week 15 blog

Throughout the semester i have only missed two days this year, when i missed those days i made sure that you knew ahead of time and that i completed any work that needed to be done. I have also completed all of my blog postings and had them submitted on time. I have never had any late assignments and i have always given one hundred percent all of my works. I have also tried to participate in class when I had something to contribute. All of these are reasons as to why I think I deserve an A in this course. I already have and 88.something and I have been spending many hours trying to make my final portfolio look professional and trying to keep everything moving along smoothly with our group project. I had to take 20 credit hours this semester in order to stay on track to graduate next Christmas, and it has been difficult finding time to complete all of my assignments on time and have them be grammatically presentable, but I think I have done an alright job of this which is why I feel that an a would be an appropriate grade for me. I do not feel that all of my works are A+ material and that they were the best writings in the world, but I do feel that I put as much effort into them as I was really able to. Whatever my grade ends up being, I feel that this has been an educational and enlightening course.

week 14 blog

I already have the general layout of my portfolio finished. I set it up so that my blog postings are all on one page, but I thought it would look weird if I were to put three drafts of the same essay on one page, so I put all of the different drafts on separate subpages. I chose this form because I thought it looked the most used friendly, and it seemed like the type of layout I would want someone else to use if I were looking at a website similar to this. I thought it would make it a hassle to have to click on a separate page for each one of my blog postings so that is why I chose to put them all under one page. I decided to keep the website clean and simple, using a dark gray background with white font and blue font for the titles; I also plan on incorporating more pictures when it is appropriate. I really haven’t thought a lot about how I am going to make my portfolio more personal, but an “about me” page does sound like a good way to do that, I could bring in pictures of me and things that represent me and write about them.

week 13 blog

I think that the way that I write my essays has changed more from high school to now, than it has just through this semester. I used to write my papers about just random stuff that really wasn’t important to me in any way, shape, or form, but now I’ve been putting a little more thought into my writing, and I have been writing more about topics that relate to me. I find this more and more true as the semester goes on. One of the things that I thought was the most beneficial, or the thing that I liked the most about the class, is that we got to choose our topics based on very lose criteria so we could really write about pretty much anything. Also we didn’t have to follow any specific writing style, we could write our papers the way that we liked to write them and we didn’t have to try and reword everything so it sounded like you wrote it. One of the things that I didn’t like so much was the fact that the deadlines seemed to come up pretty fast, and sometimes it was difficult being able to get everything done on time since I am also taking six other classes.

week 12 blog

In my econ class that I am taking, we are required to do group projects periodically. There are supposed to be five to six people in each group and my group had three people. This made the workload for each person in my group quite a bit more than what it was intended to be. Also, one of my two group members had a tendency of showing up to class once a week, if that. This made even more work for me and my other group member which resulted in more of a negative experience than a positive one. My partner and I decided to merge with another group in the class who was having a similar problem; thinking our workload would decrease, I then realized that I was the only one out of four people who even had a slight understanding of how economics actually worked. When working with a group I am always concerned about whether or not the other people are going to put forth as much effort as me. There are benefits of working with other people in the sense that it does divide up the workload so one person is not responsible for everything. Other group members can also bring in different viewpoints and perspectives that one person alone may not have thought of.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=QEYSNK_2b_2bUVYWVX_2fLW9LUUA_3d_3d

week 11 blog

I don’t know that my writing process has changed a whole lot since I have started this course, I guess one thing that has kind of changed though is the fact that I don’t seem to procrastinate quite as much as I used to. I feel like the essay that gave me the most trouble out of the three that we have written for this class was the “inventing arguments” essay, due to the fact that it has very few guidelines. Often times when I’m writing it helps me to have some sort of guidelines or structure for the different paragraphs. I think the rhetorical analysis essay was fairly easy for me, due to the fact that you had laid out examples of what you would like to see in it structurally and how it should be put together. If I am trying to get a point across to someone who is too stubborn to hear me out, I prefer to write down what I would like to say. The reason I like doing this is because they have to listen to all of my points when reading, as opposed to a verbal debate where they can try to catch me in a contradiction, say whatever they were wanting to say, while making me forget what I was going to say. Right now writing plays a large role in my life because I am in college and most of my assignments are written. In my future I feel that it will also play a considerable role since in most work environments there is a lot of paper work and things of that nature that always need to be done.

week 10 blog

1. Do you feel that our social security tax is a good tax to impose one everyone or do you think it would be better to drop the tax completely?
I think this is a good question to ask someone because there is a lot of money being put into social security each year and many people realize it won’t be there when they are going to retire and feel that they could make better use of that money if it was theirs to invest.
2. How do you think the government should resolve its problems with social security?
Many people think that the government should drop social security all together. Others feel that maybe it would be better to raise the tax, or just change it.
3. Do you think it would be safe to rely on your social security for retirement or do you think a separate retirement fund is needed?
Most people today do not even think of social security when planning for retirement because most people realize it probably won’t be around a whole lot longer and if it is, still around by the time they wish to retire, they probably will not get enough money back to live off of.
1. Do you feel the government is better at managing your money than you are?
Many people have a knack for not being able to manage money, while others feel the government has a knack for blowing money like it is nothing. I like this question because there are people who can relate to both sides.
2. Do you think it would be difficult for you to receive anything greater than a -1% return on your own retirement plan?
This question is pretty self explanatory, if you were to take the same amount of money the government deducts from your check, put it in a coffee can and bury in your back yard, you would get a better return on it than you would if you give that money to the government.
3. Will you rely on social security for your retirement?
Many senior citizens are relying on social security right now, unfortunately the money they are getting is barely enough to live off of anymore. Most people now do not plan on relying on their social security for retirement but I still thought it would be a good question to get people thinking.
4. Do you think that people should have an option of whether or not they want social security?
Some people believe it would be a good idea to revise the social security tax and give people the option of whether or not they want to be on it.
5. What percent of your income do you think social security takes out?
Most people believe that somewhere around 13% of your income is put into social security, you pay half and your employer pays half, however, when it’s an employer’s market like it always has been the tax is actually divided up unevenly and almost ¾ of the tax is paid by the employee… even though it looks like it’s getting divided evenly.

week 9 blog

I think that King used a series of logos, ethos, and pathos throughout his letter. When asked why he is in Birmingham, King stated that he was there because he was asked to be there, and because injustice was there. This statement I think really draws upon logos, due to the fact that it clearly states why he is there and what he is fighting for. He later states how he does not think it would be right of him to stay in Atlanta and to not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. I really feel that this statement is very strong and really shows what kind of a man MLK really was. I think that statement is one of the key points of where he established ethos, as one could deduct that he does not find it morally acceptable of himself to turn a blind eye towards the corruption in Birmingham. I personally do not believe that his conditions would affect his ethos in any way, I think most of the time a person’s morals cannot be altered easily just because of outside happenings. He appeals to the emotions of the audience throughout the entire letter, it seems, he really does a good job at letting the audience feel just how the blacks were treated in Birmingham and what he is fighting for. I believe the intended audience for this letter is everyone in America, I’m pretty sure he was wanting everyone to know about what he was fighting for and the injustice that exists still.

week 8 blog

Simons, Janet, Donald Irwin, and Beverly Drinnien. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." 1987. West
Publishing Company, Web. 14 Oct 2009. w.htm>.

This is a website that I found using google. I liked it because I thought it was constructed very professionally. I also like the fact that it had it had three different authors. the page was laid out in an easy to read format, the authors also had each one of Maslow's needs highlighted with a good description of what it meant. I would like to work this source into the part of my paper where I am talking about Obama promising to give free food, housing, clothing, and healcare to everyone, and how all of those fall under ones physiological needs. gjhgkjhk

Wagner, Kendra. "Color Psychology." How Colors Impact Moods, Feelings, and Behaviors. Web.
14 Oct 2009. http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm.

I also found this websit off of google. I tried the online library search but i was unable to find what i was looking for. I liked this website because i thought it did a nice job of telling what different colors made people feel or think. I plan on fitting this into my paper when i talk about how the cartoon is visually constructed. I will tell how perhaps the reason there is a red banner beneith obama is because he is trying to get the people to relax and trust him.

I've only worked in one place and it is a collision repair shop owned by my parents. It really wasn't exactly a bad job, I enjoyed it for the most part. Many times I would get annoyed by the manager, because he would talk to me like I was his supervisor rather than the other way around. I would also get annoyed by some of the comments the other employees would say to me, many times they would act as if I were able to change everything that they didn't like about there jobs. In reality I was one of the lowest people on the totem poll, so to speak, and that's how i wasn't people to treat me, but they always ended up treating me like I was "the boss".

week 7 blog

In the “Careers and Marriage” article it seemed that the two authors had opposing viewpoints. The first article written by Noer seemed to me to be a more credible article due to the fact that he actually did have outside sources and he did have several other opinions supporting what he was saying. The second article written by Corcorn, I felt, was also a very well thought out and constructed article, however she really did not use any other sources than herself and her husband. I think she did have some very persuasive points that did make a lot of sense, but it would have been better if she had some sources to back her up. In “The New Girl Order” the author talks about how she thinks that the reason people are getting married at later ages now is due to popular television shows, higher education, and better jobs. The last article “The Future of Marriage” spends a lot of time discussing the history or marriage and then talks about what marriage has turned into. It also discusses how the average age of marriage is rising which decreases the chance for divorce and increases the number of single adults. I found the “Careers and Marriage” article to be the most compelling because I liked how it had opposing viewpoints, and it was slightly humorous. I think the main reason for marriage’s success is individuals finding a person that they love and even though it is becoming easier for someone to make it on their own, they decide to fight for what they have and stay married. On the contrary, I believe the reason most marriages fail is because the spark goes out and both individuals can find a new spark in someone else.

week 6 blog

When I do research, generally I like to use the internet as much as I can due to the fact that it is much easier than searching through books, and trying to find quotes that go with the paper. I also like using the internet because you can find information, quickly, easily, and you don’t have to leave your house. For the most part it is easy to pick out which articles are reliable and which ones aren’t. I find that it is also easier to find articles that are more closely related to your research topic, than it is to try and find a book that matches up exactly. If I am required to have a book source I normally prefer using an encyclopedia because the information is almost all facts, and it was not written to “draw you in” it was written to deliver information. Often times throughout high school, I was required to use numerous different types of sources when writing a research paper, which most of the time meant that I would get my information from a couple internet sources, and borrow a few quotes from the other sources I had to have.

I think that http://www.wto.org/ is the real website. The reason I think this is because it looks much more professional and the tabs along the upper right part of the site show menus when I place my mouse over it, whereas the other site does not do so.

week 5 blog

I chose to analyze the picture of Yonehisa Yamagami, the electrician. When I look at this picture my eye is drawn to the man’s face, the reason my eye is drawn to his faces is because that is the focal point of the picture. In this image, the man seems happy or at least content in what he is doing. The setting of this picture is evidently at the area where this man was working, I can see wires in the background so that is why I am assuming that it is at his place of work. In this image the man is smiling and he is smoking a cigar which implies to me that he is enjoying what he is doing. He is also wearing nice close which leads me to believe that he is living relatively well. I think this picture was taken to show people that these camps aren’t as bad as many people like to believe they are. This image doesn’t really fill my body with emotions, it makes me feel alright, knowing that this man appears to be happy with being an electrician. I feel this way because it doesn’t appear that he is discontent or bothered by being in this camp. Since Adam did coach this man on how to pose, I believe that makes this picture an unreliable source of how life really was in this camp. I think the people who wrote about the camps, wrote about times that were more difficult and not as happy as the images depicted.

week 4 blog

My understanding of the word rhetoric is not very specific or elaborate; I believe it means to speak in public, or to give a speech. The definition that I would give this word would be, to speak, or give a speech in front of an audience. I think that the way we act and the things we say is what constitutes rhetoric. When we speak to our friends and family, we speak in a manner that is not as formal or rehearsed. When something is rhetoric, it is normally directed towards an audience, which can be large or small, and I feel that most of the time the speaker is talking to the audience rather than with them. I normally do not hear the word rhetoric too often in today’s society, but when I do hear the term, it is normally involved in a topic related to speeches. For the most part, people in general do not like getting in front of an audience and giving a speech so normally when I hear the word rhetoric, it has more of a negative feel to it.

bad teacher

In my high school there was a teacher that did not like teaching. He was probably 126 years old and he was unpleasant to everyone including the staff. On the first day of class he always announces to the class that he does not believe that there is such a thing as an "A student", and in the entire time I was in high school there was only one person that did get an A in his class. Due to his opinions, anyone who would have been a Valedictorian would not reach their goal, because he was so arrogant so that even if the answer was the exact same as what the book had said he would mark it wrong.

the craziest adventure iv ever been on

The craziest adventure that I've ever been on was most likely on the fourth of July two years ago. My friends and i were out looking for stuff to do and we couldn't find much to do around town so we decided to take a drive through Purdue campus to see if anything was going on there. There were five of us in my buddies F-250 that was lifted 6 inches with 37 inch tires. We pulled into a parking lot to turn around and as soon as we did we heard "hey they gotta big truck, lets go ride with them" and 8 girls immediately jumped out of an SUV and decided to hop in with us. Now we were cruising around town with a girl on my lap, 4 girls in the back seat, my buddy driving, and everyone else in the bed of the truck. Wept driving around until we finally decided to set off some fireworks and we ended up not getting to bed until about 7 a.m.

9/10/09 class blog

After turning in my rough drafts, and after going through the pear review process I feel that i am probably about 90% complete with my paper. The bulk of the essay is thee, I just need to fix a few grammatical errors, and as far as my visual component is concerned it also had a few flaws in it but I believe i have found all of those and got those problems worked out.

Is it okay that I do not have music in the background of my visual essay? I have tried to figure out how to get it on there but so far I have been unsuccessful.

week 3 blog

I believe that college is not so much of a preparation stage for a future career, as many people like to believe. A lot of the time people don’t even get a job in the field that studied in college. Most of the time employers really do not care what your degree was in, they are more interested in the fact that you started something and worked hard for four years to accomplish a goal. I also believe that college is in large a maturity stage, it gives students an extra 2, 4, 5, 6… to still be kids before they need to become adults. College, however, does also educate people, that is the main purpose behind it, no one would want to go to a doctor with only a high school diploma no matter how smart the individual.
My ideal classroom would be one where the teacher and the students are looked upon as equals. Where the teacher doesn’t so much try to stand and teach, but provides real life learning experiences for the students to understand just how the subject matter will relate to his or her life. Some homework is educational and needs to be assigned, but often times “busy work” is assigned because the teacher has run out of ideas to teach. For example, if you are teaching an art class, I believe, it would be more beneficial to the students if you had an actual artist come demonstrate techniques rather than have an instructor teach about how to draw.

week 2 blog

When reading, I feel that it is important for one to ask questions about the text. The reason that I feel it is important to do this, is because many times it makes the text much more understandable if you know where the writer is coming from. When I read, many times, I will underline or highlight parts that I feel are significant or important. In order to retain the most material while reading, I feel that it is best if I am interested in the subject matter. If I feel that the subject matter is not relevant, then the chance of me retaining a large amount of the information is not likely. When I need to remember information from a text that I am not interested in at all, I find that I retain information best if I read it several times. The first time I read something I typically just get the general idea of it, but after reading it a second, or even maybe a third time, I find that I catch many less obvious details in the reading that are typically important.

email to my brother

Hey man i gotta write a visual narrative essay for my English class. I'm thinking about writing it about the time that I went to PCB with my friends for spring break last year. Its supposed to be a pretty desciptive essay and everything so thats why i thought spring break would be a good thing to wrtie about.

see you soon
Nick



TXT MESSAGE

hey man, writin a paper on PCB09... thought it'd b a good topic. i g2g ttyl

PCB 09 With Friends

Last spring break my friends and I went to Panima City Beach. It was one of the most fun and memorable times of my life. I remember the first day taht we got there like it was yesterday. We arived at our hotel at about 7:00 in the morning, after driving all night we were anctious to get some sleep, however our friends who were already down there decided that it was time to celebrate and they didn't want us to waste any time by sleeping. When we first hit the beach, it was still early in the morning so it was still a little cool to lay out or do any swimming. So rather than waisting time there we decided to go get a wholesome breakfast at the waffle house. This one happened to be not so clean, the table had crumbs all over it and the waitress looked like she was suffering from a severe hangover! After eating breakfast everyone decided it was time for a nap. The hotel room was... not very nice, to say the least. The refrigerator looked as if it had been beaten with a golf club and the walls were a nice soft yellow color but the plaster they used to repair the wholes was still bright white. The beds were also fairly uncomfortable, but none of this mattered because we were on the beach on vacation and it was cheep!

Last year for my McCutcheon high school English 12 class I had to write several papers. Most of these fell under the category of “senior memory book chapters”, which consisted of ten different one to two page papers. I would write most of these papers as soon as they were assigned each week, due to the fact that I was normally busy the evening before they were due. I never really made an outline for any of them, from my experiences outlines typically slow me down because I am too busy trying to get the format correct, and trying to decide which points are important enough to be roman numerals, and which points would just be lowercase letters. These were very informal papers, and they were about topics that occurred in my life, so when I wrote them they typically did not take much time and I typed them in a casual manner while listening to music most of the time. When these papers were assigned, initially I was worried because it was a large chunk of my grade, but once I started working on them they were done in no time.

parents
grandparents
ourdoors
friends
brother

my parents influenced my life significantly because, without them i wouldnt be here. they have helped me throughout my life and tought me many things. my friends also influenced my life a lot because i have had countless great memories with them. i mde most of my friends when i was in highschool but i did meet some of them when i was in middle school. my friends keep my life exciting and fun.