mattrestivo.com

1830s 8th Grade Exam

As found in Dr. Benjamin Carson’s book, America the Beautiful.

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb. Give Principal Parts of. lie, lay and run
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8 Find bank discount on $300 for! 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U. S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U. S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of Americaby Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u! ‘.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e.’ Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane,
fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall & Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europeand give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coastcolder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

2012 New York City Marathon

Those who know me know I love to run. I run for exercise, for fun, and I also for a cause. This year, I will be running my fourth consecutive New York City Marathon, and again, I will be running for Fred’s Team.  Every dollar I raise goes directly to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the nation’s preeminent center for research and treatment devoted exclusively to cancer. The funds support projects that explore new ideas and ways to fight cancer, and also funds clinical trials.

Many of my family members and family friends have been diagnosed with cancer– and, I am sure you have family and friends who have been diagnosed as well. I want to see cancer wiped out in my lifetime. Fred’s Team offers hope.

My target this year is up $1000 from my first Marathon to $3,500. Please help me make a difference, help create a world without cancer.

Any donation you can make is truly a blessing.

Click Here to Donate!

Track my training on my Google Doc.

Thank you all for your generosity and your support!

ryan’s wedding toast

A few people asked me about my speech so I thought I would put up my copy from my evernote permanently on my blog. It wasn’t for everybody in the room, it was for Ryan, and Jenna.

thanks everybody so much for being here today. i know that ryan and jenna are just thrilled to have you here to share in their special day.

as i was writing my speech i was contemplating writing something that all the couples can relate to or something more specifically catered to ryan and jenna. well the good news is i wrote both, and over the course of the next 35 minutes, i’m going to… i kid i kid. i’ll do the one you can all relate to first… “i hear marriage is a ton of work, so drink up! no? ehh moving on”

raan and i grew up doing tons of stuff together. we’ve worked together, twice, we did tennis, baseball, and golf camp together, mets games, marlins games, dodgers games. we restivos like our sports. i know i’m thrilled to welcome another mets fan into the family.

raan and i played a lot of video games together— A LOT of halo. in fact, i can attest, ryan’s last activity as a bachelor was closing out his night with some slayer in the basement. Ryan, ya see, Ryan is a lot like the character Link.. from the legend of zelda.

link played a musical instrument.
link is left handed.
link is the chosen bearer of the master sword.

ok, i have absolutely 0 interest in digging into the figurative nature of that last one.

link is described as humble, hardworking and brave– he fights day and night shift for his princess zelda.

link goes through all these battles and stuggles, but at the end of the infamous orcarina of time, these words appear on the screen “go home link”. where does link go exactly? he goes home to princess zelda.

in so many ways jenna, the memories i have with ryan have been turned over to you, but today it’s official. your life together has begun.

this is the start of your own orcarina of time. it’s going to move fast, and it isn’t always going to be easy, and that’s why “we ALL need somebody to lean on”, and i’m glad you found eachother for that.

ladies and gentlemen glasses up! to the triforce– a long life filled with laughter and love.

[cue zelda music]

Raan & J — so happy for you two, it’s great to have such special love in the family.

Euro Trip 2012

Yes– I finally saw Italy. Maybe you’ve gone or maybe you’re thinking about going– if you haven’t been, you should go, there’s no question that you will love it. My awesome travel partner Lauren and I crammed 5 cities into 9 days. This guide is designed to tell you what we thought. We gathered our trip bullets mostly from friends and Rick Steves books– here’s what we learned along the way.

Venice

Recommend: 1 day / 1 night
How I got there: TrenItalia, 43 Euros (book it online, they will sell out)
Best Part: Island of Murano
Can’t miss: Campo San Margherita for dinner

Accommodations: Book something on Venice island– we stayed on a remote island (Certosa) and it was a pain in the ass.

This city is wild, it just blew my mind that number one, it existed, and number two real people lived there. There are your typical churches and such, but Venice is touristy and expensive. The coolest part is just riding the Vaporetto through the Canale Grande. Also, you have to get off and check out the famous Realto bridge. Otherwise, this place is a tourist trap.

Siena

Recommend: 1 night/Half day
How I got there:  TrenItalia, 23 Euros
Best Part: Dinner at Alla Speranza in Piazza del Campo
Can’t miss: Striped Cathedral

Accommodations: 2 star hotel, Hotel Centrale. 80 Euro.  It’s just about having a bed, this place accomplished that in a real central location.

You must eat at Alla Speranza in Piazza del Campo, order the Mhargarita pizza, it will blow your mind.  The main Piazza here is definitely a sight– a great place to sit and have a 2.5 hour dinner, as is the Striped Cathedral.  Strolling through this city is what makes Italy so cool.

If you’re really aggressive, rent a mountain or road bike from DF bike. You can take a half hour walk out of the city to go get the bike, or they will deliver it to you. Just a warning, Tuscany is hilly, but in my opinion, no better way to go out and see it.  Great guys and the bike shop and they speak english.  We rode to a small town called Sovicille, it was about a 50 minute ride, cute town and easy to get to from Siena.

Firenze

Recommend: 2 days / 2 nights
How I got there:  TrenItalia, 8 Euros
Best Part: Piazzale di Michaelangelo for Sunset
Can’t miss: The Duomo

Accommodations:  We found a whole flat in the center of Florence on airbnb.com.  It cost about 80 Euros a night and was a great value and location.  The bed was a bit small though.

In my opinion, Florence has the best views in Italy.  Looking back, we could have spend the first half day doing a bus trip to Pisa, and the latter half doing sunset at Piazzale di Michaelangelo. That sunset and view will blow your mind, pop into a grocery and pick up a baguette, cheese and some Italian meats.  It’s a great spot for a picnic night.

The second day, we took a bus trip for 45 euro to a winery in Chianti.  It was a great way to see even more of beautiful Tuscany.  I have also heard of full day bike tours which seem awesome.  You should definitely allocate 2 hours for strolling the San Lorenzo market as well.  It’s a haven for Leather.  You can check out The Duomo on the way, which was the most impressive structure we saw.

One place that came highly recommended that we couldn’t squeeze into our schedule was Il Latini.  It is a straight up feast– all you do is pick the wine and they do the rest.  You have to get there at 7pm sharp, right when they open for dinner.

Rome

Recommend: 2 Nights
How I got there: RyanAir $60 (from Barcelona)
Best Part: Dinner at Santa Lucia
Can’t miss: All the Sights

Accommodations: I found Fabio’s Place on Airbnb. It was about $100 a night and about a 25 euro cab ride to/from Rome. The place itself is unreal though. You can probably do Rome in a day and half, and spend another half day chillin at Fabio’s. Check out the pictures, it’s no joke, pool, hot tub, steam room, it’s better than a hotel, way better.

If you’re thinking about Rome, you probably know all the landmarks…
- St. Peter’s
- The Vatican
- Coliseum
- Treve Fountain

The structures themselves will blow you away, I’m sure there’s a walking itinerary to hit them all in one day. One tip– the line for St. Peter’s gets insane, get there at like 8am to avoid it.

The dinner that we had at Santa Lucia was unlike anything I have ever had in my life. Get there at 7pm on the dot because it fills up. The quality, the atmosphere, the service, it was better than Uchi in Austin, TX.

Barcelona

Recommend: 2-3 Days/Nights
Best Part: Walking and Eating in the Old City
Can’t Miss: Architecture by Gaudi

Accommodations: If you speak Spanish, stay at Henry’s; outside the city a bit but fun to get mixed in with the locals, plus you can’t beat $37/night. Otherwise, check out places on airbnb.com. I found the most central place to be the Jauve metro stop.

Summary: What a killer town, this is a place that I will 100% come back to. I spent the majority of my first day getting immersed back in the culture, getting used to speaking Spanish, and just strolling the city.

Day 1. Everyone knows you have to see La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s unfinished church, but the trick here is take the metro one extra stop and start at the old Hospital. It’s cool to check out and the walk down to Sagrada Familia is even cooler– a strip littered with works of Gaudi, shops, benches, a mini park. You can see Gaudi in the everything from the buildings to the street lamps.

After that, work your way over to Jamonismo. I couldn’t find this place because google maps screwed up the location, but this is the real address.

After that, head downtown and find a cozy place to eat, you’ll have to ask someone else for nice dinner recommendations– I didn’t do any fancy dinners in Barcelona.

Take the subway to Universidad, and check out El Gato Negro. It’s all english speakers, usually students, but the bar itself is unique. It’s practically solo chupitos (shots only) but every shot is like a show. If you’re daring, and a woman, ask for the Monica Lewinsky shot. Every few shots, they give away about 10 on the house for everyone to have, a ton of fun.

Day 2. Head right for Las Ramblas. This famous strip is your pretty standard market, where everyone sells the same thing, cool stuff though– great place to haggle for fun. Spend the rest of the day checking out the old city. Reolta, and the old city are great to just roam. Sit down wherever you don’t see too many tourists, and grab a glass of vino. If your lucky, you will get a few tapas too. I stopped here, which was great because they had free wifi, most places do.

While you’re in the old city– there are two churches you can either hunt down, or will likely find. Santa Maria del Mar, which is in my opinion, nicer than the second, the old cathedral. There is also the Picasso museum which is a good hour or two time killer. Once you do that, find your way to this bike store, 6 euros for two hours and ride your bike down to the beach (it’s very close). They even give you a lock so you can chill on the beach or play volleyball if you want– though make sure you don’t get your shit stolen.

My favorite place, was where I watched the Barcelona Bilbao Copa del Rey was called Baserri Taberna. It’s all locals, but a friendly crowd. A beer and 5 tapas for 6 euros. I found it randomly strolling the old city.

At night, it’s time to party, you can take the subway to Jaume I and walk. The two clubs are Opeum and Club Catwalk. I got in to Opeum for free by picking up a flyer that was on the ground. Be pared to get buttraped on drink prices (12 euro for gin and tonic), so make sure you have a good pregame buzz. The clubs there are like practically raves, huge dance floor (a few actually) and legit lights– plan on staying out until 5 or 6 am, you lose track of time quickly. Go and get a crappy night’s sleep and onto the next one.

Calling All 2012 Superfans

Year three of the New York City Marathon here I come. I am again posting the ‘master spreadsheet’ which has the approximate times and places you can see me. This year, you can keep track of me for free by downloading the New York City Marathon iPhone app. If you’re going to be out there, click on the “Spectators” tab.

Download: NYC_Marathon-RESTIVO-2011