10-29-14 Class

More Project Work

Today in class, we did some more work on the assignment. Karson and I are mostly done so we had some time to joke around and get other stuff we needed to get done, done. I played some games and listened to music while Karson listened to Justin Bieber and somehow we got in to a conversation about Luke Ensor. I told her I thought Luke looked like James Franco and she agreed. Someone then put on Justin Bieber and I started singing because I totally sound just like him. Some people even think I am him. Mr.Schick then told me to turn off the music when it wasn't even me! Class then ended.

10-28-14 Class

Slides

Today in class, Mr.Schick told us about our new assignment. He assigned partners and gave us each a random number we picked from a hat. I got a chill partner and she picked number 1 so we got to choose a country first. We chose Russia. I then went over to my partner Karson, and we began working. To be honest, I didn't really even know who she was before she became my partner but I found out shes chill when she picked the first number. We then slaved away and got the majority of the slides done. She did the first, I did the second, she did the third, and so on, simultaneously. It was a lot easier than it looked.

10-23-14 Class

More Facts

Today, class started out slow. Like usual, John was late, but it didn't matter. Mr.Schick teased John a little bit about it and then sat at his desk. He just sat there doing something or another for 10 minutes while I listened to music and read some sports stuff. I then said something about us not needing to do work because we are the advanced class just joking around. Mr.Schick messed around a bit saying we still do need to do work and what-not. We then went to talking about facts. I don't remember clearly if it was today, or yesterday, but someone said Francois Hollande was left in France while on a school trip. I could not stop laughing and made a couple jokes about it, before Mr.Schick told us it wasn't a credible source. Mr.Schick wore this awesome guitar shirt and was cool as usual. Then the bell rang.

10-22-14 Class

Discipline

Today in class we went over some interesting facts about the leaders of the twelve countries we had to do. Many people did not do their assignment and were not able to participate, but I had a bunch of facts. Mr.Schick became upset that only a few people in class really ever participate and tried calling on new people, but only 2 new people raised their hands. After calling on them, somehow me and Mr.Schick got into a debate on whether its right to discipline your kids physically (i.e. slapping, spanking, belt, etc.). My father was a very cool guy, but when I did something I knew I wasn't supposed to do, I got a certain physical punishment, the severity of the spanking/slapping dependent upon what I did. I told Mr.Schick that I believed it was only right to discipline your child like that, because you know for sure they won't do it again. He argued that there are statistics showing that kids who are physically disciplined, are more likely to physically discipline their child, only worse. I did not believe this statistic, but Mr.Schick is a wise guy so I trusted him. He then pointed out to me how large I am. Being 6'0, 238 lbs, at 14, and having a dad who was 6'3 and grandfather who is 6'5, shows I am bound to be a large man, possibly 6'6 my doctor said. Mr.Schick exclaimed that I could possibly injure my child unintentionally due to my size and my child's size. No doubt in my mind my son will be very large like me, he won't be for a long time and I could seriously injure him. I then semi-accepted defeat, and we wrapped up class.

10-21-14 Class

Interesting Facts

Enrique Pena Nieto - His first wife, Monica Pretelini, died of an epileptic seizure in 2007.

Xi Jinping -  He actually worked as an agricultural laborer from 1969-1975.

Pranab Mukherjee - Was formerly known for smoking his trademark Dunhill pipe.

Vladimir Putin - Has a black belt in judo. Is hardcore.

Joachim Gauck - His father was an accomplished sailor who was taken away to Siberia by Soviet troops and was never seen again.

Queen Elizabeth II - Personal fortune estimated to be $11.7 billion dollars.
David Cameron - Is a descendant of King William IV.
Francois Hollande - Served in the French military.
Dilma Rousseff - Was diagnosed with Stage 1 lymphoma in April of 2009.
Bashar al-Assad - Was born on September 11, 1965.
Stephen Harper - Went to University of Calgary.
Akihito - Has been married to the same woman since 1959.
Reuven Rivlin - Rivlin has pledged to Arab citizens of “green line” Israel that they won’t be forced to become part of a Palestinian state
 

Mexico
Federal Presidential Constitution Republic
President
Enrique Peña Nieto

China
Single-Party Socialist State
President
Xi Jinping

 India
Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Republic
President
Pranab Mukherjee

Russia
Federal Semi-Presidential Constitutional Republic
President
Vladimir Putin

Germany
Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Republic
President
Joachim Gauck

United Kingdom
Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy
Monarch & Prime Ministe
Elizabeth II & David Cameron

France
Unitary Semi-Presidential Constitutional Republic
President & Prime Minister
Francois Hollande & Manuel Valls

Brazil
Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic
President
Dilma Rousseff

Syria
Unitary Single-Party Semi-Presidential Republic
President
Bashar al-Assad

Canada
Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy
Monarch & Prime Minister
Elizabeth II & Stephen Harper

Japan
Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy
Emperor & Prime Minister
Akihito & Shinzo Abe

Israel
Unitary Parliamentary Republic
President
Reuven Rivlin

10-14-14 Class

Test

Today in class we did pretty much nothing. We got in to class and Mr.Schick told us we could work on some stuff while some people who were on retreat did the test. Mr.Schick said no earbuds though which I was a little disappointed about but I wouldn't want some kid next to mes music in my ear during a test. Some girl came in and told Mr.Schick about college and how The John Carroll School really prepares you for high school. After talking for a little while to Mr.Schick the girl left. I then finished some work and the bell rang.

10-9-14 Class

Too Much to Memorize

Today in class, we went over more terms and stuff for the test. I'll be honest, I wasn't completely paying attention, I was again, distracted by my wandering brain. I have all the terms down pat, so I figure, if I let my brain go wild for a class or two, it won't hurt me. I did come back from cloud 9 just in time to hear Mr.Schick tell us about the population pyramids matching part. My jaw dropped. I thought Mr.Schick wanted us to memorize every single countries population pyramid and have the answer to each. Thankfully, he explained that it would only be some of the more obvious countries such as Africa and Russia and whatnot. We then finished up and chilled out.

10-8-14 Class

The Greatest.

Today in class we went over terms we needed to go over and Mr.Schick told us to figure out that CIA Factbook to a T so we can navigate it well. In the class prior to Human Geo, I had gotten in to some trouble and was in a bad mood, until Mr.Schick came in. He came in, rocking a du-rag. I thought it was hilarious and it put a huge smile on my face. It showed me that he really does care about us and listens to what we say. The fact that he remembered us talking about him on a motorcycle shows just how much he really pays attention to us, which adds to the list of reasons why Mr.Schick is the best teacher I've ever had and probably the best teacher any of us will ever have. After having my mood go from mad, to happy, we got into some terms. We first talked about life expectancy and I was in a panic. I thought I had lost my terms in my computer, but turns out I had just written them down in my notebook. After I realized I was good to go with the terms, I kind of zoned out. When we got done talking about the terms, Mr.Schick fore-warned us to get familiar with the CIA Factbook. Thanks to my tech-savvy self, I checked that off my list of things to do and again zoned out.

10-7-14 Class

The USA Still is Horrible

Today in class we had a short discussion about Friday. Mr.Schick brought up the "accusation" that some of our minds were changed just because of that video with a couple little facts. That accusation did not pertain to me though. You could have asked me in the beginning of the year, and I would have said the same thing. Heck, you could have asked me when I was 8 and I would have still said "No". My father was very big on politics and when I was around him, he would often try to teach me about the government and politics. My dad had a very strong view on certain subjects, and one of them was whether or not the USA is the best country in the world. Since I was young, I've heard "No, but it was." and of course, since my dad was saying it, I believed him because parents are "all-knowing" when you are a child. Now that I am old enough to understand what's going on in the world and I can form my own opinion, here is my un-biased opinion. No, the USA is not the best country in the world. I can't elaborate on whether it used to be based on my own experience, but I'm gonna go with my dad on this one and agree that it probably was the greatest at one point. To close out this drawn-out blog I'm sure nobody will actually take the time to read, I will leave you with a fact that I believe shows just how bad America really is.

Crude oil - production:
11.11 million bbl/day (2012 est.) country comparison to the world: 2
Crude oil - exports:
41,640 bbl/day (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 47
Crude oil - imports:
9.213 million bbl/day (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 1

10-3-14 Class

Heated

Friday in class Mr.Schick had us watch a video. This video was the beginning of the very first episode of a new TV show which featured an anchorman answering questions. The anchorman continually avoids direct answers to questions, until they ask him to give a direct answer to the question "Why is America the greatest country on Earth?". He initially gives a very evasive answer but after he is pressed about it, he loses it. He goes on a rant about how we used to be the best country. I sympathized with this man, and when Mr.Schick gave us the chance to voice our opinion, I didn't hold back. I went on a little rant about how America is no longer an intimidating country. America used to put its foot down and laid down lines. If you crossed that line, boy were you in trouble. Now, we lay down a line, and if you cross it, WE are in trouble. WE are in trouble because if you test us, and you cross that line, we do nothing. America is far from the greatest country.

10-2-14 Class

Spotify is More Interesting

Today in class, Mr.Schick gave us 3 months of premium spotify! I thought this was great because I use spotify all the time and it makes me angry having to listen to those stupid commercials. The code I got was pretty interesting and Mr.Schick thought so too. I then listened to music on my new premium spotify while the whole class browsed through the CIA factbook. Someone brought to our attention the country of Qatar. Qatar had virtually NO women and a lot of men. After some incorrect guesses as to why it was like this, I swooped in and saved the day. I proposed the fact that it could be due to dangerous jobs there and Mr.Schick confirmed I was right (as always). He said due to the fact that oil is such a big money making industry, albeit dangerous, many men moved to Qatar in search of the black gold. He also explained to us that women aren't exactly treated great over there either so no women really want to live there.

10-1-14 Class

The Day a Legend was Absent

Today, I am not sure what we talked about because I was at Freshman Retreat.