Halloween Sweets

As Halloween is quickly approaching I imagine all the heavenly candy that I have received in past years. I decided to make a list of my ten favorite types of candy that I get on Halloween and hoping that this year that my income of goodies this year will consist of the candy I truly love.

10- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are a tasteful treat. A unique blend of rich chocolate and creamy peanut butter always hits the spot.
9- Starburst
At number nine on this sweet list we have Starburst. The ever so juicy flavor packed in that little square of candy is an amazing taste.
8- Three Musketeers
Three Musketeer bars are a delicious type of chocolate bar. The chocolate surrounding cover a rich creamy chocolate inside is a wonderful combination.
7-Milkyway
The Milkyway bar was the first filled chocolate bar. A great mixture of chocolate and caramel and inspired by the chocolate malt the Milkyway is a tasty candy.
6-Nestle Crunch Bar
The Nestle Crunch Bar is a lovely tasting candy bar. The mixture of chocolate and the crisped rice, which helps the candy live up to its name “CRUNCH”, is something everyone should enjoy eating.
5-Hershey’s Take Five
The Take Five candy bars are made up of a very interesting combination of chocolate, pretzels, caramel, peanuts, and peanut butter. For me any chocolate with pretzels are high on the list of great snacks.
4- Sour Skittles
Skittles alone are a juicy delight but Sour Skittles out do the original by a long shot. The intense flavor that makes you pucker up when you eat ever little Skittle is something I really enjoy. I love sour candy so the Sour Skittles are high up on the list of my favorite candies.
3-Kit-Kat
The Kit-Kat is one of the greatest types of candy known to man. Light crispy wafers of chocolate are so tasty. Kit-Kats deserve to be number three on the list.
2-Sour Patch Kids are my favorite sour candy in the world. The intense sour flavor and also the sweetness afterward is such a treat. I love Sour Patch Kids.
1-Twix
Twix is number one on the Halloween candy list. That caramely, crunchy, chocolatey taste can't be beat. Twiz are definitely the best Halloween candy in the world.

P.S. Of course the Hershey's Kiss is the best candy in the world but not really a Halloween candy.

The Good Old Fighting Irish

Notre Dame's football program is one of the most storied football programs of all times. Notre Dame's great history of success has made it easy to watch them play every Saturday. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are my favorite college football team and have been since the day I was born.

My great grandpa attended Notre Dame making my grandpa a die heart fan. With my grandpa loving Notre Dame with such passion it basically wore off on the rest of the family. My grandpa would give nothing more than to see Notre Dame pull off a win on a Saturday and this year the Irish have not only pulled of wins but in exciting fashion.

Notre Dame has a 4-2 record so far this year. The final score in five out of those six games was decided in the last minutes of the game. Notre Dame lost to Michigan with eleven seconds left on the clock when Michigan completed a touchdown past to put Notre Dame away. The Irish also lost to USC after failing to score on 4th and goal, which was a devastating loss. The season hasn't been all bad news though. Notre Dame has had three thrilling victories.

Michigan State driving into Notre Dame territory late in the fourth quarter. The season could turn out to be a disaster if the Irish would have lost to Michigan and Michigan State back to back. With the ball on Notre Dame's 18-yard line the Irish's senior safety Kyle McCarthy makes a huge play and intercepts Kirk Cousins pass in the end zone to ensure an Irish victory.

Their next game was at Purdue. Purdue was leading the Irish by four points with three minutes left to play in the game. Jimmy Clausen led an outstanding drive with a hurt toe and topped it off with a two-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph with eleven seconds left. The Irish had pulled it off again in thrilling fashion but they weren't done yet.

The week after beating Purdue the Irish pulled off another amazing victory, this one coming in overtime against Washington. Notre Dame made two huge goal line stops in the second half, which kept them in the game. In overtime Notre Dame's Robert Hughes scored a one-yard touchdown for the Irish and then they stopped the Huskies winning their third straight game, all of them in dramatic fashion.

Notre Dame is now 4-2 and fighting to stay alive in the BCS race. No matter what the Irish have truly lived up to their name this year. Fighting in every game to the very end no matter win or loose. They also have had the very helpful "Luck of the Irish."

Deja Vu

July 7th 2008, in Kabul was a day of nightmare for the people of Afghanistan. At around 8:30 A.M. a suicide bomber who was linked to the Taliban drove a car full of explosives into the entry gates of the Indian Embassy. The bombing killed 58 people and wounded 141. Afghanistan had to work to repair the damage and hoped that they would not have to deal with a devastating act like this again.

Flash forward to October of 2009. All repair of the damage that was caused last year by the Taliban had been completed recently and things were starting to get back to normal in Kabul. Then on the 8th of the same month at 8:27 A.M. a Taliban suicide bomber attacked the Indian Embassy in Kabul killing seventeen people and leaving 63 wounded. Now the Indian Embassy in Kabul has been attacked twice in the last year a half by the Taliban. Many believe these attacks occurred because of the tension between the people of Pakistan who are closely linked with the Taliban and the country of India and all ties with it.

These attacks really scare me. With the U.S. soldiers entering Afghanistan they must be aware of the Taliban. The Taliban are a vicious, cruel cold-hearted group that apparently don’t care about seeing a little bit of bloodshed. This attack affects the United States because the soldiers from the U.S. entering Afghanistan are at risk of being attacked in some way. The soldiers will have to be extremely careful of things such as roadside bombs. The Taliban apparently have no trouble setting off bombs in Afghanistan as they have let off explosives twice in the same place in the past year and a half. This bombing not only frightens the U.S. and the people of Afghanistan, but the whole world should now be afraid. The Taliban are looking for respect and it’s sad to say but they probably have earned it. The whole world should be conscious of the power of the Taliban. The people in Kabul could not prevent the same attack from happening twice. It shows how organized the Taliban are. If the Taliban were to overtake a country like Pakistan the world could be in trouble. Pakistan would be in control of nuclear weapons, which would not be a pretty sight. Hopefully as the U.S. troops enter Afghanistan they can avoid a Taliban attacks and protect innocent Afghanistan Ian people from a future attack.

Let The Good Times Fall

The warm summer air is now leaving us, as these now cold days give us the sign that it is fall. The fall season also known, as autumn is a very special time that surprisingly ranges from September 21st all the way up to December 21st. One of my favorite things to do during the early fall season is drive through Hines Drive while all the leaves are changing colors. It makes a beautiful sight to see.

Fall is a time when football season is at its prime. The thrill of spending a Saturday watching colligate athletes, playing for the love of the game and not money, work hard to provide their school with a victory is second to none. Or watching Monday Night Football during the month of October and getting the chance to see a thirty-nine year old man beat the Vikings and accomplishing the rare feat of defeating all thirty-two teams in the NFL at one point.

Fall is also the time when hockey season begins. The anticipation of waiting all summer to see your team play, and if it’s the Red Wings, then blow two, two goal leads in Sweden to start the season off 0-2. Now the question is whether or not Detroit has the strength to make a third Stanley Cup Final visit in three years. They may have an “off year” and finish fourth in the division and loose in the Western Conference Finals, which is success for most NHL teams.

What else could top watching playoff baseball during the fall? Well I guess it would be better if your team had made the playoffs and not blown a seven game lead in which they held at one point in September. Still playoff baseball is always dramatic whether the beloved hometown team made it this year or not. Will the Phillies repeat? Or will the Yankees, who are on fire right now, rise back to the top like old times? These are questions in which only time will tell as the fall season rolls along.

Halloween also takes place in the lovely fall season. Kids and grownups alike, from all around the world, dress up in costumes to fit the mood of this great holiday. Don’t let the delicious candy that is passed out while kids go trick-or-treating be forgotten. Or the fact that some teenagers act like they are to old for trick-or-treating but would die to be able to go run out and get some candy, especially anytime type of Hershey’s chocolate.
Fall is an eventful time of sports and festive activities. Although the whether maybe cooler it doesn’t stop our state from enjoying fun things to do. Fall is a month I enjoy second to summer. It is just a beautiful season. I LOVE FALL!!!

The Sound of Success

“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”, was the annoying sound that woke me up on the first day of high school. I tried to open my eyes but they remained shut. I didn’t have the strength to be up at six o’clock in the morning. I rolled out of my bed and onto the floor and that woke me up a little bit. Today was the first day of high school. What would it be like? Would I be able to find my way through the school? Most importantly, would I fit in and become an official high school student?

All this was going through my mind when I made it out the door and to the bus stop. When the bus doors opened I waited my turn, then quickly found a seat trying to avoid conversation. When I got off the bus, I felt like I had stepped into the Big House wearing Brutus the Buckeye’s outfit, totally out of place. I had to get to my locker without getting run over by the stampede of kids roaming the hallway, kids going every which way. It was controlled chaos. I somehow avoided being trampled and made it to my locker.

I tried opening my locker and it wouldn’t budge. I started freaking out, thoughts running through my mind like, “What if I have the wrong combo?” or even worse, “WHAT IF I AM AT THE WRONG LOCKER?” Now I had to make a decision. Do I keep attempting to open my locker and go to class prepared, but maybe late, or take off to class without getting any of my supplies? With the time ticking by and the sounds of voices slowly fading away as kids were making it into their classes, I tried the locker one more time. This time working slowly and carefully and finally I heard a “CLICK!” I breathed a sigh of relief, shoving my books into my arms, hurrying to make it to my class on time.

I made my way to D Hall on my way to Spanish when I heard the two minute bell shrill which startled me to a point where I dropped my folder. I quickly surfaced the ground, but it was so hard to find the folder with all the feet scattering everywhere trying to get to class. I finally spotted that white folder and dove after it like a lineman jumping on a fumble. I got to my feet as quickly as I could and found my class. I was a little lost for breath but slipped into the class just in time to hear the bell ring.

I had made it. I found my seat in the class and was warmly welcomed by the teacher.
When I sat down at my desk I felt as if some sort of weight had been lifted off of me. The grueling task of making it to my first class could be compared to the tasks of an ancient Roman gladiator. All that didn’t matter much to me now. High school wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had found my way through the school, but most importantly, I had succeeded in becoming an official high school student. Wow, I liked the sound of that.