Dear Santa,



You probably already know me but here is a list of my demands! Ok well that’s not a good start is it? Let me reintroduce myself! Hello my name is Dan Podina and all I want for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB gun...and a few more things!



Here are some great gift ideas for me:

1: One nifty gadget I would like is the Virtual Portable IMAX Theater Experience device! Its only $249 and it comes with built in head phones and a connection to your ipod or Zune (pshhh who owns a Zune?!?!)! It has a 52” 16x9 view and the headphones make you feel like you have surround sound on. This site should explain the product!

http://www.gifts.com/search/product/Vuzix-iWear-AV310-Widescreen-Video-Glasses?ideaID=9553&prodID=199664


2: Ok well this one will cost about $30 grand! It’s a custom Suzuki GSX-R with a helmet camera that has a camera so you can film most of your trips and tricks! Well the bike is a custom 2002 Suzuki GSX-R, it has 998cc’s. The bike has a 300 mm rear tire and a custom Von Dutch free hand pint job! Anyways the helmet camera is a waterproof sports camera that attaches to any helmet that will catch any quick action!
http://www.gifts.com/search/product/L-L-Bean-Helmet-HERO-Wide-Camera?ideaID=5754&prodID=241688
http://www.classybikes.com/59066


3: Well this is another cool item, it has a weird name but it’s really cool to mess around with. It’s a Bucket of Balls! It has 216 rare earth magnets that can be shaped into many things. Its for the low price of $29.95! It would be very fun to play with in the middle of Mr. Fielder’s class because it’s so boring in that class!
http://www.gifts.com/giftlists/our-top-10-gifts-for-him/?listID=4331


4: Next one isn’t really an item but more of an experience. It’s a once in a life time opportunity to drive a NASCAR! If you know me well enough I would have some “people” prepare an escape route to be able to take a car home! Anyways its suppose to give u a chance to drive it for some time on the race track like your are actually a professional driver! And it only costs $229!
http://www.gifts.com/search/product/Drive-a-NASCAR?ideaID=3986&prodID=237942


5: Guess what I found?!?!? Presenting the worlds largest gummy bear! About 1,400 regular sized gummy bears packed into 1 humongous bear! The cost is $29.99 and has about 12,600 calories and comes in several different colors! I would obviously want one that tastes like cherries, strawberries, or grape! Or if possible all 3 flavors combined!

http://www.gifts.com/search/product/The-Worlds-Largest-Gummy-Bear?ideaID=4550&prodID=270069



Please visit this site!
BEST SITE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

What Have I Learned?

What have I learned? Better question would be what HAVEN’T I learned? Well I've learned LOTS! We discussed the subject about Rwanda for about a week or two. The first few days I was like "who on Gods green earth is he talking about?!?” I'm sure I wasn't the only person saying this or something like it.



I mainly realized that I didn't know much when we did the little self judging! Out of 10 we were suppose to rate ourselves on how well we knew this subject. Ten being we would ace a test or quiz and 1 we would fail miserably! I rated my self a 3! Ouch, that’s like saying that all I know is that a lot of people died, Rwanda is on planet earth, and possibly on the continent Africa or Asia!


After the little self judging thingy we each explained what we knew and after having the discussion open for about 15 min. I had a little view on it. Not the whole picture but a little puzzle piece. Anyways here what I have put together so far!


Blaming will always go around for the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda. But there will be questions that will go around for a while. But who is really responsible for it? Who started it? When will all end? Why didn’t it get any help or attention? I could go on for a while asking the questions but let me get straight to the blaming.


First off Belgium won Rwanda from Germany after WWII. After colonizing it for a few years, they decide to make some sort of identity cards. The catch was that people who owned more than 10 cows were considered Tutsi (15% of the population that has more power). Being a Tutsi was like being a White man in the 1950’s and the Hutus being an African American. After a while they gave all power to the Tutsis and left because there weren’t any more natural recourse to steal.


After a while the two groups started going at each others throats and started fighting! To tell you the truth I don’t know if the U.N. (United Nations) were on vacation or at Disney Land but they say that they are here on this earth to help resolve world problems but some how they missed the entire “About 800 thousand people died in the genocide of Rwanda” special on CNN! The United States could have done something to help but they didn’t. I understand that they got humiliated in another country in Africa where a few soldiers’ bodies were dragged on the streets. The US never said that they were always going to try to solve world problems (even though they always seem like they try to). They should have at least sent some support because the only threat was a lot of people attacking you with Machetes while you have fully automatic M16’s with the perk bandolier (extra ammunition) attached! Anyways I could go on for hours blaming other groups (even though everyone knows Belgium started it all) but to sum it all up in 5 short words.

I HAVE LEARNED A LOT!

When does the mechanic become the machine?

Emerson's argument that the mechanic is becoming the machine is still was true, is true, and might always be true.



If u think of a Ford assembly line, one person knows how install the glass or the seats and that’s all. Well not exactly, most of them know how to do the few basic things to build the Ford but what I’m saying is that the windshield installer could represent a lawyer, the man who puts in the seats could be a semi driver, and the person who inspects it could be a construction worker. Anyways, the lawyer only knows law and not how to drive a semi or mix cement, the semi driver only knows how to drive and get around to their destination, and the construction worker knows how to build or repair buildings.


Everyone in America has become the lawyer, driver, or construction worker. Even thought there are many more jobs than the 3 I listed, they all know how to do one thing and one thing only. Now “the mechanic has become the machine, the sailor has become the rope of the ship”. All men together make the whole man, the whole man represents everyone and every skill. Emerson says “Man is priest, and scholar, and salesman, and producer, and soldier.

Where in the world would I live and what would I own?

Imagine your parents win $765 million dollars in the lottery and decide to kick you out and ONLY leave you $200 million. Where would you move?


Here are some places I would personally move if I could afford to:

1. I would probably go to دبيّ‎ (Dubai) in the United Arab Emirates. First off I’m willing to bet you have never heard of it. Well let me put it this way… by far its one of the most beautiful and amazing places to live in the world if only you could afford to. If you take a house from Livonia that costs $400,000 and put it in Dubai it would cost $1.8 million. I would move in the Palm Islands or the World Islands. The Palm islands are man-made islands that from overview they look like a Palm tree. The 300 World Islands which put together make a map of the world are also man-made islands but cost about $25-30 million dollars each. Another place in Dubai I would move to is the Hydropolis, the world's first underwater hotel. It was entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai.

2. I would also want to live in Venice, Italy. It has an old fashioned but professional look; I also look like a place where some rich Wall Street guy would go to relax. Anyway, it has a nice Italian look especially all the water around the building and the old log boats and bridges. Even better than the scenery is probably the food. I’m Romanian but on any day I’ll eat an Italian Pasta cuisine rather than a Traditional Romanian dish unless it’s something I really like. While I would be there I would buy a nice Aston Martin Vanquish or Rolls Royce Phantom or Ghost to show off while I would be there.

After I find a place to stay I would need to choose my sort of transportation. Obviously I would buy more than one car but here is a car I would love to own:

Its the great Bugatti Veyron! Don’t know what it is? Shame on you! This car is by far one of my favorite cars and one of the priciest one on the market. The base price for this beauty is $1,700,000, but who say I would only go with the basic package. First I would have all tanned leather; silver paint, 21” rims, and the rich person touch an I-Pod dock.

http://www.dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL1.htm

Invisible!

Is there such thing as an invisible child? No, but people act like there are and seem to think that they are nonexistent or “invisible”. On Wednesday I went to see a presentation after school on child soldiers and refugees in Uganda. When I saw the short and simple 45 minute video I was astonished and left with no words. The images of the few hundred refugees sleeping in a room the size of our cafeteria kept flashing back and fourth. When I first heard about child soldiers, I thought of 14 or 15 year olds running around with AK47’s but they were as young as 8 and the gun was as tall as them.
Well over 30,000 children were abducted for the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), but the children that were abducted from villages were not counted. What also surprised me was how the refugees lived and what they did to stay alive. Some lived in wet cold tunnel-like places under hospitals, while others were forced to walk miles in fear of the rebels finding them.
A lot of the refugee children would say that if they were caught they would be killed or would be sent to the bush. The “bush” is a training camp for them, they are very terrified of it because if they disobeyed the simplest of orders they would be killed or tortured. The children also said if they cried in the bush they would be killed because crying means you are thinking of home and from now on they do no cry, even if they are not in the camps.
There was a group of 3 children who were hiding in tunnels under a hospital. The tunnel was usually wet, cold, and dirty. They had to get all the water out if there was any by taking a flat piece of plastic and “mopping” the water away outside. They also had no source of heat, were underground, and surrounded by cold concrete. The only source of heat was each other and thin blankets. They woke up every morning at 4:00 to get water and ready for the day, even though nobody told them they had to. They knew if they didn’t they wouldn’t survive too long.
If someone wants to see the reality of child soldiers I suggest that you watch the video. But before you do make sure you are ready to be sickened by what Joseph Kony (Leader of LRA) has done to innocent children so he can overthrow the current government. Just by watching the movie I have already signed a petition for Kony’s citizen arrest warrant that will raise awareness and will call president Obama to lead an effort to find him and stop him once and for all. I loved the experience because it opened my eyes to something I have never seen before. I wouldn’t recommend it for Globies only but for everyone

Swine Flu

Have you ever heard of the term H1N1 or in a simpler term swine flu?

I’m willing to bet you have, probably everyone has. I still remember a few years ago. The Bird Flu or the scientific term avian influenza or the “code name” H5N1; everybody was saying it was going to be the black plague of 2006, thousands of people were going to die, and some people actually started saving food up and making bunkers. Ok, back to the main subject –Swine Flu- I truly believe that it’s getting WAY too much attention than it really deserves. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be covered by new but for about 2 or 3 week straight every time I went to get some news for current events there was a least one story about how to prevent or stay safe from the sine flu or who just got it.

The media is just scaring people like us into believing that one simple sneeze could be the swine flu not the good ‘ole regular old flu, a cold, or even allergies. Now people start rushing to the emergency rooms thinking that they are going to die within a few minutes of getting it or something. After the release of a possible shot for it, the media once again has to say that the shot will kill you or whatever. After all that to make matters even worse doctors are starting to consider normal flu as swine flu just to be on the safe side.

Anyway I believe that the swine flu is going to hurt our economy even if it’s a scare. People are going to start to be afraid of going outside or in public areas such as malls or restaurants. The economy is already bad enough as it is but if people start getting scared that they are going to get it then they are going to stop shopping that much and that will take us back to the starting low point. Just today the Dow reached 10,000 for the first time in over a year. Just a simple scare as the swine flu could devastate us and our economy.

Anyways I believe that we should just ignore it, wash our hands, and keep shopping till'we drop. These days the media truly controls on how we think of most things because they only show the bad side and slander most of the things to get views and make more money. A few months ago the media tried a test; it was to show on a few news station that the ghost of Michael Jackson was spotted somewhere close to his house. The next day there were tens of thousands of people at the “sighting”. That just shows how gullible people are becoming.

http://www.newser.com/story/70763/swine-flu-victims-could-swamp-hospitals.html

My Dog

It was a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon; I was sitting on the sofa with my mom talking about what kind of dog to get. I wanted to get a Boxer or Rottweiler but she wanted a Shitzu or a Lhasa Apso. I didn’t want a small pathetic dog and she didn’t want a giant beast. We spent about an hour talking about what we should get, but we still couldn’t decide. I like Boxers because they are very manly dogs and look very strong, she likes the pathetic little doggies because she thinks that they have more love, affection, and bring happiness to people. When both of us were almost ready to give up we hear the garage door opening.

After a few seconds my dad walks in and before we could even ask him to help us decide he tells us that he found someone that has puppies for sale. But the only problem was that he wouldn’t tell us what kind of dog it was, he wanted to make it a surprise. A few days later he gets a call that the person that he ready to sell the puppy to us. So we quickly get on the car and speed off to the place where we were going to pickup the dog. It was about a 20 minute drive that felt like 2 hours. I couldn’t wait because I thought that it was going to be a big dog because my dad and I think the same a lot. My mom probably thought that since she was the only woman in the house he would find a dog for her.

After getting there we waited until my dad found the seller. After a few minutes my dad and the guy pull up next to us in this old but nice Cadillac. After they get out the guy my dad is holding something in a small towel. When I look at it looked like a miniature puppy. Darn I thought my mom had my dad get a small lap dog for her, after a few minutes I get the courage to ask what kind of dog it is and it turned out that it was a teacup Chihuahua. She was about the size of my palm and weighed probably as much as a cell phone. After a few hours of arguing we decided to name her Oreo but that name only lasted for about a week until my dad changed it to Stacey. After 1 year she hardly grew but gained some weight. She weighs about 6 pounds and still eats anything that is edible.

The First Day of School

I woke up too early, with enough time to spare. Felt the freezing chill up my spine of morning. I promptly got out of bed and got in the shower. Big mistake, the water was as cold as the Artic itself. After I was finished I started the treacherous quest towards my room. After I was warmed up I went downstairs for breakfast, I grabbed some cereal and milk and started digging in. after I was done I still thought I was running late so I briskly brushed my teeth and ran to my bus stop. Sadly I realized I was 20 minutes early and I was freezing. After a wait that felt like forever my bus came and picked me up. Once I got in I realized I was one of the first students to get on.
Once I got to school, it got even worse. First I had to march against a stampede of students to get to my locker, after that it was even worse I had to figure out how to get my locker open and where my classes were. The classes where not so bad, at least I got to see my old friends and make new ones. After all my classes I had to go to my locker get my papers and run to catch my bus. After a rather interesting bus ride I got home finding my dog waiting for me.

The ABC's of Dan Podina

A is for accomplished and authentic, which is what I am. I am one authentic and accomplished Romanian.


B is for Brilliant. Most people ting I’m not the brightest of the bunch but truth is deep down I know many more things.


C is for clever, and I am one clever person when it comes to getting into trouble.


D is for devilish and slightly dreamy. I will sometimes do things that most people would rather not do and somewhat I still dream of owning a Bugatti Veyron.


E is for elegant and eagle-eyed. I will notice something that most people will miss and of course how could I be a good Romanian unless I dress very elegant.


F is for fat and fortunate. I am fortunate that I’m in the United States. I’m not fat literally but sometimes I tend to like to be lazy and eat a lot of food.


H is for hopeful, I am always hopeful of most things even though I know I won’t get my mansion with a Maserati.


I is for independent and most the time I believe I would be able to survive most things by myself with no help.


J is for jolly and at Christmas time it seems like im Santa Claus because I’m so jolly.



K is for kid-like because I act like a kid most the time even thought I’ getting closer to becoming an adult.

Stevenson the First Week

Stevenson the First Week

Some might say that the first time you try something it’s going to be the hardest, and they are correct in almost every way possible. As an example I’m going to share an experience I once faced and thank God I am never going to have to go through again, the first week of High school.

It all started out with the sound of my alarm clock going off. Personally I believe the best alarms are when they start off silent and gradually increase in volume, no mine though. It’s just a plain big siren –not a police siren- more like a siren you would hear if a nuke just went off. Anyway I didn’t entirely remember what time I set it for so I obviously forget to check and I think I am running late so I quickly do whatever I’m suppose to do –shower, eat, brush teeth, and get dressed the whole nine yards- then without even looking at the time I go to my bus stop.

After waiting a few minutes in the dark I finally decide to look at my bus notification thingy. Then I realize my bus is supposed to come at 6:42 I thought to my self “no biggie”. After a few more minutes I check my phone it’s only 7:27, this is where the little saying the first time the hardest comes in. It was cold out and seconds started to feel like minutes and minutes into more minutes. Anyway after what felt like eternity my bus finally came.

After I got to school the second phase of the “little saying” went into affect, having to find my way around with no map or anything to help me. First I had to find my locker, took me about 15-20 minutes to find it (searched the entire A hall for it). After searching the entire school I find my classes and school is finally over. Then the 3 phase started, had to find my locker again enter my combination and mess up a few times. After all that I have to run to the busses I have to find my bus, I think to myself “better begin in the front of the buss line so I find it easier. After about 2 minutes of walking I find my bus the last one, obviously. After all that you can guess what happen the next few days to complete the week.