Pandora Radio!

So call me crazy but I just discovered the website for Pandora radio after many of my friends convinced me that this website was awesome and I saw Professor Wermers using it in class! It has become a really popular website as you can pretty much make a playlist with anything you enjoy listening to. I really enjoy now listening to Pandora when I am on the computer especially because I can put on whatever playlist sounds good at the time. For example when I am doing homework I will put on the jazz or classical genre playlist. When I am just in the mood for some upbeat music I can put on the pop or new age playlists. If you really enjoy a certain artist you can even make a playlist that will play music both by that artist and others that are very similar to the style of music as the artist you enjoy. I have found this really handy as I enjoy the band the Cab and I now know many other bands that play similar music to them. Plus the best part of this website is it is free and open to anyone to use. As I am sure most of the class has probably used this website I have really found it a convenient and easy way to learn about new artists and play music that I enjoy. If you haven’t used this website I highly encourage you to try it! :)

Journal #4 - What is good writing?

This resource was a great tool, as I haven noticed many of these mistakes in my writing and even in other peoples writing during peer editing. Often many of the errors that were listed are things that we commonly do and don’t even realize until we re-read over our paper or until the teacher points out the error. After looking at this website and the paper I just wrote for this class I began looking to see what I may need to change. The errors I have the most difficulty with are sentence fragments, comma splices, superfluous commas, and unclear pronoun reference. These all make my writing appear weak when in reality once these things are changed my writing looks much better. I think I am prone to sentence fragments because often when I am writing I tend to think of ideas and write what comes to mind and when I re-read through my paper I am not careful enough to change these errors. With comma splices I often end my thoughts and try to combine ideas adding conjunctions and commas when in reality this is an incorrect error and I need to shorten my sentences and just make some of my ideas into multiple sentences as opposed to one long sentence with many commas. This leads to my next error, which is that I often have superfluous commas and in sentences I tend to add commas much more often than they are needed. Lastly with unclear pronoun references, I don’t realize that I didn’t mention the person I am talking about before I start saying he, she, etc. This can be a big problem especially in research papers as it makes me sound very unknowledgeable when this often isn’t the case. In this paper that I just wrote, I am going to try to be more aware of all these mistakes to make my paper sound better and so I don’t get marked off for silly grammar mistakes that I should have recognized.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!

St. Patty’s Day is a well-known holiday throughout the United States, Great Britain, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Montserrat. The holiday celebrates the Catholic feast day, which began in the early 1600’s. The holiday was named after Saint Patrick, which was kidnapped by Irish raiders and was taken into Ireland as a slave. Once in Ireland he fled and said that God told him to return to Britain. After he was back in Britain he joined a church and became a priest. A little later in his life he was called back to Ireland to save the Irish, and while there he became a bishop. The clover that we often associate with St. Patrick’s day originally was a three-lead shamrock which represented the Holy trinity to the Irish people. Commonly we think of the color green when thinking about St. Patty’s Day.

The color that used to be associated with Saint Patrick was blue, but over time the color green seemed to appear on everything associated to St. Patrick’s Day. There were green shamrocks and ribbons that were worn by many starting in the 17th century. This holiday is always celebrated on March 17th and it signifies the one-day break of Lent, and for this reason it is often celebrated with alcohol. The drinking of green beer, wearing green and having parties all occur on St. Patrick’s day, and many often just think of it as a celebration of the Irish. The holiday was officially started in 1903 in Ireland.

Journal #3 - Good Argument?!?

Arguments are very common in my house, as almost every time I ask for something it winds up turning into me needing to prove to my parents why I believe what I believe and why I think it is right. The most recent argument has been about me going to visit one of my friends that lives in Sacramento, CA over summer break. I have been slowly trying to ease the idea of me traveling alone to them, and it seems as though I did a reasonable job at that. Before making my argument I had to think of all the things I know they would be worried about that would deter them from letting me go on the trip and I had to think of solutions to each of the problems so I would show that I have good evidence that I have thought this trip out and am not just simply making it up as I am talking to them.

I also had to think about the reasons I think I should be able to go, to tell them those also. In my argument I told them I feel I should be able to go because I have shown them I am respectful and responsible and that I make wise choices, I also have been getting good grades and first semester I got four A’s and only one B in my classes which shows I am doing well and trying hard in school. Also I said I would be paying for part of the trip myself and I would be staying with my friend while I was in California to cut back on extra unneeded expenses. All of these reasons are truthful and practical.

Having told my parents all these options I made a good argument, and they noticed I had thought about it before actually coming to them. Knowing this my parents discussed the trip and decided that I would most likely be able to go as long as I plan it in advance and not at the last minutes. Needless to say I became very excited and began looking up flights to book my trip. Had I not had a reasonable argument with proof of why I should be able to go though my parents most likely would have been more on the edge about letting me actually go. With an argument such as this I clearly had a bias going into the argument, which made me more apt to tell them all the reasons I should be able to go as opposed to why I shouldn’t be able to go.

Spring Break!!!!!

I don’t know about you, but I know this week has seemed like one of the most stressful weeks of college yet this far. It seems as though the teachers have given a great amount of homework, tests and group projects, which are all due this week before Spring Break. I was thinking about this and wondering whether I was actually happy about this or whether I was upset about the fact that everything have piled up into one week of chaos. Tonight I had my long dose of chemistry. I went from chemistry lab in which I had a midterm, then had to perform an experiment by myself and write the actual lab report in class to a chemistry lecture exam, then to the chemistry lecture class. It was a pretty hectic day, but I am happy to say I made it through it and I am hoping I did well on my tests. I feel pretty good about them, but we’ll see when the grades actually come out as to the outcome. Needless to say I am super excited that Spring break is coming up this next week. I most likely will be doing a lot of studying and relaxing, although I am not traveling anywhere. The time off of school will be good for me to catch up on all the things I have been wanting to get done but haven’t been able to because of school. I wish everyone in class a great week and good luck to anyone else that has test, projects or quizzes this week! Also I hope everyone has a relaxing, safe and fun time over Spring Break!