The Steelers won the AFC Championship Game!!!! Now they go to the Super Bowl!! It would have been cool to have an all PA Superbowl but the Eagles couldn't do it. That's okay, the Cardinals will be a good matchup, offense against defense. So I'm pretty happy about that.
I got a summer job as a couselor at a camp and now I need to fill out all these forms and send them back in. I should probabbly do that soon. Today would be good. Maybe even right now. And Man Utd is back on top of the tables. I really like Jon McLaughlin's lyrics. They aren't just randomly written lyrics that fit some mold, they're better than that. Go STEELERS!!!

I just got the offer to work as a counselor at Camp Hebron. I am completely psyched. I really cannot wait to get out there. My interview was yesterday and I got the e-mail today. Sweet! So yeah right now I'm kinda supposed to be getting ready to go on a college visit. And then I need to head back up to the school for musical practice. That is a lot of fun too. This next year is looking more and more amazing every day- musical, camp, college... What more could I aask for? Okay I shouuld probably go get packed and stuff now.

“Our Town”
“Nice town, y’ know what I mean? Nobody very remarkable ever come out of it, s’ far as we know.” An ordinary town with nothing spectacular or noteworthy is the setting for a reflection on life. Why do people fight and kill each other for something that is not remembered years later? How does life fly by so quickly? Why is it so tempting to dwell in the past, and why does it hurt so much to do so? Thornton Wilder addresses age and death through the character of the stage manager in this classic three-act play.
“Goin’ to be a great engineer, Joe was, but the war broke out and he died in France. Yes sir, all that education for nothing. What business he had picking a quarrel with the Germans we can’t make out to this day, but it all seemed perfectly clear to us at the time.” In this monologue by the stage manager near the beginning of the first act1, Wilder reminds us that lives are wasted for causes that mean so much one day and nothing the next. Joe had a promising future ahead of him, but because of war that life was cut short and now people cannot even remember why the war came about in the first place. Wilder is addressing wasted life and how easily anyone can leave at any moment, regardless of how promising his or her future was.
“You know how it is: you’re twenty-one or twenty-two and you make some decision; then whisssh! you’re seventy; you’ve been a lawyer for fifty years, and that white-haired lady by your side has eaten over fifty thousand meals with you. How do such things begin?” In the middle of the second act2

Stauffer 2
the stage manager once again has a deep thought. Life flies by and Wilder realizes that it is not until later in life that one really appreciates each day.
Yet Wilder also realizes that by the time one appreciates each day, it is too late to go back and relive those days. And when one tries to go back to those days of youth, it ends up being more painful than just moving on. In addition one misses the rest of one’s life by spending time trying to get back to what used to be. Emily says3, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it-every, every minute?” The stage manager answers that not many people ever really appreciate every minute of life.
As life passes one by, it is difficult to appreciate every moment of every day. But once one reaches the point of reflection it is too late to revisit those early days. Death comes; one cannot control it or stop it from happening. Yet that does not stop one from wondering why aging happens. Wilder’s play suggests that life is best lived in the moment, with one embracing everything that comes one’s way. Death and aging are no different. One must realize that life moves on, the river keeps flowing. Wilder tells the audience that life is best lived when one does not resist the pull of gravity. Life moves by, and one cannot go back and make changes. It is one’s choice to live with regrets, and regrets prevent one from living a full life.

A mi casa yo tengo una computadora Microsoft. Mi computadora tiene un monitor de color y una impresora. Me gusta usar la computadora. La usa para tarea, hablar a mis amigos y buscar los datos. Cuando era niño no sabía usar la computadora. Yo la podía prender y apagar, pero yo no podía entrar los datos y guardar los datos. Yo jugaba juegos en la computadora. Uno de mis sitios favoritos es manutd.com.
Mi madre hace las compras en el supermercado. Yo ayudo con las compras. Hacemos las compras a Giant. Vamos al supermercado dos veces por semana. Preferimos ir de compras al mercado grande. Unas cosas típicas que compramos son el cereal, la carne, y los vegetales. Mi comida favorita es pizza con queso. Mi madre prepara las comidas en mi casa.
En mi tiempo libre, me gusta jugar fútbol. Mi pasatiempo es ajedrez. Cerca de mi casa hay un parque de atracciones muy grande. Hay diez montañas rusas, un tiovivo, una noria, y las cochas de topetazos. Hay un parque zoológico con muchos animales en jaulas también. Cerca del parque hay unos jardines y tú puedes caminar en las sendas allí. Mi aparato favorito en el parque es el tiovivo. Muchas estudiantes de mi escuela trabajan en el parque durante el verano.

Woodrow Wilson is the only president ever to have a Ph.D. behind his name. He graduated from Davidson College, Princeton University, University Virginia Law School and finally Johns Hopkins University (The Presidents: Washington to Reagan). Wilson, a Virginia native, grew up during the Civil War and was proud of the South’s gallant fight although he was glad that the North had won and preserved the Union. In 1902 he became president of Princeton University, the college he had played football at and received his master’s degree from. Wilson brought some changes to Princeton and was soon known for his belief in honest, democratic government. His presidential platform stemmed from similar standards that he had established at one of New Jersey’s top universities. In 1910 Wilson was elected as governor of New Jersey, and two years after that he was elected to the position of President of the United States(Blassingame, Wyatt).
He served for two terms, from 1913 to 1921. His first term was won with flying colors. The electoral vote count came in at 435 for Wilson, 88 for Teddy Roosevelt (Progressive), and 8 for William Taft (Republican). Although he was not as far ahead in the popular vote count, he still had almost 42 percent, while the other two each received 27 and 23 percent, respectively. His reelection campaign for the 1916 election had the staple phrase, “He kept us out of the war.” The campaign worked and he was elected for a second term at the White House. Wilson was reelected by the close electoral vote count of 277 to 254. The popular vote count was even closer, with Wilson receiving 9.1 million votes and his opponent Charles Hughes (Republican) receiving 8.5 million votes. Although the tally was closer the second time, the Scotch-Irish Democrat from Virginia and Thomas Marshall (his vice president for both terms) had once again defeated the opposition (David Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections).
During his terms of office, the 17th, 18th, and 19th Amendments were ratified. The 17th Amendment wrote that the Senate would have two Senators from each state who had a term of six years and were elected by the people of their state. The amendment also explains qualifications for a Senator and the procedure that is to be followed should a vacancy arise. The 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919. It brought in the period known as Prohibition. The amendment said that one year after the article was ratified it would be illegal to make, sell, import, export, or transport intoxicating liquors. Prohibition lasted until the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment in 1933. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote when it was ratified in 1920 (The Constitution of the United States). It is interesting that this amendment was ratified during Woodrow Wilson’s time as president because Wilson personally believed that women should be subservient to men. Early in his political career he strongly voiced his opinion on the issue until he realized he would get more votes if he kept quiet about his personal beliefs (Krull, Kathleen).
During his first term Wilson made three Supreme Court appointments, and he made no appointments his second term. The first appointment came in 1914 when Wilson appointed James C. McReynolds to the Supreme Court. Louis D. Brandeis and John H. Clarke were appointed to the Supreme Court in 1916 (AmericanHeritage.com / The Presidents: Woodrow Wilson).
When Wilson took the Oval Office for the first time in 1913 his party (the Democrats) had a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate was a 51 to 44 majority over the opposition party (Republican). The House was a larger majority of 290 Democrats to 127 Republicans. The next federal election saw the Senate lead increase while the House lead decreased drastically. The Democrats added only 5 seats in the Senate, but they lost about sixty seats in the House. At the beginning of his second term the Democrats lost seats in both the House and the Senate, but still maintained a simple majority in both. During the second part of his last term the Democrats lost the majority in both the Senate and the House. The Senate remained very tight (one seat difference), but the House gave the Republicans a 46 seat lead over the Democrats (AmericanHeritage.com / The Presidents: Woodrow Wilson). Towards the end of his terms the Congress went from friendly to unfriendly. The best example of this was the Senate shooting down the proposal to join the League of Nations, which Wilson supported with everything he had. He wanted to create the League of Nations to prevent war from occurring again, but Congress was unwilling to ratify it unless changes were made and Wilson was stubbornly unwilling to allow any changes to be made (Blassingame, Wyatt).
Wilson was a strong believer in peace, and that view came out often in his foreign policy decisions. He wanted to do everything possible to avoid entering the war in Europe and even once the U.S. entered the First World War he was set on making it a war to end all wars. Wilson made many efforts to diplomatically settle the dispute in Europe. Once the U.S. entered the war Wilson developed his Fourteen Points for Peace, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize a year later. The major international events during his term came when the U.S. entered WWI and when Germany surrendered. The League of Nations failed, but it established a blueprint for something that would come later in the span of history in the form of the United Nations (Blassingame, Wyatt).
Wilson brought about reform in the area of banking when the Federal Reserve Act was signed into law at the beginning of his first term. The Federal Trade Commission was created in 1914. The FTC Act gave the government power to regulate big businesses which were using unfair and illegitimate practices. There FTC would create reports and present them to Congress. The Clayton Anti-Trust Act came later in the same year, and it was built along the same lines as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. It was created to outlaw specific practices that were harmful to consumers. The Federal Farm Loan Act was created to help small farmers compete with bigger businesses to prevent monopolies. The National Defense Act created a larger army during peacetime, as well as expanding the general military. The Adamson Act and the Keating-Owen Act established labor laws, with 8 hour workdays and child labor restrictions. When the U.S. entered WWI a significant amount of war legislation was passed; the War Industries Board was established, the Liberty Loan Act set up a war bond system, the Selective Service Act set up a draft, and the Espionage Act said that it was highly illegal to interfere with federal military operations. After that point Wilson’s party lost the majority in Congress and not much else got done there. Perhaps the only other major legislation was actually the one that did not get passed. The senate rejected entry into the League of Nations and refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 (The Presidents: Washington to Reagan).
Maybe it is the Mennonite in me, but there is a major point (Fourteen, actually) that I think really defined his success. Women’s right to vote was a huge achievement, but since Wilson was actually against the idea it would be unfair to say it was his achievement. Prohibition was a major event in his presidency, but since it was repealed 15 years later it is difficult to call it a huge achievement. That leaves Wilson’s quest for peace in the world through diplomacy as his major success. Wilson developed the League of Nations which sprung out of his Fourteen Points for Peace. While the League of Nations itself failed, it created an idea that would come back around 25 years later at the end of WWII. Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919 as a result of his efforts to create a world where everyone got along and talked things through instead of using force. His example of how to use diplomacy until no other choice is left is his greatest achievement.
Looking at Wilson’s terms in office as a whole would leave the impression that he was not very successful at what he tried to do. He wanted to stay out of the war in Europe at all costs, but was eventually forced to enter into the conflict. This made him go back on what he had used as a campaign slogan to get reelected (“He kept us out of war”), which brings down his credibility. He was also strongly against women getting the right to vote, which happened during his presidency. Although I view the 19th Amendment as a positive one, he was not supporting it and therefore it was not his success. Wilson tried to wrap up WWI in a very positive manner that he thought would leave the world in peace and prosperity. Instead Congress shot everything he had worked so hard for down. And as history would show us the failure to wrap things up left the door open for a man called Hitler to come in and do even more damage.
Can that failure be attributed to Wilson? He gave everything he had. With around two years left in his term he had a serious stroke which resulted from all of the stress he had been under. Instead of resigning, his wife ended up being his face for the months he was incapable of performing his normal duties. Had he been willing to change a few points, Congress may have been willing to pass the League of Nations and Treaty of Versailles. However, this failure cannot simply be attributed to him since he was forced to try to convince the opposing party of its validity. This was bound to be difficult after so many years of Wilson getting things through Congress because of the large majority in the House and the Senate.
Apart from the closure of the war, Wilson is generally considered to be a successful president. His name is even mentioned alongside the names of the greatest presidents in history. Much of the legislation that went through Congress during his terms is still applicable today. For example, his business practice acts and labor laws are still part of today’s world. Many of his national defense related acts were instrumental in getting the U.S. through WWI during hard times. Wilson set an example for ordinary citizens by taking part in such programs as gasless Sundays, meatless Mondays, and wheatless Tuesdays during WWI (Krull, Kathleen). Woodrow Wilson was a good man whose stubbornness eventually became his undoing. His legacy lives on in the change that he brought and all of the ideals he had.

Musical is gonna be sweet this year. It's been getting better every day so far. That can only mean good things.
I'm kinda not sure what to do about something going on in my life right now. I'm torn. Half of me feels one way, half of me feels another way, and half of me feels another way. I don't really know what to do or even how to go about making a decision like this. I guess I can just wait it out for a while and see if things get pushed in one direction.
I am going to the girls basketball game tonight. We play ELCO, so it should be a good game. I'm hoping for a good game where we win in the end. Cause any time we beat ELCO I am happy.

Wow I love my sister. Yes, I know I don't have a sister. That's why I went out and got myself one a while ago. She always encourages me and has the just right thing to say, even if it isn't what I want to hear. I love it. Plus we don't fight like siblings so that is nice. On the real, I don't know who I would turn to if I didn't have her. I just wish I would have had a sister that I had grown up with. But I know things were meant to be like this for a specific reason, I just don't know why yet. Thanks for being there, sis!

I was gonna write this whole big deep blog that was really personal, and then I decided that I didn't really know who read my blog other than Mr. Miller. I didn't really want just anyone to read all the stuff I had written. So I deleted all of it. And then I didn't know what to write about. So I guess I'll just write about not knowing what to write about, and not go into any topic with meaning. That seems safest. Maybe nobody reads this, in which case I would be safe to just vent and put things out in the open. But if anyone close to me would read it, they would be able to understand what I was actually saying. Even if I was vague. So now I need to find an actual person to talk to. I'm teaching sunday school in a week and a half. Maybe I'll write about that next time.

So I got this really super cool thing from amazon today. It was a package with a couple cd's and a 120 gb ipod. That's a lot of space. So I should be set for a while. And it's going to take forever to upload all of my music. I guess I'll be busy doing that for a while.
I hate being in the middle of drama/arguments. It isn't any fun at all. Not even a little.

This week has been good so far. Because it is Christmas and it is short. That is pretty cool. Now I don't have to do much until I get back on January 5th. Our English report went pretty well today. Ashlee was on Skype to be part of the project. I'm not quite done with Christmas shopping yet, but it won't be too much longer yet. Mainly because I don't have much longer to shop. I guess I should start wrapping my presents soon too. Christmas!!!

It looks like I might get the chance to do my Christmas shopping today instead of the 24th. Then tonight and tomorrow morning I am singing at a couple different places with choir groups, and tomorrow night I will probably watch the Titans - Steelers game. They are the two best teams in the AFC this year, so it should be a good game. It might even be a preview of the AFC Championship Game. That would be cool. Whoever wins basically gets homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, which is nice. Both teams already have a first round bye. Then on Monday we have school and musical tryouts, and hopefully the results will be posted on Tuesday at school before our break begins on Wednesday. I can't wait for Christmas break. It will be nice to be able to relax for a while. The musical starts and the end of the year will come quickly. At which point I will need to have a college decision made. I might work on that some today with my mom. There are a couple schools that have both of the majors that I want, but two of them are in Southern California. Not that I'm complaining, I just don't think my parents want me quite that far away. It would be awesome though. This is the awesomest time of the year.

So way back at the beginning of the school year I was sure what school I wanted to go to and what I wanted to major in. Now I'm not so sure. And I don't know what to do about. I guess I still have a little time to decide. But I was absolutely sure about what I wanted to do. Why am I second guessing? I don't even know how to go about deciding what to do. What do I want to do with my life after I'm through with college? Don't know. Maybe I'll just go to a college with a lot of majors so I can switch a couple times and have choices. Who knows? It'll work out.

Snow is pretty cool. I don't want a cancelation tomorrow, but I would be completely alright with a two hour delay. I wish life would just stop and let me catch my breath. I feel like I'm always running, and sometimes I just need the chance to simply be. Not doing anything, just being. That would be awesome. Since that isn't realistic in today's on the go society, I am trying to make time to just be. All after school activities were cancelled, so now I am going to have a bunch of time. I don't really know what I'm going to do yet, but maybe thiis is the time I can use to just be.

Musical auditions are this week. Today was the singing part, and it went okay, but it definitely was not even close to the best i could sing it. Tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday are the reading auditions. That should go better I think. And then we wait until she makes her decision. Regardless of the outcome, I think it should be a really fun show. With Christmas break coming soon, classes are starting to get ready for that last test that can get slipped in before the holidays. I'm not really a big fan of those pre-break tests. I don't think we should do anything for about five days before break. Just a thought.

The Last Slice

As dinner comes to a close, the dessert option is brought out. The main course is taken away and the pie or cake is served. The dish goes around the table and each member of the family takes a piece. The last two people are brothers. How is one supposed to divide this final slice? Who makes the rules of engagement in this test of brotherly love? A solution needs to be decided upon ahead of time so that there is no advantage to either person during the encounter. The older sibling getting the bigger piece is not cutting it anymore.
The most obvious solution is to cut two completely even slices. However, this method has some very large flaws. First, who makes the cut? If either of the brothers do it, bias is likely to be involved. This is easily solved by allowing a non-biased third party to enter the scene, such as a parent. Now there is the obstacle of who gets first pick. Regardless of how evenly cut the slices are, there are going to be differences that make one slice better than the other. Take a slice of cake, for example. One of the slices is bound to have better icing, making the slices uneven. The same is true for any other dessert dish. The disproportionate pieces make it difficult to see this as a fair way to divide the slices.
To solve the uneven slice problem, the brothers can use a random method of picking their piece. One random method could be having the third party pick a number and allow the brothers to guess it. Whoever guesses closest gets to pick first. Another easy randomization technique is rock-paper-scissors. Randomness can be unfair, and it is possible to stack the results in favor of one person. These randomization techniques are the second best solution, but there is still room for improvement.
The ultimate solution to the dilemma of the last slice is, ‘I cut, you choose.’ One of the brothers takes the knife, and carefully considers the most equal way to divide the piece into two slices. He makes the cut, and the second brother is free to choose the slice of his choice. This provides significant incentive for brother number one to make the slices even, because otherwise brother number two will get the bigger half. The next time this situation arises the roles are reversed, and brother number two makes the cut while brother number one picks his piece first. This eliminates bias and also provides a way around one brother getting lucky a significant amount of the time. In addition, neither one will be able to complain about the end result because he was in the process. The first brother has the opportunity to make the slices completely even, and the second brother has the chance to pick the bigger or better slice if it exists.
The most effective way to solve the issue of the last slice is to create a system that forces the brothers to make the slices even on their own. The ‘I cut, you choose’ method does just that. No longer will the younger brother eternally get the raw end of the deal. With this innovative solution the brothers will divide the slices as evenly as is physically possible.

The chorus concert is tonight. That should be interesting. I'm not sure that it is going to be perfect, but really, who cares? And next week is musical auditions, which people care a considerable bit more about. Saturday the LEF church choir is singing at Christmas Candylane. That should be fun. We sound pretty good. Calvin and Hobbes is so good!

Why do I do things that I regret time and time again? I say something dumb, and say to myself 'self, never do that again.' Three days later in the same situation I do the same dumb thing. It applies to other things too. Actually just sin in general. Romans 6-8 kind of covers how I'm feeling right now. Shaun Groves put it pretty well in his song, Twilight. We become stuck in this area in between the night and the day, the wrong and the right. We know what the right thing to do is, but we have trouble doing it and slip back into our darkness. It feels like there should be a way to stop myself from doing dumb things repetetively. But I just can't. Sure I usually learn from my mistakes, but I sometimes end up doing it anyway, just because that's the way I have done it. For example, I'm trying to cut down on saying things that might hurt people even if that wasn't the way I intended it. But again and again I say something that makes someone upset. Why? I don't know. Every time I say, 'self, that was the last time you're ever going to do something dumb like that.' But the next time the opportunity is there to say a sarcastic or mean comment to someone I don't necessarily like, I will probably do it. It's like a really bad habit that just won't go away no matter how hard I try to get rid of it. I can understand why it's is hard for people to quit smoking. Even if it isn't something you like or want in your life, the addiction is there because you have done it for so long that it is engrained in your system. How can we get around this obstacle of the twilight area? I don't know, yet, but I'm going to do a study on Romans and see if Paul has more to say about what I'm going through.

So I just saw a brief summary of a recent Boston Celtics game, and Kevin Garnett just completely chewed out Glen 'Big Baby' Davis after the bench players almost blew a 25 point lead. And yes that is his real nickname. Davis then proceeded to get upset, walk over to the bench, put a towel over his head, and come very close to tears. I don't know what Garnett said, but was it really bad enough to come that close to crying in front of the whole world? I don't understand. It must have been pretty bad to get that upset about it. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that in professional sports before.

So apparantly my blog is under review as a spam blog or something? Don't really know what that is but if this gets shut down I'm pretty sure it won't be good for my English grade.

How to Write Proper
Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Always avoid alliteration.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
Avoid clichés like the plague – they’re old hat.
Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place, do’nt put it in the wrong place, and omit it where its not needed.
Don’t use two words where one is sufficient enough.
DON’T use too much emphasis at once.
If you’re writing web pages, never underline anything that’s not a link.
Long sentences without any punctuation are hard to read so break them up into shorter sentences and punctuate where appropriate so that everyone can read them and understand what they say.
Also, don’t write run-on sentences, break them up just the same.
As I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate.
Eliminate quotations, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
Don’t make generalisations – they’re bound to be false.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Watch out for the many irregular verbs that have creeped into our language.
That a clause can be the subject of another is wrong.
And finally, never begin or end a sentence with and.

Somebody in the UK had way too much time on his hands.