That’s Elbert With An E

The Laurel Middle School recently received a weather station donated by the Wilmington News Journal. The weather station is a Davis Vantage PRO2. It’s a great addition to the 8th grade science department, adding relevant content to the study of weather, one of the required areas of study for that grade. The students will be collecting data such as wind speed, current temperature, temperature history, wind direction, etc.

In addition, the first grade students at Dunbar Elementary will be using some of the data for their study of weather. Those students will focus on weather patterns and their influence on living things (at a very observational level).

Other middle schools in Delaware also received weather stations, including Seaford Middle and Delmar Middle Schools.

Anyone can view data from the Laurel Middle School weather station on Weather Underground. Currently, it is also the default reporting station on Weather Underground for the ZIP Code 19956. We are fortunate to have two local weather stations in Laurel, the other being operated by Delmarva Tech Solutions.

I was driving through Seaford, DE last night. The Golden Corral Restaurant has posted on their sign that they are accepting Bonanza coupons. So, if you’ve got any Bonanza coupons laying around that you haven’t already used or thrown out, drive up to Seaford and get a discounted meal. There was no indication on how long they would do this promotion. On a side note, I wonder if the owner of the Golden Corral would re-open any of those Bonanzas buildings under the Golden Corral sign? (I can’t remember his first name, but his last name is Rittenhouse).

Previous articles about Bonanza: here and here.

WBOC had a report last night regarding the Delmarva Bonanza closings. According to Delmar Dustpan, the Delmar Bonanza is now closed. Hopefully there will be an update later on about the other locations. I’ll add today’s updates to this post.

I reported about this earlier.

UPDATE: I just called the Bonanzas in Millsboro and Pocomoke City. Someone answered the phone in Millsboro and informed me that they were closed. I didn’t get an answer in Pocomoke City, so I would assume they are also closed.

UPDATE 2: WBOC has a longer update, probably the last of the news on this.

I’ve got a friend that works at the Bonanza Restaurant in Delmar, DE. She was notified that the restaurant will be closing after Sunday. I don’t know how many employees that effects, but a number of people will be going to the unemployment office in Georgetown soon. Hopefully they will all find jobs quickly.

I understand that the Milford Bonanza has already closed. When I called them this evening, no one answered. I called the Millsboro Bonanza and inquired about their hours of business. The young lady that answered gave me the hours without any indication that they would be closing. I didn’t inquire further. I got the same response when I called the Pocomoke City, Maryland location. In addition, when I called the Delmar location, they gave me the hours of operation without indicating they would close. So they are not telling their customers yet.

I hope you all will offer prayers for those that have become unemployed. If you know someone effected, do more than just pray. Offer to help them.

On the web: Bonanza Restaurants on Delmarva and Bonanza & Ponderosa

Delmar Dustpan is also on the case.

WordPress.com provides some really nice stat information for your blog. I look at the numbers frequently. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I do not get the hits that other local bloggers receive. My numbers are up quite a bit since July 2007 but that’s not really saying much. If I had one hit a day and the number increased to three, I could say I tripled my readership. Yeah.

“Referrers” tells me from where my visitors came. I get a load from Delmar Dustpan, for which I have and continue to thank Howard for the link. Another Delmar blog, A Woman’s Point of View, also sends some traffic my way, to which I need to say “thanks Karen.” Michael at Monoblogue has also sent traffic my way. Thanks are extended to him as well.

In addition to numbers and links, I can also see the search terms visitors were using making their way to the site. Some are just strange. How about “life of a male prostitute”? Or “free married on valentine”? Here are three more odd ones: “old married couple poem”, “mash up baby name”, “rudy gingrich bathing suit”, “star fox barf bag”, and “why I shouldn’t speed on the road”. My two favorites of the ones listed are “life” and “old married”.

Google has a site, Google Trends, where you can see what Internet users in the USA are looking for. One night I was on Trends right after watching “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” on Fox. I noticed that several of the top searches were for answers to that night’s questions. Analysis of this discovery should follow, but I will leave that one alone for now.

Delmar Christian Center served up some hot dogs, Pepsi, music, and drama for free for three hours at the State Street Park in Delmar, DE on Saturday September 22nd. I played a lot of music with our Praise Team, as well as providing some support to our guitarist Mike Brown during his sets.

Our drama/dance team Illuminate provided the visual demonstrations of several songs. We had the adults and the children performing during their time.

While being tied to the performances, I didn’t get out to do much else. I got to sit with my wife and kids, make some last minute adjustments to our sets, down a hot dog and water, and say hi to Howard from Delmar Dustpan. I understand through the course of the day some of our members prayed for 30 people, several of which crossed the line of faith and became Christians. I thought we had a great group of people attend. Hopefully we’ll get to do this again.

I almost forgot. Right in the middle of things, there was a fender bender out on State Street. The funny part about that was the crowd’s response to the accident: everyone said “Oooo” on cue. Someone did slip over to the cars to check on them and hand out some hot dogs and prayer while they waited for the police.

Behind the scenes, a lot of prep work went in to getting everything ready for the event. I wasn’t able to help much with the setup because of my shoulder surgery, although two of my sons were there helping with some of the grunt work. I was told that we cleaned up everything and got it off the grounds within 30 minutes. That’s a stage, sound equipment, tables, grills, etc.

Here’s a link to Delmar Dustpan’s coverage. Always a pleasure to see you Howard. Salisbury News stopped by and snapped some photos. Sorry I didn’t get to say hi, Joe.

The crew handling the hot dogs: Mary, Dwayne, Steven D. Whyte, and Johnny.

Illuminate’s first performance.

The “Illuminites” - the kids on the team.

The Praise Team musicians (I’m on the keyboard). Lin’s on the bass, and Mike’s on the guitar.

Perry is on the drums, but he’s hiding behind Mike.

Our Praise Team vocals, Jayme, Lou Ann, and Alanna. Unfortunately, you’ve got to look at Mike and Perry’s drums again.

Lin and I join Mike during one of his sets.

Finally, it’s me. Yeah, I’m not much to look at, but it’s my blog. Deal with it.

I am the worship music leader at Delmar Christian Center in Delmar, DE. Our church is having an event called Praise In The Park on Saturday September 22nd from 11am until 2pm. There will be music, some drama, and free food. I will be playing the keyboard and singing during several music sets. Consider this an invitation to come. If you’d like, stop by the park and say hi. I’d love to meet you. If you need any more information, drop me an email.

Right now for Saturday, Accuweather is forcasting “very warm with sunshine mixing with some clouds” and a daytime high of 87. A bit warm for September but nice for a day outside!