At the moment, I am avoiding doing my German homework on Moodle. If you aren't familiar with the Moodle website, allow me to summarize: Its a resource teachers use instead of handing out worksheets and writing things by hand. My German teacher, being the technology addict he is, uses this website or another one called wordchamp to teach a good portion of his class. I like technology as much or maybe a bit less than your average teenager, but at a certain point education starts to abuse technology in my eyes.

My math class has worksheets done and handed in on Moodle. My graphic design teacher uses Diigo and Ning to display and give us feed back on our work. Some English teachers use Moodle chat rooms instead of verbal class discussion. I regrettably understand that this is the direction our society is moving, but sometimes I miss the other way.

I like money. Who doesn't? But the reason I like money is because I collect coins and paper money. Over time, I have collected many old and unusual coins, including many wheat pennies and a coin from Malawi.

But recently, I got a rare dollar bill. The dollar looked exactly the same as any other dollar except for the fact that the serial number of this dollar did not have a letter at the end of it. Instead, there was a small star after the serial number. Bills like this one are called "star notes" and are not printed as often as regular bills.

When an inspector finds a bill that is is printed with a flaw, the bill is removed and destroyed. However, in order to keep the same number of bills, the flawed bill is replaced with a star note. Because not many bills are printed with errors, star notes are not used much and are therefore rare.

My church had a bazaar this past weekend, following a Christmas theme. It was great to see all the members of our church come together to produce a success. This year, as in past years, I volunteered in the gingerbread house room. Children, and adults, came to decorate gingerbread houses with candy, using icing as 'glue'. The houses themselves were made of graham crackers held together with icing. It was neat to see how the minds of some of the kids worked, whether they placed each piece of candy methodically or threw everything on. I know when my brother and I used to make them, mine had to be symmetrical. Also, volunteering means a lot. I get more out of the work I'm doing knowing that I don't get paid, than knowing that I do. It was enjoyable for everyone.

I was look through some poems I wrote that were saved to my computer, and I found a poem I wrote in 8th grade about how much I hated algebra/mathmatics in general. This is it:

I would now like to update that poem:

I miss Algebra.

Anyone who has been on crutches knows where I am coming from: having crutches sucks. For all the people out there who wish they had crutches, please, come take mine. Sure, they are fun to play on for awhile, but once you are bored, you can just hand them back to whomever they belong to and go on with your life. I can't do that. Not only does my leg hurt really badly, but I can't walk, so I'm stuck using metal poles joined with my arms for the next two weeks. Now, my injured leg hurts from not being able to use it, my non-injured leg hurts due to the crutches forcing me to put all my weight on it, the heels of my hands hurt from trying to push my weight off the crutches, and the sides of my rib cage hurt from the top part of the crutches rubbing hard against them. I also have to leave early from my classes so no one accidently kicks my crutches causing me to fall. Also, I am constantly getting stared at due to my two additional metal legs. Yes, everyone has seen crutches before, but no matter how many times they have, the girl with the crutches always gets stared at as she goes somewhere.

In conclusion, crutches are awful. They cause harm to non-injured body parts, an odd appearance for the user, and extreme scheduling. Please, take it from a three-time (maybe four, I lost count) crutch user: do not wish for crutches. They are not fun.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the second week of November is a bit early for Christmas? I'm all for the propaganda associated with holidays, but personally I find this ridiculous. Let me eat some stuffing before I start worrying about what I'm going to buy my best friend for Christmas. Christmas, or for that matter any of the winter holidays, isn't celebrated until December. Lets save the giant toy books and Christmas TV specials for December.

As the son of two Naval Academy graduates, I always cheer for Navy football. Every year we watch the Army-Navy game and cheer for Navy to win.

Even though Navy is not the biggest team, their heart makes up for their lack of size. It's like cheering for a whole team of players like Rudy. They put everything into the game even though their opponents are almost twice their size.

Navy has been playing Notre Dame ever since Navy helped Notre Dame financially by sending men to train at Notre Dame during World War II. Notre Dame usually wins these games and that is not surprising because Notre Dame has money and can recruit players that are taller and heavier than Navy's players can be because of size restrictions. However, even with these advantages, Notre Dame still loses to Navy occasionally.

Last Saturday, Navy beat Notre Dame, ranked 19th, for the second time in three years.
Notre Dame's loss to Navy was bad for Notre Dame. They were planning on a BCS bowl and a 10 win season. Jimmy Clausen, who is in the running for the Heisman Trophy, was repeatedly stopped at the Navy end zone, was sacked in the Notre Dame end zone for a Navy safety, and was penalized 15 yards for shoving the Navy player after throwing an interception.

The game was very exciting and I hope it helps Navy get ranked before the end of the season.

On Friday, November 13th at 6pm, Appalachian Bluegrass Shoppe in Catonsville, Maryland is hosting a Taylor Guitars Roadshow.

Taylor Guitars is one of the leading acoustic guitar makers in the U.S. and every year they have roadshows to show and demonstrate their new guitars and let people sign up to win a custom Taylor guitar.

The roadshows are very informal. The demonstrator plays a few guitars, answers questions, and then lets people play the Taylor guitars he brought. Near the end of the roadshow, the Taylor representative gives away free Taylor products and guitar strings.

The roadshow is a great way to learn about and play guitars. I hope to see you there.

What's that saying about people who have not sinned casting the first stone?

Oh right, we've all sinned, therefore no one gets to cast stones.

Well, we here at the Daily Record feel the same way about acts of stupidity.

Everyone has done something that makes those around them question how far removed from an amoebae they really are. And since we're all swimming around the same pool of sub-cerebral sludge, who are we to judge extreme acts of idiocy?

So, instead we'll celebrate those moments that make Darwin cringe about the future of our species.

Like, for instance, the time I left a plastic bag of frozen beans to melt on top of a stove burner. Or, for instance, the time I left a plastic bag of frozen broccoli to melt on top of a stove burner. Or, maybe the time I left a plastic grocery bag to melt on top of scented candle (note, apple cinnamon and burning plastic are not a pleasant combination).

You get the point.

To kick off the celebration, we asked members of our Teen Takeover staff members to share the dumbest thing they've ever done.

Read their responses here, then share your own stories of stupidity.
-- Susan Jennings