occasionally stopped to eat sandwiches along the lake. We went to the lodge at Lake McDonald and went on the boat just before it took off. We had bad seats, but halfway through we just stood on the top deck which was much better. It was fun and neat. We hit McDonald Falls and spent quite a bit of time there. However, it didn’t help that people were climbing on the waterfall upsetting the amatuer photographer I am, so we just waited it out. Next stop was the Trail of the Cedars, in which we were lucky enough to find a parking spot. The trail wasn’t the greatest, but it sure had a lot of tall cedar trees. Soon we entered Logan Pass, which was the best part of Glacier. You were right in the mountains which was cool. We hit a lot of the stops for pictures, but not [much] happened until [the] Logan Pass Visitor Center. We hit the Hidden Lake Nature Trail which started at the visitor center. We walked almost the entire thing, but we turned back short of the Hidden Lake. We were going to hit St. Mary’s falls, but we turned back short. The rest of the day in the park was a drive along St. Mary Lake along with the occasional pullout. We left the park and drove straight to East Glacier Park where our hotel was, the East Glacier Park Lodge. It was annoying getting out stuff to our room. I wasn’t that impressed with the hotel anyways. There was no fast food so we just had more sandwhiches. We plugged in a few chargers and went to bed. Well, I am going to take a short break. Peace!

Monday, August 9, 2010

11:43 AM

In the morning ther was no breakfast so we ate on the balcony. We left for Two Medicine. We hit Running Eagle Falls. Some parts of the year there are two waterfalls, but we only got one. Bri and I walked to the top which was fun, but somewhat challenging with flip-flops. At Two Medicine we got hot dogs… real food! I was getting sick of sandwiches and snack food.It started to rain so we didn’t bother doing anything at the lake. We went back and continued north, but I drove the way to many Glacier.

Monday, August 9, 2010

12:16 PM

I had a short break at the visitor center. Not much happened going to Many Glacier. We hit a few pullouts and a waterfall, and that’s about it. We saw the lodge and went back. I drove to Canada and went through customs. Yeah! I’ve now been to two countries. Dad took over driving and we went to Waterton Lakes National Park. We drove to Red Rock Canyon right away, but it was unfortunately closed. There isn’t all too much to do in Waterton. We saw Cameron Lake and later Cameron Falls, but that was about it. For supper I had Subway which was great. However, they don’t have American cheese, lol. We checked in and took photos outside. The view from the hotel hill was the best on the trip. We spent some time in the lobby and then went to bed. This morning was the usual along with more pictures. We headed out for Regina, a 9 hour drive. At least I just used like two hours writing this along with eating snacks and stopping at a visitor center. Time for some reading. Salaam!

Monday, August 9, 2010

7:54 PM CST

Let me start by saying that the highway in Canada is extremely boring. It looks so much like boring North Dakota. So what’s all been going on? Driving, reading, and a few stops. Our first stop was the world’s largest Teepee in Medicine Hat. We then ate McDonalds. I had a McDouble, Bacon Cheeseburger, and some fries. The food was great. The other stop was the world’s tallest moose in Moose Lodge. Yep, that’s it besides boring driving. Good timing… we are about to enter Regina. Finally some civilization! L8R

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

6:54 PM CDT

A lot of time went by since last entry, but no much has happened. After checking in last night, we looked for some eating places. We ended up getting KFC. I got two Toasted Wraps which were great. At the hotel I watched a program on McDonald’s history. It was interesting, and afterwards we went to bed. This morning we hit the Saskatchawan Science Center. Personally I wanted to get home at a decent time, but the center was fun anyways, especially the hockey exhibit. Since it was already 1, we ate in Regina at Wendy’s. I had two hamburgers and some fries. We then departed for more driving. At Estaban dad and I had ice cream from McDonalds. We then crossed the border. Well, ther was a sign for Minot that said it is 68 miles away. Since I’ve just say around the entire time, I am going to read. I’ll do my summuary after that because I plan to drive after Minot, plus I have my driver’s liscense test too tomorrow. Peace!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

11:12 PM

Well, we are back. I kept Bible reading because I figured I could just type it out later. All that really happened since last entry is that we ate at Taco Bell and I drove to Bismarck from Minot. At Taco Bell I had two chicken burritos. I drove to prepare for my driving test tomorrow. I talked to dad the entire time to keep my busy. Now it is time for my final thoughts. First I would like to say that this vacation was great. I got to go to a beautiful national park plus go into Canada for my first time. I sure wish we would have spent a bit more time in Glacier though because most of the trip was driving. However, it was still great. Now, do I like it better than Yellowstone? Probably not, but at least it was a new place to go. I have the same feeling at the end of this trip than at the end of Yellowstone. “I am sure I only touched the tip of what Yellowstone has to offer,” only this time Glacier. Looking at a map of Glacier, there are literally thousands of mile of trails, not just the few roads. I definitely want to come back in the future and spend days on the trails. Sure I am a bit scared of bears (just not to the extent of my dad), but get me a .22 pistol and some bear spray and I am set. There are also so many lakes that it would be great to do stuff on them. I would bring a bike as well. There were so many people biking the roads, and I would love to do that. To go back to my Yellowstone journal, I would like to end this part with a quote from it. “This trip has been great. [Glacier] is beautiful and truly made by God’s hands, not scientific causes.” I really felt this looking to the lake from the Prince of Whales hotel. It was literally the best thing I have ever seen as far as nature goes.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (ESV)

Verse 1:
Yes, on a permanent team/
You can say I’m fresh to death, I’m eternally clean/
Used to walk to by own beat of drum/
Internal instinct/
But went from enemy to intimacy, I been redeemed/
Through the cross and now I floss in His Paternal Regime/
No more living single/its like I done turned on Regine/
In the body I got it/wha-what fraternity means/
He prevailed my hell so there will be no burning of me/
So keep the urn and the wreath/cause I’ll return to the king/
Accepted fully cause of the crosses conversion of me/
So if I flex/it ain’t in flesh/He bore my burden for me/
And baby when I say I’m fresh/
Its cause He birthed a new me/

Hook:
I’m Fresh/not because my swagger right/
not be-not because/not be-not because my swagger right/
I’m Fresh/cause He came and took the cross/
I can’t floss unless my boast is in the cross/
I’m Fresh/

Verse 2:
I’m fresh/baby, cause of Adam #2/
Crucified with Him/and by faith/man He made me brand new/
Point two/the cross was powerful in changing my view/
Regenerate, all my boys say I’m acting brand new/
And its true/so true/cause I’m not what I used to be/
Somehow I got this boost in me/
Truthfully, I’m not used to me/
Please believe me I’m humble/but in Christ I can boast/
See it’s grace through faith that’s got ya boy so cold/
So cold, and I ain’t trying to be cocky/
No confidence in compliments, I know that’s opposite godly/
See conceit is not my stronghold/confidence is strong though/
Trust on high, and I don’t mean that Cheech and Chong smoke/

Hook

Verse 3:
To some this makes no sense but to others its krunk/
So dawg I pray to God you feel this like them subs in ya trunk/
Not just the beat/although I know its got you moving ya body/
But the message in this song/it should be moving the body/
Point 1, I’m elected and redeemed/
Point two/cause I got a new position, I’m fresh, so clean/
Point three/I’m the-I’m the best me that can be/
I’m in His image so some sinner may just happen to see/
That life is wasted if you shape it in the form of yourself/
Or someone else besides the Son, the One who’s form is this shell/
So I’m reflecting your glory LORD/
Man that’s who I’m living for/
Jesus is LORD so I ain’t gotta please you/

Anyways, the main reason for this entry is to announce a new direction for one of my blogs and my new reading plan. My new Bible reading plan will consist of reading the Bible straight through once in a year. I will also be reading my Upmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. My current 90 day plan is SO time consuming that I don’t have time for much else. I haven’t really been able to grow or reflect on my reading. The reading is really overwhelming and I basically read just for the sake of reading. So with my new plan, I will only be reading about 3 chapters a day. However, I plan to use that free time to grow and reflect. Every day I will try to post about my reading, or in places like Leviticus or historical books, I will reflect on lyrics (specifically worship that I plan to do every night) and my devotions. This is not an excuse to be lazy. I just feel like since I’ve almost been through the Bible twice and I’ve gotten the basic framework, I now want to dig deeper, reflect, and grow. I can’t really do that in the 90 day plan. It won’t start until August 26, but here is the plan I will be following:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/reader/daily/PDF/Plan1.pdf

There is one thing I haven’t been saying. I am going to bring this over to a new blog specifically for this purpose. I’m not trying to copy my sister or anything, but I would just like this in a separate spot. The new blog can be found here:

ericsbibleblog.wordpress.com

June 27, 2010 – 10:17 AM

Well, it’s vacation again. I am so glad vacation is here because I have been killing myself with Bible reading for the past week. Its extremely hard to get three days ahead on a 90 day plan. I also noticed I’ve been out of school for a

month so summer is one third done. Its gone by so slow and fast at the same time, but its been fun. However, there is a lot of room for improvement as far as productivity goes.

The morning was somewhat stressful. I was going to Bible read (to keep my iPod’s battery up), but I didn’t get a chance. But I did pack a New Testament, so I can at least save some of the battery. It was stressful because I was in

charge of the cooler and ice which is normally not my job. I did get enough time to play basketball though, which is a tradition for me to do before a vacation. We eventually left after 10 (Central). Normally we are just slow to get going, but we

left so we could be in Dickinson after 11 (Mountain) to eat at Bonanza. So far I have just fooled around, but I should get going. Salaam!

June 27, 2010 – 12:47 PM

After my last entry I started to listen to “Between Two Worlds” by Trip Lee. I am writing a summary of each track for my blog, so just four tracks took me all the way to Dickinson. We ate at Bonanza and they had a lot of food. Turns

out I grabbed too much vegetables and fruit to get anything else. I also had a bacon cheeseburger which was good. Oh well, I’ll be eating junk the rest of the trip so it was probably a good thing. Plus I need to prepare for the maze. After that I

drove to Bel Field. I am getting my liscense so I’ve been driving a lot lately. The girls (Bri my sister and my mom) were freaking out the entire time, but I didn’t do anything wrong. Well, we have three hours and thirty-nine minutes until Rapid

City and I still need to read the Bible and watch “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets”. Paz!

June 27, 2010 – 4:45 PM

Since last entry I read some of Luke (I forgot to update my reading plan file from my Dropbox so I didn’t know where to start in most categories), watched “National Trasure 2: Book of Secrets” (Bri and I watched it back in 2008 when

we went to the Black Hills because it has Mount Rushmore and Sylvan Lake in it, but I watched it by myself this time), played Tetris (a game I’m recently obsessed due to having it on Linux), and listened to Trip Lee. We are almost in Rapid City

and we are checking out the visitor center soon. I want to get there to get out of this car; my back is sore from hours of sitting. Shalom!

June 28, 2010 – 10:15 AM

We got to the visitor center after my last entry. I was using the internet there and downloaded my Bible reading plan from my Dropbox. We then checked in at the hotel. Turns out we are in a separate building that we got in two times

ago. That time there was a false fire alarm in the middle of the night, so I wasn’t too fond of it. We (dad, Bri, and I; mom wasn’t feeling well) headed off to Sonic. I got a chicken strip sandwich, regular tots, a hot dog, and a strawberry shake. I

was actually pretty cheap because I got the tots for free using a coupon, the sandwich and the hot dog were on the value menu, and I got a free shake due to a buy one get one deal. We then headed off to Mount Rushmore for a show at 9.

We went about halfway around the loop and then say down for the show. When I was waiting I read about the monument’s history. The show eventually started. It was interesting and explained why the four presidents were chosen among

other things. The show concluded with the lighting of Mount Rushmore. It was cool, but I was having a hard time taking photos in those lighting conditions, but I think they turned out well (writer’s note: They turned out fine, but I sure wish I

would have brought a tripod and read up on nighttime photography). We soon left to go back to Rapid City which is a decent length away. I read the Bible on my iPod. We all called it quits and went to bed.

This morning was the usual. The breakfast has a lot of hot food and is really good (writer’s note: I actually didn’t like it that much because there were never bacon or hash browns, and the selection never changed). We eventually left

for Keystone. We are going to go to the Presidential Wax Museum, which features all the presidents in wax along with audio biographies of each one. Hopefully Barack Hussein Obama is there, lol (writer’s note: As a Republican you may

wonder why, but I explain later). We will eventually make our way to Jewel Cave. Well, I want to read as much of the Bible as I can all the way to Keystone. l8r

June 28, 2010 – 5:10 PM

Well, we went to the Presidential Wax Museum, and it turns out Barack Hussein Obama was there so I got a photo with him (well, at least with the wax) to annoy my dad who hates him with a passion. I don’t like him either as no

Christian should, but my dad takes it to an extreme. The museum was interesting, but I’ve seen it many times and I knew most of it from history class this year. We headed off toward Hill City to eat. We had Subway. I had a six-inch (wasn’t

hungry) ham sandwich, and I also got some of mom’s. It was good. We then went to Jewel Cave. Two years ago we couldn’t get in, so this year we called ahead of time. We got there early and checked out the visitor center. We eventually

went in. I really liked the cave and it had some really unique formations. My camera took some really good pictures. We left and are now doing the eastern half of the Custer State Park loop. Adios!

June 28, 2010 – 8:30 PM

Well, we didn’t do much since last time I journaled. We went by Mount Coolidge, a mountain where my dad was scared to go up in 2008 (no railings on either side and he thought there was no turn around), but it was unfortunately

closed. The rest was basically driving (finally got caught up in Bible reading). We also hit 3 tunnels that offer a view of Mount Rushmore. Bri and I climbed all three of them. I guess that was the highlight of the last few hours. The best parts of

Custer State Park have yet to come: Sylvan Lake and Needles Highway.

Well, we got 22 minutes to go until Rapid City. I’ll probably do some more Bible reading until then. I probably didn’t need to get so far ahead in reading because there are a lot of oppurtunities due to all the driving. Oh well, I need to

get ahead for other things this summer too. Back to vacation… we will be getting food from Godfather’s pizza. It’s great pizza and and we don’t have one at home. I just hope there is time to swim tonight (pool closes at 10:00) because the

poolis in the lobby, is huge, and the hot tub is built on rocks and has a waterfall. I suppose I should get going cause Moses is calling me. Shalom!

June 29, 2010 – 4:51 PM

There is a lot to catch up on… last night I wanted to swim, so we were planning to delay the pizza until 10 and I would swim in the meantime. However, Godfather’s was closed so we got Papa John’s. It is my favorite pizza place, but

we can have it any time. The pizza was great even though I needed to pick off mushrooms (eww).

We did the boring normal stuff and then set off to Holy Terror Miniature Golf in Keystone to get the discount before 11. The course is unique and a lot of fun. However, I didn’t play too seriously and lost (I don’t usually lose by over 10

strokes, lol). We then hit Mount Rushmore to finish what we missed. However, mom was with and took a million photos of Bri and I which drove us crazy. We walked the rest of the loop and did some inside stuff. We then left for lunch. The

Executive Grill (where we normally eat in Keystone) hardly sells anything at all anymore. There are only two franchise places in Keystone: Subway & DQ. Since I had Subway yesterday and I’ve never had actual food from DW, I picked the latter.

Bri and mom however, ate at a non-franchise place. At DQ, dad and I both had a LARGE burger (don’t know exactly what, but it was their biggest item) combo. It was great and A LOT of food. While Bri and mom shopped, I drove the van with

dad. I can officially say I have driven in two states, more than my sister can say. We eventually went to the Beautiful Rushmore Cave. I’ve seen it more than any other cave and it wasn’t as nice as Jewel Cave IMO, but I still liked it and 59

degrees is a nice change from the 90 something outside. My camera worked great once again. We are now heading off towards Bear Country USA. We decided to do that because some of it is driven (to avoid the heat). Well, that’s about it for

now. l8r

June 29, 2010 – 8:09 PM

We hit Bear Country USA which was cool, but a lot of the animals were lazy due to the heat, plus they took the sprinklers away! The best part was the baby black bears, who were active and wrestling each other. I also got pretty

close to incompetent, currupt Democrates (donkeys). We left and went to Dinosaur Park. I felt really dumb because everyone else was a little kid (except for the parents). I was also upset about the 65 million years ago signs

(http://www.answersingenesis.org/). Well, we are now going to Culver’s to eat. I don’t know what I’m getting. Well, I should get plenty of swimming time. l8r

June 30, 2010 – 3:42 PM

Last night at Culver’s I had a free Butterburger Value Basket (with my coupon once again) plus a Rocky Road Custard. Afterwards I went swimming with my dad. There was hardly anyone there which is unusual. Afterward I went to

bed. Well, we are almost at Sitting Bull Crystal Cavers, so its time to get going. I’ll update later when I get time. Shalom!

June 30, 2010 – 7:21 PM

Well, a while day to catch up on. This morning we did the Black Hills maze. Several years ago we (Bri and I) creamed our parents. However, “pride comes before the fall,” which was true twice in 2008. This year we certainly had

pride, and for good reason. Bri and I are better at strategy and memorization, and when considering the fact that our parents walk and we run, it should be a no brainer. We started off pwning them, getting three of the four flags and knowing

the location of the exit before they even had two. But, as usual, something always messes us up: in 2008 the exit, and now the last flag. As you probably can tell, we lost. Of course our parents (mostly mom) really rubbed it in due to all of our

pride. We then left for Reptile Gardens. We watched the Alligator show and then the bird show. Well, we are at Story Book Island now. I will get plenty of time to catch up tomorrow due to the long drive to Custer State Park. Peace!

June 30, 2010 – 7:58 PM

Well, Story Book Island was closed already. Anyways, we hit most of the stuff in Reptile Gardens… including Methuselah! It is a tortoise that is over a hundred years old, therefore it has the name of the oldest person recorded in the

Bible. When we were all done we hit Sonic. I had a Chicken Strip Sandwich, a Corn Dog, a Small Tot, and a Large Strawberry Shake. We then left for the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns, which is the third cave we hit. Waiting for the tour to begin, I

explored a mini cave. The tour was fun but short. Out of the three I think I liked Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns the best, even with the shortness. Afterwards, we took a 20-30 minute trail back to the parking lot. I am surprised my dad let us take it

because he has a fear of snakes, mountain lions, buffalo, bears, and much more. After that was Putz-N-Glo, a neon mini golf course. I played seriously and beat Bri. As part of a deal, we also got to do a maze and gem mining. I was sprinting

the maze. It was smaller and easier. I was actually more tired in my 12 minutes in the small maze than the 36 minutes in the large maze. Turns out I lost to Bri, but I was still fast enough to get a prize, a sticky hand. We then did gem mining.

You put sand in a strainer then put it in water to get gems. It was fun, but I still sucked at identifying them like in school this year. We then went to a closed Story Book Island, and we just got a Pepperoni Tomato Godfather’s Pizza. Just in time,

we arrived. Peace!

July 1, 2010 – 5:25 PM

Well, its a new month and I sure started it right.

But before I get to today, let me finidh last night. We got a $20 tomato and pepperoni pizza from Godfather’s when we could have gotten a $10 pepperoni. The pizza was great and the tomatoes really did add to it. However, I’m not

sure if they were worth $10, lol. After eating, I went swimming. Some people wanted to know if I would race them, so that’s what I did for about an hour. After leaving the pool, I showered and went to bed.

This morning was the usual stuff. We left the hotel and headed toward Custer State Park. The first place we hit was Sylvan Lake. Bri and I climberd a lot and all four of us did the trail. Unlike last time, we didn’t have a

miscommunication and have our parents (especially mom) get really mad. We also put our hand in the rock that Nicholas Cage did in “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets” (and no, that was not behind Mount Rushmore). Around 2:30 we ate. I

shared a 10 inch pepperoni pizza with my dad which was really good. We then left for the Needles. Bri and I (and sometimes dad) climber until 5:10ish. We got on top of an extremely high rock that possibly offered a view of the city of Custer.

We also got on top of the tunnel. We left and are now heading to Legion Lake for a few pictures, and then Rapid City. We will probably eat at Culver’s and hopefully I will get some swimming time. Well, I’m going to get going now. l8r

July 2, 2010 – 12:57 PM

To my surprise, we didn’t eat at Culver’s, but a KFC/Long John Silver’s, because we no longer have a LJS at home. I’m not a huge fan of LJS, so I got a Snack Wrap and a Regular Macaroni and Cheese from the KFC part. I also got part

of some apple dessert that my mom gave me. The food was really good. I convinced my dad last night that we would only swim until 9:00, but we lost track of time and swam until 10:00. The water felt good after another 100 degree day. The

rest of the night I chilled and used my iPod.

This morning we did the usual, packed the car, and checked out. We went to Pirates Cove Mini Golf. I did pretty well and had three whole in ones (four on the trip… I had one at Putz-N-Glo) which never happens. However, directly

after the three, I had a 4, 6, and 6 which screwed me big time. I lost by five. We then went to Story Book Island, similar to Story Book Land in Aberdeen. However, it is smaller and had more people than Aberdeen, so it wasn’t near as fun. Plus,

the temperature was in the hundreds and I had a black shirt on, so that didn’t help. The firls then got a drink from Sonic, while dad and I had a shake from McDonalds, which is good. After some map and GPS troubles, we are now on the

interstate.

Well, it is now a five hour and 20 minute drive to home which should be fun (sarcasm). I am now on the correct day in Bible reading, so that gives me something to do. I suppose I will get going on that.

July 2, 2010 – 6:37 PM

Since my last entry it has just been eating, Bible reading, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and gas stations/rest areas. For lunch we had Culver’s in Spearfish. I ordered two Butterburgers. However, I could only eat 1 1/4 because of the

shake. I’ve never had that much ice cream at once and it left me full and somewhat naseous. I know I will never eat that much ice cream again. We are an hour and 23 minutes away frin hime and well into North Dakota (boo). We are also in

central time, but I am still updating in mountain time. There really isn’t much else worth noting. We did stop at the truck stop where I was September 11 last year as sick as could be. I am 6/7 done with reading so I will probably just watch

some Fresh Prince. I will still do another entry and wrap everything up. Shalom!

July 2, 2010 – 7:48 PM

Well, I watched an episode of Fresh Prince, selected songs for my vacation video, and read two chapters of Jeremiah.

We are nine minutes from home so I will wrap up here. This past week was great and really fun, but it seems like yesterday that we went on this interstate – only in the opposite direction. Just like Yellowstone, my adventurous self

would love to spend more time there, specifically in Custer State Park. Well, I guess we are almost home. Its back to boringness. At least I will get a chance to do the things I’ve been putting off. But hey, its not all that bad. In two days is

debatedly my favorite holiday, the Fourth of July. Plus, I got Glacier National Park and possibly Theodore Roosevelt National Park to look forward to. Well, we are now there. It was a great vacation, but now I am back to typical life. Paz!

The first thing I would like to point out is that Firefox has improved its memory usage. I am not getting crashes like I did in the older versions. For that reason, I decided to run a test. I loaded 8 websites just like last memory test, then let leave the browsers alone for 30 seconds and 3 minutes. I left my addons on in Chrome and Firefox (this gives a more life-like trial because addons are enabled in regular browsing). The results were quite surprising.

Chrome always used the most, while Firefox was always the least. Another interesting thing to be noted is that Opera and Chrome increased in usage as time went on, while Firefox decreased. While Chrome may be double Firefox, its still not a big deal at all due to tab isolation, but Firefox now has it to a degree AND uses the least. If things stay the same or get better (which they should) for the official release, I no longer have memory problems. All Firefox would need to do to get my usage is improve its speed and offer addon alternatives to Opera features like built-in e-mail and Opera Link.

Yesterday I pointed out that there are several ways to force addon compatibility. However, they have been replaced by one single addon, the Addon Compatibility Reporter. The features are built right into the addon page. The addon allows you to force all addons to attempt to work, while in turn you tell the developer if they worked successfully. At the moment about 50% of the addons worked, but almost all of my addons are popular so that should be fixed too.

They don’t call it a beta for nothing. I’ve had several problems with Firefox. For starters, on occasion I can’t find some buttons for a few of my addons. While this could be a compatibility problem, it is unlikely because it has happened with several of them (even addons that supposedly work like ABP). Even a built-in button, the “Feedback” button, sometimes disappears.  Another problem is that the close, maximize, and minimize buttons sometimes disappear as well (in fact, they are like that right now). This can be fixed for a moment by going into safe mode, but then you have to re-do your settings.

I also talked about an orange Firefox button that allows you access to your most common settings. However, a lot of people do not like the orange, plus the tabs were not on the title bar, thus losing valuable screen real estate. However, there is a helpful trick to change this.

I would also like to show you a video I watched  that presents some that tabs should be on top.

The biggest changes come in the area of GUI. Firefox retains the look of the back and forward buttons and a few others, but that’s about it. When compared to Google Chrome and Opera, Firefox is shockingly similar.

From top to bottom is Firefox, Chrome, and Opera. The first thing you’ll notice is Firefox now has tabs on top. Hooray! The light greys with a tint of blue are also common in all three (that Chrome picture is from XP, 7 has aero). They all have a combined refresh and stop button. All three have also combined all the menus into one or two buttons. Opera and Firefox both have on single button in the top left corner. Firefox does not have the button combined with the tab bar, but it still doesn’t take much room. Firefox and Opera both have a search bar (I got rid of it in the Opera picture). I sure with Firefox would combine the two. Overall, they look extremely similar. Firefox has just boosted itself into one of my favorite GUI’s. I’d be happy looking at any of these three all day. In fact, Firefox isn’t its clunky boring self anymore. It feels like a completely different browser that I’m comfortable using.

Firefox has also made a new and improved addons page. On the side offers easy access to your extensions, themes, and plug-ins. It also gives access to a page that “will soon explain what add-ons are, feature some of the best, and help you pick from thousands of ways to customize Firefox.”

Firefox also has a new and improved feedback system. You can access the features from the “Feedback” button. You can take studies to improve Firefox, as well as reporting things that make you happy and sad. This is all anonymous, and you can view other peoples thoughts on the feedback webpage.

As far as performance and speed go, its a little too early to tell because Firefox is only in Beta stage. However, there have been some improvements. Like most browsers focus as of late, Firefox has improved its HTML5 capabilities. It has also improved its ACID3 score, which was 97/100, up from 92/100 last time. While Chrome, Opera, and Safari all receive 100, 97 is pretty close and it A LOT better than Internet Explorer, last tested by me at 12/100. It has included crash protection from Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime and Microsoft Silverlight plugins, which although not the only thing that cause a crash, they make up a good majority. But beyond these three things, I need to wait for the final release. My memory usage is quite low as well, but without addons this is really too early to tell.

Few addons of course have support at the moment in Firefox 4 (only WOT, Adblock Plus, and NoScript has support out of the MANY I have). However, this will be sure to change when Firefox 4 is officially out. If you want to use the beta and you have an essential addon, simply use the linked Google search which shows many successful methods (these methods work 95% of the time in my experience).

Overall I am excited for the release of version 4. I would honestly like to get back to Firefox due to the addons and great user community, and with a way better GUI, some crash protection, and other improvements, Firefox is certainly more appealing to switch to. The only thing that holds me back from switching is one of the main reasons I switched to Chrome in the first place: speed and performance. If it can become faster and decrease its memory usage (which is good right now without addons), I would probably switch from Opera. However, Firefox will have a lot of work to do because it never competes well in my speed tests.

June 27 – July 2: Black Hills

My family is taking a trip to the Black Hills once again. We’ve been there several times (the latest being 2008), and I am really excited for it. I am especially looking forward to this maze where I am hoping to get redemption. I’ll make sure to have a journal entry on this and a YouTube video.

July 4: The Obvious – Independence Day

In the past we’ve gone down to my uncle’s (not the one in Dell Rapids) and grandma’s farm  on days like July 6th and some other dates due to conflicts, so I am just putting up July 4th as a guess. Anyways, Independence Day could possibly be my favorite holiday of the year. I just love shooting off all sorts of explosives and fireworks.

July 12 – 15: Behind The Wheel

I need to complete behind the wheel if I want my license before 16 (which I do). Although I’m not thrilled at all about the actual thing, I am excited for the result… my license.

July 19 – 23: Basketball Camp

I am going to a Christian basketball camp one again. I really love both aspects about it (Christian and basketball) so its great. Plus I get great food and get to meet a professional basketball player. I am really looking forward to this.

August 26: School Starts

Unfortunately school starts, but at least I still got over 2/3 of summer left.

???: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We plan to go to Medora some time and make our way up to the North Unit (Bri and I haven’t done this before). I am excited for this assuming it happens.

???: Glacier National Park

I don’t know the exact dates yet, but our family will make a trip up to Glacier National Park (first for Bri and I). We already have applications for passports submitted so we are almost good to go. This will have to be sometime in August though because it won’t work in July (unless we do it the last week).

That’s really everything major going on. So expect me to be gone during these dates (except driving school).