Oil

Link the the multimodal website project

http://eng102oil.weebly.com/

Xbox Live and Microsoft Points

First off I have never liked how Microsoft makes you use Microsoft points to buy stuff on Xbox Live. It always seemed stupid to have to change money into points and then you end up having to buy more points than what you need to purchase something online. Even the fact that you have to buy some stuff is stupid. One thing that really makes me angry is map packs. Most of the time these maps would be free to download from the developer, but Microsoft gets greedy and slaps a 800 point charge for most map packs. 800 points is equal to about 10 dollars, so unless you want to go out run to a store and get a card worth 800 points you have to buy 1000. Ya so now you end up with 200 extra points that you really can't buy anything with because nothing good is only 200 points. 

Ok points system aside and the greediness of Microsoft I have a real problem with the downloaded map packs. Halo 3 is very good example of what I hate. First off I don't play much Halo anymore, but if I did want to I would only be able to play very few select game-types and are all unranked. I stopped playing around the first map make release. Since I have stopped playing two more map packs have come out. The only way for me to be able to fully play the game online again is to spend about another 30 dollars to download the maps on top of the 60 that I paid for the game, and we can't forget to include the 50 dollars a year to even have a gold membership of xbox live to even play online. I feel like I have been cheated and I'm sick of it.

Twitter

Friday Professor McArdle mentioned he used Twitter. Now I don't know to much about Twitter myself, but I have basic idea of what it is from random bits of hearing about it in the news. Some politicians were using it during a meeting or something. Anyways a few weeks ago there was a featured video on youtube that was about Twittering. When Professor McArdle mentioned he used it all I could think of was this video.

Restrictive Free Writing

Structure is very good to have in your paper. Professor McArdle has a good point of the introduction to your paper being like a map. If you can set up your intro and it has all your points and does indeed function somewhat like a map for your paper then not only does that help your reader flow with the paper better, but it is also very helpful for you the writer. It allows you to stay on task and not let your points get mixed up and all over the place. Another thing that is good about this is it doesn't allow you to mix in points that may be cool, but don't really have anything to do with your main point.

Family Video

Last week me and my roommate tried to rent Left 4 Dead at the Family Video near the football stadium. Upon returning we found out the disc was to damaged to play properly. Were going to try again this week. Hopefully if they have a copy it will work. If it doesn't work again or somehow we get the same disc I'm not sure if I can trust this place to rent from seeing as it is the first time either of us have gone there and to get a non working disc the first time seems a bit odd. We will see if it happens again.

Logs

Monday 3/16

Today was the first day back from spring break. We went over Jacob and Olin's papers in the circle of love.

Wednesday 3/17

I can't remember what we did this day. 

Friday 3/18

Today we spent a good portion of the day on our blogs doing free writing. The goal was to start with a topic about one of our papers and then free write about that paper to help get ideas to revise our papers. After about 25 minutes of free writing we discussed our free writing and how it was restrictive in the topic that we had to write about and then about how the time was restrictive and many other things about how free writing is very restrictive. 

Internet

I am a bit concerned about this weekend. I am going home this weekend and I'm not sure if I have internet at my home. We have been having trouble with our internet service for a long time and whenever we called them for help they have had a bad attitude and were never really helpful. So much for small business treating their customers well. My dad mentioned he was going to try and get it from at&t or embarqe or whatever it is around my house. I don't know if we got rid of our old service yet and have gotten the new one up and running yet. It is going to be nice though once the switch is made for me and my dad. I get the same speed we were paying before, but we will actually get the speed and my dad pays half the price. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens when I get there. Wish me luck :)

Spring Break and other Schools

It makes me sad. My spring break was really nice. Spent a nice relaxing time at home with my dad and had fun. Problem is though all my friends have the worst timing for spring break. Last week one of my friends had his spring break one week after ours. That really stunk. Now my other friend is having his this week that I just learned of. I say all schools need to have spring break the same week every year so we can actually get together with friends that go to other schools.

Free Writing

The paper I am most enjoying working on is the multi model presentation paper. It is about oil. I am taking a stand that is against oil. It is not because I hate oil it is because I know that we need to find other power sources. Pollution from using oil is bad, but again not the only reason I don't like the thought of using oil. I take my stand against oil in the paper because I like seeing all this new technology that seems to new and somewhat magic. One example of magic like technology is the hydrogen car. It burns hydrogen instead of gas. Instead of dumping pollution out into the air like gas it would only emit water as a waste. Solar panels have been around for a while as well. Even though I have seen and even used them since a child (on calculators) they still seem so new and almost magic how light can be turned into energy to be used how we see fit. While these forms of renewable energy sources are cool they have also been around for a while.
Seeing and hearing of new technology and ideas that can help generate power is also really cool. About a year ago I was watching the discovery channel and they were talking about a project to put turbines in a river and let the flow of the river turn the generators to make power. Thats something I had never thought of. Using old technology in new ways to make them more effective is really cool.

New Bike

Spring break was a lot of fun. I spent most of my time hanging out with my dad. Near the end of the week we decided to try and fix my bike my grandparents had gotten me near the beginning of this school year. Unfortunately we were unable to fix it and no bicycle shop near my home could fix it either. It was an Autobike. It was an interesting bike and the name of the bike fit very well. It would shift on its own when you got to a high enough speed. Anways with that shifting mechanism we had no choice, but to toss it and get a new bike. I didn't really plan on getting a new or even a really nice bike, but my dad surprized me with a new very nice bike. So far I love it. It has 21 gears though so that takes a little getting used to, but it is pretty easy.

Spring Break Online Assignment

English 102 Course Goals

1. Rhetoric is important for both the visual and verbal because without we cannot understand what it is we are trying to say or get across as the writer.

2. Using texts for to get across a point or idea to an audience is very important, but it has to relate to what it is you are arguing or your audience or else there is no point in using the text.

3. Allowing for different types of invention, drafting and revision allows us to see our arguments from other points and help us improve on our argument or future arguments

4. I do not right now understand logical fallacies. Possibly using something to help your argument and then contradicting it later in your argument.

5. When working on your paper make sure all your points go together and relate to the audience you are trying to get to.

6. Add in extra proof that helps your argument and fits your rhetoric

7. Yes, I feel I can become better at this. I need to learn how to be better at being critical when looking at others works and seeing the other texts in their works.

8. I am moderately good at this. Punctuation and grammar can slip by me. I can use work on that.

9. I take responsibility of my progress. Others may help with improving my paper, but to truly become a better writer I will have to take that responsibility and try to improve.

10. Working as a group is pretty easy for me. Deciding on topics and moving to complete them as a group is key to making a successful project

11. Working to complete these and revise them as best I can.

12. Working on this as well. Hope to see what I have done in the past and be able to learn from my mistakes and improve upon my writing

English 102 Course Content & Format

1. I think I understand. Somewhat similar to the Txt speak and The Multitasking papers

2. I feel I can do this moderately well doing this with the peer reviews and class reviews or papers

3. I think I can do this pretty well taking comments and points to fix and changing them to strengthen my paper.

4. Working on completing this and incorporating everything.

University Core Curriculum

1. I feel I am working towards this with every class I take.

2. I feel I am communicating at a college level

3. I think I accept others beliefs or values even if they differ from my own.

4. Knowing a problems history can greatly speed up solving a problem or getting the most effective solution

5. Working with others can greatly help and speed up solving life's problems and make finding those solutions much more enjoyable

6. I feel I am using my talents and abilities to make the work I do better and flow with what I am working on or for

Spring Break

It's going to be nice having a week off. I probably wont do to much, or at least not to much exciting stuff. I plan to spend most of my time hanging out with my dad. Other than that I might go back and play a little Grand Theft Auto 4. I hope everyone has a good spring break as well.

Watchmen

I have never heard of the Watchmen. It was about two weeks ago when I first heard their name. It was from a couple of friends talking about the new moving about them coming out. They showed me the trailer for it and I thought it looked pretty cool so I decided to go see the movie with them. I have to say it was really good. I wasn't sure what to expect from the movie. I was also a little worried because it being a comic book based movie and I had never heard of them I thought I would be lost the whole movie. It did a very good job giving background and explaining who all these characters were. If you have time over the break and you like sci-fi comic based movies defiantly go see this movie.

Ball State in Australia?

Today in History a representative of the school in Australia was promoting for us to take our Ball State courses in Australia. It seemed really cool. Everything that applies here would transfer to there. While I would like to someday visit Australia I don't think I would want to live there and take classes. The classes sounded like a lot of fun though and more hands on. To bad they don't offer my major or else I might have considered it more.

Transformers 2

Was really happy to find out they were making a sequal to the first movie. The first movie was a surprise to me. I have always loved transformers and was worried that the movie would be a cheap rip off to make some quick cash, but I was wrong. The first movie was great. I know this movie will be just as good if not better. Really looking forward to it. The trailer has got me really excited. Probably going to be 2 or 3 months before it is out though.

Transformers 2

Font Conference

My roomate showed this video to me. It reminded me of how Professor McArdle always reminds us to use Times New Roman. I don't want to spoil anything but it's a good laugh about font types. It has some cheesy points but overall it's pretty funny.

Font Conference   

Thesis

Problem Paper

It destroys someone's life and future, the person that committed the crime is no longer pursued, and creates a feeling that our courts do not work.

Solution Paper

For the most part the system does an amazing job balancing all the people going through the system, but in some cases it can call an innocent person guilty.

-defiantly need to work on my thesis statement for my solution paper because right now it doesn't exactly fit the rest of my paper.

Outline

Introduction

I. Stating the Problem

-occurrence and seriousness of the issue

-There are ways to avoid/solve the issue

II. Awareness

-personal example

-be aware of your surroundings

III. Process of Criminal Justice

-Arrest

-Holding

-Trial

IV. DNA and Death Row

-brief use of DNA in courts

-Solution

>second trial before death row member in killed

Conclusion 

Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead

I finally made up my mind this weekend. I decided to go with Fallout 3. So far I really enjoy it. I am going to be a bit sad now that I can't blow up zombies, but I get to explore this destroyed and ruined city full of mutants and who knows what. I have always been fascinated with exploring city ruins after a catastrophe and now I can and I even get to shoot stuff. Speaking of shooting things I was really surprised with the V.A.T.S system (automated target system) in Fallout 3. When I first saw videos of it I thought it would make the game to easy, but it is actually really cool. It takes what you would normally do just shooting them and gives it a more movie feel. Overall I enjoy Fallout 3 and maybe sometime soon I will rent Left 4 Dead and we can get some zombie killing in.

Worlds Hardest Game

Ok it may not actually be the hardest game in the world, but it is a challenge. If you have a few minutes or just bored and need something to do this may be the way to pass the time. It takes some thinking and quick maneuvering, but getting past a level is really fun and seeing what they have come up with for the next level kept me going for a while. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The World's Hardest Game

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

I have been looking forward to this movie for a while now. I really enjoyed the last two movies and I hope this one will be just as good if not better. It's going a little different from the last two. The second started up exactly where the first left off. I liked how that was done. I hope they don't mess to much up seeing as now it will be set in the past from the first two movies. If you haven't seen the trailer here is a link to it Underworld Rise of the Lycans

Thank You for Smoking

This is a very enjoyable movie. While its main purpose is to serve as entertainment it deals with that art of arguing. It shows how someone can argue anything. Nick explains to his son his job. He shows how if you prove the person you are arguing against is wrong then you are right. While this is not a perfect way to win an argument it does show how you can make others believe you even if you never actually proved why you are correct. The movie is fictitious but it's cool to see how Nick can use words to turn peoples points of view and their actions. I look forward to watching the rest of the movie

Left 4 Dead

I have been looking into this game for a while. It looks like a lot of fun, but from some of the videos I have seen of the gameplay I'm not to sure if it is the game for me. It Doesn't really seem like a game where it's hard to survive and your afraid of the zombies. When I play a zombie game and I'm surrounded by zombies I want to have a feeling of no hope and that I will probably die. When I saw this game played it seemed like zombies were irrelevant and just something to shoot. They didn't seem threatening at all and despite their numbers you were able to easily kill them. Who knows maybe I have gotten the wrong impression from the videos. 

Anyways just wanted to ask anyone that has played the game to let me know how it is and if it's worth buying or waiting tell it's pretty cheap.

Here is a link to the video I watched 

Left 4 Dead Gameplay

First week back

It's has been a pretty fun week. I am really liking my new schedule. It's much more balanced than it was last semester. I had 4 classes in one day that went all day then the next I had one and went back home. Now I have about the same classes per day and  are about the same time. Most of my classes are kind of fun or at least interesting too which helps. Only class I hate to go to is Intro to Art. Possibly the most boring thing in the world.