Banned Books Presentation

Today, I went to the presentation about banned books. I had a talk with the professor and she informed me that common books that I read in high school like, The Giver, Huckleberry Finn and 1984 had been banned in other counties in Maryland. I was not aware of that this still took place today and especially so close to where I live. After reading those books I don’t think they had any negative effect on me. Even though there was racist stuff in Huckleberry Finn, reading the book did not make me racist. It is very easy to read a book that has controversial view points and take them for face value. Just because someone reads something in a book does not mean they will pick it up and it will become their own viewpoint. Later on a student read aloud a poem by Shell Silverstein that dealt with cannibalism. It seems very ridiculous to me that some narrow minded person would have that banned because they thought it would lead to people turning to cannibalism. That was basically the idea that I got from the whole talk I had with the professor and listening to the students talk.

Long Distrance Relationships

I have been dating a girl who goes to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond for about three months now. We went to high school together but did not talk much and barely knew eachother back then. Over the summer we saw eachother a few times with mutual friend and hit things off. We started dating on September 11th and its been about two and a half months now. I was reluctant to get too involved in the reltationship because I did not think things would work out. We both liked eachother but we were afraid to actually give in to it because we both feared we would become too attached and then not get to see eachother. In all honesty it has not been any problem at all. She goes to school 150 miles away but we find ways to see eachother about every other weekend. I never really thought that long distance relationships were worth it but I am very pleased with how things are working out. I drive down to see her every once in a while and she catches rides home with friends from her school. I am very much looking forward to winter break with her. This Thanksgiving break has been alot of fun though.

Three Cups of Tea

So I went to see David Olver Relin's, the author of Three Cups of Tea and it was very interesting. I like when he talked about himself and his views alot more than when he discussed the book. He started off talking about what he used to do in his former career. He discussed how he used to interview famous people. Relin seemed to be very dissapointed with how American's are so consumed with famous people and how the famous people are not very interesting. This led to Relin making his statement of how the people with the least offer the most. Then that led to him going over the book briefly and how the plot of the book involves the main character, Greg Mortenson and his journey to the top of K2. Well Mortenson got lost and ended up in a village. In that village he became concerned with the residents becoming educated. He thought of ways to help that region get a proper education. Relin ties this idea of education to the recent dilemma of terrorism. He claims that the way to end terrorism is to educate. I have a hard time believing that education would solve all problems though. There will still be terrorists and people who hate America. I think he has a good idea but maybe he himself is too much of an extremist when it comes to his ideology.

NY to LA in 31 hours 4 minutes

In 2006 Alex Roy set a new world record for fastest cross country run. He traveled from New York City to Los Angeles in 31 hours and 4 minutes. The previous record was 32 hours and 7 minutes sit in 1983. Many skeptics said that it could not be done today with all the traffic on the road and new technologies that police employee to catch speeders. Alex Roy utilized a navigator to spot speed traps, thermal camera (to drive with the lights off), one radar detector, two laser jammers, seven GPS units, three police scanners, a CB radio, two sets of high tech binoculars, a plane flying above to spot speed traps, and multiple helicopters in the air. In order to beat the record he needed to keep an average speed of 90 mph in his 2000 BMW M5. Roy accomplished his goal and even beat it by an unleivable hour and three minutes. He was not pulled over one time on his journey and only had to evade the police one time.

Research Project Ideas

So this blog is just gonna be me going through ideas of what to write about in my research paper. I know the general idea is gonna be alternative fuels but that is a huge topic. I'm not sure if I want to go with alternative fuels for automobiles or alt. fuels for power. I'm thinking I will write about wind turbines. I would also like to go into some detail about hydro power and some of the new methods of extracting energy from waves. That would be too broad for a six page paper though. If i do wind turbines I could start with a summary of how they work, the history of them, and some general information. Then, I could go into more detail about the pro and cons. I want to write about this topic because Ive seen them around in Upstate New York and to me they look very elegant and effecient but others make a big fuss about them. I think that the positives far outweigh some of the negatives but I would like to look deeper into the issue. Sorry for the stupid blog but it was more brainstorming than a anything. If anyone reads this I would really appreciate it if you give me some feedback. That would be very helpful for the research paper.

UMBC vs. College

You know how in college movies all that is portrayed is partying and a lot of classwork. Well I find that UMBC has more of the latter and less of the first thing mentioned. Compared to other schools that my friends go to the amount of classwork is about the same depending on the amount of credits and classes being taken. There just seems to be a lot less partying and "college" stuff going on. I really enjoy all of my classes and the professors are all great. I have nothing to complain about here except for the lack of things going on after class especially on the weekends. The campus just feels like a ghost town on the weekends. Two of my three suite mates leave every weekend and its like I'm in a jail cell. There is no one to be found on campus on the weekends. I hoped that this was just something that i noticed and it's just because I haven't made friend or maybe its just because I'm a freshmen but I've talked to other freshmen and they all say the same thing. When I talk to upper class men they all say that there aren't any parties here and nothing goes on over the weekends. This isn't the college experience I was expecting but on the other hand it keeps me focused on why I am here and that is to get a good education. University of Maryland Baltimore County sure is a great place to send your child especially if you want them to get a good education and don't want to have to worry about what they might be doing when they are away.

Blogosphere 10/12

Chapter five in "They Say, I Say," by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst, the focus is on distinguishing between what the writer and what someone else's view is on a topic. If this is not done correctly the writing can be very confusing even when talking about a familiar subject. It is important to use voice markers to distinguish who's view is being expressed. I feel i have a difficult job smoothly doing this. It always looks like a fifth grader wrote it because I always end up making it so blatantly obvious.The templates that are given in this chapter seem the same way. they are all very obvious and overused I think. I will work on embedding my voice markers more smoothly.

Chapter six in the same book is about anticipating what the critics will say and responding to them in the text. The idea behind this is to make your text stronger so that way the naysayers will have nothing to argue with. My problem with this is, I always worry that the argument for the opposition will look more convincing than my own argument. I know that a lot of times it is just me worrying too much but, it still bothers me. In the end it always makes my arguments stronger but I still freak out about it. I am going to work more on incorporating other people's arguments into my writing and then arguing against it.

10/9 Blogosphere

After reading both, "Watching TV Makes You Smarter," by Steven Johnson and "Thinking Outside the Idiot Box," by Dana Stevens, I must take Stevens' side. Johnson did a poor job of trying to convince the reader thaHis arguement was only supported by a few pieces of evidence like, the graphs that show the differt watching complex TV shows like "24," actually makes you smarter by making you think. ent levels of threads going on in certain TV shows. This still does not prove that watching these more complex shows makes the watcher any smarter. His argument had very little positive effect on me because I did not know any of the TV shows he was talking about. Maybe that's just because I'm stupid since I don't watch any of the "smart" shows he talks about. Stevens' argument seems a lot more down to earth and a lot more accurate. i honestly do know see how watching TV could be much of a learning experience.

Today's Music, What Happened?

It seems as if almost all music now days has gone to computers and other types of synthesizers. I wonder if any musician played on the radio now-a-days actually uses instruments and their own voice. I'm not even very much for multitracking. That means recording one instrument or vocalist at a time then putting it all into one composition. I would much rather hear the music recorded live. however I understand that can be difficult when it comes to artists such as The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Soulja Boy, and all other pop singers. If you turn to 99.5 on your radio almost all of the music there is fake. It just doesnt seem to me that it would require too much talent to be able to hit record for a few seconds at a time and then have a whole studio crew go over the song for hours and hours.

Working and School

Right now I am finding it very hard to balance school work with work. I am taking twelve credits and living on campus right now, I work forty minutes away in Montgomery county. I work for a guy landscaping , mostly mowing lawns about twenty hours a week. I do that two days on Tuesdays and Thursdays but, I have to get my car to and from the satellite lot which ends up taking a lot of time. It may seem like just a summer job to most people but to me it is a lot more. I have worked for him for two years now and this last year my boss, the owner of the company, has been talking about me getting my own lawns and slowing making the company. He wants me to take over it in four years when I graduate and he retires.

This puts a lot of pressure on me to keep working even when I should be studying. I dont really know what I want to do when I graduate but I definitely don't wanna ruin my chances with taking over the company.

I lose two full days a week almost when I should be studying and doing homework. Luckily the mowing season will be over in about a month or so. I'm really looking forward to be able to study on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will then be able to get more sleep too. Until then I'm gonna keep working hard and studying when I get a chance.

Bad Used Car Expierence

So I'm writing this blog just to get this off my chest. I know it sounds stupid and all but I have to let this out. At the beginning of the summer I took some money that I saved up and went looking or a used mustang to buy. I looked all over Craigslist, eBay, and talked to people I know. I came across a lot of nice mustangs but when I would call to come look at them, they were all sold. Finally, I came across a 1997 Mustang GT that had everything I was looking for and the seller only wanted $2650. That would leave me extra money to get the car through inspection and pay for some insurance since my parents told me they would have nothing to do with me getting a mustang. I drove almost to West Virginia to check it out. When I got to the guys house the car didn't look near as good as it did on Craigslist. The seller told me how it was in a small accident that did not hurt the frame or anything. He had all of the parts to fix it so I figured it was a good buy and would be a quick easy project. I bought the car on spot and by the time I got it home I was so excited to take it out. I drove it over to my mechanics house a few days later after bolting on the parts that needed to be replaced. I was feeling very good about the work I did and the fact that I was so close to driving a mustang. My mechanic, Robert, had the car up on jacks in a few minutes after I showed up. Within five minutes he had found more that five different pieces of evidence that the frame had been bent in what appeared to be more than one accident. By that point I was so disgusted that I just wanted my money back. I called the seller, a crook who guys by the name, Richard Dorfman. He had assured me that he could not, "screw a kid," "it would haunt him forever." When I was on the phone with me he totally acted like he didn't have any clue to what I was talking about. A few days later my dad and I wrote up a formal letter that let him knew that we had enough evidence to take this to court and have a very great chance of winning the case. With most used car sales it is understood that the vehicle is being sold "as-is," "buyer beware." Now that may be true most of the time but all of that is negated when fraud is added into the equation. The fraud part comes into play when Richard assured me over and over again that the car was in good shape except for the small parts that needed to swapped. He told me that he had his friend that owns a frame shop and the insurance adjuster both promised him the frame was totally straight and not twisted.

Right now I am in the middle of figuring out what I am going to do. I can either take this to court which looks like a major hassle. I would have a good chance of winning but it will cost me money in court fees and plus it will be a real pain in the butt. I can also have my mechanic straighten the frame and get the car straight. He will do the work for a good price since he is friends with my parents and we have a friendly relationship. This whole ordeal has been really bothering me and it takes away from everything I do. I cannot wait until all of this is over with. I wish that I would have taken my parents advice and just been happy with the cars I have. I feel like an idiot for even getting involved in something that now seems to be over my head.

First Day of College

So my first day of college is over now. I got myself all worked over the whole summer. I was expecting to have to read at least three books the first night. I was expecting to be in lecture halls with 500 people and be lost in the crowd. I am happy to say that I made it through with very few problems or confusion. I actually enjoyed every one of my classes and even though they have nothing to do with my major, each one of them interests me in one way or another. Now that I can say that the first week is over as well, I can finally sleep at night. I spent so much time lying in bed afraid of what I had coming to me. I actually look forward to going to school the next day. Well all except for the act of waking up.