Testing

This is test because my blog seems to be down and I can't figure out what is wrong, disreguard this if you are reading this...which i highly doubt because the only people who actually read this are people I say, "Hey read my blog please!!!!!!!" And chances are that you are not one of those people. Anyway...Testing!!!!!

Offically Offical!!

It is now offically offical!! I am out from under the rule of the man! I am now a free agent and can choose to write about whatever I want to. No longer will any of you have to read my lame attempts to anaylize arguments in my English book. No longer will you have to suffer readings things that don't make any sense because you are not in the class. NOW, YOU WILL ALL HAVE TO SUFFER MY UNTAPPED POWER TO TALK ABOUT STUPID STUFF!!!! I mean, really, how bad could it be. Who wouldn't want to read my thoughts on how jello would be fun to swim in, or how I think that ants could rule the world and they are just biding their time. I will now be able to dive deep into the things that keep me up at night (no really, ants are creepy and they are everywhere!). So to the brave readers who decide to continue coming to my blog, beware, crazy people post here!!

Blog Assignment #12 (Sliced Bread)

Our society has truly grown from what it began as. Today, we surrounded by things that make our lives easier. The computer is an example of this. While it isn't easy to use at times, indirectly we are constantly benefiting from computers. Some might even think of the computer as a testament to our civilization. I say no. I say that what really shows that we are progressing as a species is sliced bread. Yes, sliced bread. This is one truely amazing thing. For those nay-sayers out there I will explain why sliced bread is truely a thing to behold. Sliced bread is convenient. When you want to make a sandwich you simply get the sliced bread and pick how many pieces you need. You do not need a ridiculously sharp knife to cut the bread; you only need a dull non-lethal knife to smear whatever you desire onto the bread. There you have a sandwich! This kind of convenience is not to be scoffed at. When dealing with loaves of bread much more work is involved. If you look at other civilizations that are not as developed, you will notice that they do not have sliced bread. They are not there yet. Sure they have deadly weapons of destruction and scientist working to discover a cheaper means of transportation, but they have not yet arrived at a place where they can truly appreciate the marvel that sliced bread it. Sliced bread could have a huge effect on the world. If people didn't have to go through the extra work of cutting the bread every time they wanted a sandwich, then maybe, just maybe, they would not be so angry at the world. People would get along. People would have time to care. They would let their differences past and enjoy their sandwiches and toast much more deeply. This might even be the reason why the French don't play well with other countries. They have French Bread which you have to cut. If you walk into a grocery store you see those long loaves of bread and they are never cut. You have to take what is known as a bread knife (very lethal) and do your best to cut the bread as even as possible. Its no wonder the French are irritated. What needs to be done is for the countries with sliced bread to send as much sliced bread to the countries in need of this calming miracle bread. With all these benefits that sliced bread provides us every time we need it to be there, sliced bread has earned the a spot in the history books. As civilization advances more and more, sliced bread will be a constant. Technology and intellect may fail but the concept of sliced bread will live on.
*Dear Mr. Fornes,
I tried and tried to related sliced bread to English 101 but I was not able to think of any way that English 101 can be compared, related to, or referenced with the marvel that is sliced bread. I only hope that you will be content with this:
"Yay!, I sure am glad the semester is ending, but I sure will miss English 101...*cough*"
Sincerely,
Dan

Blog Assignment #11(racing and jumping)

In the case of any class, I view each of them as a race. In the beginning you are full of energy to you have stored up during the summer and are willing to do anything. In the middle you realize that you are getting tried and have to pace yourself if you are going to have a chance of finishing the race. By the end you are kicking yourself for ever entering the race and can only think of the time when it is over and you are able to soak your feet in some warm water. That is what english is to me. Right now I am at the stage where I can't believe I ever entered this english course and I want it to end so very badly. You see, I am a math person. Math has definite rules. Math is also flexible. Math makes sense (to me). English on the other hand has what I consider to be 30 billion rules and each one has an exception. There are different styles with more rules and exceptions to them. When I think back to this course (English 101), I think of how much english really means to me. English is that huge gap in the greater race toward graduation that we are all in. But throughout the course of the semester, english has made more sense to me, I still don't know how to use a comma, and I will always have verb disagreements but I do think that my writing ability itself has improved greatly. While many of my paragraphs are still unclear in some of the papers that I have written, I feel that I have come to understand english a more. That gap has become a little smaller for this math major and I believe that I will land on the other side it on firm ground...I think...

Where did the funny go?...

A person of great importance has recently died...for all of you who know what I am talking about this is a very sad time for all of us. One of the funniest people on Earth died on March 30. Yes, I am talking about the one and only Mitch Hedberg. I first learned of this on April 1 which made me wonder if it was true or not. After two days of denial I am now realizing the true. He really is gone and will never be able able to spread his brand of comedy to the world. In short, we will always remember the tears that he brought to our eyes when he would start his stand up bit. He will live in our memories as the man who spoke in bursts....so long Mitch...we will miss you...

If it isn't broke, don't fix it. (Blog Assignment #8)

My view of families is very broad. I figure that whatever works, works. If the children grow up to be good people then I think that their family situation worked. Of course there are all kinds of exceptions to this but I don't really feel like going in to them because its late and I am just trying to get this assignment done. From some of the readings that Mr. Fornes is making us read, everyone has a their own idea of what a ideal family should be. I personally don't believe that there is a family out there that doesn't fight or is without its quirks. All I have to relate to is my own family as an example as what I consider to be a good family. I was fortunate to have both parents and the loving support of my entire family when I was growing up. Its not like we don't fight with each other but we don't really stay mad at each other for very long. Some however don't have that and still turn out to be very good people. I guess some topics that interest me are the different types of families that are out there and how effective they are in relation to certian examlpes or situations.

Anything but shopping...

To me, shopping is one of the worst kinds of torture. Whenever my sister ever mentions going shopping with a happy face, I get a sense of fear that she will want me to come and that might cause me to end up shopping too. This fear is enforced because I am probably the worst shopper ever. My sister once sent me to get a bunch of stuff for her so she could make a red-velvet cake. I had a list and everything. As I walked into the Bi-Lo in Aiken I realized that I had no idea where anything was even though I go there pretty often. I think that I spent the better part of two hours seaching for the stuff on my list. Naturally, when I walked into the store I didn't bother to get cart or basket even though I knew I would be getting a bunch of stuff. Once my realized this (at that point I had milk in one hand, eggs, in the other, and I was staring at the flour and sugar trying to figure out how to reach for them and not drop the eggs) I had to break down and go all the way to the front of the store to get the cart. At that point I was annoyed not only with the fact that it was taking way to much time and effort to get the stuff but also becasue I didn't know where half of the stuff was and I had already searched the supermarket once. I do admitt that I wasn't helping by searching for the stuff as they appeared on the list which made me constantly walk from one side of the store to other to get one item before I realized that I was just looking at the section which contained something else that I needed. After about 3 phone calls to my sister (concerning what to buy) and 2 phone calls to my home (concerning what we already had) I finally arrived at the checkout counter. The total of all the stuff I bought ended up being 30 dollars. When my sister found out that I wasn't really looking at what I was buying and just grapping the first thing I saw that remotely matched what was my list, she was pretty upset that I spent that much money just so she could make one cake. She has not asked me to go shopping for her since that time...well, at least nothing really important such as assembling the materials needed to make a cake. That is why I still stand by the fact that whenever a guy thinks he got a deal on clothing or groceries, he is wrong and there is some woman out there that bought twice as much as he did and got it for half the price.

Case Study topic

The liberalness of the Baptist Churches.

The shoes he bought were brown (Blog Assignment #6)

The other day I was part of the a very strange conversation. What made this conversation so strange was what was talked about. I heard the same thing repeated over and over again. This type of conversation is not foreign to me. As some of you know, I am hispanic. Being hispanic I get to see this sort of conversation style all the time. Some of you may be wondering what being hispanic has to do with repeating conversations, I will tell you. I once observed my grandparents and my parents in a very intense conversation. For the sake of all the English speaking people and me, I will use the test phase, "The shoes he bought were brown." The conversation went a little like this:
Mom (to Dad): The shoes he bought were brown.
Dad: Really, they were brown?
Mom: Yes, he bought the brown shoes.
Grandpa (to Mom): So, why did he buy the brown shoes?
Grandma (to Grandpa): I saw the brown shoes that he bought.
Dad (to Mom): You know why he bought them right?
Mom: Because they were brown?
Dad: Yes, he bought them because they were brown.
Grandpa (to himself): So they were brown huh?
Grandma (to Grandpa with conviction): The shoes he bought were brown.
Grandpa (to Mom): I bet he saw the brown shoes and decided to buy them because they were brown.
Mom (to Grandma): The shoes were brown so he bought them.

This went on for a little over a minute. The same thing being said different ways to each other as if they had to convince one other what each one believed, which was the same thing. I don't think that they realized what they were doing until I couldn't keep from laughing and they all looked at me and asked me what I thought was so funny. After I told them what they were doing they were all in disbelief and asked me the same question over and over again as if I was going to change the story if they asked me again. Of course, my family is not the only place I have observed this manifest itself. It seems that with many "older" ones this happens. This is the type of conversation that you try your best to get out of which leads to you saying, "Okay, well, I have to go now..." at that point the other person you are talking to restates a couple of the examples in the conversation and then restates the point that he/she was trying to make. That happens over and over again until somebody sees you in trouble and bails you out or you run away. I think that what causes this is that the people who are talking have nothing to say to each other but are determined to talk to one another for as long as possible. I have no idea why someone would get into this conversation but I hope that in the future I don't find myself actively engaging in these types of conversations.

Blog Assignment #5 (sounds really deep...)

The marginalization of individuals hurts everyone. When someone descriminates against a race or person because of something that makes them different, they are denying that culture from sharing with the rest of society. An example can be seen in the movie Men of Honor. Cuba's character was descriminated against just because he was black. In the end he showed some in the Navy what we know consider common sense, that just because your skin color is different, that doesn't mean that you can't be the best as Cuba's character was. In the begining you see Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character as a cook in the Navy because that was what all blacks were at that time. He makes a difference when he decides to go swimming on a Friday and outswims what we assume was the best white swimmer. The head guy on the ship is impressed with this because it goes against what he was brought up to believe. That is where Cuba's character starts to get promoted and eventually goes to diving school. Because of the marginalization of blacks in that time, he had a hard time proving to everyone that he was way better than the white divers. By marginalizing blacks, the Navy probably missed out on some of the brightness minds and greatest swimmers. We see examples of that throughout history. The Germans caused Einstein to leave Germany and go help make the very technology that would cause them to lose the war. Although that is an extreme case of the consequences of marginalization, the results are the same. Whenever a country or nation or the human race marginalizes a people, they are denying untold opportunities that would have arrisen from that race or culture had they been giving a chance and not held down because they were not the same as everyone else.