Bike riding all the way to Hammonton

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on August 17, 2011

I probably went on the farthest bike ride ever today. I bike rode from my location ofBurlington, NJ all the way to Hammonton, which is a solid 35 miles. I first stopped atRadio Shack to return my mini-A to USB line for my cell phone because I already bought a converter for it. I bought both just in case the converter didn’t fit. I saved about $30 because I had a mini-USB line already, but it was a mini-B so I needed a converter. Once I got to Hammonton, which was 3 hours later, I stopped into McDonalds to get a Sweet Tea because I ran out of my 2 waters. It was about 85 degrees out, and it’s a good thing it wasn’t any hotter, otherwise I would have never made it. After I left Hammonton I saw a small turtle on the side of the road. I took a look at at and I found out that it was dead after I saw a crack in the bottom right half of the shell. I think a car ran over it. However, this seems unusual because the tread of the tire should have made 2 cracks in it if that was the case. It could be possible that another animal attacked it. Here’s a picture that shows it.

I also saw a European Starling on a telephone wire about 5 minutes later, but as soon as a turned my cell phone on and even before I turned around, it flew away. I also saw a Turkey Buzzard on a pole about 30 minutes later but I didn’t feel like taking a picture of that. I just feel uninterested in those kinds of birds. I have seen those birds even in my grandparents’ backyard. They are almost everywhere where they live. Well, overall, I had a good bike ride, but it got too dark and I had to have my mom pick me up once I got 3 miles from my house.

I would like to say, out of all the birds I heard, I never heard any House Sparrow chirps until I got to downtown Hammonton. Dang, it seems like I can never find any in rural areas. Actually, there was one at a farm just outside of Hammonton, but that’s only because it relies on the livestock feed to survive. Whether urban or rural , it only occurs to me that they simply nest in our man-made structures, and that provides the warmth they need, especially when the winters are brutal.

What’s the farthest bike ride you’ve ever gone? I can’t suppose anybody has traveled more than 70 miles like I had. Let me know.

Continuation of last experiment

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on August 3, 2011

I may not have realized it at first, but the fact that a House Sparrow pecked at one of thelemon cookies that I threw on the street made me wonder. Perhaps the House Sparrow was just unable to bite into the cookie. I then decided going back to the neighborhood I was at before, but instead of just throwing individual cookies on the ground, why don’t I try crumbling them up instead? So I did just that. So I had about half of a box of the lemon cookies, and I also had shortbread ones as well. I brought a piece of bread with me just in case. I took a piece of each and started crumbling each one and threw it at 4 places throughout the neighborhood I was at before. About 10 minutes later, I started to walk back to the other 3 places that I dropped the pieces at, and I saw 1, 2, and even 3 House Sparrows grabbing at all those crumbs. The bread pieces were gone before I even got back there. I then went across the street where there were several House Sparrows and once I threw a piece of another cookie, 2 House Sparrows came at it, including a crow, which took off with the piece once the other House Sparrow dropped it. I also went further down the road and I used up my last lemon crumb I had. I started to use the box of shortbread cookies. I threw the pieces of shortbread and bread pieces where another 3 House Sparrows were at. They flew away once I got 15 feet from them, and I waited for 5 minutes and they still didn’t come. I just got a flat tire at the time, so I needed to stay there anyways to fix it. Once I rode a little while and turned around, those 3 House Sparrows were at the cookies. One of the House Sparrows was still there when I got closer to it. It flew off with the piece in its beak once another person started walking on that sidewalk. I then turned onto a road where a church was, and across the street, there were 7 or 8 House Sparrows looking for insects in a parking lot. I threw a piece of bread toward one that was perched on a telephone wire. It swooped down and stuffed its beak with the bread. It didn’t seem as interested in the piece of shortbread cookie that was beside it, but another House Sparrow that was nearby grabbed it and flew off. Then, I took a few more pieces of the cookies and the same thing happened. There was maybe at least 1 of those sparrows that managed to see me throw the pieces of the cookie.

Here’s the concept, the House Sparrows may have mistook the cookie for a rock or something since they couldn’t break into it with their beaks. That means, the only way those House Sparrows were going to eat those cookies is if someone were to have walked into it, or the weather managed to break them down. I’m sure within the 2 days those cookies have been sitting out, either situation could have happened. I had to realize that they eat “table scraps”, not entire meal portions! Now it seems that they’ll eat anything as long as it is in crumbs. Dang, that House Sparrow was just unable to eat that cookie a couple of days ago because the cookie was too large to bite into. Who would have known?

Here’s my YouTube video that shows a House Sparrow grabbing a cookie crumb and flying off with it at the end.

The Answer to Finding House Sparrows’ Feeding Habits

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on July 31, 2011

I decided on going on a bike ride today, but not just any typical bike ride. The idea of finding out what House Sparrows eat and why has got me interested in taking a journey in finding some close up.

I bike rode to Burlington yesterday at about 4:30 pm. Once I got there, I opened my backpack, and I started randomly dropping two flavors of girl scout cookies, chocolate fudge and lemon. I got these cookies in class the other day because a classmate that works for the distribution center had a whole box that he was just giving away. I certainly didn’t put these cookies to waste, since they were going to be put to thrown away anyways. I used the entire box of chocolate cookies and half of the lemon ones. After I threw a cookie or two at 6 or 7 different places at a ghetto neighborhood, I came back 20 minutes later to find that not a single cookie was bitten into. I couldn’t believe that. The answers to all of my problems just hit me in the face when I threw my last lemon cookie. I started throwing it, just like a frisbee, when it landed right behind a House Sparrow. He then turned around, pecked at it a few times without opening his beak, and then he flew away. I knew just then, that these House Sparrows know what foods are good and bad for them. It seems that they’ll only eat those kinds of foods if they are really desperate, or if they are treating themselves. Also, since its the summer season, most House Sparrows are only looking for insects to feed their young.

I continued to sit at that curb, feeling disappointed that I never got close to a House Sparrow. I thought there would be a House Sparrow that would eat right out of my hands. I was wrong. I sat at the curb for about 2 minutes until a police officer pulled over behind me. He first started by asking me this, “Have you been to this area before?” Then I said, “No”. Then the officer said, “Do you know where this is?” Then I lied and said, “No, I have no idea what this place is, I’ve never been here before.” The officer said, “This is Burlington City. Can I take a look at your ID way quick?” Then I pulled out my military ID out of my wallet and I handed it to him. Then the officer asked, “Where are you from exactly?” I said, “Springfield” Then he asked, “Do you mean Springfield Township?” And then I said, “Yes.”. Then the officer asked, “Have you ever been arrested before?” Then I said, “No! Not at all.” The officer then asked me to open my backpack. I was so worried. I opened it up, and then I opened the part where I had the cookies in it, then the officer asked, “What is this.” Then I said, “Just some snacks.” Then the officer said, “Did you know that you are in a bad neighborhood? There’s a lot of crime in this neighborhood. You probably shouldn’t be here.” I immediately left, but I snuck back after I knew the officer was gone, then I checked the 6 or 7 places that I dropped the cookies and guess what, they were still uneaten. That would have been so embarrassing if the officer knew I was throwing chocolate and lemon cookies to the House Sparrows! That will be the last time I’ll go to that neighborhood. I’ll try Phili next time.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkK59CKqYNk=480&h=390]

So far, I’ve been sick to my stomach

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on July 27, 2011

I recently found out on one of my recent blogs exactly what bird fell onto the classroom window. It was a European Starling. I would like to point out something pretty cool about those kinds of birds. Well, they can pretty much talk just like we do, I mean they can only minic but indeed, people do keep them as pets. In NJ, they are one of the most common birds, but they are also the #1 pest bird. They do carry diseases and cause property damage. That’s why they are considered pests. I was on a website that explained and illustrated the top 3 pest birds, and while I was finding out about the European Starling, the #2 pest bird just so happens to be the House Sparrow. Now, after reading this quote, “Its ability to nest in urban structures, eat urban scraps and a large breeding capacity are some of these adaptive traits.” (http://www.njnwcoa.com/birds.html) Once I read that, I was surprised, and I just had to read up more. I’m the kind of person that always keeps up on all the answers. So I hit “bing” and I did just that. Eventually, I came up with another website that said that there was a House Sparrow and a scientist went through its stomach to find that it has injested over 830 different foods. I think that’s incredible. Basically they’ll eat anything from hot dogs to cotton candy. They have absolutely no preference because of their foraging nature. They have also been around humans for centuries and have nowhere else to go. They are social toward us and some do not even fear us. They have made their way into restaurants and processing plants and just about anywhere where they can find food. The ultimate questions set before me, and since I enjoy looking at statistics, I really wanted to know, exactly what percentage of a House Sparrow’s diet is table scraps? That’s when I started to really get into some further research. On a study using regurgirated samples on House Sparrows, seeds, insects, fruits, and grains that was in the diet was successfully recorded. The percentages were shown on the website. However, there was no record of any table waste because the food was digested too quickly. I was so surprised that I saw that statement. I can’t see how those sparrows survive by eating those kinds of foods but they do. They truly do. In rural areas though, they typically eat only livestock feed, grains, fruits and insects but in urban areas, their diet is mostly seeds, bread, and other foods that people provide or leave to them. I can officially say that House Sparrows are adaptable in our world for centuries because we are here to take care of them. In places where there are lots of people, there are lots of House Sparrows. On the other hand, in places where there are sparse numbers of people, there are sparse numbers of House Sparrows. One of these days I would like to get a House Sparrow of my own as a pet. I am going to give it the life its always dreamed of. Well, that won’t be years down the road unfortunately, since I do get really busy these days. If I find one that’s injured though, I’ll certainly be more than ready to undertake the task of taking care of it.

Well, I’m sick to my stomach only because there are still questions that still mind-boggle me about House Sparrows. I’ve done about 10 hours of research and I believe that these questions will remain a mystery. In the meantime, if you would like to answer them, feel free. I would like to know what their life span is in urban areas, because even though House Sparrows can live up to 12 years, the life expantacy is only 2 or 3 years. The population density is quite high in metropolitan areas, so I imagine that since a lot are reproducing, that they are doing quite well. I have read a lot of things, such as human intervention, bacteria, and radiation from cell phones shorten their life span. However, these could only be some of the causes and I always wonder whatever could be the real truth? Could the foods that they are eating play a part of it?

The stress of researching has only made me sick and even I can’t even eat as much sweets and stuff anymore.

After hours anger

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on July 16, 2011

I stayed late after class tonight so I was unable to take the bus. I can never seem to get out of class early enough with some of the challenges I have been having with some of my C++ assignments. Just a few hours ago, I called my mom to come and pick me up from school. I was walking back from the college, towards Interstate 295 where my mom turns off.  She was at the grocery store when I called. I figured that since she was going to be there for a little while, I decided to start walking. I walked for about a mile and a half, then my mom called me. She said that she was already at the college waiting for me. I told her that I wasn’t at the college, and then she started to get very irritated. She shouted “WHERE ARE YOU!” Then I told her where I was and she still couldn’t find me. She was never able to find me, and so she decided to go back home and make me walk back. Luckily she called grandma up and let her come and get me instead. Needless to say, not only did I waste my mom’s time, but I also wasted grandma’s time because she had a longer drive to get to me since she lives a little bit farther away. Also, the gas mileage adds up, and that’s a waste of money right there. I offered to walk home, but my grandma called me saying that she didn’t mind picking me up so I said to her, “Well, okay.” My throat felt kind of dry and I knew I wasn’t going to make it home without any water to drink. Once I got off the phone with her, some stomach acid came up, and it was hard to even breath. I kept walking back and forth near the intersection that I told my grandma where I’d be at. I was okay, I had that happen to me before. I just need to make sure I drink some more water throughout the day, that’s all.

I was stupid for what I did because first off, I never called my mom telling her where I would be if I wasn’t going to be at the college. All I had to say was, “Oh, I’m kind of bored just standing here, so I’m going to go ahead and start walking”. Secondly, it’s even more stupid to walk out in the middle of the night with dark clothes on and no-one can even see you. As a result, I will know what to do next time if and when I need to rely on other people without wasting their own time. I managed to take a video of me just walking into this disaster.

Working at our new coming restaurant

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on July 11, 2011

It’s about 3:12 am right now and since I have this topic still fresh in my mind I figured I’d let it all flow out. Today was the second day of our vinyl contruction. As it turned out, my mom had no idea that it would take until Monday for her to put the floor up. Tommarrow we plan on waking up early, no later than 9, to finish. All she has to do is cut a few corners and cut some halfway because some of the floor isn’t perfect with the walls. Some of the walls come in more than others. Also, there’s a floor drain in the way and there is a couple of sink drains that she has to work around. The sinks aren’t installed yet, actually nothing’s installed, the floor is still bare except for those drains. For the most part, I believe the project should be finished by noon tommarrow.

As for me, I’ve been just sitting down pretty much the whole time. I couldn’t possibly glue the vinyl down because I would make a mess and I would probably more than likely mess up. For the most part, I’m just responsible for handing the vinyl to her one-by-one. A little bit of help helps I suppose. I’ll be excited when my mom’s cupcake shop opens.  It’ll be open by August. Now, my mom could have had her contractor’s workers do this job but that would have costed her $7,000 to do. My mom is pro when it comes to installing vinyls. Why hire someone when she can just do it herself? Granted, she hasn’t installed floors for about 7 years, which is basically since we lived in Ohio. However, she still knows exactly how to do it and she quotes, “I can do this better than any man can do it, let me tell you.”

It’s a win-win situation, I mean, if the floor’s going to look really nice, then it’s definitely worth the effort. She has nothing better to do since my siblings are on vacation at my dad’s. I will just be glad when it’s over. I’m kind of losing sleep so I’m going to end it right now.

4th of July – Seaside

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on July 5, 2011

Today, I went to Seaside Heights to see the fireworks. At around 5 pm, me, my siblings, and their friends all came along for the drive there. My mom was driving, and I was allowed to sit in the front. Usually my sister sits in the front but because her friend was with her, she decided to alongside her friend. My youngest brother wanted to hang out with his friend though, whom was going to Atlantic City. He was bummed that he couldn’t go, but it was because his family wouldn’t be returning until much later that night. Not only that, but they were also going to an adult party and there probably won’t be any kids there except for his friend. Well, anyways, my mom dropped his friend at his house because he had to go with his family. That worked out in the long run because there wouldn’t have been a seat for my sister’s friend to sit in otherwise. She would have been very uncomfortable for the 45 minute drive to the shore. Once we arrived, I asked my mom if I should put my bathing suit on. She responded, “No, it’s getting pretty late and I don’t think anyone’s going to go swimming”. Once we got to the beach, my youngest brother was with my mom and I, and everyone else went their separate ways with their friends. My brother actually started touching the water a little bit. Even though it felt freezing cold when he first touched it, it didn’t feel so cold afterward. After just a few minutes, he went further into the ocean. He came back out and asked me if I could join him. I said to him, “But I don’t even have my bathing suit on, and I am NOT going to go all the way back to the van and get it. I just can’t.” However, he really, really wanted me to join him, and so I walked all the way back to grab my bathing suit, which took a good 30 minutes, but when I got back, I found out that my brother was already done and he was drying off. I was like “Awww! You are already done? Man, I walked all that way for nothing.” Then I walked back to the van to put my bathing suit back. My mom and brother followed, because they had a few things that they needed to get. I pretty much ran there, because I was sick of wasting my time walking. I just sat down and waited for them. My other brother and his friend happened to be at the van too. I was there with them for about 10 minutes, then they went on their way and we went on the boardwalk to grab something to eat. My brother had a hamburger, while I had a cheezesteak. My mom had a cheezesteak too I think, but she didn’t eat until later on As soon as I was done eating, we walked around the boardwalk for a little while, and then the fireworks suddenly just started. We had no idea they would start early, we thought it was going to start at 9:30. Everyone was crowding the boardwalk and we could barely get through to see them. We were litterally on the edge and there was part of a roof that was blocking the fireworks. It was impossible to get any closer, I mean, everyone was packed together on that only stretch of boardwalk, and that was the only place that you could see the beach rather than the roofs of concession stands and games. About 5 minutes later, there was a fight going on behind us, and we didn’t want to be involved so we left the crowd. It was right before the fireworks finale went underway too so we missed it. We then walked for about a block and my mom stopped at a candy shop and bought a few caramel apples. Then went into an arcade to eat them but when my mom took a bite of it, the caramel tasted terrible. She went back to the shop to return them and she bought some fudge instead. My brother stayed and played a couple of rounds of arcade basketball, it was only $1 so why not? He was barely scoring, and I swear he was missing like, 75% of the shots. Even the guy that was playing before him was going better. He certainly didn’t beat the record either. About 10 seconds before my brother was done playing, my mom came back and we ate some of the fudge. After that, we went to the beach to find a small island that the waves made. We just felt the water, nobody went swimming. We met up with my sister and her friend behind us, and we were surprised they were able to find us. We then went to buy my youngest brother some ice cream and then we went home. That pretty much sums up my Fourth of July, Happy Fourth!

Freedom Fest 2011

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on June 27, 2011

On Saturday, I went to the Freedom Fest. I’m blogging this on Monday since I didn’t aquire the time to blog it as of late. Anyways, I got to see a several local performances, including an Amish band. I thought that was pretty neat that they were Amish. The entire Freedom Fest was sponsored by 94.5 WPST. Without them, there wouldn’t have been any bands. Last year there was only one sponsor, and this year PST was added as a second sponsor and I’d like to say, without their variety, there’s no good music.  I got a chance to hear a rock band covering Bad Romance, by Lady Gaga and another that did a Bon Jovi cover. I thought the songs were great picks. I also checked out the tent stands in-between breaks. I bought a shirt and a bracelet for my sister, since Saturday was her birthday. For myself, I also went to grab a dessert that had some peanut butter ice cream with vanilla and reezes chunks. About 4 hours later I bought a hot dog for dinner.

By far, this year’s Freedom Fest was the best.

Bike Ride Disaster

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on June 7, 2011

I decided to bike ride to school like I normally do when the weather is so nice like it is. I made sure my tires had enough air in them before I left. Once I made it to the college though, I made a sharp turn from Hartford Rd onto the road that leads to the school.  My front rim suddenly skidded the ground and I tipped over. Just like that, I was hurting and bleeding from my chin. I caught myself in the fall, but I still suffered a huge bump on my knee. My shoe fell off during the fall and I started limping to the college library, since I was only 300 feet away from it. Security managed to help me out once I arrived. I recieved a bandage for my chin, which surprisingly enough was the only place I was actually bleeding at. I knew I had class very shortly so I went on my way once I wasn’t so dizzy and hurting. I went outside to realize that my front tire was completely flat so I asked security to drive me to the other side of campus where my class was. I was only 3 minutes late to class. All that pain I was having for an hour sure knows how to speed up the time, huh!

This happened about 4 hours ago but I feel okay now. My leg is still hurting a little bit from that bump. Once I leave the library, which I am typing this blog, I’ll take the bus back home. I plan on patching up the hole in my tire, that way I can still bike ride on the nice days. It’s a waste of time waiting for the bus when I can just bike ride instead.

Phili’ travel on bike ride

Posted on by jeremytheplayer88

Posted on June 6, 2011

I decided on today being the day that I would bike ride to Folsom, PA. Once I arrived at the Benjamin-Franklin bridge to crossover to Philadelphia, I stopped in the middle of a split before the toll. I needed to wait for traffic to pass, since I was on the merger of a major interstate highway. I really needed to be careful because those cars were traveling pretty fast. I then crossed over. Luckily the sun was shining so everyone could see me riding on the little part of the road (which is the only place I could get room to bike on). Once I walked my bike on the sidewalk to the ride of the toll booths, I got to a sign that read, “Pedestrians and bicycles prohibited on roadway”. I kept staring at the sign for about a minute, and then I looked ahead and I saw another sign. I pedaled close to see what it read. There was a walkway on the bridge, however, the gate was closed and locked. I took a ride around the gate and I saw no other way across the bridge. After I almost gave up, I saw a tunnel that went to the other side of the bridge. A few people were coming back through the tunnel but I had no idea they were coming from the bridge. I did just that, and sure enough, once I got to the other side there were stairs along with a ramp for my bike. I walked my bike up the stairs and then I pedaled my way across the bridge. Once I got across, I was officially in Philadelphia. I was getting really thirst. I then saw a billboard for a smoothie at McDonalds. However, I had no idea where the closest McDonalds was. I then bike rode for about a block, then I turned left towards “Chinatown”. I wasn’t actually in Chinatown until another block, but I saw a 7-Eleven store and I walked right in to get myself something to drink. I looked around for a little bit and then I heard on the store intercom about slurpies. I then walked up to it and grabbed myself one. I grabbed a lid, and a cup, but once I put my drink up to the “blueberry” one, I read the print at the bottom that read “frozen carbonated drink”. I thought to myself, “AHHHHHH”! Once I read that I immediately put the cup and lid back (which had a drop of the slurpie on it), and with disappointment I walked away. Maybe I’ll tell you why I refrain from those kinds of drinks another time. I haven’t had a soda in like, 3 months now. I don’t even crave one at all, no matter how many ads I see or hear about them. Anyways, I bought two 1-liter water bottles instead. They were on a 2 for $1.98 sale, so it was definitely worth it. Water is better for me anyways. I still have a 1-liter bottle I haven’t even drank yet. I’m at the library right now, and I’m just about ready to bike ride home. Once this is over, I’ll have biked about 45 miles. That’s pretty impressive, huh? I never made it to Folsom but at least I managed to survive the 80+ degree heat I had today.