Undaunted Courage: The Story of Meriwether Lewis and the Exploration of the Western United States

  Anyone with a minute knowledge of our history has heard of Lewis, and most only know it as Lewis and Clark. In 1803 little was known  about our country west of the Mississippi but that was soon to change. Thomas Jefferson, our nation's third president, was a good friend of Lewis and in fact, Lewis became his personal secretary while Jefferson was in the White House. Spain had been the worlds super power for some time, but its' empire was crumbling. New Orleans had been in Spanish hands since early exploration of the western hemisphere and relations between Spain and the U.S. had allowed for good trade relations in this critical port. New Orleans was the outlet for all trade on the Mississippi and was shifted to French hands in the late 1790's. France, upset with the U.S. over our neutrality threatened to shut the port down to American commerce. Jefferson sent James Madison and Robert R. Livingston to France to acquire New Orleans. Napoleon, France's war mongering leader was once again at war with Britain in much need of money. So in the deal of the century France sold the U.S. not only the rights to New Orleans but the whole Louisiana Territory for what amounted to 42 cents an acre. Livingston had been given authority to spend $10 million for just New Orleans and was more than happy to accept it along with the Louisiana Territory for $5 million more. On April 30, 1803, the U.S. land mass more than doubled and so came the need for a party to map and investigate the new territory.
    Lewis was born in Virginia on August 18, 1774 and died in Tennessee on October 11, 1809. Such a short life for one of America's greatest pioneers. His youth, mostly in Georgia, was spent outdoors becoming an expert woodsmen. His schooling was conducted at Liberty Hall, where he was given a education only few could afford. In 1793 after graduating, he enlisted in the Virginia Militia and helped put down The Whiskey Rebellion. During his time in the militia he came to be  under the command of William Clark for a short period of time. The two took an instant liking to one another and remained in contact throughout the years. The year was 1801, and  Lewis had become Jefferson's aide and because of this he was able to continue his education. This period of our history in known as The Enlightenment and Lewis was constantly in the presence of all the top minds in every field while being Jefferson's aide. Jefferson had wanted to find an all water route or the North West Passage, and with the acquirement of the Louisiana Territory it was  to become his main goal while still in office. In 1803, Jefferson put Lewis in charge of the Corps of Discovery, their first expedition was to map the new territory. Lewis immediately picked William Clark to be his Co Captain on the expedition. From January 1803 to May 1804 Lewis was tutored by all the leading minds in Philadelphia, acquired everything he would need for his journey, and choose most of the men for the expedition. Lewis had asked Clark to pick some men for their journey, this shows how much faith Lewis had in his Co Captain. Jefferson gave Lewis  what amounted to a blank check from the U.S. government to get what he needed for the expedition. After his crash course in Philadelphia, Lewis headed to St. Louis, where he would depart up the Missouri River into the unknown.
     On May 22, 1804, at 6:00 A.M., The Corps of Discovery turned their keel boat into the current of the Missouri and prepared to write history. The first leg of the journey consisted of meetings with  Indian tribes to let them know of their new father, Thomas Jefferson and try to broker peace among warring tribes. They made their way through the Otto, Arikara, Mandan, Hidatsas, and Sioux Territories other tribes were out hunting but the expedition could not afford to wait to meet with them. The expedition made camp at Fort Mandan, for the winter of 1804-1805. The fort was located on the banks of the Missouri in Washburn, North Dakota and a replica stands there today.
     The next leg of the journey took them up the Marias River, over the continental divide, and then the most arduous part of the journey, over the Bitterroot Mountains. After getting over the Bitterroots they descended the Columbia River and made winter camp at Fort Clatsop. The fort was located near the mouth of the Columbia, along  a river bearing the name Lewis and Clark, at the north end of the Clatsop plains,  in Oregon Country. Today a replica stands five miles south west of Astoria, Oregon. This location was the winter camp from 1805-06 and was thought by all to be a horrible place. The weather was terrible, they had little meat, and the Indians in the area were not hospitable to them.
    On March 23, 1806, the Corps of Discovery left Fort Clatsop and began the journey back to civilization. During their return trip over the hated Bitterroots, the Nez Perce Indians played a big part in their success. The Nez Perce were so helpful, that Lewis almost wrote about them with respect. His view of the Indians was that of most Americans at the time, they were thought to be savages not much better than slaves. During their return the party was split up into three parts, to better explore parts of the new territory. This was a very brave move by Lewis and could have lead to disaster. They all explored on their separate journeys and meet where  the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers joined, next to the winter camp at Mandan. Soon the party was back into somewhat civilized territory and pulled into St.Louis on September 22, 1806 to much fanfare.
     The story is not over here but would insist that you read the book to find out the rest. I couldn't possibly do this book justice by only writing a couple paragraphs and hope they have peaked your interest enough for you to go out and get a copy or download, borrow from your library, whatever you must do to read this book. I have been a history buff for many years and I haven't read many books to which the knowledge gained was so vast as this. General Meriwether Lewis lived an extraordinary life and the pages of this book capture it with stunning detail. If you would like to increase your understanding of our U.S. history, this book is one that cannot be passed up. So if adventure is what you seek, grab Undaunted Courage, written by Stephen E. Ambrose and prepare for a story of adventure, political feuds, and glimpse into early 1800's United States pioneers at their best!

Patricia Cornwell

    Patricia Cornwell is one of my favorite authors and her character, Kay Scarpetta never disappoints.Although this latest installment had me thinking Scarpetta may be on her last leg. The endings of the initial Scarpetta novels were surprising and unexpected but now they are somewhat obvious. Scarpetta's cast of  characters have become mere shells of themselves, in order to create the plots. Scarpetta has been the antagonist for 19 novels and has received  many awards, including the Gold Dagger, Edgar Award, and  the Sherlock Award for her creation of Kay Scarpetta. 

    Patricia Cornwell was born in 1956, in Miami, Florida and was a descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her father, Sam Daniels was an appellate lawyer and a law clerk for the Supreme Court. Cornwell said the emotional abuse from her father motivated her to succeeded in life. Daniels walked out on the family Christmas day 1961 and was close to his deathbed. After her fathers death the family packed up and moved to Montreat, North Carolina, where her mother was hospitalized for depression. She attended King college, in Tennessee  and the transferred to Davidson and graduated with B.A. in English

  In 1979 she became a reporter for The Charlotte Observer and was drawn to covering crime scene beat. In 1983 she published a biography of Ruth Graham Bell a close family friend. The following year she began working for the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia. She was technical writer and then a computer annalist, while also volunteering for the Richmond Police Department. She worked at the medical examiners office for six years and wrote three novels, each rejected before publication. Postmortem, the first Scarpetta novel was published in 1990, which then won 4 prestigious literary awards, and she remains the only author to do so.

  Although she is  noted mostly for her  Scarpetta novels, her other characters, Andy Brazil and Judy Hammer are a crime fighting duo from Charlotte. Brazil started the series as a newspaper reporter and eventually became a police officer. Hammer resembles Scarpetta in the facts they are both strong women in a male dominated career field. One of my other favorite characters in Win Garano, who is a Massachusetts State Police Trooper, he also shares the spotlight with  district attorney and is a carbon copy of all her strong female characters. Another similarity between author and Scarpetta is the love of cooking. Cornwell is the author of two cookbooks both bearing Scapetta's name.Cornwell wrote Portrait of a Killer, a Jack the Ripper book, caused some to think she was obsessed with the still unknown killer. Cornwell believes that Walter Sickert , a painter was the mass murder who terrorized London's Whitechaple district in the late 1800's. She also wrote  two autobiographies about family friend Ruth Graham Bell. Finally a children's book published in 1999 rounds out her literary portfolio.

 I wish Cornwell would put some more Win Garano novels on the bookshelves. I enjoyed those stories as much as Scarpetta and they take place in Massachusetts. I would not be shocked to hear that Red Mist, her last novel will be the end of the famous Kay Scarpetta. I could get lucky and by some chance Cornwell reads my blog and gives me my wish.

Food Stamps Effects on America

  



    The Food Stamp or SNAP(Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ) program is turning this once great nation into a population of  lazy, self entitled, and just plain useless organisms. A parasitic one at that, taking everything they can but give little in return. This is a dangerous lifestyle  that we cannot afford to keep accepting. I personally have witnessed people take their food stamp cards to certain convenience stores and get half the amount of cash for their stamps. It just seems that each day I see something or someone and I just wonder how they can live with themselves. The amount of Americans applying for food stamps jumped an incredible seventy percent from  2007 but an increased of  sixty three percent happened during George W's eight year reign . A total of FORTY SIX MILLION people are on food stamps, that's one out of every seven Americans.(Crimi) The idea that someone else should feed,clothe, and shelter people has become an epidemic. I do believe that SNAP can help those who truly need  but it must be regulated and used properly. Those who support SNAP say it has boosted our economy, but the money being spent is by our bankrupt government. It is a fast and easy way to make the once mighty dollar into what it actually is, a worthless piece paper. It's an unfortunate lesson to the children who grow up learning the blueprint of how to get by with as little work as possible.You ask, why should I care, It's not my problem; That's how we ended up in this mess and  it is only going to get worse if that continues to be the attitude. It is a fact that as early as the 1920's government aided  food programs were met with stiff resistance from many people. John Q Tilson, The Majority Leader of the House in the 1930's said " It was an idea of Revolutionary Character and it would end an American tradition of self-reliance, that it would establish the dole in the U.S."( qtd. Roth) The federal government food stamp budget has grown to seventy two billion dollars a year and shows no signs of slowing down! No child or anyone should go to bed hungry but those who can provide for themselves, must.


    The year the whispers began for government aide to feed the hungry was 1932 , before that local charities and those in the community took on that responsibility.( Roth) The initial program was focused on helping the farmers who were hurt by to worldwide competition and high prices. In an eight year battle and two presidential veto's the McNary/Haugen bill was finally  passed.( Roth) The Farm Board was created and their first action was to buy all the surplus wheat. Government warehouses  filled with wheat did not sit well with the public, who were in the mists of The Great Depression . Newspapers reports of wide spread hunger led Americans to speak out for the government to help. President Herbert Hoover and congress thought Americans work ethic would be compromised and did little about the issue. Enter Franklin Delano Roosevelt who during his first years helped to create the Agricultural Adjustment Administration(AAA) and Federal Surplus Relief Corporation(FSRC). The AAA was focused again on the farming economy but FSRC would be directly involved in the public's welfare. The AAA , spent 75 million dollars to buy surplus agricultural food products to help feed the unemployed and needy during the winter's of 1933-34. The FSRC provided about $7.80 per person per year and $60  was spent or received  in groceries by it's recipients.(Roth) In 1939 the USDA began an experimental Food Stamps Program, both recipients and advocates thought a steadier flow of food and a more varied nutritious diet would be accomplished. There were two kinds of stamps blue and orange; The orange were  purchased at face value allowing people to buy anything, half that amount in blue stamps were given free but could only be used to purchase foods declared Surplus.( Roth) The illicit trafficking of stamps was a problem but the outbreak of WWII caused an economic boom for America and the program was abandoned. During John F. Kennedy's  campaign for president he witnessed poverty in West Virginia and his first executive order increased the USDA's surplus commodity distribution program. The Food Stamp Act of 1964 authorized spending for three years and started at $75 million in 1965  and was raised to $200 million by 1967. During the next decade enrollment rose steadily from 4.3 million to 9.4 million. In September of 1977 a new Food Stamp Bill was passed, giving for the first time, free food stamps to families whose income was less than $30 a month. The beginning of  Americans dependence on government aide to make sure our needs were well taken care of starts. Many have passed this tradition down generations and have become totally dependent on the government.( Roth)

    The  most recent USDA numbers are proof that our population is becoming more and more dependent on government to live. January's 2012 report of 46.5 million Americans on SNAP and an expected growth rate of 5% a year are disturbing, to say the least. During our most recent great recession more enrollment was expected but June 2009, marked an economic upturn,since then 10 million more have enrolled.  People or families receive benefits based on food insecurity, which is considered making less than 130% of the poverty line. As of September 2011, 17.2 million households were food insecure, 6.4 million were very low, and 1.4 lived on $2 or less per person per day.The last statistic has doubled over the past fifteen years and has showed no signs of slowing or leveling off. The percentages of households with children on SNAP is 71%, 47% are children under the age of eighteen. The elderly, who many think would make up a significant percent are shocked to find it is only 8%. People who enrolled in the early and mid 2000's, stayed on the program on average seven years. Half  of that number is back on the program within two years of leaving the program. The average benefit amount for households is $277 a month and $132 for individuals. These numbers are calculated with the assumption that SNAP participants spend 30% of their income on food but the national average is 8% according to the consumer price index(CPI). The CPI determines the amount people spend on everything from food to the amount of men's polo shirts bought in San Francisco.Why it is 22% higher then the average is a question with no answer. Keith Hennessey, economic adviser to George W. Bush said "We have a very large share of the American population getting checks from the government, and an increasingly smaller portion of the population paying for it"(qtd. in Miller). Ronald Regan dubbed the term "Welfare Queen" while on the campaign trail in 1976. Regan said" There's a woman in Chicago, she has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 social security cards . ... She's got Medicaid, getting food stamps and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income alone is over $150,000."( qtd. in Blake.) This was a fictitious person but there are people close to this description! Two women, both from Los Angeles, did their best to  play the part of the Welfare Queen. One collected $377,458 in welfare benefits in seven years and lived in a house with a swimming pool. She did drive a Cadillac, along with a Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz, Gustafson, author of Cheating Welfare discovered.( Blake). Those who say every $5 in  food stamps generates about $9.27, have you think well that seems good. The fact is, it's a recipe to bankrupt our nation and hand to our future generations a problem with no solution!


    The reality is some of us need help and I am fine with that. It becomes a problem when the helping hand becomes a handout and the one receiving the handouts is a glutton with 46.5 million hands. The feeling of entitlement has got to stop, we cannot continue to teach our children that it's okay not to work and lounge around the house all day. The U.S., once a super charged Chevy other countries wanted to emulate. Today, that same Chevy is on blocks sitting in the front lawn and is serious need of repair. In 2007 the USDA investigated fraud among SNAP participants and retailers who except them. The results, 1.365 indictments, 944 convictions, and 792 sanctions against businesses and individuals, who cheated the program for more than $200 million. A 2011 USDA report showed out of 4,600 retailers  found to be defrauding the program and were permanently banned, 1,492 still are involved with SNAP.( Crimi) I myself have received SNAP. I almost lost a foot and was unable to work but I applied for school to become part of the solution. An article, about a new character on Sesame Street from the web site called American Dream said it all "This new character comes from a family that is poverty-stricken and that struggles to get enough food.  She is going to teach the other residents of Sesame Street the facts about hunger in America."(American Dream,Sesame Street Poverty Stricken) If all the people receiving SNAP were to be considered a state, it would be the largest one in the union. ( Durden) It isn't the lack of jobs or the economy, it is people are content to let the smaller and smaller amount of us pick up the tab.It's not a racial thing either, one person, and we are all people, must do their part to make our nation become great again. The only person holding each one of us back, is you and who doesn't want to help fix up that Chevy and take her for a spin!

  

                                                  Works Cited

 Blake, John.  "Return of the Welfare Queen."  CNN.com.

   Cable News Network.   23 Jan. 2012. Web.  04 May. 2012.

United States. Dept. of Agriculture.  " FOOD STAMPS: 1932-1977: From Provisional and Pilot Programs to Permanent Policy." Economic Research Service. 2005. Web.

 Durden, Tyler. "FoodStamp Nation." ZEROHEDGE.com.

   ABC Media.  20 Apr. 2012.  Web. 04 May. 2012.

 "Muppets Are Poverty Stricken and Hungry." ENDOFTHEAMERICANDREAM.com.

  American Dream. 24 Oct. 2011.  Web.  04 May. 2012.

 Crimi, Frank.  "Food Stamp Nation." FRONTPAGEMAG.com

  FrontPageMag.  20 Apr. 2012.  Web.   01 May. 2012.

    

Food Stamps the cause of our decline or a necessary aid for people

 I hope to show that the way our government is giving away benefits,the country will soon collapse. I think our welfare system needs a full overhaul. Food stamps are used to buy drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and they are sold for cash at half the price. People deserve a helping hand if needed but some want hand outs and feel entitled to them.
 
Food Stamps in America - Readers Weigh in

Improving Food Choices - Can Food Stamps do More?

Fox's Varney Attacks "Feel Good" Food Stamp Program As Hunger Reaches Elevated Levels

Return of the 'Welfare Queen' - CNN.com

The American Spectator : Obama's Food Stamp Fetish

FOOD STAMP BENEFITS: NOT FOR THE LAZY OR FAINT HEARTED

Santorum targets blacks in entitlement reform - Political Hotsheet 

Real-life 'Hunger Games' | New Orleans' Multicultural News Source ... 

Food Stamp Nation | FrontPage Magazine
 
FoodStamp Nation | ZeroHedge

CBO reports: Obama bad for jobs, good for food stamps | Western ...

Food Stamps

Negative Side of Food Stamps | eHow.com

More Americans Tapping Into Entitlement Programs Swells Budget ...

Truth About SNAP Program

Food Stamps: 1932-1977: From Provisional and Pilot Programs to ...

First Paragraph

         The idea of the T.V. dinner and how it was and is advertised has not changed much until recently. In 1953  two brothers Gilbert and Clark Swanson were in trouble. They had 520,000  pounds of leftover turkey from their  Omaha, Neb frozen food company. Sales of the thanksgiving day turkeys had been very slow this year. The turkeys were loaded onto ten refrigerated rail cars and sent from Nebraska to the east coast. The cars had to stay moving to keep cold so they went back and forth. The brothers asked for help from employee's and Gerry Thomas came up with a three compartment aluminum. He had gotten the idea while visiting Pan Am and noticed they used aluminum trays to keep food hot. The genius in the advertising was to link the dinners with the latest craze of the day, TELEVISION! The package would resemble a T.V. right down to the knobs.The individual compartments would have the greatest effect on people. Betty Fussell an author said "The segmented plate was enormously powerful and the fact that everything was separate was a form of comfort and reminded of us of when we were kids" The first run of meals of five thousand was way to little and the next year twenty five million dinners were sold. To be eaten in front of the thirty three million televisions sold. Swanson's signature tray was given a spot and Mann's Chinese Theater in 1997 and in 1999 it received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. By the time of the next century sales had dramatically decreased and Swanson was bought by Pinnacle Food Corporation in 2001. With the company bankrupt a new ad campaign was put together to get the attention of the aging baby boomers and their kids. The ten million dollar ad campaign was hoping to boost . The idea of making the taste of the food was high on the list of things that were to be advertised. New dinners like Mesquite Chicken with Santa Fe rice and beans were introduced. They also started using brand names like Tyson . The initial commercial has a well dressed beautiful rich women. She is walking around her mansion and ends up leaning over the railing of her grand staircase. The next scene shows her open the T.V. dinner and breathing in the new delicious food and to top it all off at the end she likes her tray clean. The voice over says even though Swanson is now chic , T.V. dinner etiquette still applies. This advertising method is not being well received by critics, consulting groups, or professor's of business. The seventy percent of dinners are being  prepared by women and Pinnacle is hoping by making dinner a little more simple they can lure them back to the T.V. dinner side.

By: Eric Schlosser

                                                      Order the Fish

    This article written by Eric Schlosser a best selling author for Fast Food Nation. IT explains in great detail how the government has given the meat packing companies more control over food safety. During Ronald Regan's presidency the ability of inspectors to keep our food supply safe was dismantled. Richard Lyng removed almost half the meat inspectors from the plants. George Bush followed suit due to the huge influence of donations from the meat packing companies to the republican cause. Bill Clinton battled for reform but had to settle with the creation of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). They would outline how potential risks would be addressed. The USDA then granted them limited authority to test for bacterial contamination. In 1997 a Jack in the Box located in the Pacific Northwest was found to have meat contaminated with EColi bacteria and 700 people were reported sick.

  Con Agra foods has a meat packing plant in Greeley, Colorado that everyday 200,000 cattle are turned into two million pounds of boxed beef and 800,000 pounds of trim is turned into ground beef. They have nearby feedlots with 200,000 cattle that produce more waste than Denver, Boston, Atlanta, and St. Louis combined. This plant was responsible for the largest meat recall in U.S. history. Out of 19 million pounds of tainted meat only 3 million pounds were returned. Barbara Kowalcyk had her two year old son die from EColi poison and has led many efforts to reform the U.S. meat packing industry standards for testing and what is ultimately considered  safe for us to eat.

   The largest of the meat packing and fast food companies have lobbied Washington and gotten laws passed which protect them from being sued and allows them to sue their critics. The Cheese Burger law stops obese people from suing and the Veggie Libel Laws can put people in jail for speaking out against them.


  This was a very informative article and had many things in it which I did not know. The laws against speaking out really worries me and makes me wonder  how much longer will retain the freedoms our forefathers fought so bravely to defend. I would not change anything about this article

The Spotted Pig

                                           Burger Queen

         
           In 2004 Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield opened the Spotted Pig in New York on West Eleventh Street. It is what is known as a Gastro Pub. Which means it serves pub food that isn't to bad for you. It is a very popular place and many celebrities eat there, including Jay-z and Beyonce. Bloomfield was born in England in 1974 and was somewhat of a party girl. She decided that she wanted to become a police woman but missed the entrance exam. She then decided to follow her sister to Birmingham's College of Food, Tourism, and Creative Studies. She soon had her first job in the roasting section at the local Holiday Inn. In 1991 she became a commis chef at Kensington Place where she stood out for her work ethic. She was able to master pub food at her next stop, the Brackenburry.
     
           Ken Friedman grew up in L.A. and attended Berkley College, where he was an art history major. He dropped out in his junior year to become a concert promoter and managed bands like The Smiths and UB40. After becoming a talent scout for Arista he was given an opportunity to open a restaurant with backing from his music connections. Mario Batali whom Friedman knew suggested Jamie Oliver, but Oliver didn't want the job and told them about Bloomfield.
  
       Friedman and Bloomfield became fast friends and began the process of opening The Spotted Pig. They opened another restaurant called the Breslin and The John Dory. The Spotted Pig is known for it's burgers, which are on brioche buns and topped with Roquefort cheese. Bloomfield's passion for having the best tasting foods has made her a very successful chef. She will taste and inspect every dish that leaves her kitchen. This makes her very well respected among her peers.


  I thought the author did an excellent job with this article. It had the background story for all the major people in the article. It also led you through the trials and tribulations of the very competitive restaurant scene. I would not change anything about this article!

Rough Draft Ethnography

                           A Day in the My Old Life

           I went to my old job at Trio's and decided to observe the life I lived from the other side of the line. I arrived at three forty five ,I knew the sights and sounds of dinner service are always interesting!. Gerard, the head chef is busy pan searing some chicken for a Marsala . We exchange was ups and I explain my reasons for being here on a Friday. He doesn't seem to mind but said I would need to check with Paul, the owner of the place. I walk in behind G, Gerard's nickname and follow him downstairs where Paul's office is and he is fine with it . The basement is very big and has all the dry goods, liquor, beer, cleaning products, linens, and other things from the dining room. G is in  hot pepper chef pants and a Jets t shirt. I have to give him grief about the Jets, I'm pretty sure there's a law because I am a Patriots fan. He gives me a look and we head upstairs.The kitchen is fairly good size and is arranged in this order. As you come to the beginning all the cooking equipment is against the left wall and is laid out this way. There are two fryolators,  two eight top burners, each range has two ovens on the bottom. The next piece of equipment is the grill, it's about five feet long and three feet wide. On the right side are all the refrigeration units. They all have top sections where we can put product in different size pans for easy access. They look like the salad bar in the cafeteria on top but with no sneeze shield. Underneath are shelves stocked with more product used to create the meals. Each refrigerator has a cutting board about a foot and half wide.The line turns to left and some long metal tables and a couple of deep sinks. The walk in fridge and freezer  are over there too. Adjacent to the line is where the dish area is located. The dish machine is the automated and racks are loaded with dishes and sent through.Most of the time the dishes are clean. At the end of the dish area are a three bay sink. Phil  sees me and he immediately gives me crap about being there. He is the type of person that has no filter and had me laughing a lot. G  grabs the  I Pod and docks it on the speaker and cranks some Immortal Technique. Now that they have some inspiration the line comes alive. Phil and G go back and forth about sports, kids, and whatever else is important to each other at this time. Phil  decides to break my B@lls about the first thing that comes to his sick mind. We go back and forth until Tami walks in to the kitchen and gives me a hug. Tami is the bar tender  and I am happy for that. She is very pretty but she is also a good bar tender and that makes her even more beautiful. The other chef is Dave better known as Daveed . Nelson, who is the general manager starts in on G about dinner specials. G tells him to bend over and he'll show him. Then G hands him the specials and tells him to beat it! G goes in the walk in and brings the produce order guide with him. He looks in the produce area and writes down what he needs, hits the phone to call Sid Wainer and places the produce order. The rest of the front of the house staff comes in and tonight maybe tougher than need be. A couple of them don't have much upstairs but what can you do.The  Heat lamps on and the first ticket comes in, right away G knows who it's for. The bar has it's regulars when Tami is on and I know the reason why. Today there is supposed to be a party of twenty at four but it's four thirty and no party. G calls the hostess  and she says "Oops, they won't be here until five thirty sorry."

    Daveed, my favorite Guatemalan and  the best prep cook they have because he is fast and efficient. Earlier, G pulled four boxes of 16/20 shrimp out of the freezer and thawed them out. The 16/20 means there are between 16-20 shrimp a pound. Dave takes them and begins to peel them and has a good pace. Tickets come in steadily through out the next hour. Each station has their own printer so it makes it easier. . The specials for the night are printed up. The other two chefs walk in a little before five and so do the night front of the house staff. The specials are gone over with the wait staff in a  premeal and the kitchen staff has a union break, better known as a smoke break. All the preparations are made to make dinner service run smoothly. The chefs get to their stations and do a steady battle against a full assault of tickets. The dance on the line begins and everyone knows the steps. It is a fast pace ballet  in close quarters and everyone knows when to spin, duck , move left , right. They become like one moving organism and it's sole purpose is to cook. It's an organized madness behind the line but they are having fun while pushing out masses of food.The music is on, dish machine making noise, waitresses talking and the chefs are joking and having a good time  G calls out a ticket "Ordering two tendies(pork tender loins), three strippers(NY strip),and one Rabi(rib eye). The next order is, one Kalahari(calamari) and two Fruttis(Frutti DE Mar). The  Frutti is a seafood pasta dish over pasta. G notices that April has put in the ticket and the calamari is probably the appetizer. He sends one of the food runners who stand in the window and set up the trays of food to be run and run them if no waitress is around. April comes in and G was right, it becomes like being a mind reader. You just know what a ticket should look like and who on the waitstaff who are not to bright. The lingo is something you learn quick or your lost. The printers runs non stop from five to about nine and then the wait staff wants to eat. They don't mind feeding the wait staff because the night ran nice and smooth. The rush over all people feed and it's time for another union. We all go outside, most smoke but some need to just sit down. I don't advise sitting down because getting up is not so easy.

  The crew heads inside and gets ready to clean up the line so they can go home. G picks some cleaning music and everyone works just as hard to clean and go home. The soups, chowder, and other perishables are put on the rolling racks and put in the walk in. The floor is swept and the mopping begins. The chefs head downstairs and change into their street clothes. Then it's up to the bar for the all important shift drink. I hear them talking about the night or about how the Celtics are getting beat. It's a small reward for having gotten through another night. Most leave after one drink and some stay to ease the pain of the battle. I head outside with G and he has one more smoke with a couple of the staff. I say thanks for the memories and he is off  to see his newborn and two year old son. Another day in the life of a head chef . I walked in his shoes and it is not an easy life. The hours are long, benefits suck, and you can forget about weekends. It's just doing that battle each week and having as much fun while you do it that makes it O.K. The people you work with make it fun to and you gotta make money. It's like everything else in life, if you can find some joy it's not as painful.

  As I drove home and thought about the day. I remember being behind the lines and looking at my grill covered from front to back. I didn't worry because I knew how to battle through and push the food out. It's not easy, all the steaks must be the right temp. The chicken and pork can't be dry and don't forget about the veal chops. I am able to look at each steak give it a touch and tell what temp it is. After time it all becomes natural and not a guessing game. I have learned that panicking or complaining won't get the food out any quicker. It's like a lot of other things in life, you do what you can and hope you come out ahead in the end. If you don't, you try and look at what you can do to make it better the next time. Worrying about the past is not going to solve anything. It's when you learn from the past and apply it to your future that goals you set for yourself will be reached. It is a job I did for a long time and I do miss it a little but not enough to give up on my new goals.

A Hot Dog Cart Experience to Remember

Making food with my mother has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.From the first time we made blueberry muffins, in our tiny third floor apartment kitchen which was more like a closet.  The whole process from cracking the eggs to the final  beautiful muffins. I would be the happiest kid on the planet, mixing and measuring all the ingredients to put in the famous red plastic bowl my mother always used. It was our weekend ritual too make some kind of baked goods that made our apartment smell like heaven on earth. As I got older I spent less and less time in the kitchen, but I seemed to have a natural ability too cook things and make them taste good. I had other things to do besides spending the night baking with my mom and at this point she was working her way up the culinary ladder. She had become an assistant manger at Friednly's and then moved on to becoming a sous chef at Timothy's. What she really wanted was her own restaurant and when i was about twelve she got her wish. I didn't think anything of becoming a chef. That wasn't a dream for me. I wanted to be the next Roger Clemens or Tony Hawk. Cooking was something girls did not a kid like me. I had big dreams and cooking Swedish meatballs was not in the picture but off to work at my mother's first restaurant I went. This was the beginning of my culinary career and where I learned some valuable lessons. 

   I think it was my freshman year of high school and I would work every Saturday and every other Sunday. My mother had rented out a space in the Quality Factory Outlets which had a lot of discount stores and needed a cafeteria style greasy spoon. It was in the late eighties and there weren't all the crazy diets we have today.  My first Saturday on the job was a long one. I didn't much appreciate my mom waking me up at five in the morning to get up to go to work. This day was already off to a great start. I walked into the restaurant and flopped down on the first booth i saw. I was hoping to hide from my mom for a little while but no luck with that. She gave me the job of sweeping and  mopping the floors because the night before the guy had done a horrible job. Me being the FNG or F*#$%**  New Guy I got the job. After that the rest of the day was spent wiping tables,cleaning dishes, and eventually helping to run the  hot dog cart we had on the upper level of the outlet. I really enjoyed this because I got to do something else besides cleaning and i liked dealing with the customers. It really never got that busy so I mostly did it by myself for  most of the day.  Mary Beth, who was  one of the girls working for my mom and was supposed to be helping me. To say she was working would be stretching the truth a little.After a careful inspection from my mom, she said "You still have all your fingers and haven't run away screaming". She decided that I would be able to come back tomorrow and maybe i could get paid. I said to her "If I am not getting paid then she better find a new FNG". We all had a good laugh and day one of my culinary career was a success!

    It was the beginning of a new school year and i went back to working my Saturday and every other Sunday shifts again. This year I got complete control of the hot dog cart. My mother sat me down and had a big talk with me about how it was a big responsibility,well i just stood up and told her bring it on. Now to say I was a little nervous was a slight understatement. I remember getting all the stuff ready for the cart which was upstairs from the restaurant. So all the stuff had to be brought up every morning and brought back down every night. So I started chopping my onions,stacking my soda,filling the mustard and ketchup and all the other prep items I had to do to get the cart ready for the rush. It went along pretty smoothly for the first couple a weeks. I had some rough patches but all in all I thought I was the master of the hot dog cart. It was Christmas time and buses from New York would bring people down to the outlet to shop. shopping. We had stationed the hot dog cart right in front of the entrance where all the buses let the people out.  On average for a Saturday I would sell about three to four hundred hot dogs a day plus the chips and sodas. So when time came for the holiday rush I made sure I was stocked, locked and ready rock when the Greyhounds pulled in. Every day the outlet manager would tell my mother how many buses were coming that day. The most we had ever done was fifty five. George who was the manager told us we had a busy day and that forty one buses were coming but only twenty five would be full. Usually most of the buses would be full but during the holidays they would send extra buses even if they weren't filled. I Set up my stations and got ready for the madness

  The first bus rolled in right at eleven and they kept coming until the bay was full. Most of the people wouldn't eat right away and some would head right down to the restaurant. I had my customers who would get right off the bus go to the bathroom and grab a dog, bag a chips, and a Coke soda or Sprite soda. I never really thought about it until I heard it called that. It kinda makes sense, I mean we call it orange soda and grape soda why not call it Coke soda. So around two we had gone through most of the buses.and maybe were waiting on five more. Then i saw George,who was the outlet manager and my mother talking. It didn't look like it was a good conversation. My mom turned towards me and started walking a little to fast for my liking. She finally got close  grabbed  me and said "get ready for some fun because one of the other outlets had a fire and all their buses are coming here in twenty minutes". I didn't know what to say except that I needed more onions.She just gave me a smile and said "Maybe some hot dogs too". I just nodded and mumbled some buns would be good. I got a list of all the stuff I would need and stocked my self for another big rush. I saw the first buses pulling in and got ready to do battle with these people. It was like a parade one after the other they kept coming. I had a line about fifty people deep and it wasn't getting any smaller. By the time I had gone through my first box of a hundred dogs, the second wave of people were getting off the buses. I had to tell the people they had to wait while I cooked their dogs, One after the other I put the dogs in the buns, dug into the ice, grabbed the sodas, offered up some chips and rang them up.By five o'clock I had gone through fifteen hundred hot dogs and a whole bunch of soda. I never thought the line would come to an end.. I just keep going and going until I was able to see the end of the line.When I saw that last person in line, I started thanking God and wondering just how much money we had made on this crazy day. The most the cart had made was one thousand dollars and that had been one of the craziest days or so I had been told by everyone in the outlet. I cleaned up and got ready to go home. I went down to the restaurant and saw my mom in the back doing the books for the day. When it was over, I had made twenty five hundred dollars in six hours. On record it was the busiest day our restaurant, the hot dog cart and the outlet had since the place had been open.

  I just remember on the ride home , sitting in the backseat so tired that I didn't want to move. I kept Remembering the people saying " look at this kid go". I was a machine that day but my body was in need of a full tune up. A hot shower and my bed were the only things in my future. Then my mom told me how proud she was that I had made it through the day without losing my cool or having any major problems. She said to me"You need to be able to do  these things if you are going to be able to make it this business". I think after that day no matter what situation I was in I would be able to handle it. I think that's why when I have interviewed for a head chef position with a new restaurant. I am supremely confident when I tell them anything they throw at me I can handle it. I think back to this day a lot. It gives me a great deal of pride to know that I am able to handle situations like these and learn from them. I think that is the most important thing you can learn. It doesn't matter so much if you succeed  completely, just that you did your best and learned from your triumphs and your failures.

The New Yorker by John Colapinto

                                STRANGE FRUIT: The Rise and Fall of Acai
                   
The main idea of the article is how in a very short time Acai become know as a super food and the just as quickly become something people did not believe in. Until ten years ago it unknown outside Brazil, then two brothers Jeremy ans Ryan Black along with a friend Edmund Nichols began exporting it to America. It is a potent mix of cholesterol reducing fats ans anti-aging antioxidants. It is one of the fastest. growing super foods in history. Recently studies  have shown outrageous health claims and online vendors selling diluted products. Not until the nineteen seventies did it spread past the Amazon river delta, spreading to northern cities and the southern cities of Rio and San Paulo, due in large part to the Gracie family who were martial art legends. In nineteen ninety nine the Black brothers establish Sambazon, importing frozen Acai from Brazilian plants. In two thousand four Dr. Nicholas Perricone appears on Oprah with best selling book  The Perricone Promise, Look Younger, Live Longer, in Three Easy Steps. Sales sky rocketed and Oprah and Dr. Mehmet Oz indorse product. In two thousand five the Black's build plant in Brazil. Dallin Larsen CEO of MonaVie  a health juice concoction implicated many fraudulent internet sales forcing Oprah and Dr. Oz to sue removing their faces from acai based products and sales fell dramatically. The writer used a lot of fact based  ideas and was able to get his point across although his article jumped around a bit. I thought the article was okay but think a little more information on whether Acai is in fact good for you or is it so diluted by the time we get it, that's it not worth it.

Michael Pollan The Nation, September 11, 2011

    How Change is Going to Come in the Food System

 This article by Michale Pollan  was basically about how are current food system is not sustainable and in time will cause our planet and our species great harm. Frances Moore Lappes wrote a book called Diet for a Small Planet about forty years ago and it was the first to point out this fact. Until only recently has the congress passed any legislation committed to this issue. Media has been the biggest platform to get this message out but these reforms could make food more expensive and this will never be popular. The movement is gaining strength due to the fact that in the long run the cost of health care will increase dramatically due to our poor diets. Massachusetts leads in legislation with a tax on soda to lower the rate of type two diabetes and obesity

      The writer used many points between the cost of health care in the tobacco industry and the rising health care cost of our poor diets, which caused the more powerful people in the government to take a tougher stand on smoking. The congress only has a group of five who are committed to the fight. Obama campaign on this platform but realizes there is not enough support, so he may have his wife out beating the drum to get the support. The writers strategy was to point out how our diets have been an all but a forgotten problem until very recently and how big business still has a strangle hold on the legislation passed through congress. I thought this article was very informative and had many good points but until the price isn't an issue i don't see this getting much publicity. It really is to bad because we must understand the life is very fragile and we can only do so much harm to ourselves and our planet before the content are to broken to put back together.

Killing Chickens http://meredithhall.org/map/excerpt/

      A newly divorced mother of two is coming to terms with having to run a farm and handle everyday life on new terms. She must kill chickens for the first time and really doesn't have her heart into it because her heart has recently been torn apart. Her kids Alex, ten and Benjamin who is seven  wonder what is going to happen but do their very best to keep mom in high spirits. It is her thirty eighth  birthday and her once beautiful home in Maine now becomes somewhat dismal. She must take the lives of her once beloved chickens but can't do it without breaking down each time. She wants to be alone with her kids, so no calls to family or friends on this birthday, just the three of them because that is how it is going to be from now on. She feels like someone else, her hands have become a killers. Tomorrow is a new day and she knows she must and will make this work but the solitude must end. 

Television Advertising Favorite Medium

                              The Message 24/7 Tuned to your Home


    The T.V. tuned to his favorite station. His favorite show has just taken a break. He doesn't get up or change the channel, nope his favorite part of the show is up now. The commercials, he sits in mesmerize attention , ready to be told what he wants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They show him  all the goodies mom is going to get at the super market next time she goes. The greatest  medium ever invented to install  the sellers product deep into our brains. In no other way can they get such a focused group, where the audience is so suggestible, a child . They know to get them while they are young and then they will be consumers for whatever product is being sold. Ad agencies have a constant and captive audience all day and night, they are ready to become consumers. The commercials are almost as exciting and fun filled as the T.V. shows we watch. As it shows he is so into the T.V. Teddy is almost a distant memory. Notice how the television is in the dominant position. It's high up on the entertainment stand so the child has to look up to it. There are also no other objects in the picture that would take your focus away from the main point of view, the television. The frozen pops are at the front of the crowd calling for the boy to reach out and grab them. Not much of any dinner products either, mostly snacks, cereals, and a drink or two. Most of the boxes are red  or some other bright color as well making them standout even more.Where is the family in this picture? No other brothers or sisters just the one child alone to make his decisions. I believe it means that more and more a television is in charge of raising our kids and they learn what to eat, and how to walk and talk from a thing we label the idiot box. There is no adult to tell him to turn off the T.V.  He only has his best friend with him, like this is the best thing to be doing with his teddy bear and it appears Teddy is just as into the commercial as the child. Just the two of them watching all the bright colored advertisements pass by their eyes. One by one he wants them more and more, not much he can do about it. The carousel  of the fruity cereals and that delicious frozen dinner with the desert included of course come on  to fill his mind . It appears he would not move even if he wanted too. There is to much on the T.V. for him to miss! Most of the advertisements have cartoon characters to appeal to a child. It commands his complete attention it even seems like  he has forgotten about every thing else. The colors are bright and more often than not a prize is included or some kind offer. If you buy it you can win a trip to Disney or a free BMX. I also look and see how all the products are jammed together like it's just one after the other. His shoulders are slumped over as though he is lost in the world of advertisements . He is facing away from the camera, so that he could be any boy in this picture. There are some good foods in the picture to, like the apple all the way in the back. That way it represents the small percentage of advertisements for the healthy foods during his television time. The message is loud and clear our children are being over stimulated with ads from mostly food companies selling our kids bad eating habits in a colorful box with a Toucan Sam or Dora on the front. Think about it, from the time we are born the television becomes more and more a part of our lives. From the time it's on to the time we shut it off our brains are conditioned by the Ad companies on what we should buy. They have armies of people working to make sure the products they are selling come on at the best time to catch the attention of our children and therefor we as parents consume for them.  They know if they see it enough that the next time at the super market he or she is going to be reaching for the box of cereal with the cool cartoon character or the prize at the bottom. Most of the time it  gets tried once maybe twice then it's stuffed deep in the cabinet, fridge, or freezer until it goes bad, but that was the thing they wanted that week. It is also what the advertisement agencies want because it is time for the next great box of sugar disguised as a healthy fruity breakfast. To much time in front of the T.V. it goes in one ear stays in there a while until the decision is made to try something new. What can be said about the article mostly is that no matter what your kids watch, they will be exposed to a massive amount of advertisements for mostly food that will in the long run cause them to have health issues. So what do we do, it's hard to constantly keep an eye on what our children watch. The best thing to do is limit the amount they watch and then try to get them to watch shows where the amount of commercials are limited or they aren't all junk food related. The fact of the matter is that why you have control over most of what your child eats, make the healthy choices for them. I don't mean never let them get something they see on the T.V. but you can always find something that doesn't have sugar as the first or second ingredient. It is a fact that we as a nation our more over weight or obese  than any other nation. That is something we can change, if we don't protect our kids from themselves who will? I know those guys on Madison Avenue are counting on us to continue to let our kids become consumers of all the garbage they push on us.If we show them the right way then hopefully the message will be passed on from one generation to the next. Only time will tell and if we continue to allow our children's minds to be made up by cartoon characters and prizes that they will never see, then are path is chosen. If we can even walk down that path, because we might not all make it!
                                         

What's Under That Bun and Can I Give It Back!!!!

  This ad is the perfect example of why you shouldn't eat at MC Burger Wendy and all the other places we go for our fast food fixes. I mean why would you continually go to a place when you know the food is crap. Most of the time the food goes in your mouth with out a second look, but beware whats under the bun! It's not that juicy burger from the commercial or even the one on the menu behind the cash registers. It's a burger ,chicken sandwich, or fish fillet from an hour ago.I mean honestly would you make a burger at home and then wrap it up keep it hot for god knows how long and then decide let me eat it now! No, right you would cook it and then eat it because that's  when it is hot, fresh and tastes the best. The only thing i know that tastes better a day later is soup and I don't see any soup on the menu here! Yet the lines are there and every day a new fast food junkie is born. I just wish they would serve a quality product, they have the money and the man power. I know that it would cut into there profit margin and honestly, why stop when you have customers who love it! As long there is a Burger King ,we shall be his loyal subjects ,even though he is kinda creepy!

   I wanted to find a picture of the real food we are served, not that fake,plastic, or dipped in oil to make it look shinny and so many other things that are done to food in commercials to make them look oh sooo good! I mean you and I both know that what you see is rarely what you get but the images on television and in magazines make the food look almost perfect.The cheese is melted just right the lettuce is crisp and green the tomatoes are red as can be and look just great. This ad shows how different things are ,look at the buns, they are not even the same color.The cheese is melted perfectly on the left and the right it's like they put it on after it was microwaved.Flame broiled, when have you ever seen a burger you ordered flame broiled,if you consider hitting some buttons flame broiled then I guess their right. I can't say I have never eaten at Mac Donald's or any of the other fast food chains because for a time in my life I thought they actually served good food. The fact is they make millions of dollars each year because  a lot of people like to eat it and are generally happy with what they get. For me being a chef I live on both sides of the counter. I know what its like when you have fifty burgers to make and no time to do it, you take shortcuts and get the food out, but what it looks and tastes like does matters. It's cheap somewhat and it will fill you up for the most part.I am sure that even if every person who eats fast food regularly saw this ad it would not stop them from going out and getting that Big Mac tomorrow for lunch. We have been trained since we were very young to associate these places with something pleasurable.I remember every time driving by Mac Donald's when I was younger, just hoping and praying that my mom would take me there. Now some of them have play lands and all kinds of things to make our little kids want it more than ever. I know that Mac Donald's helps out a lot of kids with serious illnesses and that is great. They are also responsible for clear cutting down large parts of the Amazon jungle to breed Brahma Cattle for all those Big Macs. Did they ever stop to think that so many cures have possibly been extinguished forever because of this? So what do we do to stop it? The solution is quite easy, just don't go and the more you don't, the less you will find it enjoyable. It has been proven that if you eat nothing but Mac Donald's for a month you do serious damage to your internal organs. I am not sure but I think if you eat at least somewhat healthy for a month, you will feel better. Food is something I think we take for granted because we have a lot of it. So why waste your time with this when there are so many better things out there, waiting to be eaten and are so much better for you. Think about it the next time your at the drive thru or in line.Turn around and do something for yourself and make your own  Big Mac. I know the recipe for the secret sauce, just don't tell anyone!

Food for my Theme

I think food is a subject that everyone has a vested interest in, whether you love to cook it or eat it food is some thing people have gathered over since the dawn of time.Me personally i love to cook i have been cooking ever since i can remember so  i have a lot of information.For my observational i would talk to owners of restaurants I've worked and talk to the chefs behind the lines,also talk to food purveyors , manager at save-a-lot. I could also talk to some of the student in culinary at BCC or Diman. Then for the argument i could talk about how the amazon jungle is being flattened to raise cattle for MC Donald's,also how food is being cooked on a molecular level now in labs instead of the traditional way.How food is injected with all kinds of chemicals, price,There are other arguments, observations, and personal things as well.
                                                   

SPORTS

PERSONAL:l:played my whole life,different teams i like,coaching teams,daughter plays,affect it had onmy childhood

OBSERVATIONAL: Talk to coaches,players,radio host,go to game,friend works at ski house


ARGUMENT:Players getting tons of cash to play game,steroids in all sports, head injuries and how there affecting the game,ticket prices,get away with murder

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

PERSONAL:been to jail,courthouse, police brutality,effects on my life

OBSERVATIONAL:police officer,probation officer,lawyer,court room,D.A.

ARGUMENT:justice is not just for all,police brutality,drug war,sheriff hodgson,overcrowded prisons






     

Me and my history of reading & writing, A writer's autobiography

I grew up in Somerset, MA went to Somerset Middle & High School. Right after graduation i started working for my mother at her restaurant, the Water Street Cafe. I had many other jobs in this field eventually becoming a head chef.In between all that i became a father to my daughter Alayna. That's her in the pic on her first day at school, she is my greatest inspiration and makes every day a little better.Up until late June i still was a chef but life happened and i decided to go back to school and here i am. I have always enjoyed reading even when i was very young. The older i got the less i read, with T.V., video games, sports, and everything else keeping me busy. I would usually only read books i had to, most of the time school related. I would still enjoy it but thought it wasn't a proper use of my time. I remember i had a report due on Montana and i was supposed to read all about it, but of course i waited until the last minute and my report was not so great. I really didn't get back into reading until about eight years ago, my girlfriend at the time was a big reader and she pushed me to start. To say the least i was a little reluctant at first and would read very sparingly. What really got me reading were the Harry Potter books, i loved the stories and the characters were so vivid in my imagination that it really stuck with me! From there on i was a reading machine, i just couldn't get enough and it has stayed that way until this very day. I like to read mainly fiction, anything that peaks my interest i take a good look at.One of my favorite things to do is go to Savers and scour the bookshelves to find hidden gems. The bookcase in my room is very important to me and i enjoy filling it with books i've read or look forward to reading.In early years getting a book as i gift would have been a let down, now i ask for them as gifts! It's funny how things change. Now that i am a father i have encouraged my daughter to read since she was alive, i'm happy to say she loves to read almost as much as i do. Writing on the other hand has always been something i love to do, whether writing a song a poem or even a greeting card will have some original stuff from myself inside of it. I do mostly like to write songs which is like writing poetry. It allows me to express myself anyway i see fit, the world around me is full of material and the pen flows without question no matter what your writing. I find that if something is bothering me it helps to write about it to get it into the air, to get it out of my head, so i don't spend to much time in there. I also have encouraged my daughter to do this  as well and her stories or most entertaining, they fill me with so much excitement for her and her future in becoming an individual. That is also something great about both reading and writing they help to make me an individual and not just another cog in the machine. It wakes up my mind to so many different things that had i not begun to read again i would not know. I have to say that my reading has helped me write with much more detail and the ability to express myself fully and completely. Someone very smart said "knowledge is power" and i believe that to be completely true! Sir Francis Bacon was right on the money with that one.Well if you didn't already love to read or write i hope that maybe something in here my give you pause. Pick up a book or a magazine, write a song, story, or maybe a letter to a family member far away or  a friend. I know why write when we can text, email, im, and all that other crap, well i don't have the answer for that. I just know that it feels like you actually accomplish something when you read or write something and maybe that's the reason why!

Back to college for computer networking

So as you can read in my description, i am just getting back into school after a long layoff. I was a little nervous at first but not so much anymore. It seems like only good can come from my experience back to college. I realize now that i do need to get a laptop to bring with me to school. My first class was this English course and i figured that a computer would be great for class but didn't realize how much i would use it in just this one class. The reason i decided to change career was that i had an operation on my foot and i can't be on it for long periods of time.In the restaurant business it is almost always 12 hour day, sometimes even longer.I was never that computer savy until i bought my first laptop two years ago, since then i love just trying to fix or navigate through any problems i have with it.About a year and a half back i got a virus on my computer, brought to a couple of people who said they knew computer and they weren't able to fix it.So i went online and looked and looked for the solution and found some help but i was able to get rid of the virus by working through my computer.I figured,hey maybe i might take a course sometime,a year later i get hurt so no time like the present.This was the right choice and the right time, now i have to take this opportunity and run with it.I hope everyone else is going to have as much fun as i think, no wait i know I'm gonna have! Until next time.