Kate Moore is the fastest texter in the United States.
The 15-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, topped 14-year-old Morgan Dynda, of Savannah, Ga., to win the LG U.S. National Texting Championship Tuesday in Manhattan.
According to a story by The Associated Press, Moore cranks out 14,000 texts per month. More amazing is the fact Moore received her first cell phone only eight months ago.
Moore uses texting to study with friends for tests. She is not a hermit. Moore does spend time with her friends on the weekends.
Along with a cool trophy, Moore won $50,000, and had this message for parents:
“Let your kid text during dinner,” Moore said after winning. “Let your kid text during school. It pays off. Your kid could win money and publicity and a phone.”
OMG (texting slang for “Oh my God.”) I am ROFLOL (Rolling on Floor Laughing Out Loud).
If I continue to progress in my texting, I will be ready to challenge Moore when she graduates college.
I am a little concerned. Not that Moore and the numerous young people who text everything.
I worry that we may start seeing text lingo slip into every day writing, including newspapers.
BTW (By The Way), life is too short.
I dug deep into my soul a few days ago to revisit something that changed my life forever.
We are doing a series on teen drivers and fatal car accidents. The question “Why” came up from some of the parents of the victims.
I wrote a column today (June 16) about losing my older brother when I was in fourth grade.
I just received a call from a wonderful woman who was in tears. She thanked me for sharing my story.
Honestly, I feel pretty numb.
A co-worker also was brought to tears by this column. She lost a son recently.
This was not meant to bring people to tears but to tell them that those left behind do go on with life. It is a different journey. We keep the spirit of those who have left us alive … in our hearts, thoughts, prayers and actions.
Pass the love on to someone who needs it.
Here is the column:
39 years later, loss
of brother still hard
to understand
Sept. 16, 1970, was a sunny day in Lafayette, Ind., I recall. Not too hot, not too cool.
My grandparents from Pennsylvania were paying a visit.
It was a Wednesday.
Older brother Mike was an eighth-grader. He left before I did for school with his neighborhood friends, Pete and Bob.
I don’t recall if we said anything to one another or not. I wish I could.
I was a student in Mrs. Yoder’s fourth-grade class.
About midmorning, Mr. Taylor, the assistant principal at my grade school, came to our room and talked to Mrs. Yoder. I was then asked to go with him to the office. There I was delegated to stamping the name of the school in new library books. I thought it was because I did something good. I wish it had been.
After finishing the job, I went back to my classroom.
Near noon, my father picked me up.
Funny, Dad went to work today. Now he was in street clothes instead of his letter carrier uniform.
I got in the truck and recall someone else stopping and talking to Dad.
I think he said he was sorry to learn the news.
It was a quiet ride home. Nothing unusual. Dad is a man of few words.
When we got home, he asked me to go to my room. Why was Grandma crying?
Dad and Mom came into my room. I think they closed the door.
“We have something we need to tell you,” Dad said. “Your brother went to see Jesus today.”
OK. So he went to St. Boniface on a school day.
No. Mike, who was 13, was killed as he tried to cross a busy road going to school.
Mike was unable to get out of the way of a car. His friends were able to safely make it.
At the hospital, they tried to revive him but … Jesus took him home to be with Him.
On Sept. 16, 1970, I learned that I was mortal, and I was only 9 years old.
No matter how hard I tried to wish it, I could not bring back the brother I idolized. He was smart, athletic, artistic and cared for people.
Nearly 39 years later, I still try and wish him back.
Two years ago at a funeral for one of my uncles, Dad, for the first time I could recall, said he wondered what Mike would have become. The tears started to flow for father and son.
Uncle Bob, whose wake we were at, was like Mike in a lot of ways. He cared for people. He also was strapping and brilliant when it came to a lot of things.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think about Mike.
Oh, to have him here on this planet. To call him to discuss a career move. To bounce ideas off him. To be a proud uncle to his children. To see my family whole again.
Time does heal wounds like these. But there is an ache or a pain that doesn’t leave you.
I tell friends that Mike’s death is when I became more moody. It took several years to stop crying at little things that would remind me of him.
I even carried the burden of being like Mike. No, I wasn’t the athlete he was. But I wanted to be like him. And yes, there were times I said I wished it was me instead of him that died. I was even afraid to turn 13. Thought it was jinxed.
The loss of Mike brought my parents and I closer than we already were. Back in 1970, there weren’t the counseling and groups they have now. But Mom and Dad were and are great. We went forward but never forgot.
I also believe Mike has been there for me during the good and bad. I just sense it at times.
I bring this up today because of the series The Daily Journal is reporting about teen drivers and fatal accidents.
Believe me, I still don’t understand why they call them accidents. They do so much more to those left behind.
However, know this, God has a plan. It is not for us to ask why.
One thing I try and do each day is make a person laugh, smile or learn something.
Today, I hope I showed to those who have lost someone, young or old, that life does go on.
Be still and know that He is God.
Jeff Bonty is Web/Wire editor for The Daily Journal. You can reach by mail in care of The Daily Journal, 8 Dearborn Square, Kankakee, Ill., 60901, telephone (815) 937-3366 or e-mail (jbonty@daily-journal.com).
The Associated Press reported about a high school baseball game in West Burlington, Iowa, where the umpire ejected the fans for being unruly.
Talk about a bad day.
The umpire, Don Briggs, said he had no trouble with the players from Winfield-Mount Union and West Burlington high schools during Thursday’s game.
Briggs sad he took action against the fans because they were arguing and yelling.
James Sleister, the superintendent of West Burlington, said he did not see any unusual behavior and thought the umpire overreacted.
The game resumed after a 40-minute delay. West Burlington won 12-11.
Even West Burlington police officer Al Waterman, who responded after Briggs called police, said he saw nobody acting unruly. No arrests were made.
I have a feeling the strike zone might have been the cause for the excitement.
So it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out — and don’t argue with the umpire — at the old ball game.
Today was the day analog television died.
Television signals are now digital.
For months, we have been bombarded by ads telling us this day was coming.
News agencies are reporting one million people are still without the converter boxes needed for those using antennas to get the digital signal.
I can report that my parents aren’t one of them.
This I found out by calling them and asking how the transition went. Earlier this month, Dad installed the converter box with no problems. Major victory there for him.
They had not turned on the TV yet today. Mom had Dad fire it up and presto, five stations were coming in.
There was one channel, the NBC affiliate, that did not come in. That was no problem for my Mom.
“That’s Obama’s network any way,” she said.
She didn’t allow Dad to talk, so I cannot give you his opinion on the lack of the NBC station. Knowing him, he would tell me, “No comment.”
My folks are now part of the digital age. Wow.
Do I dare buy them a laptop computer and order high-speed Internet?
One milestone at a time.
On a recent visit with my parents, my mother asked my wife, Dawn, which one of us had more gray hair — son or mother.
I have let my hair grow longer this past year. Partly because I wanted to use the wavy mop God gave me to my advantage. The other reason to celebrate the 30th anniversary of graduating high school.
I would say I have more of the gray hair than my Mom. Smart move on my part.
So after having a few photographs taken with the folks, we headed back into the house.
I was holding the door and as my Dad passed by, he asked me how many of the gray hairs on his head I gave him.
“Dad. I think I gave you the majority of them,” I replied.
Some of them came on a weekend during college where I didn’t come home until 5 in the morning. The folks were just getting up.
“You don’t think we were worried about you,” Dad bellowed.
“Jeffery, we didn’t know if you were in the emergency room or what,” Mom added.
This was after I had turned 21, so I had been hitting the bar scene.
I could have easily picked up the phone and called them. No. I was having too much fun. Why be considerate to the two people who raised me.
So now the tables have been turned. I am the one worried about the children, two daughters (ages 21 and 18).
I thought all the times I was grounded by my folks were bad. And I believe I own the world record for groundings. However, the hardest part is the payback.
No wonder Mom and Dad have bigger smiles now than they did 30 years ago.
Ten reasons to cut down on the number of meetings being held at your place of employment:
10. We always have the same snacks.
9. Not enough chairs for co-workers causing more cases of bleacher butt.
8. Cuts into time to do research for blog posts.
7. Gives co-workers more time to go to lunch and talk about other co-workers behind their backs.
6. One less time to hit the “Do Not Disturb” button on the telephone.
5. It would give some co-workers more time to rehash the previous night’s sporting events.
4. Opportunity to actually doodle at our desks.
3. Extra 30 minutes to run errands during lunch.
2. Less fast food would be consumed at work.
1. We might actually get productive work done.
I hope you are enjoying National Iced Tea Day. It is my non-carbonated beverage of choice.
Iced tea was very popular in the South in the late 1800s, according to whatscookingamerica.net.
If you have not had Sweet tea while you have visited the South, try it. No pun intended, it’s sweet.
And it appears the drink became a hit at the the World Fair held in St. Louis in 1904.
According to holidayinsight.com, English tea plantation owner Richard Blechynden had a booth to sell hot tea at the fair. Temperatures were blazing and there were no takers for the hot drink.
Blechynden poured some of the tea into glasses with ice, which quenched the thirst of fair goers.
Just like Mom’s recipe for chocolate chip cookies, no one makes better iced tea than her.
Not one big on award shows, I am going to make an exception.
The Webby Awards, which started 13 years ago, honor excellence on the Internet. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences presents the awards.
And why do I like this award?
Winners are limited to five-word speeches.
Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, won the Webby Award for Breakout of the Year.
What makes this honoree unique is that Twitter is a social network on the Internet that limits users to 140 characters to answer what they are doing.
Upon accepting his award, Stone said: “Creativity is a renewable resource.”
Jimmy Fallon, who took over “Late Night” from Conan O’Brien, received the Webby Person of the Year. His use of blogs and Twitter helps him engage his fans online.
Fallon’s acceptance speech honored the new host of The Tonight Show. “Thank God Conan got promoted,” Fallon said.
Another person receiving a special achievement honor was Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy.” He won the Film and Video Person of the Year for his “Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” Web series.
His response: “What is this for again?”
The Oscars, Screen Actor Guild Awards, Tony and many other award shows should take notice of the short speech mandate.
Less words means more time to spend at all the lavish after-event parties.
Growing up, the person I hung around with the most from kindergarten through college was Brian McDonald.
Through thick and thin, Mac and I experienced growing up and surviving the journey we call life.
We had other crowds we ran with, but Mac was the one I could talk to about girls and dreams of becoming a newspaper guy.
Despite moving to Illinois, I was able to stay in touch with Mac through letters, a call here and there, a visit to his parents’ home and now through e-mail.
It has been 10 months since we sat watching Mac’s son play a baseball game. We had a great talk. It was shortly after his mother had passed away. Mrs. McDonald was one of a kind. A straight shooter who didn’t waste words.
Mac’s dad died several years ago. It was always a treat to sit with Mac and his dad at the baseball stadium in our hometown. They loved baseball. His dad would have made a great sports writer. He had a good view of the game and world of sports.
Mac has two children of his own now. Great kids to go along with a straight-shooting wife. She keeps him in line. Much like my wife does me.
According to holidayinsights.com, June 8 is Best Friend Day.
Is it true we only have one best friend? Personally, I don’t think so. Maybe two or three in our life. I have one or two people I keep close with here in Illinois.
But as for Mac, he was the first best friend.
I couldn’t have asked for a better buddy.
The Associated Press is reporting graduation was canceled at Centerburg High School.
The students would receive their diplomas in the mail.
School officials called off the ceremony for the 60 seniors when they uncovered a cheating scheme that involved many of the students. Either the students cheated or knew about the cheating and did not report it.
Superintendent Dorothy Holden said she was alarmed by the cheating and those who knew of it and did not come forward to report it.
Some of the students admitted to cheating, others said they knew of the cheating but did not participate. Others said they had the tests but didn’t use them. One student who used the test still failed.
A senior gained access to the computers of several teachers. and found tests. The story said the student printed the tests and distributed them to classmates.
The cheating allegedly began as early as January and included at least five tests in a senior world studies class. On Friday, school officials said the cheating may also include underclassmen.
Teachers had suspicions because grades were coming in higher than average.
The cheating was uncovered when a student discovered a congratulatory note to the student who accessed the tests on a school computer. The student passed the information to Principal John Morgan.
Some parents are upset and may hold an unofficial ceremony.
Centerburg has an enrollment of 400 students. According to the state Department of Education, the school had a 99 percent graduation rate last year. The state average in 2008 was 87 percent.
I find it hard to believe that at least one student didn’t step forward while this was going on.
It is upsetting this happened. And for the teachers, past and present, of these students, this must be disappointing.
Why?
Because they invested time with the students. Time that was wasted because some thought it easier to cut corners.
Some times cutting corners is not a wise thing to do.
This should be the lesson from this incident.
