Three Pond Estate/...

Well, today I passed by the most exspensive home in the United States. I never heard of it until today. It is called Three Pond Estates and if you would like to buy it then just shell out 75 million dollars. It was great if you ask me...the only problem, where does a man come up with this kind of money. That leads me to my next thought.....how will I ever buy a house on Long Island if a decent neighborhood. Everything is so exspensive here. I feel like unless I make six figures within the first 5 years of coming out of college I will never be able to live here. The question is then where do I live. I love Long Island. I guess I am just goign to have to work hard and make those six figures.

Police Canine Unit

Police Canine Unit

The use of work dogs first came about in 1899, in Germany. The dogs that the German army used were early German sheepdogs. The German’s really used these dogs extensively during the First World War. The United States army did not begin to use dogs for protection/work until World War II. The armies though were not the only time these were used though. In the United States, police dogs broke into the scene in 1907, when South Orange County, New Jersey and the New York City Police Department each began to use German Shepherds to assist them in their police work. Throughout years more and more police agencies began to incorporate police dogs into their departments. This growing number of police dogs called, for a need in a central agency. On October 22, 1977; the North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWDA) was formed in order to “assist police work dog teams throughout the world.”
The North American Police Work Dog Association is an organization that helps standardize the police dogs all over the United States. They set these standards in order to protect the public and make sure that the dogs are a useful tool in aiding in police work. The NAPWDA has a criteria of seven areas in which the police dog must be trained in. These areas include obedience, agility, building searches, area searches, article searches, tracking, and aggression control. These are the just the standard criteria that a police dog must meet. A police dog can also specialize in one three areas they include: narcotics, explosive, and cadaver. First though let’s look at how these dogs are selected and trained by the police department (The North American Police Work Dog Association).
The police departments today, tend to use male German Shepherds as their preferred dog breed. This is because German Shepherds tend to be very trainable, they have the ideal body type, and they are very well suited for different environments. For example, on Long Island they have hot summers and cold winters. The German shepherd has the perfect coat (fur) for this because it does make the dog too hot in the summer and it keeps the dog warm enough in the winter. Though German Shepherds are the ideal dog for most departments; the officers in the department must select these dogs themselves. The head trainer selects the dogs from a vender that travels to Europe a few times a month. The vender usually obtains the dogs from Slovakia, Hungary, and Germany. This is because these dogs are bred for work; on the other hand dogs in the United States are bred for show purposes.
The selection process of these dogs is usually made by the head trainer. The first thing the trainer is looking for the dog to be in generally good health and to have the proper drive. The drive in the dog can be defined as the cause of the dogs actions; the dogs natural instincts. In a police dog an officer is looking for a dog with high prey drive and a fair amount of defensive drive. A high prey drive is when a dog wants to hunt its prey and the defensive drive would how the dog would protect itself and its handler.
When the handler finally, receives his/her dog they must begin a bonding process with the dog immediately. The dog must come accept the handler as the leader and trust his leader. In order to bond with the dog properly the officers are given some advice on what to do with their dogs when they get them. The officer must be the sole caregiver for the dog and must have a supportive and positive attitude around the dog. In addition, the handler must learn about the tendencies that his new partner has by observing the dog, while you are not in contact with the dog. Finally, the officer is advised to correct the dog, but must always praise the dog after the dog fixes his mistake. This will give the dog reassurance. The next step after initial bonding would to begin training the dog for police work (Fuelbier).
The initial training that is required of all police dogs take place with the handler and his dog. This is generally a seventeen week course. This course allows the dogs and trainers to fulfill the requirements that the NAPWDA sets. When training these dogs it is important to understand that these dogs are motivated by instincts and not by their mental capacity. The dog does not understand the reason for his actions, the dogs actions are innate; a part of their drives. A dog’s drives can be broken down into six different drives and all of these drives must be utilized in order the help train the dog. The six drives that the dog has are fight, prey, survival, rank, guard, and protection (The North American Police Work Dog Association).
Ø Fight- drive to measure physical prowess
Ø Prey- chase/bite
Ø Survival- self-defense
Ø Rank- alpha displays (higher rank in pack)
Ø Guard-warn intruders
Ø Protection- defend pack

When training these dogs the officers will use various techniques in order to get the desired results from the dogs. The type of technique that is favored when training police dogs is a stimulus and reward technique. For example, the officer will tell the dog to sit and if the dog sits, they will either be rewarded with a toy or a praise command. All of these dogs begin with basic training with obedience on and off the leash. The officers use both verbal and hand signals to train these dogs. The verbal part of the training is usually in German. The reason that the officers use German for training these dogs is because dogs do not actually know the words; they just react to the tone of your voice. The German tends to cause a person to have various tones due to its harshness (the voice inflection of German is more stimulating to the dog). Additionally, this will allow communication to be between handler and the dog only. An outside would not be able to give the dogs commands. It provides both the officer and dog with safety as well. An example of a German command would be “Platz” (Pl-ah-tss) which means down. The reason that the handlers also use hand signals is because they may need to be quiet at times that way they do not give up their location to criminals or the dog may not be able to hear the officer, but can see the officer and the officer will still be able to communicate with his dog. The next step in training after obedience would be agility. The officers test the dog’s agility by making them complete an obstacle course. The obstacle course consists of various small spaces, cat walks, windows and many other things. This not only works on the each dog’s agility, but allows the dog to be ready for whatever situation that comes about while on the force. The picture below is the obstacle course for the Suffolk County Police Department Canine Unit. In the picture there are hurdles, tunnels, and a cat walk. This allows the dog to increase their agility and furthermore it enhances trust between the dog and his handler. The reason it enhances trust is because the dog learns that the handler will not do anything to hurt them (Fuelbier).
The next step in training the dog after he completes his basic obedience and agility would to begin teaching the dog how to search and track. These next few parts of training go hand in hand. The dog is trained to track the freshest human scent, not the scent of the person they are looking for. Firstly, the officers usually do not know the scent of the person they are looking for. Therefore the dogs are taught to track the freshest human scent. The way in which the police department teaches this is by hiding fake guns and people in the woods or in boxes. This is the way in which they teach the dog to find lost individuals, felons, and lost/discarded evidence.
Finally, the dog moves onto step number seven in regards to the training for the NAPWDA. The dog then learns aggression control. This teaches the dog how to get a fleeing felon and how to protect the handler from a physical attack. In this section of the training course, the dog is taught how to bite properly. The dog is taught to bite with a full mouth and to grasp a limb. They are taught to hold on when they bite the felon and not to let go until they are told to do so. This prevents injury to both the dog and the officer. After all of this extensive training the handlers and their dogs must complete a certification test.
After the dog completes the initial seventeen week training course and passes the certification test the dog is then ready to work on the street. The dogs will then work on the street for at least six months that way the dog can acuminate. When, the officer and the trainer feel the dog is ready they will then put the dog back into a twelve week class. This twelve week class is when the dogs will become specialized as either a explosive, narcotic, or cadaver dog.
These dogs are then trained for their specific function. Each dog must react to what they find in a different way. An explosive dog is trained to give a passive signal to its handler (a sit). This is because a dog that reacts with a bark or scratching could set off the explosive device. The cadaver and drug dogs on the other hand react in a much different manner. These dogs are taught to dig at the source and to bark. This indicates to the officer to check that location. After the dogs complete this training course they then take a test in their specific area of study. These dogs must re-certify every year in their specialty area and must re-certify every three years in the basic training section.
Throughout their career these dogs go to work forty hours a week or more until they reach between the ages of nine to eleven years of age. Eight of the forty hours a week are dedicated to maintenance training. This keeps the dogs sharp and performing at their top level. These dogs are a tool for the patrol officers and detectives; they help apprehend criminals, find missing persons, recover proceeds, find drugs, find explosives, and recover remains of victims or discover a crime scene. These dogs have become essential to most police departments throughout the United States. The Suffolk County Police Department Canine Section as hole averages two-hundred and fifty apprehensions a year with numerous evidence recoveries. In addition, the unit finds about one to two million dollars in drug proceed per years. This really illustrates to the public how useful these canine units have become in keeping our society much safer. Since September 11, 2001; there has been a great increase in the usefulness of the explosive dogs in particular. They are now used for airport security, bomb sweeps for famous people and politicians and to search suspicious packages.
In these dogs careers, they do all they can to protect and serve us just like their handling officer. There have been dogs throughout the country that have been injured by criminals and in some cases even killed. Most of these dogs though tend to go off into retirement. When the dog retires he is only given to his handling officer otherwise the dog is put to sleep (officer almost always take the dogs unless the officer is injured and cannot care of the dog). The officer must sign a hold harmless release which absolves the police department of responsibility if the dog bites or injuries some one.
All in all, the canine is a useful tool to police departments around the United Sates and the globe. These dogs have really taken the police that they work with to another level. These police forces tend to have the lowest crime rates in the areas they patrol.

Capoeira

Capoeira! What is that? That is what I said to myself when my teacher said if your doing the Brazillian culture you have to take a class in it. Well Dustin Hoffman , was actually doing Capoeira in "Meet the Fockers" It is the art of Brazillian martial arts and dance. I went to this place called "arte capoeira" It is located in midtown manhattan. I took a class for two hours on a saturday. I really enjoyed the class a lot. I did feel out of place because most of the people that were there were really good, even if it was a beginner class. The first part of class was a fitness portion. We did push ups, sit ups, and stretching. It was very physically demanding.

We then started to do this thing gin sing. This is the base position of capoeira. It put a lot of strain on my knees. When you did this move you had to always have your face covered with one of your arms. Everything in this type of martial arts was a controlled movement I learned. It was very difficult to do .

The class then ended with people getting "Baptize" This is when a person moves up in ranking. All in all, I had a great time at this class.

Irish in New York

In America today, there are many different people from all over the globe. It is normal to see this in the United States. The late 1800’s and early 1900’s was when there was the first great influx of immigrants; in the early days of the United States this was not common. This first influx of immigrants would be the Irish. Today, when people see an Irish person in the United States it is considered normal and not out of the ordinary, but this was not always the case. The first flux of Irish Immigrants came to the United States in the early 1800’s and there was only an increase in the number of immigrants from Ireland since then.
When these Irish immigrants came to America they were not welcome with open arms. These Irish immigrants faced many hardships and throughout this paper we are going to explore these hardships and analyze the effects it had on the Irish and their moral. Through Irish music we are going to be able to see some of the hardships they faced and how they felt about these hardships.
These immigrants all had to get up and leave their country for various reasons. In Ireland, these people were facing many hardships at that time. During this particular time period in Ireland the Irish were facing many prejudices: they included prejudices towards Catholics from the protestant church and also political subordination. The only thing these people could do was immigrate to another place in search of a better life. The years, in which Irish immigration was greatest to the United States though, was in the 1840’s. This was due to the Irish potato famine that occurred in 1845. This led to millions of Irish people starving and because they had no crops to sell it led to great poverty throughout the nation- in addition to a food shortage. These people had no choice, but to get up and move to another place. Millions of these people wound up coming to America, in particular New York City. (The Journey to America: The Irish).
The Irish people’s journey to America usually consisted of them coming over on the steerage class of a ship. They would make the journey to New York City with everything that they had or could carry. This usually was very little because most of these immigrants coming over from Ireland were very poor. When they finally, did arrive in New York they would receive a medical inspection. If the immigrant failed the medical inspection, they would be shipped to Staten Island and the ship would be quarantined for thirty days. If they were to make it through the medical inspection, they would then face a legal inspection. This would a series of questions that inspectors would ask to the immigrants to see if they lied on their legal papers. If the immigrant made it past this inspection they would then be granted admission into the United States (Irish Potato Famine).
When the Irish finally, arrived in New York City, they were usually greeted by people called, “runners.” These people known as runners were able to speak both Gaelic and English. These runners promised to help the Irish immigrants, but this was not the case. The runners wound up being con-artists, which would take advantage of the Irish immigrant. They runners would tell the Irish immigrant about good places to stay in the city. Furthermore, the runner would tell the immigrants lies in regards to these shelters. They would say, “It is a boarding house operated by a friend, with good meals, comfortable rooms, affordable rates, and free storage of any luggage.” This was not the case of these shelters at all. The housing that these runners were actually talking about was tenements on the lower east side that were in horrible living conditions (Irish Potato Famine).
These tenements that were located on the lower east side of Manhattan were not fit for people to live in. The cellar tenements were unsuitable for any human being to live in, yet the Irish had to adapt and were basically forced to live there. These conditions led to weakness and death in the Irish community. These terrible living conditions that the Irish found themselves in led them to be even more ostracized by main stream America. They lived in areas with a lot of sewage and waste is the streets. This led to many diseases spreading throughout the Irish community. As one can see these were not the same conditions that the runners described to these immigrants that had just got off the boat. They were not provided with meals or comfortable rooms. People would cram into three rooms sleeping wherever they could find room. The apartments tended to be dark with very little light at night. There was only one window in the entire apartment and wall would prevent light from getting into the other two rooms. The owners of the apartments would also overcharge them for the rent of these apartments.
The men in these families would be forced to work long days in order to support their families and pay their rent. In Ireland, most of these men would have been farmers, but here in America they did not have the capital and land to be farmers. They were forced to work jobs as unskilled laborers. These jobs usually consisted of working at the docks, digging canals, and working on the railroads. All they had to do was move dirt from one place to another. These jobs consisted of long hours with little pay and were very tiring. The women would also have to obtain jobs outside of the home in order to help support the family. This led to deterioration in the home life for the Irish immigrants (Irish Potato Famine).
The children of the immigrants would be left to fend for themselves at home. The children of these immigrants in New York would be forced to help out their parents at a young age if they were healthy enough. The Irish immigrant’s infants had a high mortality rate. This was due to the infants drinking swill milk. Swill milk is milk that is contaminated because the farmers were feeding the cattle leftovers from the brewery. This would cause the milk to lose its nutritious value; in turn the infants would get sick and die from this. The children that stayed healthy though, would work in order to help support the family. The boys would help with manual labor and the girls would help mothers make dresses or the girls would work in a clothing factory. When the Irish, were not working though we are able to see that they are able to enjoy themselves (Meagher).
The Irish as a group of people in general tend to enjoy their music. When exploring Irish music, we can see this is what they would do during their leisure time. The Irish would play jigs, reels, and songs in order to express themselves. They would usually play in the parlor of their homes and enjoy singing and dancing. When examining Irish song lyrics we can see that the Irish tended to be a happy group of people despite the hardships and prejudices they faced when they got to America. For instance, a song that was published in 1874, by E.H Harding and that was written and sung by Ed Harrigan is a great example of the Irish immigrants’ moral while in New York City. When I observed this song, one of the lines went like this, “in a tenement house with me brother Dan.” This shows us the location of the Irish at this period in time. Then when looking at the chorus we see the mood of the Irish at this time. The lyrics from the chorus go like this, “So come with me I will treat you dacint, I’ll sit you down and I will fill your can, And along the street all the friends I meet, Say there goes Muldoon he’s a solid man.” The authors, J.J. Lee and Marion Casey, of Making the Irish American: History of the Irish in the United States, then go on to say that Harrigan portrays the Irish in a positive sense in his song lyrics. Harrigan brings out the positive achievement that Irish made and allows the listeners to see the character of the Irish in America (New York) and additionally it allows the listener to see their Irish pride (Lee and Casey 381-393).
Through these lyrics we were able to that the Irish were able to maintain there culture in America despite their hardships. In the United States of America today, Irish people are very common. They are part of mainstream America and there have been many different great influxes of immigrants from all over the world since the Irish. These immigrants all tend to go through the same cycle. The Irish just happened to be the first very large group of immigrants to go through this process.
The Irish did survive this process in America and now there is a great influence of Irish culture in New York City today. There is great influence of Irish pubs, music, and food in New York City. We can back to the tenements that the early Irish lived in and we get a sense of what it was like for them during this time. We now know from these experiences of visiting the tenements and listening to Irish music; what the Irish went through and how reacted to it. From our experiences we saw how bad the conditions of where they lived were, but we were also able to see how they kept a positive attitude through their musical lyrics. Today, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by all the people in the United States; that is how great Irish influence has become in this country, particularly New York City.

Job Fair

Today I went to the job fair for one of my two activities on campus. The job fair was very interesting to me, but at the same time it was almost useless to me. The employers that are at the job fair are not interested in freshmen. They are looking mostly for juniors and seniors because they are looking to hire people. There are two companies that I talked to. The first company was the Internal Revenue Service. The second company was Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP.
The Internal Revenue used the approach of salary to try to reel me into their company. They discussed the starting salary for a person with an accounting degree with no CPA and with a CPA. The salaries were significantly different; though I was not very amused by this company.
The second accounting firm I spoke with, Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP, took a different approach to recruiting their future employees. They recruited on a personal level. The woman spoke about being able to have a career and family life at home. She also spoke about how the firm handles large companies, but you work in smaller groups and feel as if you contributed.
All in all, I felt as if this was a great stepping stone for me. It allowed me to see what companies are offering and I can get a better sense of what I would like for my future.

Interview Police Officer

Interview
Ralph Fuellbier (head trainer)

History of officer: 20 years in police department, 12 in canine. 48 years old wife four kids. Trainer for 10 years. Patrol and bomb dog handler.



1) Where do you get the dogs from?

The dogs are obtained through a vender who travels to Europe two or three times a month and mostly deals with breeders in Slovakia, Hungary, and Germany.

2) What kind of dogs do you use? Why?

German Shepherds because very trainable and the body type is ideal for this line of work and our environment.

3) What are you looking for in a dog when you go to pick them out?

First we look at their confirmation and health. We look for their specific drives. A drive is the dog’s reaction to outside stimuli. They look for dogs with high prey drive. It means they want to hunt their prey. They also look for a fair amount of defensive drive. Which means the dog will protect itself and the handler. The dog will fight if he or the handler is threatened.

4) What type of commands do you use? Why?

We use German commands because of the sound/inflection of the words and how the dogs react to them. As an example, to track we use the German word “such” (zoo-chuh)

5) How long do you train a dog for?

The initial training is seventeen weeks. This consists of obedience, agility, tracking, building searches, evidence search, area searches, and handler protections (or bite work). After the initial patrol training we prefer that the dog spend at least 6 months on the street to acuminate. Then they back go back in specialty training class. Explosives, drug, or cadaver: this additional last from 8-12 weeks. After their initial train maintence training is on going for at least 8 hours per week.
6) What type of techniques do you use when training them?

In general we use operant or instrumental conditioning. Which is were the dog is presented with a stimulus and rewarded for a trained response. An example would be the dog is given the auditory stimulus of the word sit and physical stimulus of being pushed down and pulled up by the lead into a sit position. Immediately there after the dog is presented with a reward or toy/praise.

7) How are the officers selected?

The officers need to have a minimum of 5 years street experience and have a good a resume being active on patrol with little sick time. The officers then must complete a physical fitness test and oral interview with the commanding officers.

8) Do you have any specialty training with them? How long is that training?
9) What the purpose of the obstacle course?

The obstacle course gets the dog ready for obstacles that he may find in real street work (hopping fences), but trained in a controlled environment.
10) Is there a certain way, in which the dog is supposed to bite?

Yes, the dog is taught to bite with a full mouth and grasp either an arm or leg. They are taught to hold on and not release the bite until commanded. The reason for this is to prevent undo injury to the perpetrator or to allow him to escape.

11) What is the function of these dogs?

The canine is a tool for the patrol officer or detective division to use for a variety of reasons. Whether it is to apprehend criminals, find missing persons, recover proceeds or lost articles, find drugs, search for explosives or recover remains of victims or discover a crime scene.

12) How do they respond when they find explosives and drugs?

When the dogs find explosives they are taught to give a passive indication (sit response) because trigger off the device. If a dog finds drugs a cadaver they are taught to dig at the source.

13) How long does a dog work for?

About 8 years this depends on the health and physical abilities of the dog. Some dog can work up to 11 years of age and some dogs have only worked up to 9 years of age.

14) What happens to the dog when they retire?

The dog is then given to the officer where it then lives at home with the officers family. The officer must sign a hold harmless release which absolves the police department of responsibility if the dog bites or injures someone.

15) How do you become a trainer?
I had to apprentice under the prior trainer and attend various seminars and certification courses sponsored by various state agencies.
16) How are the dogs certified?

The dogs are certified through the Suffolk County Police Department and through New York State division of criminal justice services. (BMP) Bureau of Municipal Police. This certification is done at the end of the basic training or specialty training and the dogs are reevaluated yearly for specialty training and once every 3 years for patrol training.

17) How are the dogs with the officer’s family?
18) Have any dogs been injured? Do they recover?

Yes, we have had some dogs killed (shot), some stabbed and injured during apprehensions, but generally those are rare occasions and the dogs tend to make full recoveries.
19) What is the average amount of apprehensions/ drug finds?

The Unit as a hole averages 250 apprehensions per years with numerous evidences recovery and approximately 1-2 million in drug proceeds per year.

DNY

I am sitting here thinking of ideas on how we should present what we discovered in our DNY class to the other DNY classes. I am thinking that being we did the Irish in New York City that maybe we have a piece of oaktag that is made into the Irish flag. Then we could put pictured of the Irish tenements in the middle because that would show the New York part of the Irish. Then we we could have pictures with captions of some Irish instuments surrounding the tenements. Maybe the captions could be in the form of musical notes because we really focused on the Irish music in New York City. We saw an Irish concert and maybe we could have some of the lyrics to their songs on the poster.

Well to be completely honest I am out of my bad ideas. I am not that creative and I tend to do things by the book. If anyone has any suggestions please leaves some comments with ideas. Thanks!!

Reflection on Handbook

I'm taking today to reflect on the handbook project that we did in class. This is one of the best projects that an Enlgish class do if you were to ask me. When, students are forced to learn information becuase they must present it, is always a great way to foster teaching to me. It allows the students to see what other students do not understand. The students that are presenting the information, knew a lot about the information, but were able to learn more because of the questions the other students asked. It was also nice to have the teacher there for further explaination. It allowed for a nice mix of knowledge. For me getting the knowledge from all these sources was much better because it kept me more focused becuase there was more variation.

All in all this was a great project for the class. It seemed to me as if everyone was involved and that all students in the group partcipated. It also allowed us to know one another much better, which is always good to start friendships with your classmates.

A-rod

Ever since Alex Rodrigues has come to the New York Yankees, he has been under a ton of pressure. The man is probably the greatest player to ever play the game and yet he is still not good enough for the Yankee fans. In his second year with the Yankees, A-rod won the American League MVP. Supposedly last year A-rod had a bad year. Well if you ask me anyone in the MLB hit .290 with 35 home runs and over 100 rbi's thats a great year for them. Since, it is A-rod they expected .330 with 50 home runs and 200 rbi's. In addition, they say that he is not clutch and cannot hit with runners in scoring position. That is a blatant lie, because in order to drive in over 100 runs, he would have to have hit with runners in scoring position.

This year though A-rod has been off to a red hot start. He did make an error in game one, but he stole a base to get into scoring position then socred the winning run. He also gave his pitchers some insurance runs by hitting a home run. To top that though the other day A-rod hit a walk off grand slam. There were 2 outs in the 9th with the bases loaded and the Yankess trailed 7-6. There is nothing more clutch then that... So Yankee fans get off A-rods back and just let him play ball because he is going to break the home run record, with out cheating.

Birthday Weekend

This past weekend was both of my parents birthdays. I felt bad that I was not really able to spend anytime with my parents on their birthday beccause of work and when I got home from work on Sunday they were an hour away from me. I was happy though that the presents my brother and I got my parents made them happy. We got my father an ipod and a navigation system for his birthday, being the man owns more cds than anyone I else I know. My mother we just got her a gift certificate to the mall so she can pick out almost whatever she wants. On Sunday night we celebrated both of their birthdays at like 10 because they did not get home from my aunts house until around then. We got a really good canoli cake from this bakery in town. It was soo good!!! Anyways that was the extent in which we celebrated their birthday's I feel bad, but they know I needed to work and they didn't mind too much.

Work

This week off was dedicated all to work to no play. The only thing I did this week was work for money and do school work. I started thursday off working 4-12 at night I then had to wake up at 7 ti be in for work at 8am. I worked 8-3 then I had a 2 hour break and then went back in from 5-12 midnight to cover for another manager that was sick. After that I then had to work from 8am to 12 pm. Finally, I had some time to work on my handbook project and DNY paper. I did watch a lacrosse game though. Then I worked Easter Sunday from 8-4. That was basically my entire break...very exciting. Anyways, I want to go away this summer so I need the money in order to do the things that I want to do being my parents can't give me money like they used to because they have to pay for college for me and my brother.

Ellis Island

This morning just started off great. I had to go to Ellis Island for Discover New York. I went by myself, because this was one of the independent parts of Discover New York and everyone else had class today, except me. I woke up at 6 and i left my dorm room by 6:30. I then had to find a metro-card. I could not find one anywhere!! Finally, I got one and I hopped on the Q46 bus to Kew Gardens. From there I took the E train to Penn Station. I then had to go walk a block over and get onto the 1 train. I took the 1 train all the way to the end which is South Ferry. From there I had to walk through Battery Park to the Circle Line ferry. The line was soo long for the ferry and it was only 8. I still was able to make the first ferry at 8:30. It was then a 30 minute ferry ride to Ellis Island. When I got to the Island at 9 I got right to work and flew through the whole Island. I explored most of the rooms and got a good sense of what the immigrants went through and felt. I then looked up my families name and found it on the wall. It was actually very interesting. I then caught the 10:45 ferry back and I was able to make it back to St. John's by one. It was then time for me to go home for break. Thank Goodness.

I Miss You Kid

This day is April first, to most it is April fools day. To me though this day this day has meaning. This day I will remeber forever, since April first, 2005. This is that day a great friend of mine lost his battle with cancer. I remember the day like it was yesterday. At the end of 8th period I here an announcement will the Boy Varsity Soccer Team please report to the little theatre. I get down there wondering what is going on. I look in the room and see a non-soccer teacher there and I knew. I fell to the floor crying and refused to believe it happened. I then went for a long walk on this day, with a counselor. We walked and talked for 30 min. I then went to the locker room to talk to my tennis coach because I had a match this day. He told me I didnt have to play, but I knew Ryan would want me to. I could not let the team down. The match was not until 4:30 though. I got back to the little theater and I a teacher gave me a water bottle of dasani. I then walked out crying again and I saw my best friend alyssa. Alyssa and I then walked and talked until 15 min before my tennis match. I played the fastest tennis match of my life I won 6-0 6-0, to be honest I didnt even realize I won until the other kid told me. I dropped to the ground and just cried. That night I had me and my closest friends over and we just ate a pizze and reminisced about the good times we had with Ryan. I will never forget Ryan and he taught me to live my life to the fullest.

When does it end?

1) English Proposal
2) DNY Irish Paper
3) DNY Ellis Island Trip
4) DNY Brazil Presentation
5) Persuasive Speech
6) Handbook Project
7) Theo Test
8) Bio Test

Well this is my list of school work due before the Easter Recess. I am taking time out of doing this work right now in order to blog. This is relieving stress for me. Though I must stop procrastinating, and finish this work so I can relax. Well, I hope after this break I will be able to breathe again. Welll that is it for this entry.

By the way its really nice out and I want to be outside.

Hallacious Night

This friday night started out as any other friday night, for a college student. People gathered in a dorm room discussing what they are going to do for that night. Well on this particular friday the debate was between going to see the Ninja Turtles Movie or to go Cosmic Bowling. In the end, everyone decided on cosmic bowling. The next step was to find a bowling ally. So the first place mark calls up they are like yeah we have cosmic bowling and its only $2.00 a game. He hangs up and I was like good mark way to find out where it is and are you sure its only $2 a game. Well is wound up being a bowling ally in Missouri. Finally, he called a bowling ally in NEw York. He figured out that we had to take the Q30 to Jamiaca then get onto the Q5 and take that to the bowling ally. Well, Mark told us to get off the bus at the wrong stop. We wound up south of Hillside in one of the worst neighborhoods. As, we were roaming around as the outcasts there, 3 cops aproached us and said, "You are either lost kids from Long Island or buying drugs." They go you kids dont belong here and they led us to the Q5. We get on the Q5 and ask the bus driver where we have to get off. He goes oo you kids have a long time about 30-40 min. We were like no way its way to late at this point. We got off at the next stop in another bad neighborhood. We went into a NYC Crown Chicken. There was bullet proof glass between us and the cashiers. We were like o great another bad area. Two cops then walk buy and see us and ask us if we are okay because we did not fit the description of the typical person in this neighborhood. They then helped us get a number for a cab company and waiting with us until the cab got there. In the end we wound up in the worst neighborhoods in Queens, did not go bowling and wasted 3 hours of our night. It made us very uncomfortable when the cop said we don't belong there. That is when you know it is bad.

Where are these sneakers?

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Adidas puts computer on new footing
By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Hoping the new Adidas 1 will be to the sneaker industry what Apple's iPod has been to digital music, Adidas will put on sale March 18 what it bills as the world's first computerized "smart shoe."
The 'Adidas 1' uses a sensor,a microprocessor and amotorized cable system.
But consumers will decide whether the bionic running shoe's $250 price tag — four times the average shoe purchase at stores such as Foot Locker — is a smart idea.
Adidas claims its new shoe, already profiled in Time and Popular Science, delivers on its promise to automatically and continually adjust itself to a runner's size, pace, terrain and even fatigue level.
The Adidas 1 uses a sensor, a microprocessor and a motorized cable system to automatically adjust the shoes' cushioning. The sensor under the heel measures compression and decides whether the shoe is too soft or firm. That information is sent to the microprocessor and, while the shoe is in the air, the cable adjusts the heel cushion. The whole system weighs less than 40 grams.
Batteries are included: replaceable lithium batteries estimated to be good for 100 hours of running. Users can turn the shoe's brain off — when it's off, they're regular sneakers — to save battery life. The chip also shuts itself off, keeping the same cushioning, if a runner walks more than 10 minutes.
Adidas' computer-driven shoe — three years in the making — is the latest innovation in the $16.4 billion U.S. sneaker industry, following other technology-driven shoes such as the Nike Shox and Reebok Pump.
Predicting Adidas 1 will turn the industry "upside down," communications chief Uli Becker says it rolls out worldwide by April 1. The primary sales targets: hard-core runners — and 17-year-old boys looking for the newest, coolest shoes. "This is new territory ... that we want to define," says Becker.
But will consumers shell out $250 for a pair of sneakers? Maybe.
Shoe fanatics have been known to drop $300 to several thousand for genuine 1980s-vintage Nike Air Jordans.
The top-end running shoe from New Balance lists for $199.99. With runners typically replacing shoes by 500 miles, the $250 Adidas could push costs to 50 cents per mile, though the company says Adidas 1 cushioning will outlast traditional shoes.
A retail expert says that's beside the point. "Yes, there will be price resistance. But there will be plenty of people who have to be the first on the block to have them," predicts Marshal Cohen, chief analyst for NPD Group.
Bob McGee, editor of Sporting Goods Intelligence, says the "retro" shoe trend is waning and performance sales are heating up, allowing higher prices: "People are going back to running shoes and basketball shoes."
Adidas is spending an estimated $20 million on the roll-out. Film director Spike Jonze has created several cinematic, big-budget TV spots with ad agency 180/TBWA San Francisco. The theme: "Impossible is Nothing."
In the first TV ad, the shoes tie themselves onto the feet of a young man waking up in darkness, then light up new worlds for him with every step. There are no star athletes — the campaign "tries to make the shoes the hero," says Chuck McBride, creative director of TBWA/Chiat/Day North America.
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kerotakis images

I was scanning through some people's blogs today and I came across something that intrested me on Professor Marsh's blog. I saw an image in one of his cbook entries. The title to the image was kerotakis images. I had absolutly no idea what this mean or was. I could not really make out the picture either. I decided to investigate these kerotakis images.

I went to google and searched kerotakis and it came up with a bunch of websites with information. The first website actually had the same picture that was on Professor Marh's blog.
Underneath the image though it expanded on what the images were of. These were all images of furnaces and apparatuses. I had also found that it had to do with alchemists and the setup of their labratories. It is sort of a map of how things are layed out in the labratory.

All in all that was the gist of the information I could find. It could be something intresting to further investigate, though I do not know if there is much more to know about that individual picture, one would be able to investigate an alchemist and his/hers techniques and setups.

Reflection

I went back and read over the paper I wrote and after reading your comments, I have realized that my writing has a long way to go. These comments were defiantly a help to me and my writing ability and they made me go back and think about what I could have done differently to improve this paper. The paper definitely could have flowed a lot smoother and been more focused in. I do feel a little discouraged from writing since this paper though because it did not turn out the way I wanted it to turn out.
Due to these comments and my self-reflection on the paper, I feel as if I was lied to throughout high school or was I? This paper to me was one of the most difficult papers I had ever written, due to the broadness. Though it was not a bad thing, it was just a new thing that I did not know how to do. It has brought about a different style of writing to me. I have never conducted a research paper in this conduct. A typical research paper consisted of me going to the library and scanning through books and magazines for information. In this paper I incorporated interviews into my research process and I have never written a paper using interview information. I was not comfortable incorporating that kind of research material into my paper.
I do agree with Dr. Marsh’s comments on my paper. I definitely did have trouble sorting the information. I could have narrowed it down to a specific section in the NCAA handbook and my paper would have not been all over the place. In addition, this would lead to more of a flow in the paper and I would have had more of a progression. Also, the use of transition words would have benefited my paper greatly and it would have helped the flow and could have decreased the amount of “baby” sentences. The sentences could have become more sophisticated. In turn this would prove my writing and flow greatly because it would be less choppy sentences.
All in this paper has taught me a lot about myself as writer. I can use this experience to grow as a better writer when it involves research that is not just in a book. It has taught me to narrow things down and to better focus a paper.

Italian Sunday

Today I left my house at 8 AM in order to get back to St. John's to get to the Italy soccer practice at 11. I got in unpacked my stuff and got dressed for soccer. At soccer we scrimmaged inside Carnessecca Arena for about 3 hours. It was a ton of fun. After soccer I went to my friend Giusseppe's nonna's house. There she made us dinner at about 5 PM. There were five us us there from the soccer team. It was me Ando, Vito, Sal, and Giusseppe. We sat around for about 4 hours eating with his nonni. It was very good food. We had pasta, meatballs, and zucchini for dinner. The for dessert we picked up assorted cookies and st josephs pastrie, because tomorow is St Joseph's Day. We then got back to the dorms at about 10PM. I am going to sleep soon because I have to be in Manhattan by 8:45 tomorow morning.

Intelligent Self-direction

This is a very intresting question that the Vision Quest guidebook poses to us as students. What does intelligent self-direction mean to you? To be completly honest I am not one hundred percent sure what intelligent self0direction means to me so, I went and did some research. I went onto dictionary.com and looked up the definition of "intelligent." I came up with having a good understand or a higher mental capacity. That I guess takes care of intelligent. Now it is time to do some research on self-direction. Self-direction means to be guided by oneself.

After doing this research I compiled it together and came up with my own theory on intelligent self-direction. To me intelligent self-direction is using your higher knowledge to make wise decsions. The basis of these decisions should be based upon your life lessons and should lead you toward one of your life goals. It will allow you to take a path to your goal, that way you are able to accomplish what you want. It can said, that intelligent self-direction is the wisest way to your life goal.

Rangers

Tonight I went to a New York Ranger hockey game with my roommate. We watched them play the Ottawa Senators. The Ranger blew a 2-0 lead, but we still had a lot of fun. We had crappy tickets because we got them from a friend last minute, but sitting in the 400 section at a Ranger game wound up being pretty intresting.

There was this drunk "white trash" woman next to us screaming and cursing. It was very entertaining. There was also an old man, that looked innocent, but he was screaming his head off cursing at the players and other people. I guess you should never judge a book by its cover.

Anyway I have been watching the Rangers play hockey since before I can remember, but I do remember the 1993-1994 season when they won the Stanley Cup. I would watch every game. I would actually keep a score sheet and my mom would fill it out for me at the end because I would always have to go to bed before the end of the game. The only time I was allowed to stay up to watch the games was when it was the Stanley Cup finals. That Stanley Cup finals was awesome to me. I'll always remember Brian Leetch tripping Pavel Bure and the Canucks' got a penalty shot. It was Bure vs. Mike Richter. Bure faked, but Richter made a split save on the him and it changed the hole momentum of the game. The entire series was back and forth. The Rangers were finally able to edge the Canucks in game 7 at Madison Square Gardem. It was awesome to watch it.

I hope the Rangers make the playoffs this year and that they can win another Stanley Cup, but if they are to do that they must not give up 2 goal leads anymore.

Getting Ready...

I am sitting here at Stony Brook Univeristy, waiting for my friends to get ready. They are taking forever and I am really bored. I decided to blog while they sit here and dry their hair. Why so much hair I ask? Well thats all I have to say. I'm just getting my frustration out because I am tired and cranky and hungry.

WORK

I have had the same job for almost three years. I work at CVS/Pharmacy in Holbrook. It is a pretty good job for now. The boss there treats me very well and gives me almost all the hours that I want. I started at this CVS when I was sixteen years old. Throughout the years I have received various prmotions, but college has prohibited me from getting the two promotions that I really wanted. They are "head cashier" and "shift supervisor." The raises that I have receives are the photo raise and the phototechnician raise. I also get my yearly raises.

Since I went to college though it was pointless for them to give me those other two raises because I would not be there enough to be useful to them. As a head cashier you get change and give cashiers authorization to do refunds and things like that. As a shift supervisor you have those responsibilities as well as managing your crew. You direct them and tell them what must be done for that shift.

Anyways CVS has given me stock options so that is a pretty nice feature. I get 15% of my paycheck taken out every time I get a check. I recieve the stock at a 20% discount. I just hope my stock does well and I will be able to make some pretty good money from it.

All in all as you probably can tell I have been working this entire semester, but I am hoping to get a real job soon.

Future Jobs

I'm sitting in my den tonight, just pondering about my future again. I just signed up to take the suffolk county police department test. If I get on, do I take the job. I am actually not 100% sure what I would do. I think I would take the job. It would be following in the footsteps of my father. He is a respectable man and I hope I can be half as succesful as him.

If I was to get on, I would definately finish up getting a college degree and maybe even persue my CPA. If I were to do this I would be able to work out of my house as an accountant to make some extra money. The benefits of being on the police force would be great as well. I would be able to make a decent living with full benefits. In addition, I would be able to get a pention and I would have job security.

As a police officer I would not want to just be a regular police officer I would like to go for promotions. These promotions could be things such as sergeant, liutenant, and captain. These would be job of authority, and would allow me to be more of a so called "police manager." I think this would be a great job for me.

If this does not work out though I really would love to obtain a job at Ernst and Young. This may be one of the most amazing office buildings in the world. I would love to obtain a job there. In addition, it was rated in Forbe's Magazine as one of the top 25 firms in the United States to work for. Though these two jobs are so different, they both fit different aspects of my personality well. In the end though I just hope it all works out for the best.

College Athlete Final Paper

As a student in high school, I participated in various athletics. I was what people called a “student athlete.” When you are a student athlete in high school, there are many things that you must do in order to play a sport in college. This part of the high school-to- college transition is very fuzzy. The NCAA has many rules and regulations on becoming a college athlete that sometimes cause the application process to become a little more difficult. I decided to breakdown the NCAA guideline and also interview three different college level athletes in order to obtain this information.
In today’s society high school student athletes have a very difficult and long journey from being a high school athlete to becoming a college athlete. The questions to an athlete’s future are not always easy to find. They ask; “How do I get recruited?” and “How do I contact coaches and when am I allowed to?” The college application process is long before these athletes begin their junior year in high school. They must abide by all of the NCAA rule and regulations; otherwise they will be unable to participate at the college level. The first thing a student athlete should do is sign the NCAA Clearinghouse form in their junior year of high school.
The NCAA Clearinghouse form is signed to make sure that all student athletes follow the NCAA recruiting regulations. It ensures that all of these prospective students know the rules; therefore, they cannot say they did not know about a particular rule.
Firstly, an athlete usually is recruited. How is an athlete to do this? There are various ways in which people do this. They will travel all over the country in order to get recognized at something called “College Showcase Tournaments.” At these tournaments colleges from all over the nation send their scouts to watch some games Depending on your age and year in school depends on whether or not the scout can contact you person to person. If the scout sees that you are doing well, they will probably follow up on more of your games.
Another way in which students have been getting recruited is by contacting the college coaches themselves. This can only be done at certain points in time, and there are regulations on how often a prospective athlete can contact theses coaches. They may send a résumé to the coaches, but a coach cannot really get a sense of how good a player is from a résumé. The player in turn may hire a photographer to videotape their games. . Tiffany Yovino, of the Hofstra Women’s Soccer Team, said, “I sent out a highlight tape.” This highlight tape may be sent to the coach, and they can look at it. If they like what they see, it could lead to future contact with the coach.
When being recruited by coaches, there are some certain aspects that can be very confusing. Michael Sopko, of the Stony Brook Men’s Lacrosse team said, “The hardest part about recruitment is knowing when and when not to speak with the coaches.” The NCAA guidelines provide the information for when you can be in contact with a coach. Through research I found that each sport’s recruitment period is different for when you can be in contact with the coach. Listed below is a general outline for the college recruiting contact process.
· “During a contact period, recruiters may make in-person, on- or off-campus contacts and evaluations. Coaches can also write and/or phone you during this period.
· During an evaluation period, they can only assess academic qualifications and playing abilities; no in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts are permitted. Although letters and phone calls are permitted.
· During a quiet period, they may make in-person recruiting contacts only on the college campus. Off-campus, recruiters are limited to phone calls and letter-writing.
· During a dead period, they cannot make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on- or off-campus or permit official or unofficial visits. However, phone calls and letters are permitted.” (fastweb)
If an athlete is being recruited, there are various ways in which coaches, try to lure you to their school. One thing coaches will do is take them on a tour of the school with the athlete and their families. If the athlete and coach are both happy after their first encounter, the coach may invite the athlete back for an official visit. An athlete can only have three official visits. On the official visit the athlete is taken around the school by a host athlete that is currently playing at that university. The coach may get the prospective athlete tickets to a sporting event that may be going on at that particular date in time. The prospective student is able to get a feel of what it is going to be like to be a college athlete at that university.
When I spoke with these three athletes, I asked each of them about their own recruitment process and how they felt about it. Each of these three individuals was excited during the entire recruitment period. They would go home every day to check their mail/e-mail. Tiffany Yovino said, “I would have two or three pieces of mail every day from various colleges that wanted me to play there.” These athletes were excited to get the opportunity to play at the next level. In addition, when being recruited the coaches would treat them like gold and really make their time on those college visits enjoyable. For instances, Michael Sopko said, “They took me to an Army versus Navy football game. I could not ask for more when I went there.” The college recruiting process is a time consuming, but an exciting experience for each of these athletes.
If a player intends to play college sports he/she must not be a professional athlete. The NCAA defines a professional athlete as the athlete must not ever have been paid and cannot receive gifts of any sort from outside family members.
The next step for a coach who wants to get a player to come to their school would be to offer the individual a scholarship. The coach would have the player sign his/her national letter of intent. According to the NCAA guide the national letter of intent is,

“The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution in which the institution agrees to provide a prospective student-athlete who is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospect's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year.” (NCAA.org)

If a player signs this letter, they are committing to the college that they sign with. Although it is said that if a player signs this letter, the player must play for the college. However there are ways out of this contractual letter.
If the coach that you sign with leaves, you are able to opt out of your contract.
It is a verbal commitment and nothing more until national signing day. After signing day it becomes legally binding to the university.
At this point the player finally gets through the recruiting process and commits to the university. Depending on the season in which you sport is played; depends when you will show up for the fall semester. The athlete then begins to practice as soon as they arrive at the university. A typical college athlete has a workout routine on top of his/her regular team workout. They will usually have a certain time to be in the gym with the trainer. The trainer will guide them in what kind of workout they should have for their sport. The trainer will also assist with spotting and stretching.
If an athlete is not recruited by the coach to play on the team, there is still hope for that athlete. A roommate and friend of mine came to St. John’s University to play baseball, but he was not recruited. His name is Michael Diaz. Michael actually made the team for one semester. When I asked Mike about how he went about getting on the team, Mike said, “As a walk-on you get a three-hour major league style tryout. If they like you, they then keep you on the team until at least the end of the fall.” I then asked if he felt accepted by the team and his response was, “Originally you have to work a lot harder to be accepted as part of the team, but after a while the players start to accept you. It is much more difficult to be accepted by the coaches.”
When an athlete is not in season, they typically workout for about four to five hours depending on the particular day with usually only one day in the week off. Each freshmen athlete is required to participate in study hall. This assures that all of them are not just concentrating on their particular sport, but on their studies as well. It allows them quality study time.
The next step after pre-season for these athletes would be season. Finally, after all of this work the athletes get to play in some games, if they are good enough. When talking to these athletes, I tried to get a sense of what it was like to be in season. The biggest difference between college and high school sports would be the speed and size. Sopko said, “In high school everyone is the same size as you, but in college they jump up to about six feet five inches tall.” Everything moves quicker and every move you make has to better and quicker than the last move. These other athletes are out there to win and will not let anything get in their way. The only way to compete at this level is to have the same mentality as the players on the other team; if not you must want it more than them or you will not stay on the field very long.
All in all there is a great step that high school student athletes must take from to become a collegiate athlete. They must go through the recruiting process while trying not to break an array of rules. When these students do get to college, they have a very difficult schedule with very little time to themselves. They must make the next adjustment to the new game speed and style and must find the correct balance between work, sports, and fun.



SOURCES
1) NCAA.org
2) Michael Sopko- Stony Brook Lacrosse
3) Michael Diaz- St. John's Baseball
4) Tiffany Yovino- Hofstra Women's Soccer
5)http://www.fastweb.com/fastweb/resources/articles/index/101262

Draft 3

As a student in high school I participated in various athletics. I was what people called a “student athlete.” When you are a student athlete in high school, there are many things that you must do in order to play sport in college. This part of the high school to college transition is very fuzzy. The NCAA has many rules and regulations on becoming a college athlete that sometimes cause the application process to become a little more difficult.
In today’s society student athletes in high school have a have very difficult and long journey to make their next step from a high school athlete to a college athlete. The questions to theses athletes’ future are not always easy to find. They ask; How do I get recruited, How do I contact coaches and when am I allowed to? The college application process is long for these athletes they begin their junior year in high school. They must abide by all of the NCAA rule and regulations otherwise they will be unable to participate at the college level. The first thing a student athlete should do is sign the NCAA Clearinghouse form in their junior year of high school.
The NCAA Clearinghouse form is signed to make sure that all student athletes follow the NCAA recruiting regulations. It ensures that all of these prospective students know the rules; therefore they can not say they did not know about a particular rule.
Firstly, an athlete usually must be recruited, but how is an athlete to do this? There are various ways in which people do this. They will travel all over the country in order to get recognized at something called “College Showcase Tournaments.” At these tournaments colleges from all over the nation send their scouts there to watch some games, now depending on your age and year in school depends on weather or not the scout can contact you person to person. If the scout sees that you are doing well they will probably follow up on some more of your games.
Another way in which, students have been getting recruited is by contacting the college coaches themselves This can only be done at certain points in time and there are regulations on how often a prospective athlete can contact theses coaches. They may send a resume to the coaches, but a coach cannot really get a sense of how good a player is from a resume. The played in turn may higher a photographer to video tape their games. . Tiffany Yovino of the Hofstra Women’s Soccer Team said, “I sent out a highlight tape.” This highlight tape may be sent to the coach and they can look at it and if they like what they see, it could lead to future contact with the coach.
When being recruited though by coaches there are some certain aspects that can very confusing. Michael Sopko, of the Stony Brook Men’s Lacrosse team said, “The hardest part about recruitment is knowing when and when you cannot speak with the coaches.” The NCAA guidelines provide the information for when you can be in contact with a coach. Through research I found that, each sports recruitment period is different for when you can be in contact with the coach. Listed below is a general outline for the college recruiting contact…
· During a contact period, recruiters may make in-person, on- or off-campus contacts and evaluations. Coaches can also write and/or phone you during this period.
· During an evaluation period, they can only assess academic qualifications and playing abilities; no in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts are permitted. Although letters and phone calls are permitted.
· During a quiet period, they may make in-person recruiting contacts only on the college campus. Off-campus, recruiters are limited to phone calls and letter-writing.
· During a dead period, they cannot make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on- or off-campus or permit official or unofficial visits. However, phone calls and letters are permitted.
-(http://www.fastweb.com/fastweb/resources/articles/index/101262)
If an athlete is being recruited there are various ways in which coaches, try to lure you to their school. One thing coaches will do is take them on a tour of the school with the athlete and their families. If the athlete and coach are both happy after their first encounter the coach may invite the athlete back for an official visit. An athlete can only have three official visits. On the official visit the athlete is taken around the school by a host athlete that is currently playing at that university. The coach may get the prospective athlete tickets to a sporting event that may be going on at that particular date in time. The prospective student is able to get a feel of what it is going to be like to be a college athlete at that university.
When I spoke with these the three athletes, I asked each of them about their own recruitment process and how they felt about it. Each of these three individuals was excited during the whole recruitment period. They would go home everyday to check their mail/e-mail. Tiffany Yovino said, “I would have two or three pieces of mail everyday from various colleges that wanted me to play there.” These athletes were excited to get the opportunity to play at the next level. In addition, when being recruited the coaches would treat them like gold and really make their time on those college visits enjoyable. For instances, Mike Sopko said, “They took me to an Army versus Navy football game. I could not ask for more when I went there.” The college recruiting process is a time consuming, but exciting time for each of these athletes.
If a player intends to play college sports he/she must not be a professional athlete. The NCAA defines a professional athlete as this athlete must not ever have been paid and cannot receive gifts of any sort from outside family members.
The next step after a coach wants to get a player to come to their school by offering them a scholarship would be a player sign his/her national letter of intent. The national letter of intent is,

“The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution in which the institution agrees to provide a prospective student-athlete who is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospect's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year.” (NCAA.org)

If a player signs this letter they are committing to the college that they sign with. Although it said that if a player signs this letter they must college there are ways out of it.
If the coach that you sign with leaves you are able to opt out of your contract.
If your not legally binded up until national signing day, because up until that point it is a verbal commitment and nothing more.
After the player finally gets thought the recruiting process and commits to the University depending on the season; depends when you will show up for the fall semester. The athlete then begins to practice. A typical college athlete has a workout routine on top of his/her regular team workout. They will usually have a certain time to be in the gym with the trainer. The trainer will guide them in what kind of workout they should have for their sport. The trainer will also assist with spotting and stretching.
If an athlete is not recruited by the coach to play on the team there is still hope for that athlete. A roommate and friend of mine came to St. John’s University to play baseball, but he was not recruited. He actually made the team for one semester. When I asked Mike about how he went about getting on the team, Mike said, “As a walk-on you get a three hour major league style tryout. If they like you they then keep you on the team until at least the end of the fall.” I then asked if he felt accepted by the team and his response was, “Originally you have to work a lot harder to be accepted as part of the team, but after a while the players start to accept you. It is much more difficult to be accepted by the coaches.”
When an athlete is not in season they typically workout for about four to five hours depending on the particular day with usually only one day in the week off. Each freshmen athlete is required to participate in study hall. This makes sure that all of them are not just concentrating on their particular sport, but on their studies as well. It allows them quality study time.
The next step after preseason for these athletes would be season. Finally, after all of this work the athlete gets to play in some games, if they are good enough. When talking to these athletes I tried to get a sense of what it was like to be in season from them. The biggest difference between college and high school sports would be the speed and size. Sopko said, “In high school everyone is the same size as you, but in college they jump up to about six feet five inches tall.” Everything moves quicker and every move you make has to better and quicker than the next. These other athletes are out there to win and will not let anything get in their way. The only way to compete at this level is to have the same mentality as the players on the other team; if not you must want it more than them or you will not stay on the field very long.
All in all there is a great step that student athletes must take from becoming a high school student athlete to becoming a collegiate athlete. They must go through the recruiting process while trying not to break an array of rules. Then way these students do get to college, they have a very difficult schedule with very little time to themselves. They must make the next adjustment to the new game speed and style and must find the correct balance between work, sports, and fun.

Food for Thought

I was sitting around today just thinking. I questioned things such as school and things of that sort. How do I know that what I am doing now will better me in the future? It is an intresting thought. I wonder if going to college for eight years will be beneficial for me. Is the time sacrificed worth it when I am young so I can be happy when I am older. Or will it ever even pay off. Thats a question I asked myself. I just would like an answer of weather or not I am moving in the "right" direction.

I wonder if being a nerd now will pay off in the end. I get made fun of for going to sleep early and not going out becuase I have to study. I wonder if the joke is on me or them. I hope its not on anyone, but if it has to be some one I hope it is them, I guess. Well thats all I have to say for today.

Interview 3

Interview of College Athlete

Athlete: Mike Sopko
Sport: Stony Brook Lacrosse (freshman) has seen playing time

1) What were some of the things that you did in order to get recruited?

I went to college activity days; my high school coach sent out films, they came to my big games.

2) Was there anything that the coach did that helped you make your decision?

He offered me a scholarship and the college offered the major of my choice. He talked about the alumni and how they take care of us. It was also a good opportunity to play good division 1 lacrosse.

3) Is there any part of the NCAA rules that are unclear to you and if so why?

I was not sure about the gambling rule. I also was not sure of contact dates. When you can contact the coach and when he can contact you. Recruiting was toughest part due to the fact that it was difficult to contact the coaches.

4) What do you find the difference to be between high school and college sports?

The game is sped up more and the competitors are more intense. The size is different. You have to be able to adapt to the size changes. In high school everyone is your size, but when you get to college people are like 6 feet 5 inches tall. It is a big jump to the college level.

5) Is it difficult to maintain your grades and get your work done as a college athlete?

No, it really isn’t.


6) What is it like playing on the road in college?

It’s cool to see other campuses and other parts of the world, while getting to play lacrosse. It’s the experience of a lifetime.

Interview 2

Interview of College Athlete

Athlete: Mike Diaz
Sport: St. John’s Baseball (freshman) only played 1 semester

1) What were some of the things that you did in order to get recruited?

I sent out letters to the coaches of the school I wanted to go to. I e-mailed coaches and also played in college showcases.

2) Was there anything that the coach did that helped you make your decision?

No, I did not attend a school that I got recruited to go to.


3) Is there any part of the NCAA rules that are unclear to you and if so why?

The NCAA rules are clear, but there are so many rules you cannot possibly know them all. You have to be very careful with what you do. The important rules are clear

4) What do you find the difference to be between high school and college sports?

The amount of time that is required of you is greater. There is also much higher competition.

5) Is it difficult to maintain your grades and get your work done as a college athlete?

I would not say it is difficult, but it is more difficult than if I did not have sports.


6) Did you feel out of place coming onto the team later?

Originally you have to work a lot harder to be accepted as part of the team, but after a while the players start to accept you. It is much more difficult to be accepted by the coaches.


7) What was it like being a walk-on to the team?

As a walk-on you get a three hour major league style tryout. If they like you they then keep you on the team until at least the end of the fall.

Interview of a College Athlete 1

Interview of a College Athlete
Athlete: Tiffany Yovino
Sport: Hofstra University Women’s Soccer (Incoming freshmen fall 2007)


1) What were some of the things that you did in order to get recruited?

I played hard at college recruiting tournaments. In addition, I sent out a highlight tape of myself. I played on a regional girl’s soccer team that traveled all over the United States.


2) Was there anything that the coach did that helped you make your decision?

The coach offered me a full scholarship including books. In addition, the coach told me that I would start as a freshman.


3) Are there any part of the NCAA rules that are unclear to you and if so why?

No, there was nothing that was unclear to me because all I had to do was sign my letter of intent to the school of my choice.



4) Did you always want to play a sport in college or did the money influence you?

Yes, I always did want to play in college because of my love for the game. The money did help though.

Report #2

As a student in high school I participated in various athletics. I was what people called a “student athlete.” When you are a student athlete in high school, there are many things that you must do in order to play sport in college. This part of the high school to college transition is very fuzzy. The NCAA has many rules and regulations on becoming a college athlete that sometimes cause the application process to become a little more difficult.
In today’s society student athletes in high school have a have very difficult and long journey to make their next step from a high school athlete to a college athlete. The questions to theses athletes’ future are not always easy to find. They ask; How do I get recruited, How do I contact coaches and when am I allowed to? The college application process is long for these athletes they begin their junior year in high school. They must abide by all of the NCAA rule and regulations otherwise they will be unable to participate at the college level. The first thing a student athlete should do is sign the NCAA Clearinghouse form in their junior year of high school.
The NCAA Clearinghouse form is signed to make sure that all student athletes follow the NCAA recruiting regulations. It ensures that all of these prospective students know the rules; therefore they can not say they did not know about a particular rule.
Firstly, an athlete usually must be recruited, but how is an athlete to do this? There are various ways in which people do this. They will travel all over the country in order to get recognized at something called “College Showcase Tournaments.” At these tournaments colleges from all over the nation send their scouts there to watch some games, now depending on your age and year in school depends on weather or not the scout can contact you person to person. If the scout sees that you are doing well they will probably follow up on some more of your games.
Another way in which, students have been getting recruited is by contacting the college coaches themselves This can only be done at certain points in time and there are regulations on how often a prospective athlete can contact theses coaches. They may send a resume to the coaches, but a coach cannot really get a sense of how good a player is from a resume. The played in turn may higher a photographer to video tape their games. . Tiffany Yovino of the Hofstra Women’s Soccer Team said, “I sent out a highlight tape.” This highlight tape may be sent to the coach and they can look at it and if they like what they see, it could lead to future contact with the coach.
If an athlete is being recruited there are various ways in which coaches, try to lure you to their school. One thing coaches will do is take them on a tour of the school with the athlete and their families. If the athlete and coach are both happy after their first encounter the coach may invite the athlete back for an official visit. An athlete can only have three official visits. On the official visit the athlete is taken around the school by a host athlete that is currently playing at that university. The coach may get the prospective athlete tickets to a sporting event that may be going on at that particular date in time. The prospective student is able to get a feel of what it is going to be like to be a college athlete at that university.
If a player intends to play college sports he/she must not be a professional athlete. The NCAA defines a professional athlete as this athlete must not ever have been paid and cannot receive gifts of any sort from outside family members.
The next step after a coach wants to get a player to come to their school by offering them a scholarship would be a player sign his/her national letter of intent. The national letter of intent is,

“The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution in which the institution agrees to provide a prospective student-athlete who is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospect's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year.” (NCAA.org)

If a player signs this letter they are committing to the college that they sign with. Although it said that if a player signs this letter they must college there are ways out of it.
If the coach that you sign with leave you are able to opt out of your contract.
If your not legally binded up until national signing day, because up until that point it is a verbal commitment and nothing more.
After the player finally gets thought the recruiting process and commits to the University depending on the season; depends when you will show up for the fall semester. The athlete then begins to practice. A typical college athlete has a workout routine on top of his/her regular team workout. They will usually have a certain time to be in the gym with the trainer. The trainer will guide them in what kind of workout they should have for their sport. The trainer will also assist with spotting and stretching.
If an athlete is not recruited by the coach to play on the team there is still hope for that athlete. A roommate and friend of mine came to St. John’s University to play baseball, but he was not recruited. He actually made the team for one semester. When I asked Mike about how he went about getting on the team, Mike said, “As a walk-on you get a three hour major league style tryout. If they like you they then keep you on the team until at least the end of the fall.” I then asked if he felt accepted by the team and his response was, “Originally you have to work a lot harder to be accepted as part of the team, but after a while the players start to accept you. It is much more difficult to be accepted by the coaches.”
When an athlete is not in season they typically workout for about four to five hours depending on the particular day with usually only one day in the week off. Each freshmen athlete is required to participate in study hall. This makes sure that all of them are not just concentrating on their particular sport, but on their studies as well. It allows them quality study time.
All in all there is a great step that student athletes must take from becoming a high school student athlete to becoming a collegiate athlete. They must go through the recruiting process while trying not to break an array of rules. Then way these students do get to college, they have a very difficult schedule with very little time to themselves. They must find the correct balance between work, sports, and fun.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse may be one the greatest sports invented if you ask me. I have never played in a league or anything, but this sports takes skill and grace and combines it with being physical. This weekend I went to the Stony Brook versus Virginia lacrosse game. I went to the game firstly becuase my best friend was playing in it. He happens to play for Stony Brook. The game was great exspecially the fisrt half. Virginia being the number one team in the nation was favored to dominate Stony Brook. In the first half though this was not the case. Stony Brook was only down by 2 at halftime. The score being 7-5. Virginia did carry most the play, but not too noticebly. There was one play in the first half that demonstrated the skill needed in lacrosse. A player on Virgina cut across the net, but would not get a clear shot off or so we all thought. He rifled a shot over his back shoulder into the net.

In the second half it was all Virginia. They went on to win 15- 7. It would have been more if it were not for the brilliant goaltending on Stony Brook. There was one play in the second half that shows how brutal lacrosse can be. A player on Stony Brook fell ok the ground and was fighting for a loose ball. A player on Virginia came a cross and leveled him across the neck with his stick. The player had a concusion and needed stitches.

All in all though it was a lot of fun to go and watch the game. Lacrosse is a pretty big thing for most people on Long Island.

College Transistion

Well, college is a much different from high school. There many more freedoms and things of that sort. Sometimes I wonder if other kids that dorm at the university had the feeling that I had when I cam to college. I wondered a lot. Would the people be like me? How would the professors be? Will I get a job after college?

Well I experienced nervousness when I first came here. Your parents bring your stuff and then leave you. I felt as if I was stranded on a deserted island. Basically, I felt this way the whole first semester. I also was not sure about the workload, but now I have adjusted and everything seems to be falling into place. I have made friends and I am beginning to enjoy the University much more. Everything seems to be falling into place.

Meeting on Research Project

I had my meeting today with Dr. Marsh. This meeting was very informative for me. Well as you can see in a previous blog entry I decided to do my paper on College Athletes. For the most part I am very distant from my paper. Now sports may capture some readers attention who enjoy sports, but it will not capture everyones' attention. This was an excellent point that he made. Dr. Marsh advised me to make it more personal. Look at it from the perspective of a sports column. In addition, if I were to connect the paper with college athletes by using an interview.

I now know where to head with my paper from this point. Within the next few days I am hoping to post some interview questions. I am also going to be working on a new introduction that will make the paper more personal, so that more people can relate.

Report

In today’s society student athletes in high school have a have very difficult and long journey to make their next step from a high school athlete to a college athlete. The questions to theses athletes’ future are not always easy to find. They ask; How do I get recruited, How do I contact coaches and when am I allowed to? The college application process is long for these athletes they begin their junior year in high school. They must abide by all of the NCAA rule and regulations otherwise they will be unable to participate at the college level. The first thing a student athlete should do is sign the NCAA Clearinghouse form in their junior year of high school.
The NCAA Clearinghouse form is signed to make sure that all student athletes follow the NCAA recruiting regulations. It ensures that all of these prospective students know the rules; therefore they can not say they did not know about a particular rule.
Firstly, an athlete usually must be recruited, but how is an athlete to do this? There are various ways in which people do this. They will travel all over the country in order to get recognized at something called “College Showcase Tournaments.” At these tournaments colleges from all over the nation send their scouts there to watch some games, now depending on your age and year in school depends on weather or not the scout can contact you person to person. If the scout sees that you are doing well they will probably follow up on some more of your games.
Another way in which, students have been getting recruited is by contacting the college coaches themselves. This can only be done at certain points in time and there are regulations on how often a prospective athlete can contact theses coaches. They may send a resume to the coaches, but a coach cannot really get a sense of how good a player is from a resume. The played in turn may higher a photographer to video tape their games. This highlight real may be sent to the coach and they can look at it and if they like what they see, it could lead to future contact with the coach.
If an athlete is being recruited there are various ways in which coaches, try to lure you to their school. One thing coaches will do is take them on a tour of the school with the athlete and their families. If the athlete and coach are both happy after their first encounter the coach may invite the athlete back for an official visit. An athlete can only have three official visits. On the official visit the athlete is taken around the school by a host athlete that is currently playing at that university. The coach may get the prospective athlete tickets to a sporting event that may be going on at that particular date in time. The prospective student is able to get a feel of what it is going to be like to be a college athlete at that university.
If a player intends to play college sports he/she must not be a professional athlete. The NCAA defines a professional athlete as this athlete must not ever have been paid and cannot receive gifts of any sort from outside family members.
The next step after a coach wants to get a player to come to their school by offering them a scholarship would be a player sign his/her national letter of intent. The national letter of intent is,

“The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution in which the institution agrees to provide a prospective student-athlete who is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospect's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year.” (NCAA.org)

If a player signs this letter they are committing to the college that they sign with. Although it said that if a player signs this letter they must college there are ways out of it.
• If the coach that you sign with leave you are able to opt out of your contract.
• If your not legally binded up until national signing day, because up until that point it is a verbal commitment and nothing more.
After the player finally gets thought the recruiting process and commits to the University depending on the season; depends when you will show up for the fall semester. The athlete then begins to practice. A typical college athlete has a workout routine on top of his/her regular team workout. They will usually have a certain time to be in the gym with the trainer. The trainer will guide them in what kind of workout they should have for their sport. The trainer will also assist with spotting and stretching.
When an athlete is not in season they typically workout for about four to five hours depending on the particular day with usually only one day in the week off. Each freshmen athlete is required to participate in study hall. This makes sure that all of them are not just concentrating on their particular sport, but on their studies as well. It allows them quality study time.
All in all there is a great step that student athletes must take from becoming a high school student athlete to becoming a collegiate athlete. They must go through the recruiting process while trying not to break an array of rules. Then way these students do get to college, they have a very difficult schedule with very little time to themselves. They must find the correct balance between work, sports, and fun.

Research Project Info

The National Letter of Intent
The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution in which the institution agrees to provide a prospective student-athlete who is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospect's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year. All colleges and universities that participate in the NLI program agree to not recruit a prospective student-athlete once he/she signs an NLI with another college or university. Therefore, a prospective student-athlete who signs an NLI should no longer receive recruiting contacts and calls and is ensured an athletics scholarship for one academic year. The NLI must be accompanied by an institutional financial aid agreement. If the student-athlete does not enroll at that institution for a full academic year, he/she may be subject to specific penalties, including loss of a season of eligibility and a mandatory residence requirement.
Please note that the NLI program is not an NCAA national office administered program. It is administered through the Southeastern Conference (SEC) office. Specific questions regarding its application should be directed to the SEC office at (205) 458-3013. Additional information can be obtained through the NLI Program web page" http://www.national-letter.org
Please contact the NCAA membership services staff at (317) 917

(NCAA.org)

Research Plan

This topic is very broad. Actually, I do not think it can be any broader. HMMM .... I really do not know exactly what I should write about. I think that sports or food would be very intresting to write about. It would be fun doing a food critique as Heidi said in class the other day. I could use some of my journal entries to get started on a topic. I think the one I wrote about my friend commuting to the St. John's soccer team could be used. I could discuss the recruiting proces and the NCAA policies on recruiting. I could also discuss some things an athlete could do to enhance his recruiting opportunities. I can obtain information through interview, online, and books.

If I was to do food I would really enjoy doing a food critique. Eating at different restaurants comparing the foods. I could find out why a certain country is known for those foods and maybe even write on how to cook that particular meal I ate.

Well that should do it for my "Research Plan" this far. I will look for some guidence and then make a descision.