Thursday, April 28, 2016

The Breaking Truth

The Breaking Truth

The sound of the school bells were ringing through my ears. Chairs began to slide backwards across the floor as many feet trampled the ground and were beginning to run for the closest exit doors. My classmates’ excited and cheering voices overcame our teacher’s friendly reminder to not forget that homework was due Monday at the beginning of class. School was over for the week! It was finally the weekend and all the kids were going crazy talking about what they were going to be doing. I had overheard some of my classmates saying they were leaving to Arizona to go camping with their parents and even some of my friends told me they had plans to go hunting with their dad or go visit their cousins for a day or two. In fact, my twin brother and I had just been talking earlier in class about the plans for the weekend and brainstorming all the options of what we could do.
As we were walking through the halls on our way to get picked up by our dad in front of school, we decided we wanted to do something out of the normal and make something! This something had to be really fun and entertaining, something that not a lot of our friends have done before, and something we could do with our dad since we wanted to spend time with him. Our dad is a fixer-upper kind of guy and I’d like to think he uses his hands to fix just about anything and everything. Actually, I am almost positive he hasn’t met a challenge in which he wasn’t able to fix it. Anyways, our dad was there waiting for my brother and me in the car to pick us up and take us back to the house to enjoy the weekend. My brother, Sean, rushed to the car and opened the door as fast as he could so as to jump in and tell our dad about what we wanted to do for the weekend. Once I sat down in the backseat, I heard Sean come up with the bright idea of jumping off the house and onto the trampoline in the backyard which would then launch his butt into the pool. As soon as he said this, my dad gave him this look as if he were out of his mind. There was no way in the world my dad would let Sean and I risk our lives doing that! So, my dad turned on the car and started on our way home.
Once back at the house, after some hard and thoughtful brainstorming, I came up with the idea of making our own homemade zip line and putting it in the backyard.  How cool is that! I immediately yelled out the idea to my dad and brother and they actually thought it was a great idea and could be pretty easy to put together! All the materials we needed were stored away in my dad’s garage. Now how perfect was this going to be! Once inside the house, we threw our backpacks into our rooms and ran to the garage to start helping our dad put together the zip line. It was fairly easy and all we really needed was a long rope, a pulley, handle, ladder, and two end points in which we could tie the device to.
It was such a beautiful Friday afternoon. The sun was out and it wasn’t too hot outside. Spring was my favorite time of year because I could do everything outdoors and go around exploring the outside world. The leaves on the trees ranged from a dark green to a bright yellowish color which caught my eyes as I was climbing up the ladder to reach the top of the zip line. My dad had tied one end to the top of our biggest tree and the other end extended all the way to the other side of the backyard which was tied to a sturdy fence. At the time, the backyard was almost an acre big entirely filled up with lush green grass and tall, healthy trees were spotted throughout. This was going to be the best start to the weekend. Nothing could be better than enjoying time with family and being out of school for the weekend. I couldn’t wait until my mother got home from work because I wanted to show her what we had all built in the backyard! Once I reached the top of the ladder and tree, I grabbed hold of the pulley, secured my grip, and pushed off immediately gliding down the rope. I felt the wind rush through my hair and hit my face at high speed as I hit top speed. I could see my legs getting nearer and nearer to touching the ground which meant I was getting close to the end of the line. As soon as my feet started dragging across the grass I let go and did and small tumble to the ground and safely landed back up on my feet without a scratch. By far the best homemade zip line my dad could have helped make for Sean and I!
We were having such a blast on this new toy of ours. The backyard had never seemed this fun before! Round after round of sliding down the rope to end in a tumble over the grass was going on for over an hour now. It was Sean’s turn to go and I remember him ascending the ladder getting higher and higher away from me as he was reaching the top of the tree. Sean, at the time, was about four feet tall had a scrawnier and skinnier build. He also had a more oval face with a defined, slightly pointed chin and a sturdy jaw line. A narrow, oblong face with angular cheekbones made up his face. His bright blue eyes are small and spaced evenly apart, sitting just below his blonde eyebrows that curve as a natural extension of his broad, slim nose. A pair of dark rimmed glasses sat in between his shaggy blonde hair and mellow ears. Sean gave off this bright face full of excitement and his quirky expression showed a sense of immense happiness as he made it to the top of the zip line. He was having so much fun with me and we couldn't have had a better time with our dad. Sean grabbed the handle connected to the pulley, held on tight, and as he pushed off his gliding decent immediately changed to a quick falling. Right away the knot the pulley was connected to slipped undone and he started his fall to meet the bottom of the tree. Sean fell right onto his arm making a loud thud as his body weight pressed his forearm into the biggest tree root protruding out of the ground.
My dad was on the other side of the fence in our neighbor’s yard watering their flowers and playing with their two dogs at the point of this happening. Once he heard the loud noise of my brother crashing to the ground and the root snapping his arm in half, he turned around and took off in a quick sprint towards my brother, hopped the fence, and picked my brother up and quickly told me to go to the car to unlock the doors. Sean was put into the backseat with me holding onto a big back of ice covering his arm. As I looked over closer, I could see his middle forearm had sunken in as if it was creating a big wave or a letter “U”. My dad has never driven so fast before. It was as if he was Vin Diesel on a critical mission in Fast and Furious and he had to save the world. With one hand on the wheel, and the other holding his phone to his ear, my mother’s voice started yelling from the phone and that’s when I knew my dad had just explained to her that one of her babies had completely smashed and broke their arm in half! Wow, what a day this turned out to be!

After waiting in the hospital, my brother’s arm was in a sling and he had a huge smile across his face again just like the one he had right before he took off from the ladder. My mom had left work and was at the hospital too now, alongside my brother giving my dad some nice, loving glares and she held Sean close to her. My family and I spent the rest of our Friday evening back at the house making sure Sean was cared for and my dad and I were lucky enough to get out of the house away from my very concerned and distraught mother taking down the zip line and to never set it up again (her orders…!). After all, my dad probably should have asked her for permission to set up the zip line in the backyard first. He does deserve some credit though for two things: first for turning down Sean’s first idea of jumping off the roof and secondly for giving me a memory I will never forget. Overall, Sean breaking his arm was a learning experience for me and my family. The truth is, just because something bad happened to Sean, we both still enjoyed our homemade experience zip lining and still today, want to ride the longest zip line in the world!

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Relish Gourmet Sandwiches Review

Relish The Difference



If you're looking for a tasty, mouthwatering meal then Relish is the place to go. Relish Gourmet Sandwiches will not let you down. I absolutely love going to this small locally owned family restaurant. It is located right off Wyoming and Menaul and has a brand new sign that you can't miss when driving through the area. This small restaurant not only, hands down, quenches my hunger and thirst but also engages my memories and makes me think of all my friends and family. The staff are so friendly and polite and give off a great vibe that will leave you feeling as if you had known them your entire life. Restaurants like Relish originally don't give off a five star appearance, but once I had an experience here there is really no other sandwich place that can compare. It is always such an awesome feeling to enter a place not knowing what you are going to get out of it and leaving in absolute awe.

My experience here at Relish is one I consider that can not be beat. At least by much. My very first time I remember going was with my parents because we noticed the sign from outside and decided to give it a try since a good sandwich seemed tasty at the time. From the outside it looks like nothing much, but trust me, whatever you are thinking is probably wrong. It's simple little restaurant shop looks is nothing compared to what a hungry customer can experience inside.

Once inside, you immediately understand the busy yet friendly atmosphere of the place. Everything from customers talking about life experiences and having good conversation, sandwiches sizzling from being set onto the presses, chill-vibe eighties and nineties music, chairs being pushed out from happy customers leaving with satisfied appetites, to the staff taking orders and making sure every individual is guaranteed a good memory, Relish is the place to go. The smells of the restaurant completely engulfed my nostrils and my mouth started craving every single piece of food I set my eyes upon. From cold sandwiches to steamy, pressed hot sandwiches and mounds of salads that could be considered mountains, there is nothing here I don't recommend. Creative sandwich names such as the Grinder, Lobo Beef, the Luau, Spicy Italiano, and even the Muffaletta give off an impression that no choice could go wrong. They even offer a wide variety of salads that seem like they are topless with flavors and ingredients. The salads range from their most popular Chop Chop to others like the Waldorf Especial, Mozzarella and Tomato, end even the BLT Chicken Salad. Personally, I prefer the sandwiches any day over the salads but chowing down on one of their salads every once in a while is almost like a small slice of heaven. If you ever visit Relish, you have to no doubt try their award winning and famous Cubano Especial. This sandwich has won so many awards year after year and continues to be the best in Albuquerque! I was especially interested in why customers thought the Cubano was their favorite so I asked one for myself. Theresa Attencio, a regular and common customer of Relish, replied to my question by saying "Wholeheartedly, to me, it has to be their homemade chipotle mayo sauce they lather the sandwich with plus the Boarshead roasted pork. Together, these two ingredients make the sandwich one like no other". I honestly don't think I could have stated this any better. The meat choices are out of this world. Every sauce is made inside the local restaurant with ingredients found in stores around the city. And for the prices, I don't think they could be set better. For the price of $13.75, you can get a gourmet sandwich and save half for later (since they are SO filling!), a side choice ranging from one of their six choices, and a refreshing soft drink or iced tea. I say this is hard to beat!

I came upon another review of Relish Gourmet Sandwiches in Yelp that was just as excited about the place as I was. She began by saying, "Seriously, the Cubano is bomb" (JoAnna). She points out yet again that the Cubano is one to try and well worth the money. The combinations of food are well prepared and any customer can substitute ingredients for others if they'd like. "I get it with mozzarella cheese though instead of the Swiss and easy chipotle mayo. That really makes the sandwich go from "yeah that's good" to sandwich heaven" (JoAnna). All in all my experience at Relish has to be one I can brag about. I doubt I will ever find a Cubano sandwich in Albuquerque that will top the one Relish has to provide. But hey I guess that leaves the competition open then and we know who the winner to beat is!

If you're ready to give Relish a shot and try their food then I suggest not hesitating and be on your way. They take care of everything and get the job done. I highly recommend trying their astonishing, mouthwatering, appetizing, and fulfilling food.

Here is their phone number and address:

(505)- 299-0001
8019 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110


 Cited Sources:
Attencio, Theresa. "Relish Gourmet Sandwiches Interview." Personal interview. 14 Mar. 2016
"Relish Gourmet Sandwiches." Restaurant Albuquerque New Mexico Reviews. Yelp, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015




Tuesday, February 16, 2016


            Coca-Cola’s “Mean Joe Greene Commercial” was first aired during the Major League Baseball playoffs and then later on during Super Bowl XIV in 1979. In this commercial, Coca-Cola aims to convince the public that a bottle of coke can bring happiness and give back to the world. The 60-second spot uses the three most influential and persuasive ways to get Coca-Cola’s goal into the public; the use of ethos (appealing to ethics), pathos (appealing to emotion), and logos (appealing to logic).
The commercial won a Clio Award for best ad of the year. It was part of the "Have a Coke and a Smile" campaign that started airing in late 1979. Coca-Cola's heartwarming commercial became immensely popular and was listed as one of the top ten commercial of all time by many documents, one of which is the famous magazine TV Guide. The commercial aired in many other countries, one of which was the United Kingdom where Greene wasn't well known. The actual footage of the commercial was taken in May, 1979 in a little stadium in Mt. Vernon, New York. It was released on October 1, 1979 but most of its popularity and viewings were from the 1980 Super Bowl.
The Coca-Cola Company advertising agency did an excellent job at hand selecting a notorious and well-known football icon, Mean Joe Greene, to be the intimidating man- someone who rejects and declines others. Mean Joe was a famous defensive football player in the 1970s who is now in the Hall of Fame. He is known for his notorious and tough temper he leaves on the field. Joe is also well known for his intolerance to losing and for challenging, many say, one of the meanest football players on the field, Dick Butkus. Overall, Joe was a cruel and unkind football player, hence his nickname Mean Joe Greene. He was excellent at his job though, playing defense. That is why people loved and still love him and why he made it to the National Football League’s Hall of Fame.

The commercial begins with Greene limping away from a well-played football game and heading towards the locker room. He is followed by one of his fans, a small boy who is holding onto a Coca-Cola bottle. The boy asks Joe if he needs any help and Joe responds by telling him no. This leaves the starstruck boy in an emotional state because his biggest role model turned him down. He replies by saying to Mean Joe that he is the best ever and still gets put down by Greene's response, "Yeah...sure." The little boy then holds up his Coca-Cola bottle begging Greene to take it. After some hesitation the football player does take it from the boy and chugs the whole bottle down in one long gulp. The boy starts to walk out of the tunnel empty-handed and heartbroken. Joe is left in a state of happiness because of the Coke so he then throws his famous number 75 jersey to the boy, “Hey kid, catch!” as a sign of thanks and starts to walk off without a limp.
Pathos, or emotion, is used throughout the whole 60 second commercial. One of the first things that can be noticed is the gloomy scene of a hurt football player exiting the field. Then comes along the kid and the coke. The boy brings a sense of kindness, someone who needs, and is seen as innocent. This can be seen as the battle of someone in need against someone who rejects. Putting an innocent, kind, and little boy next to a gruesome, mean, and intense football player can seem a bit odd at first. But using this technique draws in the audience having them wonder what will happen next. Imagine yourself next to Mean Joe and staring up at him offering your coke. Now that leaves and emotional state on anyone. The use of music also doesn't start to get upbeat until Greene drinks the coke. In this sense, once the coke is chugged then the tired emotional state turns to happiness. The audience can even hear a jingle as Joe guzzles down his coke, "A Coke and a smile Makes me feel good, Makes me feel nice. That's the way it should be. I like to see, The whole world smiling at me. Coca-Cola adds life. Have a Coke and a smile." Coke is also known for giving back to the community and the world so once Joe drinks the coke he has the need to give back to the boy, his "biggest" fan, by giving him his worn jersey. The viewer is left with a sense of rejuvenation and happiness. Isn't that what coke is after? To bring and give back happiness to the world? Well, this commercial did just that and the battle between the needing and the rejecting is clearly won by the needing, innocent boy with his key to victory, the coke.

Logos appeals to reason, or logic, which attempts to persuade by means of an argument. Coca-Cola is able to back up their promotion that every coke brings a smile and happiness by enabling the little boy to share his coke to Greene and getting his jersey in return. This brings smiles upon both of their faces and allows them to move on with smiles on their faces for the rest of the day. Coke is both sport and family oriented by the fact that the audience is able to connect the ad to the super bowl and their family or friends around them. Mean Joe Greene is a wide known athlete that definitely has an influence over athletes and anyone who gazes upon his size. In the opening frame, Greene credibly made a mood shift from tired, to dismissive, to grateful. By having the actual football player, Mean Joe Greene, promote Coca-Cola and confirm that coke does alleviate the pain and brings smiles to faces is a true form of logos to the public. Anyone would assume that Joe would've ignored off the boy and not wanted to deal with him because of his tired emotional state and injury, but nevertheless he did. For in return, Greene was able to feel happier by drinking the coke and giving the boy his jersey in return. As a result of convincing people that coke brings happiness, Coca-Cola is also convincing viewers to buy the coke product as well. This is what the intentions were supposed to be; Coca-Cola brings smiles and happiness, so individuals should buy a bottle.
The use of ethos, or credibility, is very strong throughout this commercial, but what is the most prominent is the cause and effect logic of drinking a coke. The coke seems to bring happiness to both the boy and Joe. Without the coke, the little boy wouldn't have been able to get Joe's post-game jersey and Joe wouldn't have been able to feel better and refreshed. Here though, Coke is also able to give back to Mean Joe Greene and give him happiness as well. This can be taken as pretty significant since coke is able to cheer a "mean" guy up like Joe Greene, then having a bottle of coke will be able to cheer anyone up. The little boy following Greene into the tunnel leading to the locker room is a bit out of context in real life. This makes the commercial seem not so credible anymore. But, this can easily be understood by the audience because the point isn’t about sharing a coke with a Hall of Fame football player exiting the field, but sharing a coke to anyone anywhere just out of pure kindness and happiness. This brings the same exact response that Coca-Cola wants. Sharing a coke could bring the same response of getting something in return and bonding with a new friend. That's exactly what Coca-Cola is trying to portray their coke as; a feel-good mojo that bonds people together.
Through the effect of rhetorical tools and the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, Coca-Cola effectively persuades the audience that sharing a coke brings happiness and smiles to the world. In attempt to make a lasting impression upon the audience, Coca-Cola used its expertise by focusing the viewers’ attention on the reactions between Greene and the little boy. By displaying the differences of the two characters, Greene and the boy, coke was able to bring smiles upon both. Through the use of emotional, credible, and logical language, Coca-Cola was able to appeal to the viewers’ imaginations and sympathies and leave them with a reminder to “Have a Coke and a smile.”

Works Cited:
YouTube. “Coca-Cola Classic ad: Mean Joe Greene.” YouTube, 17 July 2007. Web. 28 August 2014.

Deal, David. “”Hey Kid, Catch”: How Coca-Cola and Mean Joe Greene Launched a Legend.” SuperHype, 3 February 2013. Web. 11 September 2014.