Call of Duty By Buck Compton

I recently read the book Call of Duty, My Life Before, During, and After the Band of Brothers, by Lt. Lynn "Buck" Compton, with Marcus Brotherton.  Let me start by saying that I particularly enjoyed this book because the writer kept me entertained with many different topics such as, war, baseball, and life in general. I think the author did a superb job in translating and organizing, Buck's thoughts and what he said into a book.

 The book begins with a foreword by Senator,and presidential candidate, John McCain. In the first chapter Buck speaks about his high school and college days. He was an outstanding baseball player for the UCLA Bruins before he volunteered for the military. He even had the privilege of playing ball with Jackie Robinson, who later on became the first player of color to enter the Major leagues, breaking down a huge racial barrier that had been preventing African Americans from playing in the MLB.

Once Buck volunteered for the military, he chose to join the paratroopers. In the book he talks a lot about his days in Germany and France. But don't get me wrong, this book is not only about war and death, it is also about Buck's personal life. In this book, he talks about his father's death, and his relationship with his soon to be wife.

 After the war was all said and done, Buck went back to Los Angeles California where he married his long time girlfriend, Donna Newman. In Los Angeles he became a member of the LAPD, where he served for five years. He then graduated from law school and became a well known district attorney. He successfully prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert Kennedy. After his days of being a lawyer, Buck and his wife moved up to the San Juan Islands in Washington State where his wife passed away in 1994 and he currently resides.

 Buck is still very active in the community,  as he speaks on a regular basis to different groups. I personally had the privilege to hear Buck speak, and he talked about many of the things I read in the book, as well as the television series Band of Brothers. In closing, I thought this was a very well written book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good biography to read.

Book Review of- Uncommon

The book Uncommon by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker is all about finding your path to significance. For those readers who don’t know, Tony Dungy was a very successful football coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts. While coaching for the Colts, he lead them to one super bowl victory and countless playoff appearances.

What I most enjoyed about Uncommon was that the author did not focus on just one subject for an excessive amount of time. Instead the author touched on many different subjects over the course of the book such as, his days as a football coach. While talking about his coaching career he discussed many important decisions that made his legacy what it is, such as choosing Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf in the 1999 NFL Draft.

 He also spoke about his strong relationship with his children, and how it is important that you should always be there for your family. Unfortunately, he had to cope with the loss of his oldest son, but his relationship with God helped him keep moving forward in his life. He also explains how crucial a strong relationship with his parents was to his success. He discusses how his parents always encouraged him and his strong devotion to God is also important to his successes, and his personal life as well. Dungy explains that he would not be where he is today without his strong relationship with God. All this and more really kept me interested in the book, and I found at times, it was hard to stop reading.

The author also lets the reader in on his keys for loving his family. The first of the seven keys is to be a leader around your home, but lead for the benefit of your wife and children, not for your own benefit. The first is, “Be aware that the world emphasizes style, but substance is what really matters.” The second is, “Make a conscious decision to determine your priorities. If there are others who should be involved in the process, sit down together and put personally those things into writing.” The third is, “ Be prepared to start making your actions complement your list of priorities.” The fourth is “ Never confuse what you do with who you are.” The fifth is “ Follow your dreams. Don’t take them to your grave. Better to have fallen short than never to have tried.” The sixth is “ Learn to discipline yourself so that you can begin to enjoy more of life the way you want to enjoy it.” The final key is to “ Balance the priorities in your life- spend the appropriate amount of time and effort in each area. “I myself, took each piece of advice to heart, and thought about how I was doing this in my own life with the suggestions that were given in the book. For example, I have been trying really hard to respect my parents and be honest with them. I feel that this will lead to a better life overall for myself.

This book brings so much to the table. It offers helpful advice with your family, friends, and most importantly, God. If you are looking for a book that will be hard to put down, and will make you think about your own life and how you live it, Uncommon is definitely the book for you. I know personally that I would recommend this book to my own friends and family, because like I have said before, I feel that this book offers invaluable guidance in both your practical and spiritual life.

A Brief History of Time Review

Stephen Hawking is one notorious attention whore. He is always talking himself up about how he is just so smart, or how he is such a "playa". I think he really can talk and only uses the robotic voice on his fake wheelchair because he thinks it makes him sound sexy. The guy even has his own best selling video game out on store shelves right now.

He seems to be such a self centered person to me. He even made these posters and hung them all over the city.

So I would like to caution everybody to take a long hard look at who you think Stephen Hawking is, and ask yourself... Is he really as special as he seems to think he is??

Recently I read the book, A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. Let me first begin by saying that I find it simply amazing that Stephen Hawking has such an understanding of our solar system and black holes most notably amongst other subjects, considering his physical disability. I also find it very encouraging seeing someone who is wheel chair ridden able to grasp the attention of the world and gain respect through his expertise.

Onto the book, I found A Brief History of Time sort of hard to follow while I read it. I often found myself confused, and “Googling” most of the words that I read such as Quark, which is a hypothetical truly fundamental particle. I am however very happy that I stuck with the book, because I did learn some very interesting things about space anomalies, such as how black holes are formed and what they are capable of. In fact black holes are so powerful they can envelop entire planets at once thus making the size of the black hole even bigger.

In closing, I would recommend this book to anyone looking to expand his or her knowledge of deep space. I do feel that most space enthusiasts will find this book simply riveting. This is also a great book to read in school, since it is crammed with excellent information.

Top 10 Acquire the Fire!

10 Hours on a cramped bus..
  9 Stairs that I fell down
  8 Mountain Dew's consumed
  7 My chair number
  6 Bands played
  5 dollars spent at Taco Bell
  4 The number of Volkswagon Bugs we saw
  3 The number of times we ran around the arena.
  2 Hours of sleep over the course of the weekend
  1 Unforgettable experience!!

Forever Strong Review

I recently watched the movie Forever Strong. It is about two rival rugby teams, one lets their players do whatever they want, whether it is drinking or partying. While the Highland rugby team on the other hand dedicates themselves to honor and respect. Highland's rival team's star player ends up going to juvenile detention for crashing a car while drunk. While in jail, he sees a counselor who refers him to the Highland rugby team. While playing for Highland he learns respect, honor, and friendship amongst the other players. I would definitely recommend this movie to all of my friends and family.

Night Terror Research Paper- Rough Draft

Night terrors, also known as Pavor Nocturnes in Latin, are an illness that affects millions of people each year. I am one of those people. I have experienced night terrors since the young age of seven. I am now sixteen, and although my night terrors have been greatly reduced in frequency, I still do have night terrors once in awhile. For me, night terrors often meant about five minute of sheer terror. In all of my night terrors, big spiders are continually attacking me. Suffering from arachnophobia would be the explanation for why I have night terrors about spiders. Experts say that night terrors are usually the result of a traumatic experience. So for former prisoners of war, or war veterans they are commonplace. These types of night terrors are known as type B night terrors, and most often occur in adults. I, however, do not remember having a traumatic experience with a spider. Experts also say that night terrors are genetic, but neither of my parents suffered from night terrors as children. The last possible reason for my night terrors could be a mundane experience with a spider. These types of night terrors are based off regular everyday experiences. These are known as Type A night terrors and these types of night terrors usually occur in children, ending around the age of fourteen.

Night terrors have some unique symptoms that you wouldn’t find with a regular nightmare. Including, but not limited to, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, sweating, sudden awakening from sleep, persistent fear of terror that occurs at night, screaming, confusion, and not remembering the night terror the next morning. A lot of people ask what the differences between night terrors and nightmares are. Well, in most cases people do not remember night terrors the day after they had one, whereas with nightmares, people can often vividly describe them. Another key difference between the two is that you cannot wake someone up that is having a night terror; this is because nightmares occur in a lighter sleep cycle. Another commonly asked question is, can you have multiple night terrors per night? The answer to this is, yes, depending on how traumatic the event or events causing the night terror are. It is uncommon however for someone to have multiple night terrors. A lot of people are curious as to what most night terrors are about. The most common night terrors can include spiders, snakes, or other people in the room with them.

Things you should know about night terrors mainly include the side effects. Many people will sleepwalk, sleep talk, or not be in control of their bodies while having a night terror. Most of the time it is all of the above though. Scientists have found that night terrors are hereditary, which means that they are passed down through the family. Mental illness can also play a role in night terrors as well. What are night terrors you may ask? Well, night terrors are a sudden reaction of fear that happens during the transition from one sleep phase to another.

Night terrors most often occur in children between the ages of 4-12, since they more often than not, are more easily scared than adults. Night terrors, however, are equally common amongst both males and females. Some people wonder if night terrors are deadly. Night terrors themselves are not deadly but the things you do while having a night terror could be. Serious cases of night terrors include jumping through windows, broken bones, and even concussions.

People have been known to turn violent while having night terrors, since they are seeing things that aren’t actually there. The more intense the nigh terrors, the more violent someone is likely to be while having it.

A drug called Klonopin can treat night terrors. This can greatly reduce the effects of a night terror. Unfortunately no one has discovered a complete cure for night terrors. If you are around someone who does have night terrors, you should stay calm, and make sure that the person gets more sleep at night.

Although there is currently no cure for night terrors, I hope that one day scientists do find one. Night terrors affect many people in our community, everyday. As I have mentioned in this paper, night terrors can be dangerous and disruptive to a person’s overall health and sleep, so the sooner we find a cure, the sooner we can end peoples suffering.

Golf Results

Junior Varsity Tournaments

Similk Beach Golf Course- Wednesday, March 10th

Score- 45


Varsity Tournaments

North Bellingham Golf Course- Monday, March 15th

Score- 92