Baseball Practice

Just got back from baseball practice. It was pretty good. We had four stations set up:

1. A soft toss with a tire to put your front foot in.
2. A tee with an outside pitch set up.
3. A quick swing machine.
4. Live pitching.

I did pretty well, but I still have some work to do. I can't believe I've been preacticing since last fall. My swing has improved so much since then. I remember when I used to throw across the street in my old house in Exeter and I'd only reach my dad half of the time. I also remember all the times that Sean and Mr. Finnegan would practice with me. They really rejuvenated my love for the game. I also can't belive that I've been playing for about 7 years. I love this game.

After practice I ran the mile or so back to my house. I'm still training for my spring break mountain biking trip to Utah. Can't wait! It's gonna be great. I might be able to go skiing on Saturday if I'm lucky. Bear Creek has about 17"-29" according to their website. That should be really fun. I might be able to invite Mike to join me, Jessica, andd her friends Afton and Ellie. Church on Sunday and the SUPER BOWL. Party at Mike's house. Raise the roof. Everyone's coming!

STEELERS

Report Card

School - Almost got caught by Mr. Corbet A. Babb (Assistant Principal) in math class. I was fooling around when I notice that George was behaivor rather well in class, I ask him why and he write the following on his homework paper:

"Mr. Babb is staring right at you"

Well, I finally relized that he was in the room. He had walked in earlier, but I thought he had left. Anyways, nothing came of it, at we went off to Babiarz's Health class. After health, we were sent to homeroom to collect our report cards. I GOT A 4.2 GPA, BABY! Of course so did Zach, George, Ben, Matt, and probably a bunch of other people. Well, I'm happy. Might celebrate tonight by going out to dinner. Tomorrow is Wednesday. I can't believe it. It feels like tomorrow should be a Friday.

Sam and George introduced me to a band called Mason Proper whose new CD is coming out soon. It's a really good CD and you should all get it. I also just ordered a Red Hot Chili Peppers CD on Amazon for a whopping 4 bucks. Bargains are the best. Amazon.com and Half.com (which is a subsidiary of eBay) are some of my favorites. Talk to you guys later.

Music Video

Due to popular demand, the music video has been changed from auto-starting at the launch of the site. To watch the video (Over My Head by The Fray) please click the Play button. This is all thanks to guess and check on the template page. I've gotten pretty good at it, too. I changed the size of the video and added words up top. Hope you all enjoy the video and don't forget to leave a request for another.

Thanks,
Steve

Sunday

Church was fine. We didn't have a lesson for Rite-13 because the teacher that was supposed to be teaching today was sick, so we just sat around and talked. Mostly it was Anita who talked, though. After Rite-13 was the service. I just went home and relaxed in my bedroom after church. I read a lot more of Huck Finn, because we have to read chapters 12-18 by tomorrow. I don't really like the book, but it's not horrible. Anyways, today is the spelling bee in school. That takes up 2nd and 3rd periods, luckily. George is in it and is going to win! New music video on the right: Over My Head by The Fray. Please comment any other music video suggestions. Thanks.

SAT's + Daniel Boone

SAT's - I am not legally allowd to talk about the test until graded scores are posted online. I am, however, legally allowed to tell you that is was 4 hours in a testing room with 10 sections of test, one being the essay. I was lucky enough to be in the same testing room as George, Matt, Shieldsy, ZAch, and Sam S. After testing, I headed up to Daniel Boone. I played some football, then we hung out in the "older scout" room. It was me, Mike I., Pat, Alex, Kieth, and Ben B. Soon, Ben had to leave and was replaced by Blake W. We tallked about "stuff" and goofed off. We prank called tons of people and sang happy birthday to Mozart on Sara's cellphone. Hilarious stuff. Well, home now, finally. Church tomorrow and Huck Finn Chapters 12-18. Fun, fun, fun.....

Spanish Class

School - Pretty mucha typical day at Wyomissing Area High School. Spanish class was pretty funny, though. We were playing Nachos (BINGO) in class when Casey told Erkia to wrap her bead necklace around her neck one more time. The necklace snapped and beads went everywhere! Casey, Niki, and I had to pick them all up, because Erika was laughing so much. Then, I held he beads in my hands while Casey and Niki put the necklace together. Girls are awesome with Jewelry, don't ask me why. So, we finally got it together (teamwork), but the funniest part was that Senora Shomgard didn't even notice; she was oblivious to everything! Had to be there. Pablo sace quarto puntos rojos en los tres minutos terminos del clase! Anyways, SAT's tomorrow and Daniel Boone for the day. Then, church on Sunday.

Baseball season starts soon! WYO SPARTANS! GIRLS BASKETBALL!! Won 60-59 last night. Caitlin Moser to the rescue, again! Great game, but we won in the end (duh, we're the best)! Wyomissing spirit is not something to be reconned with!

Thursday

School - Got a lot of homework for Huck Finn in English class. Some study guide packet questions and 8 chapter to read. Tomorrow's Friday, finally. Saturday is SAT's and Daniel Boone. I have no emotions at the moment. I don't know why. I feel like I'm just, here. Ever have those times where you just have to sit back and contemplate your own existance? You question God's choice of creating YOU? Why you're here and what you're really here to do? That's how I feel right now. What is my purpose inn the world. I have no idea where I want to go to college, or what I want to be when I get out. Right now, my philosophy is to try everything and decide afterwards. It's hard. I have one main goal, though: To change the world by helping mankind. Kind of like Bono. I'm not sure what paths to take to get there, but I'll find out. Wish me luck.

Grand Slam

School - Not much to say here. Normal day. Wait, we had a course selection assembly planning for next year. Next year we switch to a 6 day cycle (days A, B, C, D, E, and F). Anyways, lots more Honor courses that I will take and 2 electives. One of those is Spanish III. The other I'm thinking about is Computer Aided Drafting which is like Architecture Drawing on the Computer. There are a ton of courses to choose from. Anyways, SAT's on Saturday, ugh. I don't really like taking them, but they get me reading for the one that counts. This test is the new one with the essay. Daniel Boone with scouts for the rest of Saturday, and coming home afterwards. Church on Sunday (with my camera!). Super Bowl party on Feburary 5th (DUH!) and that's all that's planned so far. Went to Grand Slam today. Bob never ceases to amaze me. I was havving an off warm-up and he fixed my swing with one look. I hit 44 in the game, tied for my highest! Bob is the best!

Math Exam

School - Got my math midterm back. Get this: Mr. Minear curved all of the tests by 15%! It's way yoo much in my opinion, but without it, half the class might have failed. I got a 92 without the curve so a 107% with it. Talk about a GPA raiser. Ben got a 109 and George got a 99. The rest of the class? Not so well. Anyways, Mr. Kennedy is a horrible teacher, but Babiarz is the best. His class is going to be a favorite of mine. Trying to arrange a get together with Brent and family in Santa Fe. Looks like it'll havee to be in the summer. Mountain biking, I hope. Well, gotta fly. Watched Die Hard with Bruce Willis. Check it out.

Monday

School - I got my midterm grades back! History - A, English - 94%, Spanish - 93%, Science - 102% (that includes a 9% curve), Math - he didn't start grading them yet. I'm so happy. Today we switched 4 classes: 1. Period one I now have music which isn't just classical. It's also about the history of rock. Should be a good class. 2. Period five I now have Mr. Kennedy for Earth science. He has ONE cross eye, which means that he can look one way with his head and another with his eye. It's scary because he could all of a sudden look at you and then call on someone who sits on the other side of the room! Anyways, Patch is my lab partner, which is pretty cool. 3. Period seven I now have Health with Mr. Babiarz. He's really cool, and his class should be great. 4. Gym is now just a bunch of games we play in the wrestling room. Overall, school was pretty good. SAT's on Saturday! Then, camping at Daniel Boone with scouts. Church on Sunday. Another busy weekend.

World Peace.

Youth Group

AWESOME DAY!!!!! Started off with going to church. I was a reader and that went well. Then, after the service, Emily, Catherine, Mike and I went up to the chillin room and supervized the little kids while they were watching a Veggie Tales video. After that, we just hung around. Mike and Catherine had a huge pillow fight while I was just lying face down on the couch with Emily lying on top with a fierce fight over the pillows. Then, the little kids started jumping all over us trying to "beat us up." It was reslly fun. Soon we went skating. I was the only good skater there but Emily did a good job as did Catherine (Mike didn't come). We took Catherine's niece around the rink a few times, then got some coffee. After that, Emily and I were skating together and my sister and Catherine we skating together. Overall, it was a great day. But, I forgot my camera :-(. Luckily Anita brought hers and I just emailed her asking for some pictures to scan that I can post, so look forward to that. Later.

Exams are over!

Friday - Had the history exam first. It was 250 multiple choice questions that didn't take me too long to do. The second and final exam was math. It was really hard. I was composed up of 25 multiple choice questions and about 8 pages of written problems. All on Geometry. Because we have had 6 different teachers throughout the semester, our current teacher didn't know how much we had learned. Some of the questions on the exam we hadn't learned yet. Luckily he threw them out after we told him. After exams I went to the MathCounts party/practice. It was really fun (except for the math part). We had tons of pizza and Chips Ahoy and lemonade so you can imagine our sugar high. We messed around with thye buzzers when we were practicing, and we laughed so much. At 5:30 I headed over to the Elementary School to help with the Cub Scout race called the Pinewood Derby. It was fun at first, but you can start the race only so many times before it gets pretty boring. Got back home around 9:00 and read some more of The Count of Monte Cristo. It's a really good book! At least that's what I think. So, to today. Read some more in the morning, then went on a bike ride with my dad. We didn't go too far but it was fun going faster than the cars at some points where the speed limit was 35 MPH. The drivers look at you kind of funny when they see a biker passing them, lol! Then, my dad dropped off his bike to get worked on while he's away at a meeting. We're also looking at road bikes. Anyways, symphony tonight. All Mozart pieces. Ice skating tomorrow with Youth Group after Church where I'm going to be a reader. Got the official reservation for our Mountain Bike trip to Utah!!!!!!! Can't wait. Still training.....

Goodbye Sam. It was a pleasure reading you blog. Hope you come back here. Even though I see you in school, you put a lot of interesting stuff in your blog. Talk to you later.

Spanish and English

School - First was Spanish. We had 200 multiple choice questions, a listening section, and an essay. It was pretty easy, though. That class is one of my favorites because we have so much fun (how couldn't you with a line-up like Patch, Andrew, Sean, Danny, George, Sam, and me?). Next was the break. Sam, Ned, George, andd I argued about if James Bond is or isn't a rock god. He a local guitarist, and yes that's his real name. English was pretty hard. 200 multiple choice, a semicolon andd comma editting worksheet, and a five paragraph essay. I only finished with four minutes to spare. Tomorrow is the last day of exams. Finally. Busy weekend ahead: Tomorrow, MathCounts from 11:00-2:15, and the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby at 6 with Mike, Mike, and Pat. Saturday - Probably hang out with Mike. Might go see the new Spielberg: Munich, sounds great. Sunday - reader at church and ice skating at Boddy Zone afterwards. Should be pretty fun. I'll bring my camera, so look for pics on Sunday night. Bought a few Franz Ferdinand songs: Take Me Out and Do You Want To. Great songs. Well, got to go study some more.

Science

School - Had a study hall period for 1 1/2 hours first. I read chapters 1-6 in my science book (all) and chapters 1-5 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The preface was unbearable but the story is ok. Then, 1/2 hour break where Ned and George had a run-in with a few stale fruit roll-ups. Had to be there. Science exam was a piece of cake. I think I did really well. Got out at 11:00 and went over to Blue Marsh (a local lake) and had a skipping contest. There are no bad skipping rocks there; it's amazing! Then, went to Barnes and Nobles for lunch and a book. I picked out the Count of Monte Cristo. I'm only on page 34 (of 1462, lol), and, so far, it's good. Tomorrow is English and Spanish exams. No quiero ir al clase de mi examen de espanol, o ingles. It's going to be a hard day. Wish me luck!

Exams

Science Midterm Today. I think I'm pretty prepared for it, because I studied for all of my exams. I finished Briar Rose By Jane Yolen. Thanks, Leon! It was a great book. A fictional story with historical past weaved in. It's about a grandaughter tracing back her grandmother's past through Poland. The first lead she has is a WWII refugee camp in NY State. from there she goes onto Kulmhof, a Nazi extermination camp. Overall, it's a very exciting, yet heart wrenching story put in one.
It's pouring here. The electricity went out around 2:51 AM; I know that because the alarm went off. Now it's back on, luckily. Well, have to go wake up my dad to get ready for work.

Day before Exams

School - Today had to be one of the longest days of school. Tomorrow is final exams. It begins with a study hall and science tomorrow, Spanish and English on Thursday, and History and Math of Friday. It's going to be a long rest of the week. We get out at 11:00 every day during exams, which is a good thing. Don't think I'm going to baseball practice today. Tomorrow is Grand Slam Batting practice with the best hitting coach ever, Bob. Got my CO2 car and Wyomissing W back. It's a W and aan A mixed, our school symbol. I'm going to spray paint it Navy Blue and White (School colors) and posts pics when I'm done. I got a 198/200 on my car! Anyways, not much else happening. Looking for a semi-inexpensive yet good quality set of earphones. If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be most welcome. Thanks.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Yesterday my dad and I looked for plane tickets for our mountain biking trip over spring break. We're biking from Canyonland National Park to Arches National Park. We're going with Escape Adventures (link found at right). It's going to be awesome. I have to train a lot for it, though. My dad and I usually ride about 50 miles every week about 1 or 2 months ahead of time. It's really fun because you get to see parts of the county that you wouldn't see otherwise. Today is working on scounts again. I have 2 projects to complete for the Family Life Merit Badge. Then, we have some friends coming over to visit with Jessica. My Aunt Sue was here yesterday. She and my cousin were in Chili over Christmas Break. She takes all of her nieces and nephews anywhere in the world for 3 weeks. I split mine up: I went ot Ireland for 10 days last summer and am going to Iceland for 11 this summer. Anyways, she brought us presents. I got an amazing chess set that portrays the Spanish playing against the Incas. It is so beautiful. Well, have to go eat breakfast. May peace be upon you.

Comic Book Heroes Concert

The concert was awesome! However, before it started, I still can't believe this, Sam got clipped by an Acura! He was fine but the guy ran a red light and Sam jumped out of the way just in time. The side mirror hit him and he went flying back. The mirror broke, but luckily Sam didn't. The concert was awesome! About half of the teachers from school were there. 3 History teachers (Mr. Mann, Mrs. Mangold, and Mr. Galagher), 2 English teachers (Mr. Comerford and Mrs. Landrum), and my old 6th grade teacher, Ms. Bensusan. CRAZY! The band was great. Sam Tonneslan got up and danced and Ned came out into the crowd and sat on my lap! The whole thing was awesome. Mike loved it too. The band took advantage of their wireless instuments (except drums, duh) and came out into the crowd, moved around, etc. Before, Mike and I went out to dinner at Taco Bell and played SSX Tricky (I think we're obsessed). Decided not to go to church today, so I slept in till about 10:30. Came down here and checked my email and started blogging. Took a ton of pics last night! I'll add a few, if I can. The first one is of Steve, Ned, and Sam on "stage" and the second is of Collin, Ned, and Sam and Steve is cut off. Enjoy!

3 Day Weekend

School - Well, finally lost in the CO2 race. But, since I finished in the top 4, I still got a 90% for the racing part of the course. Took a math test today. Was pretty hard. Have to study A LOT for my midterms next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The good thing is that we all have half days of school those days, which is nice. Comic Book Heroes (Comic Book Heroes Webpage) concert tomorrow night. for those of you who don't know, it's a group of my friends in a band that includes Sam (Phony Nowhere), Ned, Collin, ans Steve (not me). They are an awesome band and play extremely well. They just went to NYC today to audition for a part on Nickelodeon TV. Sweet, right? Anyways, Mike might come to my house and then go to the concert with me. My sister (11) had an operation on a benign tumor in her neck yesterday (which is why I didn't write) that went extremely well! And, my cousin Ben got accepted into the University of Pittsburgh, a.k.a. Pitt. It's not the only college he aplied to (duh), but so far he's 1 for 1 in acceptance rate. Congrats Ben!

Court of Honor

School - Got the fastest time trial in the class for my CO2 car! .941 seconds! Tomorrow, we start to compete against each other to find the fastest car in the class. Tonight was the Boy Scout Court of Honor which is the ceremony where you are awarded your rank advancements and merit badges. For the communications merit badge, I ran the court of honor. I just gave a short speech for inspiration. Here it is:

"Do any of you know who Paul Hewson is? No, that's probably because you know him better as Bono Vox. He is the lead singer of U2, a legend to many, if not all, rock 'n' roll fans, and a hero to people, like myself, who know the other half of his life. Bono works with the American Congress to bring relief to the poorest countries of the world be elimenating the debt that they owe to the United States. He has used his fame to change the world on the celebrity level. He has helped to found DATA which stands for Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa, a nonprofit organization that helps the poorest countries in Africa get back on their feet. He is also a prominent member of The ONE Campaign which is rallying Americans to Make Poverty History.
The boys here tonight have already started to change the world on the local level. The service projects thatt they have participated in, the lighting of the greens, bonfire cleanup, and Treasure Island cleanup, are the beginnings of what Bono is doing today. This is what scouting is all about, helping others. The skills that are taught and learned during the scouting experience are tool to use in life to help others through cheerful sevice. The values aquired in Boy Scouts are the same values that Bono uses on a larger scale. With these values, Bono has helped millions of people around the globe. The boys here tonight are on their way to becoming the next Bono.
We are here tonight to acknowledge the contribution made by the scouts of Troop 413 to our local community. These rank advancements and merit badges awarded here tonight are proof of the dedicated work that these boys have put forth in striving for excellence. They deserve a round of applause!"

Hope yoyu liked it. Tomorrow, I'm going over to Mike's house after school until 6:00 PM. Then, coming home and relaxing. Youth group is going ice skating on January 22. Should be really fun. Sign the letter to President Bush at The ONE Campaign. Thanks for you VOICE!

Apple

School - We went to the elementary school to give the book that I have been working on for about two months to my first grade partner. He didn't really love it as much as I had hoped, so I'm a little bummed. Finished my science project. I present it tomorrow; it's on Uranium. Big News Today! - Apple came out with their first ever Intel Processor Computers. They are awesome! A laptop called the MacBook Pro and the new iMac. The laptop now comes with a built in iSight (intCamera) and is 4x faster than the Powerbook (not discontinued). Also new to Apple are iLife and iWork 06. New to iLife is iWeb, an application designed for easy webpage design. I really want the new laptop and iLife but with a pricetag over $2000, not likely at all. Turns out I can't go to Lake Como (HUGE Disappointment) because the day we would fly back is the first day of my religious sports camp called Ligonier. I cannot miss that. Oh well. Got a new watch today, not that you care. A cool Armitron for $20. Cheap, yet simple and elegant. Not bad for that price. Have to go put the finishing touches on my project.

Mid Terms are coming up.

School - I got my English Vocab Test back - 42/40 A+. YES! I've got a solid A for the quarter. Breaking News - We have exemptions this year. Thank God for that. I can't stand Mid Terms and I really can't stand Finals. Last year, I didn't have to take any! I hope to follow in the tradition this year, too. My grandmother is here again. It always nice when she comes to visit. I am sooooo tired today, it's starting to affect my day. Not good. Need more sleep. Well, ran home from school today and am starting another tradition of running home every day. It's really not that far, a mile, but it's good exercise anyways (stay in shape for baseball season. I have practice tomorrow and Thursday. I missed the last three: the first one because it was over break, and the last two because I forgot. Well, there is a possibility of my family and I going to Italy the first week of summer break for a meeting me dad has there. We'd be staying at a place called Lake Como miles from the Swiss border. One of my dreams has always been to look apon the beautiful magnificence of the Swiss Alps. I know the Alps are the same in Italy, but for me, it's different. Anyways, I looking forward to going, if we even do. Have to go help clean up the kitchen. Talk later.

Mike's House

Well, I had an awesome time at Mike's house, as always. We first played some SSX Tricky, then we went to the movies to see King Kong. It was a great movie. Looking at it from a professional critic's viewpoint, it was still sweet. It was pretty violent and gory, though; I mean a guy gets his head swallowed by some sort of huge water animal with no eyes, just a mouth and two rows of sharp teeth. There were also lots of giant insects in the movie. Anyways, we stayed up until 3:00 AM, a new record for us (my individual record is 5:30 AM with Mason). We watched parts of You Got Served on his PSP with his new speakers. Mike's are very small and portable. His mom got the new video iPod 30 GB white (same one I have) and the inMotion speakers that look like a big cylinder on its side. It has awesome sound and are a lot bigger than how they look in the picture on Apple's website: Apple inMotion Speakers. I'm going to look into some small portable speakers for my iPod soon. My family and I are going to go see an acrobatic show tonight. I have no clue what it is or how it is going to be. Well, talk to you tomorrow and/or later tonight after I get back.

Weekend

Well, this might have been one of the hardest days of my life. I had four tests in school today. One in English, the one I've been talking about all week, it was so easy because i studied a lot. I'm really happy about that. Then, there was the science test which was pretty easy. During 7th and 8th periods I took two MathCounts tests which I did OK on. I was talking to Mike Izzo and we're at the moment setting up to go see King Kong and then have a sleepover at one of our houses. A great compliment to a harsh day. Then, church Sunday and working on my Science project on Uranium. Fun, fun. I have to go right now because he's coming to pick me up. Bye!

Wednesday and Thursday

Yesterday - School - I finished pasting up my IS Book for my first grade "counterpart". It looks really good. Zach, Pat S., George, and I are contributing to an overall english study guide for the test on Friday. I have the vocab terms for two short stories. It took me awhile to type them up. Had MathCounts again. Today - School - Shieldsy typed up a four page practice test for English. It was really good heelp for my studying. I stayed after school to finish my CO2 car. I finished assembling it. It looks great! I had a little scare when the back wheels wouldn't spin, but a little sanding and it was running smoothly as ever. Races are next week. I have three tests tomorrow. A science test, the English Vocab Test, and a MathCounts competition test. I studied for the first two but can't really study for the third. I have to prepare a speech for a court of honor in my scout troop by next Wednesday. I have to plan the whole event fot the Communications Merit Badge. It's going to be awesome. I miss The "N"!

Tuesday

School - I got my English grade sheet back today: A- 92%. I'm really happy because Mr. Comeford is a really hard teacher. I also got back my math test that I took before the break. I scored a 98% one of the highest in the class. Midterms are coming up in two weeks. I'm a little scared, but overall it's not close enough for me to feel the real apprehension. I also have a really big short stories vocabulary test on Friday. It's vocab from about eight different short stories. I'm almost done painting my CO2 car. It looks really awesome. Planning our trip to Santa Fe this year. Going the last week in February. It's just going to be my dad and me, though, bummer. Well, have to get ready for school. Leon recommended to me Briar Rose as the next book I should read. I finished Dawn. It is one of the most sad and disturbing and sickening book I have ever read. It's about an 18 year old boy who joins a resistance movement in Israel and is ordered to execute a British officer in retaliation over the hanging of a comrad. Well, I really am going to be late. Peace.

School

School - Got my history test back-92%. Not too shabby. Stayed after school to work with Mike on our IS Book Project, pasting it up on the construction paper. It was really fun and we laughed a lot. Then, he came back to my house and we did our English homework. We're reading "The Green Door" by O. Henry. Very confusing story. I started reading Dawn by Elie Wiesel. It's just as sad and disturbing as the last book I read of his: Night. We get our English gradesheets tomorrow; I'm a little scared to see what I have. Science project is now due on Wednesday. I finished The Chosen by Chaim Potok. It was really good and thought provoking. I know for certain that other members of that class reading this will disagree emensly. Well, got to go eat something. Just became a member of 2lazy2blog.blogspot.com. Check them out!

New Years Day

Worked a lot on my project on my Family History. I turned the project into a board game and it looks really good. I also have a little of my Science project completed and I finished my book project. I have school on a NATIONAL HOLIDAY tomorrow. Three schools out of the dozens are attending. Harrisburg just changed their minds and cancelled school. Anyways, just got back from a party at one of my sister's friend's house where I watched the Eagles game up to the 4th quarter when they were beating the Washington Redskins 20-17. Amanda's at the game now, and did she pick a good game to go to! Anyways, have to put the finishing touches on my board game, so I'll talk to you later.