Lyssa Nicole's Blog

Top 10 things I am thankful for:

1. I am thankful first of all that everyone in my family is able to celebrate Thanksgiving together this year. Earlier this year both of my grandpas were going through cancer treatment, and my family wasn’t sure if they would be able to celebrate the holidays with us again. I am so thankful that my family, especially my grandparents, are around to celebrate with us!

2. After a very wet October, I am thankful for the weather finally being nice enough for my dad to harvest. He usually isn’t combining corn in the middle of November, but God had other plans for this year I guess! Hopefully the sun continues to shine, so he can finish everything in the field.

3. I am thankful that all of my college plans finally seem to be coming together. A few months ago everything seemed hopeless, but recently all the pieces are starting to fall into place.

4. I’m listening to Christmas music right now, so I’m thankful for Christmas music!

5. I’m thankful for all the success Western’s fall sports had. Great job football guys! Compared to when we were freshmen four year ago, you guys have turned around this program. Going to state football was a pretty cool way to start this senior year. Even though I wasn’t at cross country state, good job Tim & Mariah! And my dear volleyball girls, you guys didn’t bring home the big championship this year (stinkin’ Sheldon!), but it was still definitely a year to remember!

6. Speaking of sports, I’m thankful for Joe Mauer being named the AL MVP today! He beat out not one, but TWO Yankess for the award. Haha eat that Yanks!

7. I am so thankful for all of my friends–even if some of them are big college kids now or they live 12 hours away. I would never trade them for the world! Love you guys!

8. After reading a book by Karen Kingsbury, I have a renewed appreciation for all of the United States’ armed forces. Whether they are serving now overseas, on American soil, veterans, or have sacrificed their lives, I am thankful for all those that fight for my freedom and their families that will be missing them over Thanksgiving.

9. I am thankful that my car accident this summer was very minor. After replaying that morning over and over in my head I realize that things could have played out much differently. The river, the bridge, the electric poles…the angel that kept my brother and me safe. Not a scratch on either one of us (or my car

10. I only have one left!  Above all, I am thankful for the gift of Jesus Christ and everything He has blessed me with over this past year.

I ran across an article on FOX Sports about Sammy Sosa’s lighter skin tone. The pictures on the article were sCaRy! This former baseball star looks sick as a dog! His eyes and his whole face look kind of creepy. Sources claim he is going through a skin rejuvenation process, but I don’t know if I’m buying it.

Tonight we play our first State football game EVER! It’s kind of a big deal. The game is sort of a long ways away–3 hours–so we are going to get out of school at 2:00! The team we play is ranked higher than us in the state in most polls, but we play in a really tough district. The other team, Eagle Grove, is 8-1 and we are 8-1 also! I think it’s going to be an amazing game! Good luck guys!

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/sports/football/high-school-and-prep/collection_94db17e0-b47b-11de-8ebb-001cc4c002e0.html?photo=4

So I guess a digital footprint is my information on the Internet. I do have Facebook, MSN, e-mail, and this blog, but that’s about it. On Facebook I don’t have hardly any information on my profile. Plus, I only add people I actually know; so i’m not too worried. This blog doesn’t make me too nervous either because I think everything we are writing on here for class is fine. I googled my name–that was weird–and the only things that came up was my church’s website since I was in nursery & my school’s website. Then I googled my address and my dad’s name came up along with my family’s puppy advertisement. I guess my digital footprint would tell my name, age, e-mail, a little bit about my family and friends, and my hobbies.

When I register on certain websites, like stores and sports updates, I usually don’t give out my exact name if it’s not required. Most of the time I just have my mom buy stuff off the Internet, so I don’t have to worry about my debit card. I think if the website is legit, there’s no need to get all paranoid. I don’t really have a problem using a real picture because my pictures are just like my friends and me, senior pictures, yeah something like that. Pretty much, if you use common sense, I don’t think anything tragic will happen.

After learning about commonly mistaken words in my College Comp class, I have to write a post using as many of the words as possible in a story. For example when do you use fewer or less, lie or lay, affect or effect. This story is kind of true i guess, but most of it is very exaggerated!

Once upon a time, Jocelyn, Shantelle, and I went out for supper to celebrate Shantelle’s birthday. It was a chilly night in January, and we could see our breath outside.  The sun had begin its descent in the western sky.The weather didn’t affect our mood at all! ”Who’s going to drive?” Shantelle asked. “Well,” I said “whose turn is it?” Jocelyn volunteered to drive because she said “I think it’s my turn.” We all dressed up, We definitely did not wear our everyday clothes, since we don’t go to Texas Roadhouse every day.  On the trip to the restaurant, we talked and laughed so much we could hardly breathe. Jocelyn asked ” Where is this the right exit?” Shantelle told her we had to go a bit farther down the road.  The restaurant is more of a western effect than a desert theme, but who cares. While waiting we ate peanuts and threw them on the ground. Our waiter set a basket of hot buns on the table after hed led us to a place to sit; we were already full when we ordered. We sat among many other people; I’m sure there was no fewer than 200 people there.  After we were through eating our meal, we were hoping to get a free piece of cake. Instead, we got free ice cream for dessert and whipped cream too.  Jocelyn and I said “Shantelle, you’re lucky the workers don’t make you sit on a horse and sing to you since it’s your birthday.” While eating, we talked about about everything going on lately. We discussed Obama’s new principles on world peace, the latested news about our principal, the loose tiger at the zoo, and how much further the Patriots would go than the Vikings in the playoffs. Shantelle didn’t want to talk about her latest date, but Joce and I managed to elicit a few details. Although we were very thorough in our coversations, we didn’t talk about anything illicit since we are decent people. Jocelyn then told the waiter, “We’re all ready ready to go. Can you get the bill for us?” The two of us decided to split the cost between us and pay for Shantelle since it was her birthday. That didn’t bother Shantelle’s conscience one bit. I asked the waiter, “Do you accept debit cards?” He said they take all debit cards except Discover. We didn’t know what to do with the tip, but we decided to just lay it on the table. I asked, “Won’t anyone steal the tip?” Shantelle and Joce reassured me it would lie there until the waiter picked it up.When he came back, Shantelle was going to lead us out the door, but Joce stopped me. I wasn’t concious of the fact that my debit card had been set on the table. “You don’t want to lose that,” said Joce. Losing a few dollars is far less important than losing my debit card! On the way home, we all decided we love Texas Roadhouse. Their food is amazing! It was a great night with Shantelle and Joce! They’re such good friends!

Have you ever tried cappuccino? Oh, it’s so good! You should definitely check  it out! I personally think it’s even better than hot chocolate. Since the weather is getting a little chilly in Northwest Iowa, it’s cappuccino season again! My dear friends Jocelyn and Shantelle and I drink cappuccino all the time…especially during football season! After our football game tonight I’m sure we will stop by the gas station and pick up some french vanilla cappuccino. I think there’s other flavors too, like  white caramel. Sometimes I think drinking cappuccino makes us feel mature like rich people that drive through Starbucks everyday before they go to their exquisite job. Another plus, it keeps you awake! Since Shantelle and I might go to Midnight Madness tonight, we can’t get sleepy! Try some cappuccino sometime; it’s amazing!

http://lilbookworm.blogspot.com/2008/11/burn-your-calories-while-doing.html

My College Composition class was asked to read and respond to an article from The Seattle Times called “Educators blame Internet for rise in student cheating.” The article is about high school students and college students having easy access to cheating thanks to the Internet; the most prominent way to cheat was found to be plagiarism.

I think that at some point in life, we all misuse the Internet. This doesn’t mean that the Internet is the most terrible thing ever invented and needs to be banned from school-not at all! I think that if the Internet is used the correct way, it’s awesome! Some schools in the article use a program that detects plagiarism and cheating. How does this work? Well I guess the students turn in their papers online, and the program highlights the copied information in the paper. This service is probably convenient for teachers, but it’s not free. I think if a school uses this method of stopping cheating, they are desperate. No matter how much schools try to stop cheating, some students will always get away with it. The disciplinary actions that some schools in the article take are very similar to my school. At the beginning of the school year, both parents and students must sign a form that states they agree to the school’s rules and handbook. If we still plagiarize after that, we receive a “zero” for the assignment.

Overall, I think that cheating a plagiarism comes down to what my senior class recently discussed in Bible 12. Cheating and plagiarism reveal a person’s work ethic; a person’s work ethic reveals the type of person they really are. My class concluded that a positive work ethic brings glory to God, and we have an opportunity to display that at work, in the classroom, and in whatever we do.

http://ycjusd.yhs.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=42187&sessionid=ba8df9cca31097fe75690aadd18eccba

I have a little brother named Tyler, and needless to say, I have always had a soft spot for him. Tyler is in 2nd grade this year, and right now he is working on some type of animal report. Lately, he spends all his time searching Google Images for pictures of crazy looking animals.

The other night, Ty came running up to me with a picture he had printed off. “Check this out Lyss! This fish is sweet! It has this awesome saw thing on it’s mouth, and it could pretty much chop your leg right off.” He was excited to say the least and then took off across the house to sit back down at the computer.

So I decided to check out this “sweet fish” for myself…

This little story maybe lasted 30 seconds at the most, but Tyler melted my heart. School has never come as easy for him as it did for me, and to see him so excited made me stop and think a little bit. I think sometimes I overlook simple things like this, and maybe God’s awesome creation and the enthusiasm He instilled in Ty is what it’s going to take to make me realize what I am really living for.

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/animalguide/oceanvoyager/sawfish.aspx 

http://www.arielbravy.com/photoblog/images/20060105225135_sawfish.jpg

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/photos?photoId=2350038&gameId=291006109

Wow! What a game!
The Minnesota Twins are heading to NEW YORK CITY! And the Tigers, well, they’re going home.

The Twins won the AL Central Division Title tonight in the most exciting 12 innings of my life! It was seriously an awesome game! Drama…drama…drama. Both teams had many many chances to win, but the Twins were the first to capitalize. The game was full of great defense, not so great defense, questionable calls, big home runs, big chokes…and much more! If you didn’t see it, (you missed out on a great game by the way) you can check out the highlights at ESPN.com or the Official Site of the Minnesota Twins.

Although I think the Tigers completely blew everything they ever had, I will credit them for making this such an exciting game! I’m pretty proud of the Twins right now–bring on the Yankees!