The Oatmeal: fiber in otherwise boring lives

Credit: http://thisorthat.com/whats-funnier-xkcd-or-the-oatmeal

    Enjoyment online is sometimes hard to come by especially if you are searching for a wonderfully amusing blog. However, your dreadful hunt can end now with the discovery of TheOatmeal.com. 

    The Oatmeal contains a ton of comics, stories, and pictures that are sure to catch a laugh. With titles as quirky as “10 Reasons It Would Rule to Date a Unicorn”, “This is Why an Octopus is More Awesome than Your Mom”, and “Five Reasons Why Pigs are More Awesome Than You” it’s not hard to comprehend why millions have already visited the website. You can also take quizzes to find out how many Justin Biebers you could take down in a fight, or if your loved ones are plotting to devour you. If you like dumb jokes it has those too. Yep, The Oatmeal pretty much dominates the Internet. 

    One man, Matthew Inman, created everything on the site: all of the writing, drawings, and codes. His biography on the website states, “He subsists on a steady diet of crickets and whiskey. He enjoys long walks on the beach, gravity, and breathing heavily through his mouth. His dislikes include scurvy, typhoons, and tapeworm medication.” As you can tell this man cracks jokes better than most people can crack peanuts. 

    So, if you are bored with your dull and eventless life and want to spice it up a bit, turn on your computer and cook up some good ole’ fashioned Oatmeal. 

- Kari Bingham, Senior Mirror Editor

Thanksgiving meal turned Italian

             Most families celebrate Thanksgiving the normal way; with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. Some families even have ham, but for one unfortunate student, she will not get either of those.

            Grace Aspenwall, junior, will be celebrating Thanksgiving by eating her dad’s famous spaghetti. Yes, that’s right, spaghetti on Thanksgiving.

            The reason for this odd dinner is due to Aspenwall’s stepsister. Her stepsister thinks that they should have spaghetti because she is pregnant and they should eat what she wants, and that just happens to be something completely different than turkey.

            “My actual sister is pregnant too and thinks that spaghetti is a dumb idea, it’s Thanksgiving, we should have turkey like a normal family!” Aspenwall said.

            Not only does she not get turkey, she also has to go to Minnesota and travel all that way just to eat some spaghetti that she could have anytime here in Kansas. Aspenwall doesn’t even get to enjoy a slice or two of pumpkin pie along with her spaghetti.

            On Wednesday, Nov. 17, Aspenwall ate her only traditional Thanksgiving dinner at school. “It was the only turkey I’d be getting, so I had to eat as much as I could,” Aspenwall said. “I wish it wouldn’t have been the only turkey I got, I didn’t want to feel like a pig at lunch.”

            She hopes that next year it will end up being a normal Thanksgiving, but she will try to make the best of it this year by being able to enjoy her time with her family. 

    - Breanne Krinhop, junior staffer


Grace is thankful for when she has a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Comment and tell us what you are thankful for!

Late Night In The Valley

Power cats?

          The number 3 team in the nation? It sure didn’t look like it Thursday night when K-State took on Presbyterian. The Wildcats came out on top. However, the 76-67 win was not one to be proud of.

Even Jacob Pullen, who moved up to sixth on K-State’s all time leading scorers list with 1,554 career points, didn’t perform up to satisfaction. While Pullen scored 15 points and dished out 4 assists, Head Coach Frank Martin still was not pleased with the Sports Illustrated cover-boy’s performance.

"He was great for the first couple weeks, but he hasn't done it lately,” Martin said.

The Wildcats, who started off with a 14-point lead at halftime started off the second half with a very slow start. With the Blue Hoses catching up, Martin put Victor Ojeleye on the floor, a walk-on junior in to provide a spark. Ojeleye, who had only played eight minutes in the first two games, was put in with under ten minutes remaining in the game.

“I just came in with the mind-set that I come in with everyday,” Ojeleye said. “It is something that you have to take great pride in every time you are out there. Whether you are out there 2 seconds or 26 minutes, it has to be the same way every time.”

         Four Wildcats scored in double digits, including Jamar Samuels with 10, Rodney McGruder with 13, and Wally Judge and Martavious Irving also with 10.

         The Cat’s have adjustments that need to be made before taking on No. 11 Gonzaga at 8:30 Monday night as part of the CBE Classic in Kansas City.

         “When your best leader is a junior walk-on, your upperclassmen should go look in the mirror and figure that out,” Martin said.

   - Emily Writer, junior staffer

A day in the life of Smoky Valley

Pictures from around the school!

Athletes wrestle with weight

(Opinion article)


      To many people, wrestling is just another high school sport that not many students do, just a bunch of idiots cutting a ton of weight so that they can wrestle way lower than what they would normally weigh. To a wrestler, it’s much more than that.


       To a wrestler, the sport is more like a lifestyle than a sport. We have to train our bodies to be able to endure constant pain, constantly push themselves past their usually limits, and do that every day, for about five months during the season. We spend time training, and losing weight, because we know that the next match that we wrestle, the other wrestler that is going to be on the mat is training just as hard or harder than we are.


       Most people think that cutting weight for wrestling is a stupid thing to do, and I understand why they think that it is. It is unhealthy sometimes, but when wrestlers do it right by eating healthy and working hard, it’s far from unhealthy. 


       Most people ask why wrestlers cut weight, and the reason we do is because everyone else does. It’s not exactly a good thing to do it for this reason, but no matter what, you can’t stop people from doing it. Even if the state were to make a law against cutting weight, they wouldn’t be able to monitor all of the wrestlers and wouldn’t be able to tell if the wrestlers were cutting weight or not.


       Wrestling can be a good sport for most people. It teaches discipline and a good work ethic. When cutting weight correctly, wrestlers lose weight healthily and become healthier than they are before they start losing weight.

- Kaden Sare, sophomore staffer

Fishtail Fad

Photos by Rachel Loder

     Bored with braids? Fed up with French twists?

     Then try a fishtail braid! They’re the traditional braid’s under-rated counterpart.

    These braids are an easy solution to covering up second-day-dirty hair. No matter your hair color, fishtail braids can flaunt your natural (or unnatural) highlights.


    “Fishtail braids are way cooler than your average braid,’ Emily Writer, junior, said.


     Not only are these braids fashionable but they are functional as well. The dense weaving pattern provides a lasting support throughout the day.


    Fishtail braids can be seen anywhere from high-fashion runways to athletic events. The versatility of these unique braids is part of the reason these braids are becoming so popular. They can look stunning on the red carpet, cool at school, and hip at the gym.

    For a quick How-to-fishtail-braid-tutorial, check out the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkV4ptjPf3M&feature=related

   - Rachel Loder, senior yearbook editor

Scholarly students

           Scholars Bowl started off their season with a big bang as they journeyed down to Lyons on Thursday 21^st for their first meet of the season. At the meet there was three pools of five teams, a total of fifteen schools. 

           The Vikings went five and one going into the championship. The championship was a round robin with three teams in it - McPherson High School, Haven High School and Smoky Valley. The Vikings beat Haven but lost to McPherson putting them in second place.

The top scorers for the Vikings were Emma Anderson, sophomore, Rachel Loder, senior, and Kristina Nielander, senior.
“As a coach I was fairly pleased that they answered a lot of questions right that we had covered, but also missed a lot, so there is room for improvement,” Coach Kent Hildebrand said. “My only fear is that they will get a big head after early success and give up.”

However, giving up is not an option for this scholars bowl team. They practice every Wednesday and Thursday morning at 7:35, and some mornings they even get waffles as a little brain booster. They also practice Thursdays during block. During practice they go over various types of questions and some questions they practiced were seen at the Lyons meet.

Then on Thursday 4^th they went to Hutch Trinity were they had some fun wearing turtlenecks making them look as smart as they are. They went two and three at the meet, beating Salina Central and Haven. Tuesday they travel to Concordia and Thursday they travel to Wichita West. 

- Megan Koons, senior yearbook editor