When dreams come true

For the past few months, I haven't been able to find one of my class textbooks. Big Deal? BIG DEAL!! It's the main book for my most vital class, and I can't find it :( Several pages from the book have been formatted into pdf files and posted online as sample images to promote the book -- as if taunting me that I can read only one or two pages out of the dozens required for class.

So as I studied one of these pages from the author's website, an excerpt from The Kansas City Star is given to provide an example for integrating quotes and dialogues into profiles. Although short, it's very touching. It makes me want to read the rest of the profile.

Here's the excerpt from a profile on baseball player Tony Pena:

They drove around a beautiful community near Santiago. "Isn’t this nice?" he asked his mother.
"Yes," she said. "It is beautiful."
They then drove through a neighborhood they had driven through before, many times. "I love these homes," Rosalia said.
"I know," Tony said. "I know."
And they pulled up to the nicest home.
"What do you think of this one?" he asked her.
"It is the home of my dreams," she said.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a key, gave it to her.
"It is yours," he said. They both cried for a long time.
— Joe Posnanski, The Kansas City Star

Tony Pena made his MLB debut at age 24.

I don't know if being able to buy his parents their dream home signified the pinnacle of Pena's life dream, but it's pretty high up there in my mind. I know that when my dreams come true (yes, I have more than one ... in case I don't reach the other eight), they'll come true when my family and friends are blessed through and through from it. What other kind of dream would there be?

Media of the Day #1

MUSIC OF THE DAY

I still haven't watched "The Wedding Singer."

PHOTO ESSAY OF THE DAY
National Geographic's "Spirit of the Wild".
It won first place in NPPA's Best of Photojournalism: Magazine Illustrative Story in 2006.

WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Wordle. A word cloud generator! Oh the wonderful world of the Internet :)

VIDEO OF THE DAY
I think this is one of my church's funniest skits -- a feat when you consider that the message was on financial struggles.

Shoutout to Bill Nye, Ms. Frizzle, Carmen and LeVar

- What do you think of broadcast television?
- What kind of good/bad impact did television have on you as a teenager? As a child?

In my communications law class, our professor had us split into groups to discuss these questions. One of the topics that came up was the difference between today’s children t.v. shows and the ones that aired in the early ‘90s – ones that we, as a class, grew up watching. From my classmates’ varied inputs, it seems like today’s kids’ shows are produced with more aspiration for entertainment value than for educational value. And I totally agree. Strawberry Shortcake’s got nothing on Ms. Frizzle. Nothing. I bet even little Ralphie could score higher on a biology test than most kids these days. And Carmen Sandiego has been to far more places than Dora. She would know what to do if a purple fox stopped listening to her, and she wouldn’t use a compass to cross the meadow. She’d use a freakin sextant.
Okay, maybe not.

But for a college student ranting on today’s educational t.v. programs, I realize this is only hot air (hot font?). I don’t pay much attention to today’s kids’ t.v. shows, so my comparisons are limited to only what I see. Dora the Explorer’s targeted age group is much younger than the educational geography t.v. program, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? If there IS a show (airing today) comparable to the likes of Carmen Sandiego and Bill Nye the Science Guy – Myth Busters doesn’t count – that’s being produced for kids, why aren’t my little cousins watching it? And don’t be sayin it’s because it's just MY family. … yo. What? What?? Yea, you know it. You’re little cousins are probably watchin iCarly too. Foo.
Okay, refocus.

All I'm saying is that we need more educational t.v. shows that are available for kids to watch. I enjoyed these kinds of shows as a kid. Physics? Biology? Literature? Even super heroes aren't a big deal in daily cartoon shows anymore. With their lack of interest in these subjects, it'll be even harder to get kids interested in learning these subjects in school.


There are plenty of youtube videos that can get a few of us a bit nostalgic with the television shows of our childhood. Here's one I picked out just for fun.

First blog post

In 1851, the New York Times began with an article on elections in France. A few decades later, an investigative article on South African blood diamonds covered the front page of the brand new L.A. Times, and details of a controversial trial made front page on the Washington Post's debut.

On MY blog's first post, a memorable highlight of the day is described in detail -- complete with pictures :]

Arriving from school, I spotted a lump of dark matter as I drove up the driveway. When I realized the string of who-knows-what at the time was actually the tail of a rat, I immediately told my brother to get out of the car and throw it away. I immediately told him not because of the gross factor but for the sake of our neighbors not having to spot a dead rat sprawled on our driveway in broad daylight. In addition, I was worried that our ghastly crooked and unpainted fence would attract trick-or-treaters with the dead rat in front of the garage door as if we planted it there on purpose to add some minuscule detail for a sadly unintentional Halloween decked-out house.

After taking a few pics, my dear little brother still did not come back outside to throw little Fievel away. I assumed the task, and used a plastic bag to dump him into the trash bin.

Now I'm wondering how he got there. Or she. Yea... maybe little Tanya got poisoned or something. Because why would a nocturnal rodent come out into the open during the day? It wasn't there this morning. Whatever the reason, its death added a little excitement to our day. Or to mine at least.