Dan Sullivan

            My first experience with Dan Sullivan was in middle school. I used to play games on the internet and Skype with my friends. I went to Parker for middle school, but I had some friends who knew kids who went to Coolidge who also enjoyed Skyping and playing computer games. Dan was one of these kids, and I remember thinking he was pretty funny and cool. Fast forward to freshman year; the middle schools collide. I didn’t have any classes with Dan, but he was in the only other block of freshman that my English teacher had. When we got to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, our teacher, Mrs. Correa, assigned each character to a student and had us read aloud the book. My classes read-aloud was a bit awkward and unenthusiastic. My friends in the other block told me that Dan asked to have the part of a fairy, and proceeded to read all of his lines in a high pitched voice, much to the delight of his peers.

            This story, in my eyes, embodies the true nature of Dan Sullivan; a free-spirited, fun loving kid who always has a smile on his face. I’ve had several classes with him over the past few years, and we’ve become good friends. Whenever I see Dan start talking to him, his face lights up and the gears start turning- eager to hatch his next joke. Dan is also smart, and has been very helpful with homework whenever I’ve consulted him.

            If you’re reading this Dan, you’re a pretty cool cat. If anyone else has made it this far, I think it’s pretty clear the idea well for these blog posts went dry long ago.

            Tell me, what do you think about Dan? 

Tasty E-Coli

            I went to Chipotle last week for the first time in a long time after their e-coli scandal several months back. The first thing I noticed was that it was very empty, something usually very uncharacteristic for Chipotle, but quite understandable given the circumstances. The line went quickly, and soon it was time to order. I’ve eaten many burritos from Chipotle, perhaps more than I’d care to admit, so I have my order down to a science.

Each time I get a burrito and get brown rice. White rice is probably healthier, but I don’t like how it tastes as much as brown rice. I don’t get any beans (scandalous, I know) because I like how my burrito tastes without them better than with them. The next step is meat, where I get barbacoa. It’s like pulled pork, but with steak, and is to die for. I’ve dabbled with other meats, but none of them were as good as barbacoa. Next I get medium salsa. This was the toughest part of my order to narrow down, as all of the salsas are good in their own right. I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes, so I decided mild wasn’t for me. The same fate befell the hot salsa, because I felt it overpowered the flavors of everything else in the burrito. Thus, I settled on medium because it adds just enough of a kick and doesn’t have any tomatoes. I then get cheese because I love cheese and lettuce mostly to add some volume and color to my otherwise brown burrito.

What do you get on your burrito?

Football!

Another January comes to a close, as does another football season. This year the Patriots started off amazing, winning their first ten straight. Injuries quickly slowed them down, losing their top two running backs and top 3 receiving targets in the last six weeks of the season as they went on to lose four of their next six games. Now usually going into the playoffs in that bad of form spells disaster, but for the Patriots it was quite the opposite. With Edelman, Ammendola and Gronk coming back the Pats looked like a solid contender. We cruised through our game against the Chiefs, winning by 7, although we had good control over the entirety of the game. The next hurdle was the Broncos, who we suffered a frustrating defeat to during the season (mostly due to crap refereeing).

            While our defense held fast against the fabled Peyton Manning, it was our offense that had the most trouble. It seemed as though Brady could not hit any of the receivers, but it soon became clear what the real issue was- the offensive line. While our running backs and receivers has a plethora of injuries, our o-line had even more, and that was what killed us. Every play the Broncos only needed to rush three men and they would be at Brady in a fraction of a second, not allowing him the time he needs to pick someone out and throw the ball. It was an exciting season that got frustrating because of injuries, but I’m confident we’ll come back even better next year.

Senya Slide

            As first semester comes to a close, I foresee a lot of free time in my future when the senior slide takes full effect (in every class except for English, obviously). With that in mind, I have started looking for things to fill my time. I’ve found a few Xbox games that seem fun, as well as starting a few new TV shows. I wanted one comedy and one serious show because sometimes I’m in the mood for one, while sometimes I’m in the mood for one while sometimes I’m in the mood for the other. For the funny show I’ve begun watching New Girl. I like it because it’s a sitcom, but with a different twist. The characters are all extremely uptight, and when they conflict it’s hilarious.

            The serious show I’ve begun is LOST. Partially because I’ve had lots of friends recommend it, and also because I just saw the new Star Wars movie, which was directed by the same director as Lost; J.J. Abrams. I’m only halfway through the first season, but so far it’s been an awesome show. For the first few episodes, the show has provided backstory for one of the characters by littering scenes from their past during the episode. Each character has a dynamic background, and it’s really cool to see them get used to their surroundings and each other, trying to understand the pasts and motives of each of the others. So far it’s a great show, and I’d gladly recommend it to everyone.

            So how do you plan to fill all your time when the slide is in full swing? 

Burnt Out

            The applications are in, and now the wait begins. After I sent in my last application, I let out a sigh of relief, believing I could throw it into cruise control for the next five months until graduation. The past three days have been a rude awakening for me. Rude as in peeing in your neighbor’s lawn, rude. My cruise hit an iceberg and sank the past three days. The iceberg took the form of my six teachers, who still have a job to do for the next 5ish months, determined not to let their classes slip. While this is definitely for the best; being lazy for the next five months would not set me up to succeed in college, and it is always good to learn more, I am going to have to switch up my mindset in order to not crap out second semester.

            What will keep me going the most is the promise of something new just around the corner. A new setting, new people, new classes. For those I will keep up with my work and not slack off. I am definitely ready for the next step in my life; high school is growing increasingly stale. The same teachers, kids, problems, lack of freedom day in and day out. I’ve been in the same small pond that I’ve been in for the past 14 years, and I’m ready to dive into the ocean (that metaphor was pretty cliché, sorry about that). Despite this, I am trying to enjoy the end of high school as much as I can because I know in the future I will look back on this time and think of how great it was, and how nice it would be to go back to it. I’ve had a great time in high school, and while I understand there’s still several months to go, I am definitely ready for the next stage in my life. 

el Presidente

            Today we watched one of the Republic Primary Debates in English class, and I realized how little I actually know about each of the candidates and their policies. That bothers me, as this is the first presidential election that I will be able to vote in, so I want to make an informed decision instead of picking one based on a fact or two or not vote at all. With that in mind, I decided to look at both parties and see which candidate (at the moment) sticks out to me as the best choice for me.

            To figure out which candidate fits me the best, I first had to figure out what it means to fit me. I want a candidate who will make a legitimate effort to balance the budget. This obviously requires an increase in revenue and/or a decrease in spending. The candidates that want to reduce wasteful spending (I’m looking at you, world’s biggest military) and increase taxes on the rich (without taxing them into oblivion; I think 90% is a little too high- sorry Bernie). I think the American Political System as a whole needs to be readjusted. Taking big businesses and their money out of it appears one way, while introducing term limits for congress seems to be another. For foreign policy, I think the US should stay firm with what it says, but really shouldn’t be getting involved with other countries unless it is absolutely necessary (this is the point that most of the republican candidates really lost me at). Obviously there are other issues, but these are the ones that came to mind as I am writing this.

Looking at all of this, it would appear as if I’m caught between liberal and conservative, which I’m okay with. Bernie looks to be a good choice as long as his ideas hold up in an economic light ($15 minimum wage sounds good but could be tricky to implement). I also think socializing many facets of our life could be a double edged sword; one on hand I think at a minimum everyone must have access to a happy and productive way of life, but on the other I do not think someone who puts in minimal effort their entire life should receive as much as someone who works hard (obviously imbalances in effort like these happen in our current system, in some socialized systems life welfare (some who receive it need it and some do not) and some capitalistic ones like wall street- as I said before, the key is a balance between the two).

Rand Paul seems to fit most of my opinions, but I’m not confident he will raise taxes enough on the rich to make things fair and profitable for the country. Other than that, Rand seems to me like a great candidate, and it shocks me that a boob like Trump is so far ahead of him.

            Which candidate do you like the best and why? 

Why Do We Do the Things We Do?

            For the month of December, I have been and will continue to sell Christmas Trees at a nearby farm stand. Each day this week I go to school, get home for a few minutes, go to work, get home, eat dinner, shower, do my homework, and go to sleep. It struck me that this is most likely what my life will be once I join the work force, maybe with a little more free time but essentially the same (especially because the fields I want to go into have high workloads the first few years). This has got me thinking, why do we work so long and hard? In the end, a vast majority of us will be but a memory in a few peoples’ minds, if we’re lucky perhaps our name will be embedded in a Wikipedia article or two for eternity. Even the greatest of us will likely be forgotten in a few millennia; a mere wink in the life of the universe.

            While this all sounds quite ominous, I assure you things are not as bleak as they appear. For every part of our life, we work hard to improve the next stage. Sometimes this next stage is next month with some spending money in my pocket, sometimes it is five years down the road when I get that promotion I always dreamed of. First we work to do well in high school and get into a good college, then to do well in college and get a good job, then to do well at that job and (maybe) get another job, and upwards and onwards, either improving at one job or leapfrogging from job to job until we find one we love. This is one of the handful of key reasons why we work all of our lives. Without anything to do, life gets boring in a hurry. It only takes a week or two of summer vacation with nothing to do to realize that. With a job you enjoy, you are given something to do all the time that is both productive for society (probably) and keeps you busy. That is, in my opinion, why we work so hard in life.

Reader, why do you think we work all our lives (save after retirement)?