Have a Site Meter in Your Blog

To have a Site Meter on your webpage, follow the steps:
1. Click this link: Sign up.
2. Click next, and click next again.
3. Write your blog's URL.
4. Write the name of your blog. (You can write anything)
5. Invent a codename.
6. Click next.
7. Log on.
8. Click on Manager.
9. Click on HTML Code.
10. Click Adding Site Meter to a Blogger.
11. Put your Blogger username and password, and select your blog.
12. Click Add Site Meter to my Blogger Template.
13. Follow the directions carefully, log on and out if it says yo to, follow them really CAREFULLY!
You are done, you now have a Site Meter in your Blog!

.::My First Regatta::.

This Sunday I woke up, ate breakfast, got a bath, and got dressed. I prepared my sailing equipment, packed them in a bag, and told my brother to take me to the Club Naval. There, I prepared an optimist, as usual, I made sure the sail was working, all the lines were tied, and the boat was secure. Then, my partners told me that today we had a regatta (a sailing race). At the beggining I thought I was not prepared, but later I realized that I could do well. Then, I got ready to sail, I got some french fries and a soda and a bottle of water. I put my sailing gloves on and took the boat to the water.

I got inside the boat, and started practicing for the regatta. Fifteen minutes later, our teacher told us that the first regatta was going to start in five minutes. Five, four, three, two, one, start! The race started, and we were four who raced. I was in third place, the race had just started. When we were about to finish the first race, out of four, and I passed a boy who was in front of me, I stayed second. I was happy, it was my first regatta and I stayed second, but three more races were coming. In the second race, I started really bad, and I stayed third. The same in the third regatta. The last regatta was very cool. We were all tied, sometimes I was first, and sometimes last. This race lasted for about 16 minutes. When the race was about to be over, I was in the last place. I wanted to be third, so I did everything I had to do to sail very well. After some minutes of trying, I finally had come to a third place, useful for me. The teacher told us that I stayed second in general, I was very happy with the results of my first regatta.

Your Worst Enemy... Yourself

The story Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling has a clear message at its end. Two figures from outer space destroy the residents of Maple Street, and not with bombs or weapons, the residents destroyed themselves. The figures had turned off everything, and the people who lived in Maple Street blamed everyone because they did not know who could do this. The message of the story is that your worst enemy is yourself. If something bad happens to people, and they don't know really what happen, the first thing they do is find a scapegoat. Everyone starts blaming each other; the result will be a world without friendship, only with prejudices and suspicion. People don't search the really guilty people; they search the first men they can blame.

Even though this message was written back in the 1960's, it still has very significant words. Today, we are in a world full of prejudices and suspicion, everyone searches for a scapegoat. I think that this message is important because we could work together instead of fighting for no reason. It is true that your worst enemy is yourself because when you eat bad things, blame other people, and say lies, you hurt your self, physically and mentally. If people like Hitler and Osama Bin Laden would have in mind this message, many people would not have died, and prejudices would not be existing. This message would be really useful if something bad happens like what happened in the Twin Towers, or any other terrorist attack.

If the story “Monsters are Due on Maple Street” was written today, some little details would have changed. If the blackout would occur these days, some things that would be damaged could be mp3's, cars, lights, portable video games, digital clocks, computers, cell phones, and air conditioners. Some changes for the story to be more adaptable to today's audience would be that instead of the ham radio, they could use an iPod. The writer could write in the story that the aliens come from another galaxy or specifically from a planet in our solar system, for example, Jupiter's moon may have aliens. Today, the place where something like this happened would not be as horrified as in the story, they would be more prepared and instead of blaming themselves they would blame the local electricity factory.

CAMUN

Last year, my cousins told me they were going to the annual JMUN (Junior Model United Nations) in the school. I didn't know what it was about so I ask them about JMUN. They told me that it was a conference that simulated a United Nations conference. They also told me that JMUN was not so important, they told me that CAMUN (Cartagena Model United Nations) was more important because people from different countries come to the conference. I liked all that stuff about discussing and defending your point of opinion, so I told them if I could participate, and my cousins told me that I sure could. A week before the conference I started getting ready, I rented a full dress, I wrote a speech that everyone had to write, and I studied the point of opinion of the country I chose. I chose Ukraine, and I was partner with Luis Carlos because he also chose Ukraine. The day before the conference we went to a coctel that marked the beginning of CAMUN in the Castillo de San Felipe. There, Luis and I found out that Roberto and Augusto where participating in the conference, we thought it was cool.

Finally, the conference starting day was up. I woke up, ate breakfast, got a bath, and got dressed up. My dad took me to Hotel Caribe, the place where the conference occurred. Luis, Roberto, Augusto and I where very nervous, we did not know what to do or to say. After the first day of the conference, we had only said a few words. the next day, we talked a lot, and we discussed a lot. The conference ended on a Sunday, and we where happy because we had been in the CAMUN conference.

This year I will participate in JMUN and CAMUN, but this time I will arrive much more prepared because I am in the MUN elective where I have learned a lot about this conferences. JMUN will be in November 28 or 29, I don't remember. I hope I’ll do well.

Rough Draft of a Short Story

"Hey, that building, the Space Needle, is really high and very thin, I really love skyscrapers," said Jamal, "I like vertigo." Seattle's most popular attraction, the Space Needle, was crowded of people, especially from a Colombian group of people who went to visit. Jamal, Andrea, and Carla were some of these Colombians, but they were special. They had come to a conference about cakes at the center of the city, they thought it was boring so they ran away and went to the thin but tall tower. They bought their tickets, and then waited in line to go in the elevator that took people to the main room. Andrea, who was always negative, thought that it was to dangerous to go so high, something bad could happen. Carla, who was her best friend tried to convince her to go up the building. Dinnng, the elevator rang, the Colombians went into the elevator.

"Nothing bad will happen, lets go up," said Carla.

"No, it is too scary," responded Andrea.

Then Jamal said, "Ok, let’s let her stay here."

Andrea, who did not want to stay alone, finally accepted to go to the highest part of the Space Needle, “OK, I’ll go.”The three of them went up on the elevator; it took them about two minutes and a half. The room they were in was colorful, well decorated, and had a lot of large screen plasma TVs. Carla and Jamal went to the balcony, and looked at the beautiful city of Seattle.

"What a beautiful city this is, don't you think so," asked Carla.

"Yes, much beautiful than that city in Colombia we visited last year," responded Jamal.

Andrea went to balcony with her friends, but she did not dare to look outside. "I'm not going further, it's too high," said Andrea frightened while looking at Jamal who was doing bad faces to her.

“Ha ha ha ha! The poor baby is too frightened, ha ha ha ha!" said Jamal.

"Stop it!" replied Andrea with an angry and frightened face. Jamal wanted to show Andrea that it was safe, so he did something that no one would do even with a harness, he took a strap, he hold it in his hands, and he was about to jump out of the building.

"I'm going to jump," said Jamal.

"No!" yelled Andrea who came running to stop him from jumping.

"Ha ha, you finally came over here, I was not going to jump, I did this to frighten y..." Suddenly Jamal tripped over a bag and fell out of the building. "Help!! Help me!" yelled Jamal who was holding from the strap he holds. Everyone who stood close to Jamal started to stand apart and to go away, nobody was close to save him.

"I told you something bad would happen, now Jamal will die!" yelled Andrea to Carla.

"Nothing bad will happen, calm down, and pray on your knees!" replied Carla.

Suddenly a poor resident of Seattle came to save Jamal. His name was John, he was a strong and intelligent, and he really wanted to save Jamal. John saw the strap that the poor Jamal hold for about six minutes. John realizes that if he takes the strap and takes Jamal the strap may break and he may die. After some minutes, the strap started to brake apart, and Jamal was about to let go, and he had the idea to tie himself to the strap, so he did not get tired. John called 911 and asked for the fire fighters, but all of them were saving a burning forest. The strap continues to brake apart, very slowly, but breaking, in any moment Jamal could fall.

"Help, the strap is about to brake!" said Jamal.

"The fire fighters are not in the city and if I take the strap it will break," said Andrea and John while looking at Jamal.

"Do you see that little balcony over there?" asked John. "You can try to jump over there and there is an opportunity to save yourself," said John.

"I'll jump," said Jamal. Then, he moves the strap back and forward, and he jumped to the little balcony. He did not stood in the little place, he was now holding it with his hands and he was about to fall. "I will only hold it for a minute or two, fast help me," said Jamal with his last forces. Jamal started trying to get on the balcony and he did what he wanted to. Now, someone had to save him, and John had gotten a harness and went in search of Jamal's life. John hold him in his hands, and when they were going up, the harness felt off John's body, so they had to hold the harness' string with their hands.

"Oh, no, who will help us?" yelled Jamal and John together.

"We will save you," said Andrea.

Everyone who was in the top part of the building gathered up and started pulling the string to save them. "Pull!" yelled everyone together, "pull, pull!" Everyone pulled the string for about forty-five seconds, until they finally saved Jamal.

"Finally, we're saved," said John

"Thank you a lot for what you did, you saved my life, what can I do for you?" replied Jamal.

John started thinking, and finally he said, "You could give me a burger."

"I'll buy all the burgers you want, but first I must go to the hospital because my toe hurts a lot, hope didn't break it." said Jamal with his last forces.

Andrea and Carla came back to Colombia after what happened in Seattle. John and Jamal became really good friends, so Jamal stayed living in Seattle, they worked together in the Space Needle, and their work was to make sure that no one fell, so that no one experienced what Jamal experienced.

Halloween is Coming Up

Lost in a Comic World

Imagine a normal summer day while playing in your background with your family and friends. You decide to play soccer, so you go inside your house to search for the ball in your room. Suddenly, you see a strange shadow below the ball, you sit on your knees and you touch the shadow. Suddenly, strong pulls of a strange gell pull you inside the shadow, leaving you asleep. Three hours or more later, you wake up and see a strange, very different world of that in which you have lived many years. Your first thought is that you are in a dream, but you realize that you are awake.

The world that you are now on is similar to the world in comics. The people that you see do not look real, you are somehow trapped in a comic book. Everyone looks at you with a daring sight, and you get really scared. Suddenly, a good and nice boy touches you at your arm and asks you to come to his house. You accept, and you you go to the boy's house. The house is a two-story red house with a very big backyard, it has at least 8 windows and you seem to like it. You start liking this world, even more than human world! You now live with the boy's family, by the way his name is Timmy. Timmy and you go to a public school together, and what you learn in school is how to be a super heroe. You have already lived 2 years in this world and you start getting bored. You are very sad and you miss your family a lot. You tell Timmy to help you get out of his world, and he agrees to help you. While searching a way out, Timmy tells you that he saw a green, two-story high portal that probably will take you with your family or to another world. You enter the portal, luckily you get back home, and you figure out that only 3 minutes have passed after you left the world. This would be very strange.

If this would happen to me, I would feel very happy but strange. Going to another world is something that you would never forget, it would be an amazing experience. I would never tell someone about this because people would say that it is very stupid and unbelievable. I would try to find a way inside the comic world to thank Timmy everything he did for me. Although this will never happen, a way inside a comic world, obviously, is reading comics such as Hulk, Spiderman, and Superman.

.::Awful Holidays!::.

Have you ever imagined how could your worst holiday be? I would imagine 1)
going to a scary hotel, doing nothing in my house, or going to a very boring farm while it's raining.The worst of these, would be going to a scary hotel. Not a scary hotel like in comics, but a hotel that has no food, a bad tv, and an ugly bed. I would not like a hotel without 2) breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Something that I would never like to have in a hotel is 3) an ugly, fat, and hairy room cleaner, horrible! 4)He cleans, he serves food, he does room service. Imagine that you are 5) right to a smelly gargabe, and suddenly you see your room cleaner! 6)While walking to your room, you meet a very nice girl. 7) Yes, this does not sound scary, but five minutes later the room cleaner told you she was dead a week a go! I would tell my parents inmediately to take me home or to the beach, cool! 8) Whenever I am in a very boring vacation, I tell my parents to go back home, that is what I would do in this freaky holiday. How would your worst vacation be, scary or boring, please write a comment about it.


1) Series of phrases.
2) Series of objects.
3) Series of modifiers.
4) Independent clauses.
5) Prepositional phrases.
6) Participial phrases.
7) Introductory yes, no, or interjection.
8) Adverb clause.

Google

Google, one of the most visited sites in the world, is really critiziced and congratulated. Usually, google is the first webpage students visit to search for information. Google makes it really easy for you to find very good information for your topic, you only need to type your topic, click enter, and choose the best site you see. Encyclopedia books can sometimes be better than google because google does not check their information, so you can have false information. Google is not only the page you usually type (www.google.com), google also has a program called Google Earth, it is free and you can see all the world, special places and even restaurants in cities. Google has a book search engine, you can search very good books, and even read some pages. I think that one of the things that makes google very good is it's domain over many languages and specialization in countries. For example, in the Colombian google, you can search for sites only found in Colombia, and that is very good. Some of google's enemies are Yahoo!, Go, and www.com. Hotmail, is also an enemy of google's www.gmail.com which is an e-mail "machine", it works like hotmail, but some people say it's better.

I think that google is the best site in the world. I like it so much because it can help you like an encycopedia by giving you information. Also, you can find very cool sites, like online games, sites were you can buy stuff, and many more things. Google has an extended menu on sites and programs. My favorite one is Google Earth (click here to download) I can see many new cities, the best thing I've seen on it are the palmlike islands in Dubai, you should look for them in this program. One thing I don't like about google is that it shows many offensive things to people, specially to Bush. You should look for information on Google, I recommend you.

.::Problems in My Life::.

Have you ever had problems that you don't know how to solve? Everyone does, and when it happens to me I take a few easy steps to solve them. First, I would apologize with the person I hurt. Then, I would try to solve the problem, for example, if I broke something I would buy another thing or try to fix it. Finally, I would try to make the person I hurt happier by buying a gift for that person. If I am under pressure, I would get very mad but try to clam down and apologize, but if I'm not under pressure I would use the easy steps I told you (use them, they are free! He). Sometimes when I do a mistake and people yell at me I get really angry, and if the other people are still yelling at me, I get even angrier. If a person kicks me or something like that I would do what they did to me, if I am angry enough. I know that I should never be angry because it is bad for your health, but it's hard to stop.

One time I made a mistake that hurt a person was about five or six years ago. I was in my cousin's house and we were happy playing soccer in his backyard. I was about to score, but suddenly, my cousin pushed to the ground to make sure I did not score. I did score, but I got so angry that I kicked him and I threw his soccer ball to a car that was going fast, and the ball exploded! Then, I realized that we were playing soccer, and it was a simple penalty, so I felt sorry. My cousin was crying, I brought him some water, told him that I apologize, and promised him I was going to buy him the best Nike ball I could find. One or two weeks later, I gave him a brand new soccer ball, and he accepted my apology. We played soccer, and he pushed me to the ground, but this time instead of fighting, I took the ball, I put in the ground, I kicked it and scored the best "fair play" goal of my life. That day I saw my cousin very happy with his soccer ball, so I returned home very happy, I had done something very good.

I recommend you that every time you have a problem, try to solve it for yourself first, if you could not solve it, ask an adult for help. Try not to get in problems!

Sailing

Have you ever wondered how it would be to control a sailing boat for your own? In August, I wondered how it would be, so I told my dad to take me to "Club Naval", a place where I could learn more about navigation. In there, I asked what kind of boat could I use, I wanted the answer to be "you'll sail sunfish (a sailing boat)". The answer was not what I expected, it was "you'll sail optimist". I asked what was an optimist, and my sailing teacher told me that it was kind of a sunfish, but much smaller. That day, I sailed alone for the first time, because the only time I had sailed was with my parents and their friends in a sailship, but never alone. I didn't sail so good, I was slow. I went all Saturdays and Sundays, and I kind of knew how to sail. I never knew I was going to sail, but now, I'm a sailor, optimist sailor. I already knew some things about sailing, because my dad had taught me very well, and my friend Augusto said me some things I had to do. Last year, I did not liked sailing, but now I do, my advice for you, is sail, learn to sail. In three years or more, I'll be sailing sunfish, what I wanted to sail.

The photo at the top left corner is an optimist. The difference between the sunfish and the optimist is that the optimist is smaller and the shape of it's sail is cuadrangular, and the sunfish is bigger, it's sail has a triangular shape, and it is faster.

.::My Expectations Compared to Reality::.

If you read at the end of this blog, you would see a post called "Affect of technology on education", the second paragraph is about my expectation about having a blog. My expectations where that I would have a lot of visitors, lots of comments, and cool posts. Now, i have very cool posts, about 7 comments but not lots of visitors. One of the reasons is that our teacher has not told other teachers about the blog, and schools in the U.S had vacations until the end of August, so they don't know. If you would like to read what I wrote about my expectations, read this paragraph:

"My expectations about the blog are very good, because I always wanted an
internet address where I can express my feelings. I wanted to publish what i
think and that's what i'll do. I expect to have a cool site for people to read.
I expect to have a lot of comments in all my entrees. I hope everyone likes it."

One of the hardest things about blogging is that you need to write about thing that everyone likes, because if you write about only one thing, people will not like your blog. Another hard thing is that you need to put new things every week, so that people have something to read. One of the easist things to do in blogger is to write a comment, because you can say to people what you think about their post, and to write a comment you only have to click once. I feel that in a week or two my expectations will be equal to my blog now. My expectations have not changed because I still hope many people see my blog.

Something that makes blogger very fun is that you can put photos, videos, and links. We can put photos so people know what are we talking about. In our posts, we can put links so that people have more information about the topic. In blogger, I have learned to make webpages, before I didn't even know how to make them. Now, I can express what I feel in a webpage.

Samuel Eto'o

Eto'o has been one of the best Cameroones soccer players in the history. All his soccer career began when Eto'o signed a contract with the Spanish team, Real Madrid. Then, he was chosen at the age of 17 to play in the world cup for Cameroon.Then, he played in another Spanish team named RCD Mallorca, and then returned to the Real Madrid. He had a very good season in the Mallorca, he made a record of goals in the Spanish Primera (Spanish League). In summer of 2004, FC Barcelona (the best team in the world) negotiated him for 24 million euros, and his first match was in August the same year. Eto'o was a real goal machine, he never stopped scoring. Since he joined the club, he has been named the best African player of the year by the FIFA. Last year, Barcelona won the Champions League (2nd most imporatant soccer tournament) and Eto'o was really important. Now, he still plays in Barcelona, with the best player in the world, Ronaldinho Gaucho (Ronaldo Assis).

I think that Eto'o is a real honor to Cameroon, he was really poor, and now, he is a very succesful person. He has been a very good person, he has been very important to Cameroon, because he has helped many poor people follow him and play soccer. He is a very important player to FC Barcelona because he is a top scorer, and apports many good things to world soccer. I think that he is a very good player, he has won very honorable awards, like best striker in Europe, and best African player of the year.

=(An Interesting Story)=

Last week, in class, our teacher told us to read a story called Three Skeleton Key, and I said "oh no another boring story". We started reading the story and it was getting interesting, i even liked it. The story reminds me about a movie I saw about some people that were in the top of a house and they were surrounded by giant man-eating worms, but in the story they are surrounded by man-eating rats. I thought that giant man-eating rats was something that requiered a lot of imagination, because it is irrealistic, I would never even dream that! It reminds me about a time I was in an island and it was surrounded by dogs barking. I thought that the story was going to be scary because it talked about giant rats and the Flying Dutchman, but it was not scary, but interesting. It also reminded me about Pirates of the Caribbean part II, because there are big sailing boats like the Flying Dutchman. Another adventure the story reminded me about was when I was riding on a small sailing boat called optimist, and I almost crashed to an island. A big boat was about to crash to the Three Skeleton Key, and it didn't stop.

.::My Summer Vacations::.

What I did for my summer vacations was something I thought I’d never do. I did things that I had never done, like touching the snow, getting on a cruise, and going to the top of a skyscraper. I went to very cool places, like Alaska, San Francisco, and Seattle. My favorite place was Alaska, because I traveled there on a cruise and I met the snow, and I had a snow fight with some of my friends. I also saw a giant glacier, called the Hubbard Glacier. Then, I went to Seattle, were I went to the Space Needle, a very tall building. I visited to a museum of music dedicated to Jimmy Hendrix. Then, I went in a car all the way to the south to San Francisco, California; I had to cross the Golden Gate, the best bridge I’ve seen. I went to the Ghirardelli factory, were I ate a delicious chocolate. Finally, I travelled to Paramount’s Great America, which is a very cool theme park. Then I came back home and had a normal life.

Steve Irwin Loved by Australia, and the World.

I always thought that stingrays where inofensive animals that would never kill a human, until I read Suzanne Freeman's article "Crocodile Hunter Dies" at the Scholastic News website. She says that Steve Irwin's death has been a terrible loss to Australia, and to it's people.

I really do feel Australia has lost a wonderful and colorful son. He took
risks, he enjoyed life, he brought immense joy to millions of people,
particularly to children. He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate
environmentalist. It's such a terrible loss.

This is what the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard said with tears in his eyes. I agree with John Howard's words, because he has been a very important person for Australia, and now he is dead. What makes his death really strange is that he has been the third Australian man killed by a stingray. If the stingray had not striked him on his chest, he could possibly survived. We'll never forget him, and Animal Planet will continue showing his shows, and I hope everyone reminds him as the man he was, the animal protector.

I give my consolations to Steve's family, and friends.

.::My Friends' Blogs::.

This blog is from my friend JD. He likes music, and he playes the drums.
http://djjds-zone.blogspot.com/

Another cool blog is Augusto's blog. He likes sailing and he won a race in Bogota.

The third cool blog is from Sergio. He likes soccer a lot and he is a good defense.

Affect of Technology on Education

Technology can be a problem and a solution. In science class, it helps by giving information and photos about the subject. In English class, it helps write articles by typing them, instead of writing them by hand. In social studies, it helps by giving information about the history and geography of any country. Other technologies that affect education are video bins, which help to see presentations or other things. The air conditioners make us study happier, and cooler. Cars take us to school early, and light lets us read in the dark. Not everything in technology is good. Some bad things are bad information in internet. And sometimes if there is no electricity we can do nothing.

My expectations about the blog are very good, because I always wanted an internet address where I can express my feelings. I wanted to publish what i think and that's what i'll do. I expect to have a cool site for people to read. I expect to have a lot of comments in all my entrees. I hope everyone likes it.