Florida Road trip 2011

Hey People,
Two weeks ago, I flew down to Florida with my dad, to drive my grandpa's car up from Florida for him. It took us 3 days of driving to get home. On the first day, we started out in Jupiter, Florida, and drove up I-95. We stopped at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum for about an hour, in Savannah, Georgia, and then continued on I-95 to Florence, South Carolina. One of the interesting things along the way was a town called Ridgeland, South Carolina. In this town, on this stretch of I-95, there are camera's watching the road. These camera's monitor your speed, and if it is above the limit, sends you a ticket in the mail. My opinion, absolutely ridiculous! There really is no such thing as speeding on the highway. If the speed limit is 70, and you're going 80, as long as you're being responsible, excuse my language, but who the hell cares? Not only does this make things worse for the drivers, but it takes away the need for police to patrol the highway. Many officers will get laid off. I thought Obama was supposed to be making jobs, not destroying them by putting in computer traffic monitors. It would be one thing to have camera's monitoring the road in a downtown area, because you definatly don't want people speeding through there with cross walks and buildings. But with the highway, the only thing you can hit, is a guardrail, or maybe another car. I mean, isn't this getting a little bit too "Big Brother". Anyways, moving on (but not to fast, or the speed monitoring camera's will send you a ticket!), me and my dad arrived in Florence with no ticket (Although, you never know, one may show up in my Grandfather's mailbox.). We had dinner at a little restaurant, and saw the movie Source Code, which was pretty good, but somewhat confusing. I have to say, the highlight of the night was the waiter at the restaurant calling Dad, BUD! That night we stayed at the Best Western, which wasn't that bad really. The next day, Saturday, we got on the road and headed north. At the Georgia/South Carolina border the previous day, we saw signs for South of the Boarder, a road stop south of the North Carolina border. Over 100 miles ,there were 48 South of the Boarder billboards. You'd think they'd have good food and good service. They didn't, it was terrible. It took forever to get our food, and it was burnt. So, we continued on our trip up the coast, driving straight through to Lewes, DE. After we arrived, we waited a little bit for our ferry to Cape May, NJ, and I think the boat left at around 6:30-7:00PM. Oh, what a ride though. Those storms that hit the middle eastern part of the country were pretty strong. It was raining, and thundering, and here I am on this little car ferry being rocked back and forth continuously by these gigantic waves. I told my dad, I went down to the car to get something, and as I was leaning into the car, I swear I felt it slide a little on the deck. Of course, he didn't believe me, but I think that since the deck was wet from the rain, and the boat was swaying so much that it was hard to stand up right, that it was possible for the car to slide a little. After nearly being killed by Neptune's Rage, we arrived in Cape May, and drove to our hotel in the pouring rain. The final day of our trip was pretty uneventful. We drove North on the Garden State Parkway all the way to New York. Although I did mess up a little bit with the navigation, and caused us to take a wrong turn, we made it through New York, to Connecticut, to Massachusetts. We arrived home around 3, with enough time to wash the car, and move it into the garage until my Grandpa arrived.
I have to say, we had a great time, and I'd love to do it again with my dad sometime. But we decided that next time, we aren't taking that ferry. I think it'd be better to drive 95, and stay in Annapolis or D.C, instead of Cape May.
Thanks for reading, and if anyone has any suggestions for a new topic for me to write about, email me at connor.melvin@comcast.net.
Thanks for reading,
Connor Melvin
Editor,Publisher,Writer, Son, Friend, Cousin, etc.

Washington D.C

This past week I had the opportunity to view our government and how it all works with my school. I woke up at 3:30 AM Wednesday morning, almost missed my bus to the airport, but after an early morning flight, I made it to Washington D.C, our nation's capital. While there, besides viewing the countless monuments and memorials, I was able to visit many government buildings, including: The Pentagon, The White House, The Capital building (Congress), and other government locations. I was able to sit in on a meeting of the House of Representatives. I was also able to meet Senator of New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg, who happens to be the grandfather of a student at my school. I would have to say, The Capital building had the best tour of them all. While at the Pentagon, and at the White House, both those tours felt a little to museum like. For example, the hall ways of the Pentagon had numerous historical displays, images, and artifacts. Myself, along with my classmates, were expecting a bit more of an exciting atmosphere, like in all those movies. To answer any questions, there is no floor B32. They CLAIM that there are only 2 floors under ground. As for the tour of the White House, while it was cool to see the White House up close, and I'm glad I can now say I've been there, the tour was a snore. We were escorted in one door, and we walked through rooms like the Red Room, Green Room, Blue room, State Dining Room, and just other random rooms. Again, yes they have history, but nothing like what we'd expect to see. And also, I was a little bummed that I saw no one famous like Obama or a member of the first family.

Book review of The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Hey People,
So, usually, I write on this blog about current events that I hear about on the news, or talk radio. But I was asked to write a book review for English class, so I figured I'd write it here. It's my opinion, and this is my blog, so I figured "Why not?"
This past week I read a book called "The Scorch Trials" by James Dashner. It's the sequel to a book I read this summer, called "The Maze Runner" The Maze Runner was the story of a boy named Thomas, who finds himself in the middle of a maze, along with a bunch of other boys his age. A new boy is brought into what they call "The glade" every month, in "The box" with supplies. The boy has no idea where he came from, and where he is now, but only knows his first name. But Thomas was a different boy. Only days after Thomas's arrival, a girl shows up in the maze. Things begin to change for the "Gladers" and desperation to get out of this maze rises. The gladers must work together to find their way out of the maze, while fighting "Grievers". Monsters in the maze that are almost part robot, part flesh. One sting, and you go into "The changing". A painful, dreadful sickness that tortures your body. And after, you are "changed". My book, The scorch trials, comes after the maze, after they've escaped. Now, some people may say that you give it away by saying they escaped. But I didn't say who escaped, and I didn't say how. Come on, obviously they had to escape sometime, or else it wouldn't be a very good book. Anyways, after their escape, they come into the real world to find that Sun Flares are destroying man kind, and an incurable virus called "The Flare" has spread amongst the people of Earth. The few remaining people banded together to form "WICKED", a government that was put together to try and stop this virus. WICKED is running tests on the children of the Glade, and the Gladers aren't to happy. Their next objective, is to travel across the baron wasteland to the "Safe Haven" within 2 weeks. Can they do it, can they save the Human Race"?
I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. I couldn't put it down, and I was dissapointed when I finished it, knowing I would have to wait for the next book to come out. To quote my school librarian, " It would make a great video game". I recommend it to anyone who likes an adventure book. (although, you have to read Maze Runner first. My school librarian, while she loved it, hadn't read The Maze Runner first, and was a little confused at some parts).
I anxiously await the next book in the series, to find out what happens to Thomas and his friends.

Inhumane activity down in Tennessee

This recent post is about a home burning to the ground down in South Fulton, Tennessee. In that area, there is a 75$ yearly fee charged for 911 service. So when Gene Cranick forgets to pay his fee, and calls 911, they do not respond. The house burns, he gets out of the house, but his grandkid's 3 puppies and everything he owned, remained in the house. Neighbors called 911 in fear that their houses would catch fire. 911 came to make sure their houses were ok, but left Mr. Cranick's house to burn. Now, I can understand where the firefighters are coming from. Rules are rules, and they can't break them. And while I still think they could've done something, I don't blame them completely. I blame the guy who came up with the rule. Sure, putting out fires costs money, but is that the way to get the funds. Have fundraisers, or something, but leaving a house to burn is wrong. The fire department is part of the government, is it not? Shouldn't they be using government funds for this? But back to the firefighters, sure they were following rules, but when a neighbor offers to pay 300$, and they say "It's too late". Why? Do you enjoy puppies burning to death???????? That is completely Inhumane (my reason for the title). How could they sit by and watch that? I mean, if I were in their position, with the risk of losing my job, I'd help the poor guy out. When the boss get's mad later, I'd tell him what a stupid idea it is to have the resources to put out the fire, and sit there watching it burn? This is unbelievable. Now, maybe there's more reason to letting puppies burn then I know. If so, please comment, I want to here YOUR opinion. Because That's my opinion. Take it or leave it.

Thanks for reading.

Arizona, time to meet your maker

Hey People
So, after just getting back from camp, hearing about all the news going on ( Oil spill plugged up, Lohan goes to jail, etc.) But the one that really got me, was that Thursday is the first day that Arizona will enforce it's new law against illegal aliens. Now, I thought it already started, with the boycotts and all that. But I guess, it's about to get a whole worse thursday. In my opinion, I think this suing thing is ridiculous. I mean, Arizona struggles with having Illegal Aliens in the state all the time. The Federal Government does not help them out very much. All this law is saying, is that it is Illegal to be in Arizona, Illegally. I mean, how much clearer can you get. The Federal Government doesn't like illegal aliens, so why don't they like this bill. It's not even that police will walk up to people on the street, and ask them if they're illegal. This would only happen, if you have trouble with the police. Let's say you get a ticket. You've just done a bad thing, of course they're gonna wanna know if you should be there. If your a law-abiding citizen, you have nothing to worry about. What if someone, let's say you, get's mugged. Wouldn't you like to know if the person was here legally? And if they weren't legal, wouldn't you want them out of the country? I mean, what people are against this bill? what's your reasoning. I'm pretty sure most of the people of Arizona want this bill, if your outside of Arizona, is this even your problem?

Rhode Island Vs. Massachusetts with Immigration Laws and recent 96.9 talk

Hey People,
Been a while since my last post, but heard something on the radio, which usually gets me talking. 96.9 Boston Talks.
So, apparently, the laws in Rhode island are, find someone illegal, Deportation. For Example, A state trooper in Rhode Island on I-95 pulled over a man, and asked for his license. The man had no license, and explained that he was here illegally. The man was arrested, and later deported. If that had happened, further up north in MA, the man would've been arrested for driving without a license. Then later released. Why? Why do we have different rules. I mean, Kudos to Rhode Island for doing the right thing deporting the immigrant, but why don't we? Does anyone have an answer to that?
Some info on the oil spil, I also learned that there is a federal law that basically states Foreign Vessels cannot come help us during times of need, unless approved by the President.( Obama). People concerned about the spil, including the Governor of Louisiana, asked the President to aprove of the many Foreign vessels willing to come help. But, President Obama denied the request, I believe it had something to do with being afraid the Union of workers might come at him for letting foreigners take their jobs. Come On! Really? Your letting that out weigh stopping this disaster!
My final little note, the last thing I heard a little about was the President of N.A.S.A, when asked what his job was in an interview, answered that the president told him to " Make better relations with Muslims around the world". What? The president of our space program, is supposed to be working on relations with a religion? This makes no sense to me! Does anyone have anything to add?
ttyl

Burger King

Watching TV, And the BK commercial comes on, the one that starts" It's Morning, I'm hungry, I'm going to BK" and I have to say, way to represent obesity in America. Not only that, but the people representing it, are everyday figures!