I'm back Baby!

On Sunday, I came back to my rightful place, UNH. I forgot how much I love living here. I have a spacious single at Smith Hall (the best dorm on campus), great friends, tremendous food and a great education. I felt like I never left. I am the most happy about walking around and looking at the sights on campus. But enough with the sappy stuff. This is my last semester and I am going to have to live it up. I only have one class on Monday nights, four classes on Tuesdays and three classes on Thursdays. I have Wednesdays and Fridays off which is awesome. I have to take advantage of my days off and do important errands that I may have to do.
I want to have fun this semester, but at the same time, I also have to be professional. My goal by the time I graduate on May 22 is to have a plan to look for jobs or already have a job. It is more frightening to look for a real job than graduating. A lot of people have asked me if I am scared about graduating. To be honest, I'm not. I am actually really excited about it. I have had the time of my life and it is something that I will never forget. I think that this blog will be my last piece of evidence of my status at school. Who knows how much longer Facebook or MySpace is going to last for. There will probably be a new crop of social networking websites to write a journal or contact with other people, but that is a different matter.
I have had three of my classes so far this semester and I like them a lot. Germs will be incredibly easy because there is no book and no essays. The class is about germs and how it affects the world, nothing more constructive than that. There are four online quizzes and from what I know of, they are not timed. The key to succeeding is to stay on top of everything and not forget about it. The History of American Sport and Physical Culture looks like it is going to be a lot more than just talking about sports. There will be politics, theories and how sports evolved the way it is today which is something that will fascinate me. Finally, the other class that I have been to so far is Special Studies in Film: Traditions in World Cinema. We are going to watch international movies and then write about it. So far, we watched Wong Kai Wai: Chung King Express. It was a romantic comedy and it was about how the people act towards each other in China. Each movie we watch a movie from a different country and then we have to write a 300 word response about it. I think it will expand my horizons to international movies. I am looking forward to that. The only class that I have not had yet is Sports Writing. This is the key course of helping me improve as a sports. I have already passed my other journalism courses that I needed to graduate. If I can do well in this class, it will be the final hurdle to increasing my confidence as a journalist.
So far I have been here for nearly a week. It does not depict of how my semester will turn out, but it gives me an idea of what my schedule will be like. I am really excited about being back and being more productive. As much as I loved being home with my family and friends, being a couch potato was really getting to my head. Since I have been back, I have been more productive and I cannot be any happier. I hope things turn out well. If it does, that means I will graduate and have a job at a newspaper or something that involves. I just have to be assertive and I will get what I want.

The Radiation Boom

Every day, there is always something that is happening in the world that is worth talking about. Apple's CEO Steve Jobs, unveiled the iPAD Tablet, it's purpose is for video, music and e-books and it is starting at $499. But there is one story in the New York Times that I read that just shocked me. The New York Times have published a series of the "Radiation Boom." In this article, "As Technology Surges, Radiation Safeguards Lag", some parts of the country, cancer patients go into their radiation treatments and end up being over-radiated, causing further damage to their bodies. The more shocking thing is that the machines that the doctors use are so advanced that they have not recognized the mistakes that the machines make. For example, "In Texas, a man named George Garst now wears two external bags- one for the urine and the other for fecal matter- because of severe radiation injuries he suffered after a medical physicist who said he was overworked failed to detect a mistake. The overdose was never reported to the authorities because the rules did not require it." Later in the article, "The first half of his radiation treatment — external beam therapy — was overseen by the state radiological division operating under one set of rules. The second half of his treatment — radioactive seeds — was subject to a second set of rules established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, except that the commission passed its responsibility on to the state, which must follow some, but not all, of the commission’s rules. In any case, the second rules differ from the first. As it turned out, Mr. Garst was overdosed and seriously injured, destroying his ability to urinate and move his bowels normally. Before two external bags were attached to collect his waste, Mr. Garst’s urine leaked into his rectum because a fistula had developed. He had so many infections, his doctors had to keep trying new antibiotics to replace those that no longer worked." The scary thing is, that was not even the worst of the cases that were mentioned in the article. There was a man that died from the radiation, but I will not go too far into it.
There was a reason why I never trusted doctors, and this article proves to be one of those reasons. I know that doctors and nurses go to school for a very long time to get their degree and I also know that they work tirelessly to save lives. However, this is unacceptable. I don't care if there are rules or regulations of how this works. These people have cancer, the biggest fear in anyone's life. These patients are trusting these doctors with their life and hard earned money and the doctors make decisions that is unethical to the maximum. It is bad enough that Congress did not make their deadline in passing the controversial Health Care bill, but it is another thing for the doctors to make these mistakes and not know what hit them. In fact, this series of the Radiation Boom is very timely because of the second-guessing of the Heath Care bill. I am curious of how the authorities will handle this. When they do, there are going to be some serious lawsuits and some serious money-loss.

We have a Super Bowl now!

If there was a Super Bowl that involved Indianapolis Colts' Quarterback Peyton Manning and Minnesota Vikings' Quarterback Brett Farve, there was no chance that I was going to watch it. I wouldn't have wanted to watch it because for the next two weeks, the media would constantly talk about how awesome Manning and Farve are and they would also mention how good their numbers are and how it would have been the best match-up ever. Plus, I just hate both of them. Manning has been getting increasingly overrated every year (his numbers are pretty damn good though none of the less) and I always felt that Farve has never been that clutch and he doesn't know what the word "retirement" means. But, fortunately, the Superbowl teams this year are the Colts and the New Orleans Saints.
Overall, I am extremely excited for this Super Bowl, except Manning is in it. Although, I hate the Colts and the New York Jets equally, so I couldn't really win. I supported both teams in the NFC Championship, so I was just as happy if one team or the other won.
In my opinion, this is the first Superbowl since 2005 that the match-up is evenly matched on paper when the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles went head-to-head. I felt like for the last few Super Bowls, the games on paper were not all that exciting. The results of each game were exciting, but they were not worth watching for non-football fans.
The Colts and the Saints were easily the best two teams of the NFL all year. Both teams suffered their road bumps at the end of the regular season, but it is better to do it then than in the playoffs when there is an even smaller margin of error. Each team had extremely high expectations this year and they followed through so far. Now is the time for one of these teams to finish the job. This game will feature the top two Quarterbacks in the league in Manning and Saints' Q.B. Drew Brees, two defenses that have their problems at times but have matured for the most part and more cameos about how good of a combination Saints' Head Coach Sean Payton and Brees are. This should be a high-scoring game, which is something a defensive geek like myself hate, but yet I respect good offense as well. I am curious of how the special teams will pan out. In fact, I think it will be the most important element of the game. Overall, NFL Place Kickers in the postseason have converted a woeful 20 out of 33 field goal attempts (60 percent). If field goals are made, may the best team win. Otherwise, good luck.
I think that this game is going to be the year that non-fans will be interested. The Superbowl ratings have plumetted the last few year because the teams that have been in it no one cares about "the other team." I am going to root for the Saints because of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The city needs something to cheer about. They need something that can make them bandage of what happened five years ago. If the Saints win, it will be a victory for the state and for America.

It's the Friday before I go back to school

Another week has past, another week that I did not work. It was surprising considering that I worked three days last week and coming from three days last week to not working at all is nothing short of disappointing. It's okay because I got a chance to relax, read, go to the gym and cook and clean at the meantime. I always try to stay proactive, no matter if I work or not. I really needed this week to sit around because it will rejuvenate me when I go back to school and have one last go-around for a grueling but fun semester at UNH.
Even though I did not get a chance to socialize often this week, when I did, I learned a lot from people that I did talk to. I learned today that Barbers and Hair Stylists are very knowledgeable about politics. I say so because whenever I go and get a haircut, the news station will be on or it just so happens that we are talking about politics. Today for example, I went to get a haircut at "Fantastic Sams" in Enon st. in Beverly and my hair stylist, Matt, and I were talking about the election that took place on Tuesday. He told me if he was going to vote, he would have voted for Martha Coakley (Democrat) because he is an Independent and he usually leans towards Democrats. However, he decided not to vote because he disliked about how she did not have a plan once she went into office which I never thought about before. Matt also talked about the Health Care bill that President Obama is willing to pass and how the hair stylist thinks that there is a lot of slander in it. I was surprised of how knowledgeable he was because I always assumed that Barbers and Hair Stylists never had the proper education. I guess I'm ignorant that way. Who isn't sometimes?
I also learned that when you leave the United States, it really changes people. I learned that from my friend Kevin Bleicher, which before his ideology on life isn't always up to snuff. In in the middle of December, he went to Berlin for a seven-day trip to see his favorite band, Rammstein, a German heavy-metal band, his favorite band in the world. Kevin said that going to Berlin was a life-changing experience for him. He thinks so because when he was there he met some really interesting natives there and became good friends with them. He also told me how it kind of cured his depression that he had in the past. He said that the life in Berlin revived him, that there is actually things out there that is worth taking a risk for. Kevin is starting to become passionate about traveling now, just like I was when I came home from studying abroad.
When you come home from traveling, nothing is satisfying to you. Since I left Scotland, I can never taste Whiskey the same way ever again. When I go to Bertucci's, I can never dine and taste Italian food the same way as I was in Rome. I think that is the case because I get bored when I am home. When people visit you and you show them around, they always say, "Wow, this place is awesome!" Meanwhile, you are thinking, "Well, this is what I do all of the time. There is nothing special about it to me." You think this way because there is nothing new. I love trying new things. That is why since I have been home from school I have been trying to read a different book, read different kind of news or do something around the house that I don't normally do. That is why I wanted to cook more because it is something different. The key to life is to not get bored. There is nothing wrong in taking risks. That was why going abroad was the best gamble I ever took because it made me realize that there is nothing wrong with doing something you have never done before, just like Kevin. Every day when I wake up, I want to learn or do something everyday. If I don't, it was a waste to even get out of bed in the first place.

Scott Brown's win is stunning

Late last night, Massachusetts Republican candidate Scott Brown topped Democratic candidate Martha Coakley 52% to 47%, meanwhile Liberitarian candidate Joseph Kennedy received 1% in the special election. As a Massachusetts native, this is a huge deal for us around the state. It is such shocking news that it is reported everywhere nation-wide. As you all know, Massachusetts is a blue (Democratic) state. No Republican candidate from Massachusetts has won a Senate seat since 1972, so you see the significance of this victory for Scott Brown. Brown will be taking the seat for the late Senator Ted Kennedy for the rest of his term, which expires in 2012. Don't forget about the Special Election bill that was passed in the fall by Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick to make this all possible.
A month ago, this election seemed to be a laughing stock. Brown's opponent, Martha Coakley, was way ahead in the standings and at the time, there was no looking back for her. Of course there was another candidate in Kennedy (no relation to Ted) who was practically irrelevant in the election other than taking votes to split the difference. There were multiple occasions which Brown challenged Coakley to a radio debate and the Democratic predecessor refused. It was the start of the rise for Brown and the falling for Coakley. The key to Brown's victory was his stellar performance in the debate last Monday to seal the deal.
It was simple of why Brown won. He had a better candidacy than Coakley. He was also the man that voters wanted: he owned a truck, he opposed the Obamacare bill and he supported guns. All Coakley did was gloat about President Bill Clinton and President Barrack Obama endorsing her. Senator John McCain and former Red Sox great, Curt Schilling, endorsed Brown.
On Sunday, I decided not to vote. I did so because throughout the weekend until yesterday afternoon, automated voice messages of Brown and Coakley called my house about eight times a day (no exaggeration). Plus, I was not particularly fond of either candidate. Personally, I don't buy the "every vote counts" bull crap. My decision to vote or not is a privilege, not a right. People are going to give me a hard time because I did not vote, but I did not want to make a mistake of voting for the wrong person because I do not know where I stand in politics anymore. I voted for Obama last year and you have seen his approval ratings lately. So I decided not to vote until the fall when the elections get juicy.
I have a friend, Joe Walsh, who worked for Brown, who is a graduate from Emmanuel College in 2007. His position was a field director for the candidate. He worked tirelessly for this victory to happen. He worked over 60 hours a week and made about $700 a week. He could not have been happier when Brown won. He updated his profile in his Facebook account and said, "Thank you to everyone for their congratulatory posts and their support of Senator Brown! Just remember, we all did this together!" I am proud of Joe and I hope he finds a job that can give him some security. He worked really hard for this and I will shake his hand when I see him next time.
As much as I do not like Scott Brown, he earned his victory. He finished his Cinderella story to win and now is the time to use that tenacity in the Senate. Hopefully he will represent the state that I am proud to live in. I hope the Massachusetts people made the right choice. I don't think we need anymore political lapses right now.

Terrible NFL divisional playoff games

You would figure in the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs that the team who won the Wild Card round would bring their swagger against teams that had their bye weeks and have more pressure on them. For the visiting teams, the Arizona Cardinals, the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys, that was far from the case. In fact, I think even their practice squad could have played better.
The home teams, the Minnesota Vikings, the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts won by an average of 26.3 points per game. In fact, analysts and fans thought that the Cardinals, the Ravens were going to win. Wow were we dumb. In fact, if the San Diego Chargers are in the playoffs with a great record, I am never going to pick them to win ever again.
The New York Jets were ready to play. They brought their NFL's #1 running game and their NFL's #1 defense to San Diego put it to the Chargers with a nothing short of stunning 17-14 victory. Of course the Jets got more than a few breaks. Chargers' Place Kicker Nate Kaeding coming into the game led the NFL in field goals made (32), points (146) and was fourth with field goal percentage (91.4) and his longest field goal was 55 yards, missed not one, not two, but THREE field goals in the game. He missed from 36 yards, 57 yards (I can give him a break on that) and 40 yards. Those missed kicks I thought changed the whole complexion of the game. Chargers' Quarterback Philip Rivers threw two interceptions; however, one of them was a lucky bounce for Jets' Corner back Derrelle Revis when it landed in his hands from Chargers' Wide Receiver Vincent Jackson. The Chargers were flagged for 10 penalties for 87 yards. Otherwise, it took the Jets' offense the whole first half to figure out the tendencies of the Chargers' defense and then took advantage afterward with 17 points in the second half. Once the Jets started rolling, the Chargers rolled over and choked like always.
The Jets-Chargers game was the only one that didn't make want to change the channel. All of the other games were really close until the end of the first half, then it was a crap-shoot. The Ravens-Colts game was 3 all until the Colts scored two touchdowns within the final two minutes of the first half. The Cardinals-Saints game was only a 7-point difference until the middle of the second quarter and then the Saints scored 24 unanswered points throughout the rest of the game. And the Cowboys-Vikings game was 7-3 Vikes into the middle of the second quarter until the home team also routed the 'Boys and scored 27 unanswered points after that.
I thought that playoff football was supposed to be a tough, painful and grinding time of the year. It is supposed to show each and every team's mettle. This week, three of the four of the losing teams failed to do that. In fact, they were embarrassed. They did not belong. It showed that the teams that they defeated the week before didn't belong in the playoffs either. But that is life. Nothing can go the owners', executives', players' or the fans' way. It is what it is and we will have to wait and see how competitive that the Conference Championship games will be.

Life moves by fast

I hear this saying a lot that life moves by fast. You don't know it until you go through with it. Today is the one-year anniversary of me being in London. I can only relish my time there. It is amazing that just one year ago, I arrived in Europe not knowing what was ahead of me.
I have been home since December 18th and it is hard to believe that I have been home for nearly a month. It has been a lovely combination between relaxing, seeing my family and friends, going out and working. My favorite part of my vacation so far has been working. I love to work. I think that working is fun because it brings some variety to your day. I worked on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.
My favorite day that I worked this week was on Monday. On Monday I worked as a substitute teacher at the LAUNCH program which is for kids with Autism from ages 18-22. The program teaches them basic skills for the real world like counting money, figuring out train schedules and how to tell time. It is located in Memorial Middle School in Beverly. I think Autism is fascinating. I think it is better to learn about it from engaging a conversation or even working with them rather than reading books about it. You can learn a lot about it in books, but it is better to experience it being with them. The six kids that I worked with were kind, sweet and mild-mannered. We played a lot of games on the computer between exchanging money, reading stories and finding items. Just seeing them play these games shows how far behind they are because of their disability, but they were still fun.
Later on in the day, we went to the computer lab so they can go over their New Year's resolutions. They actually had some really creative ones like making more eye contact, learn how to cook, have better hygiene, so on and so forth. Otherwise, I really like being a substitute teacher. It gives me an idea of a typical day of being a teacher, which is a profession that I might pursue someday. I would much rather be a high school teacher than any other level. Even though there are a lot of punks and wise guys, I think that they have some potential to do some good. They are not going to be like that for the rest of their lives but that's just the false hope of being a teacher. You can't cure everything, but what you can do is give them advice and hope they follow it.
Since I have one week left, at this point I am ready to go back to UNH. I am starting to miss my friends from school there and it is time to get through my last semester at UNH. It freaks me out, but at the same time it is exciting. At first, all I worried about was graduating and then getting into the real world. It could be boring, but I can't run away from my. My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did it. Why can't I? I am also looking forward to go back to school because I am sick and tired of the drama around here. Since I took my car off the insurance, I feel trapped. Whenever I have to go somewhere, someone has to give me a ride. Even if the driver does not have any money, you still feel obligated to cover them for a drink or some sort of necessity. Some of my friends have been ticking me off too. They are either too selfish or they are too cheap; two of my biggest pet peeves. I am not going to go over it because it will take too much of my time. Even though my friends aggravate me, I still love them. I would not be the person I am today if it wasn't for them. They make me strong, confident and to never be afraid of anything. I guess I am learning about myself more and more whenever I hang out with them. I guess I will have to take advantage as much as I can for the next week because this is going to be my last Christmas break. I am not going to have an extended after that anytime so. No more complaining or whining. It is go time!

Current Events Wednesday

Everyday, there is always some news story that affects the world. "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell plans to leave the show after the season. The court wants to weigh indefinite detention among sex offenders. Charlie Sheen gets dropped from "Hanes" commercials. The juiciest story of the year so far is easily the earthquake in Haiti.
Yesterday evening at around 5 p.m., an 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Port-au-Prince in Haiti. There are over 100,000 deaths and it could reach about 500,000. Three million people could be affected by the earthquake, which is one-third of the population of 9,035,536 people.
The country is in frantic panic as they continue to look for their friends and loved ones. There was a plane that landed during the earthquake which also included some journalists. The country is without significant food and water and several nations including the United States and Britain are planning to send several funds and the proper needs for the suffering developing country. The Red Cross is planning to send food and water to Haiti as soon as possible. The United States is also planning to send more than 2,000 Marine troops their in the next few days.
It is the biggest earthquake since Haiti found their Colonial state since 1770.
Their official languages is French and Creole. The ethnic groups in the country are 95 percent African-American and 5 percent Mulatto and White. The population that is in the below poverty is 80 percent. The Port-au-Prince population is 1,082,800 people.
At first I was wondering why Campbell Brown, Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer and other news organizations keep talking about the story. When I started reading the news today in NBC and then NPR, I then realized how catastrophic of a story this is. This is bigger than Hurricane Katrina or any of the Tsunamis in the past. This is a developing country that is suffering enough and now this earthquake. This country just can't get a break. Now up to 500,000 people could be dead and actually could be more that we are unaware of. I hope that other nations can provide everything that they can or this could be a very long recovery for Haiti because there are also over 40,000 Americans that are also living there.

End of a Glorious Era

I know that this may have been said way too often throughout the season. It made have been said too much since yesterday. From 2001-2007, it was easy to say that the New England Patriots were royalty throughout that time. But yesterday emphasized that the Patriots are not the best anymore. You saw it from game 2 on this year that the Pats were unable to surmount a comeback or make a big stop on defense. It seemed like yesterday put the icing on the cake. Once the Patriots gave up a touchdown on an 83-yard run from Ray Rice (which was the first play of the game), you knew the New England gridiron gang lost their swagger. In years past, that play may not have happened. But, in years past, if they were behind, they always had an answer. Once the Patriots had the ball, you would think that they would sustain a drive that would produce either a lot of first downs or produce points. On the third play of the drive, Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs stripped the ball from Tom Brady and the Ravens recovered it. Once you leave the room to go to the bathroom, the visitors scored a touchdown to make it 14-0. That was when I felt the game was over.
The game ended because they did not have enough players that had the ability to make a big play to turn the game around. The Pats tried, but when they did, they would throw it in the towel. In the past, if the score was 14-0 in the first quarter, you know that Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison or Mike Vrabel would make a play. But guess what? They are all gone. By the end of the first quarter, it was 24-0, the most points a Belichick defense has ever given up in the first quarter.
The Patriots played like they were vulnerable. Brady has not been healthy all season (rumors of a shoulder strain, some cracked ribs, and a broken finger), they refused to use their running game at critical times of the game and their defense could not play with good offenses. Those three things were the most important elements of success and they fell short in all of them.
Since the 2007 season, the Pats are all about numbers. They achieved the perfect 16-0 season, but failed to win the Super Bowl, which made them the worst 18-1 squad ever. Patriots did not have a 1,000 yard receiver since their first Super Bowl in 2001 (Troy Brown had 1,199 yards that year) and they won two Super Bowls. Since 2007, the Patriots have had six 1,000 yard seasons combining Welker and Randy Moss, which equals to ZERO Super Bowls. Before 2007, Brady did not throw for more than 28 passing touchdowns. In 2007, he had steroid numbers with 50 touchdown passes. I can go on.
I felt like they never had their swagger this year. Since former player personnel Scott Pioli jettisoned to the Kansas City Cheifs, the Pats have not made Patriot moves like getting guys to help the team in a certain area. They have not drafted well since 2005 (Chad Jackson, Jonathan Wilhite, Terrence Wheatley, Laurence Maroney please stand up).
The hardest thing to do in sports is not only get to the playoffs every year, but to WIN the Super Bowl every year. From 2001-2009, the Pats have had seven playoff appearances, five AFC Championship games and four Super Bowl appearances. That is quite a feat. Not even the Indianapolis Colts or the Pittsburgh Steelers has amassed that kind of success. It was quite a dynasty when it last. I am still proud to be a Patriots fans, but I don't expect them to win it all for quite a while if they have what they have right now. Keep trying Pats. I hope I'm wrong.

Thank God it's Friday

The saying "Thank God it's Friday" is almost irrelevant to me because since I have been home for winter break on December 18th, every day has been Friday because I have not worked. But this week has brought me a healthy combination between relaxing, going out and working. But there was some frustration throughout the week when it came to working, but everything panned out just fine.
In late November, I signed up to be a substitute teacher for Beverly Public Schools. The program that I signed up for is called the LAUNCH program which it is for Autistic students between ages 18-22 and my job is to teach them life skills. It is a good way to earn a few extra bucks before I go back to school. It would also provide me some more understanding of Austism, something that has provided me great interest since watching "Rain Man" starring Dustin Hoffman who portrayed an autistic man several years ago. When I signed up, I talked the substitute teacher coordinator, Corie McKenzie, that I was leaving UNH on December 18th. Sure enough, McKenzie called me that day and I was not available.
When school came back in session on January 4th, I did not get called from Monday-Wednesday and I was getting extremely frustrated. The next week, school was in session for three days and neither day I was called in. School had a winter vacation from December 24th-January 3rd.
On Wednesday, I was fed up with the waiting process. I decided to call Sherry Zide, coordinator of the LAUNCH program, who I worked with when I was a camp counselor this past summer. She pitched me the idea of working with the LAUNCH program and it lured me in to it. When I called Zide, I asked her whether anyone has called out. She told me that no one did and suggested the idea to become a general substitute. I called McKenzie and told her that I haven't gotten any calls and that it was time to change to a general substitute, but I still wanted to be integrated into the LAUNCH program. Sure enough, at 7:30 p.m., the substitute coordinator called me and assigned me to the Beverly High School, where I graduated in 2006. I was assigned to be a sub for a special education teacher. It was bad timing because that night I was going to go to Boston for my friend Kelly's birthday party. I knew that I was going to be home late, but I knew the consequences.
We went to this bar called the Tap. It is located in Union st. near Faneuil Hall. I was told that Wednesdays and Thursdays were the biggest party nights of the week in Boston and its reputation did not disappoint. I went out with about ten friends and it was quite a blast. There was a performer whose name is Bruce Jacques that comes every Wednesday night. He did a lot of things between singing, playing the guitar, dressing up in ridiculous costumes and provided jokes. My two goals for Kelly's night were theses, getting her drunk and make sure she had a fun time. Those goals were easily achieved. We left at about 1 a.m., an hour before the bar closed because some people had to work early in the morning. Getting home was a major challenge. We knew that Kelly has a rough night when it came to drinking and were utterly surprised that she hadn't hurled yet. But on the way home, Kelly puked three times. The first time she did, a patrol officer pulled up behind us and made sure everyone was not intoxicated other than Kelly. That procedure did not last more than five minutes and we were on our way. I walked in my house at 2:15 a.m. and did not go to sleep until 2:45 a.m. I woke up at 6:45 a.m. and then had to report to the high school at 8:00 a.m.
It was almost surreal to be back with a role at the high school. I saw a lot of my teachers that I had during my tenure there and they were excited that I was substituting. It was weird for me to call other teachers by their first name because I was inferior to them when I was a teenager. All I did was sit them and made sure that the students were semi quite and they did not kill each other. I always thought that special ed. students were fascinating because there is always something new to learn about a particular disorder or disability. The day flew considering that I did nothing. Fortunately, no one killed each other and I made a deal before each class that if they have nothing to do, don't leave the classroom for thirty minutes or not cause havoc. It worked. Soon enough, 2:33 p.m. arrived and school was out. It was good to get some experience because next time that I get called in, I won't have to be nervous or anxious. Even though I don't work 30-40 hours a week, I am glad it is Friday because my friends will not be working this weekend and that gives us an excuse to see each other without any strings attached.

News Wednesday

It amazes me how people who die that are famous for one or a few things get so much news coverage. According to MSN.com, Casey Johnson, 30, passed away today which authorities are unsure what the cause was. Johnson apparently was famous because she was engaged to Tila Tequila, her father Woody Johnson owns the New York Jets and her great-great grandfather founded Johnson & Johnson. So basically she gets attention for doing nothing. Pardon me if I'm being brash, but I never get it when people die, it is such a juicy story. For example, on December 20, Brittany Murphy, 32, died from what police believe to be diet pills or other drugs. Murphy was famous for two movies: "8 Mile" and "Just Married". For the last two weeks, she is getting attention from "CNN", "Fox News", "People Magazine", etc. I do feel bad that these two people died, but to be realistic, they are just another set of people that died from overdosing or whatever famous people do.
In other news, President Obama finally speaks out about the airport security and how they knew what works, but does not know why it did not work at the time. What a political statement that is. We all know that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was trying to blow up a plane. For some reason, they are not telling us why. Come on people, stop being watchdogs for the government and spill it out. There is definitely something that they are not telling us. Why the heck would the U.S. Embassy all ready re-open less than a week? From the way I read it, the Americans were going to close it until they figure something out. Did they? Who knows.
It saddens me that I am going into a business that does not provide enough validation and honesty anymore. I do think that technology is getting into the new journalists' heads. In May 22, I will either start my search or already have a job lined up at some news industry. When I get there, I will work my butt off to provide a honest, well-reported and savvy news stories everyday. The last thing that I would want to do is to be a watchdog and not report certain things when the taxpayers should know what this country is doing with their money.

Sports Monday

One of my interests that I am obsessed in is sports. It all started with watching the Red Sox in late 1998-early 1999. I have been going to Red Sox games since 1993, when Roger Clemens' time was waning with the Red Sox. I started watching baseball because I felt it was one of the best ways to have a connection with my Papou (Greek word for grandfather) because he has been a die-hard Red Sox fan for over 60 years at the time. Then it led to watching the Patriots, then the Bruins and then the Celtics. Eventually, it led me to watching all different teams in different sports. The two players on the Red Sox that caught my attention was Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra. As badly as things ended for Martinez and Garciaparra, they were both enigmatic players for Boston baseball for seven-eight years. Sure the Red Sox were never perennial contenders, they were still fun to watch.
The more I watched the Red Sox games with Papou, the closer we got. Whenever we would watch a Red Sox game together, whenever the other team would make a pivotal play or the Red Sox make a boneheaded play, Papou would punch the couch and say "Jesus Christ." Even if the Red Sox won a game, he would say they got lucky. A lot of people thought he was a grouch no matter how the Red Sox did. He was that way for such a long time because he was use to failure. He saw it when they lost the World Series in 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986 and the American League Championship series in 2003. Each of those series were seven games, the Red Sox were always 3-4 in those series. Who could blame Papou for being pessimistic? He always told me that the Red Sox would keep you interested throughout the summer, and then stink up the joint in the fall. When they swept their way to victory in 2004, the first person I called was Papou because I knew this was a big deal for him. Imagine watching a team continue to fail when it counted for 60 years? I can't even imagine it. When I called him, he said that he did not think they would win until Keith Foulke tossed the ball underhand to Doug Mientkiewicz. He was jubilant he did not know what to do. I told him that at least you saw them win before you died.
To this day whenever we talk to each other on the phone, we would first talk about current events, how everyone around him is and then the status of the Red Sox. We would argue about how the signing of Manny Ramirez for eight years, $160 million contract was idiotic to the odds in Las Vegas for the Red Sox winning the World Series that year. Papou is more of an introvert, but has a heart of gold. He has been married to my Yiayia (Greek word for grandmother) for 60 years now and they cannot be happier. Her role is to be the conversationalist and his role is to look cute and be quiet. To me, it is a great trade-off. Everyone does get along with Papou very well. Him and my dad talk about financial expenses because Papou is an accountant. Papou and my brother Pete don't talk a lot, but their love toward each other is mutual. But Papou and I have a strong connection that no one else who is close to him has, baseball, and no one can ever take that away from me.

Here is to the start of 2010

One of my new year's resolutions is to write more since I am studying Journalism. One of the ways I can do that is to maintain a blog. Since I am heading into my last semester at the University of New Hampshire and the job search is looming, I have to polish my resume and qualifications to be marketable when I get out of school. I have had this blog since September 2009 when I had my Multimedia and Advanced Reporting class. The philosophy of the class was to learn about the evolution of multimedia and how it affects journalism. We learned how to take still photography, audio and video. It was difficult at first because I did not have prior experience with this technology, although, I have always believed that the only way that you learn something is if you learn how to fail. I did fail quite often, but I learned from my mistakes. In 2008, I did a blog called "The Juice Machine" which was about Boston Sports teams. I had a fun time writing about it, except I did not really market it towards anyone else. My plan is to market this blog to news companies to have them view my writing through the internet. I have many interests between sports, politics, traveling, movies, video games, reading and music. I am planning to write three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The posts will be sports on Mondays, journalism on Wednesdays, and my status on Fridays. I hope you enjoy what my writing brings to you. My goals in this blog are to bring credible, validated writing to the audience and also to bring a forum to my readers. If any of you have a question or a comment to any of my posts, I will be happy to read and then write back to any of your comments. Be free to browse my work in my Multimedia class. I am looking forward to make a blog and this will be the start for the rest of my life as a journalist.