Pretty Little Liars

Recently, I’ve read the third book of eight in the Pretty Little Liars series. It is also a hit television show. The series, which was written by Sara Shepard, is about four formally best friends. During a slumber party after the last day of seventh grade, one of the friends went missing. It wasn’t until years later that she was found, dead in the backyard of the house she lived in at the time. It was claimed to be a murder, but the other friends still had so many questions to ask. To make the the situation harder on the former friends, they have all been receiving texts, emails and other mysterious notes about different events that only their deceased friend knew about. The messages were also about events that were currently going on in their life. The friendship between the four girls is rekindled, due to the scary messages they were all getting. But the sender of the texts, A, starts revealing some of their secrets so others get emotionally hurt. As the series goes on, the girls receive more and more from A, and they are faced to try to figure out who it is. They keep getting different ideas about who A really is, but then that person is automatically out of the running. The series constantly leaves you thinking, using all the clues that they give to you. It’s not until the end of the series when you figure out who is causing all this drama for the girls. The books are hard to put down just because you get really caught up in figuring out who A is. But I can promise you that in the end, the frustration brought upon by the series is worth the anticipating wait in the end! Just read and see for yourself!

Help World Hunger

There are so many things that could be done in the world to make it a better place for all of us living on it. The number one thing I would change is the amount of resources that everyone receives. This is such a problem in the world today because their are people in more wealthy countries, like the United States, that take food and water for granted. Whether the realize it or not, there are many people in third world countries who don’t have nearly as much food as we do. And in most instances, we just throw out any leftovers from dinner. Those extra mashed potatoes and steak would be an extraordinary dinner for some of those kids. A lot of them don’t even get that kind of meal in there lifetime. Out of the seven billion people in the world today, almost one billion of them do not have enough to eat. In developing countries, one out of six infants are born with low birth rates due to hunger. And even worse, every five seconds a child dies due to hunger. When it comes to water, almost two billion people don’t even have access to clean water. Two and a half billion people suffer from water borne illness every year. In Alden, we are lucky to not be one of the many that are affected by lack of food and water. Just because we have more than what we need, that doesn’t mean we can’t help those who don’t have all that we have. Next time you go to throw out food because you aren’t hungry anymore, think of the people in developing countries who would give everything they have just to have that tiny bit left on your plate. Wouldn’t we all feel better knowing that we are taking part in saving a hungry child’s life?

Five People You Meet In Heaven

What happens after death? I’m sure I’m not the only one who has thought about it. Author Mitch Albom has given us an interesting perspective on this question. In his book Five People You Meet in Heaven, Eddie, a war veteran who works at Ruby Pier as a maintenance man, passes away in the beginning. Therefore, the story starts at an ending. While tending to a broken ride, a cord snapping, causing the cart to drop and kill him. To him, it doesn’t feel as if he died. He wakes up with nothing around him, just an empty space. Instead of being in the form he passed away in, he was himself as a child. At this time, and four other instances throughout the story, he meets someone. The person he meets isn’t just anyone. Each one of them has a lesson to teach him about his life on earth. As he met and talked with each person, he understood more about the time he spent alive. Some of the people he knew, some he did not. They ranged from pier workers when he was a child to his deceased wife. His former captain from the army to the lady in which the pier was named after. After every person, he only had one question to ask; did he save the little girl who got in the way of the falling cart? Of course I can’t give away the ending. When my mom read the book, she claimed she was very disappointed with it. I had a different preference of the ending. I’m not able to give it away, since it would ruin it for anyone interested in reading it. Or if reading isn’t exactly your thing, it was made into a movie in 2004 starring Jon Voight as the main character.

Introducing Michael Steffan!

After seven issues of The Bulldog, you have all gotten an idea of some of our interests. Our blogs help you get a better idea of that too. But do you really know who us workers are? Recently, I’ve taken the time to get the inside scoop on the newest editor of The Bulldog, Michael Steffan. When we sat down together, he informed me that throughout his high school career, his favorite class has been Twentieth Century Wars. Since this isn’t a class that would interest me, I asked him what he enjoyed about the class. He likes the teacher, Mr. Kryszczuk, and the way the course was taught was interesting to him. The class is taught through film. On the other hand, he isn’t a big fan of math since he isn’t too good at the subject. His favorite food you might ask? He likes chicken wings, but not just any kind of chicken wing. He prefers them to be hot. He isn’t just an editor to our newspaper, but he is also part of our school’s football team. On top of it all, he plays pond hockey. When it comes to outside of school, his best friend is Joe Foss. Mike likes to go with the flow and do things like working out or hanging out with his friends. When asked if he had a girlfriend, he said he didn’t because he’d rather keep his options open, because he has MANY options. He doesn’t have a role model either. Instead, everyone else looks up to him. He likes an array of movies. His top five movies would be Forrest Gump, Toy Story, The Big Lebowski, Napoleon Dynamite and Lord of the Rings. Mike is generally a really laid back person and a great contribution to our Bulldog newspaper!

Dear Genie

If I was to be granted three wishes, I would automatically wish for anyone who is fighting for our country’s freedom overseas to come home. I know by the end of the year, tons of troops are supposed to be coming back, but some will still be over there. I don’t have any family members or friends over there fighting, nor do I know anyone who does. It’s sad hearing on the news about all the deaths of our soldiers. I understand the want for them to serve for our country and it’s a great duty that all of them do. For their heroic duty, they all deserve to come home safely. My second wish would be for a better Christmas. I know it’s always a happy time, but the past two have been extremely scary in my house. Two years ago, we woke up to find an electric outlet sparking, on the verge of a fire. Last year, everyone woke up and didn’t feel good. After I played Just Dance 2, I passed out. It turned out that we had carbon monoxide in our house. I passed out from breathing it in so heavily. I spent most of the day in the hospital. After taking numerous tests to examine my head from my fall, I was released around four in the afternoon. Due to my late arrival, my family was unable to do any of the regular things that day, like go to my grandpa’s house. Therefore, I’d like this to be a happy, fire department-free Christmas. On the more greedy side, my last wish would mostly be for my dream car. More than anything, I’d love to be the very proud owner of a 2012 Dodge Charger. Ever since I saw one a couple years back, I have given it a permanent place in my future. Sure, it is a wish now, but it will definitely become a reality!

The Christmas Craze

It’s hard to believe that the year is coming to an end. But before that can happen, we need to all get through the Christmas season. This year, it seems like Christmas appeared way too fast. Before we know it, it’ll be Christmas Eve! Even Christmas music creeped upon us sooner that it usually does. Local radio stations always started the music when the holiday shopping season started, the day after Thanksgiving. This year, things have been changed up. On two local radio stations, Christmas music has been being played since early November. But is that too soon for the holidays to begin? Some people think so. With the nice weather, our Indian summer, Christmas decorations are being put out earlier than usual. It also seems to be that more houses are decorating this year. All this Christmas preparation, and there isn’t even snow in our forecast to set the mood! Don’t get me wrong, snow has fallen, but so far, there hasn’t been a measurable about. The record for the latest and first recorded snow fall in Buffalo, New York is December 3rd. With many record breaking temperatures this fall, it’s possible we could break yet another record! With the crazy temperatures but early Christmas preparation, it’s hard to tell if the holiday mood is being set. Whether it is set or not, it is almost here, a couple weeks away to be exact. Get out your holiday lights, Christmas trees and ornaments. It’s time to start wrapping your gifts and topping them off with bows. I hope that everyone has a safe and amazing Christmas, and holiday vacation. Hopefully you sent out your Christmas list already because it’ll be here before we know it. Don’t forget to set out your cookies and milk, he’ll get hungry during his long travels!

The Sabres Slump

No one ever thought that the Sabres would be in this bad of a slump. But is the goalie the person to blame? The season is still young, but the past few games in which Ryan Miller has started, it’s been a loss for the team. During one game in which he got pulled, allowing in too many goals, he was booed of the ice from the fans. During a post game interview, he didn’t have anything positive to say about it. When asked about his view on the boos coming from the crowd as he left the ice, he said that they bought the tickets, so they could do whatever they want. Along with this comment came a colorful vocabulary dealing with his slump. Ryan Miller was taken out for a few games, hoping Enroth was able to cover for the team with he re-cooperated. When he came back to play against the Boston Bruins, Malin Lucic hit Miller hard, causing him to leave the game later on. The hit lead to Miller getting a concussion and out for several games. Sabres fans were expecting him to get ejected from the game, fined and hopefully suspended from any following games. Unfortunately, he did not. When interviewed after the game, the team was embarrassed by the way they didn’t defend their player between the pipes. When Lucic was interviewed, he pretty much said the Sabres weren’t a good team for not defending the goalie. He said that if he goalie was hit the same way, he would’ve went after the other team. The hit ended in a concussion, causing Miller not to dress for the next nine games. He first game back, he seemed to be at his best, defending himself against any player to come after him. It’s still early in the season. The Sabres have more in store for us fans. Keep watching to see how they do!

So Many Choices..

There are so many choice in life today. It’s good to have choices, but not all of them are good. Like choice blogs for instance. Most people complain about them, so it makes us all wonder why Mr. Currin makes us have FIVE choice blogs in a matter of a week. Some of us see three hundred words about the holidays, after high school plans or favorite movies as a challenge. But once it’s the option to write about absolutely anything is thrown at you, it’s practically the challenge of a lifetime. Come on Mr. Currin, I’m sure you can think of amazing ideas that all of us would love to write about. Why not take a poll on different topics for us to write about or even get help from all of the editors in the office? Even though all of us in the office are profession journalists, it’s hard for us to come up with numerous topics to write about with a two week deadline on all of our stories. It’s easy (for most of us) to get an article typed, edited and submitted in two weeks. With four or five blogs thrown on top of the article, it’s not so easy. To make the situation sound ten times harder, he has cut down the amount of time we have to get our article submitted! It’s been cut down from five classes to four! By the time this blog was written, Mr. Currin was somewhat understand of the situation he put his employees in by reducing the number of choice blogs this week from five to three due to the deadline we have been given. I thank you for this Mr. Currin, but I’m sure your employees would be so much happier if you gave us topics instead of a choice. Thank you! (:

Happy Shoppings!

Tons of people take part in the festivities of Black Friday. It’s got to the point that reports call it a contact sport. Just last year, someone in a Buffalo But have you ever stopped to think about what it’s really all about? It dates back to the 19th century. People saw it as the official start of the holiday shopping season. Department stores, like Macy’s, held parades as a way to jump start advertise their holiday sales. But why is it ‘black?’ In the stock market, being “in the black” means that they are making profit, whereas red means profit is going down. But originally, the term was used to describe the entrance of the holiday shopping season. People tend to set their minds on different items in the store that usually have only a limited quantity. Due to the quantity, lines form outside the stores hours before the doors even open. The lines usually wrap halfway around the store before it’s time to open. Some stores allow a certain number of customers in every twenty seconds to try to avoid trampling and danger. People get very physical when it comes to getting the low priced items. In recently occasions, people have been killed from being ran over by others. Despite the sale items, it’s sad to believe that so many people in our society would rather get a cheap item than run someone over to death. Other than deaths, people often fight while waiting in line, even when they are promised what they want. This year, some of the vicious shoppers were armed with pepper spray and tasers. Since it’s preparing for the holiday season, it should be happy, right? Well that’s not always how it’s taken. Therefore, some people take the comfort of doing Cyber Monday shopping, which is always the Monday after Black Friday. Instead of going out to shop, they do it right at home from their computer. You choose your ways of shopping but no matter which way you choose, Happy Shoppings!