Fourth Quarter

I can't believe that we only have about 38 days left of school.

The Boombox?

boom box (ˈbo͞om ˌbäks/) noun - a portable sound system, typically including radio and cassette or CD player, capable of powerful sound.

I know that I'm showing my age here, but I have always loved boom boxes since the first time I laid eyes on one.  (They were called "Ghetto Blasters" in my hood, though.)  See, this was before iPods and such.  Most of our portable radios were little transistor radios that had one speaker and only had AM frequency and depending on where you were, the reception was awful.  Don't get me wrong, they were better than nothing, but the sound was mono and quite tinny.

And then there came boom boxes.  Not only did boom boxes have AM and FM radio, they had at least one cassette deck.  (The later ones had CD players, as well, but this was before CD's.)  Boom boxes were all the rage at about the same time that we all started break dancing.  (My break dancing name was "The Tayster" and, I'm not trying to brag here, I was fairly awesome.)  I mowed lawns for months to raise enough money to buy a Sears brand boom box that had TWO cassette decks.  When I finally purchased it, I loaded it up with batteries and I walked down the street with it on my shoulder, blaring Public Enemy, Run-DMC, LL Cool J or the Beastie Boys.

So why am I telling you this? Well, as you can tell, I have renamed this blog as "The Boombox".  I did this for a few reasons:

1) I got tired of calling it 'the blog'.

2) I love all things music related.

3) The purpose of this blog is to broadcast things to my class, not unlike the way I would broadcast Grandmaster Flash to my neighborhood.  (Although, I hope you are not as annoyed as my neighbors were.)

Greatest ________ In The World

There are three books that I read on a yearly basis:

• "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
• "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis
• "The Greatest Salesman in the World" by Og Mandino

(NOTE: I will usually read "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe" every year, as well.)

I would like to write a little about "The Greatest Salesman in the World" today.  (From here on out, I will call it "TGSITW".)  I know that by the title it may sound like a boring book.  And to be fair, it probably would be a bit boring for my students.  And unfortunately, many people avoid it because they see "Salesman" in the title and think, "I'm not a salesman."

Believe it or not, it's not really about selling anything.  It's about becoming the best person you can be.  And, really, who could not handle bettering themselves?

With chapters like "Today I Begin a New Life", "I Will Greet This Day With Love In My Heart" and "I Will Persist Until I Succeed", it can be applied to anyone and their life.

So, the question I have for you is, "With what would you fill in the blank in "Greatest ________ In The World"?