Special Teams

     I realized I didn’t rank the Iowa special teams in my previous blogs.  I apologize to the special teams, I just forgot about you.  Anyway here is my rant on Iowa special teams.  For the most part I thought they were really good this year.
     The kicking game was for the most part solid all the way around for Iowa in 2012. Mike Meyer was named a Lou Groza semifinalist after making 14 of his first 15 attempts, though he finished just 3-of-6.  The last six kicks weren’t representative of the season.  They were long attempts and the kicking conditions were bad.  I give a lot of credit to Mike Meyer.  He prevented Iowa from going 2-10.  Had he not made the fifty yard kick at Soldier Field, Iowa would have lost to Northern Illinois.  Had he not gone 4-4 against Michigan State, including 2 overtime kicks, Iowa would have lost.  Tip of the hat to Mike Meyer.
     The Hawkeyes were among the best in the Big Ten in punt and kick coverage.  This was just good technique and no missed assignments.  I am proud of them.  Unfortunately, the opponents we able to march the ball 80+ yards consistently.
     Iowa was third in kickoff returns thanks to some nice work by Jordan Cotton.  This late bloomer really provided magic to a dead second half season.  I hope he comes back stronger and faster than ever.  We need a play maker.
     Punting was lacking as Iowa finished just 10th in the league in punt average.  This is a misleading figure.  Often times, Iowa punted at the 50 yard line.  They had three punts downed at the half yard line.  I think they did fine.
     Punt returns sucked.  There was no explosiveness.  We might as well have just called for a fair catch every time.  There was no blocking, and Micah Hyde was not the right person to return punts.  Poor job.
     Overall I give the Hawks an A-.  There were excellent aspects to special teams this year but some areas lacked.  Next year looks bright for the Hawkeye’s special teams, as many of them are young.
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Immunity

     There are a lot of ways to ruin your immune system.  Some people never get sick.  Some people get sick all the time.  Although genetics has a big role in immunity, there are a lot of environmental factors that contribute to your immunity.  Here are some tips and tricks to grow your immunity.
Hang out with friends! Friendship may be Miracle-Grow for your immune system.  Research shows that the fewer human connections we have at home, at work, and in the community, the likelier we are to get sick, flood our brains with anxiety-causing chemicals, and live shorter lives than our more sociable peers.  In one study, researchers who monitored 276 people between the ages of 18 and 55 found that those who had 6 or more connections were four times better at fighting off the viruses that cause colds than those with fewer friends.
     Don’t be stressed!  The stress effect on immunity makes physiological sense.  It takes energy to fight infections and maintain fevers.  When diseased, our bodies reduce muscular energy output by sleeping.  Stress creates an energy battle because it requires energy to be stressed.  Stress triggers an aroused flight or fight response, diverting energy from the sickness.  This prevents your body from fighting sickness off while you are sick and before you’re sick.  A recent study correlated the more stressed you are, the more likely you are to get an illness.
     Sleep! Most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of uninterrupted rest every night, but how you feel in the morning and throughout the day may be a better gauge. If you're tired when you wake up in the morning, you're not getting enough—sleep, or maybe not enough quality sleep.  Here is a perfect example for not sleeping: college students who get sick after pulling all-nighters cramming for exams. Poor sleep is associated with lower immune system function and reduced numbers of killer cells that fight germs. In fact, University of Chicago researchers found that men who had slept only four hours a night for one week produced half the amount of flu-fighting antibodies in their blood (jump-started by a flu shot) compared with those who slept 7½ to 8½ hours.
     Don’t take antibiotics for everything. Researchers found that certain patients taking antibiotics had reduced levels of cytokines, the hormone messengers of the immune system. When your immune system is suppressed, you're more likely to develop resistant bacteria or become sick in the future.  Take antibiotics only for bacterial infections, use them right away, and take the entire course. Don't use antibiotics preventively unless prescribed by your doctor, and don't save or share unfinished courses.
These changes in lifestyle can make the world of difference for your immune system.  Socially interacting, sleep, less stress, and appropriate medicine habits can make a dramatic difference on how many times you get sick a year.  My dad taught me these skills when I was ten.  I used to get sick four times a year average.  Now, I barely get sick yearly.  I hope these tips help you as much as they helped me.
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Social Facilitation

       Senior Night.  The is excitement in the air.  The seniors swim at Kennedy for the last time in their lives.  I stand watching them, with nothing but respect for their hard work.  It takes commitment to swim in high school.  All of the early mornings and late nights are about to pay off.  Seniors hop in the pool for their first event and record a lifetime best.  It happens every year. 

       As a junior, and last year as a sophomore, I took that same approach.  I acted as if I would never swim at Kennedy again.  I was energetic and loud, cheering my teammates on.  I recorded three lifetime best swims.  My sophomore year, I recorded two lifetime best swims.  It really helped me get into the swim meet. 

       There is something about never getting another chance and the roar of the crowd that helps people do their best.  It’s called social facilitation.  It is defined as improving ones performance based on the actions and presence of others.  Performers have a hard time doing their best when nobody is watching.  Take show choir for instance.  You can sit in on a practice, and nobody will do facials.  The dance moves might look sloppy and the singing is flat.  As soon as a group of people comes in, the faces go on, moves become crisp, and singing is full of energy.  It is the motivation to do well. 

       How can you trick your brain into performing well without an active audience?  I did a lot of research on this and came up with two answers.  One is fear.  If you inspire people by inferring if they don’t perform full out, they will never achieve greatness.  People get scared of not achieving their goals and start working.  This tactic is used a lot in sports.  The second way is through peer pressure.  It is social facilitation within the group.  If you are in an individual sport like swimming, imagine your competitor on the team winning over you.  If you are in a group sport like show choir, think of how not singing well now will affect others around you.  Nobody wants to mess up while their peers are watching. 

       Imagination can be a powerful thing in performance.  Mind over body, or at least to a certain point.  Focus on performing well in practice so when you get to a meet, the extra facilitation doesn’t just make you good, it makes you great.   

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Advanced Math Classes

Why do students take advanced math classes?  They are very difficult and push the mental capacity of students.  We are forced to think critically and pay attention every day.  Their grades average a B to B-.  They struggle all trimester for the hope of an A.  Meanwhile, those same students could be in the regular math class (same level) and ride an easy A.  Hell, they might even get an A+.  There is no incentive but bettering your math skills.  Our G.P.A.’s suffer and we have to really concentrate.
I believe those students who take on the stress of taking advanced math classes should be rewarded with a waited grade scale.  I’m not asking for a 5.0 grading scale, but a 4.5 would be nice.  This makes taking advanced math worth it because we would get the same grade point if we were in advanced or regular.  When smart kids are given the option to further their skills without a damper on their G.P.A., most take the opportunity.  Think how many people would take A.P. classes if they weren’t weighted.  Just a thought for today.

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Sodium

      Americans eat about 3,400 mg of sodium a day—more than the suggested 2,300 milligrams and double the 1,500 milligrams for people who are over 50, African American, or who have hypertension, diabetes, or kidney disease.  Here are some of the top fast food items you should avoid so you don’t have to take blood pressure medication when you reach 50. Hope this helps!
       This 2-patty monstrosity is a beef-lover’s dietary downfall. With three slices of American cheese and four bacon strips, it has 1,300 calories, 93 grams of fat and 2,860 mg of sodium. With a large fry, you can add 600 calories and 350 mg of sodium.  Totaling 1900 calories and 3210 mg of sodium!
       Here is an odd one. Panera Bread’s Full Bacon Turkey Bravo.  This 800-calorie combination of smoked turkey, Applewood-smoked bacon, and smoked Gouda with lettuce and tomato on a tomato basil loaf tips the sodium scale at 2,800 mg. Cured bacon and processed meats are typically high in sodium. Ouch
       Taco Bell’s Volcano Nachos. These molten nachos with spicy ground beef, pinto beans, and jalapeños break the nutrition bank with 970 calories and 58 grams of fat—more calories and fat than any other single item on the menu—plus 1,670 mg of sodium.
       Yes, a salad made the list.  Wendy’s Baja Salad. This Southwest-inspired salad delivers salt in the chili, pico de gallo, guacamole, cheese, tortilla strips, and Creamy Red Jalapeño Dressing topping. It has 1,975 mg of sodium and 720 calories. The 100-calorie dressing packet alone accounts for 270 mg of salt. No dressing for me I guess.
       KFC provides nutritional information for individual items. I figure this meal—a drumstick, a Crispy Strip, an individual box of Popcorn Chicken, two Home-style sides (I chose mashed potatoes with gravy and cole slaw), a biscuit and a 32-oz. drink (Pepsi)—blasts the daily sodium maximum, with more than 3,000 mg of salt and more than 1,400 calories.  Pretty much avoid KFC altogether.  It has a lot of sodium and calories.
       There are big dangers in consistently eating fast food.  There is just too much sodium and calories to have a healthy lifestyle.  If you do choose fast food, look at their nutrition facts and choose a low sodium option. Have an awesome day Bloggers!.

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A week in the life of a Happiness member.

       This week was a pretty stressful week as Happiness had 4 practices combining for 20.5 hrs.  You work tirelessly to clean the show and give constant effort throughout practice.  I would like to run through my particular week to show teachers and other students how much work Happiness really does.
        Day1, 2, and 3:  I wake up at 5 a.m. to go to swimming practice.  I precede to my zero hour A.P. Chemistry class and try an soak in all the information.  We are notified about our six page lab reports being due Wednesday.  Class ends and I go to United States History.  This class talks for 30 minutes about stories and personal experiences then spends the last 20 minutes on actual history.  Such a waste. I proceed through the monotony of my day and get out of school at 2:45.  I proceed to the auditorium and change into shorts.  Those will no closed toed shoes, a happiness shirt, and shorts on will be yelled at by Damon.  Damon is our wonderful choreographer.  He is brilliant when it comes to designing moves and putting a show together.  His down side?  Mean and off topic.  He expects total silence because talking wastes time.  We start practice at 3 p.m.  From 3-6, we worked on the second song.  He told his own little stories for 30 minutes out of the 3 hours.  It is a huge time waster that slows practice to a screeching halt.  The changes we make are so small.  Move your hand like this; don’t bob your head; don’t flex here; make sure your head is always out.  It is necessary but extremely boring.  Worst yet, you are sweating so much because you have to give 100 percent effort the whole time.  Every move.  If you don’t, he stops and calls you out on it.  When 6p.m. rolls around, he breaks for 30 minutes to eat.  The food is caloric and heavy.  When we return at 6:30, nobody wants to dance.  We are exhausted and full.  Muscles ache as we put good effort into the songs.  By the time 9 p.m. comes along, most of us our drenched in sweat and just want to sleep.  He gives us a lecture and lets us go home.  Most of us have two hours of homework to do.  About 60 percent of Happiness doesn’t do it and just take the zero.  I decided to do my homework.  I finish around 11 p.m.   I am in bed by 11:30.  The next morning I am up at 5 a.m. to do the whole thing all over again.
       Day 4:  The same process except the end.  He brings us together after three days and tells us we are cocky and we suck.  He sees greatness in us but we aren’t reaching for it.  He says our effort is bad and we are banking off of last year.  I am in a little shock.  We worked so hard and we leave with a bitter taste in our mouth.  We all want him gone.  Half of us are sick because we are sleep deprived and overworked.  This is only the beginning I am told.  The week after Christmas is much worse.  Lovely.
Day 5: I didn’t get any of my homework done and I take two tests I am not ready for.  I have had no study time because of Happiness.  I proceed to sleep in half my classes as I too, am getting sick.  The weekend is full of activities, makeup work, and swimming.  I try and recoup as I head in another week full of swimming and Happiness.
       We aren’t some little dance group.  We spend hundreds of hours working in sweat, trying to perfect the art of performing.  Singing, dancing and acting.   We have to connect to our show so the audience can connect to it.  We overcome the negatives and push forward.  Happiness is more than a show choir, it’s a varsity sport.

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Crayons vs. Markers vs. Colored Pencils

       Hi Bloggers! I would like to finish this week’s blogging with a compare and contrast: Crayons vs. Markers vs. Colored Pencils. *final countdown music plays*
       Crayons: Crayons come in a huge variety of colors, from aqua to brick red. The tip flattens out with use. A crayon can look very waxy on paper.  It is very hard to stay inside the lines with a crayon. One of the best things about a crayon is that if you tear all the paper off the crayon and color it on its side with something under the paper, (like a leaf or coin) you can see an imprint of that object.
       Markers: Markers have rich, deep, colors and can also come in a big variety. They are my favorite of the three.  Generic markers can dry up very quickly. When coloring with a marker, you have to put something under your drawing or risk having the ink bleed through. Markers are good at bringing life to a picture. One of the best things about markers is that if their washable, after you have colored your drawing a bit, using a paintbrush and water you can go over the marker and make it look like watercolor paint.  This is unique to markers.
       Colored Pencils: Colored pencils are good at producing light colors, but do not have a lot of dark, rich colors. You need to keep them sharp or they will flatten out like crayons.  If you have another piece of paper under your drawing the line of the underneath paper will show up if you’re coloring something. One of the best things about colored pencils is that much like a crayon, if you put an object like a coin under your paper and color, an imprint will show up of the object.
       Which is your favorite and why? Leave a comment
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