Article 4

A semesters’ reward was paid off in two days for a Provo, Utah student, as he beats Assassins Creed on his Xbox in consecutive days.

As the commercial for Assassins Creed would grace the TV screen Steven “Beaver” Winder would tell everyone around to “shush” as he would zone in. Nothing else would matter while he was concentrating on the screen. The game appealed to him more than any other had since he was 12 years old.

You could see the pain in his face when it was released that the game would only be released on Microsoft’s Xbox, a system that Winder unfortunately didn’t own. But there are solutions to every problem thought Winder.

“I’m going to buy and Xbox and Assassins Creed, I’ll then beat the game as fast as I can and take the two right back,” Winder Said.

Though in his mind he had just come up with the most brilliant idea that had ever been thought there were still things that took the front seat over Nintendo.

Winder made the game a reward for finishing the semester. With one month left he cracked down and got to work. The semester could not have gone slower from the time he made the decision.

“It seemed like time stood still and it was killing me,” said Winder emphatically.

Finally the time came to buy the system and game. A short trip to Best Buy and a little over 300 dollars later he walked out of the store a new man. With a big smile on his face he and roommates began the drive to their apartment to begin the long waited game.

Upon arrival roommate and older brother Jordan Winder was waiting with a camera in hopes of documenting the joy of purchase.

“I’ve never seen a man so excited for a game. It was like Christmas had come a little early for him,” Jordan said.

The time had come to play. The system was hooked up and the game was running. Little did Winder know of the rough two days that were about to take place.

As the days went by all the roommates went on with normal life, but Winder never left his seat in front of the TV. He never seemed to eat, drink and most of all never slept.

After a day and a half Winder looked terrible. He had bags under his eyes, greasy hair, and a scent that couldn’t be missed.

“It was out of control. He became addicted faster than anyone or anything I’ve ever seen,” said roommate Jordan Edwards.

The hard work and becoming an addict didn’t last long. He beat the game in a little over two and a half days. During those two days Winder ate once and slept for a total of four hours.

He returned the system and sold the game to a friend for full price. When asked if he regretted the decision Winder stated that he didn’t at all.

“Regret it? Not for one second. Due to deteriorated health and sore thumbs I can say I don’t think I’d ever do it again though, that’s for sure,” said Winder.

“Whatever it takes for him to motivate himself through school I’m okay with,” said Arliss Winder, Stevens Mom.

Motivate him through school is exactly what it did. Winder got his grades back a week later. The motivation paid off as he got a 4.0.

My day...

The last time the Utah Jazz and the BYU Cougars played a basketball game in the same night very nearly became the worst night of all time.

The day started and I’ve never felt better. That only lasted for about thirty seconds. After I woke up and realized that my roommate had clogged the toilet the night before and still had yet to do anything about it my day began to take a slide for the worst.

I went to school and quickly realized that my class had been canceled. Therefore I made the trek to the beautiful campus of Utah Valley University. I then got back to my car and fired it up to head back home. No more than 20 seconds later as I was pulling into the street a small puppy ran in the road and made a car swerve in my direction. Not only did the car hit the puppy, bet me as well.

So a puppy’s life had just been taken and my car got hit by another vehicle trying to hit a puppy, which didn’t even happen. I then came to the realization that I drove there for nothing due to a canceled class, and then got in a wreck.

With all of the rage in the world I got out of my car. The first thing I saw when I got out of the car was a small stone on the road. I picked it up and threw it in anger. Not thinking straight I threw it in the direction of multiple parked cars. The stone cut through the air like a knife as it approached the window of a Range Rover. Do you think I had the luck of it missing the window? Surprisingly yes…. But it hit the door solid enough to make on hell of a dent. Which I still have not said anything to anyone about. If that was your black Range Rover with Nevada plates.. My apologies.

After everything there was cleared up I drove home to get ready for my intramural basketball game. We were undefeated to this point so I thought my day would get a little better. Boy was I wrong. We got beat by four and I almost punched some little pansy in the face. The man had the Napoleon Complex. You know.. When a small guy thinks he’s the greatest person to walk the earth. Ya, one of those.

After the game we came home to partake in a Jazz basketball game on TV. They were well on their way to losing. Being my favorite team I fell into a deeper depression than I’ve felt in years. As the final buzzer sounded I felt like I need not one Prozac, but an entire bottle.

I had one more hope and it was in the hands of the BYU Cougars. They were behind the entire game, but tied it up at the buzzer to go to overtime. The Cougars pulled it out and saved me from falling into a depression that I would never have been able to climb out of.

The Cougars play tonight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and the Jazz play the Los Angeles Lakers. Tomorrow we play our first post season game in intramurals. This is the chance to redeem the worst day of my life and climb back on top. Though the puppy can’t be saved I’ve written the Utah Jazz and the BYU Cougars and asked them to dedicate tonight’s games to our long lost little friend.

Everything is this story was made up besides the basketball games. Anything that has to do with a sport is true. Anything that has to do with a puppy or car wrecks or missing class was a lie. Sorry.

Mo Freakin Rocca

I had expected it to be funny, but I never expected it to be that funny! Holy hell the man was off the chain! I know that term is typically used by rappers and hip-hop artists, but I couldn’t think of anything else I could say to get my point through.

He started out by talking about his career and what he had done to get where he is now. The whole time he did this he was throwing in amazing puns and great wit.

After sharing his credentials he admitted to the fact that he’s an expert at sounding like an expert. At first I decided that he could be right. Maybe he was just up to date and could BS through the rest to make it sound like he knew what he was talking about. As he went on I quickly retracted that thought.

The man is honestly one of the smartest men I have ever seen or heard in my life. He quickly showed that he was a legit analyst. He had the audience shout out countries and he would quickly reply with the capitol. He didn’t miss a single one of them.

He later had people ask him questions about former presidents. This is the part that I was most impressed with. He would ramble on and on with details of the chosen president. He would hit on details that no one should know without being the biggest stalker of creep in the entire world. Things like shoe size, pets names, favorite fruits, choices of gum, and the list could go on.

Another thing that impressed me is the ability he had to dodge questions and transition right into something that he wanted to talk about. That takes an extreme amount of talent. He is very well educated the art of public speaking.

I’d see him speak again any day of the week. I enjoyed being there and have to give him credit for putting so much effort into gaining the knowledge that he now has.

Article for class..

As a runner I notice quite often the quality of the air in the Utah Valley. It’s at this time of year that it’s the worst.

I didn’t think that it affected me that much until I started training for my next marathon.

I was on my normal daily run and for some reason I wasn’t able to run like I usually could. I couldn’t figure out why. I went over all of the options in my head. I had eaten well that day, I hadn’t been sick, it wasn’t that I was out of shape, and I wasn’t tired from a prior run.

So what could it have been? As I thought more of what it might be I realized that the Wasatch Mountains to the east were almost not even visible. I then started thinking about how bad the air is in the valley when there’s inversion.

It then hit me the reason that I felt I wasn’t running well. The air quality is terrible! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought if it before. What do I need to run well? Good air and lots of it. I wasn’t getting that. I was getting polluted air that was no good for me as a runner or anyone else breathing it no matter what they’re doing.

According to Time magazine in an article written on September 12, 2007 titled, Pollution: Dangerous to Joggers, “A recent U.S. study reported that exposure to polluted air boosts the risk of death from heart disease by 76%.”

This same thing has been a worry for athletes training for the upcoming Olympics in China. Athletes have been wondering if they should train in cities that the pollution is bad to get the upper hand. One athlete even joked as he asked his trainer if he should train while running behind a bus in the city.

A fellow runner from Utah Valley named Jake Summerson said that he’s experiencing the same problems and lack of energy that I’ve felt.

“I feel so great on clear days, it’s like I could go forever.” He later said, ”When I go to run and see the quality of the air or see it’s terribly smoggy outside I dread the run because I know I’m going to be short on energy.”

This is a common problem that people are experiencing. Studies have given us an insight on why that is.

While athletes are training they build up what’s called lactic acid. This is something that happens when athletes hit a certain threshold where the body doesn’t have enough oxygen. Lactic acid caused pain and burning in muscles and makes it hard to continue.

When the air is saturated with pollutants it makes it much harder to get oxygen, therefore the lactic acid begins to build much faster. This is where the feeling of no energy comes from.