Thanksgiving plans

Thanksgiving is in two days! Everyone is very excited for all the food and festivities! Families thanksgiving traditions are all different but similar at the same time. Many people like to watch the football games and eat a lot of food. Some people like to go out hunting in the morning. And some like to go shopping on Thanksgiving Day or very early black Friday morning. I love the holidays because I always have so much fun spending time with my family. My family from New Jersey comes up. Thanksgiving morning one of my cousins and I go out hunting together. Then I go home and get ready to go to my uncles in Cheektowaga. My dad’s side of the family is all there and it is always a blast. Unfortunately, my mom has to work on thanksgiving this year from 3 pm to 11 pm. I feel bad she won’t be able to spend the holiday with her but my sister and I are meeting her when she gets out of work to go black Friday shopping. Overall, spending time with my family is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. All of the food is a close second.

                One thing I learned about Thanksgiving that is very interesting is that what we eat as tradition on the holiday is not what the Pilgrims and the colonists ate. The holiday has been altered very much than what it originally was. It was a 3 day long celebration that took place in 1621. Mostly venison was consumed on Thanksgiving, some wild turkey too. There was no pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce. Also the date of Thanksgiving has been changed a lot by different presidents. Not a lot of people know the facts about Thanksgiving, it is good to know what we are celebrating!

Varsity Bball

                I have very high hopes for my senior year of basketball. The team is looking very good so far. This year Coach Delzer is having the team do a lot of things differently this season. I was pretty let down to find out I am not a captain on the team, but there isn’t anything I can do about that. I can only work my hardest and be the best player I can be for my last season of basketball. Ever since 7^th grade I have worked for my senior year of basketball. My one regret is that I barely played in any of last season from my knee injury. The fact that I couldn’t improve last season because I wasn’t able to participate is always in the back of my mind. I would give anything to have been able to play last season. That cannot be changed though, and I will just need to work that much harder to improve. The team has a lot of potential this year. I think all the girls have a very good chemistry no matter who is on the court. There is a lot of talent, and the team is very extremely hard working. Our first game is today, it is non-league but it is our tournament. I really hope we win our home tournament. The senior girls have all played together for a few years now and are very good at playing well together. The first league game is home against Holland on December 12. This game will be very intense. Alden vs. Holland is always very physical and close. Over Christmas break there is a tournament we will be participating in in Rochester. Hopefully we make it into the playoffs and are able to have a great season. I am very excited for my last year of basketball.

Grey Thursday Shopping?

                Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Thanksgiving is a holiday where a lot of families gather and spend time with one another. Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving. Many stores open up early and have many great sales. However, as years go on and on black Friday is becoming bigger and bigger. Stores are opening up earlier and earlier. Stores have been opening up before midnight. This year, it is a little different. Stores are going to be open on Thanksgiving Day. People are referring to this as “Grey Thursday.” It almost seems as though shopping is becoming more important than the holiday itself. Cyber Monday is also a new thing where stores offer a lot of sales on their websites.

                How are the consumers feeling about this? A vote on The Jersey Journals website shows 94.61% of people think malls should remain closed on Thanksgiving and 5.39% would want them to be open. What about employees, don’t they want to be spending time with their families rather than working? Sure, some jobs require employees to work on holidays, like police officers, nurses, doctors, etc. But why do retail workers need to be working on a holiday? If stores open on early on Friday it makes no difference than if they open on Thursday. If anything, more people are likely to go.

                The problem is that people want good deals and sales, so they may go out on thanksgiving, not because they want to, but because they want to save money. There is not many days of the year where everyone in a family is able to get together. It is not more important to go shopping than to spend a holiday with family. Sure material things are nice, but doesn’t there come a point where we have gone too far?  

Erie County Food Inspections

                People should know what they are eating when they go to restaurants. There was no information regarding food inspections information until now. Now on WIVB.com you can go and look at the critical and non-critical violations of restaurants in each town of Erie county. Critical are red violations which can lead to illnesses and even death. Non critical or blue violations are due to cleanliness and equipment maintenance. On WIVB’s website you can look at all the towns and see every restaurant and what the violations are. Some are very surprising.

The New Fuji Buffet in Amherst had many critical violations, one including having 6 dozen eggs sitting out in a temperature of 82 degrees. The Dock of the Bay in Blasdell had 6 critical and 17 non critical violations just on August 9^th alone. The operator had to dispose of more than 250 pounds of meat due to the violations. The owner wrote a letter to channel 4 news to tell them the refrigerators were not working. The problem was corrected, 6 critical violations are still a lot.

Restaurants in Alden that are very popular may really shock customers with the amount of violations that they have. It is very important for people to know if places have critical violations because those are very bad and risk health. The West Alden Kitchen that we all know and love has had quite a few violations. Darrow’s, John and Mary’s GDI’s, and Mcgavin’s are only a few of the restaurants in Alden that have many violations. Visit WIBV’s website and click on dicey dining and see if your favorite restaurant has any critical violations.

The food inspectors of New York make sure they visit every restaurant at least twice a year. If the restaurant has violations they make sure to check back in more often.