I just read this article about the Kenmore West teacher who was killed in an accident. I was really touched until I got to the end and found out that the school organized a balloon release in memoriam. I can't believe the ignorance of such actions and for this to be done as an official act by a school. The article ends with "When a bagpipe player finished the last strains of “Amazing Grace,” the balloons were let loose. Heads turned to watch them dance like free spirits toward the heavens." They are balloons, not spirits and they don't go to the heavens, they go to our water ways and imperil our struggling wildlife and make everything ugly. They get entangled in trees and rocks and there they sit for who knows how long until they photo-degrade and break into smaller pieces which get eaten by plankton and thus passed on up the food chain. Death is sad but adding more death and destruction makes it even sadder.

It is really sad what happened. I really like the beginning of the article where the girl shares her experience about his encouragement. What a huge loss for the school.

School grieves loss of teacher
After football victory, Kenmore West says goodbye, with love
By Matthew Spina
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Published:
September 19, 2010, 12:00 AM

Laura Doxbeck was an insecure sophomore, certain there was no place for her at the Tinsel Ball, Kenmore West High School’s holiday season gala.

She would know no one. She would have no one to talk to. She would stick out like a sore thumb. But she went.

“Mr. Dugan talked me into it,” she said Saturday, almost two years later.

“He said that no matter who you know, you will always meet people. Because, no matter what, people are going to be friendly. Everybody’s friendly. Nobody’s mean. You just have to give them a chance.”

He encouraged her to buy a nice dress—the calming color of green so that if she became nervous she could look at herself and feel at ease. He told her she would look beautiful and would have a great time.

Apparently, she did. She posted a picture of herself at the Tinsel Ball on her Facebook page. And the memory of it all brought a smile to her face on an otherwise sad day.

“That was Mr. Dugan’s whole perspective,” she said. “He was so intelligent, with so much insight into everybody’s life, and with so much intuition that it just blew me away.”

Kenmore West’s football team played Lockport High on Saturday and thrilled the huge home crowd with a come-from-behind victory — 14-13—on the last drive of the game.

The teams congratulated each

other and then several hundred people fell silent.

You could hear only the wind as the players, cheerleaders and about 200 more people assembled at midfield. Balloons in the school colors of blue and white were handed out.

The Kenmore West community was gathering to remember Brian C. Dugan, its “beloved colleague and friend,” as the school superintendent called him.

Dugan, an English teacher at the school since 1995, active over the years in coaching football and basketball, a husband and father to boys ages 7 and 8, and the teacher most likely to pull any young student out of a funk, was hit by a car and killed while jogging Wednesday on Sheridan Drive.

He was just 37.

“He loved kids. He loved being with kids. And he loved the kids he taught,” said Sam Drago, who taught with Dugan in the English department. “Whether in the classroom, or on this football field, he taught by example. He taught with love. With compassion. With honesty. And with sincerity. It’s for all those reasons that he’s a hero to so many kids.”

He taught students in the ninth and 10th grades, young teenagers sprinting toward adulthood and fretting about their place among their peers. Dugan’s students said he taught them to relax and to have a laugh or two while learning.

He would throw a few outlandish choices into his multiple-choice tests. He’d read Shakespeare with his best British accent.

“He taught us to laugh, to make things a joke. Not everything was so serious. He made it OK,” said Haley Lewandowski, now a senior.

When a bagpipe player finished the last strains of “Amazing Grace,” the balloons were let loose. Heads turned to watch them dance like free spirits toward the heavens.

Students will be dismissed early Monday to allow them to attend the Mass of Christian Burial for Dugan, to be offered at 11:30 a. m. in St. Amelia Catholic Church, 2999 Eggert Road, Town of Tonawanda. The Brian C. Dugan Children’s Education Fund—PO Box 2, Buffalo, NY 14223—has been set up for his children.

District Superintendent Mark P. Mondanaro handed a bouquet of flowers — again in blue and white — to Dugan’s widow, Ann Marie. Minutes earlier he had urged everyone to live the way Dugan had lived, with a sense of purpose, passion and heartfelt love to those around him.

Some students were asked later how Dugan had changed their lives.

“I’ll just look at things in a much lighter way,” Doxbeck said. “I’ll find the comedy in the most terrible situation if I can.

“Mr. Dugan told me there’s always a bright side.”

I like Google Chrome. I'm really surprised at how much faster it is than Firefox. It took me a while to get used to but besides being faster it is nicer that Chrome doesn't waste viewing space. It was annoying that when I was downloading a driver I was unable to do it on anything but I.E or Firefox.

I never have seen these before. I think they are so freaking precious.

Fall Clean Up! Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER is calling for citizens to join the Fall Shoreline Sweep to clean up the shorelines in Western New York on Saturday September 25th, 9 a.m. until noon, coinciding with the International Coastal Cleanup and Sunday September 26th, noon until 3 pm, to celebrate World Rivers Day. For a complete list of sites and dates for each and to register, please click here

Mike and I did this in the Spring and I thought it was rewarding. People trash it again right after you clean it up but if I didn't have to work I would do it again. I really wish I had a garbage claw and I would work on cleaning up the trash along the rocks along the Niagara.

I promised to write about ketchup in my next journal but I forgot and posted about naked people who "cycle" {{{{(e:brit)}}}}} while face painted.

So has anyone else noticed the taste between Canadian ketchup and US ketchup? Or the difference between US and any where else they sell ketchup? I'm only referring to Heinz when it comes to the difference between US and Canadian ketchup.

When I met Mike in Niagara Falls Canada for lunch I remarked at how sweet the ketchup was. Mike looked at the label and read liquid sugar and I knew right away it was the sugar that made the difference. As we know {{{{(e:brit)}}}}} the US crap is made with freaking corn syrup. I hate corn syrup and am just about ready to get it out of my life but that will be somewhat challenging since I don't want to go crazy about it. They use it so much and just like {{{{(e:brit)}}}}}} will attest to, it is in almost everything we eat as a replacement for sugar because of government subsidies to the corn industry.

When I went to Cuba for a semester I loved their beer and their soda. Not sure what it was about the beer, and for that matter the rum, but the soda was better than ours definitely because they make it with real sugar vs our corn syrup and it was delicious!!!

Heinz says this specifically about the difference between US and other countries...

The secret ketchup recipe!
Only 8 to 10 people in the world know the exact recipe for Heinz ketchup. You may also be surprised to learn that, although Heinz has one basic recipe, there are differences - depending in which country it is made in. For example, ketchup users in Canada, England, Australia and Venezuela like their ketchup a bit sweeter than Ketchup users in the U.S. and Mainland Europeans, who tend to like their ketchup a bit spicier.

source

Mike does say that he thinks that Canadian ketchup is too sweet. I loved it so I got a bottle of Annie's when I got home because it is made with real sugar. I love Annie's especially their BBQ sauce....yummy!

Upon further investigation, it appears that Hunt's is a good way to go if you don't want to spend the money on organic.

OMAHA, Neb. — ConAgra Foods Inc. has removed high fructose corn syrup from its Hunt's brand ketchup.

Shoppers have been shying away from high-fructose corn syrup due to health concerns, and it was consumer demand that drove the changes, said Hunt's brand manager Ryan Toreson.

Hunt's is the latest brand to make the shift.

PepsiCo Inc. removed all high-fructose corn syrup from sports drink Gatorade and replaced it with cane sugar.

Some nutritionists cite the syrup as part of the country's obesity problem, though industry scientists and many dietitians say it is no more fattening than sugar.

Corn syrup is popular with manufacturers partly because it is cheaper than sugar.

Hunt's Tomato Ketchup has five ingredients: tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, salt and other seasonings, the company said.

The products should be on all store shelves by the middle of this month.

The price has not changed, the company said.

Source

Check the bottle before you buy and make a taste comparison. Next supermarket outing I am going to see if they have the new Hunts with the real sugar. Now if only Coca Cola would get their HFCS asses in gear! PepsiCo if you want to beat Coca Cola in Cola sales switch to real sugar and you got em!

I would rather pay more to have real sugar. If people can afford to eat less of these products it certainly won't kill them. Has anyone ever tried using a Soda Stream?