Since the beginning of the year, we have spent many hours on inko.us blogging our life away. This isn ‘t always a bad thing, I mean it’s an easy grade and all, granted, sometimes it could get a bit repetitive. I’ve sure seen my share of interesting stories, and inko.us has brought me many laughs. Even though we might not like it that much, there might be a tiny place in our hearts for it.

I still have to do that falicious arguements project. Is it hard?

Let’s face it, the 40 something inches of snow we had killed us. Mentally. It really didn’t help to wake up with 3 and 1/2 feet of snow in our front yard. But it helped me to appreciate this weather more.

It’s awesome that I can walk to school in shorts and a t-shirt, whereas a month and a half ago, I was shoveling a few feet of snow off the driveway. I even wore my awesome California tortilla shirt, and it got me a bunch of attention. California Tortilla should pay me to advertise for them, because I got a lot of people to head over there. Maybe I should get a job there?

But anyways, the transition from the cold weather to the warm weather is awesome. But then fall comes again and kinda ruins it. I always get pretty dissapointed when it goes to fall again, because I really don’t like the cold weather. I think I’m more suited for florida or someplace warm then someplace cold, like Minnesota(which I think is pretty cold).

Summer, no school, no worries, and no cold.

As put best in Napoleon Dynamite, “Vote for me and it will be summer all year round.”

Most of us are going through a pretty stressful time of year right now. Whether it’s the increased homework load, spring sports, you name it, we can get really stressed out. But  I’ve noticed that one thing can really help. Music.

If I’m having a bad day, it really helps to plug in my headphones and crank up the tunes. You would really be suprised how much listening to music, or maybe playing the piano(or whatever your instrument is), can help. It seems that music is always there for me.

For me, music relieves all that stress that I have. Maybe it’s because the artists have experienced similar difficulty. Or it just brings peace to us. Whatever it is, music really helps me get through the day

So here it is. I figure if I get this part reviewed, then I can improve on the whole paper.What would be different about the United States if Abraham Lincoln had never been president? The country may be divided, or tainted by slavery. Few people truly understand the depth of his accomplishments within his lifetime. Even through the many ups and downs of his life, he proved to a very strong leader. The Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was crucial to the stability of the US during the early 1860’s because had an excellent political career that helped him win the election, he guided the United States through the Civil War, and showed support and sympathy for the abolitionists.

Please let me know what think

Well the Winter Olympics have started(they have actually been on for awhile though). Yesterday, the US pulverized Canade in an epic 5-3 hockey game. I find it ironic that Vancouver was lacking snow, whereas Ashburn has quite the surplus of snow. The death of the Georgian Luger was sad, but there were many victories that cheered the Olympic atmosphere up. The US is ahead in the medal count. In a speed skating race, two Koreans took each other out, thus leaving the lead open for the US. My favorite events are freestyle snowboarding, where Shuan White destroyed, and Snowboarding cross.

This event only happens once every four years, and much training is needed.

I’m with Dr Suess
He’s got a pet moose

We’re driving through Iowa
I have no idea why

I’m cooking some eggs
He just chopped off a leg

We’re on a canoe
Going to the moon

We are at the lake
Suddenly, the boat breaks

Good news moves at the speed of sound
The chicken just drowned

I’m eating cheesecake
It’s pretty great

What did you guys do with the poetry mess. As you can probably see, I got a bit creative and went off into a seperate world. It seems to me that writing things is more fun when you don’t know what you’re going to write. I like to improvise.

I write stories and poems the same as I write music, I improvise. For me, putting stuff on the spot has always worked for me. For example, if I think about something for to long, often times I find it’s not as good as when I make it up on the spot. When you’re writing on the spot, it seems that the words just fall into place.

For me, writing something like a literary analysis essay is boring, because I really don’t get much out of it, whereas I feel like writing something likes this makes me feel like a better writer, and a more accomplished person. Writing essays and thesis’ is boring to me, I just wish we could do more creative writing.

Please tell me if you see anything that needs fixing. For those of you that want to read it, go ahead(Its like 1200 words).

Chris DeProspo

Mr. Stephens

English 9H

January 14, 2010

Abraham Lincoln

            What would be different about the United States if Abraham Lincoln had never been president? The country may be divided, or tainted by slavery. Few people truly understand the depth of his accomplishments within his lifetime. Even through the many ups and downs of his life, he proved to a very strong leader. Abraham Lincoln was one of the most positively influential presidents the United States has ever had because he guided the United States through the Civil War, had an excellent political career, and showed support and sympathy for the abolitionists.

Despite numerous hardships and setbacks, Abraham Lincoln was able to guide the United States through the Civil War. A leader’s capabilities are tested during times of trouble, and Abraham Lincoln proved that better than anyone else. The Civil war was the result of a build up on the issue of slavery, with neither the North nor the South willing to reach a compromise. The war started with the attack on Fort Sumter in 1861 (O’Brien). Lincoln was prepared to put down a small uprising, not a massive force. Both sides believed the war would be over quickly (Grabowski 45). Lincoln called in about 75,000 troops to stop the Southern Uprising (Grabowski 44). However, the South was prepared to fight. Lincoln was in charge of the North, which controlled 12 more states than the South did, and was more industrialized. Despite all this, the South was more militarily advanced (Grabowski 46).

            The confederacy consisted of eleven states (Confederate). Lincoln attempted to recruit West Point graduate, the military genius Robert E. Lee. Lee declined the offer because he wanted to stay loyal to his native Virginia, a Southern territory. Lee proved to be a great asset to the South because of his extensive military knowledge, and excellent leadership capabilities (Grabowski 46). Lincoln originally chose General Whitfield Scott to command the Union army. However, due to Scott’s deteriorating condition, and lack of strategy, Lincoln fired Scott and replaced him with General George McClellan, who also proved a bad leader (Grabowski 47). In

1862, almost 5,000 soldiers lost their lives in one of the deadliest battles of the civil war (Woodworth). That same year, his son died of typhoid (O’Brien). Both of these events put a huge amount of stress on Lincoln. However, the worst was yet to come. In the deadliest battle of the civil war, the Battle of Gettysburg, there were a reported 45,000 casualties (Woodworth). After he fired McClellan, Lincoln even tried to command the Union army himself (O’Brien). Fortunately, Lincoln finally found a general he could trust, Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was able to win many battles in the south, including The Battle of Vicksburg, and the battle of Chattanooga. However, Grant was criticized because he pushed toward the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. In doing so, he lost a fair amount of his troops (Simpson). Lincoln’s goals went from preserving the North, to giving freedom to the slaves. In 1863, Lincoln released the document that led to the freedom of the slaves across the United States, the Emancipation Proclamation (Holzer).

Four years into the war, his popularity was at rock bottom, mainly because in the eyes of the public, the war was going nowhere. Lincoln didn’t want to get re-elected, but he was re-nominated by the republicans in the election of 1864 (O’Brien). However, the main reason he was elected was because of a string of Northern victories gave voters hope in President Lincoln (O’Brien). The next year, Robert E. Lee finally surrendered to the North. The civil war was finally over (Woodworth). It was not easy to get the U.S through the Civil War, but with patience and perseverance, President Lincoln got the job done effectively.

Abraham Lincoln’s excellent political understanding allowed him to better deal with the issues at hand. Abraham Lincoln was a member of the Whig party, which lasted about twenty years, from 1834- 1854. The Whig party was formed because of a dislike of Andrew Jackson, or “King Andrew” as the members of the Whig party called him (Whig). The Whig party was led by well known Republicans like John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay. Abraham Lincoln joined the party in the 1840’s (Savage).

By 1832, Abraham Lincoln had become interested in politics, so much so he decided to run for a position in the Illinois house of Representatives in August of 1832. He lost the race, and to him, his goal of being president couldn’t be reached. However, in August 1834, he was elected into the Illinois house of Representatives where he served five terms. He started to attend Whig party conventions, and in August of 1846, he won his election to Congress as the sole Whig Party representative (Balser).

By December of the next year, Abraham Lincoln took a seat in the U.S. house of representatives, where he served only one term. In June of 1848, Lincoln attended the national Whig party convention in Philadelphia. In 1849, Lincoln ended his first and only term in the U.S. house of representatives (Balser).

In 1856, the Whig party fell apart. This was mainly due to the election of 1852, where the Whig’s nominated General Whitfield Scott, a poor choice, and once he was defeated, Lincoln and the other leaders left the Whig party, or quit politics permanently. The voter base defected to the Republican party, as did Lincoln, who remained a Republican for the rest of his political career (Why).

Starting in 1857, Lincoln had seven debates with Democrat Stephen Douglas, who supported slavery, and would eventually run against Lincoln in the presidential race. Douglas created the Kansas-Nebraska act, which

Between 1849 and 1854, Lincoln settled down a bit, not doing anything really significant. However, 1854 would prove to be a crucial year for him. In October of 1854, he delivered his famous anti-slavery speech in Peoria, Illinois where he argued against Stephen Douglass over the Kansas-Nebraska act. It was at this point where Lincoln set the stage for his political future, and became more of an abolitionist (Abraham). He also delivered another famous anti-slavery speech entitled, “The Lost Speech,” in Bloomington Illinois, in which he showed the support he offered the abolitionists in their fight against slavery.

Thanks for all those who read it!

Life is a mountain,
many ups and downs

Life is like nature,
when you think you’ve seen it all, there’s more to suprise you

Life is like McDonalds,
It doesn’t always give you what you want

Life is like the Super Bowl,
The outcome is never definite

Life is like a broken record,
It just goes on and on and on

Life is like getting a test back
Sometimes you feel great, others, not so much.

Life is like and older brother,
It’ll beat you up.

Life is like the ocean,
At times rough, at others calm

Life is like school,
Sometimes, you just want to take a break.

And that, is life.

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is only a week away, and break starts soon. With all the excitement and festivities, time flew by pretty quickly. My mom is in a storm of her own, cookie madness. Our kitchen is filled with all types of cookies, from oatmeal, to m&m, to sugar, to who else knows what.

We went out to pick out a tree, and my family and I all agreed on a single one(this doesn’t usually happen!). I told them in the car on the way home from getting the tree that I was having second thoughts about it. Well, luck seems to always find it’s way toward me. Maybe I have bad tree karma. As soon as we get the tree in the stand, and my parents are adjusting it withmy help, we back up and admire the tree from a distance. I noticed that a branch fell on the ground near the tree, so I went to pick it up. KABOOM!!! The tree fell over and almost crushed me. Lovely.

So my question to you guys is: What are you looking most foward to this holiday break, and how much snow do you think we’ll get?

I just got back from watching another amazing episode of the popular tv show, The Office. It started off as a British parody of life at work, and soon worked its way to American television. From the time I started watching back in 2005, I have always stayed loyal to The Office. Sure every Tv show has its dry spots, and this is certainly no exception, but they’re  made up for by the humor and sarcasm it provides every episode.

The American version of the Office has been around since 2005, with 6 amazing seasons. While the first was only 6 episodes, most now contain 20+ episodes with a season finale at the end. My favorite characters would have to be Michael, the office boss, or Dwight, the “assistant regional manager” who usually does some crazy thing in every episode.

The episodes each contain a brief, but very funny beginning, and a main plot, and then sort of a side plot. Some characters, such as Jim, Pam, Dwight, and Michael, get more camera time, but a lot of the story consists of minor characters, like the crazy old man Creed.

If you’ve never watched The Office, or don’t really understand it, I recommend you try it out. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but it’s sure to put a smile on your face.