NICHOLAS SPARKS

As I kept reading, The Choice by Nicholas Sparks, I found that he really does a good job of relating to peoples life. Even though the story is a unique one he asks a series of questions about love and life. It interested me at least. As the days of the week turned from Thursday to Friday Travis finds himself thinking about Gabby all the time. They go on a series of informal “dates” and soon enough Gabby starts to fall for Travis as well. They fell in love and from that moment on were obsessed with each other. Over the years of young love, they get married and have two wonderful children. One day. One accident makes a difference for the couple. At that point in Travis’ life he has to make a life-altering decision, a choice. The Choice ultimately confronts us with the most heart wrenching question of all: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?

The Choice

Over the break my mom suggested I read the book, The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. I had heard of his other books The Guardian, Message in a Bottle, and I am obsessed with the movie A Walk to Remember, which was based on his book, so I decided to take her offer. I am completely surprised and now I can’t wait to read his other books. The book was amazing! The way he writes is very unique and keeps you interested. The Choice is about a man named Travis Parker. He is a perfect bachelor who has the perfect life. He is a well paid veterinarian, lives in a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina, and has a great group of friends. All of his friends have gotten married and have nice sized families. They always nag him about not having a girlfriend and he wonders when he will finally find the one. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door. At first Travis tries to be friendly but she ignores the neighborly requests and tries to find something wrong with him. She had a boyfriend, right? I soon predicted that Travis wasn’t just trying to be neighborly, he really adored Gabby.

Back to New Moon

I started reading the second book of the Twilight series, New Moon, again for the second time. It was such an amazing book that I really did want to read some parts over again! I left off blogging on this book at the part where Bella was severely depressed. Edward had just left her in the dust and she was having a hard time recovering. While she and Edward had been dating, a lot of Bella’s friends had faded. It was a surprise to Jessica, one of Bella’s old friends, when she called her up to hang out. They went out to a movie and I, the reader, could even see that it was awkward. Bella was completely out of the loop for having a social life. She didn’t even remember to start up normal girl’s gossip anymore! I thought this part of the book was interesting. I liked how Meyers set up this moment with Jessica again because in other books they do become better friends too. I felt so bad for Bella at this point in time because she really had no one left by her side.

Silver Medalist

For the last blog I did I found a very interesting article on the Marshmallow Experiment which was on the Edina Public Schools website. So for this weeks blog I wanted to find another article and I found one about our very school. Edina High School was ranked as a Silver Medalist according to U.S. News & World Report. Edina is among the top 2% of all the high schools in the nation. The rank was based on standardized tests of ALL students and college readiness scores. As a whole, Edina got a 51.4 for the college readiness scores. It was the highest out of all high schools in Minnesota and no gold medalists were given out in our state. “It’s an honor to be recognized as a Silver Medalist School,” said Bruce Locklear, principal of EHS. “Our goal is very simple: we want to reach and teach all students.” That is exactly how it is at Edina too! I thought this was so cool that we got ranked this high. I am proud to go to Edina and be apart of this community!

Rock Band is going COUNTRY?

Everyone knows the game Rock band has always been the Rock and Roll style songs that you could strum along too and "Rock out loud," but when Rock Band producers come out with a new version many people might be shocked. The plans to make a country music Rock Band might have some people confused. The game producers include the Dixie Chicks, Brooks and Dunn, and Brad Paisley, popular country musicians, for fans to play along! MTV senior vice president of games and music, Paul DeGooyer, says that the songs that the Rock Band producers will give it a twist and "might twang a little bit." David Card a music-industry analyst with Forrester Research, says he thinks it was a good move to add country into the “Rock Band” mix. It's something different! Personally I like the idea to switch it up a bit. It's interesting that they picked country, but I like the decision. You can't expect them to just keep running the same old songs that sound like each other over and over again! The country edition of Rock Band which is called "Going Country" will be available on the Xbox 360 on Dec. 16 and for the PlayStation 3 starting Dec. 18. I will be on the look out for the reviews on this one!

The Marshmallow Experiment

"You can either eat this marshmallow now and enjoy it or wait until I come back and you get two," said Dr. David Walsh, a Psychologist at Stanford University. He did an experiment with Edina children around the ages of 4 and 5. Walsh would tell the kids that while he was away they could either eat the marshmallow in front of them or wait until he gets back and get two! Instead of being away Walsh and the kid’s parents would be in the next room over watching on a monitor. He had done this experiment before and this was another test to see what exactly happened. Out of the 11 kids who took part in the experiment 4 ate the marshmallow during the fifteen minute period. The kids who ended up eating the marshmallow don’t mean anything really bad. It just helps the parents who were watching realize their kid’s self control. The kids who didn’t eat the marshmallow ended up having the power to say no to themselves and proving they do have self-control. Walsh promoted a movement called, "Say Yes to No." He wants the motivation to help parents say, "No," to their children and teach them to say, "No," to themselves.

http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=51011@wcco.dayport.com

THE PLAN TO MODERNIZE THE OLD EDINA!

This week I read the Zephyrus, the Edina High School newspaper. There was one article in the newspaper that struck me, THE PLAN TO MODERNIZE THE OLD EDINA! Edina's metropolitan council is required every ten years to draw up ideas for the city. Such plans include, building new restaurants such as Leann Chin and new hang out places for Edina sports teams. Mayor Jim Hovland conducts plans to make Edina a more modern place for consumers. Edina has many things to offer to the consumer such as Southdale Mall and The Galleria but this city lacks recreational party areas for the Edina sports teams. The city has a grant to built a skyway from Southdale to the Galleria and Planning the development of a new promenade that runs behind the Original Pancake House connecting to centennial lakes which will get the village feel that Hovland desires. I think this new plan to modernize Edina is all in all a positive step forward to include all ages of the Edina population.