November 11, 2010: Call of Duty Black Ops, Kid Cudi, and Kanye West

This past Tuesday was a great day for the entertainment industry. The newest installment of the Call of Duty franchise was released, Kid Cudi's new album Man on the moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, and Kanye West's new cd My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was leaked. Although the leak of Kanye's newest cd might be "bad" for him, it is great to hear that through his particular struggle over the past year or so, he is still on top. Kid Cudi's album is great. It is a lot darker than his previous album, but definitely full of hits. Black ops can most closely be described as Halo Reach and Modern Warfare 2 morphed together into one game. The multiplayer is great as always and has a new twist. Now, you don't only unlock weapons by leveling up, but also buy paying virtual money for them. November 11, 2010 was definitely a great day for the entertainment industry.

139 Days

In 139 days, the Major League Baseball season will begin again. With many high profile free agents still on the market, this offseason is bound to be full of action. Cliff Lee, Jayson Werth, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carl Crawford are among the best of the before mentioned free agents. The Red Sox, as always, will be among the top of the most active teams this post season. Hopefully, the sox can bring some players into "Red Sox Nation" that will play key rolls in attempting to get the Red Sox back to world series dominance.

Ben Folds Live at Clowes Memorial Hall

This past weekend, I attended a concert at Clowes Memorial Hall. I am not sure if any of you have been there, but it is the ideal place for a concert. The acoustics of the building are absolutely amazing especially when you are seeing a person such as the one I saw. It was just "a man and his piano" but as always Ben Folds was sure to be great. Although it may be illegal, I did manage to tape the entire concert from my phone as you can see in the attatced video. I am working on uploading all the videos to youtube. So, if you want to see more feel free to check them out.

Group Research

This week in English we started a mini research paper. Part of this assignment is group work, but the paper itself will be an individual assignment. I am glad that the paper is individual because although it was fairly easy to decide on the topic of instant replay in baseball, I think that I will have differing view than that of my group members. I am very glad that we were able to pick groups for this assignment. This allowed settling on a topic to be a much easier process.

Doc Halladay: Best Pitcher of the Decade

Tonight in the first game of the NL playoffs for the Reds and Phillies, Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter. It was Halladay's first ever playoff appearance, and he sure made it count. The only thing that kept Halladay from a perfect games was the one walk that he allowed in the fifth inning with two outs. He is only the second pitcher to pitch a no-hitter in the postseason. Halladay is also the fifth pitcher to throw two no-hitters in the same season. His first one was earlier this season against the Marlins. One of the most amazing part of this no hitter by Roy Halladay is that he was the first pitcher this season to hold the Reds to under three hits. Roy Halladay's truly amazing performance tonight solidifies his place as the best pitcher of the past decade.

Jon Lester. LiveStrong

Smile, like you have nothing to prove.

Today marks the first day of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Cancer is something that has touched everyone's life in some way or another. I recently found out that one of the most influential people in my life has been diagnosed with breast cancer. My second grade teacher, Ms. Heuchan has touched my life in such a profound way. She always has a smile on her face as well as in her heart. When you walk into her memory-filled Creekside Elementary School classroom you would be overpowered by the smiley faces that decorate every inch of the room. The decoration of her classroom is a perfect reflection of her personality. So as you get through this week, this month, smile. A smile can impact the lives of everybody around you. A little smile can go a long way. And, when you are smiling, always smile like you have nothing to prove.

The Replay

This weekend will be another one spent at "the replay". I work at Disc Replay, a store that buys, sells, and trades DVDs, CDs, and video games. But, Disc Replay is much more than a job to me. Some of my best friendships have come out of Disc Replay. I have had quite a few adventures at "the replay". These adventures include numerous rides in cop cars, as well as others. I have been a member at Disc Replay for about two years, and I have loved every second of it. In high school, there were so many times that I heard friends and acquaintances complaining about their jobs flipping burgers or folding clothes. I never had to deal with any of these experiences. I was stocking video game shelves, or even playing the games. There are many things that Disc Replay has taught me about work as well as life. The main one is that you can never guess what is coming next. And, whatever it is that is coming, it is nice to have your friends there with you. I hope that I can always have a job as much as I enjoy "the replay".

This isn't goodbye, this is see you April 7th.

I recently attended the Indianapolis Indians final home game of the 2010 season. Although they didn't make it to the International League playoffs, I couldn't be more proud of the effort that they put into the game each and every night. I am going to miss going downtown and sitting in section 208 of Victory Field. The smell of Hot Dogs and the roar of the fans is something that has become a part of me throughout the years. Even though the 2010 season has ended for the Indians, I am not going to say goodbye. Instead, the countdown has begun. You can put money on the fact that come April 7th, I will be there watching and cheering for the Indians. It will be weird opening day, as it always is, to see new faces and not see the faces that you became familiar with the previous season. Players such as Jean Machi and Brandon Moss will not be there next season. But not to worry, they will be on the biggest stage of baseball in Pittsburgh Pirate's uniforms, and I am sure that I will see them on SportsCenter. This season was great, and I know that with the Indians, I couldn't expect less.