Tag Archives: Kent McCarty

September 11, 2012 · 9:47 pm

Something new is brewing

By: Elizabeth Lee

Staff Reporter

Java Moe’s Coffee Company is Oak Grove’s newest and only drive-through coffee shop. Opened at the beginning of this past July by Oak Grove High School alumnus and former Warrior Beat editor Kent McCarty, his father Morgan McCarty, and Chuck Bennett, the shop has seen success that exceeded expectations. Since Seattle Drip closed earlier this year, the caffeine-

LOVE COFFEE, LOVE PEOPLE
Java Moe’s part-owner Kent McCarty greets his customers with a warm cup of joe.
Photo by MARY KATE WALDRON

driven community of Oak Grove has missed having a quick cup of coffee available in a convenient location, so they welcomed the new business with open arms; some customers have even shared that they drove all the way from the other side of Hattiesburg and beyond just to get a taste of Java Moe’s coffee.

In the weeks prior to Java Moe’s grand opening, social media was abuzz with anticipation. The Facebook and Twitter pages gained over 1,000 followers each before the shop’s windows even opened for the first time, and in return for their support on the internet, each follower was offered a special half-off deal for the entire menu on the day of the grand opening. “We have been really impressed and pleased with how good business has been since the shop opened,” Kent McCarty said.

Although Java Moe’s is a new business, its menu is certainly impressive, and the quality of the drinks is even said to rival a certain nationwide coffeehouse chain synonymous with overpriced lattes and snobby baristas (side note: Java Moe’s employees are the friendliest, sharpest, most skilled baristas around). When you stop by, be sure to check out the full menu including signature drinks like the Cinnamon Delight, Honeysuckle, Turtle, Dark or White Chocolate Mocha, and the best-selling Java Moe—white chocolate and caramel. These drinks can all be made iced, hot, or frozen, and coffee is available in the form of a latte, cappuccino, Americano, au lait, and regular drip coffee. Frappes are blended in a variety of flavors as well, and drinks like hot chocolate, real fruit smoothies, frozen lemonade, flavored iced tea, hot tea, and Chai tea are offered as coffee alternatives. Baked goods including blueberry and banana nut muffins, made-from-scratch lemon bars, and snickerdoodle, double chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin cookies are delicious treats that Java Moe’s serves to complement your caffeine.

Located in the former Seattle Drip building off of Highway 98, Java Moe’s is open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Also, be sure to check out the second location, which will open in the next few weeks, in the other former Seattle Drip building in the Westwood Square shopping center parking lot in front of Oscar’s and Rite Aid, and like and follow Java Moe’s on Facebook and Twitter to receive updates like the drink of the week, special deals, and more.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Features

Tagged as , , , ,

April 13, 2012 · 1:30 am

McCarty, Dysfuntion Junction continue entertaining readers

by: Anna Kate Baygents

Staff Reporter

When Kent McCarty graduated last year as a Valedictorian, Star Student, National Merit Finalist, and Hall of Fame recipient, most of his teachers and classmates expected him to achieve big things. As former editor of The Warrior Beat, it came as no surprise when one of these included writing. Last September, The Conservative Journal, a popular political blog, was looking to start a new project geared toward a younger audience and needed a writer for it. “I never thought I’d get it,” McCarty said, “but I took a chance and applied.” McCarty was chosen, and The Dysfunction Junction was born. While writing for The Warrior Beat, McCarty wrote a column following his personal series of unfortunate events entitled The Dysfunction Junction. So when trying to decide what to name his blog, he chose to carry over the catchy title “because the only thing more dysfunctional than my life is the

Kent McCarty shakes hands with Phil Bryant at the Governor’s Inaugural Ball. / Submitted Photo

American Government,” McCarty said. McCarty’s first article was a live blog following a GOP debate this past September. Since then, The Dysfunction Junction has grown immensely and has even been mentioned on The Huffington Post for GOP primary predictions as well as spotlighted on Red Alert, another young political blog. Most recently, McCarty joined the staff of The College Conservative, a blog written by college students from all over the country. However, McCarty doesn’t only blog about politics; he is also very involved. On January 10, McCarty attended the inauguration of Governor Phil Bryant where he was able to speak and shake hands with the Governor. A few weeks after, McCarty flew to Washington, D.C.,   to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference, or better known as CPAC. Speakers ranged from Ann Coulter to Herman Cain, yet Sarah Palin stole the show. “I’ve never seen someone so well-received by such a large crowd,” McCarty said. McCarty met Palin and Cain along with other “celebrities” Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich. McCarty’s connection with Gingrich, however, didn’t end in D.C. At the beginning of March, McCarty received an email from Gingrich’s campaign stating that they were looking for a chairman for Lamar County, and he excitedly took the position. McCarty was responsible for setting out all of the Newt signs around the county and for calling voters and reminding them to place their ballots on Election Day. Gingrich did indeed win Lamar County. For this summer, McCarty has applied to intern for Mississippi representative Steven Palazzo in the U.S. House of Representatives. He should hear back from Rep. Palazzo’s office soon. McCarty attends the University of Southern Mississippi but has yet to declare a major. “I have so many things I want to do with my life,” McCarty said. “I’m still trying to narrow it down.”Although he doubts he’ll be a professional blogger, McCarty hopes to keep his blog up and running for as long as possible.

Facts about his blog:

700 subscribers

3,300 Twitter followers

1,000 daily visits

100,000 unique visitors

Leave a Comment

Filed under Features

Tagged as , , , ,

April 1, 2011 · 12:53 pm

Changes to come for OGHS 2011-12 school year

By:  Kent McCarty

For those who thought this year’s changes in the dress code and exemption policy were major, next year’s handbook is likely going to throw one for a loop.  During the last several months, school officials have been hard at work weighing the pros and cons of different plans and observing the results of the changes made this year with a watchful eye.  For starters, as most have heard, the dress code for next year is a more rigid version of the dress code currently in effect.  Color choices have been limited to white, black, and gold, and full-length khakis are students’ only option for pants.  Additionally, only color-approved jackets with full zippers will be allowed.
Outside of the dress code, students can look forward to several changes regarding the policy in the parking lot.  Due to the recent surge in the size of the student body, parking decals will be limited to juniors and seniors with leftover spots being offered to sophomores at the start of the spring semester.  Additionally, car riders and those who drive to school will now be required to wait until bus riders are dismissed to leave at the end of the day.  “We know it’s probably not ideal for all the students to wait until 4:00 or 4:10 to be dismissed at the end of the day, but it’s a big liability issue having all the students wandering the parking lot with those huge buses rolling in,” Principal Wayne Folkes said.
Additionally, the newly updated exemption policy, which limited senior exemptions to semester exams and allowed for only two absences per nine weeks, has been updated yet again to better prepare students for life after high school.  “We know this isn’t going to be that popular, and we took a lot of time to decide, but we’ve decided that it’s in the best interest of the students’ educational experience to take away exemptions altogether.  There are no exemptions in college, and we want to prepare the students for college in every possible manner,” Folkes said.
Finally, the grading scale for the 2011-2012 school year has been altered drastically.  While officials tossed around the idea of adjusting to a ten-point scale, a more varied scale was ultimately chosen.  A score of 93-100 still equates to an “A”, but the lower cut-off for a “B” has been moved up to 88.  Additionally, the lower cut-off for a “C” has been adjusted to 83, and the lower cut-off for a “D” has been adjusted to 78.  While this will cause failing grades to start at 77, officials are optimistic about the outcome.  “Yes, the “7-5-5-5-77” grading scale, as I call it, is more rigid.  But it should increase the students’ work ethic as they strive to make higher grades,” Folkes said.

APRIL FOOLS

The real story…

While it is truly unfortunate for anyone who will still be in high school next year, there is no need to worry about the majority of the aforementioned changes.  While the dress code policy next year will be more strict than this year’s policy, the only real changes consist of only allowing jackets in approved colors and eliminated navy from the approved colors.  Don’t worry; open-toed shoes are still ok.
As for the parking lot changes, those are lies as well.  Sophomores, juniors, and seniors will still be allowed to park on campus, with decals being given on a first-come, first-serve basis before the start of the 2011-2012 school year.   Additionally, car riders and drivers will still be allowed to leave with the bell, while bus riders will still probably have to wait a few minutes after on most days.  However, next year’s schedule contains some adjustments that should help get buses to school in a more timely manner.
Finally, the exemption policy next year looks a like the one this year; don’t miss more than two days a nine weeks and don’t let your average drop below a 90 (or 85, for seniors).  And as for the grading scale, no changes have been made for the 2011-2012 school year, though there are several options on the table for an updated scale in the next few years.

Leave a Comment

Filed under News

Tagged as , , ,

· 12:36 pm

Dysfunction Junction

By: Kent McCarty, Editor

Spring Break is a wonderful time to sleep, hang out with friends, and not be at school (most importantly).  For me however, Spring Break, like any holiday, is a time for me to break things, get lost, throw up, and have inspiration for this column (most importantly).  Last year, we made it to Disney World and back in one piece, so I thought surely this year would be the same.  Unfortunately, for my mom’s sake, it was nothing of the sort.
Vacuum Cleaner: 1, Mom: 0
For those who don’t yet know, my mom fell down the stairs while carrying the vacuum cleaner and broke two bones in her leg at the beginning of January.  After two months of recovery, she’s mobile, but not yet ready to take on the world as she was B.C. (Before Crutches).  For example, we had originally planned to go to Atlanta over Spring Break but decided there was too much movement involved in the ATL.  Instead, we took a short trip to Jackson on Tuesday to go to the zoo and the new childrens’ museum before my brother’s baseball game in Madison that Wednesday.  Of course, a trip to the zoo would be about as feet-intensive as a trip to Atlanta, so my mom decided we needed to bust out the wheelchair. Being the loving son that I am, I volunteered to push her around as we took a “relaxing” stroll through the Jackson Zoo.
Gravity: 1, Kent: 0
The Jackson Zoo is built on the side of a mountain -one that’s quite possibly bigger than Everest itself.  At the top of the mountain are several bird cages and other enclosures that are typical of any zoo.  Seeing this gigantic trek in front of us, my mom and I decided that wheeling to the hilltop was not in the cards if the only benefit was catching a glimpse of the rare barn owl.  Unfortunately, we later found out that the entrance to the otter enclosure was only accessible from the top of the aforementioned mountain, because the more easily reached entrance was broken (go figure).  Further rationalization led us to conclude that the hike was worth the otters, so we marched on.  Of course, it was worth it in the end because otters are awesome and the animated Mr. and Mrs. Beaver from “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” were also present.  It wasn’t until we noticed the challenge of using a wheelchair on a steep downward slope that we began to regret visiting the furry rodents in the hilltop habitat.  With great care, I slowly lowered my injured mother down the hill while she used her good leg to steady the rapid descent.  Unfortunately, we lost the battle with Jackson’s Mount Vesuvius, and my mom’s wheelchair slipped from my grasp momentarily.  This is where prior knowledge of my mother enhances the story:  Imagine my mom, wheelchair and all, zipping down a hill with no way to stop herself.  That visual will forever be engrained in my mind as my aunt and I chased the runaway chair down the hill at speeds that made cars on the interstate look like Razor scooters manned by toddlers.  For the entire freefall, my mom was screaming unintelligibly, likely due to the sheer shock of the whole event.  She continued down the slope until adrenaline took over, and I was able to catch up with the chair, just before she was ejected into the flamingo pen, which would have totally ruined an otherwise nice day.  Needless to say, mom and I opted to sit on the beach when we got to the Children’s Museum; it sure beat the alternative of chasing her down three flights of stairs.

1 Comment

Filed under Entertainment

Tagged as , ,

March 4, 2011 · 12:20 pm

Should Haley Barbour run for President?

YES

By: Anna Kate Baygents

During the 2010 midterm elections, Governor Haley Barbour first mentioned running for President. Before then, I had never considered our Governor as a possible candidate for our nation’s Commander-in-Chief. Barbour has been great for Mississippi and handled Hurricane Katrina in 2005 almost flawlessly. So sure, he’s completely capable of it. His capability, however, is not the issue–his candidacy is. Barbour’s running would not provide a Republican win, but increase President Obama’s chances of re-election.
Most people have a strong opinion on Barbour, regardless of their party. Barbour’s running would split the Republican vote and lose the majority of the independent vote, which is going to play a huge role in this upcoming election. As a former tobacco lobbyist, Barbour seems to be what most of “middle America,” mostly Independents, thinks the Republican party is: too white, too male, and too conservative–opposite of Obama in every way. This is not what the GOP needs to put against our first African American President to end with a victory.
As ridiculous as it seems to say, Barbour doesn’t have the look nor the voice to win. After speaking on the Republican House sweep, critics from almost every news outlet had something negative to say about his Mississippi accent. Although everything Barbour was saying was accurate and well put, reporters couldn’t get past his southern-drawl and his not necessarily attractive appearance. These trivial things shouldn’t play a part in politics or help determine who will be the most powerful leader in the world, but we all know they do. Barbour running against our current charismatic leader, even if that is the only thing Obama has going for him, may end much like the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon election.
But the number one reason Haley Barbour shouldn’t run for President: there’s no one good enough to play him on Saturday Night Live.  Fred Armisen is spot on as Barack Obama and may be the only good thing  in the four years of Obama’s Presidency, but no one currently on cast could portray Barbour as accurately as needed. So before you purchase that Barbour 2012 bumper sticker, consider SNL. Because really, who wants to suffer through four years of bad Barbour skits?

NO

By: Kent McCarty, Editor

Think for a second about the ideal picture of a Presidential candidate.  Chances are, the image that’s developed probably looks nothing like current Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.  Despite lacking the “presidential look,” however, Barbour’s lifelong background in politics and law and his strong sense of leadership make him more than fit to run for the nation’s top office.
Unlike many prospective Presidential candidates, Barbour has political experience that nearly spans his entire life.  At the ripe old age of 22, Barbour made his first foray into the political world as director of the 1970 Mississippi census.  Following his time with the census, Barbour entered law school at Ole Miss, and, upon graduation, practiced law in Yazoo City.  Barbour later worked as an aide for the Reagan administration in the late ‘80s and was a key part to George H.W. Bush’s successful 1988 Presidential campaign.  What first put Barbour on the national radar, however, was the work he did as chairman of the Republican National Convention.  As chairman, Barbour orchestrated the Republican’s 1994 sweep of Congressional elections, marking the first time Republicans had controlled Congress in over 40 years.  Barbour raised funds for the Republican Party at an unparalleled rate during the 1994 campaign; and he knew exactly to which candidates the money should go.
As the Governor of Mississippi, Barbour turned around Mississippi’s massive budget deficit only two years after taking office.  In fact, the 2006 fiscal year budget, designed by Barbour and Mississippi’s largely Democratic state Congress, was the first balanced budget the state had seen in decades; a stark contrast from the $709 million deficit that was in place when Barbour won the election in 2003.  By implementing his Operation: Streamline plan, Barbour cut spending across the board, and still managed to fully fund MEAP (Mississippi Adequate Education Program) for the first time since its inception in 1997; and he managed to do all of this without raising taxes once.  Barbour is unafraid to make tough, necessary cuts, which is exactly what the American government needs to get its runaway spending under control.
Barbour’s long-spanning political track record shows that he’d be a more than capable Commander-in-Chief, and exactly what America needs to turn Washington around.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Opinion

Tagged as , , , ,

· 12:10 pm

Dysfunction Junction

By: Kent McCarty, Editor

When my friends and I first decided that we were going to go to New Orleans for a Mardi Gras parade, I knew the trip would likely be the inspiration for this column.  I was initially worried that, since I would be driving my car, I’d be writing another column about dry-heaving and picking parts of my bumper out of a ditch (see, Dysfunction Junction January 2010), but thankfully that was not the case.  In fact, with the exception of weaving into rumble strips every ten minutes during the drive home, we didn’t experience any car-related dysfunctionality.  In comparison to the norm, in fact, the trip went off without a hitch until right as we were about to leave.
Caution: We’re making frequent stops
For those who don’t know this about me, and I don’t know why most would, my bladder is the size of the period at the end of this sentence.  I go to the bathroom… a lot.  So when I go on road trips or even drive down the road, I make sure I go to the bathroom first.  I was conscious of this while in New Orleans, so I made sure to make pit stops where ever possible; even if that meant waiting in line for the Café du Monde bathroom for upwards of 30 minutes.  Of course, after 15-plus glasses of water at Margaritaville, it was a miracle I didn’t go on myself before the bathroom became available.  At that time, the hold-up at the bathroom was the only unfortunate thing that had happened.  But generally, dysfunction comes in twos with me, so I’m always a little more cautious when the first stage rears its ugly head.  After leaving the remnants of a powdered sugar war behind us, we began the walk back to our cars, which were around one thousand miles away.  When we arrived at the cars later that week, we decided a bathroom break was in order before beginning the drive home.  Of course, I was in favor of such a stop because I knew my large coffee from Café du Monde wasn’t going to stay put for very long.
Journey to the imaginery 11th floor
We then embarked on the long haul to the nearest bathroom, which happened to be on the 3rd floor in the Canal Place mall.  Why a mall would locate bathrooms ONLY on the 3rd floor is puzzling.  Why a mall would lock those bathrooms at 7:00 p.m. is one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time, next to who killed President Zachary Taylor and where Elvis has been hiding all of these years.  With Plan A down the toilet (though obviously not one in Canal Place), we immediately began searching for another option.  We tried the bathrooms at the movie theatre also on the 3rd floor, but the imbecile working the counter informed us that their bathrooms weren’t public and that “they have a no one under 18 policy.”  Her blatant disregard for my recent birthday almost made me cause a scene, but the nicer theatre employee stepped in and told us to use the bathroom on the 11th floor.  One problem: when we got on the elevator, the numbers stopped at time.  We quickly switched elevators, only to find that the “11” button on it was as dysfunctional as we were.  At this point, we admitted defeat and headed to our cars, hoping to find somewhere easier to make a pit stop on the way home.  Luckily, the grocery store at which we chose to stop didn’t discriminate against 17-year-olds.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Entertainment

Tagged as , ,

February 4, 2011 · 11:41 am

Dysfunction Junction

By: Kent McCarty, Editor

For those who don’t check Facebook’s birthday alerts, I recently celebrated my 18th birthday.  If you forgot to wish me a good one on my special day, don’t feel bad; the cloud of misfortune that stalks my life didn’t either.  In fact, he didn’t even give me the day off.
On the morning of my birthday, I woke up with a big smile on my face.  The day ahead was going to be all about me, at least in my eyes, and there’s no joy greater than that which comes with knowing you’re temporarily the center of the universe.  My school day was filled with “happy birthdays” and jokes about getting old, and things were looking good.  When I got home, my mom was waiting with my coffee cup-shaped birthday cake and various members of my family stopped in to say hello, eat cake, and talk about how I’m 18 going on 1800.  When the excitement died down, I decided I’d be productive while I was in a good mood and write one of my essays for my Honors College application.  I sat down at the kitchen table and began to pour myself over a riveting essay discussing the effect texting has had on our generation.  As I was typing, I got to a particular heated portion of my argument in favor of texting and started typing too fast for my brain, causing me to jumble up my words into a mash of unintelligible dribble.  Being the computer-shortcut aficionado that I am (or thought I was), I used the Ctrl-Z shortcut to undo the last few lines of type.  I got a little too excited with my shortcut usage and “undid” too far so I used the Ctrl-R shortcut to “Redo” what I had just undone.  Makes sense, right?  As soon as I released Ctrl and R, however, I broke into a cold sweat as I watched the web page I was typing my essay on refresh, resulting in a complete loss of every word I had typed into my application that day.  When I say that I stared at the screen in silence for six minutes, I’m probably understating it.  I snapped out of my daze when our dog started barking, so, like any sensible 18 year old, I threw a salt shaker at her.
Following my outburst at Princess Ella, I decided I needed some fresh air, so I hopped in the car and drove up and down my street, blaring Nickelback to remind myself that there are at least four people more despicable than myself.  Just as I was turning to go home, I slammed into a deer that made Bambi look like the monster from Cloverfield.  Of course, I felt no sympathy for the deer until I assured myself the only damage he had caused was a few scratches to the front bumper, which my brother later informed me were actually streaks of blood.  For PETA’s information, the deer scampered off into the woods before I could rush him to a clinic. Sorry.
Back at home, I apologized to Princess Ella and began writing the texting essay for the second time.  For my sake, and the sake of all woodland creatures within a  five-mile radius of my home, I typed this draft in Microsoft Word.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Entertainment

Tagged as , ,

December 15, 2010 · 1:54 pm

Upgrade/Downgrade

 

Compromise is something of an unused word in D.C., but the President and Republicans in Congress seemed to have blown the dust off of the age old philosophy when debating the extension of the Bush tax cuts.  President Obama has reversed his previous stance against extending tax cuts for all, and has presented a plan that fulfills the Republicans’ desire to extend tax cuts for all income levels for two more years, while giving the Democrats something they want by extending unemployment benefits.  While Democrats in Congress remain strongly opposed to his proposal, the White House has announced that it expects passage by the end of the year.  If the plan doesn’t pass and no vote is held, taxes will go up for all Americans starting in January.  If that’s the case, President Obama and just about every Democrat in Congress need to go ahead and start packing up their offices.

Upgrade: Democrats and Republicans putting on big boy underwear and striking up “compromise”

There’s nothing like having to open your Christmas gifts at 5:30 a.m. on Christmas Day so you have enough time to get dressed and rush off for another round of classes before you’re out of Christmas break!  Our school district has always been very generous with the number of days we’re out for Christmas break, but the way the days are situated on the calendar leaves a lot to be desired.  For starters, it’s impossible to get into the Christmas spirit when you’re sitting in a desk taking a final for Global Marketing two days before the day Ole Saint Nick is scheduled to make his appearance.  Spreading the break out evenly around Christmas, one week before and one week after, would undoubtedly increase Christmas cheer, which we all know is the magic that powers Santa’s sleigh.

Downgrade: Getting out for Christmas break three days before the sleigh’s take-off

Just when all hope was lost and I was beginning to worry our nation was destined to watching reruns of classic shows like Alias and Lost for lack of better programming, TV networks heard my cries and premiered some of the best new shows in years during the Fall of 2010.  As far as comedies go, Raising Hope, which chronicles the life of a young father who still lives with his parents and his senile grandmother, and Outsourced, which portrays the plight of an American salesman who’s sent to India to head up a calling center, keep the laughs coming week after week.  If conspiracy/sci-fi/thriller is your thing, then The Event couldn’t be any more perfect.  Despite never actually solving the mystery and explaining what “the event” actually is, this show wins top honors and keeps me on my seat weekly.

Networks pulling out all of the stops and creating TV shows a step up from iCarly: Upgrade

South Mississippi may be known for inconsistent and abnormal weather, but this year has been one for the books.  For starters, Oak Grovians woke up one November day to temperatures in the high 60s and fell asleep to temperatures in the low 30s.  A 30+ degree swing in one day can’t be healthy.  Following that anomaly, South Mississippi battled 20 degree temps before the weather took an about-face and the temperature climbed into the 70s only 24 hours after setting record lows.  To cap this weather roller coaster off, Hattiesburg experienced record lows in the teens, followed by thunderstorms and high temps two days later, which was again followed by record lows across the Pine Belt.  One thing’s for certain, this winter season has kept the doctors and Claritin makers extra busy.

Downgrade: Wacky winter weather causing headaches and head colds

Leave a Comment

Filed under Opinion

Tagged as , ,

· 1:48 pm

Dysfunction Junction

By: Kent McCarty, Editor

Each year for Thanksgiving my mom’s side of the family–grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins included- makes the long journey to Fairhope, Alabama, to celebrate Thanksgiving together at The Grand. And no, much to everyone’s confusion, I’m not talking about the The Grand Casino or The Grand movie theatre, but The Grand Hotel. And if going to a hotel for Thanksgiving sounds weird to you, consider this: while you’re fighting over the last slice of pecan pie with Cousin Marvin, we’re kicking it back next to the buffet with unlimited access to chocolate pudding. But the best thing about Thanksgiving at The Grand, besides wonderful family time, of course, is that usually I can escape my predictable dysfunction and get away from it all for a few days. The key word in that sentence is usually.
The first few days of the trip actually went without a hitch. The Thanksgiving Day buffet was wonderful, as always. My dad, uncle, grandfather, and I all managed to wake up on time for happy hour in the coffee shop from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. every day, and you better believe I took advantage of the free coffee for the entire two-hour span. I was able to completely avoid the madness of Black Friday and instead spent the day lounged out in the room watching a MythBusters marathon. To top it all off, my Uncle Matt composed a hilarious song describing the wonder of the Thanksgiving buffet set to the tune of Kenny Chesney’s “The Boys of Fall.” Literally everything was working out without a hitch. That is, until the annual Tom Turkey scavenger hunt.
Each year, The Grand hosts a scavenger hunt in which family teams compete against each other and solve riddles to find the locations of ten turkeys scattered around the hotel. It sounds simple, but that’s before you meet the competition: The “Jones’s”. Each year, the family we’ve codenamed the Jones’s lie, cheat, and steal their way to victory. So, like any self-respecting American, I decided we’d lie, cheat, and steal right along with them. Unfortunately, my efforts were in vain and the Jones’s managed to walk away with another undeserved win. My sister and my cousin even informed the scavenger hunt referee that the Jones’s cheated, but since their ages are both single digits, he laughed it off as bitterness in the face of defeat.
Given my competitive nature, loss is not something I take well. So after notching up another loss in the face of the Jones’s, I sulked back to the hotel room, piled the sheets and pillows from every other bed onto my bed, and crawled into my fortress because the only mature way to handle failure is by taking a nap. After several hours of rejuvenating sleep, I was awakened by a loud rumble. I popped up from beneath the pillow mound only to find someone I was unfamiliar with in my room. Thinking I was about to be robbed, I made a frightened grunt/scream and alerted the alleged intruder. The intruder turned to face me and then screamed before running out of the room yelling a string of what I presumed to be Spanish expletives. I got out of the bed before I realized that the rumble that awoke me was a vacuum cleaner and that I had probably just killed the cleaning lady for rooms 2200 through 2212.
Fortunately, I saw the cleaning lady in the hallway after the incident, so at least she survived. Good thing too because I have too much training to do for next year’s Tom Turkey hunt to worry about having a maid’s death hanging over my head.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Entertainment

Tagged as , , ,

November 12, 2010 · 2:00 pm

Coffee: Spilling the beans on America’s growing caffeine addiction

By: Kent McCarty, Editor

Ask any student or adult how they overcome waking up early and enduring long hours of classes or meetings and their answer will likely consist of one word: coffee. The nation’s favorite caffeinated drink is credited with making it possible for many Americans to survive the stress of the daily grind, pun intended, by boosting energy and increasing focus, and recent surveys show that Americans’ reliance on coffee is only increasing. The number of Americans who drink at

least one cup of coffee daily increased at a monthly average of 3% during 2009’s winter months, but really began to percolate at the beginning of 2010: January, February, and March each saw the number of coffee drinkers increase by

as much as 25% (Mint.com, 2010). Additionally, coffee consumption per drinker increased by 20.6% over the first four months of 2010. So with all these new coffee drinkers coming onto the market and existing coffee drinkers upping their consumption, it’s time to spill the beans on some of coffee’s hottest qualities.

First and foremost, coffee’s active ingredient is caffeine, which is a drug that increases dopamine levels, thereforemaking its consumers feel happier and less fatigued. Chemically, it has the same effect as cocaine; it just has a milder effect and won’t have anyone making license plates at the state penitentiary. Much like its distant cousin Cocaine, caffeinated coffee is lethal if over-consumed. Don’t worry though; a coffee overdose would require about 100 cups of coffee in four hours. Even a midnight-shift worker at Taco Bell would be hard-pressed to drink that much coffee. Additionally, caffeinated coffee increases brain function temporarily and has been shown to increase comprehension, memory, reflexes, and clarity of thought. Caffeine also helps increase endurance in athletes and for that reason has been banned by the International Olympic Committee during competition. Unfortunately for any Olympian who may be a coffee drinker, coffee withdrawal will likely take hold during their decaffeinated Olympic endeavor. Ending coffee consumption cold-turkey results in symptoms similar to withdrawal from any drug: headaches, tiredness, irritability, and decreased energy can take effect within 24 hours of sudden coffee sobriety and last for up to nine days.

Aside from helping students retain information while cramming for an exam, coffee also has some long-term health benefits if consumed daily. Studies by Executive Healthcare Management show that those who drink three cups of coffee a day cut their risk of colon cancer in half, cut their risk of dying from heart disease by 25%, and cut their risk of developing Type II Diabetes by 60%. Increasing coffee consumption to four cups a day also cuts risk of developing gallstones and Parkinson’s disease in half, cuts risk of having a stroke by 20%, and decreases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 65%.

With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that a widespread love of coffee is brewing across the nation. For anyone who isn’t sure if this lightning in a cup is worth all of the fuss, take a leap of faith. That morning cup could very well be what you need to see the mug as half-full.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Features

Tagged as , , ,