Arguement

I few years ago I was forced to cut the tie with one of my good friends. It turn out that this person had stolen a few blank checks from our other good friend. The culprit then wrote the checks out at a grocery store on two separate occasions. My friend who's checks were stolen ended up overdrawing, and had to go through a big ordeal to place fraud reports on the checks. During this process, the thief was just acting as though nothing has happened, giving fake support to the friend, and going along with giving ideas on who it could have been. Later during the fraud investigation, the grocery store had found the recording of the person writing the check. When we found out that it was our close friend we were very shocked and stunned. When we confronted the friend, they got very defensive and said that she was starving, and that she spent all of the money on food (which was true). I told this person that I still couldn't trust them in my house, and that I couldn't be friends with them because of this. I told this person that if they were to have told me that they didn't have any food at their house that they could have told me, and I would have been happy to share some of my food with them. I have seen this person since then, but the situation proved to be awkward, and I would rather that it not happen again.

Advertising to Young People

I think that younger people are targeted in advertising more aften than older people because they are more likely to fall for or believe the advertising. They are more worried about appearances and trying to fit into the world. Older people are more established and have outgrown that stage in their lives. They are more content with themselves and more likely not to fall for advertisements.

Advertising to Younger People

I think that the age group 18-34 year olds is a prime target because nowadays young adults strive to look the best they can physically and will try mostly anything that advertisers say may help their skin look younger, or a new makeup that will make your skin look polished and perfect like the stars. Young adults and teens want to try anything new that comes along in the market because they want to be looking and feeling the best they can and advertisers know this and will continue to come up with more ideas to make people feel they need the product to make their lives that much better.

Advertising to Young People

Most celebrities these days are between the ages of 18-34. These celebrities are always focused on how they look especially at the big events like the Grammy Awards or the Academy Awards etc. How these people are portrayed in magazines or tabloids is kind of like advertising in a way. These magazines or tabloids show pictures of who they think are the "best-dressed" or "worst-dressed". The idea of beauty (and what it represents) to regular people seems to refer to what the celebrities are wearing (styles that are in), how thin they are (or aren't), and what hair styles to wear just to name a few. With this age range typically being single, how they look to the opposite sex is extremely important to them. Looking just right and feeling confident about yourself could land you a husband/wife. Advertising giants like Maybelline, Cover-Girl, Crest, and L'Oreal are likely to promote younger and healthier looking skin, fuller and sexier hair, and brighter and whiter teeth for this audience to get them to purchase their products. Alcohol related television commercials like Captain Morgan or Coors Light (just to name a few) promote using their products (in moderation of course) to have a good time at parties and bars, being depicted as places to meet a sexy man or woman. How we feel about ourselves determines our self-confidence. If our self confidence is high it make us more appealing to others. I think that advertisers target this audience because they are more likely to "fall for" what they promise.

Advertisers and young people... (graded)

I think that emotional appeal is so effective with young people because they are in the stage of trying to fit in or even trying to be better. They feel more motivated to be better than what people expect of them and this makes them more vulnerable to advertisers. They also are not as versed in advertising schemes as one that is maybe 40 years old. After time, people realize that using emotional appeal change the way people think about something, and advertisers use this to their advantage. Younger people are drawn into this “hook” because it will help them sell what they are selling.

Emotional Appeals (Graded)

Emotional appeals work for young people because typically, young people will rely on their gut instincts instead of really thinking logically about their decision to do or believe something. They are not experienced enough in making decisions based on actual concrete evidence versus what they hear on the radio or see on TV. For example in advertising, especially targeting young women, companies will imply that, by using their products or wearing their clothes (like Victoria’s Secret under garments) you will feel confident, sexy and accepted. I have experienced this with my teenage daughter first hand. She refused to buy her underwear from any place other than Victoria’s Secret. She felt if she wore any other brand, girls would make fun of her in the locker room at school (I didn’t argue with her about that, but I did make it clear that if she wanted that expensive underwear she had to pay for them herself).

Argument (Graded)

One of my friends and I usually get into deep arguments about things, usually about government, politics or anything with how the world revolves. Well last year when I was living with my friend we had a huge disagreement about PEAK oil. Which is basically when oil reaches it's maximum production and starts to decline. So if global cosnumption is not taken care of, an energy crisis might come about because the amount of oil will drop and the price will increase. Which in turn, could start a big panic in society and have everyone freak out. Our argument consisted of him believing that PEAK oil will happen within a couple years and the whole country is gonna be in an uproar and panic. I disagreed and said it won't happen for a long time and by that time we will have invented or created something that is not so dependant on oil. We both knew quite a bit about it, so it was a heated argument that lasted a good week. In all reality we shouldn't have gotten so mad at eachother but we wanted to prove our points. Finally after about a week we both agreed that if it happens, it happens and if it doesn't, it doesn't. No use in fighting about something that you can't control. But every once in awhile we'll bring it up and get into a small argument that only lasts about an hour!

Disagreement (graded)

I have been in a HUGE disagreement just recently with my sister. She was dating this guy that I didn't practically like. I thought he was playing with her and leading her on and she didn't agree with me. He didn't want to spend time with her or act like he did and when I brought this up to her she was clearly upset. I tried to talk to her about it and talking about their relationship got worse and worse. Our family got involved and my sister had enough and stopped talking to me for about a week. I was only trying to help her and she didn't want my help. He was totally not that into her and she thought he was. It turns out I was right the whole time and she finally realized that I was just trying to help her and were back to the same as we were before. Leason learned by both of us. I have to let her learn her own mistakes and she needs to know a red flag when she see's one.

roles in my life

Four out of the many roles I play in my life are a student, a manager, a friend, and a sister. The first role is a student. As a student, I am expected to go to class and get my homework completed on time. Also I need to respect my peers, teacher, and people I meet along the way of my education. The second role I play is a manager at Dairy Queen. In this role i have to be responsible for making the schedule and doing it so that it works for everyone. I have to deal with a lot of people even when they are unhappy so I have to be very understanding. Also, I have to be able to let the other employees know what needs to be done and when, without demanding it. The third role I play is a friend. I have friends from many different groups, so i can relate to many different people. I am always there when they need someone to vent and confide in. I help them out when they need it. The last role i want to talk about is a sister. I have two sisters named Kalee and Makayla. Kalee is twenty and a lot like me. I always try to be there for her when she needs advice and something is on her mind and she just needs to talk. We are so close in age I can relate to the things she is going through. Makayla is ten years old and a lot of fun. I sometimes take care of her for a few hours and play a few games or help her with her homework. I think she really looks up to me as a role model. I try to set a good example for her. The role that is most challenging would be the manager because I am faced with many challenges every day and I am in charge of many people. I feel like myself in all of these roles because each and everyone of them has been a part of my life for so long and I have become accustomed to doing each and every one of them everyday.

My Roles (graded)

I play many roles but the most important roles i play are girlfriend, student, godmother, and daughter. Being a girlfriend takes a lot of your time. When you are a girlfriend you are expected to be your boyfriends everything for example; if his car breaks down you have to drive him places, if he is at work you have to bring him food (well you don't have to but it is sort of part of the relationship to bring them food or cook them food, and they do the same for you). Being a student takes even more time because you are expected to go to every class and do all your homework on time and that takes a lot of work. I am a godmother and i am expected to be another mother to her and that takes A lot out of you. well i don't have to be another mother to her but my friend i pretty much a single mother so i feel like i am expected to do things like that. I am also a daughter and i am expected to be the best i can be at everything and that gets very tiring. I feel most like myself in the role of a girlfriend and when i get married to him i will feel even more like myself.l

My Many Roles

Some of the roles I play in my life are fiance, student, and employee. The most challenging role right now is being an employee at two jobs. I have a full-time job in outside sales which requires me to drive up to 8-9 hours per day to my established accounts sometimes hundreds of miles away. My employer is always expecting me to know what is going on with all of my accounts and it is very difficult to do that having the size territory that I have. Now that I am taking classes here at MSCTC, it has become extremely hard to stay awake sometimes behind the wheel of my company vehicle after staying up late doing homework and studying. Although I will be done at this job the end of May(so that I can take some summer classes), I still am trying to do my best to service all my accounts until then. My part-time job relates more to the career field that I am going to school for (nursing), but it has more physical challenges. I am a CNA at a nursing home here in Fargo every other Saturday and Sunday, and my shift starts at 6am. So with working so much, it is hard to have a life much less do my schoolwork. I am so thankful that my fiance is so very supportive. He has done so many things to help me out with my busy schedule. Just doing a load of laundry for me is a godsend sometimes but his encouragement means even more. I haven't had much time to plan our wedding but hopefully in a few months when my schedule is more accomodating I can settle down and get that organized. My role as a student currently is the most demanding of my time, but I try to keep reminding myself of the bigger picture and that pretty much keeps me going to fulfill my desire of a college degree.

Me Three... (Graded)

With so many roles in my life i've noticed i am a different person for each role. One role that i am currently having to play is the role of a student. Being a student has many challenges. Not only do you have to make sure your on class on time, everytime there is class; you also have to spend all your freetime preparing for those classes. You are expected to complete your work on time no matter what and do well on tests. Trying to fit everything in your schedule is very challenging when you a student. The expectations of trying to be a student are definitely the hardest that i've had to keep up with.
Another role that i play everyday is a friend to many people. This is a very enjoyable role that i feel most like myself. In front of your friends, you can do or say what your feeling or thinking and have a discussion about it. Also being a friend means you have to be there for your other friends in times of need. Your friends expect you to hang out with them every once in awhile. Maybe go out for a few drinks to catch up on things and eachothers lives. At the same time i expect them to be there for me also whenever I am going through tough times.
As an employee i am expected to show up to work on time, and while i'm there give every effort to do a good job. My current job expects me to know things about all sorts of fish, small animals, reptiles, and birds. They also expect me to be courteous to each and every customer. This role I do not feel like myself for the most part, just because I have to act formal and well, i'm not to formal and love to just be relaxed.

My Many Roles

In my life I play many roles. But the most important ones are an employee, a student and an aunt.

As an employee, my boss expects me to show up on time and respect my co-workers and customers in the store. I am expected to give my all while helping a customer. As a student, my teachers expect me to show up on time, study hard, and to turn in my assignments on time. As an aunt and godmother I am expected to show my love to nieces and nephews. I am a godmother to my first niece Isabella... as a godmother I am expected to guide her through her faith in God and help her understand to the best of my ability. This reflects who I truly am because I love my family and would do anything for them. I love being with my nieces and nephews and watching them grow and learn new things.

My Dream Job

Dreams have always amazed me. To think that you have around 5-7 dreams a night, but choose to sometimes remember none. I am mostly interested in lucid dreaming. That is when you "awaken" in your dream, and can basically control your dream world. I have always had the burning desire to help unlock the secrets of this waking unconsciousness. I haven't officially decided that it is what I am going to do with my life, and have always just figured if it was meant to be, it would happen. Because it is a very slim field, there are not an abundance of programs out there. To be a successful dream researcher I would ideally want to find a graduate program, with a focus on dreaming and sociology. From there I would hope to have my own research facility to conduct research.

My many roles (graded)

In my personal life, I am a mother, an employee and a student. Being a mother has several roles in itself. I am a chauffeur, a cook, a nurse, a teacher and sometimes a banker (according to my children). In this role, I feel more like myself. My children do not care that I have spaghetti stains on my shirt from stirring the sauce and I am not required to act professional or holdback my emotions when I am angry or hurt. The most challenging part about being a mother is trying to be a good role model for my children. But of all the roles, this one is my favorite. Being a mother can be very hard, but can be very rewarding when I look at my children’s accomplishments and know that I am a part of what makes them who they are.

As an employee, my co-workers and managers expect me to show up for work on time and put 100% into my job. I am expected to act professional, dress professional and must always direct my frustrations in a pleasant way (easier said than done). I am expected to always have a smile on my face regardless if I am frustrated with a client or not. This is a challenging role for me as my job requires a lot of communication with a lot of customers and clients and sometimes those customers and clients can really frustrate me. Having to holdback the frustration can be extremely exhausting.

As a student, I am expected to complete my work to the best of my ability, be respectful to my fellow students and teachers, follow directions, study hard and show up for class on time. This is my most challenging role as it requires most of my extra time and energy. I have been out of school for more than 15 years and it is extremely challenging to get back into the study mode. It is hard to balance my time between family and school.

The Many Roles In My Life!

I play many roles in my life. The three major roles that I play are a parent, girlfriend, and student. Being a parent has many expectations. I have my own expectations for myself on what kind of a parent I think I should be and then there is everyone else's expectations on what kind of a parent I should be. Being a parent is not easy but it's the best role to play and I wouldn't change that for anything. Another role I play is being a girlfriend. As a girlfriend I have to live up to the expectations of my boyfriend. It's a fairly easy role to play. My boyfriend doesn't ask much of me except to be me which makes it the easiest role to play. I feel most like me. The hardest role I have to play is being a student. I haven't been a student for so long. There are many expectations like studying, doing my homework, and making sure I keep up on all of my classes. It takes a lot to try to juggle all three roles.

The roles I play. (Graded)

There are many different roles that I play in my life and all are very important. I am a sister, a girlfriend, a student and a co-worker. All these roles i play in my life make me who i am today. As a sister of five other siblings and me being one of the youngest i looked up to my siblings. As my younger brother looks up to me. There was never a dull moment in our house when i was growing up. There were constant fights going on but yet i wouldn't change it for anything. Having a big family is so much fun and when we get together no one stops laughing, what a change from our younger years!! I am also a co-worker. Being a hairstylist is difficult at times but the most difficult thing about being a hairstylist is all the women you have to work with. Working with women on a daily basis gets to be tough. There aren’t any men there to just say enough already. Women all complain a lot and if they don’t get there way someone will hear about it. But everyday is different at my place of work and when were not complaining we are chatting and having a great time. I am also a student. Being a student is the most challenging role in my life right now. Its really hard to concentrate on school work and work at the same time. I am constantly trying to do better and make myself achieve goals i have set for myself. and last but not least i am also a girlfriend. In this role I feel most like me. Being around my boyfriend makes me who i am. I am happy, I have no worries, I am myself. I don't have to act like someone else to please people. I can be myself and have someone love me for everything i do. All the other roles make me who i am but being a girlfriend make's me feel more like me.

The three faces of me.....

I play many different roles in this game of life. I can be considered a student, a son or a brother. No matter how many different things I can be, I am all in one person. As a student I find myself always working trying to get things done and constantly improving things. I feel that I am constantly worrying about something being due or making sure something isn’t late. Another aspect of my life is being a son. This sounds difficult but its really easy. Once and a while I have to deal with chores, but my parents are really easy going and my family is forgiving. I feel like I am doing a fairly good job at that. But the tough job is being a brother. Being a brother of three younger boys, is not always easy. Little brothers can be loud, obnoxious and rude. But I have learned to deal with these things and I feel I can cope with it. Before when I was in high school, this task was easier said then done, but its easy now.

two stores i partornize

There are two stores that i like to shop at, they are complete oposites Aeropostale and Abercrombie and Fitch. I like to shop at Aeropostale because i worked there for two years and i know the product. Another reason i like to shop there is because there clothes are very reasonable priced. The down fall of the cheap clothes though is that they are not very high quality and they rip or buttons fall off easily. They do have a good return policy though so if there are any problems, you can always bring them back. A pair of jeans at Aeropostale on average is $29.99. A pair of jeans on average at Abercrombie is $80-$100. I like shopping at Abercrombie becuase they have the latest trends and their clothes are a higher quality. I also like that there jeans fit me very well. I would rather pay the extra money for somthing that fits me good and is going to last a couple of years than pay the cheaper price for jeans that are not going to last very long.

Montana or bust

Last year my fiance and I needed to come up with a vacation spot. It was getting to be summertime and we still hadn't made up our minds where we wanted to go. We both love the mountains, and although I have been through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Colorado several times when I was younger traveling with my parents, I was very much game in choosing one of these locations for our (adult) vacation. He had never been out west except to Colorado to visit his best friend from high school. In choosing just where to go, I suggested Glacier National Park in Montana or Yellowstone in Wyoming. Both parks offer fantastic views of mountains and roadways that literally take you right into the wilderness. Plus there is a lot to see on the way there. You could seriously spend weeks in these parks and not even scratch the surface. We had to consider gas prices, in driving out there from Fargo or to fly out there and rent a car. When looking up flights, it was clear that driving was the way to go for economic reasons. Yellowstone is actually larger than Glacier in square miles and would have more access to view wildlife. We decided on Yellowstone finally and to put Glacier on the waiting list for now. We also decided to travel in the fall so we set a date to take off in September. To get there we drove straight west to Bozeman, MT and spent the night there. Bozeman is a pretty town set in between mountain ranges. The next day we went south of Bozeman into Wyoming and to the west entrance of Yellowstone Park. We spent several days in the park driving all the way around the scenic figure eight road system. We liked this one waterfall (the Lower Falls) so much we actually went there twice to see it in different lighting (once at dusk and then at sunrise). We saw countless bison, moose, elk, mountain goats and we also got to see a grizzly bear. It was quite a drive to get there but well worth it, we've both decided we want to go back again in a few years.

Gloria Jeans or Starbucks?

I used to work as a barista, and I acquired what some people would call, an addiction to espresso. My favorite drink of all time, is an iced breve. It is espresso, half and half, and ice. I have been to every coffee shop in the Fargo-Moorhead area, looking for the best breve. I found that the best place to go is Gloria Jeans coffee. Their espresso is so smooth, and not burnt at all. The only problem is that there is only one shop up north by the Fargodome. This can be very frustrating, if you are low on gas, or short on time, especially when you pass by four Starbucks on your way. I try Starbucks every now and again, but it never works out. The price of an iced breve at Starbucks is $4.20, and at Gloria Jeans is $4.24 so its not like you are getting a better deal going to Starbucks. But the biggest difference, is that at Starbucks, they have an automatic shot puller, this ensures that the drink is going to taste the same, every time you go to a Starbucks. That is bad news, because every time I get a breve from Starbucks, the espresso is shocked, and tastes burnt, and nasty. At Gloria Jeans they pull their own shots, to maximize krema, and the great taste that comes with it. So I have found that it is worth it for me, to take the extra 15 minutes, and drive to Gloria Jeans instead of stopping at the nearest Starbucks.

Christmas then and Christmas now (Graded)

Bryson's comparison of celebrating Christmas in England vs. America raised my thoughts about how Christmas celebrations have changed in my family over the years. Although the difference is not culturally divided, as it is in Bryson's essay, it is quite different now from when I was a child. We now celebrate Christmas with three times as many people, we don't receive as many presents as we used to, and our Christmas Eve tradition has drastically changed.

When I was a child, our Christmas gathering involved only my parents, my six siblings, and sometimes my maternal grandmother. Now, all of us are grown and have our own families and when we get together for Christmas, there are usually no less than 23 of us. One year, we celebrated Christmas at my sister's house in Buffalo, MN. There was an ice storm on the night of our gathering and all of us ended up stranded at her house. There were 28 of us that spent the night. Luckily, she has a huge 5 bedroom house so everyone mangaged to find a place to sleep. The kids all slept on the floor and the adults got the bedrooms and the couches. I know that my sister and her husband were very glad to see that the storm had passed next morning so all of us could leave.

I know that the real meaning of Christmas is not about what you receive as gifts; however, I can't help but remember that as a child, presents were always in abundance at Christmastime. Each of us 7 children would have at least 5 or 6 presents, from my parents, under the tree. I can remember digging under the tree and organizing all the presents so that each of us had all of our presents in one spot. Now, we are lucky if we get one present each. My parents now have many grandchildren to buy presents for, so it would be too costly for them to lavish us with many presents as we used to get.

When I was young, our Christmas Eve tradition was the same every year. Us kids would torment my mother all day long by begging her to let us open up one present. To which she always replied, "not until after church!". Eventually, we would eat dinner and then either attend the 5:30 Mass or Midnight Mass (which was usually held at 10:00 p.m.) When we got home from church, it was time to open presents! There was such an excitement and happiness in all of us. We always started with the youngest, which was me! I opened all of my presents first, then my brother Chris, who was second to the youngest, then Brian, who was 3rd to the youngest, and so on. After everyone was done, my parents would let us stay up as long as we wanted to play with and admire our new presents. Nowdays, we rarely get together on Christmas Eve. It's usually sometime in December or January, when every one can manage to get together. Opening presents is now a long, drawn out process. Everyone opens their presents one at a time and with 28+ people, that takes a very long time! Also, we don't attend the Christmas Eve Service together anymore. My siblings attend Christmas services with their own families and my parents usually go alone.

A lot has changed over the years. I often day dream around Christmastime and think about how it used to be. The excitement and anticipation that I felt was so much more intense back then. Although I like celebrating Christmas with all of my extended family members, I miss the intimacy of having just my siblings and my parents together. I now hope to start my own traditions with my kids, so they can have the same opportunity to feel the way I did as a child.

Last Vacation

For my last vacation we had to choose between two possible destinations. One choice was to go to San Antonio, Texas and the other choice was to go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was December so in Texas it was really great weather and Wisconsin was cold and snowy. I have family in both states too. So basically what it came down to was whether we wanted warm sunny weather or cold snowy weather. Well of course we chose to go to Texas. Nothing beats the warm sunny weather in the middle of December. I was so happy we chose to go down to Texas. The weather was great and I got to break out my summer clother early!

Sunmart vs Cashwise

When shopping at the supermarket, I am always buying the same items. Chips, salsa, salad, the list goes on and on. When shopping at Cashwise for the first time last week I felt very disoriented when I entered the store. It was hard, and confusing to navigate myself through the store. Many of their prices such as their salsa chips were much more than Sunmart, so instead of buying two bags of chips for $4.00 I bought one for $3.95. The next item on list was salad, usually I buy two bags, one iceberg and the other spinach. As I approached the salad section I noticed that there were a few red signs here and there, marking down various salads that were about to pass their due date. I looked for my standard iceberg salad, and could not find it. When I asked a salesperson for help they said they were all out for the day, but they should get some in tomorrow. "Great" I thought, "that doesn't help me today though!" So already discouraged about my shopping adventure I moved on to the next item on my list, banannas. Cashwise seemed to have a ripe stock of banannas, although they were two times the price of Sunmarts. Instead of being $1.49/pound they were $2.59/pound. I threw my hands up in the air and vowed never to go back to Cashwise, walked somberly to my car and drove to Sunmart. I found everything I needed, at reasonable prices, and announced to my family that if anyone shopped at Cashwise, they were on my list.

Vacation Spots (Graded)

Last August, my cousin whom just got engaged, wanted a destination wedding. And as one of her bridesmaids and close friends she asked me for some help. We sat down and decided between Florida and Jamaica for her wedding spot. They both had hot temperatures at the time of the date and they both had really nice resorts. When we were looking and comparing we had pros and cons about both places.
Jamaica was an all inclusive resort, were the Florida's resort wasn't. So we knew it was going to be expensive. Jamaica's wedding package was also way cheaper then it was in Florida. But on the other hand you didn't need to get a passport to go to Florida. And it was going to be four to six months before we got our passports. Florida is also not a poor state or country like Jamaica is. When it was all said and done the bride and groom, with my help, decided to get married in Jamaica. Although a poor country and the hassle of getting passports, it was all around the cheaper way to go. When you have 30+ people attending your destination wedding you try to save people money!
I have visited Florida before and just flying into Jamaica was the coolest site I have ever seen! Jamaica is so small that we could see the whole country from inside the plane. My cousins’ wedding was so beautiful. It wouldn't have been the same if she were to get married in Florida. Florida was very fun but going to Jamaica was a way better experience then Florida was. Hands down I would go to Jamaica over Florida any day!

Vacation Spots (Graded)

Last year when I lived in Oregon, my roomate and I decided that we wanted to take a trip somewhere. So we started to list our choices and what we really wanted in a trip. We both decided that we want somewhere close within about 10 hours. So from Oregon, we looked north and south and found our two possible destinations. Seattle in Washington and San Francisco in California. Then we listed the pros and cons of each destination.
In Seattle we did not know anyone that lived there and would be touring the city or doing things by ourselves. We also relaized that Seattle has a reputation for raining alot and did not want to get stuck in a bunch of bad weather. But Seattle has a very good music scene which is one thing we wanted to do, go to some concerts. The scenery in Seattle seemed a little better than SF and that is one attribute that makes a difference in where i pick to go.
Is San Fran, we knew about 10 different people that we could hang out with, that could show us around the city and let us stay at their places without buying a hotel. Which is a big, big plus. The one thing we didn't like about SF is how expensive everything was going to be. We had heard it is very expensive to eat and drink there. Both of us had also never been to CA so we decided to go with San Fran and it was a definite good time.
I think the biggest thing for us was knowing somone that could save us money and show us all the cool things around the city. And for not picking Seattle it was the weather. We didn't want to spend vacation under umbrella's the whole time. The trip to San Fran ended up being a really good time and such a good time that i'm headed back there in the end of may!!

Two Possible Destinations For My Last Vacation

If I were to choose two possible destinations for my last vacation I would pick Hawaii or Italy. My aunt recently moved to Hawaii because she joined the Army and that is where her base is at. I would love to go out there for a week and visit her. I would love the hot weather and beaches. Since I would be staying with my aunt, I would save so much money because I wouldn't have to stay at a hotel, rent a car, etc. She would take me to the different cities not too far from where she is in Honolulu. I would be able to see a lot more than I would have if I stayed at a resort for a week. I think my vacation to Hawaii would be more fun than going to Italy just because I would have my aunt as my tour guide. I would love to see where she lives her life down there. It would be so different than how my life is here in Minnesota. If I were to go to Italy, of course there would be plenty of sites to see. My great grandmother came over to the United States from Italy before she had kids and got married. I think it would be a life changing experience if I were to vacation in Italy, where my ancestors came from! When it comes down to it, I would choose to go to Hawaii because I would save a lot more money than if I were to go to Italy. And let's face it, what college student has that much money to go to Italy or anywhere overseas? Not I!!

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Comparing items can definitely save you money. When renting movies, there are two basic options. You can order online, or you can order from a store. I like renting from a physical store because you can just drive over and see what they have. I find it easier to find when I can see a shelf full of movies as opposed to lists of movie names. I also like at the movie store the deal of five movies for five nights for five dollars. Online if you were to rent a movie from say iTunes, it would cost $3.99 and once you have watched it once, you only have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you want before the movie expires. I really like the idea of how easy it is to get on internet and order a movie and have it in only a few minutes, but I am just a poor college student, so I prefer to stick to the old fashioned movie store. I could either drive a few blocks to a movie store, or spend a few extra dollars to have the movie now. There are different pros and cons of each, but overall I believe it comes down to how much it costs.

new years resolution

last year i made a resalution to not drink as much pop. I can sleep alot better now with out caffeine and i have lost about ten pounds from just not drinking as much pop.

New Year's Resolution

My new year's resolution about 7 years ago was not to let anger eat away at me. I had some issues that were really bothering me prior to this to the extent that I was barely able to get out of bed in the mornings. Normally I am a pretty happy and optimistic person, but things were changing and I wasn't feeling that way anymore. I pinpointed these changes to how I handled anger and difficult situations (I held it all inside). These things were keeping me from eating and from sleeping at night, so I knew I had to do something. I worked with a counselor for a little while to find the sources of my anger and to learn ways to constructively deal with it. When it came time for a new year's resolution, I knew that not letting anger get to me the way it did before would be a resolution that I could keep. I still get mad at things that happen at work, etc. but now I deal with it head on and I am done with it. To this day, my resolution still holds and I am a better person because of it.

Trice essay

I work two jobs and they are both customer service related. I somewhat agree with her, but she also needs to realize what a lot of customer service people have to deal with. You would not believe how some people act/treat other people when they are out in public and sometimes the store clerk or server takes their aggressions out on the wrong person.
example 1: I was working the drive through at Dairy Queen on a hot summer day and everyone decided they needed ice cream. There was this certain customer that made me so angry. She pulls up to the drive thru window and has no idea what she wants 5 minutes later she decides but in the meantime there is a buildup of 20 cars behind her waiting for her to order. Then she pulls up to the window to pay and can not find her money so i preceed to wait another 5 minutes for her to find $1.37 for her small twist cone.
example 2: It is Valentines day and everyone has to go out to eat at the restaruant that i work at. I am very busy and there is this one table that is being so needy it is really making me mad. They have their food, so i am checking back to make sure everything is ok, and they ask for some ranch, when i return with it, they need more water, so i go get it, and come back and now they want more ketchup and just did not understand that they were not the only people i had to help that night. After the tenth time of going back to their table i really just want to say no and walk away.
example 3: I am working at the dry cleaners and it is Christmas time, which is pretty busy because everyone brings out thier nicest clothes that are dry clean only. This particular customer whom i have never seen before brings in quite a few items and i check them all over to mark any damages down which is routine so we don't get blamed for damages we did not cause. Well when she comes back to pick up her items there is a burn on one of them which i knew about because i recorded it as being burned before she dropped it off. She insisted that i did it and said a few choice words to me and i tried my hardest to bite my tongue because i would probably get fired if i said the words to her i wanted to say.

New Year's Resolution

In 2006 my New Year's resolution was to stop eating out so much and start eating at home. Before making the New Year's resolution I would eat out at a fast food restaurant at least 3 days a week . Now I eat at a fast food restaurant once or twice a month. Keeping that resolution has changed my life. I have lost weight which is a major plus of the resolution. Not eating out so much has allowed me to have more quality time with my family while eating at home. I have also saved a lot of money by not going out to eat so much. It was the best desicion I have ever made for myself. Plus, who knew homemade food could taste so much better than fast food.

New Years Resoltion

In 2005 I made the New Year's resolution to be more thoughtful. I know this sounds very vague but it really came about because of my ex-girlfriend. She was all ways saying how I never thought things through. I decieded to make a concious effort to think about my actions. I know it might sound strange to think about thinking more. However, I really feel that it changed my life.
The first example of how it changed my life is with my relationship with her. As I have pointed out we are no longer dating but we are still very close friends. Something that I do not think would have been possible unless I would have made a change. Another good example is my decision to go to school again this semester. For a while I was seriously considering not going back this semester but after much thought I decided that going to school is something that I need to do if I want to better my life. However, the best example of how this resolution changed my life is with the people I surround myself with. Before I never really considered what could happen to me by just hanging out with the wrong type of people. Now I am much more selective with who I hang out with instead of surrounding myself with people that will get me into trouble.

Unit 2 blog

Read the “Pay Attention to the World Around You” paragraphs on pg 36 of The Student Writer. As the week passes, jot down these events, controversies, lessons, conversations, "aha moments" and post them to your blog. Tell us about where you got the ideas. Which do you find most intriguing/least intriguing and why?

Healthier lifestyles: newspaper
Pros and cons of owning your own business: small business management class
Tax returns: newspaper
Housing market: news
Crime in big cities: conversation
Bomb threats: conversation

I find the healthier lifestyles topic that I read about in the newspaper most intriguing because I think that being over weight is a big issue in America and a lot of Americans do not find it a problem. Being overweight causes many health problems that many people do not realize. Such as high blood pressure, heart attacks, cancer, clogged arteries etc. The topic that I find least intriguing is probably the crime in big cities because that is something that has always be a problem and I do not think that it is something that is going to change anytime soon. It is a big issue but there would have to be some major changes in the world for that to occur.

New years Resolution

In 2004 my new year’s resolution was to drink less soda or no soda. I have succeeded! I am now soda free for about four years now and loving it. I drank an average of one to two soda's a day. Poison of choice was Barq's root beer or Dr. Pepper. Now I know that doesn't sound like much, but it was added calories that I didn't need in my diet.
When I was growing up we were never allowed to have soda unless it was a special occasion. So when I went to college it was always a special occasion for me! I gained around 30 pounds from soda and of course food was also added, but I wouldn't have gained that much if it weren’t for my good old friend soda pop. I know now that soda and most carbonated drinks are very unhealthy.
Since 2004 I have lost all the weight from cutting all soda out of my diet. I never drink soda anymore. I would say I might drink a total of 3 cans a year if im lucky! I drink water now and I feel so much better about myself at the end of the day. When I drank soda it would make me feel bloated. I never felt good about myself because I felt like I looked big in everything I wore. Drinking more water daily doesn’t make me feel bloated and I know that it is doing good to my body. I hope that I keep this resolution and pass it on to my children because soda pop is just a liquid that weighs us down.

New Years Resolution

My New Year's resolution for 2008 is working out atleast 5 times a week and only allowing myself to 2 cans of pop a week. I decided to do this because in high school I had a gym/weight training class every quarter so I was working out every day (well not including the weekends) and now that I am no longer in high school I feel I need to get in the best shape that I can be. I am a huge fan of Coke! Last year I drank pop way too much and I know it is not good for your body, so I cut back a lot. I figured 2 cans a week is enough even though it can be hard since my body is pretty much immune to it. In between working and going to school, I found myself with little time for working out. I decided to get a membership at Anytime Fitness because it is very convenient! I only live a few blocks away and it's open 24 hours a day! I push myself to go 5 days a week so I am able to get some exercise rather than putting it off and not being active. I also drink a ton more water than I used to. I work during the day quite a bit throughout the week so instead of bringing pop to work, I fill my gigantic water bottle and refill it about 8 times throughout the day until I am done with work. It is the second month now since starting this and I have already lost a little over 10 pounds. I feel so much healthier! After all of the struggling I now know it is totally worth it! :)

Cigarette Lit...(Assignment)

At the end of the year of 2006 I decided to make a big decision in my life. So I figured since it was close to the new year I would make it a new year's resolution. I had been smoking for almost 5 years and thought it was getting out of hand and I should give it up. After trying many, many times before I really didn't think having this as my new years resolution was a good thing but it definitely put me to the test. I knew if I could stick to it, it would change my life forever in more than one way.

From the 1st of the year on I went from smoking almost a pack or 2 a day to quitting cold turkey. The first few days were alright with several urges to light one up. But as the number of days kept growing it kept getting harder. I would wake up several times a night in a cold sweat, shaking and obviously going through withdrawals. The usual cigaratte after a meal was a definite challenge when you are trying to quit cold turkey. After the 23 day mark I had finally broke free from smoking and rarely had a craving for a smoke. I felt very very good about myself and made my opinion on smoking definitely changed, although i am not a hypocrite.

My life had changed in several ways since i kept that new years resolution. I no longer have stinky clothes, cars, or home. I can actually walk into a nice place without smelling like an ash tray. One thing i noticed that went away after I stopped smoking was my constant battle with bronchitis. It seemed when I smoked I ended up with bronchitis every month but since quitting, have only got it 1 time!

Not only was I healthier at the time, the best thing is the decreases in chance's of getting really sick! Cancer is one thing I hope i never have to deal with and if I would of continued smoking my chances would of increased signifficantly. I can only hope what I did smoke hasn't caught up to me already or gave me some sort of hang-on illness. In the words of Mark Twain, "It's easier to stay out then get out."

Email 101

All of my emails have purpose, they keep my family updated on my daily life. Normally the only people that I email are my mother and grandmother. They love knowing about my daily activites and how I am doing. My mother especially loves to hear about interesting things that happen throughout my day, such as ice skating in freezing temperatures or even if I get an A on a test. I hardly ever consider the audience when I am writting an email, most of my emails are quick and brief.
In my opinion Instant Messaging hinders my academic writting, I tend to get into the habit of writting quickly, and being brief. However I know how to switch back to a more fomal audience when I am done Instant Messaging. Instant Messaging is very informal, but when writting my Grandmother emails I am very formal and I do not use slang. Many times during Instant Messaging your are just talking to your friends, so the way you write is very different when writting a formal message. When Instant Messaging a friend you might use abreviations like "LOL" or "TTUL", but when emailing a teacher you would not use abreviations. I think many people do not know how to switch back to the formal version of writting, so many student end up putting slang into their essays.
Over all I think that emailing is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends. Instant messaging keeps your friends up to speed on your life, but is much faster than emailing. Both are a great way to interact with our world, and keep socialized.

Email Has Purpose

I use e-mail every day and its purpose changes depending on whom I am e-mailing. In my personal life, if I am e-mailing my family, it is usually to make plans to do something or just simple chitchat. For example, every year around the Holidays, my mom and sisters and I get together for a weekend and bake and exchange cookies for Christmas. We always use e-mail to coordinate the dates and figure out who is making what kinds of cookies. I also use e-mail to share information. My mom and I share an interest in gardening and we often e-mail back and forth and give each other suggestions and gardening tips. Other times, my family and I will just e-mail back and forth for no other reason other than to say “hi, how’s your day going?” or “what are you up to?” E-mails in my personal life are very casual but when I am at work, e-mail is used for communicating with customers and clients and has a completely different purpose.

I work as a real estate closer for a title company and I use e-mail continuously. For example, I work with a lot of real estate agents and I need to e-mail them to ask questions regarding purchase agreements or commission amounts and to schedule closings. I also give them information as to the status of the files that I am working on. When communicating with loan officers I will e-mail them questions about closing costs and the status of loan approvals and loan documents.

When considering my audience, especially at work, I have to be very careful about the tone of my e-mail. For example, I cannot use exclamation points or type anything in all capital letters because it sends a different tone and the recipient may think that I am angry or being rude. I must always be professional and read my e-mail carefully before I send it to be sure that it has the appropriate tone and manner.

I do not think that instant messaging hinders my writing because I don’t use it that much. The only person that ever sends me text or instant messages is my daughter. I usually do not text her back because I can’t stand doing it. It's easier for me to just pick up the phone and call her. I can usually tell the people who do a lot of instant messaging because I can see it in their writing style. For example, people will not capitalize the letter “i” when referring to their self in the first person. Another example is when people will type a “u” for the word you. That is acceptable when using text and instant messaging, but I do not feel that it is appropriate in e-mails. It doesn’t take that much extra time to capitalize a letter or spell a word out entirely.

The everyday e-mail

Email can play a very important role in many people’s lives nowadays. Even I have been affected by this every day. I think emails are way more efficient than regular mail. It is quicker and easier to check. Not only is this but it free. The only drawback I find is that it may get lost in translation. Not often does this happen, but it is a possibility. I am a draftsman and I get emails all the time from the company telling of safety meetings and such. Or if I need to converse with a manufacturer on specifications I need for a drawing, I can get drawings sent to me quickly. If I were to send a sales sketch to a salesman to better his job, I would just send the drawing because he knows who it’s from and what it is. If I were to send construction drawings to a fire marshal for approving, I would probably include a little more detail in explaining what it is. I also do mechanical drawings so I have to join together with the shop person and explain to him/her what I need and when I need it. E-mailing is a big part of my job and it makes things way easier. Although we do use regular mail also, a majority is done electronically.

Electronic Mail

The role of Email in my life is very restricted to school. About 10 years ago when I set up my first e-mail account, I thought that it was the coolest thing in the world. Like many things, it lost its awe factor with me very fast. With junk mail rolling in, and not many contacts, I felt bored in the email world. Today I still keep in touch with my family, only it is through snail mail. The people that I believe would write to me on email, I do not believe know how to turn on a computer. I forget that checking my email, is something that I should be doing everyday, like I check my mailbox at home I hate it when I check my email too late, and I have missed some important messages. I feel like writing an email takes so long for me to write. I do not like when my message is read a different way than I meant it. So to avoid any misconceptions, I read and reread to make sure that my message was clear. I would rather talk in person or on the phone, so that way you can usually say more things, and it takes less time than writing, sending, and waiting for the response. I do not use any instant messaging either, but I suppose that it would be a faster form of communication. Yet I still think that it yields a higher chance of miscommunication.

The Graveyard Shift

I love my job. I work as a phone translator for the deaf and hard of hearing. I also love working the night shift. At around 10pm the call volume cuts down to about 4-5 calls an hour, and you have a lot of time in between calls. It is very beneficial if you want to read a good book, do some homework, or have a good conversation with your co-workers. Another reason why I like the overnight shift, does not apply so much to this time of the year, but more in the summer. I love to be able to have the whole day with all the sunlight hours to e able to run all my errands, and go all the places that I want to go. If everything is open from 8am - 5pm , and everyone works those hours, how are they ever supposed to get to each others store? So I save myself the hassle of being at work when I need to run errands, by working at night, when all the shops are closed and all the people are asleep. After doing the overnight shift for a couple days, its hard evening out your sleep pattern for your days off. I am not able to go to bed at a reasonable time, here it is 3 in the morning and I am wide awake. I probably should not have made that coffee 2 hours ago.

Bronchitis!!

As i sit here, nose running, and my chest feeling like i'm breathing in fire or worse yet a bed of nails that are on fire, i can't help but think of how sickness can pull you away from many things. I had this whole weekend planned out better than any other weekend, mainly because i had a paper to revise and rewrite, and 2 HUGE tests on Monday that i was gonna study for both Saturday and Sunday. But sickness is well, sickness. You can try and do the things you've planned to do, whether it was watch the third Jurrasic Park movie or study for a test. But when it comes down to it, all you can really do is just try and get better by getting some rest and not overthinking. Well that was my plan on sunday. Wake up, go to the doctor for some meds and cuddle in a sea of blankets catching up on the latest episodes of Mythbusters that i recently taped.
Waking up I actually felt a little better than I had all day saturday and figured i would go directly to the doctor. Not having any problems with being able to start my car, I figured that was the least of my worries. I walk out into the bitter cold and turn the key waiting for the car to start humming but nothing. As I try one more time I knew this was the beggining of cold 15 minutes. Sure enough it was -45 wind chill and my battery was dead. Luckily my neighbor saw me through the window and came out to help jump my car for the next 15 minutes, which seemed to have made my sickness that much worse. I finally get to the doctor and when I walk inside it was so packed, people were standing against the walls waiting for the nurse to yell out there name! So for the next 2 hours, i sat in a small room infested with as many germs as you possible can get in there and waited for the doctor to see me for 2 minutes. To me, that doesn't make any sense but I will spare you my misery on that subject.
After getting my meds and positioning myself on the couch i couldn't help but realize that all of that had made me sicker. Somehow. And now my head was just pounding trying to look at a book that i was supposed to use for studying. Enough said, i never got any studying done for either of my tests and my essay is being put off until tonight when i hopefully will feel better. On a brighter note, i did take one of my tests already and got a 95% on it so i am ecstatic about that!
I guess what i'm really trying to get at in all of this mumble jumble is sickness comes and when it comes, it is here unnanounced. I have learned a couple lessons through all of this. One could be to plan ahead and maybe start studying a week before the test instead of a couple days before the test cause you'll never know what can happen. The others well maybe i haven't learned them yet or maybe my head hurts to much right now to think about them. In the words of Thomas Fuller, "Health is not valued til sickness comes."

College is better then highschool

College is better then highschool because you dont ahve people talking about you all the time. When i was in highschool people would talk crap about everybody and in college people are to busy to even think about other peoples flaws. College is also better because you can take credits at your own pace and you can pick your times to go to school, as in you can pick your classes to be early in the day or later in the day and how many classes you want to take.

i'll never forget the time i

I will never forget the time i was tubeing on Loon lake with me boyfriend Josh and His friend Becky from his work and her friend in the summer of 2007. Becky and I where out double tubeing while Josh was driving the boat and Becky's freind was spotting in case one of us fell off. Josh was whipping the boat in all directions Becky and I were not falling off, finally Josh went one way, then came back the other way, my tube hit becky's tube and I flew into the air and landed shoftly on top of Becky. She was facing one direction and i was facing the other. her feet were in my face and my feet were in her face. I was so funny that we are still laughing about it today.

My biggest success was

My biggest success was graduating from highschool early. My age was right for graduate but when i was i in the firstgrade they put me back into kindergarden half way throw the year, so i had to take half of kindergarden over and a whole year of first grade over. My last year of highschool was very busy because i was taking my junior and senior year in on year. I was going to school after school. Nobody thought i could do it, but i showed them didnt i. The teachers where shocked because when i was in jounior high i get F's and was always into trouble.

When reading the Bryson book, I wouldn't say his writing was a process-based writing method but some of the chapters did have some similarities to process-based writing. In the hair cutting story he talked about what feeling he was having during the process of his haircut with the man they called "Thumbs" so he was explaining what most people do when they are freaked out by something they are not comfortable with. He did however explain in more of a process-based writing format in the, Your new computer story, he explained what to do, in a very sarcastic way, when you get a computer. So I would say it was more of a process-based story. I enjoy reading his stories they all come a little closer to home for me and I can compare them with my everyday story's.

Most people do not understand...

Most people do not understand the true meaning of Christmas. I fondly remember helping my mom bake Christmas cookies, wrapping presents, trimming the tree, and waiting so impatiently for the big day to arrive. That was back when I was a child growing up in a small town. It was the little special things that made Christmas special to me. Because we lived far enough away to make going to a shopping mall inconvenient, there were a lot of Christmas presents that were hand-made. We would come to Fargo one time prior to Christmas and buy most of the gifts, but my mom would still make some too. She would sew my two young nieces Christmas dresses every year. Or she would crochet a scarf and mittens for me. We also didn't have the quantity of gifts back then. If you made a Christmas list, you were fortunate to get one maybe two items on the entire list. And I worked hard on that list, pondering over the JCPenney Christmas catalog every year of what I should ask for. I also wrote to Santa every year and mysteriously received an item from my letter under the tree. I could never figure out how he got in our house, because we didn't have a chimney! Anyway, people seem to forget the "specialness" of Christmas these days. Resorting to buying gift cards in bulk, and buying huge dollar items because they can just put it on their credit card. I've lost interest in Christmas because it's too commercialized with Christmas stuff coming out to the retail stores long before Halloween and Thanksgiving. It's sad to me, maybe not to others, but I miss the little things. Maybe I miss it more since my mom passed away 7 years ago. Someday I hope that Christmas will go back to the way it used to be.

Life would be easier....

Life would be easier if I had a personal assistant of sorts. Someone to run errands to the bank and to the grocery store would be a couple hours a week freed up to do something fun or more important. If I had someone to just keep the house clean, do the dishes, cook the meals, think of how much time I would have to do things I don't have time to do now? Laundry takes up a ton of my time and that's just for myself. I am lucky if I get my clothes washed and dried, let alone put away or hung up. Sometimes they just end up folded in the laundry basket and that's as far as they go until they get worn. Although my fiance and I love to cook, I'd like the option to not cook if I didn't want to. If all I had to do was sleep, get up and go to work, come home and relax, then go to bed and start the next day all over again, and not worry about the small things, I would be much less stressed out.

My biggest success

At my last full-time day job, I started out in customer service. Eventually a couple years later, I wanted to spread my wings a little and asked if I could be put on the Sales team. I was told that the only sales area available was the Twin Cities area. So I jumped at the opportunity and soon I was out making sales calls to our customers. I had a company vehicle and my sales territory was primarily Minneapolis/St. Paul. I drove to Minneapolis twice a month and stayed for a week each time. It was lonely work, and the driving was challenging, it required a lot of organization. I had to learn where our accounts were located and what the best way was to get there (without getting lost). I had to make at least 10 calls a day to satisfy my boss, so it was a real struggle sometimes. In Minneapolis/St. Paul, most companies demand that sales people make appointments to meet with their buyers, so another challenge was to make those appointments on time, otherwise you may not be able to meet with the buyer that day and to reschedule would be a nightmare to try to set up. It was challenging sometimes to go out and make a cold sales call where the buyer I was talking to didn't recognize my company's name and showed no interest in what we were selling whatsoever. My biggest success was in the fact that I never thought this job was something that I would be able to do, much less do well. I wanted the opportunity to prove to myself that I could make sales to people that I didn't know, to learn to drive in the cities well (scary), and make sales presentations to groups of people and teach them about the products I was selling when I didn't care for speaking in front of people at all. I learned alot in those 4 years with that company, but most of all I learned that even if something seems impossible, there usually is a way to work through it if you don't give up. Trust me, I spent some times sobbing in my car, lost in a scary area of the cities at 7pm at night trying to get back to my hotel without getting murdered or car-jacked. I vowed to quit several times because of mean customers, but I didn't, I hung in there and learned a very valuable lesson from it.

I'll never forget the time I....

I'll never forget thet time I went to Las Vegas. My roomate and I in Oregon decided that we would drive to Vegas for a couple Dave Matthews Band concerts that were playing that weekend. Not knowing what was in store for me, and being the biggest DMB fan ever, i was super excited to finally get there and start the Vegas trip. We get into town thursday afternoon and check into our hotel and start touring the place and any place that we see in sight. Thursday night went fun, woke up friday and started to get ready for the first concert. That concert was absolutely amazing and got me completely excited for the next nights concert which would of been ten times better. Well saturday rolls around and everything is going fine until about 1:00 when i start to get this horrid stomach ache and then dizziness. I had no idea what was going on and figured i was a little hungover from the night before and thought i would just kind of drink though it. Well by 5:00 and a couple drinks already down it was not getting any better and actually getting worse. Thinking that i have a concert in about 3 hours i didn't know what to do and was freaking out that i would have to miss my favorite band that i drove 16 hours to see. Well i was on the verge of throwing up when i walked into the place and sat down in my chair for the opening band. I made it through one song and was so close to throwing up on the person in front of me that i decided to leave and go back to my hotel room. Since i have seen about 16 DMB shows before i figured i could miss one.
Anyways, the deal with DMB is seeing them live. And a lot of people keep track of what songs they have seen live and how many times and which songs they really really want to see and just never have. Well the song that i have always wanted to see and after 17 shows still haven't seen is Halloween. I remember telling myself in the hotel room that night while i was lying in bed almost dying that they were not gonna play it and i would not miss out. Well after falling asleep at about 9, i wake up to my roomate coming in the room at 3 in the morning and saying "Dude, you missed a hell of a show and guess what??" He didn't even need to say it, i already knew. I said "They played Halloween didn't they?" He nodded his head and all i could say was a bunch of explicitives. I don't know why that song is haunting me and why i can't see it live but to this date after seeing a total of 22 shows around the country, i still have not seen it. The next morning we figured out that i had got food poisoning from one of the buffets there and i missed the show because of that. Hopefully sometime soon i will get my halloween!

I'll never forget the time...

It was a dark and gloomy day when my family and I piled into the van and headed to the beach. It was going to be a day of foul smells, rain, and perhaps a few fond memories. Our first stop was at an old fisherman's house to pick up a bucket of fish heads to bait the crab nets with. The awful aroma filled the van, and after ten minutes of suffocation we were released into the muggy air of Oregon. The piers were dark and dangerous looking, but with some reassurance from my family I walked somberly to the end. My Uncle baited the net and I dropped it down into the murky water. I settled into my purple lawn chair, flipped down my pink sun glasses, and had a sip of my ice tea. I had started flipping the pages through Cosmo when my Uncle called that it was time to pull up the nets. I grabbed the line, and after getting some lingering looks from the old washed up fisherman, pulled up my net. Millions of tiny red crabs crawled and wiggled on the old dock. One crab in particular gave me a devilish look and with a tiny claw grasped onto my toe. Yelping with fright I ran backwards into my cousin and got caught up in his crab net. With one swift move I toppled over into the lurking water and was sucked under. The last thing I remember was looking towards the surface, and watching my pink sunglasses float off my head. Wriggling my feet, and gulping for air I was grabbed out of the water. Sea weed wrapped around my hair, and sand filled every pocket of my clothing. There were all sorts of commotion, cameras were flashing, people were running, and my mother was wrapping me in a towel.
The next morning I awoke to the sun burning my arm, and a news paper laying on my stomach. I leaned up, still tasting sea water, and glanced down at the news paper. On the front page read the headline, “Young Girl Falls Into the Pier and Nearly Drowns!” There in front of me was my picture, drenched in water and covered in sea weed. To this day I will never forget when I became the most talked about girl in the town of Charleston, Oregon.

Bryson's Essay

The difference between what Bryson wrote and a process essay are that Bryson was not telling some one how to do something or informing them on how something is really done. All Bryson is really doing is telling us how he feels about certain things that we all have to do. When he talks about taxes he does not really say to much on how to pay taxes he just makes fun of the whole process. Same with computers, he doesnt mention anything about how to get it programmed or anything he just presents the process in a way that he percieves it. The only one where he actually explained the any sort of process at all is when he was decorating for christmas. There he actually, in some way, formulates a step by step process on how he does it, but he does not intend to have you do it the same way

Tale's of the hairstylist

I'm a hairstylist, and sometimes being a hairstylist is harder than most people think. Being able to sit with so many people day after day gets hard. It's hard to remember everyone's name, it's hard to remember what you did to their hair last time, it's even hard too just remember them in general. I talk to many people every day, some are very interesting and some, you just can't wait to get out of your chair! Some people will only talk about how wonderful their children are and how perfect they are, when we all know there isn't a perfect person out there!! But some will also talk about things that interest me also, those are the clients that are fun to have in the salon!
I hear what most people don’t even tell their best friends or family members. You kinda get an idea in your head on what that person is like outside the salon!! I have made many friends’ just by doing their hair over the past years and its a good feeling when they put so much trust in me by doing what I do best!
I'm more of a unique hairstylist so I have many clients that get crazy colors and funky styles done with their hair. I enjoy being original also, but doing the same on everyone gets old too!! I love my job but its time to move on and get a big girl job!!

Life would be easier if only...

Life would be easier if only there was a garbage shoot directly to the outside dumpster. Have you ever noticed how fast your garbage can build up? I swear I empty the trash at least once a day, and after the aggravation of the smell, the over flowing contents, and my nonexistent muscles, I have finally realized I need a direct garbage shoot. I lug garbage bag after garbage bag down four flights of stairs, throw myself against the large outside door at least three times before it decides to open, and then finally slip slide my way across the ice skating rink path to the garbage bins. After heaving the three to four garbage bags with immense force into the bins my work is done and I somberly slip slide my way back to the four flights of stairs that I have left to climb before I can sink back into my couch.

Puff the Bearded Dragon....

As you already know, I have a bearded dragon. I am very proud of him. I always love showing pictures or telling people or even showing him off. I picked him as my topic because I figured it would be somewhat original and I wanted to do it just because I like to share some knowledge I do have.

I got Puff in June of last year and it has been fun every minute of it. just in this past year he has grown so much. When I got him he was only a few inches long. Now he is about 16 inches long. It is crazy to think how much he as grown in such a small amount of time. And to think when I first got him he would only eat about 3 or 4 crickets at a time. Now he eats about 40. I chose him as my topic to show how much I enjoy my pet.

I'll never forget the time I...

I'll never forget the time I went to the dentist to get my wisdom teeth pulled. I had them pulled this summer. My wisdom teeth were already fully grown in. For some reason, ever since I was little, I've always feared the dentist.
I even cancelled my first appointment and rescheduled because I was so scared to go in and get it done. I figured I would be put to sleep throughout the whole ordeal so I got the courage to go. When I was in the chair at the dentist I asked him if he was putting me to sleep. He said that I would be awake but wouldn't feel anything.
It was the worst dentist experience of my life. If you ever need to get your wisdom teeth pulled make sure you asleep because being awake is the most dreadful thing ever! Hopefully I won't be seeing the dentist anytime soon.

My biggest failure...

My biggest failure was not taking college seriously after graduating high school in 2003. The summer after graduating from high school I moved to Fargo. I got really caught up in the social aspect of my life. I was enrolled in the spring of 2003 at MSUM. Once school started I went for the first couple of weeks.
Not to soon into the first semester I was so worried about my social life that I stopped going to school. It is something I really regret. I just took my education for granted. Having a child depend on me and look up to me made me realize that I had to better myself. The only way to do that is through education.
If I would have taken college seriously I would have already graduated with a degree in nursing. It's better late then never.

Life With My Daughter

Life with my daughter is the best but not the easiest thing. Being able to be there for my daughter as she grows is the most powerful thing I have ever experienced. Even though its not the easiest job in the world, it has its benefits.
My daughter, Isabella, is two years old going on three in May. When she came into this world everything changed for me. Taking care and raising a child isn't something you can take a break from or quit. Starting school again has been the biggest challenge. It's hard trying to balance out my work load at school and home. The main reason that I went back to school is to better my life as well as Isabella's life.
Having a daughter has its ups and downs but all in all I love being a mom and wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Bryson Essays

Bryson's essays were not directional process analysis. They were more of a informational process analysis. A directional process analysis gives the steps in a process that the reader can perform if he or she wants to and informational process analysis is more for informational purposes that are more than likely not going to be performed by the reader as stated in Ch. 9 pages 251-252.
In the essay "A Visit To The Barbershop" Bryson takes us through each step of his visit to the barbershop. Also in "Deck The Halls," he is giving his step-by-step process that he goes through every year in preparation for Christmas.
The main purpose for using process analysis in his essays is to entertain and to express his feelings and relate his experience to the reader.

My process paper!

I've been thinking about doing a certain topic for my process paper and have been freewriting a bit. I've decided to go with how to choose and setup a fish tank. The thing that blew my mind is how many times a day at my job, Petco, i tell someone how to choose a tank, all the items, set it up, choose the fish and i can ramble everything out in one minute. No problem. Now that i sit down to write an essay about it, it's hard to put it in sentences that would make a good essay. I'm gonna try and do an outline and write some more things down before i actually start writing the rough draft.

Another thing i want to bring up is while i was writing this blog, i had a news show on in the background about the Natalee Holloway case and how the one suspect basically told the whole story under a secret camera. It's very disturbing and is really sad that justice won't happen in that case due to the laws of Aruba. Makes me sick.

I get so angry when...

I usually don't get angry about little things or for that matter, even big things. But a couple weeks ago i was watching a democratic debate between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards and got perturbed. I wouldn't say i'm a political nut or care that much about how the government runs things. I pretty much think they all lie anyways, so it never pays to listen to them(in my opinion). Which gets me to the point i was trying to make. I just happened to flip by the beginning of the debate and started to watch with an open mind. The first couple minutes were fine with each candidate talking about the economy and what has to happen to change the way it is now. All of a sudden it turned from a debate of three people to a verbal fight between two, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. At first i thought it was very humorous and started laughing because they were making themselves look non-professional. Then as the debaters kept going at eachother for another 10 minutes without even letting the third debater speak i got to thinking.
I don't know about anyone else that watched that, but i got angry when all they were doing was attacking eachother with their past's. The main reason why they put the debates on tv is so viewers and the voter's of this country can understand what the candidates stand for and for what they believe in. In order for me to vote for someone i would like to hear what they think of abortion, capital punishment, or the war. Not listening to them rant about how their pasts will affect them while they are in office or all the things they have done wrong. That only makes me think that they don't even care about the country and only care about the negatives about everything and that is definitely not what i look for in a candidate.
I am a strong believer in having a government that actually gets something done even if they don't like eachother. I know everyone can't get along and that is fine if we have people that get something done even if they hate eachother than everyone getting along and nothing get done to help this struggling country. This country has to do a lot of things to help the economy, save lives, and run productively but worrying about what someone hasn't done is not going to get it anywhere!

Life with a pacemaker is...

I know i tend to sometimes talk about my heart troubles and my pacemaker if you haven't noticed. And if you don't think so, just ask my girlfriend that hears about it all the time. Haha. But it was pretty recent and a really big shock to me and the people around me. Maybe in a couple months i'll stop talking about it. But life with a pacemaker can be eventful. Not to much of my daily life has changed. I do activities that i would normally do with ease and no hesitation, though there are some things i have to watch out for.
I used to work around car engines and trucks a lot for my previous job and one thing i can't do anymore is lean over a car engine. The spark plugs will cause my pacemaker to stop working. Another thing that i use on a daily basis is my cell phone, which can also cause it to stop working. So instead of using it on my left ear, no matter what i have to use it on my right ear. It can get quite tricky driving, shifting and trying to talk with my cell phone now! But don't worry, i don't do it often cause i know it is dangerous.
I recently just started to work out and try to gain some of the weight i lost from the surgery and i have to watch how hard i work my heart! I recently took a stress test to see how my heart handles at streneous levels. My heart passed with flying colors but my legs and my lungs were not doing so good after running hard on a treadmill for 15 minutes. I guess life has been back to normal for the most part.

The Bryson Essays

The Bryson essays for unit 2 are not directional process but they still contain process-based writing. The difference is informative writing, which is a process based writing rather than directional. The target audience for informative is learning a specific task but is not asked or expected to perform the steps like a directional essay. Informative essays tell the audience/reader how to do something that is being done by other people. In "A Visit to the Barber Shop," Bryson talks us through each task the barber does from the beginning to the end of the hair cut. Another example is in the reading "Deck the Halls," each procedure that Bryson does, he lets the reader know every little thing he does. Such as climbing into the attic which terrifies him and then rembers that the Christmas decorations are not up there. Bryson talks us through every step he goes through when trying finding the decorations and while hanging them up. Though it was a painful task to perform, Bryson puts on a smile and puts up decorations despite the bumps on the way, he does it because it is a ritual. It's Christmas!

I personally think Bryson's purpose is to show the audience a different type of process writing in his own way. A lot of people know more about and see more directional process, and this way, Bryson allos us to see a different version of a process.

Bryson essays (Extra Post)

The difference between directional and informational process writing is that the directional process involves giving an audience specific directions on how to do or make something, while the informational process explains how something is made or done and the author does not expect the reader to perform the process.

In the Student writer textbook in chapter 9, page 263, the author is using a directional process to show how feng shui can help you sleep better and work more productively.
This is written so that a reader could actually do the process if they wanted to.

In Bryson’s essays, specifically in chapters 9 and 37, he is using the informational process to describe his experiences in decorating for Christmas and getting a haircut. In chapter 56 he is using both the informational and directional process in that he lists the steps to hook up your new computer how he perceives it, but the steps are so exaggerated and far-fetched that he really wouldn’t expect anyone to follow those directions. In chapter 43, he is using both as well. He is explaining how to understand a tax form but the confusion of the directions is so overwhelming that no one could actually complete a tax form using those directions.

His purpose is to entertain us. His audiences are people who can relate to his experiences and how we share some of the same feelings he gets from trying to fill out an actual tax form and setting up a new computer. Those processes can be exhausting and frustrating and he is exaggerating them in a very amusing manner.

I'll nver forget the time...(Graded)

I’ll never forget the time I saw mountains for the first time. My husbands work often takes him on the road and in the early winter of 2006, he had to work out in Yakima, WA. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to take a vacation and go see some sights that I had always longed to see. I have seen the mountains in pictures and movies, but I wanted to see them without the limits of a photo lens.

We left on an early Saturday afternoon and drove all the way to Miles City, MT where we stopped for the night. It was about an 8 hour drive from Fargo & there was not much to see. Even so, I was thrilled to be traveling through parts that I had never seen. There were areas with scattered buttes and rolling hills and the painted canyon in the badlands of western North Dakota was quite a sight to see. But soon we would be back on the road and just a few more hours down the road we would be approaching Billings, MT where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains can be seen.

The anticipation was killing me. As we were driving further into Montana, it seemed that we were always driving uphill, never down. I suppose that is because we were climbing in elevation. When we finally approached Billings, there was an explosion of excitement in me. We crested a hill on the East side of the city and there it was! My first glimpse of a beautiful majestic mountain! I saw it in the distance beyond the city. It was far away and didn’t look very big at first but it rose above the flat terrain with jagged snowy capped peaks. It seemed to take forever to get close to that mountain range and when we finally did, I was absolutely speechless. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. The mountains were huge in comparison to anything I had ever seen. I couldn’t stop smiling. The mountains were everything and more than I had ever imagined.

My husband, having spent a lot of time out west, just smiled and shook his head and said “you haven’t seen anything yet!” He was right. As we got further into Montana the mountains got bigger and even more beautiful and they continued to impress me the entire trip. It was an unforgettable experience and I will go back out there every chance I get!

After.....I was never the same again (Graded)

After having my first child, I was never the same again. Before my daughter was born, I considered myself quite selfish. I didn’t care much about how my actions affected others. Sure, I was young, and young people are generally a little more selfish than their elders, but I was the epitome of selfish.

Regrettably, I had little time for my family. Being the youngest of seven, there was always an opportunity to engage in a wide variety of family activities, but the way I was, I would rather have spent my time with my friends doing things that I should not have been doing, which, consequently, is the biggest reason my daughter came into this world.

When she was born, my whole outlook on life changed. Family became the center of my life. My daughter helped me to see that the world does not revolve around just one person and that without family, life would be empty and very lonely.

Life would be easier if only.....(Graded)

Life would be easier if only I had gone to college before having a family. Homework and studying takes us the little spare time I have after working a 40 hour week. It is a struggle balancing work, school and family.

I am lucky that I have a husband and kids who support my decision to go back to school, but I have a certain amount of guilt associated with the obvious lack of attention they get from me. Since this is only my first semester of school, I hope that I can find a way to develop good study skills that will still allow me to spend quality time with my family.

Test

-TEST BLOG-

test

this is a test

Testing...Testing....1, 2, 3.....

This has been a test of the American Broadcast System. In the case of a real emergency I truly would have no idea what to do.

Thanks!

Introduction

Hello everyone. My name is Carly Degenhardt. I am from the Northwestern side of Montana, where the wind doesn't blow as much and it's not nearly as cold!! :) I am planning on becoming a dental hygienist, but right now I am hoping to get into dental assisting. I enjoy hiking, fishing, hunting, ice skating and just about anything outdoors. Global warming is my "random fact." If indeed we are experiencing global warming, why is it that we are freezing over here in North Dakota? Also, why has the Eastern half of the US been experiencing just as much snow and cold as we have? There's a joke floating around: "How can you tell we are experiencing global warming?" -Because women's underwear keeps getting smaller. Haha I know. Well guess there's not much else to say, hope everyone is staying warm!

Carly

Hey just seeing how this works!!

Hey, just seeing how this works

Sample Blog

Hi, just checking this blog out to see if really works!!

Bloggin!

After a short weekend i'm back at school!! Just trying out the blog like everyone else!

Testing Blog

Hello! Just testing out the blog...

Just testing

Well the weekend is over and i'm bummed. But I am ready to get started with College Writting!

Trying out the blog for English 1101

Just trying out the blog!! today im just laying low doing some studing and getting ready for another busy week!!

Test

Just trying out the blog.

Welcome

This is the course blog for College Writing I. Each student has access to post to this site. So does anyone else in the world: my friends, your parents, a teenager from Istanbul, etc. :)

Let me layout some basic guidelines beyond what I put in the handouts in D2L:

1. When you create your profile or log-in name, please make it something I'll recognize so I can grade accordingly.

2. Keep posts academic in tone and diction. They can be personal but should not be information you would not want to share with the world.

3. See these sources for help on posting, for directions on linking to another page, and tips on editing your posts.

4. Please do not write about other classes/instructors in this blog unless it is relevant to the unit materials and is not personal/rant-ish.

To get started with the blog, look for an email from me with the subject "You have been invited to contribute to J. Beyer's blog." It contains instructions for joining the blog.

Below, I've left some samples of posts from my previous students; these were good posts in response to some of the prompts they were assigned. Each considers the topic assigned, offers details, and could easily be used as a prewrite for a longer essay.