What I Focus On

The first thing that comes to mind when reviewing papers and seeing my marginal comments is that the presentation of the idea or point being made should be very clear cut and cleanly stated. I always aim for this in my personal papers in order to make my point as accurately and strongly as possible. When reading and reviewing my peers papers, I instantly look for the clarity of the point. Secondly, I like to look for the situation the argument or point is being presented in to see if it is justifiable given the circumstances. If not, I like to suggest in my own opinion what way that particular point may be more appropriately approached. When the point and the presentation of the point are both properly combined, it makes for a much stronger and much more impressive statement upon the audience or individual reader. This leads to my third aspect of revision: The audience. This particular aspect must be properly considered; otherwise the people you intend to persuade will not be satisfied with your statements. The audience is the reason why you write the paper, therfore it must be written in a fashion as to mesh in favor with the best interests of that audience.

Bloggin' about Bloggin'

When I first began blogging, I was very skeptical at first as I had never posted my thoughts to an open public forum before in an academic setting.  This raised a few questions at first. " How do I begin?". "What do I write about?". These questions were quickly answered as I simply set up my blog on blogspot.com and began typing.  My first blog was and open topic and I remember talking a bout a typical weekend at my buddy's farm.  I enjoyed writing about it because I felt as if I were telling everyone a story. I love telling stories that get people to ask me questions.  By blogging I have written more blogs that people not only complement on but ask me questions because they were interested in my topic of choice.

I look foward to continuing on with my blogging journey and sharing my tales and experiences with the world.

My point of view

The peer editing process we have recently partaken in has given me a whole new outlook on how I should be reading and editing the works of my peers.  This new technique of editing I've learned has shown me that your edits to your peers paper should be thorough and precise.  They should contain explainations to back-up your reasoning for making these edits. your comments should be made in the point of view as a friend but you should'nt hold anything back as far as editing goes.  editing is the most crucial part of writing a paper and without it, the paper would be nowhere close to achieving its full potential.  I would rely on my peers to give me clean, clear, honest suggestions on my paper so that I could consructively correct myself and make my paper that much better.

Can't trust everyone.

Last summer I worked everyday from 6:30 in the morning to 5:00 in the evening at my job.  I work at Rocky River Golf Club near the Zmax Dragway.  This job requires long hours and lots of manual labor.  I worked my butt off to save money all summer long because I wanted one thing. A dirtbike.

I finally, by the end of summer had accumulated $3000. So I began looking online to find a nice used one.  I came across one that really caught my eye.  I continued my research by calling the owner and asking him many questions about it. Questions like "How often was the oil changed?" and " Has it ever been crashed?" were among the first ones asked.  I felt confident about purchasing this bike so I decided to go and see it in person.  One Saturday morning a couple of buddies and I piled into my car and drove 45 minutes just to look this bike over.  I wanted to see first hand if the bike was everything the owner said it was.

As soon as we arrived he had it sitting out on the stand and it looked amazing.  I looked it over for a solid twenty minutes.  He continued to start it up and let us hear how it ran.  To us, everything looked great. So later that night I called him back and made him an offer of which he happily accepted.  The next week I went and picked up my "new" dirtbike.  I was overwhelmed by the amount of sheer power this thing had.  It would run 80 mph. I know this because I put my gps in my pocket and ran down a gravel road on the farm I ride on.

About two rides in and my bike already seemed to be peforming wierd.  It had begun to backfire and seemed to be losing power.  The next day I started the bike and took off into the field. Half way through the field, the bike sputters and shuts off....

The engine was toast. My point is to do as much research as possible before you make a large purchase like I did.  I now have a sick looking dirtbike that doesn't run.. Since buying the bike I have managed to save another $1000 and I'm confident that it will take nearly all of my savings to repair it.

So be careful, do your research, ask questions, and if possible, BUY BRAND NEWW!!

Venture Day

Today for our English class we all took part in a team building activity that was intended to be a team-building experience but to me it was much more than that.  We began by playing a card game where evryone was given a card and asked to hold it to their head.  The higher the card, the more "popular" you were. The lower the card, the less "popular" you were.  Surprisingly to me, some of the high carded people conversed with the low carded people.  This was great to see and it made me realize that just because you are considered the standard of "popular" doesn't mean you can't mingle with people who aren't.

The next game began with everyone recieving a picture.  We were asked to match our pictures with others that had similar pictures to ours without talking to one another.  So we began to collectively sort through the pictures and place them together.  But as the process continued I noticed that all the pictures went together in a specific order.  As we placed them on the ground in order the views point of the pictures began to steadily zoom out.  It continued to do so until the order ended with a picture of Earth in space.  In the simplistic view it was interesting to see.  But when I looked at it from a learning view point I saw that each person has a specific role in society.  Its a group effort to make society work. We all work together as a team to make everything operate in unison.

For the thrid and final game, it was a lot like dodgeball.  One person was chosen to be it first.  that person's goal was to tag everyone and expand their team.  As the team began to grow it became more and more difficult to get away fromthe people that were it.  Every person on this team worked together to bring the remainig people to the other team.  I noticed that as the game progressed the team grew. The larger the team, the easier the task at hand was. 

Today was very helpful in understanding just how beneficial and productive a team is.  I enjoyed it a lot and learned a few lessons.  I would like to participate in more Venture activities in the future.  I plan on utilizing the team as a tool to better my performance in any way I can apply it to daily tasks.

The Way I Talk

I viewed each of the videos provided and I seem to relate mostly to the appilachian mountain English video.  It was stated in the video that the Scots- Irish settled in the Mountain region of North Carolina. Most of my family are descendants of the Scots-Irish origin.  I have heard and or used most of the words in this video.  I found it very interesting to see a video that contained so much of the language I use each and everyday. Words like "yonder"(ex. look over yonder) and "spicket"(another term for hose) are very common in my family.  We use the term "plumb" as well that was referred to in the video. 

I personally am very proud of my "accent" and the way I talk.  People call me country and a lot of the time people who don't know many southerners will assume that just because we don't speak the perfect "standard" English, that we aren't as well educated either.  The thing is, we are just as well educated as anybody else. A very common trait in the way I talk is that I tend to take the "g" off of all of my "ing" words such as walking. I would say walkin. 

I love the way I talk. I like how it sets me apart from many other forms of spoken english around the country. This type of English my family and many others in this general region speak is specific and special and historic to this region. We are mountain people and Mountain English is what we speak.

In general

Literacy in general is such a complex topic to disscuss in so few words.  You can take literacy and pair it literally with any other subjet in the world.  We incounter literacy in our everday lives and don't even know we do.

 This is astounding to me as it plays such a crutial role in the life of society.  Literay in a sense could even be considered the basis of civilization.  It all begins with a word, or a sign, or a conversation. Then it grows and evolves into a much greater, more important thing.  Its weird to think that something that doesn't exist in physical form, yet it is carried out through millions of people everyday, can have such power. 

There may never truly be a solid definition for literacy. That is fine by me. Not every word needs a definition. Especially one as complex as literacy.  The main limiting factor for why literacy can't be defined would be that it changes with time.  Literacy could possibly defined in the "here and now" form, but what's to say it won't change by tomorrow?  It alters along with society.  This to me is more than just a word and yet its something that no amount of words can entirely describe...

We Have More Time Than We Think

Yesterday was a very long day at work for me. My work day begins at 6:15 in the winter time. I work at Rocky River Golf Club and we have to begin work before the sun rises.  Luckily, with it being cold now I get to sleep in for an extar thirty minutes.  I always get to work and clock in at 6:53 EVERY day that I work.

As soon as walked into the shop yesterday morning I looked on the job posting board to see what my assignment would be for the day.  My assignment was to take pictures of each and every green on the course each hour of the day.  this would show which trees cast shadows on the greens in order for us to find out which ones would need to be cut down to prevent shadows from being cast onto the greens.

I began to take the pictures and I started to notice that I was averaging one picture for every four or so minutes.  Except for me, it felt like an eternity!  It made me truly realize just how much time we have in a day.  It also brought to my attention just how much time we waste in a day. Time is of the essence.  We don't really utilize all the time we have nor do we do it in ways that we should. 

I say we use our time in ways to make us as happy as possible for the short time we have.  I plan on enjoying life to its fullest potential and taking advantage of each and every opportunity.

Carpe Diem
"Sieze the Day"

Weekend Plans.

I have a lot on the agenda for tonight. It's Friday, January thirteenth and my friends and I are headed to the farm tonight.  To begin our evening, we will start by rolling out the four-wheelers and gathering some fire wood.  After said fire wood has been collected, we'll stack it all in a great big pile by the fire pit out at the pond.  We will then continue on to ride into the night.  As the final minutes of dayllight creep away, everyone will be anxious to get the bonfire started.  We'll throw a few of last years Christmas trees and a couple logs in the pit to get it going and set up the radio.  Then we hangout and enjoy each other's company along with the occational night rides on the four-wheelers for hours.  By around midnight everyone tends to get a little hungry so we pack up the cars and head to cookout for a while.  It's the cheapest food in town and famous for its thick, creamy milkshakes.  With full bellys we head back to the farm to curl up by the fire for a little longer.  As the fire simmers out we head to the house to change into our bathing suits for a little hot tub action. Anywhere from one to two hours is typically spent in the hot tub. Finally everyone will be tired and ready for a good night's rest. Off to bed so we can do it all over agian tomorrow.