2008 Let's Talk about it

Year End Review of Mitchell Mark

As I reflect upon the year that 2008, it was about as sweet as when I was a young lad and I would visit Queen Frostine. I had a lot of wonderful experiences and met some neat people. This year I have kind of had somewhat of a real job. I have been part-time teaching at the local college here. Many times I walk through the halls and laugh to myself thinking, "wow I am actually a teacher." I really enjoy it though and I think I am doing a pretty good job at it. I have definitely learned a lot about myself, and even how to become a better teacher. I have taught Human Communications, Lifetime Wellness, College Survival Skills, and Public Speaking which I really enjoy teaching. Right now I am trying to get bring a new class to the curriculum, a Mass Communications class so I am crossing my fingers that it works out.

This has been the first year in a long time that I've spent the whole year in Moses Lake. I love it here from end of March to end of October which just happens to be when wakeboard season starts and ends. This summer was one of my favorite wakeboard seasons. Just had a lot of fun and learned a lot of new things as well.


During the winter months a famous poem comes to mind. “God gave us memories so that we might have roses in December.” Here are a few of my roses.

2008 was a good year and I am totally looking forward to the 09. Lots of stuff to do. I have a few trips planned; snowboarding in Utah and perhaps head to Denver and I am sure some will come up. I am hoping to make it to Lake Shasta and Roosevelt this year. Those are two big goals.

2008 Year End Highlights
-Got my first speeding ticket (First day of school, in a school zone. Didn't know it was first day of school or a school zone. Soo unethical.)
-Started this Blog! BAM
-Beat the creators of Call of Duty 4 in a scrimmage.
-Managed to stay away from Facebook for three weeks.
-Found the (BCS) Baker City Secret. It's this Chinese food place in Baker City Oregon. It's like Crossfire not too many people know how amazing it is.
Just to name a few highlights.

BCS Showdown

Well Because people love my sports posts so much and I seem to get 0 Hey Oh's, I will continue to write about sports. I usally just write these for personal enjoyment and don't mind the 0 Hey Oh's.

Well so far this year I am 4-3 on bowl games, nothing to write home about but not bad.

I will now give you my picks for the BCS bowl games:

ROSE BOWL Jan. 1, 2009 ABC, 4:30 p.m. ET
USC Vs. PENN ST. I got USC 21 Penn St. 10.

ORANGE BOWL Jan. 1, 2009 FOX, 8:30 p.m. ET
VIRGINIA TECH VS. CINCINNATI. I got Va Tech 24 Cinci 21

ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL Jan. 2, 2009 FOX, 8 p.m. ET
UTAH VS. ALABAMA. I got Bama 31 Utah 21.

TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL Jan. 5, 2009 FOX, 8 p.m. ET
OHIO STATE VS. TEXAS. I got Texas 42 Ohio St. 21.

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Jan. 8, 2009 FOX, 8 p.m. ET
FLORIDA VS. OKLAHOMA. I got Oklahoma 35 Florida 31.

I think I should get all of these correct.

Ode to the "LOL" Users

Well, lately I have been reading peoples posts and comments and what nots and I believe that the “haha,” “hehe,” and “lol” are being overly used. I strongly believe that many people who write “lol” are not actually laughing out loud, and most of the time just laughing in their minds. I believe that we need to implement a few new acronyms to the game.

Mitch List of New Acronyms
IFL – “I’m Fake Laughing.” Use this when someone says something you don’t find to be funny or something that you do not understand, but you want them to feel good about themselves.

NFBGT – “Not Funny, But Good Try.” Has our world become too politically correct that we can no longer tell our friends and family that something they wished to be actually wasn’t and it was actually dumb.

SLTM – “Silently Laughing To Myself.” This can be used when someone was something that is funny, but did not cause you to laugh out loud rather just chuckle a bit.

SWYA – “Stop While You’re Ahead.” Over the net people can easily beat a dead horse for house, one reason this is so easy is because as they are beating this dead horse, the replies we are send are “haha” and “lol” so the feedback that is being sent gives the author enthusiasm to keep on going.

This message has been approved by Tyrone

People Can't Get Enough of The Ugly Sweater Parties

We as an American society are beating the "Ugly Sweater Party" to death. This new fad must be used in moderation. This year I have been invited to three of these parties. It must be stopped. If you are going to throw a Christmas party and are thinking about the ole ugly sweater party or can't think of a theme; how about try Christmas! I believe a 5 year ban on these parties is in order; kind of like Prohibition but instead of beer, it's ugly sweater parties.


(Two typical dudes enjoying a typical ugly sweater party.)

Holiday Grub

Ain't no party like a Christmas party, cuz a Christmas party don't stop.

One of the most important parts to a Christmas party is FOOD! There are two types of people in this world those who bake Christmas food, and those of us who eat Christmas food non stop!

Some of my Favorite Christmas Treats:

Cinnamon Rolls - They are best right from the oven very soft.

Sugar Cookies

Fudge

Eggnog (Not food but tasty) - I like to spice up my Eggnog and put a little Sprite in it.

It's More Than a Game; It's World Domination

More Christmas Fun (Kinda)
When family and friends gather what better to do then take over the world. The game of Risk is a wonderful game to determine what kind of strategy you have and how big of jerkface you can be.

Well today I am going to teach you how to become a pro at the game of Risk, like I have become. But, I feel like those Magic guys who go on Magic revealed and explain how tricks are done. By explaining my Risk magic I realize that I will never be the same player as before, but for sake of the blog I will tell you. I am giving you pearls here. Risk is more different than any other board game, because with the game of Risk the skill of diplomacy is essential; which we will discuss first.

During your first turns move slowly. Only attack one or two countries; explain to your opponent I have to take over this country to get a card. By doing this you will not create any enemies at the beginning of the game. Also, each time you are attacked even if you don't care about the country, cry out "oh man Kamchatka!!! Why is everyone attacking me." This will make the nice players who actually play for fun (losers) not attack you. Today will we call these type of players "ponds." You will need these players to rise to power.

Two continents that are wonderful to take over early and attack from are Australia and South America. Using Australia's extra armies to take over North America is key, or the north migration from South America is key. You see, to win the game you must take over the world but, if you can take over North America that is 75% of the battle.

O.K. a big Strategy is to use "ponds" to create treaties. If you are able to do this you no longer have to fortify the war front with the "pond," O.K. this is so dirty but, it's world domination not Candyland. When the "pond" is vulnerable and has at least 3 cards in their hand it is time to break the treaty and take them out of the game. Late in the game Risk Cards are key! As you start to wipe them out, and they are in awe of this. Explain to them the story of "The Little Boy and the Rattlesnake," (My favorite line: "You knew what I was when you picked me up.") I always do, they don't seem to enjoy it as much as I do.

Risk cards are very key and the reason you take others out of the game. Try not to take things too personal. At times you may want to take out other experienced players because, unlike "ponds" they are able to see through your trickiness.

There are also other great strats like, posum in Eourpe, while others are battling it out in Peru you slowly take over Europe. The Chinese Great wall. Build a huge wall in Afganistan along that line, it can take enemies turns to get to you; At time Asia can be taken over easily, because Asia is a land with 2-3 armies per country; but remember your going to need a large army to hold it.

Good luck in your next Risk war!

Joys of Christmas

The word is Scrooge is defined as "A mean-spirited miserly person; a skinflint." These folks can be found without Christmas cheer, decor, and the like. They enjoy spending their Christmas break cleaning out email inboxes, ..... and smiling isn't in their vocabulary.

Because I am not a Scrooge, I consider myself more as Christmas greeter, it's kind of like a Wal*Mart greeter but, I don't wear a blue vest all day; not because it's not cool, it's just I don't have one. So today I am going to spread Christmas joy via Blogger.com.

I know many of us are having peoples over for the holiday season and thinking to yourself, "what am I going to do to entertain these people?" So I am going to give you fun things to do over the Holiday Break. (The next few days; so you might want to come back and check my blog again soon.)

Sledding! It is classic, every since the 1870's people have been cursing down snowy slopes out of control on foreign objects. There is nothing like the feeling of flying down a hill at rapid speeds feeling totally out of control. Your destiny is in the hands of your sled. You can also go out to go out to the country (roads with numbers and letters) and tie a sled to a rope and tie it to the back of a truck and drag people around. Get out there and grab a sled or tube and if the hills do not look safe then those are perfect sledding conditions.

Bowl of Chile Nope College Football Bowls

Football Bowl Season
One thing that get me through the cold wintery months is College Football Bowl Games. Today with the help of my trusty magic 8 ball I am going to make my predictions of the first week of bowl games. Gals, we do family pictures and help decorate trees so let us have our games.
Saturday, December 20

EAGLEBANK BOWL
Wake Forest vs. Navy: This match up reminds me of one of my favorite games as a child. I am sorry Navy but your battle ship has been sunken. I got Wake over Navy 28-14
NEW MEXICO BOWL
Colorado State vs. Fresno State: They WAC’EY WAC is solid. I Like the Fresno coach; gonna be close but I got Fresno 21 and Colorado St. (The Hacky Sack kids) 17.
MAGICJACK ST. PETERSBURG BOWL
Memphis vs. South Florida: South Florida is fast like lighting, gonna be running all over this kids. Memphis is a school full of chokers; don’t expect them to pull this one out. 24-21 SFU.
PIONEER LAS VEGAS BOWL
Brigham Young vs. Arizona: Pretty much a home game for both of these clubs. BYU travels very well to Vegas; this year they have played much better with the crowd behind them. If you take out USC out of the PAC-10 it is the worst conference west of Texas. I got no love for Arizona in this game; this gonna be a blow out. BYU 42-24.
Sunday, December 21
R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL
Southern Miss vs. Troy: Right now Southern miss is on a 4 game winning streak so there confidence is riding high. Troy is much like the Magical Wooden horse except they suck. They haven’t beaten a top 25 team this year just beating down on red headed step children. Southern Miss 34 Troy 17.
Tuesday, December 23
SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL
No. 9 Boise State vs. No. 11 TCU: This is the best non BCS bowl game of the year. Your gonna want to watch this one live. Trust me, it’s going to be a great game. Both really talented clubs, they are both explosive clubs. Gonna go down to the wire in the 4th quarter, my mind says TCU but my heart is going with Boise St. and because my heart makes all my decisions I have BSU winning 31-28. P.S. Watch for a few trick plays from BSU.
Wednesday, December 24
SHERATON HAWAII BOWL
Hawaii vs. Notre Dame: Who gives a care!!! The only reason ND got an invite is because Hawaii knows they travel well and they will make a lot of cash off the train wreak program. I also think ND was excited to go there because it never snows in Hawaii so now their own student section cannot hit them with snowballs. I love Hawaii but they are terrible, but so is ND. Don’t even watch this game I’ve seen better flag football games this eyesore of game. Do the family Christmas talent show and catch the highlights on Sportscenter.
Friday, December 26
MOTOR CITY BOWL
Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan: Ok both of these programs didn’t finish their season well. Central Mich. lost to their rivals the last game of the season and ole Florida Atlantic is rockin a 5-1 record as of late so this crazy train is going to keep on rollin and Florida Atlantic gonna win this one 30-21.

Next week we will look at the rest of the bowl games!

Holiday Movies

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the wonderful Holiday movies. Nothing gets me more in the mood for Christmas then a good Holiday movie and a cup of Eggnog. Here is a list of my Must see's every Christmas year. I am sad Paige won't be around to watch them with me.

#5 The Gift - A story about a farm boy who hated to do his chores. I could relate to this kid growing...well I guess I still can. Every morning he and his dad go out and feed the cows and take care of all the animals. But on Christmas morning he wakes up extra early and does all the work himself so his dad can enjoy Christmas morning with the kids. It's a classic LDS film right up there with Jonny Lingo. (Me and Golden have a lot jokes between the two of us about this dusey)

#4 How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Great laughs, Jim Carry is super funny. A movie about Dr. Seuss's Christmas poem, it's a wonderful story.

#3 Miracle on 34th Street - Some like the old school black and white movie. We watch the new one. It's just hard for me to watch black and white movies. This is a fam. fav. my mom is always voting for this one and also that Little Women movie. When they put that one in I have to leave the room. I have managed to not watch that movie for like 10 years and I am hoping to make it another 10 years and then times that by ten, which is like thousand or something like that.

#2 Christmas Vacation - Chevy Chase + The 1980's = magic! Great lines like "And why is the carpet all wet Todd? I don't know Margo!"

#1 Home Alone - I can still remember going to see this one when it came out in the theater. I laughed my head off then and I still laugh my head off now. It is soo funny when those bad guys try to break into his house! They fall into every trap little Kevin sets for them. Great movie for the whole family.

Finals are Finally Over!!!

The Christmas Break is finally here! I love teaching! It’s nice to have a break; now I have a few weeks to get mentally prepared for the holidays. I am building up my eggnog stamina and getting my singing voice in tune for caroling; saying “Unique New York” five times as fast as I can.
This last term I had the opportunity of teaching a College Survival Skills class (CSS). I had a fun time; I basically just told a few stories about me and Rob to the Bob, and threw a few quizzes at them. As I reflect on my time in there, I feel it was very beneficial for incoming freshmen to take a survival skills class. Now I know many of you are not fortune enough to take a CSS or a CSS from yours truly, so today I am going to give you five secrets to survive college. I know many of you are thinking…”college is too tough.” But kids, if I can get through it, the “Resource room kid,” then I know each one of you can.

Tip #1 – Be a “showeruper,” just like you can’t earn money if you don’t show up to work, it’s a lot harder to pass classes if you don’t show up. I know it’s a lot harder in college waking up in the morning, without your mom coming in each morning and singing, “Rise and Shout the cougars are out.” (Well, many of you are normal and had alarm clocks.) Many college teachers don’t take attendance, but that doesn’t mean you can skip. Show up every day! Especially days before tests and review sessions.

Tip #2 – Turn everything on time. The syllabus is the road map to the course outline important dates on “syllabus day” (aka first day of school.) Know when big assignments are due, and kids try out this concept; I know it’s new for a lot of you but, start on an assignment before the day it’s due.

Tip #3 – Find your own study zone. Get in the zone kids. For example, in college I knew if I went home I could never get any homework done; my yahoo roommates would talk me into going on field trips, dance parties, and blackout ball tag. Therefore I had to find a quiet area in the library, without my cell phone, or people to watch.

Tip # 4 – Get to know your teacher. I know from personal experience, teachers I knew on a personal basis would help me after class time on projects and work with me to improve my grade at the end of the term. If an emergency comes up email, or call them let know what’s going on. After like 18 years of school one thing that I learned is that grading is subjective. If a teacher likes you, or knows that you are considered about your grade (future). Teachers will be more willing to work with you than, if you just showed up the day grades are due and, said “hi my name is bob, can you help me out with my grade.”

Tip # 5 – Enjoy the journey. I have a hard time doing things I don’t enjoy; I guess that is why I have never been one for pulling weeds. As you go throughout your college experience join clubs, intramurals, and get out and meet people that are not from your home town (BYU-Idaho people). If you are only learning from your classes then you are missing out on 75% of your college experience. Much of the learning that takes place during your college years should take place outside of the classroom. I was able to attend five different colleges during my college years and I meet people from all over the world and I wouldn’t trade anything for the good times I spent with them.

Paul Brogan Coming to You Live From Tacoma

Another Internet Super Star!



Inside information: (In his recap of the Final Four He first talks about the Tacoma Titans basketball team. They just happen to be the team that beat Big Bend (My team.) for the NWAACC championship.)

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