10-27 tHAT hURT!!!

I have hurt myself pretty bad in my lifetime but there is definitely one time that I will never forget. I think it was ninth grade and I was running track. I thought I was doing well and that I had a decent chance of winning some races that season. The first couple of weeks went by without any incident. I was actually winning some of my heats. It was only after about the fourth or fifth week that I noticed something was wrong. I was working out and doing my warm up run and I felt my calf suddenly tighten. It felt like my calf had turned to stone. I thought it was a cramp so I iced it and it seemed to go away. I didn’t even give it a second thought until it kept happening. Every time I would go to run even for the shortest period of time, I would get a tightening in my leg that would just about bring me to my knees. I talked to Mr. Kennedy about it and he said that it might just be a severe case of shin splints. He said if I took it easy and iced it a lot, it would get better. It seemed as though that was working so I decided to go all out on my last race of the season. I was running the 3000 meter (2 mile) race and I was doing really well. I was in third the entire time until the last couple of laps. I knew the race was almost over and I wanted to win because it was the last race of the season. I started to run faster and that’s when it happened. I actually don’t remember falling and hitting my head on the track but people told me that’s what I did. I found out later that my Achilles tendon was torn in my left leg.

10-27 The interesting life of Pinkie

When I saw that we had to write about what we think Pinkie does in his free time, I giggled with excitement. This has to be one of the best topics we have been allowed to write about. There are so many things that he may do in his free time so I don’t know where to start. I know one day I clearly saw him looking up Hannah Montana tickets on the computer and throwing it against the wall when he saw the site was blocked. I guess he didn’t learn the first time because the following week he saw that the site for the Justin Bieber concert was blocked as well.
I am also pretty sure the one day I saw him throwing a cat around in the room. I am not sure but I definitely saw some sort of mammal attached to a string being carelessly tossed around. That was completely inappropriate for a newspaper meeting which is why it was hysterical. Another thing I believe that he does in his free time is look up pictures up Chuck Norris and John Wayne, copy and paste them into Microsoft Word, and compare them. After he does this, he compares his results against Matt’s, who has also been feverishly researching and comparing T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne.
I think, in order to successfully complete a hard day of work at the newspaper, he has to play a lightning round of tiddlywinks with Zach. You can always tell if Pinkie is losing because of the sound effects that Nate expertly coordinates with the game. This concludes a successful day at the newspaper for Ryan Pinkowski. There is no telling what he intends to do in his free time tomorrow. Maybe he will try for the Jonas Brothers or maybe even Katie Perry.

10-25 People I look up too

There are actually three people that I look up too: My Mom, Dad, and Brother. I look up to my dad because he has always set a good example for me. When I get into trouble, he yells but after words, we talk about it. Also, he has taught me that my word is my honor. When I tell someone that I am going to do something for them, I do it. He has taught me that if I do not come through on my word, those people will have a hard time believing me next time I say something.
I also look up to my mom because of what she has been through. She has taught me how to have strength when times get tough and too never back down from a challenge. When her mom died (my Grandma), she taught me a very important lesson. She taught me that just because you are going through a hard time does not give you an excuse to quit what you have already started. It also does not give you an excuse to get into trouble.
The other person I look up too is my big brother. He has always been there for me. When I was down, he was always there to help me up. Now that he is gone, I look up to him even more. He is setting a tremendous example for me. He enlisted in the Air Force and is now in his tech school. He is doing so well, I can only hope to do as good as him. Another reason I look up to him is I would have never signed my name on the dotted line for the Air Force had it never been for him. Him enlisting is what gave me the idea to pursue the same thing.

When birds mess with Nate

Nate Bailey, the assumed Boss of the Bulldog, sat gazing dreadfully at the clock on the wall. He was waiting for hours to hear the ever so popular 2:25 bell. That bell would signify the end of a long, non-productive day for Nate.
Finally, fourth block. As Nate sat there, gazing out of the window, he witnessed something that might have changed his life forever. Probably not, though. Nate just happened to look up at the exact moment a bird crashed through Mrs. Kaderli’s window. Nate let out a silent little cry as he witnessed this. What he saw next was even weirder though. Nate knew the bird must have died instantly so he went up to Mrs. Kaderli’s room to see if she was okay. When he walked into the room he expected to see broken glass everywhere and a dead bird lying on the ground. You can imagine his surprise when he walked in and saw Mrs. Kaderli sitting at her desk teaching a class. No broken glass or dead bird anywhere. Nate nearly hit the ceiling. He ran all the way back to the Bulldog’s headquarters and looked up at Mrs. Kaderli’s room. He was floored when he saw it.
There was the broken window. It wasn’t even the broken window that made Nate urinate in his pants though. When he looked up, there was a flock of about 200 birds flying into Mrs. Kaderli’s room. Nate ran as fast as he could, which really isn’t that fast, up to Mrs. Kaderli’s room. When he opened the door, he covered his face because he expected to be attacked by the birds. When Nate uncovered his face, all he saw was Mrs. Kaderli sitting by her desk and the class staring at him!

(No offense to Nate. Anything said about him probably is not true!)

Don't Be Scared - Read It!!

One of the scariest books I have ever read was written by the ever so famous Stephen King. The book is entitled “Misery”. This may sound familiar to some people because you probably saw the lame movie remake on T.V. They cut so much of the book out of the movie.
The first couple of chapters in this book are kind of boring but you have to stick with it. The story centers around two people: Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes. Paul is a very successful author. He usually writes romance novels that focus around a character named Misery Chastain. Well, one day Paul had been drinking in celebration of his latest accomplishment. He had written the final novel of the Misery Chastain series. He drank too much and attempted to drive through a big snow storm. He crashed. This is when we meet Annie. Annie pulled Paul out of the destroyed automobile. She takes him back to her desolated home and bandages his wounds. This is when things got weird. After Paul woke up, Annie repeatedly told Paul that she is his number one fan. She also asked him if she could read the manuscript to Paul’s recently completed novel. Paul doesn’t realize that he pretty much killed himself by doing this because Annie is in love with Misery Chastain. Paul had Misery die in this manuscript! The next day Annie was so mad that she made him burn the manuscript. From this point on, Annie began to do horrible things to Paul. At one point when she thought he was almost able to walk again, she shattered both of his ankles with a sledge hammer. She also used an axe and cut off Paul’s foot. She stopped the bleeding by cauterizing it with a blowtorch!! She also cut off his thumb when he complained of a missing key on the typewriter he was using to re-create Misery (Annie was forcing him to bring Misery back to life). All in all, this book really messed with me. It was pretty bad.

Is NaTe BoSs?

Is Nate Bailey truly boss? In order to answer that question, we must first make sure that we understand what being boss means. Being boss takes a lot of skill and practice. It basically means you are the best of your kind. For example, my car is definitely boss! In order to be best of your kind, you have to be able to outperform everyone else around you. When you are finished competing against your rival, you must be able to say, yeah son, I am better than you! If you are not able to say that, you are not bossin’. Another factor that must be considered when you are thinking about being boss is your overall appearance and the way you carry yourself. You can’t be looking like Drew Carrey and expect people to take you serious when you say that you are boss. Now if you came in looking like the ever so famous Orlando Bloom, people would totally take you serious if you said you were the boss. I believe Nate bailey fulfills all of these strict requirements. On the other hand, I also think a couple more people have an opportunity to be boss but I won’t say who as to prevent some jealousy! Back to Nate. I believe he is Boss because he owns at everything he does. I was walking in the hall the other day and I overheard Mrs. Gramza saying she wishes to be more like Nate. That’s how boss he really is. (BTW: I never heard Mrs. Gramza say a thing like that!!!)

WhY mEtAl ShOp RuLeS

My favorite class by far my entire high school career has to have been metal shop with Mr. Visciano. I took that class in my sophomore year and I took it again in my junior year. All we did in that class was learn how to operate certain pieces of equipment. We also learned how to weld and how to work with all of the machinery with safety. We were able to create many different things using metal and the equipment. I was able to create a Bills lamp which turned out really cool. I took sheet metal and cut the Bills logo out of it. I welded the logo to three different brackets and then I spot welded blue lights onto the back of it. That was only one thing I did. I also created a metal shelf. That didn’t work out to good because the shelf was way too heavy to hang on the wall. After that I created a coat hanger. All I did was take a long piece of .5in. stock metal and used that as the back. I bent three separate pieces of metal into hooks and welded them on for the hangers. I also made a house number sign for the front of my house. I used wood for the actual sign though. I burned the numbers into the board. All in all, this class was amazing because there were no rules on what you could and could not make. You were free to make anything you wanted.

Chris Young - Voices

That Nashville Sound: New Music Video From Chris Young- "Voices"
If I had to choose what my favorite song is, it would have to be a song by country star Chris Young. The song is titled “Voices”. This is one of the very few new songs that I actually like. The majority of all new music talks about negative things. This song by Chris Young sticks to the basics and tells us all about the many life lessons that we may have learned when we were younger. I like this song because it tells us that even when a loved one or a friend passes away or leaves your life, you can still remember what they said to you. The things that stick closest to people are the lessons they are taught when they are young.
Another thing I like about this song is when it says “those hard to find words of wisdom holed up here in my mind”. I like this line because it shows that when you remember all of the lessons that were taught to you throughout your entire life, you will have an easier time getting by in life. Another reason I like this song is because it has a good beat to it. I like when a song has a good beat and you can dance to it. All in all, this song really surprised me in a good way. I did not expect an artist to come out with a song with this kind of content. Now that someone did though, I hope other artists follow their lead.

10/11-10/15 - WHY TACOS RULE

If I was told to choose what my favorite food is, I would have to say it is definitely tacos. Tacos have been my favorite ever since I was a little child. I have heard stories from my mom and dad about when I had my first taco. I was four and when my parents gave it to me, I threw it at them! I was a kid. What else was I supposed to do with it? I guess my mom made me another one and I ate that one! As I got older, I began to add a ton of stuff to it. I started by adding tomatoes and lettuce. I then moved up to bigger things like cheese and sour cream. I guess there is only one main reason why I love tacos so much: They are a work of art. When I am putting my taco together, I feel like an artist. You can put a little bit of this and a little bit of that in them. Whatever you are in the mood for, you can add it to a taco. There really is not a thing that you couldn’t add to a taco. AAlso, if you wanted to, you could make your taco vegetarian style (which I do not suggest!). You can also add any type of meat to it. I guess to sum it all up into one idea; tacos are for people who do not like to follow recipes. They are for people who enjoy making things their own way!

10/4-10/8 - SOCIAL NETWORK

The Social Network, directed by David Fincher, was released to theaters this year. If you enjoy using Facebook, you will love this movie. The movie was set in 2003 when Facebook came about. As expensive technology became affordable to the majority of people and the internet made it easy to stay in touch with people who were halfway across the world, Harvard undergrad and computer programming wizard Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) launched a website with the potential to change the way people viewed online chat rooms. At the time, Zuckerberg was just six years away from making his first million. But his hearty payday would come at a high price, because despite all of Zuckerberg's wealth and success, his personal life began to suffer as he became marred in legal disputes, and discovered that many of the 500 million people he had friended during his rise to the top were eager to see him fall. The prime enemy of Zuckerberg was his former college buddy, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Saverin’s major financial contributions helped the company sprout and become famous. Meanwhile, the Winklevoss twins (Arnie Hammer and Josh Pence) engage Zuckerberg in a fierce courtroom battle for ownership of Facebook that left many suspecting the young entrepreneur may have let his greed shadow his better judgment.

10/4-10/8 The Da Vici Code

Another one of my favorite movies is The Da Vinci Code. The Da Vinci Code was released in 2006 and directed by Ron Howard. The main characters are Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu. The movie starts off in the Grand Gallery in Paris. Paul Bettany as Silas is pursuing a man revealed to be Jacques Saunière. Silas is trying to figure oput the hiding spot of the keystone. Upon the threat of death, Jacques confesses the hiding spot. Silas thanked him and then shot him in the stomach. He discovers the dying Jacques had created an intricate display using black light ink and his own body and blood. Captain Bezu Fache (Jean Reno), the lead detective in Jacques murder case, asks him for his interpretation of the puzzling scene. Professor Langdon is in the profession of studying signs and symbols for a living. Everyone is trying to get their hands on this key because it may open up the door where the Holy Grail is. The police think Langdon is a primary suspect in the murder of Jacques and they plant a GPS tracking dot on him. He sheds the dot and begins his own investigation as to where the Holy Grail is. In the end, Silas is killed and langdon finds the Grail with the help of Sophie.

10/4-10/8 - National Treasure

National Treasure has to be my favorite movie. It was released in 2004. The cast consisted of Nicholas Cage as Benjamin Gates, the main character of the movie. Ben Gates comes from a family of treasure hunters. Now Gates thinks that the forefathers treasure is buried somewhere in the United States. Gates tries to find the clues, but the only problem with that is the clues are very cryptic and scattered all over the country. Gates has almost all of them but he is still missing the actual map. To his disdain, he learns that the last clue is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Naturally, he is going to have a difficult time obtaining this crucial clue, but to make his life harder, someone else wants it too!! Gates’ financier, Ian Howe, (part played by Sean bean) wants to get to the treasure before Gates does. Ian is the main antagonist of the film. He plans to get to the treasure before gates so that he can keep all of it for himself and get rich. Gates ends up with the treasure and Ian ends up in prison.

9/27-10/1 - SUMMER

What is my favorite season?!? I really don’t know so let’s use the process of elimination. Winter equals snow so no! Spring is always wet so definitely not. So that leaves fall and summer. Fall is pretty but it also leads up to winter so I am going to have to say summer. Most people might not agree with me because of the “heat”, but I am from Georgia. I went from 110 degree summers to 80 degree summers. I would say that is a big improvement. There are many reasons I like summer. The main reason is being able to do more things outside. I am able to play sports and run around my road. We also bale hay in the summer and I find that to be very fun. You can’t bale hay in the winter. (I would actually love to see someone try!!!) Also, in late summer, it usually gets cool out at night. This is perfect for bon fires and throwing parties OUTSIDE, not inside so everyone trashes your house!!! Another big reason I love summer is the fact that for the majority of it, we do not have school. Without being in school, I am able to enjoy all of the wonderful benefits of summer. One negative thing of summer compared to winter is the fact that when you get hot, there is only so much you can take off. In the winter when you get to cold, you can put on a coat or build a fire.

9/27-10/1 MIRANDA DAUCHER

If you thought you knew Miranda Daucher, guess again. I had the privilege of interviewing her for this assignment and I learned a lot about her. The first question that I asked her was what are three things you want to do before you die. She responded with very popular answers. The first thing she wanted to do was succeed in basketball. Word on the street says she is very athletic and is skilled in basketball. Another thing she wanted to do was win the lottery. Who doesn’t! She also intends to go skydiving before she died. My second question for Miranda was what her goals in life are. She began by saying she hopes to have a happy and successful life with a good job and nice family. When I asked her how she will go about achieving these goals, she responded with doing well in school. She also said that if she does better than everyone else around her, she will be fine. I went on to ask her what her number one fear is. Failing in life was her number one. We rounded out the interview by asking her what her plans were when she gets out of high school. She intends to go to Penn State and play either volleyball or basketball. She wants to dorm there as well.