Course Evaluation

The course Eng 101 which I took over the period of this last semester, was by far my most intriguing english class I've ever taken. It wasn't some bullshit teacher(was it?) talking about something no one understands but they claim to be the master of. I've never been a fan of English and to tell you the truth when I saw that I had to take it this year I was bummed. I was even more depressed that I had to take an English class called College Composition. I thought that all I would be doing would be writing about such things as the conflict that eastern society has with the western in the regards to economic prosperity. Obviously something that I have little to no knowledge about. When I showed up on my first day and met mister J. Goldfine for the first time, I knew that this was not going to be the typical english class.

I am extremely grateful to Mr. Goldfine for giving me the opportunity to partake in this class where I was able to explore my creative writing and hopefully improve on it. This is unlike anything I have ever done before. In high school, I was never given the chance to just sit down and write with so little restriction. It's refreshing to be able to do this and I believe, or so I hope, that I've become a better writer because of it. To be honest, I think I learned more about my writing skills & abilities than I ever did all through high school. But then again, I guess that's why we pay to go to college, in order to learn something!

Reaction to Writing Classification Essay

Of all the essays that we have written for English 101, none were harder, in my opinion, than the classification essay. Maybe I picked a bad topic to try and classify or maybe I just have a hard time taking things and visualizing them in groups. Either way, I believe.... in fact, I know that this was by far my worst paper of the semester. I struggled to find myself in it and I struggled to go ahead and group certain things according to my topic. Either way, I guess it was a learning experience. Besides, if all the writing assignments were easy, how would I learn anything? Think about that one!

Post #19

Every once in a while I take notice of something that happens all the time but I don't really notice what it is until that instant. It's something I've seen a thousand times but just now see it in a totally new and different light. It's a refreshing, sometimes disturbing thing to have happen.

One such experience occurred while I crossed the parking lot to Penobscot Hall this morning on my way to class. As I stepped up to the crosswalk, a car was traveling towards me at a moderate speed. I took the first two steps into the crosswalk and turPOW!CRACK!SNAP! The car smacked right into me and threw me 300 feet where I got struck by another car coming in the opposite direction.

That's not what actually happened but it very well could have if I had not paid attention. What actually happened was somewhat different but did made me take notice of this situation. What happened was that I did indeed step up to the crosswalk and the car was there. As I took that first step I expected that the car would slow down. Not the case. It continued, traveling through the crosswalk with me standing in it. It wasn't a close call, in my view, but some people probably would have shit a brick. As the car passed me, I took notice of the driver. He was pretending to look the other way, like he didn't see me. I know he saw me and this was the point where I came to see this event in a totally new perspective.

This situation has happened to me before. I've seen drivers not look at me or look away in order to act like the don't see me standing there that way they feel like they don't have to stop. This is something that happens quite often. The fact is, people just don't want to stop unless they absolutely have to. The only crosswalk around town that is actually respected is the one in front of the post office downtown. If someone is even close to approaching the crosswalk, all the cars come to a screeching halt. This only happens because the police are always around there and people know they'll throw tickets at them if they catch them not stopping. Don't get it twisted, it's not that the drivers have more respect for pedestrians in that part of town, they're just scared of "the fuzz."

Anyway, I think that we could solve the problem by installing strips on either side of the crosswalk. Why strips? Good question. When a person approaches the crosswalk, the strips could go from flat to attack as metal spikes with sharp points jump up out threatening to rip any oncoming tires to shreds if they dare enter the sacred crosswalk. People would feel a lot safer and the drivers would have a ton more caution around crosswalks knowing that their cars could be sitting on the rims if they dare cut off the innocent pedestrian in the crosswalk.

Post #18

Smoking

Smoking is someting that I've done for a number of years now. Well,to be honest, I've smoked for the past seven years. Apparently this is not a good thing. As you may or may not know, I found out the other day that smoking is actually BAD for your health. That's right people, it's been known to cause things like emphaziema, cancer, and a bunch of other terrible things. I know, I know, I was shocked when I heard this too but I swear, it is the truth. All the coughing and hacking that comes with smoking, believe it or not, doesn't help you but actually hurts you. And here I thought that cigarettes were a really good way to clean out my lungs. I should have known that something like cigarettes, which have such a pleasant aroma once you've smoked one, must have had a catch. After all the mornings that I've hacked up gross phlem, I should have known that it was cigarettes that were causing it and not that pesky five year cold I thought I had. Jeez, I thought that pregnant women were the only one's that cigarettes were actually bad for because I trust my government and I know that if cigarettes were bad, then my government would have quickly told me so by stamping it on the box next to the big warning for pregnant women.

Come on people, are you really that stupid? Is it really necessary to sue tobacco companies for not telling you NOT to use their product because it may hurt you? That's like Ford saying, "Don't drive our vehicles because you might get in a horrible wreck and die." Not gonna happen, m'kay? If your gonna smoke then you should have the commen sense enough to know that cigarettes maybe aren't good for you. What, are we all two years old? It's time to grow up and suffer the consequences for your actions. It's not the tobacco companies that ought to be punished, it's us. We, the one's who are stupid enough to by this horrible product, are the one's who should, and will, suffer because of our own poor decisions. You don't see people suing casino's because they lost all their rent and food money at the slot machines. Well, maybe I spoke too soon on that one, but I think you get the point. That's enough bitching for one blog. See ya

Post #17

So a few weeks ago my boss comes to me and says "Would you be interested in going to a training class called T.I.P.S. ( Taking Intoxicated People Seriously)?"
I was like sure and so he goes onto say that the class will be held on a Monday. I then told him that I had class and so he asks if I could miss it. Miss it? I haven't missed a single class yet. He says that it's important in relation to my job and so I really should try to make it. Then he says nonchalantly that I will have to let him know whether or not I can go by Wednesday which is in less than 36 hours. Basically, I had no choice. I was to let my teachers know that I would not be in class on that day. All I can say is that I'm lucky that I had nothing important going on that day.

So anyway, the day of the training rolls around and I show up at the Hampton Inn at eight o'clock, since that's the time that my boss told me it started, only to find that it didn't actually start untill nine o'clock. Thanks ALOT boss. That was an extra hour of sleep gone. I got there before the instructor......... forty five minutes before the instructor. Once everyone was there, it turned out that the only people there were two of my fellow bartenders from the Lucerne Inn, the instructor, and myself. Needless to say, it was just us. Not that it's a bad thing, because the course had a nice one on one feel where our questions recieved answers and the instructor refered to us by name.

The smallness of the group was great until about thirty minutes in when a man shows up. The instructor says, "May I help you?"
He says, "Yeah, I'm just here from channel five news." At which point he steps into the room completely with a big ol' camera and tripod. The three of us procede to look at each other with astonishment. There's going to be no hidding from this guy. Even if we were to do so, where could we? Under the table, perhaps? Trust me, there was no getting away from this guy. Oh well, I might as well take advantage and make myself look important. So, in order to do so, I wait untill I know that the camera is on me and I procede to pick up a pencil and pretend to write down notes, all the while, nodding my head as the instructor talks making it seem as if she is saying something really important. I guess that this footage did in fact make the news because everyone saw me. The extreme close up didn't help in the least. I was on the news at 6 p.m., 11 p.m., and the next morning at 5 a.m.

Aside from the movie star stuff, I did, in fact, learn quite a bit from the class. We took a test when we first got there in the morning and was given the same test at the end of the day which would serve as our certification exam. I know I did horrible on the morning test but, by the end of the day, I knew every answer to the test. When I took the test again at the end of the class, although I don't yet know how I did, I am sure that I did very well, and thus, became T.I.P.S. certified.

Some things that I learned from the class are:
-It is illegal to refuse to serve a pregnant women solely because she is pregnant.
-Carbonated drinks get you drunk quicker than something mixed with juice, water, or alcohol served plain with no mixer.
-A person can not be drinking from more than two drinks at any one time. Thus, they cannot order three or more drinks for themselve. They can have two and when they are done those they can order two more and so on and so forth.
-It is illegal to serve someone to the point of intoxication.
-You cannot let an intoxicated person leave your establishment unless you have performed resonable care which means doing something like offering them something to eat to help sober them up, getting them to ride home with a friend who's not intoxicated, calling them a cab, doing something to keep them there for a little while, or as a last resort, contact the authorities.

Post #16

You know what? I got to thinking about this whole college concept and the input we, as students, have. Not too long ago there were some surveys that were passed around in all the classes by the instructor of that particular class. They confidentiality was so well thought out that the teachers passed them out to the students, who then filled them out and gave them to a random student to bring to the administration. There were no names on the surveys so they were kept completely anonymous in that regard as well. On these surveys were questions about the course and teacher that the student was to answer and give a rating to as to how well they thought things were going. Based on the answers the students put the school can then make a better judgment as to where the strong points of the college are and where improvements should be made. I believe this to be a very good system and a fabulous way for the students to give their input about their teachers and the job they're doing. It's a very good tool up until the teacher who you'd most like to criticize doesn't hand out the goddamn surveys. The one person who you'd like to give a few pointers on how they should teach their class is the only one who fails to hand out these oh-so-important assessments. All the other teachers did their job and gave out the important documents, so why couldn't they? Are they really that worried about what the students will say that they don't dare give them out? Or maybe they know they're not doing a very good job and that's why they didn't give them out. Either way, I'm pissed. I wanted to tear this teacher a new one and wasn't given the chance. You can bet your ass that I'll be the first one to write down this little "mishap" on any other questionnaire's that we receive later in the year. I oh so hope I get my chance to do just this at some point this year.

Reaction To Contrast Essay

After reading the example classification essays that are on Goldfine's website, I was determined to write an essay that stood up for men. The example essays were all classifying guys and basically making fun of us and how we are stupid. Well sorry ladies, but if we act stupid its only to try and keep up with you.

The contrast essay was my chance to write my version of men vs. women. I have to say, it felt good to write my thoughts out on paper. Normally, or at least in all the previous english classes I've taken, I haven't had the chance to just write about a topic of my interest. That's what I enjoy most about this class. I'm given the chance to write about my thoughts time after time. Tell you the truth, this is the only English class where I've actually enjoyed doing the required assignments (that is, until Goldfine comes over and says that I have to rewrite it because I've left some important thing out). I gotta say though, even with all the work, I don't dread doing the assignments at all. This is a good thing!

Contrast Essay

Have you ever heard the saying that men are from Mars and women are from Venus? Well, from what I can gather, and keep this hush hush, men and women aren’t from Mars and Venus, but rather, we’re both from a little planet called Earth. Now this certainly doesn’t mean that we are completely alike, no, no, no. Most of the men you talk to will prove me right on this. Women and men have some fairly apparent differences like physical appearance; there are some that are not so obvious. Women differ from men in their interests, attitudes, and their methods of romance.

The interests of men and myself versus that of women are one of the major differences between us. Generally, we are into the more macho, aggressive pastimes and hobbies. Most men are religiously connected to sports. If there’s a big game on, you can bet your ass that it’ll be what’s on my T.V. On Sunday’s, forget it. Don’t even bother asking what’s on because the only thing that’s on is the football game. Besides watching them, most men, myself included, participate in a sport such as, for example, golf, racquetball, or basketball. Along with sports, we are also more inclined to such things as working on our vehicle, going to a cabin in the woods and hunting, or fishing on the weekends. Women, on the other hand, they would be a lot more likely to curl up with a good book. If they’re in the mood to go out (like on a Sunday, during the football game) they might be found shopping it up at the mall or browsing the craft fair. Women tend to prefer more relaxing events like a movie or going to the theater to see a play.

Another thing separating the genders is our attitudes that each of us has pertaining to certain things. The attitude that we men have about the world is completely different from that of women. When it’s time to go to a nice restaurant for dinner, I’ll usually throw on the first thing I find that’s clean. If it weren’t for the woman in my life, I’d probably end up just wearing some jeans and a t-shirt. A woman on the other hand, will spend more time getting ready than they’ll actually spend at dinner. Another key distinction between attitudes is the way that we, as couples, fight and/or argue with each other. Nine out of ten times, the confrontation usually starts as the result of something the man has done. It could be because of a thing that we did that day, or, something we did two months ago, but either way, it’s most likely regarding something we don’t remember, or, had no intention of doing. Women are usually expecting so much from their “man” that they nitpick at every little thing we do wrong instead of what we’re doing right, which may lead to large quarrels that are ultimately the result of some miniscule thing. But, we will almost always win these petty quarrels since men can hold out longer. One thing about the ladies though, they are always the first to say sorry. Men have a really hard time with that word, “Sorry”. Even on those rarest of occasions, when the fight is the fault of the male, he will put off using that word for as long as he can, or, until he has exhausted all other options. By that time, it’s too late and we’re either locked out or sleeping on the couch.

Now when it comes to the romance aspect of a relationship, it is pretty much black and white between the two genders. From a woman’s perspective, romance is everything. They love to be swept off their feet by a man. This usually involves some light music, a few candles, and a well thought out meal. This is sure to put the woman in a state of utopia. The act of being catered to is something that women love. Even just snuggling in a nice place such as a park at sunset can be extremely romantic to a woman. Whereas on the flipside, men, don’t really grasp the same idea of romance. We know how to be romantic, but do we really know how to accept it? Do we want to be romanced? In general, I say no. Our concept of romance is a little kissing and touching before getting down and dirty. I don’t believe we even recognize romance in the same manner women do because our sense of what it is can be so much different from theirs.

It is my belief that men and women will never completely and fully understand each other, no matter how hard we may try. The differences in our attitudes, interests, and romantic preferences are what maintain our commitment to each other. When combined, our dissimilarities balance us out and these diversities are what fuel and make our relationships work. For as long as this remains consistent, men and women will keep on loving and, at times, hating each other for as long as we continue to coexists.

Process Essay

Driving along Broadway in Bangor, I come to a light at the Stillwater intersection. Up next to me pulls a rather new Honda Accord. As the driver creeps up beside me, I’m immediately alerted to the thunderous rumble coming from the high performance exhaust system that hangs from the Accord’s rear end. Over and above the growl of the exhaust, I can very clearly make out the thump, thump, thumping of a tricked out car audio system. I know right off quick that this pounding I hear, which old people call obnoxious, is due to the adding of subwoofers to the aftermarket stereo system. As I sit beside the Honda, it doesn’t take long before it’s on. I crank up my system to overpower his. He does the same back. Pretty soon, all the windows in the neighborhood are rattling to the bass produced by our subs.

Some people wonder why anyone would need such a powerful stereo in an automobile. To them I say, “If you can’t get it, you probably never will.”
For everybody else who’s interested in the modifications I’ve made as well as my reasons for doing so, listen up. My theory behind this whole idea is simple. Like most people, I love music! The only difference is I love to hear music the way it was meant to be heard: with clarity and volume. And if you think about it, as a society, where do we listen to most of our music? Generally speaking, a majority of the time we spend listening to music is when we are in our vehicles driving around. Typically, CD’s and the radio are what keeps us occupied while we drive from one place to another. While at home, it’s usually the T.V. or a book but very rarely do we turn on the tunes.

When I wanted to upgrade my vehicle’s existing stereo, I had to follow a certain process to do it. One of the biggest factors that keep people from being able to install an aftermarket system is the lack of funds. One thing I should tell you is that this is not cheap. There is a lot of money involved in the purchasing of the components. A good idea was to figure how much money I wanted to spend. This will help to decide what kind of product to get in terms of power and performance and be able to determine whether or not it fits into the predetermined budget. No matter how many pieces that I wanted to replace or upgrade, I knew I needed some basic knowledge of how a vehicle’s audio system works as well as the tools to do the job. Once I knew what I wanted, it was time to go out and get the goods.

This is something that you really shouldn’t rush into like I did. Its best take the time to compare different models and brands and research the products so to know what to look for and thus, make a smart, informed decision. I found that by shopping around, I got some of the parts I needed on sale or on clearance. And by not rushing into this, you’ll see that things always go on sale if you’re willing to wait. I made the mistake of buying the first thing I saw. I soon found out that I paid way more than I should have and to top it off, it wasn’t what I wanted anyway. So then I went out and spent more money getting what I really wanted in the first place. I blew all this extra cash just because I wasn’t willing to shop around or wait for the prices to drop and I didn’t know what I wanted because I failed to do my research properly.

As far as buying, I found that I preferred to buy my components a few at a time rather than all at once, as it was much easier on my wallet. I would suggest buying the priority items first. By priority, I mean the articles that are necessary for any type of stereo, no matter how small and simple or big and complex. The items I speak of are generally the four speakers and the head unit (usually a CD player). A way of saving some money, as I found out, was to install everything myself. It’s really not that hard once I got going and figured it out. Aside from that, there is a ton of info on the internet about the installation of car stereos that I used to help me. And by having the priority pieces first, I was able to install them while I saved additional money to buy the other, more advanced parts I needed.

Now come the parts that get me excited: the amplifier, the box and subwoofer(s), and the capacitor. These are what separate the men from the boys, the loud from the soft, and the strong from the weak. The addition of these components will make all the difference in the world. They are what give your stereo its backbone. The way I learned how these pieces worked was like this. The subwoofer(s) are what produce the “lows” or bass you hear in a song. This is the rumbling that comes from a nice stereo. Without the subs, all you hear are the high notes of a song. The amp and capacitor, or cap, are the driving force behind the sub. The ways they are hooked up in my system are like this. My power source (my battery) is what gives all these components their juice. The battery hooks up to the cap, which links to the amp, which in turn goes to the subs. Now what do they do, you ask? Well, the amplifier is what takes in the signal from the receiver (the CD player) and converts it and puts it out to the subwoofers to give me my bass. My amp takes a lot of power to run and this is where the capacitor comes in. My capacitor stores power from my battery so when the amp needs that extra juice from time to time, it pulls from the cap rather than the battery. Why? Because if it were to pull off the battery, then some of my other electronics would suffer like my headlights going dim or my heater’s blower not working as well. The installation of these components is quite easy since they all hook up to each other. Basically all I had to do was to run a wire from the battery to the cap and amp and ground them both. Then I hooked up the amp, cap, and subs to each other in sequence with the wires from a wiring kit I bought.

When I was all finished the install, it was time to try it out. This is when all the hard work pays off. With the push of a button it all comes together. The CD spins, the speakers crank, and the subs go BOOM! This is the point at which I stand back, relax, and admire a job well done. Its here I realize that my dream of a high performance car stereo has become reality. With my new found confidence I’m able to say that you too can have that stereo you’ve always wanted by just taking some time to educate yourself, spending a few Washington’s, and giving up a couple hours of your weekend.

Post #15

The Red Sox are on the war path. It's been 86 years since they've won themselves a world series but judging by the way that they are playing, you would think they'd been here before. I probably shouldn't say these words out loud, but it seems as if they are bound and determined to break the curse. The more I watch them play, the more intense the game, for me, gets. With each win they are pulling themselves closer and closer to a championship ring. It just feels like I'm watching history being made one small step at a time. I'm just waiting for that last win when they'll finally let the ink dry in the record books and it'll say "Boston Red Sox" next to the words 2004 World Champions. Boy that'll be a day New England and myself will never forget. As they, the BoSox, lead this, the world series, two games to none, I find myself biting harder and harder on my bottom lip as the tension becomes tighter and tighter. All that's left for "Our team" to do is to win two of the next five games and they can finally get they're long, long, long awaited celebration. And you can bet your ass that I'll be there to watch them do it.