10 Things I am Thankful For

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Health
4. Girlfriend
5. Job
6. House
7. Puppy
8. Co-workers
9. Neighbors
10. Safe and Reliable Vechile

Joe Mauer Wins AL MVP

Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer won his first AL MVP today. He received 27 of the 28 first place votes. Mauer is the fifth Twin to win the MVP award. He also had the best batting average, slugging percentage, and he won the Gold Glove for catchers.

Online vs. Campus Classes

In this day in technology, many students go back and forth deciding whether or not to take their college classes online or take them traditionally on campus. This re-occurring question is no different for students at Anoka Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids and Cambridge Minnesota.
Out of 45 total surveyed ARCC students, 25 of them have taken at least one online class during their college career. Out of those 20 that have not taken any online classes, 15 want to or are planning on taking at least one online class during their time enrolled at ARCC. They are looking forward to a different pace and being able to do work at a time that is most convenient to them. Some others would like to pick up a few more hours at their job. Not to mention, the opportunity to sleep in if possible.
All of the 25 students that have taken an online class like the way they can do school at the pace they want to. Although, 15 of those 25 also think that taking the classes online are more difficult compared to taking them on campus. They say this for these students; it is easier for them to fall behind with their school work compared to in class.
With technology improving each and every day, students will change the way that they do their schooling and learn. Online classes is just the beginning to a new generation of learning.

New Minnesota Twins Uniforms Showed Off

Today the Minnesota Twins baseball team showed off their new jerseys which they will be sporting in the brand new Target Field. Center fielder Denard Span and pitcher Scott Baker were wearing the new clothes.

Possible World Record Buck Shot in Wisconsin

Michael Gregoire of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin was bow hunting just west of Sheboygan Falls on his brothers farm when he shot a huge buck. It was a 12 pointer that weighted 240 pounds. The rack was measured at 217 5/8 inches. Michael has to wait 60 days to make the buck an offcial record breaker. The current world record is 213 5/8 inch rack.

Halloween Costume

My favorite Halloween costume was worn by a little boy. He had a suit on with blood all over this face with a knife sticking out of his forehead. The best part was that when I gave him his candy he said, "Thank you. Have a wonderful Halloween." I could help to give the little guy more candy

Butcher in New York Recalls Over Half Million Pounds of Beef

A New York butcher voluntarily recalled 545,699 pounds of ground beef that could have bacteria in it that could be linked to two recent deaths. The recall went though eight different U.S. States. The bacteria could cause diarrhea, dehydration and kidney failure.

Event Paper 2nd Draft

Leadership
Leadership is key in everything you do, and everything that you are a part of. Many people say that they are not leadership quality; however, anyone can be a good and positive leader in anything that they do. These are some of the things a few local speakers said to us at a recent Christian Leadership Convention.
From the beginning to the end, all of the speakers reminded the listeners that, “Leaders are not born, they are made.” They began telling us about using leadership with youth. During this part they focused on when leading groups of youth, be there for guidance more than anything else. Be there when they want you to be there. Some youth are more ready to be leaders than others. They will step up to the plate if need, if they don’t, it is a good chance for the others to come out of their shell and become a leader. Leading the youth is a very important thing to do because they need to be honed into great leaders because they are the leaders of the future.
Being a leader with a group of elderly people is also something to work on. One thing to do is to be a quite leader and input new ideas. Bring new age ideas to the table that they have never heard of. However, if the occasion calls for it and the time is right, it is more than ok to step up and be the vocal and overall leader of the group.
There are also different aspects of becoming and being a good leader. One very important thing that you need to is motivate people when they need it. You also need to do your part in the group or whatever it is that you are involved in. Another thing you can do if the group respects you, or sometimes even if not, you need to outsource some of the work to the people that are not doing much to help out the group.
For sometime, a speaker said that to be a leader in a group, you do not need to have the best skills for the situation. A leader does not consist of being the best of the best compared to the rest. He asked us to think of time in our life when someone was not the best at something but they were a leader. The first thing that popped in my head was when I was playing high school football. My junior year, one of the captains that got chosen by the team never started a game his whole life and only played when we were winning by a lot. Yet he still got chosen by his teammates to be one of the five captains because of his leadership qualities on the team.
While listening to theses speakers, I learned many things about being a leader and even better, being an efficient leader. The one thing that they said a number of times keeps on sticking in my head and I believe is an amazing quote, “Leaders are not born, they are made.”

St. Cloud Bridge to Open This Thursday

This Thursday the new Granite City Crossing Bridge in St. Cloud that goes over the Mississippi River will open after 18 months of construction. The bridge replaces the old Desoto Bridge. Because the bridge got done early, the contractor gets a bonus.

Brett Boxwell Interview 2nd Draft

Growing up, Brett Boxwell would play baseball with his older brother. Still to this day he does the very same thing. Brett is now 21 years old and playing for an amateur baseball team as well as the Anoka Ramsey Community College’s baseball team as a pitcher. It has all been a positive hobby and activity besides when he got hit by a ball in eighth grade and broke his nose. So far the best part of his short baseball career was during his senior year of high school when his team won a tournament of sixty four teams, which ended in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the same stadium that Minnesota Twins just played their last game at on October 11, 2009.

Last year playing for Anoka Ramsey Community College, Brett and the team made it to the State Tournament, which was a first for the school in six years. When asked about the team Brett says that “It's actually going pretty well.” With many of the team’s starters returning this up and coming baseball season, Brett is expecting to have another year that the school will remember. The team is expecting to go further this season than they did last season. Only time will tell if this is going to come true.

With the amateur team he is currently on, Brett now plays with his older brother that he has been playing with for his whole life. Having fun with every team Brett is playing with, he hopes to transfer to a bigger four year school and finish out his career on hopefully a positive note. With his future baseball career Brett says, “I hope to continue playing as long as my body and skill level allow me too.”

Leadership Speaker Event

Leadership is key in everything you do, and everything that you are a part of. Many people say that they are not leadership quality; however, anyone can be a good and positive leader in anything that they do. These are some of the things a few local speakers said to us at a recent Christian Leadership Convention.
From the beginning to the end, all of the speakers reminded the listeners that, “Leaders are not born, they are made.” They began telling us about using leadership with youth. During this part they focused on when leading groups of youth, be there for guidance more than anything else. Be there when they want you to be there. Some youth are more ready to be leaders than others. They will step up to the plate if need, if they don’t, it is a good chance for the others to come out of their shell and become a leader. Leading the youth is a very important thing to do because they need to be honed into great leaders because they are the leaders of the future.
Being a leader with a group of elderly people is also something to work on. One thing to do is to be a quite leader and input new ideas. Bring new age ideas to the table that they have never heard of. However, if the occasion calls for it and the time is right, it is more than ok to step up and be the vocal and overall leader of the group.
There are also different aspects of becoming and being a good leader. One very important thing that you need to is motivate people when they need it. You also need to do your part in the group or whatever it is that you are involved in. Another thing you can do if the group respects you, or sometimes even if not, you need to outsource some of the work to the people that are not doing much to help out the group.
For sometime, a speaker said that to be a leader in a group, you do not need to have the best skills for the situation. A leader does not consist of being the best of the best compared to the rest. He asked us to think of time in our life when someone was not the best at something but they were a leader. The first thing that popped in my head was when I was playing high school football. My junior year, one of the captains that got chosen by the team never started a game his whole life and only played when we were winning by a lot. Yet he still got chosen by his teammates to be one of the five captains because of his leadership qualities on the team.
While listening to theses speakers, I learned many things about being a leader and even better, being an efficient leader. The one thing that they said a number of times keeps on sticking in my head and I believe is an amazing quote, “Leaders are not born, they are made.”

Chunk of Elvis Hair sold for $15K

A chunk of Elvis Presley's hair from 1958 when he was in the Army was auctioned off in Chicago, Illinois. Surprisingly, the hair went for $15,000! A shirt also got auctioned off for $52,000. All off the 200+ items was owned by a guy who ran an Elvis fan club, Gary Pepper.

Obituary

Isaac Paul Jenson, 20 years old, of Princeton, Minnesota died yesterday around 3:00 p.m. He died from a freak accident playing a game of flag football.

Isaac loved all kinds of sports and did everything he could do to be involved with them. Isaac also enjoyed volunteering at his church's Youth Group. He was a student at Anoka Ramsey Community College with ambitions to go into the sales field.

Visitation will be held on Friday at the United Methodist Church in Princeton, Minneosta at 6p.m. followed. Funeral will follow on Saturday October 14th.

Isaac was survived by his parents Ron and Debbie, sister Hannah, and girlfriend Jenna.

Brett Boxwell Interview

Growing up, Brett Boxwell would play baseball with his older brother. Still to this day he does the very same thing. Brett is now 21 years old and playing for an amateur baseball team as well as the Anoka Ramsey Community College’s baseball team as a pitcher. It has all been a positive hobby and activity besides when he got hit by a ball in eighth grade and broke his nose. So far the best part of his short baseball career was during his senior year of high school when his team won a tournament of sixty four teams, which ended in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the same stadium that Minnesota Twins just played their last game at on October 11, 2009.

Last year playing for Anoka Ramsey Community College, Brett and the team made it to the State Tournament, which was a first for the school in six years. With many of the team’s starters returning this up and coming baseball season, Brett is expecting to have another year that the school will remember. The team is expecting to go further this season than they did last season. Only time will tell if this is going to come true.

With the amateur team he is currently on, Brett now plays with his older brother that he has been playing with for his whole life. Having fun with every team Brett is playing with, he hopes to transfer to a bigger four year school and finish out his career on hopefully a positive note.

Cash for Cluncker Not as Good as Minnesota Thought

The "Cash for Clunkers" ideas to help car sales, didn't quite do what the state of Minnesota was expecting. The income taxes were $93 million behind then what the expectations were.

Making it not as bad, as a whole, the Minnesota Management and Budget Office said that all categories were $52 million behind the projections. This was reported on Monday, October 12, 2009.

Interview with Judith

Judith: so, I love horseback riding it is my favorite thing to do, I guess i always loved horses sence i was a little girl. I would always pray that i got one on christmas.
I loved reading about horses and one time I actually got some horse magazines, cut out all the pictures of horses, and covered my bedroom with them.
I took horse lessons when i was twelve years old. I had them every thursday afternoon. My instructor was amazing. We would ride horses together. One time I was riding this huge bay horse, his name was Tez. I was riding him bareback, and he must of gotten spooked from the traffic, he just took off running. It was in the middle of winter. He ended up throwing me off and trampled on my leg. I was crying and my instroctor was really worried. However while i was crying i just asked that my instructor not to tell my mom, cuz i still wanted to take horse lessons. And i did.
I love riding a horse. It feels like you are free and there are no worries in your life. It's like i almost leave the world behind once I get on.

Isaac: That's awesome! Do you have a horse of your own? Where were these lessons located at

Judith: No, i don't have a horse, but it is my dream to someday own a few horses and live on a ranch. I always have wanted a horse. Everytime i drive by a house and see a horse, i just turn my head all the way around. They're such beautiful creatures.
I took the lessons off of crosstown blvd. It was at a small house, and they had about 8 horses, there neighbors had quarter horses that they raced

Isaac: What kind of lessons do you take? Racing or what kind?

Judith: just regular horse lessons, how to ride, western saddle type. It was fun

Mystery Murder at North Point Inn

Yesterday morning around 9 o’clock in the morning at the North Point Inn, bookkeeper, Nina Cortez went to work, got robbed and could have been murdered. Nina was in her office counting money, $6,000 in all, and someone came into the office when a knife.
The robber, Nina said, was about 5’ 10” maybe 6 feet, in his early 20’s and has a medium build. He was wearing blue jeans, blue plaid shirt, and blue tennis shoes. He was also wearing a floral scarf that covered up half of his face.
When the robber came into the office Nina started to scream and kick. When she kicked, her chair with wheels slide away from her and she then feel to the ground. After she fell the robber reached over her and took $130 in five dollar bills.
After he left she locked the door after she heard another voice call the robber out. A few minutes later she heard the police outside of her office. When she went outside of her office she saw blood. The blood was from her co-worker Kevin Blohm, a cook, who was lying on the floor with a stab wound in the chest and hand.

New Wild Head Coach Starts Where Old One Started

New Minnesota Wild head coach Todd Richards first game was a lost against the Columbus BlueJackets this Saturday night. Coincidentally the former Wild head coach, Jacques Lemaire ended his career with a win against the Columbus BlueJackets last year. With a new Wild General Manager and head coach it will be a whole new team.

Earliest Memory

My most complete moment that I can remember from when I was little was when my sister was born. It was a very cold, snowy January night in 1996. I was at my Grandpa's and Grandma's house and I was playing with my favorite Bigfoot monster truck toy when my Dad came to pick me up. He came in the door and said, "It's snow and cold. It's a girl. Lets go." My Grandparents wanted to talk a little more about how the night went but my Dad did not want to be on the roads at all.

Police wants new cruisers. City says no.

County sheriff says that they are in need of new Police cruisers. Sheriff Gus Dicesari says that the eight cruisers that they have on the roads now are spending way too much time in the repair shop. He wants eight new ones to replace the eight he has now that all have over 150,000 miles on them.
However, the cities Commission President, Anne Chenn says that this is not possible to do money. The city does not have the additional $580,000 to get the eight new cruisers. Members Valerie Dawkins, Faith Ellis, Jose Gardoz and Roland Grauman are on the same on page as Chenn is. On the other side, Dicesari has members Anita Shenuski and Raymond Laybourne on his side.
The city is already committed to build a new $30 million prison with their $127 million budget. Dicesari would also like to eventually like to hire five for deputes for patrol after the cruisers are purchased. The Final vote for the eight new cruisers and the five new deputes got shut down, 5-2.

Lucy from famous Beatles song dies

Lucy from the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", Lucy Vodden, died this week after a long battle from lupus at the age of 46.

John Lennon's son, Julian, came home one day with a picture that he drew when he was four years old and he said that it was "Lucy in the sky with diamonds."

As a fan of The Beatles it was interesting to learn how the song got its name. Although it was sad to hear that Lucy died at such a young age.

My first day at AARC

My first day at AARC was spent in the Cambridge Campus. My first class was Intro to Marketing. Our instructor handed out different products and asked us about the positives and the negatives of the appearance of the products. Best thing of all, there was no homework on the first day!!

Upper Midwest foreclosures still highest in Minnesota

Although things are getting better with house foreclosures all around the US including Minnesota, we are still doing the worst compared to the rest of the Upper Midwest states.
Nation wide there was 358,000 foreclosures in August. The number of foreclosures in Minnesota has quadrupled since 2005. Amazing. I don't know about all of you folks but I got my foreclosures house April of this year.

Deadly Accident on I-790

On the busy road of I-790, two tractor trailers collided and caused a multi-car, deadly accident. It included 16 vehicles total, two dead, twenty injured, four of which were life threatening.

The accident happened at 6:45a.m. It left the Interstate to detour to I-690 until at least 10 a.m. and Sgt. Albert Wei didn’t know when it would be opened back up. When fire chief Tony Sullivan arrived at the accident he said it looked something like a war zone. He also said that they had to cut the roof of three of the cars to get the passengers out.

They had to fly down two of the victims down to Statesville in the Life Flight copter from Memorial Hospital which is a 50 mile fly. It also took five fire departments and ambulances from four other cities to work on the damage and victims of the crash.

Sullivan said that in his 18 and half years in the fire department, he never saw anything this back.

Wei said that the investigation is still an ongoing process.

A new State Fair attendance record: nearly 1.8 million

This proved to be a great year for Minnesota's State Fair. It was another record breaking year. Almost 1.8 Million visitors. The old record was in 2001, however, that number got beat by just over 27,500. Food and drinks took in $25.2 milions. Thats $1.1 million more than last year. This is a good thing that despite the economy, people are still going out to have some fun.

Frontier Steakhouse

Last week we went to the Frontier Steakhouse in Princeton. It is a nice small town steakhouse. I know all of workers from work, going there, or I've just known them My whole life. I had an awesome 12oz sirloin streak. Service was great, food was great, everything was great. Its my go to restaurant when I need a place to go where I will get good food and good service.

Leads

In this little bit of time I have learned a lot about leads. I have learned to keep it short and sweet but still be full of facts. It is the main attention getter to get people to read your story. It is also important to make it a mini intro or summery.

I also learned not to use unknown names and not to make it long. It is also important not to talk down or use an opinion as a lead.

Summerized Story

Summerized news story:

Rehabbed home ready for owner

http://www.startribune.com/local/north/53302377.html?page=1&c=y

In the city's of Coon Rapids and Brooklyn Park are re-doing many foreclosed homes. They are giving house's a "$60,000 face lift." With one house done, selling in only one week for the asking price, they are looking for their next house to fix up. As of now there are 695 unoccupied house that are sitting. It was 800 before other non profit contractors started fixing foreclosures. This fairly new state program is a great way to make neighborhoods look presentable. It also gives buyers more of a choice of getting the right house.