Think like a Bird

So I am gazing out my window again, and peering across the street again, searching for a topic again, and I see something to write on my blog again. You see I live in a fairly new neighborhood, and most every house has a newer tree. The oldest tree on the block is probably only about fifteen years old, so none of these trees are very big. Well anyways I am looking across the street at my neighbors front lawn tree when I noticed somethings on their tree. At first it didn't really click as to what they were, and I feel kind of stupid admitting this, but it just looked like little blobs. I saw at and looked away, but I just looked back again because I was confused at what those little blobs were. Finally I came to the well thought through conclusion that they were just little birds. The only thing I have to say in my defense of not realizing they were birds from the start, would be that it is the beginning of spring and winter just ended, therefore I am not quite use to seeing little birds on trees yet again. Once I did realize that the mysterious blobs were birds I decided to count them. 10 in all. Then me just being me noticed that no other birds there anywhere to be seen. Not even on any other tree around. I have a tree in my front yard and there were no birds on it, yet my neighbors tree was hogging all the birds. So why were all the birds just on that one tree? What was so much better about that tree than any other tree around it? Why had all ten birds selected to sit on that one tree? Well there isn't any real answer, but this is why the title of the blog is: think like a bird, just so it is possible to come up with the best and most justifiable answer. One answer could be that birds like to travel in packs. For example geese. If one bird chose to land on that tree, then maybe all his buddies decided too, that they would come hang out on that tree with him. Or it is just possible that that tree was just the preferred tree. Maybe the way the branches are, the structure of the bark, or the particular height of that tree. All the birds were lined up across two branches in a row of ten. Maybe it was all a coincidence that all the birds in the area that I could see decided on sitting on the same tree. If I was a begging person though I would have to say that this is the least likely of the possibilities. The mostly likely is something more to do with the birds and probably less to do with the tree itself. People like to be around other people that they know, and hang around them too. So, I guess birds really aren't much different. A bird or two probably chose to sit on a tree and some other birds followed their lead. Now one just left the tree and flew away and slowly all ten decided to leave to. Now all the trees are empty of birds and just stay there planted in the ground waiting for the next thing to happen.

Made for Hula-Hooping?

One of my teachers is kind of known for giving out semi odd extra credit. For example, when there was snow on the ground if you went out and made a snow angel you got a little extra credit. The kids obviously do not mind, and it is extra credit so no one is forced into doing any of it if they do not want to. Well to get to my story just this last week we could gain a little extra credit by hula- hooping. Seems kind of odd right? Well the only rules were you could get some if you tried and if you beat the time of the teacher you got double, and you had three tries. Well first off the teacher had to set the time limit. He put in on his waist and spun the hula-hoop around. It wavered there for and second or two and then fell to the ground. The official time to you had to beat was three seconds, so in other words if you do it you are almost guaranteed to get some extra credit. My whole point in this blog is not to just tell you about the extra credit opportunities in one of my classes, but more to discuss the art of actual hula-hooping. My teacher made a comment that went something like this: Men are more shaped like apples and the women are more shaped like pears. This comment was not made to be offensive by any means, but strictly made by the observation through this hula-hooping activity. A little history about the hula-hoop that I found to be slightly interesting at first though was that hula-hoop was "invented" by a guy. The only thing that I could think of why it was not a woman who invented such a thing was that still in the fifties women were still seen as a kind of minority and were not really "fit" for such a profession. But anyways the whole thing about the comment is that women seem to be shaped better to hula-hoop. Also it cold be that now in todays society if a guy is seen hula-hooping for fun it is seen as being weird or abnormal. It is just odd that the guys have to do the earthquake, row the boat, or corkscrew method to try to get the hula-hoop to stay up while most of the women kind of bend one of their legs back in forth and it stays up no problem. It is just one of those things in life that women seem to be built better for than men, but it does work both ways though. By the way, I was able to hula-hoop for longer than three seconds, so I recieved my extra credit, so I am happy.

All the Madness

This year of March Madness seems to have just a little extra madness so far. There have been so many upsets in just the first round and who is to expect what might come the the second, third, and so on. I enjoy sports quite a bit, but college basketball kind of gets left out all up until March. Then it is actually worth all the attention. This last year was one of the first years this I had made a bracket, and I didn't do all that bad. I didnt make one this year and I am kind of glad that i did because i think I would just be embarrassing myself just trying to predict who is going to win each game. Also trying to make a descent bracket without really paying attention to what was happening in the regular season makes it a bit more challenging too. This year though you could be really lucky and just try your best. Even the sports analysts who are suppose to be the experts on this are going down with many surprises. They always try to predict the upsets, but so far those are the ones that have not been upsets, but some of the other games have been. one upset that would be huge would be if UNI would go ahead and beat Kansas, or if another ranked 1 or 2 team would go down in the second round. This really screws with peoples brackets and really opens up opportunities in the tournament. I guess this is all for now, and we will just have to wait and see how this years mysterious March Madness works out til the end.

Riding your Bike

I was searching for a topic right and I was not really sure what to write about. I peered out my window and there was this little boy trying to ride his bike with his training wheels. This got me thinking then. I bet most people have a pretty interesting story about how they learned how to ride their bike. It is usually a pretty eventful moment once you learn how to do it. Well for me it mostly was mostly a force by my older sister and friends to learn. I don't quite remember what grade I was in, maybe kindergarten or first. Anyways at my old house we had this little hill on the side of our front yard. When my dad took off my training wheels and I walked my bike up the little hill. I got on the seat while someone held the bike stable. Then I remember get s a little push. I was quite ready, but I was able to get down the hill, but then kind of forgot in the moment that I needed to pedal and fell off to a side with the bike on top of me. Everyone wanted me to try again but I was pretty reluctant because I didn't really want to get hurt again. Well I didn't have much of a choice at the time and got pressured into it. so here went round two. This time i remembered to pedal, in trying to pedal i leaned to much to one side and fall over again. Lets just say that I did learn to ride a bike that day though, just through many painful attempts. Today I do enjoy riding a bike, and I no longer fall down.

Just Around the Corner

Well it seems like it is finally here again and here to stay (or at least for the time being). That would be spring. It kind or all starts when the snow begins to melt. Slowly inch by inch it wear away. Then the lawns and streets are left with this nice sandy caking. But, that is so forgotten when you step outside and hear the chirping of a bird. Then you hear another. Oh the quietness of winter has gone away. Then comes the blue sky. It is usually blue for a few days right in the beginning of spring, but then is covered up with gray clouds again. Don't worry though because these aren't snow clouds, but rather rain clouds. Then if you are lucky maybe another spring sound will make its rather loud presence. Thunder and lightning. With a flash across the sky and the roll of thunder. During this process the temperature finds it way back up to a much comfortable 50- 60 degrees. Watch out because now the sweaters, sweat pants, and boots are shed and the shorts, tank tops, and flip flops make their long waited existence. Outside begins to look more like the place to be. as I look out my window I see the big wheel is able to make it outside today. Couples taking walks and children playing on the play ground. The sun shines down brighter and the days get longer. Peoples mood begins to reflect this too. Things are born and life is rejuvenated. Flowers open and leaves reappear on the trees. Everything gets brighter, more colorful, and livelier. The transition from winter to spring begins its cycle once more.

Suh or McCoy

Now I know that the NFL season just ended about a month ago with the Super Bowl, but now already things are heating back up in the NFL. About a week ago the NFL combine going on in full strength. This is where you really get an idea and a visual of each player in their position, and how well they play, and how well they can take the pressure. Now is time for most players is a time to really show what they can do in hopes of making it into the NFL. For other it doesn't really matter as much because they have proven themselves in the spot during the regular college football season as some of the dominate players. These players often don't even come out to the combine because they pretty much know that they are going to get drafted. But there are a few that know that they are going to get drafted, but come out any way. Two of those just happen to play the same position and happen to be the two top ranked players to go one and two in the NFL this season. Those two would be Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska and Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma.

These two players are extremely athletic and both where very dominate in the game. To throw in some irony the both wore the jersey number 93. The question is who do you draft first? Suh or McCoy? McCoy or Suh? They are just about the same weight and height too. Mmmmmhhhhh? Well I will tell you that I would rather have Suh on my team, but no offense to McCoy because he will find a nice home in the second draft spot. Suh is so strong and quick to the line. Just take his game against Texas. I have previously blogged about this game and how Suh pretty much single handedly stopped the Texas offense. Here is a short video of Suh just rocking McCoy, the QB of Texas. Now McCoy is no small person either but he just went for the smackdown.

I would also pick Suh because of his personality. It is not like I have personally met him or anything, but if you have ever seen him on an interview he is always so humble. He isn't a jerk about being really good. Also many people could learn from his work ethic. He said that he blames himself for losing the Texas game because he didn't block the field goal. He said he had blocked three already, so this one was no different. This just goes to show that whatever team has the honor of picking him up will have a humble, hard working, and a leader on the field. All this things could easily be found in his career with Nebraska.

Now I watched some of the combine and saw Suh run the 40 yard dash. For a 300 pound guy I believe under 5 seconds is pretty darn good. I do not know how that compared to McCoy, but I do know that Suh had around ten more bench presses than McCoy, which is quite a bit. This again just goes to show Suh's strength. For those people out there that say that Suh only has one move I think would have to look again. Yes he can over power, but he can get inside and shed blocks to stop the run. He has really good eyes and is able to deflect passes over top. He is fast enough to get outside and stop the run around the corner too. In my opinion he is able to pressure the passer and stop the run.

So what will it be? Suh or McCoy. Vastly it comes down to the team who has first draft pick and how they see it fit. They will see which one they think will fit best in their program, or what they are going for.So right now all you can do it wait, and when the time comes have your televisions on to hear the first draft pick of the 2010- 11 NFL season. I am already pumped!