Day: October 14, 2012

GODIVA, CHOCOLATE HEAVEN.

eternity1030Leave a comment

My favorite chocolate brand is Godiva. I call it the chocolate heaven.

The famous story of Lady Godiva is the inspiration behind the Godiva Chocolatier name. In the 11th century, Lady Godiva and her husband Lord Leofric lived in Coventry, England. Lord Leofric was a powerful ruler who was unsympathetic to the citizens of his kingdom. Lady Godiva, however, was a woman of great generosity who had dedicated her life to the impoverished and stricken.

When Lord Leofric imposed a heavy burden of taxation upon his subjects, Lady Godiva protested. In response, Lord Leofric set forth this challenge: If his wife rode naked through the streets, the taxation would be lifted. Lady Godiva was a modest woman, but she immediately agreed to this challenge to help her fellow townspeople.

Centuries later in 1926, Godiva founder and master chocolatier Joseph Draps created a new line of Belgian chocolates with extraordinary richness, premium quality, and iconic style. He sought a name for his company that embodied timeless values balanced with modern boldness – much like our lady of legend. The choice became clear to Draps: He named his company GODIVA.

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Elements

displacedlocal2 Comments

Pressure and time.

Pressure and time create beautiful diamonds from lumps of coal.
Elements are created from the reactions within stars.
Hydrogen becomes helium through chaotic explosions that leave heat and fire in their path.
The heavier elements get compressed more and more into the center of the giant ball of gases to the point where they want to break out and explode across the universe sending bits and pieces flying. All of the elements come from this process even the very carbon in our bodies.

People are a lot like elements. We collide in different ways. We create changes in the people we meet. There is sometimes friction and violence. People go to war over land, honor, and the god they believe in. They gravitate towards each other like the heavier elements do. They explore out over the world and the universe. Time and pressure push us together. We collide like celestial bodies in space or world superpowers on the brink of war. We are like the carbon that makes us up. We like to think that the rules that govern the rest of the universe don’t apply to us. But we are no more special to the universe than the stars that crated us.

Back to Reality

moustachulousLeave a comment

Camping with third graders can be quite the experience. I went with a small group of seven third graders for three days and two nights. Wednesday morning, I woke up earlier than I usually do to get ready to get camping. I was at the Floyd’s house helping Mrs. Floyd pack up food for her camping trip. Mrs. Floyd, Connor, Taylor, and myself all drove down to Lower Campus to meet our classes. I show up to the Third Grade class ready to go and I see some familiar faces. I see Alex, daughter of Mr. Alvarez, Hayden, who was my reading buddy in 7th grade, and Ryan, a kid who went to OVS Summer Camp this past summer.  It was quite funny to see some of their reactions when they figured out that I was going camping with them. The two girls in the class ran up and hugged me, while all the boys stood there with an expression of disappointment on their faces. We load up the truck with camping supplies and pile into the bus for the hour and a half drive to El Refugio State Beach.

We arrive at our campsite for the next three days with excitement. Personally, I think I was more excited than the kids were. Basically the first day we just set up our tents and then hung out at the beach all day. We had burgers for dinner and sat around the campfire doing improv. I sat in my tent reading while all the kids were playing in their tents before bed.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a freight train. I wasn’t very happy about that. We had eggs and sausage for breakfast. We packed up for the day to hang out with the fourth graders at another beach. It was really fun. All the kids got to hang out with their friends from fourth grade. I also got to hang out with my friend Connor all day Thursday.  After the beach, we had quesadillas for dinner and s’mores around the campfire. We had an early night that night. I was so tired I don’t even remember getting into my sleeping bag.

The next morning we ate breakfast and packed up- tents and all. Then we had a last walk down the beach before lunch. We got back to camp, had hot dogs for lunch and put all of our stuff back in the truck to go home.

The drive back seem so long. It was actually shorter than the one on the way there. I didn’t want to go back to school because I didn’t really want to do homework, but I did do some while I was camping. Anyways, we get back on campus and unpack and all of that. I’m waiting for Mrs. Floyd with Connor and Taylor. Taylor and Connor were exhausted and then there was me just like “Oh hey I’m perfectly fine, I actually want to go back.” All they said was “Jenna, you had seven kids.” Anyways, we drove back up the hill and I was glad to be able to see my roommate and my friends again. Everyone was still in sports when I got to the dorms, so I just relaxed, took a shower and did some homework. I walked downstairs to get some water and I find Nicole, my lovely and sweaty roommate who just came back from volleyball practice. She attacked me and gave me a big hug. At that point, it reminded me why I go to OVS- for the people I love and the people that love me. We are all one big family here and it is not the same when one person is gone.

(Sorry that this is like a week after camping, but better late than never.)

Papa Adventures

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

Let me start off by saying that I love my dad. He and I have always been very close, but especially so after the divorce of my parents four years ago. He is there for me to talk to whenever, and about whatever.

I can tell him about my friends, school, boyfriends. And no matter what he will listen and help me work through my problems.

As a kid we would go on “Papa Adventures”. In fact, we still do. During a Papa adventure, my two little brothers and I are rounded up and told to get into my dad’s dark blue Toyota Tacoma stick shift (the car I would very much like to inherit someday), and buckle our seat belts.

We never have any idea where we or going or what we are doing. But believe me, we sure do try to get it out of him.

Sometimes we drive for ten minutes, other times for four hours. But somehow we’d always find a way to play our song, “Live Like You were Dying“, by Tim Mcgraw. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we would be able to take turns sitting on his lap and steering while on an empty dirt road.

We used to roll around in the backseat laughing our heads off as one of us sat on my dad’s lap and purposely steer the truck off the road, causing my dad to freak out, and then laugh along with us once we were back on track.

My favorite Papa adventure was a long drive up a very rocky road, which we all of course found very fun, especially while unbuckled and playing jello. After hours of driving, and about a mile of hiking, we would end up at this beautiful lake nestled in the middle of a crater.

Petroleum Lake, Aspen CO

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Worst Person #25-Colts Rush Defense

backinphillyLeave a comment

Ok, I can understand a defense having a bad day here and there against some top notch players. We saw the Eagles today with a few bumps here and there and the 49ers had some trouble containing the high-powered New York Giants. However, both of those offenses have elite, premier players.

Enter the New York Jets.

The only player on their starting roster right now worthy of any recognition is wide out Santonio Holmes, and he’s out for the season with injury. Despite this fact, the Jets were able to EXPLODE with a vicious rushing game today against the Indianapolis Colts, who just last week, were able to keep the Green Bay Packers in check.

The Packers are loaded with star power. The Jets? Not so much.

Enter Shonn Greene.

The running back burst out today with a 32 carry, 160 yard, 3 touchdown performance.

WOW!!!

I gotta point out that Greene, while not a terrible running back, is not a top 10 or even 20 back in this league. On a good day, he has potential to explode with talent. But most days, like when Rex Ryan and the Jets decide “Hey we drafted Mark Sanchez really high! Maybe he should throw the ball more,” Greene doesn’t get a chance to do much.

Sanchez ended the day with 89 yards passing on 18 attempts. Yes, that’s bad but not as bad as how easily the Colts defense was taken advantage of while the Jets ran the ball. It wasn’t even close.

Greene isn’t really a finesse player, but I guess the dude can play ball.

I also want to reiterate how relatively unknown Shonn Greene really is. I went on to google images to find this picture, and i had to go down a little bit before I found a picture that wasn’t either him in Jets training camp or in college. His pro career is very quiet. Maybe this will kick start him a little bit.