Festivus - The Holiday for the Rest of Us.

Festivus is a holiday that was never known until the episode of Seinfeld “The Strike.” Festivus was not a holiday until “The Strike” aired on December 18, 1997. In the episode, Kramer goes back to his job after being on strike for 25 years, and goes on strike again. Now to Festivus, George gets a letter from his dad that says ‘Happy Festivus’ and Jerry told everybody about it.

Festivus is a holiday celebrated by people who are frustrated by the commercialism of Christmas and Hanukkah. Festivus occurs on December 23. It is celebrated with an aluminum pole instead of a Christmas tree. The dinner starts out with each person telling everybody else in the family how disappointed they are in them.

One company in Wisconsin manufactures and sells Festivus poles. There are several books written about Festivus, also. Festivus also used to be a name for a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor, it is now retired. One of the governors of Wisconsin had a Festivus pole in his house and is now part of the Wisconsin Historical Museum.

WATCH THE STORY OF FESTIVUS NOW!!!

Happy Thanksgiving - A Blog Dedicated to Taryn Scane

Hello, happy Thanksgiving to all! Last night I spent the night at my sister’s house. It was fun. I really had a fun time. I had fun while I was there. So yeah, it was fun. That is the point. I showed her my blog and she thought it was funny, so I dedicate this blog to Taryn Scane.

I went to bed last night, got up this morning, excited for football and turkey. My sister’s boyfriend took us home this morning at about 11:30. It was a fun car ride home. When we got home we had cinnamon rolls (we do every major holiday). I started to watch the Lions play, they looked good, when it was 7-0. After about half an hour or so I left in disgust. The Lions are bad, there is no other way to say it.

At about 2:00 we went to my grandparents house. I went in gave everybody my handshakes, hugs, and kisses, then went downstairs to get my butt kicked in FIFA 10 by my cousin. I saw my cousin had a big MLB jar. He saw me staring at it and opened it. It was filled with rice. Rice. A jar of rice. He told me to try to get my hand to the bottom. I thought it would be pretty easy, it’s rice, uncooked rice, no liquids. I put my hand in and it was extremely hard. I asked him why he had it, he simply said: “baseball.”

I felt stupid. My cousin was picked along with 6 others in a camp in Florida out of 1,000 kids to come back once a month to train for baseball with the Doyle brothers. In case you didn’t know, the Doyle brothers were 3 brother’s who all played in the MLB back in the 70’s.

After what seemed like endless hours of being beat in FIFA, it was dinner. I had some turkey, of course, and some other good food. To drink, I started out with Cherry Coke, finished that and my cousin wanted me to try some of his protein powder that you mix with milk. He put some of the powder in a glass, added milk, closed the lid, and shook the jar. He plays pitcher, strong arms, I imagined it was shaken up enough. He had protein because the Doyle bros. wanted him to have it, good reason. I came back to the table in what looked to be chocolate milk, tried it, and swallowed it without choking. It was good.

I gobbled up my chicken and went back downstairs to lose again but not in FIFA. This time I lost in MLB 09 the Show. After about 17 1/2 innings of play and a Home Run Derby, We went home. I got the new iPod Nano last Friday and was flipping through radio stations on it, stopping at each one. There was nothing good on so I put it down and stared out the window.

When we got home, I fed my dogs, sat down on my computer, and wrote this blog that is dedicated to Taryn Scane.

We are the RPF and this is a Debate

Yesterday, on November 19, 2009, we had a debate about the Rwandan genocide. Our group consisted of Jake Mulka and me, Brendan Webberly. We represented the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF.) Jake did most of the talking but he brought up very good points and asked great questions. One group that got nailed was the MRND. They got blasted with questions about their radio stations that they set up. I think Jake was getting very mad when groups did not yield on our group.

Mr. Fielder told us the day before to ask most of our questions to Juvenal Habyarimana and the MRND. We did this and they seemed to expect the questions, but the MRND just brought up that they were just informing the Hutu people. I think our group defended other groups’ questions fairly well. Another group that did a good job was France. Heather Monaham did a good job answering and firing back great questions. She is a very good debater. Some groups I do not think had enough time to talk. These groups include the Rwandan Armed Forces, Juvenal Habyarimana, and the Interahamwe. These groups did not have enough time to speak. I don’t know if this was good or bad.

In the debate, I was rather quiet. I could not think of anything good to say, and when I did, Jake was the first one to actually say it. I don’t mind it; I just wish I would have spoke up a little more. It was not boring for me, it was actually exciting. I liked it when two great debaters go against each other discussing a great topic. It was a great time and I bet no one wanted to leave. I do think however that some people were not having fun.

Our group, the RPF, probably spoke the most. Jake constantly had one finger up. I had one finger up a couple of times so people might yield to our group. I wish I had done this more, but what’s done is done. I think that, overall, I did an okay job and I needed to speak up more. I never thought our group would do as good as we did, I was pleased with how well our group did in this debate, Jake spoke a lot which cancelled out me not talking. I am glad I wasn’t in a group with extremely quiet people. All in all, I think Jake and I did great in the debate.

Ralph Waldo Emerson is Wrong!

I do not agree with Emerson’s argument in “The American Scholar.”

Emerson says people only know what they are trained to do and nothing else. I think because we have an educational system with many classes, people are learning many different things. People learn something new every day in every class. My older brother is majoring in public affairs, but he is getting good grades in chemistry. Chemistry has nothing to do with public affairs. So he is learning more than what his future job requires him to do. He also says that people are becoming less intelligent. I disagree with this because teachers learn more things every year. Mrs. Skoronski has been teaching biology for many years, and just learned this year that plants only use 3% of the sunlight they receive. This proves Emerson wrong.

Emerson also says that people have individual jobs and only know what they are trained to do. This is not true. More people are taking 2 jobs and more people are working more hours. More married couples are working who have kids. For example, my sister’s boyfriend works at a supermarket and as a car mechanic. He is doing two completely different jobs and works seven days a week. Many people start out working for a store or shop, and then later take the job in a company. If the person does not move on in life, then Emerson would be correct, but most people do move passed a minimum wage paying job. This again proves Emerson wrong.

I do not however think that what Ralph Waldo Emerson believes in. I do believe in individualism, self-trust and self-reliance. I believe that no individual person is the same in any way as another person, and I believe that people need to trust that they are different. People also should believe in themselves to succeed.

In conclusion, Ralph Waldo Emerson is very smart, but I do not agree with him. The only thing I believe is true in “The American Scholar,” is that people are not as smart as they used to be. For example, when Albert Einstein invented nuclear energy, he did it by himself. Today, we would need a giant team to create nuclear energy (not to mention billions of dollars) if Einstein never did it for us. As crazy as this sounds, technology has improved immensely since the world’s greatest inventions were made, and people have not made very many great inventions.

Happy Holloween

On Devil’s Night, it is also my sister’s birthday. Today, she is 25. For her birthday this year, she is having a party. I’m not invited! The reason I’m not invited is because it is a drinking party. She recently got a new puppy and she wants the puppy to stay for the party, but my mom said she wasn’t staying. So, we get to bring my sister’s puppy to our house all night!
On Halloween, we are going over to my sister’s house to see her dogs and her cat that recently had surgery. Then, we are having chili, as we do every year, and then I am going trick or treating by myself. I am dressing up as a lumberjack with a wolf mask and hands. I hope to get a lot of candy I can’t eat because of my braces because my orthodontist company has a candy buy back and I could make a lot of money. One thing I hate about going trick or treating is all the people who don’t dress up and expect to get candy. I did that one year and people got really mad at me. I felt sick inside my hot costume, so I took it off and went as a hobo.
Two years ago, on Halloween, I was trick or treating with my cousin and my brother. I came home to use the bathroom and my mom told me the doctor called. I remember when I felt sick and went to the doctor’s office. I got tested to see if I was sick. My mom said the doctor told her the tests came back positive. I had strep throat. I was upset and just stayed home watching a movie. Two years ago was probably my worst Halloween ever.
I really never thought I would have a bad Halloween, but that year was a bad Halloween. This year I plan to trick or treat for an extremely long time to make up for that year. What really bugged me about that year was that in sixth grade I had strep throat three times. Then I got it again less than a year later? I wasn’t even that sick, I was sort of faking sick but I sort of wasn’t.
I hope this Halloween is great because I can walk far, but my brother can’t walk very far at all. So, I hope to go down my street to 6 Mile, then turn around and go to 5 Mile through Levan. I want to go to the Little Caesar’s on that corner and see what they would give me, if anything. That is my plan for Halloween tomorrow.

Ghostbusters Float

For the Global Education float, the Globies are doing Ghostbusters. When I heard this it made me smile because Ghostbusters is one of my all time favorite movies. My favorite character is Peter Venkman. I like Venkman best because he is so funny and his attraction towards women makes him funnier. Another character I like is Stay Puft Marshmallow, I like Stay Puft because he is a giant marshmallow and that’s all there is to it.

Another thing I like about Ghostbusters is the theme song. The Ghostbusters song is very catchy and is fun to listen to. I also like Ecto-1. The Ghostbusters car is one of my favorite kinds of cars and I also like all the gadgets on top of the car. When I saw the Ghostbusters car at Woodward Cruise, I had to take a picture. So, basically, the car is sweet.

When I started working on the float, I had to cut out the phrase “Who you gonna call Coach Gabel!” The next day I worked on it, I made flowers out of paper which was rather boring but mandatory. On Wednesday, I painted the background of the float. This was actually a lot of fun and I spent a lot of time painting buildings and windows. If you look at the float and see a huge window in one of the buildings, I painted that window as the CEO's office. Not that it has anything to do with the float but I made a painting accident and fixed it by making it huge.

I hope the float turns out well and gets first place. A lot of people spent a lot of time working on the float and I hope it is a success. I had a good time working on the float so far and hope it will be as much fun in later years as it was this year.

Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama recently received the Nobel Peace Prize.Many Americans were shocked to hear this. Obama received the prize for his foreign policies. I found it amazing the in a little less than a year he won the Nobel Peace Prize. The only person I heard who said anything good about this was believe it or not John McCain. He said, “We as an American people should be proud our president won.” President Obama took the 1.4 million dollars he received from the prize and donated it to charity.

I believe what John McCain said. I think Americans should be proud that Obama won. I was very shocked; I have to admit that this happened. I personally think, now this is just my opinion but I think Barack Obama should have provided a college football playoff and used the rest for his plan for health care. I think Obama himself was even shocked that he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Americans think that he did not do anything to earn this prize. Well, he won it didn’t he? People should not think that about people, that’s like saying that the Steelers did nothing to win the Super Bowl six times. President Obama said that speech in Africa about how the world must come together and he is handling Iran very maturely. Obama has done much more in foreign policies. George Bush must find that offensive because he never won any kind of big award in his eight years in office and Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in less than a year.

I think when John McCain said what he said, I think he was saying thank you for all the times President Obama said all the nice things to McCain like in Obama’s health care plan. I believe more people need to grow up and be happy our president won. What I don’t understand is people who supported Obama don’t think he should have won and Republicans are disgusted with this year’s Peace Prize. I supported Barack Obama in 2008 and I’m glad he won, but I was extremely proud when John McCain mentioned that statement. What made me mad was Fox News just saying everything that was wrong about Obama winning. They said things like “This is a disappointment, America should not feel proud,” and more things like that. That is what was on my mind a few days after this was announced.
New York Times

iPod Touch

My favorite item that I own is my iPod Touch. I love all the applications, they are so much fun and I could spend hours playing around with them. I love the app of Pandora Radio. On Pandora, you can type in a song you like and Pandora will play songs that have things in common with that song.

Another one that I like is Doodle Buddy. On Doodle Buddy, you can doodle on one of your pictures or on a background and save it to your photo library. It is so cool. One thing I love about my iPod is that I can go on the internet with it. I can go on You Tube and use a calculator. I can also check my E-mail wirelessly. I can buy songs, movies, and TV shows on iTunes from my iPod. I can check stocks, the weather, and even get instructions for a six-pack.

I got my iPod Touch when it first came out and it was $300. It did not come with a speaker so I need to use headphones, that is the only thing I don’t like about it. After I got my iPod, I had to wait a week to get Wi-Fi because my dad was out of town and no one else knew where the password was. When the update to get the App Store came out, I wanted it, I begged my mom to buy for me because I was broke. After about 2 days of begging, she caved and let me buy it. When the update was installing, I was being stupid and unplugged my iPod from the computer, yeah, some genius I am. That’s how I lost all my songs, videos, and so much more.

One of the best, not really noticeable things about the iPod Touch is that it doesn’t scratch easily at all. It has an invisible protective layer of something; I’m not sure what, around it. I’ve had mine for about 2 years and I still don’t really have any scratches on it and I’ve dropped it about ten times.

Getting this time consuming money maker was probably the best decision of my life. This iPod made me want the iPhone more than anything but my whole family has Verizon so I have to have Verizon so I can talk to them for free. If anyone is unsure about the iPod Touch, I 110% recommend it.

First Day

My First Day of High School

On my first day of high school, I thought it would be a mess and it was.

The halls were so cluttered that I felt like I was in a stampede. The cafeteria was crowded, very crowded. The wait to buy food was worth it. The tator tots smelled great, the pizza smelled fantastic, as all pizza does.
When I got my food my friend Kyle said, “You waited that long for pizza and potatoes? They don’t look that good.”

“They are.” I said and put more tots into my mouth. It got silent and I looked around and saw my cousin looking right at me.

“Hey!” He said. I always get those awkward feelings when my cousin is hanging out with me and my friends are right next to me. My cousin doesn’t like my friends and they don’t like him.

“Hey Joe. What’s up?” I asked, my friends just sort of looked down and ate.

“Uhh nothing much, I got to leave Brendan, see you later.” He said and left. As soon as he left my friend Alec asked if that was my cousin. I of course said yes but it still felt like Joe was still there, I jerked my head around and saw the next table, then as I turned back slowly I saw him outside the cafeteria with his friends. I felt my pizza and it was getting cold I hurried up and ate it, it was delicious. Then, I attacked my tators. They were very tasty too, but hotter than the pizza. As soon as my cousin left the awkward feeling never went away and everyone at the table still was dead silent, the rest of the people in the cafeteria seemed to be screaming.

I always hate when it’s silent and nothing to talk about. Nothing is really going on with sports besides football which some of my friends hate. There is nothing to talk about in the news. Then we talked about our schedules and high school, and how I waited so long for my food.

I thought about the lunch I got and, I thought it was worth the wait. When Lunch was over I went back to 4th hour and went through the rest of what seemed to be an endless day.

ABC

A
I am a good athlete. I love to play sports. My favorite sport is basketball. I am pretty good in almost all sports.
B
My favorite car is a Bugatti Veyron. It may cost 1.5 million dollars, but it is the best looking car I’ve ever seen.
C
I love to eat chocolate. It tastes so good. My favorite ice cream is chocolate and my favorite cookie is chocolate chip. I love when the chocolate melts in your mouth.
D
At my house we have 3 dogs. They are big and loud but we love them. They bark a lot and sometimes it hurts my ears.
E
I am a very energetic person. The last thing I need is an energy drink. Sometimes after not doing anything for a while I have these energy spikes where I go crazy.
F
I love watching football games, except for the Lions because they are not that interesting to watch. My favorite football team is San Diego.
G
My favorite instrument is guitar. I love to hear a guitar solo in a song and that motivates me to play my guitar. I love when I hear a song I know how to play.
H
My favorite subject in school is history. I think it is cool to learn about what the world used to be like. I also like to learn about how the world changed.
I
One of my favorite superheroes is Ironman. He is so cool and I love his weapons and how he flies.
J
My cousin’s name is Joe. He is very short and very creative. However, he is not very smart in school.
K
One of my favorite basketball players is Kobe Bryant. The things he can do are just amazing. I love when he’s on a fast break and dunks it.
L
One of my favorite bands is Linkin Park. I like their kind of music.
M
I love to watch movies. They can tell you information, make you laugh, or cry.
N
I like Need for Speed video games. I love the racing and the free roam in the games. Need for Speed is one of the best kinds of video games.
O
In the 2008 election I wanted Obama to win. I liked his economic plan and his health care plan.
P
I like to eat pie. My favorite kind of pie is apple. I like pie best in the winter.
Q
My favorite chess piece is the queen. I like to use my queen as much as possible and I am very upset when I lose her.
R
I have red hair. It used to bother me but now it really doesn’t matter to me. No one really thinks I’m weird or anything because I have red hair.
S
I have a brother named Sean and he likes Barack Obama and loves to play guitar. He likes to play video games and hang out with his friends.
T
My favorite kind of Mexican food is a taco. I like soft shells more than hard shells. Hard shells taste like cardboard to me.
U
I live in the United States. I like living here because there are so many places to see in one country. Also we have a good government.
V
I like to play video games. Video games are a lot of fun but only some games are fun. Sports games are the best in my opinion.
W
Winter is one of my favorite seasons. I like to go sledding and to have snowball fights.
X
I want to see the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That movie looks like a great movie and I want to see it whenever I can.
Y
I love to go on Youtube and watch videos on almost everything. You can watch sports highlights and movie trailers.
Z
I like to visit the zoo. I love seeing the polar bears, lions, and tigers.

High School

When I started high school, I thought it would be great. After the first week, I realized it was okay. On Friday I went to biology and we talked about the 5 senses. Last year, I sat next to one kid almost all year and we sat next to each other in biology, at least we’re friends. When the teacher came in, she told us that we were getting a new teacher on Monday. We were all depressed when we left. When we got the new teacher, she was pretty good; we started and are currently doing a lab with planarians. So overall, biology turned out okay.
After biology I have Japanese. When I walked in the door I didn’t know what to expect. What was weird was that there were four classes of Japanese all put into one hour. One day we had a senior in the class teach the freshmen, vowels. I am fine taking Japanese it’s just that the class is so unorganized that the teacher needs another teacher or two to help.
I was unsure about my third and fourth hour, Global Ed. The teacher had us do this assignment where we walked up to people and told them to sign a piece of paper in a box that showed us something about them. I didn’t like it but had to do it. I actually do like the third hour class. After that I have the other half of Global Ed. On the first day of school we had to write a paper on our first day. I got a C+.
When I went to geometry, I thought it would be the most boring hour of school, I was right. It felt like 6 hours of learning about class expectations. After geometry, I had software media management. The classroom alone is cool, the chairs spin and it is air conditioned. The class is not very boring but I want to do PowerPoint, I love PowerPoint.