Evaluations

Hey everyone. I really enjoyed the presentations these past few weeks. Nice work. This is just a final reminder, and request, to please complete teacher evaluations. Tomorrow is the last day to do this. It's a fast and straightforward process. All you need to do is:

1. Login to UVLink using your UV ID and pin.
2. Go to the "Student" tab.
3. Go to the "Teacher/Course Evaluations" channel in the upper-left portion of the page.
4. Click on "Complete your Fall 2008 Teacher Evaluations."
5. Click on English 1010.
6. Click on the "Evaluate" link.
7. Answer the survey questions and make comments about the instructor and/or the course.
8. Make sure to click on "Submit Evaluation" at the bottom of the page.

I was in Europe when evaluations began, so we got a bit of a late start, but evaluations are important and helpful to me, and I appreciate your willingness to participate.

Have a fabulous holiday season, and thanks once again for a great semester.
-Daniel

It's Finally Time to Relax

I will take my last final tomorrow at 11:00 am for which I feel very ready for. I have been so stressed lately, as have most every student I am sure! I can't wait to be done with this health test tomorrow! At about 12:00pm tomorrow I will be so relaxed and ready for Christmas and New Years. All that I have left after my final tomorrow is to show up to English class on Thursday to watch all of the awesome presentations! Thursday will be a great way to end this semester. I have already given my presentation, so I will not show up to class stressed out, or with butterflies in my stomach. All I will have to do is go and watch, which will be quite a treat if they are anything like those that have already presented. This has been such a stressful semester for me with school, work, and my family duties. I am happy that school is finally coming to an end, well, the semester anyway. I am looking forward to the break between semesters and work. I am ready to relax!!

Confused

I was just looking at our class schedule and realized that there is nothing noted for Tuesday (tomorrow) the 16th... Is this correct? Do we not have class tomorrow? Or is it a mistake? It says our final and genre presentations are on Thursday the 18th. Tuesday is just missing off the calender completely so I'm not sure what to think of it. Are our thursday dates supposed to be for tuesday? tomorrow? If anyone can let me know... it would help me out alot cuz I am so lost over here. lol. THANKS!!!

Christmas Shopping at the Mall is Crazy!

I went to the mall tonight to do some Christmas shopping, and it was insane!! I got there around 8:30pm, thinking it would be less crowded an hour and a half before closing time. I was most certainly wrong!! I have never seen the mall more busy and crowded in my life. I'm not sure if everybody there thought the same as I had, or if this was considered the "slow time" but it was not a fun experience. This did however, help me to realize how much money is spent this time of year.
I witnessed some people spending over $500 worth of merchandise in a single store! I was in line behind a gentleman who spent $1053.88 in a clothing store. I felt that everywhere I went there was someone waiting to rip me off! Everything seemed way over priced: even the so called "sales" seemed to be over priced. I am going to do my best to avoid the mall until the middle of January at the earliest!!

I'm Done.

Well unfortunately i will not be making it to next weeks class session because i will be in puerto penasco mexico vacationing. I will say i enjoyed this class and my first semester as a college student thanks to all you people and Dan. It's been good times and i learned a lot. Good luck to everyone here on out and for the last time here on this blog, Im done.

December sucks...now

Is it necessary for the end of semester, finals, and Christmas to be within two weeks of each other? Maybe it's just me, but I feel like school is ruining my holiday season. By the time all of my finals are finished/failed, I will have about 2 weeks to do Christmas shopping, look at Christmas lights, make a gingerbread house, watch Christmas movies, drink eggnog, and build a snowman. Why do they do this do us? (Not you, Daniel. I'm talking about other, ridiculous professors who are identical twins with Scrooge.)
I'll stop complaining now and get back to studying, but do any of you feel this way or am I being a baby?

Self-Reflective Letter

For some reason, Blackboard isn't letting me upload content today, so I am posting here the information that is contained on the Self-Reflection handout:

Self-Reflective/Assessment Letter

This letter doesn’t have rigid design or content requirements. This is intentional as I want you to see the letter as your opportunity to say what may not be apparent in your Classical Argument and Genre Translation assignments. That is, I want you to feel comfortable discussing issues about your writing and your progress that you feel will help build the rhetorical appeal (logos, pathos, ethos) of your final project. It is, in the end, what the title indicates: a self assessment of your final assignments and, more generally, your progress in the course.

Again, there are no content requirements for this letter, but you might consider the following:

What issues have you wrestled with in your writing? How did you work to clarify them through peer review, reading the text, class discussion/lectures and your own writing process?

Would you now define “good” writing in the same way that you did at the beginning of the course? How have the writing assignments, peer reviews, and discussions of the text impacted your view of good writing?

How has the concept of visual rhetoric impacted your research and/or your writing?

How have you worked through the peer feedback you have received? Have you received contradictory advice? If so how did you handle it?

How has research impacted the way you write? How have the ideas of others impacted how you have made your argument in your Classical Argument and your Genre Translation?

What else do you want me (your reader and the person assigning you a grade) to know about you as a writer? You might think about this in terms of logos, ethos, and pathos; that is what do you want me to know in order to strengthen the logos, pathos, and ethos of your final project and your performance this semester? Note that merely asserting that you are a much better writer will NOT build your ethos or credibility or grade. I do NOT want a bunch of empty statements like “I’ve learned so much about writing this semester” and “I’ve really improved my writing” and “you are the best English teacher in the universe” (actually, this last one is okay :P). In all seriousness, though, as with the claims in your essays you will need to demonstrate/prove what you have learned. Also, note that it is not required that you have made massive improvements—one can write well for this class and engage with the process and text without necessarily making huge improvements as a writer.

Thanks.

Presentations

I thought the presentations went excellent today. I just wanted to tell Lila and Katelin that their presentations rocked. I loved how ya'll got emotional and I could tell you really cared about the topic of your choice. So passionate!! Lila, those girls are SO cute and you all have voices of angels! Katelin, your poem was so simple but so moving! And everyone else, Trevor, thanks for helping me understand sports better. Josh, I will now look at movies alot different, Zack, your really confident and funny! I'm looking forward to the rest! And of course, Daniel, you are an excellent teacher, as proved by presentations today. I know not one of us could have done the same with out your teaching!

Medical Care

So, on Thursday November 20th, I was getting trained to give the residents (I work at Beehive Nursing Homes) their medication, but before I had to take a TB (tuberculosis) test, which they just stick a needle in your arm, inject stuff, twist the needle around a little, and then you go back and they check it 48 hours later to see if you have tuberculosis (or if your body has been introduced to it). Anyways, I'm usually always a little scared with needles and I get all hyped up, even though I've had 5 shots in my bottom and 2 IV's and countless times getting blood drawn, like I said, it's all in my head. Well, the test went fine, so I was like oh I'll watch this next one, and I was okay for about 2 minutes and then got tingly, saw black and woke up on the floor with tons of pain in my back and head. I guess I had fallen out of my chair, started to seizure, but then stop and rocked my head on the wall. Well, the nurse who took my TB test, did nothing about it until another lady called 911 for me, bless her heart! They then arrived and asked me millions of questions, and each question at least 4 times. Well, I took a trip in the ambulance, without them even calling my family, or telling me which hospital I was at! And so I had to call my mom and tell her, oh but which hospital was I at? She went to Timpanogas and then they directed her to Utah Valley, well about 2 hours passed, while I'm laying there strapped to a dumb back-board, that isn't too comfortable for those who have been on one. They finally come to take me to get X-Ray's and of course they find nothing wrong. Now, I'm wondering why the heck I never got asked if I even wanted to go in the ambulance to the hospital in the first place. Because now I have to pay a bill for it. I also think it's ridiculous the amount of time I spent there! And 4 times my mom went out to the area where the nurses are to ask them if I could have water or something, but everytime she went out, she found 5 nurses sitting chatting with each other laughing, while I sit there on the most uncomfortable thing of my life. And, they just said oh yeah, hold on we'll ask. Well of course I couldn't have anything, but then finally I got my X-Ray's and was ready to go, well, actually I had to wait another 45 minutes to get the nurse to take out my dumb IV. The way hospitals do things (especially Utah Valley) is so asanine. I couldn't even believe it. And they just stick us in these rooms, and yes of course I was fine and I would never put my needs especially those with a real wound (gunshot, overdose, broken limb etc) over mine, but I wanted to get the H out of there and off the back board which didn't help my already hurt back. The way medical things are handled now days is so ridiculous. And I just can't wait to see what Mr. President plans to do with Health Care.

Thursday and Friday

Hi everyone. This is just a reminder that I will be in my office all day on Thursday and Friday to meet with students and answer any questions you may have regarding the Classical Argument paper or the Genre Translation assignment. My flight from England was delayed, and I am just now getting home, so I will be coming in a bit later than I had anticipated tomorrow, but I will still be there all day. I will be in my office from 10:30 AM to 8 PM. (I may be there a little earlier, but I will be there by 10:30 for sure.) On Friday I will be there from 8AM to 8PM.

Oh, and my dissertation defense went really well. Thanks to those of you who wrote me about it.

-Dr. Westover (still sounds a bit weird, but I'll get used to it)

I hate reviews..

Maybe hate is a strong word, but it works. I can not write a review paper for my group members. I know what i think, but i can't turn it into words. I hate these kinds of papers almost as much as i hate the "what did you learn about yourself" papers. I just can't do it, and certainly can't write a page on it. But then i think, what if me saying this makes it even more of a mental block to actually do it? So then i think maybe i need to be more like the little engine that could... I think I can, I think I can... I have lost all dignity and self-respect after that comment. I'm done.

HSM 3!

So i went and watched HSM 3. That's high school musical 3: Senior Year for those of you who aren't done with the hip new acronym. Call me a fruit cake or a little strange/odd, but i loved the trilogy. I have all three soundtracks and movies. I think they are awesome. I'm not just letting you all know how i like the movies, this blog has a purpose. I have a beef with vanessa hudgens character Gabriella Montez. In all three movies she breaks up with him or leaves him in some way. She always doubts him while he always supports and loves her and it really pisses me off. How come girls never appreciate or even seem to notice everything the guy does?.. I wrote my opinion piece on graciousness by the way.. How come the guy always has to tie up the loose ends and keep the relationship strong, keep the girl held together or confident in his commitment. The girl always looses faith. And I'm gonna go ahead and generalize this one because i have reasonable proof from watching the high school musical trilogy and gabriella's behavior. I think maybe girls seem to typically have lower self-esteem than guys do, so maybe they need that reassurance? Kinda like they are playing a bluff card just to see exactly how much their man will do for them? How far can i woman really push their man in this kinda situation? What if the man really does love his partner and because of the constant break downs calling for the reassurance does exactly what the woman is afraid of- the guy leaving.
Give me some feedback. I'm interested in some stories. EVERYONE has a story like this so please post. girls and guys included. sorry if i'm being sexist in a way cuz i know there are situations where the gender is switched, if we can even say their is an accurate gender stereotype for the insecure partner to begin with that could be switched. Just give me something, anything cuz i feel most of my posts go for the most part uncommented on by the majority of the class. Maybe thats because our class isn't very blog friendly, myself included...Im ranting. Im done

Death. You Never Think About it Till it is Forced On You.

We have all had different people die in our lives. Usually it's a grandparent or a distant uncle. These are all really sad occurrences in life. But all of these fail in comparison to losing a close friend. Amanda Clifford, 20, of Lindon, was traveling southbound on the freeway just after 8 a.m., heading to school at Utah Valley University, when she was cut off during the early morning commute. Amanda lost control of her vehicle and swerved to the right, then to the left in front of a semi-trailer. The truck hit Amanda's Honda on the driver's door. Clifford was the only occupant of the vehicle and was transported by helicopter to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in critical condition. Amanda died at approximately 2 P.M. She was an amazing young lady that I had the privilege of knowing for 6 or 7 years. I knew her through Marching Band at Provo High School. She was an amazing friend.
The last time I saw her was this last Sunday at Benjamin Perry's LDS Missionary Farewell. Ben was her boyfriend of 3 years. He was scheduled to leave for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Mission on Wednessday of this week. She had just recently put her papers in to go serve a LDS Mission herself. They were planning on returning from their missions and getting married.
We never really understand death untill it is imposed uppon our lives. As a young person I tend to have the feeling of being invincible. You never know how fragile life is untill it is taken away from those you love.

Obama..What a joke!..or not

I have come to a disturbing realization concerning obama's presidency.
No one is going to make jokes about him. Since forever SNL, Mad Tv, Jay Leno, Connon O'brian, David Letterman, etc. have been making jokes about the president. But not with obama will any white people make a joke about him fearing they will be labeled a racist? Plenty of minorities made fun of W. Bush, Clinton and Bush, but now that the tables are turned i'm afraid that no one will make jokes about obama. sure their are the impersonators, but they don't really make fun of him. Of course minorities can make fun of him, but not white people. I am interested how this will play out. unfortunately i foresee writers of the networks having a hard time to make jokes and keep viewers interested.

Revised Class/Assignment Schedule on Blackboard

Hi all.

Please be aware: WE ARE MEETING IN THE LIBRARY ON TUESDAY, ROOM 206.

There is now a revised schedule up on Blackboard. This new schedule takes us up through the end of the semester. There are a lot of changes, so you will want to take a look. We will be discussing this on Tuesday and signing up for small groups, so don't miss, and make sure to bring any questions with you. Have a nice rest of your weekend.
-D

Illegal Immigration

In the piece “Illegal Immigration and Border Control: Progress Along the Border” Jon Kyl is ecstatic that the President recently passed legislation which will help fund border control. Jon says there is enough money to finish construction of over six hundred and fifty miles of fencing and hire more than two thousand new border patrol agents. Also this bill will add more detention beds so when illegal aliens are caught then can be held for trial. Mr. Kyle believes this bill will help deport illegal immigrants from the country and give Arizona’s border patrol about one hundred million dollars. He says congress has tried to help secure the resources needed to control the illegal immigrants coming into the country. The Department of Homeland Security is using a program online for employers want to know if the person who they might be hiring is a legal citizen. The statistics in the piece show that Arizona’s border patrol has the most apprehensions of illegal immigrants, more than any other state. Jon believes that overall there are still to many illegal’s coming in and overstaying there welcome so he will continue to keep pressure on congress.
I really like what Jon Kyl is doing here. I think if people from other countries want to come here they need to do it legally. If you get caught trying to cross the border illegally, I believe, you need to be shot before you get across. If you do get across you should be apprehended and sent back on an airplane, when you get far enough across the border to the country in which you came you need to be pushed out of the airplane without a parachute. If you can make it across you should have no trouble making it back to where you came from. I’m glad our president cares enough that he will pass bills that keep illegal immigrants out of our country.
It really frustrates me knowing that most illegal immigrants, that have jobs, are getting paid “under the table”. This means they get paid in cash and they don’t have to pay taxes. Here we are, legal citizens, paying a lot of money to the government and the illegal immigrants don’t have to pay a dime. This hurt the economy and makes the government raise taxes to help make up the difference.
When illegal immigrants make money a lot of them are shipping it back to their families in foreign countries. So first their not paying taxes and then they turn around and send the money out of the United States hurting our economy even more.
These people live in our country and don’t have to pay a price for it. Here we are sending our young boys over seas to help fight for our freedom and fight the war on terror and our illegal neighbors sit back and enjoy what we have done. If there were a draft again they would get off scotch free while legal citizens got drafted.
A lot of illegal immigrants can’t even speak English. Here they sneak into our country and hide from the government and they can’t even talk to the guy at the gas station or the cashier at the grocery store. This is just ridiculous in my opinion. I am perfectly fine if you obtain a visa and come to this amazing country legally, but when your illegal, not paying taxes, not speaking English, or not leaving Americas money in America, this really chaps my hide. I am so glad we are try to keep illegal aliens out of our country.

My suicidal Beta Fish

During the summer, my friends and I thought it would be great fun to get a beta fish. I really wanted an animal, and a fish was my only option because it sits in a bowl and doesn't get the apartment dirty. After the summer was over, everyone moved away and since it was kind of my idea to get him in the first place, I ended up with Bert, the fish.

I've discovered that my beta fish is more work than I originally thought. In order to keep him alive, we have to clean his bowl all the time and feed him night and morning. It's not really that much work, it just requires taking time out of my day to actually take care of him.

Bert is a suicidal fish! One day my friend walked by Bert's fishbowl and noticed that he had jumped out of the water onto a little lily pad that floats at the top of his bowl. She pushed him back into the water, and a few minutes later, he had jumped onto the lily pad again! He has also jumped out of the spoon multiple times onto the counter when I have been trying to transfer him to new water, so I can clean his bowl.

He's also kind of fun to play around with sometimes, too. If you stick a mirror in front of him, he gets all mad and flairs out his fins. Male beta fish don't like other beta fish, so the mirror makes him think that he has some competition, even though he's only looking at the reflection of himself.

Even though Bert is suicidal, he's a good fish. Just keep swimming!

Kudos to the Timponogos Marching Band.

For the last 2 months or so I have been teaching the drumline up at Timpanogos High School. This is their 3rd year for them to actually have a marching band. I have seen them grow exponentially with their marching technique, timing, and musicianship. This last weekend was their final 2 performances in both Las Vegas and St. George. It wasn't a possibility for me to go with them this year, but I heard that they did an amazing job at both competitions. I just wanted to thank them publicly for the amazing experience and wish them the best for years to come.

Wisdom Teeth

If I didn't know any better I would think that having wisdom teeth was a good thing. Well I know better. After this past weekend I also know that it's not an entirely good thing to get them taken out. It's no fun. Even though I opt to be put under, it was still no fun. I was put under about 3:30 on Friday. I woke up about a half hour later wondering where I was. I don't really remember a whole lot about it. The few things I remember is going to get my prescription and wandering around the store waiting for it to be filled and almost falling over. I don't remember a lot more than that. What I'm getting at, is why did God give us wisdom teeth? There is obviously no good reason to have them. They screw up your straight teeth, and they are a pain to get taken out. Is the only reason for them to be there to guarantee an income for oral surgeons?

Anyone up for a blind date?

So being single, 19 years old, and living in Provo Utah, makes you a perfect target to get set up on a blind date. I've been experiencing this in plentiful amounts in the last couple of months. Blind dates are great for some people, but I think I've had my share. They never really amount to anything, and I'm not looking to find a husband just yet. I've gone on at least three in the last month, and I've had offers for three more in that same time!

I keep telling myself that I'm not going to go on anymore of these awkward dates, but for some reason when I get confronted with whoever wants to set me up, I can't say no! I think I just feel bad turning someone down, and if I try to turn them down, its almost like they make me feel bad about it!

For example, I was at work a couple days ago, and a girl I work with told me that I had cut some guy's hair whose son had just got off his mission, and he really wanted to set me up on a date. Because I've been on at least three blind dates in a month, I wasn't really interested in going on another one, so I kind of started to say no, but then the entire salon was involved, and everyone was making me feel guilty for saying no! The man who was paying at the front desk, told me how he had met his wife on a blind date, and a girl I work with said, "what if you're turning down your future husband?" Of course I know that I'm definitely not turning down my husband, but it seems like everyone likes to speculate about my life, so that is the dillema I'm left with.

I'll probably end up going if the guy calls me, but after this one, I'm really done!

Presidential Election

Ok this is my first year that I am able to vote for president so I was all excited. But after hearing and reading about each candidate I am not so sure. I really do not agree with either one. I think that it would be really cool if we had a black president but then again I am very very much against abortion and Obama is for it. So then I thought hey maybe McCain will be a good candidate. But as I was in the car today I heard that he is a communist.
Why does voting have to be so difficult? When I was a little bit younger I thought that voting would be such a cool thing to do. But now that I have gotten older and wiser (I think) I have noticed that things aren't all they are cracked up to be. Not only do I not know who to vote for but I haven't even gotten registered to vote. I thought that was something that was just automatically done for you.
With everything that is going on, with the not getting registered and not having a person to vote for I have decided not to vote this year. I am hoping that when the next election rolls around hopefully things will go a little bit smoother and hopefully I will find someone that I think is worth voting for.

Never Back Down

The most common question i get on a daily basis is not, "can i have your number?" It is "how old are you?" Or my personal favorite, "are you old enough to be working here?" That one just straight boggles my mind. I don't know if they're sincere when they ask that, or if they're just trying a humorous approach to the first question. I honestly get asked about my age so much and it is so frustrating. After someone asks me, they automatically follow up with an, "I'm sorry, you probably get that alot." After a little bit of annoyed dialogue from me they say, "oh but it's a good thing. You'll look like your 25 when your 40." Or some retardedly drastic age difference like that. I try to act like i've never heard it before cause i'm usually at work when i hear it so i have to be nice. It's my job to be the bigger person and not get mad at the service desk, but if i'm not at work, i can't guarantee anything. I'm legally an adult so don't ask me my age. And if you purposely ask me my age after i've told you not to, i'm going to flip you off :) ok? ok. It's a bitter subject

In regards to this, i recently watched the movie Never Back Down at my friend's house a couple weeks ago. I'm not typically into the whole UFC scene, but this movie was dope. It most definitely got me going. I could see myself in the second main character's role cause he's a smaller guy. Not a body builder with tons of mass at all, but a strong and knowledgeable kid as far as mixed martial arts goes. I pretty closely fit the description of his physique. It got my gears turning. I decided that it would soo stinkin sick if i could just throwdown with several punks hoppin out an H3 like its a cake walk. I want to have that kind of confidence to where i can deal with people in altercations, or i can handle threats and not worry if i'm not going to be able to take care of myself. Even further than that, it would be very handy in interacting with the baby girls! So i have made the decision to get a membership to Throwdown, and start taking mixed martial arts classes, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing, and Combat Jiu Jitsu classes. Moral of this blog: Never Back Down is a bad ass movie haha

I Want to go Home

Each October since I've lived in Utah the weather changes and I just want to go back home to sunny and warm southern California. The cold weather out here for me is almost unbearable. It does get colder in California around this time, but its nothing like the cold out here. I hate having to bundle up just to run a quick errand. I miss just being able to throw on a hoodie at most to go outside. This is also a very depressing time of year for me. The sun will soon disappear behind the big, ugly clouds which drop snow onto the ground which make it hard to drive and walk. I have been trying to talk my wife into moving to California since we've been married. I have been pretty close to talking her into it at times, but I just cant seem to cut the umbilical cord. We have come a long way from separating her from her family but just not enough to get us out of these miserable Utah winters. My wife told me I should try snowboarding to help me enjoy the winters, so I did.
I had a lot of fun and did enjoy being in the snow for once, however, snowboarding is an expensive sport and I am too busy to go as often as I would like, plus in California I would just have to drive a half hour to the mountains and I could snowboard until I am tired of the snow and drive back home where I would be warm and out of snow. I love to be outside and I love playing sports, its so cold during the winter out here that we stay inside our house or if we go anywhere its usually to the mall or somewhere indoors. I also don't like how the winter is like 7 months long out here, only leaving me with around five months out of the year to enjoy the outdoors.

A Bit More Misfortune

My crew and myself went to an 80's themed dance last thursday, and the only reason i thought of posting this story on the blog is because they called me tonight to go again and it reminded me. In preparation for this little adventure, I learned from the first time i had gone that it gets very heated in the club. I'm not a very big kid (which you will hear more regarding the subject in the next blog) so i don't perspire hardly, but it's still nice to be comfortable. So i dress accordingly, wearing basketball shorts and a somewhat 80's looking pastel polo to try to keep in the spirit of the theme. knowing i wouldn't be able to take anything in with me, i'm texting like mad on the way up so as to be content with the lost time i'm not spending texting. i'm pretty well addicted not gonna lie.

We get off the freeway and park on 5th south as close as we can get to the club. My buddy Jer expresses his enthusiastic outlook on his car being able to lock and roll up the windows this time as we park , cause the first time we went to the club we had to leave the driver's side window down because of kind of short in the electrical. Everyone starts to get out of the car while i'm still trying to get a couple texts off telling the ppl goodbye for the night. i finish up and set my phone down on the seat near my wallet as i get up to get out of the car and shut the door. We start to walk away, and jeremy stops, takes a look back at the car to give it one quick last overlook to make sure its ok to leave it while we're away. i stop too and take a look back. everything looks sound and secure, so we continue on walking downt the sidewalk.

The dance ended at 2 in the am. As we make our way outside, i try to pry my friends away from some guys we know that graduated from our high school the year before. they're a real class act of idiots, and on top of that, their drunk. I finally coax them away and we walk back to the car. We approach it and everything looks fine. We get a little bit closer and we notice the passenger window was down. everyone kind of worries a little bit, but when we got in to inspect, the interior seemed to be fine and undisturbed. Jeremy's cd receiver that's hanging halfway out and not even locked in the din is there and intact. All that was needed to successfully jack that would be to slide it out of the din in and snip the wires and you'd have a nice kenwood cd player. i get into the back seat and see my wallet. i look in it and see that my debit card and everything's still in it. So i allow my heart to settle, and i begin to look for my phone to indulge in a little texting. i looked everywhere in the back seat, it was nowhere to be found! I looked right where i put it and surrounding areas in the back. Under the front seats and down the sides of the seat- notta phone to be found. my friend calls it multiple times, and each time the call is ends after a different elapsed time. We try several more times but it just goes straight to my voice mail. The phone had been turned off, so someone definately had it. I was livid! I lost all my contacts, my 2 gig micro sd card with all my pictures, ringtones and videos on it. But worst of all, my damn phone! It costed me 350 ish dollars for the freaking upgrade, and now i have to spend another unexpected sum of money to state a claim to the insurance to get a new one. $ 50 I did not expect to spend on this, now is not going towards the new oakley's i wanted, nor is it going to get me an ipod. All i have left to say is wtf david blaine?!

Cats and Haunted Houses

Right now my life is slightly boring, but okay.
I'm looking to move out in the next little while but it's kind of hard to find a place that will accept cats. I have three. Jason (my husband) and I got our first cat in California as a kitten and she traveled with us back to Utah.
The other two cats we acquired accidentally as so often happens with cats. So we had three and were in a place that accepted them. But now that I'm living at home and need to find a new place, it's a bit difficult. This no-pets-allowed business in places to rent is a very good bashing subject, but I'll leave that to another blog. I kind of want to keep this one shorter since my last blog was hella long.

I went to a haunted house last night with my boyfriend. It was the Haunted Forest and Psycho Manor in American Fork. We had gotten a coupon from a Thai restaurant and decided it would be fun to go. It was scary. Soo scary! I've been to haunted house things before (I actually think I went to this same one a few years back) and I was able to handle myself fairly well. But not this time, not anymore for some reason. My boyfriend got great entertainment from my fright though. He had a ball.
It was very interesting discovering that part of myself. When you are absolutely scared shitless, you are in circumstances that pushes your psychology to new levels.
Anyways, it was fun...kind of. Took an hour for us to complete both. Probably should have taken more time but I had a tendency to run and hurry through the way scary parts, which was most of it. It was fun in retrospect. During it... it was interesting. Worth it, but probably not healthy for me to do on a regular basis.

We'll take care of you.

I was "privileged" to go through the car buying process two days ago and did all I could to avoid stereotyping the car salesmen....but every single person I talked to fulfilled the stereotype to the fullest extent. From the moment I pulled up to the dealership I watched the whole process unfold. Don't get me wrong I understand its their job, and they are trying to make money like any other American, that doesn't bother me. What does bother me is their "words of comfort" during it all. It seems like, without fail, the salesman is always introduced as someone who will take care of you. The salesman starts out very enthusiastic and happy to be with you, he proceeds to become your best friend as you test drive different choices and ask questions. The Salesman I had was a great guy who was "on my side" the whole time...until it came to purchasing. "You are in luck because you and your brother know (we'll use Jake,) you have the upper hand because you know someone you'll get the lowest price and best deal. How I got them to come 3000 dollars lower than their original "best price for the friend discount offer" somehow doesn't make me feel like there words held any validity. It only took us 2 hours to get to that point, after dealing with, what becomes the third man (the salesman) and the other person he always has to go to behind closed doors. Our best friend the salesman slowly faded out of the picture and didn't want anything to do with us...weird? Hearing it all from, we can't go any lower than 1,000 dollars its the "absolute lowest we can go" to what do we need to do to keep your business, and of course... We'll take care of you guys!

All I ask is where is that one dealership that will save you and them the time and hassle and just sell you the car so they can make their commission, but not charge you 2000 dollars over what you could pay. Its a joke! There has to be someone out there that will actually hold to their promise of "We'll take care of you."No wonder no one is buying cars! Oh ya, and I'm sure that whole economy thing probably has a little to do with it.

Government Bashing

Alright. So I don't blog very much at all, so I really don't know what I want or should blog about. Most blogs that I've read on here from classmates are kind of bitching about one thing or another, which makes since, as it's easy to get worked up enough to blog about something if your angry about it. So.
I really dislike the governments power. I'm actually doing my summary/response paper on an opinion piece that talks about the fact that the government lies and people just let them get away with it. My personal opinion is that it's because we the people are so used to losing when going up against the government, it's useless to try. For example, I had to go to court once and while I was waiting for my turn, I watched others' cases. A few cases were people who got a traffic ticket and were trying to fight it. But to no avail because even though the judge went through the motions of hearing them out and putting up a show that maybe the victims (?) were right, in the end he still just said, "Well, these officers are trained in their field and know what they're doing" sort of thing. So you lose. Straight up. I think no one would really have a chance at fighting this sort of battle without hard core evidence with a video recording of the incident or something.
I could go on and on about how disgusting and corrupt our government is, but I know for sure that there are plenty of other governments that are worse than ours. So I just have to tell myself that it's pointless to worry about the whole of our governments shortcomings and just try to focus on surviving my personal battles with the government, for the most part...until I am in a position to do more about it, right? ;)

What is up with this timing?? seriously!

Ever since before school started, i have been in a crunch financially. and by the end of this post, it will be made evident that i still indeedily doodily am in a bind. So it all starts out with target giving me crap hours to begin with, and every measily pay check i get pretty well went to paying for these ludicrous petrol pump prices. so i've got squat, and $630 worth of tuition for the two classes i'm taking at uvu only because my parents paid half. And i've got a deadline to meet. all the while the registration on my car expired at the end of june and i'm driving around illegally, but can't do anything about it cause i don't have the dough to pay for a state I/M. So when i do manage to round up 35 spare dollars, i take it in for inspection to my buddy that i think if he finds anything arry, he'll let it slide considering my situation. Turns out the wear bars on my tires are flush with the tread level, and my exhaust has a leak. i expected to have to replace my tires on account that the weather is changing and rear wheel drive cars suck in the snow as it is. But he was going to make me do something about my leak. But i can't just tack a weld onto it, it's too rusted to weld too so i have to get a whole new muffler before he'll pass me on the safety inspection. don't even worry that my 18 year old car passed emission no prob. So i borrow the $319 necessary for new tires from my parents hoping i can pay them back soon enough cause i have to pay upwards of $250 for a new exhaust. so after going around and getting 400 dollar quotes from various independent auto shops, i decide to go the bolt on route and get a whole cat-back system for less than just a muffler. I get to doing my research online and find the site that sells the system i want for the least amount of money. so i find one, and place an order! They don't even charge shipping, so i'm thinking i hit the jackpot. Three days later, it arrives at my house. i tear the packaging off it and start to examine my newly acquired italian muffler! but to my dismay, i notice it didn't come with the required center piece that fits between the muffler and the catalyst. AND one of the muffler tips has a freaking crease on it as though it was dropped somewhere along the way from them to me. So i call these people up and complain on both counts. They told me "sorry, we really need to change that description on the website." And all they can do is give me 15 percent off of the $50 charge for the center pipe that i thought was included. So i do what i need to to return the damaged muffler, and save like seven dollars off the center pipe and order another muffler. More times passes and the newly ordered muffler makes it as close to me as the ups facility within my vicinity the day i was supposed to receive it. I went to my computer to track it, and it says apparently the ups deliverer declared the new one damaged and that it would be shipped back to the company along with the details. I call the company and ask them what's up?? they tell me the muffler got damaged in shipping and that they would credit my account for the cost along with the other. They specifically told me "please allow one to two days for credit." to make this very long and complicated story short, i do not have my money back from them after 3 days shy of a month. oh and plus, i woke up today with my brother walking into my room handing me a parking violation for my unregistered car being parked out on the street. Parked! i was not driving it! and i live on a dead end. No cop or parking enforcer ever patrols my street! So i now have to pay 30 more dollars that i don't have because these people can't ship me a damn muffler in the first place, they can't refund me my money so i can get one from someone else, and in the mean time, i get a citation for the very reason why i'm trying to get this freaking muffler. honestly, what is the deal with this timing??!!

Get your hands off my kid!!

So I was at a park a couple days ago with my family to let my kids run around and play for a while. My oldest son who is three years old was playing at the playground where there were a lot of other kids playing as well. My son brought with him a little toy car that he was carrying around with him for most of that day. Whenever I am in a crowded place with my kids I am so paranoid that i almost cant relax because I am constantly watching them and making sure they are okay and especially no creeps do anything to them. As Charlie (my son) was playing he found a friend who was about two years older than him and they seemed to be getting along just fine until he pushed Charlie down and took his little toy car! I was so mad at this little boy but I want my kids to work out problems like this on their own as much as they can so they can learn to not depend on mom and dad for every little struggle they encounter. As Charlie got himself up he looked at this bully and said "give me back my car" the boy said "no" so Charlie hit him! I was on my way to them when just before I got there this boys mother grabbed my son by the arm and while pointing in his face said "NO! NO! NO! We don't hit!"
Poor Charlie was terrified! I said to this woman in a very protective manner "Get your hands off my kid" I explained to her that she had no right to touch my child or discipline him! I was so angry! I watched the whole thing and not that my son was right for hitting the kid but she just had no idea that her son stole Charlie's car and pushed him first. She told me that I need to teach my kid some respect and not to hit! I told her that she should practice what she preaches, I saw that this conversation was going absolutely no where so after making Charlie apologize to the bully I removed him from the situation and we left the park. I still cannot believe how bold that woman was to discipline my boy in the manner that she did!

I don't know your names!

I came to the realization that I don't know your names. It happens ALL the time in classes i have. I went to the same school K-8 with the same kids and by 8th grade I still had trouble with the names. I think we should play that name game in class because I hate reading the posts and not having a face to associate them with. I know some have pictures in their profile, but that does me no good. So maybe next class time as well as the name game we can play 3 things you like to do as well. I think our class needs to get to know each other a little better, well actually just i need help getting to know your names and it makes me feel better if I say the class needs help. I will admit we probably are a pretty close-knit class, but I'm just really bad with names and people and I want to really get to know all of you. I'm done.

I need help...

So I was driving home from work last night, when I got pulled over. Ugh, great. The last thing I need right now is a speeding ticket and of course the cop is an jerk and gives me a ticket. Ok I get he’s probably not really an jerk, that’s just his job, but still. This wouldn‘t be such a big deal if my bank account was overflowing or if money grew on trees. But considering my idea of feeding the poor is buying myself some ramen noodles, this poses a problem. Now my insurance is going to skyrocket and I am back on probation. Yes, just what I wanted in life. Seriously speeding tickets are pointless, I never learn my lesson. You think I wouldn’t speed after this but I always find myself still speeding. After I get a ticket I am so conscious about how fast I am going, for like a week. Then after that I always find myself speeding again. Its not that I have a need for speed, I just space out when I’m driving and don’t pay attention to little details such as how fast I’m going. I think I need help or maybe its just time for me to buy a radar detector. Does anyone know of any good ones, that actually work, but that won’t clean out my wallet?

BCS dreams busted

BYU has had a good run but unfortunately all good things must come to an end:( BYU did not have a very good game against TCU and their dreams of "busting the BCS" this season will come to an end! Turnovers, Penelties, and a poor running game led to the downfall of the Cougars tonight in Fort Worth, Texas. The Cougars Defense looked dazed and confused in the first half and the Horned Frogs defense looked flawless. BYU had some late try's to come back but fumbled and threw an interception deep in TCU territory. Best of luck to the Horned Frogs this season

Males, and their "I'm Always Right" Opinions

Over the past few weeks, I've been having a LOT problems with my car. In a nutshell, I've pretty much totaled the front end of my car (being without one for three weeks), I left my keys in California, the battery had lots of issues so my car wouldn't turn on properly, and after the battery got fixed, the keys were locked in my car. All of these events were a lot more dramatic when they happened, but my car isn't the main topic of this entry. I brought it up because of something I noticed when I was getting my car fixed one time. Males definitely think they know the answer, and they aren't afraid to tell it.

I had finally gotten my car back after losing my keys, and I was really excited to drive it. When I decided to go somewhere, my car wouldn't turn on. The battery wasn't dead, but the ignition just wouldn't start. So of course my first resort was to call my dad. I told him all the symptoms that my car was having, and he came to the automatic conclusion that it was my battery, and the cables just needed to be cleaned for the car to be fixed.

So my brother-in-law (we'll call him Steve) came over with the intents to take the battery apart and clean it. Once Steve got there, my car decided to turn on all by itself. We decided to take a little drive to trusty old Wal-Mart just to keep my car running. After we turned off the car, it wouldn't start again. We went inside, back to the automotive dept. and luckily there were two workers there. We once again told them the symptoms of my car, and automatically one of the workers told me, "it's a problem with your ignition." The other worker agreed, and so after I talked to them, I called my dad back and told them what the workers said. Immediately my dad was adamant about the fact that the problem with my car was DEFINITELY not the ignition. His logic was, "they didn't even look at your car, so they don't know."

Next, we bought a new battery and Steve changed it, making the funny comment, "I almost hope this battery doesn't fix the car, just to prove him wrong." We hoped that it would fix the problem, but it didn't, so a few minutes later, a couple of random nice men (thank heavens we're in Orem with lots of friendly people!) came over to help. The first thing the younger guy said was "It sounds like a problem with the ignition to me." Over the next couple of minutes, the older guy pretty much shot down the first guy's theory about my car with his own opinion. He was saying it was a short in the wiring, or something like that.

I told my Brazilian roommate this story, and she had almost an identical story happening in Brazil, with the opinionated men and everything!

Everyone likes to be right, it just stuck out especially in males to me last night while I was sitting around surrounded by so many differing opinions of only men.

I'm sure that a lot of these men have good intentions, but sometimes their opinions on things aren't always right, even if they think they are. It was interesting to watch, as the nice man helped me get my car started how determined he was and how positive he was, that he was going to fix the problem.

Having strong opinions is obviously a good thing, as well. Lots of things probably wouldn't get accomplished if no one had an opinion. I'm not trying to be sexist here, I just thought it was a funny observation how all of these guys would tell me, without any question in their mind what they thought was wrong with my car. I just kind of laughed because I don't know too much about cars, so I couldn't give them any input.

The good news is I have my car back, and it finally works again!

The Best, The Worst

Lila asked me to post the quote I read to you in class. The words belong to the great Irish poet W. B. Yeats; they come from his poem "The Second Coming":

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity

A Sad Realization..

Since Saturday night I have been wondering about my opinion on movies. I feel that I know a good movie when I see one and when I watch a horrible movie everyone seems to agree with me that it is a bad movie.

Due to the very limited movie selection at my apartment and since my weekend was that exciting I found myself spending my Saturday night watching High School Musical...

Now if you don't know what High School Musical is then you should probably get out more. Even people who haven't seen the movies know what they are. And for those of you who do know what this movie is you'll know that it's a very cheesy horrible movie. I say that it's a horrible movie but to my embarrassment I have to admit I really like High School Musical...

I was thinking about this newly discovered fact about myself and wondering why the heck do I like this movie so much? It is truly a horrible movie. The major reason why it's such a bad movie is because the story is freaking stupid. And yet I find myself getting caught up in this lame story hoping that the main characters can pull it out and overcome all the pressure and adversity they face one song and dance at a time. I can't get over it. I really cannot understand why I like this movie. It's driving me crazy because I honestly shouldn't like this movie.. at all!

This problematic issue within myself made me think of everybody else. This movie is so popular throughout the entire country/the world! It has made millions possibly even a billion dollars worth of profits! Why is that? What is it that makes this movie so appealing? Is it the catchy songs? The oh so amazing dancing? Or is it the good looking actors that all the fans fall in love with?

Who knows...

So I guess to conclude this little post... the High School Musical mania has not ended quite yet. Actually it's not even close I would bet. The third and final (hopefully) High School Musical movie is coming out later this month in theaters. Which I am sure will bring millions of dollars to Disney and the High School Musical franchise. And I am sad to admit I will possibly be attending a midnight showing of "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" with my roommates wearing ridiculous HSM paraphernalia helping the franchise build profits. Here you go Disney take my $8.50 and use it well... sigh.

Dudes: Brazilians. Really?

I was recently approached, and have been in the past several times, by a friend(s) that are attending esthetician school to be their model in Brazilian waxing. A Brazilian wax is a waxing that removes the pubic hair from the top of the pubic bone ALL the way down across the taint or tate (thats just two of many slang terms i have heard of that area, not sure the medical term)- the area between the penis or vagina to the rectum- including the rectum. ALL the hair in those areas. I say that twice to get point across. And the real point is... I'm not sure. I don't know all the regulations about it, but from what I understand if you want you Master Esthetician license you must perform a male Brazilian wax. Why would schools require that? Why would men want that done? Why would women subject themselves to doing it? It's immoral and wrong and weird and gross and I could go on. I'm thoroughly sickened and disgusted. I realize it's a "beauty" (blah) thing or whatever you want to call it and probably no one is forcing any guy to get it done or for that matter once a women had her license and worked at a spa I'm sure they could decline giving that service, but still i have to ask, What the hell is wrong with people?
I wrote the above statement in a bias why making it seem that only women are in esthetician school, which is not true. There are men and I'm sure they perform waxings too in that area. Although, in Utah, I THINK there are laws against men doing private area waxing, but the rest of the states who knows. If by some unfortunate, satanic strain of events i had to get a waxing there, i think i would prefer a man to do it same as i feel more comfortable with men giving me a physical or checking my man parts. I just do. Which brings me to a more disturbing topic.

Male Gynecologists
This paragraph might be rude or offending of the profession if anyone you know is a male gyno. I don't intend on making it that way, it just comes across that way.
Why would any self respecting man want to be in a profession where he looks at vaginas all day? I'm positive girls and women feel more comfortable with women checking them out. So, why do men do it? Sometimes young girls have to get checked out and even though it's a doctor its probably humiliating to the girl. And I'm not excluding women. There are women who probably hate going to their yearly check up because the fact that they are embarrassed to be in such a revealing position to another man regardless if it's for their own good. And if women are embarrassed, and they do get embarrassed( i have heard friends says its weird, seen shows making fun of it and such) why would they go in if something really was wrong? Some might be so humiliated to come in with a problem to a man that they might go unchecked. I realize there are women in the profession (thank god), but not enough. After some brief research i found that it will still be maybe a decade before there is an equal amount of men and women gyno's. So maybe a women can't find a another women doctor to help her feel more comfortable in the matter and there only choice is to go to a guy. A guy who is by any and all definitions a creep. No offense, but even the word vagina sounds like a disease, so why would any guy want to look at a disease sounding body part with an infection or disease itself? I don't know. Maybe I'm being immature about, I understand its for medical reason's, but being a heterosexual male i like to remember the female as something without flaw, not to be examining, or finding the potential problems in the part that makes a human a female in the first place. Maybe that's the problem? Call me sexist, but some jobs should be left to females and some jobs should be left to males. I'm Done.

Passionately doing Nothing!

So I got to thinking about what Daniel said today in class – I can’t remember the quote exactly that he read from that book (((BUT Daniel if you could post it that would be great)))


And it really bothered me – it made me think about why we just sit around and complain and yet don’t ACT?? What is it – why is it that we feel afraid? In particular it made me think about how many people in our society are trying to take GOD out of everything. I see people pretending to try TO ACT about it - You know we all get the forwarded emails from friends saying something like 80% (not positive on the #) of people in America believe in some kind of Supreme Being – whatever you would like to call it. The emails always question WHY is it that the people who believe aren’t doing more?

I wonder to myself – what can I do to influence a change in what is happening? Then I find myself asking other questions where do you start? IS THERE ANYTHING I can do to change what has sadly all ready been undone, or is the pathetic attempt of forwarding emails my only “known” action option? Do you have to have a lawyer to change something anymore? What do you do when you don’t know what you can do – how then do you act on it?

Autotoilets

So today before my class in the McKay Events Center I found myself having to go to the bathroom like I have to do every now and then. And if none of you know the McKay Events Center has automatic flushing toilets.

Now I know this is the twenty-first century and our lives are surrounded by technology, but is it really necessary for us to have automatic toilets?

Ok, I guess I would not completely mind having automatic toilets if they didn't flush three or four times before you actually go to the bathroom! Like my experience today for instance. I locked up my stall and I get one of those convenient toilet seat covers to put on the toilet. As I am getting a seat cover the toilet flushes which for some reason really annoys me. And again as I am bending over to put the seat cover on the toilet, it flushes. On this particular trip to the bathroom the toilet flushed four times before I did my business!

Along with this huge annoyance of all the over excessive flushing there is grossness. The water in the toilet does not always stay in the toilet when it is flushed. As I am prepping myself to go to the bathroom, usually when I am putting on the seat cover, the toilet flushes and I get sprayed by lovely bit of toilet water... it might not be considered to be all that nasty but I truly hate public bathrooms. I don't think they are the most sanitary places in the world and I try to avoid using them as much as possible. So in the instance of me using a public bathroom I really don't like the thought that I get a spritz of toilet water on me.

I do believe that if we would just have the traditional lever flushing toilets this issue would be minimized greatly. And I don't know... I really don't mind bending over and using a very small amount of strength to push down on a toilet lever to flush. Some might say that you'll get germs from the lever and your hand, and a benefit of autotoilets will help with that. Well without fail there are always sinks and hand wash outside of every bathroom stall for you to use to wash your hands. And if you're really that worried about germs, carry a little bottle of hand sanitizer if you truly desire.

A tattoo could mess with your life!

So in class we were talking about tattoos and how bountiful has got that law saying you cant work for them, etc. Well its not as far fetched as we are making it seem, actually it is very common. I go to thinking about the army and navy because that is what tattoos remind me of. I wondered if they had any regulations about tattoos and come to find out they do. i looked online for the regulations and found on the website below the following information,"The United States Army has recently revised their policy on tattoos and other body modifications . Previously, any tattoo on the hands or neck would be disallowed, but now these tattoos have been permitted. No facial tattoos are permitted, but visible tattoos on other parts of the body are now allowed as long as they are tasteful and are not "extremist, indecent, sexist or racist."
The navy is a little more strict they say, "The US Navy allows tattoos of many types, but there are certain limits. No tattoos may be visible on the head or face, and they must be covered when the Navy uniform is worn. There may be no tattoos that are sexist, racist or offensive, and in a different twist, the Navy also gives specific rules against body modifications as well. No forked or split tongues are allowed, and no implants under the skin, just to name two of the rules." The marines also have a policy that bans sleeves all together and if they already have them and are in the marines they cannot advance higher in rank then what they already are.
Police officers and fire fighters policies are decided by the station, and most of the stations are going along with the either the army regulations or the navy regulations. Something interesting i found and i will post the website below is that policemen are very strict on what they can and cannot were and do. There has been a lot of court cases involving piercings and tattoos. In fact on another website i will post talks about some fire fighters in Los Angeles that have to cover up tattoos that they got in the military or for 9/11. So bountiful is not the only ones banning tattoos they just have the most media right now. I am not saying that it is a good or bad thing i got a tattoo just because my dad did not want me to get one and said he would give some money and kick me out of his house, it did not work by the way. With my tattoo i have which is on my back i have not had too much trouble concealing it but when i was filling out my paper work to be a Park ranger i had to describe it and let my boss take a picture of it and put it in my file. I have to conceal it at all times while i am working and while in my uniform that is why it was not that shocking to hear the news about bountiful.

Here are those websites
http://tattoos.lovetoknow.com/Military_Tattoos

http://firefightingnews.com/article-US.cfm?articleID=50465

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2194/is_/ai_n27164398

Dentist - Friend or Foe?

So, I've got something I'd like to sound off about.


Has anyone ever been to the dentist and felt like they were just trying to RIP YOU OFF? I know some of us may have had wonderfully amazing experiences, and left the dentist's office feeling like you were just part of some beautiful fairy tale. More likely it was the unique effect of the laughing gas.


In the last few years I have taken my son to three different dentists; a few times we used our insurance through Blue Cross, and most recently we've had to use Medicaid. Interestingly enough while on our "normal" insurance the dentist never found a cavity in my sons teeth - in fact he complimented on how healthy his teeth were. I regrettably switched dentists after I personally had to have a cavity filled, and he was so rushed and rough he left my gums around the area literally torn and bleeding. There was no way I was going to let that man work on my 4 year olds teeth after he had been that forceful with me.


I took him in June to different dentist who accepted Medicaid and he found 2 tiny cavities. He informed me not to worry because Medicaid would pay for them. Now I am a firm believer in not taking advantage of the government systems put forth to help those in need. So, I asked the dentist what my other options were. He said in a nut shell -- I would HAVE TO have them filled sooner or later, and I'd better do it while it could be paid for 100%.


SO, I decided to get a second opinion before making any rash decisions....


About two weeks ago I took my son to a pediatric dentist who accepted medicaid. With his digitally enhancing x-ray software he managed to conjure up 4 additional cavities completely obscure to the naked eye. He made me feel the same way as the prior dentist that it was an absolute necessity to fill those teeth. He printed up an estimated bill of $660, and tried to use the scare tactic to get me to see the dire need in filling those teeth. He explained that if I didn't have them filled that in 6 months he could likely have to have a baby root canal.


I asked him -- Seriously? Why do you need to fill a cavity you can't even see on a normal x-ray on teeth that are going to just fall out in a few years? In addition, why would I want to put my son thru all the pain and trauma of someone shoving a needle in his cheek, prying his mouth open, and drilling his teeth away? FOR WHAT - a cavity that is causing him NO PAIN, and is so small it can't even be seen! I explained that I personally can attest to the strength of baby teeth as I have 2 baby teeth still left in my mouth. Yes that's right, two of my molars are still my "baby" teeth - I never had any permanent teeth replace them - something to do with my lovely genetics I inherited from my father. Many dentists told my mother that if she didn't have them pulled, and replaced that they would probably cause severe damage to the rest of my teeth. After many years of going to different dentist's one honest man finally told her that sometimes baby teeth, if they are taken care of, could last a well into someone's 30's or 40's.


After obviously being offended that I would question him - This pediatric dentist began to belittle me by starting in on the Medicaid aspect. Saying to me, what if you decided to wait, and what would happen in six months if you weren't on Medicaid and couldn't afford to bring your son back in? He attempted to express genuine concern - that the only reason he took Medicaid was because he understood there was a real need for it locally. He tried to make me feel bad for him by saying, Medicaid doesn't pay his office the full amount of what he normally charges someone.


Honestly, why in the hell did I need to know all of that? That dentist couldn't honestly tell me he opened that office just out of the kindness of his heart. We all know that any actual business is open to make money and to provide a living for their family. Why not take Medicaid? At least he is guaranteed to get paid that money. It is also gives him an incentive to him to find more cavities to bill Medicaid for; considering the fact that he is getting paid less for each individual service he performs. Finally after 20 minutes, he ended up giving me the option to put him on fluoride treatments, and bring him back in six months for a check-up.


Should I have just given the man a break - Probably.


Now let’s get this straight, if it is clearly a necessity I would never deny my son medical attention - Ever. But what exactly constitutes "a necessity" to you and I may differ, and that I understand. Who knows what is right and wrong - that is why we are parents - it is left up to us to make that decision for our children. It may not always be the right decision. However, it was our choice to become a parent, and it is our right and responsibility to be their protectors. If not us then who will?


Maybe, I'm just ignorant and stubborn? Maybe, I'm just a parent who cares?


After having all these feelings, I ran across a short blog/article in the NY times and thought it was worth posting. Maybe, my feelings aren't so crazy after all? Let me know what you think

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/brooklyn-dentist-billed-for-filling-and-pulling-same-teeth/?scp=8&sq=dentist&st=cse

Are you the doctor?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/health/30pati.html?ref=science

Read the article. I loved it. I think my mom suffers from this disease of thinking she can find the answer to everything over the web, or tv. She actually tried to diagnose my little brother from a show called Medical Mysteries. There are a lot of good sources of info out there, but are people taking it to the extreme. You can actually buy prescription drugs of the internet, without a prescription. There are people making self-diagnosis' and then buying drugs to treat them. It's insane. Leave the doctor to figure it out whats wrong with you, or what drugs to give you. In my opinion, i think most drugs are a load of crap anyway; i only take ibuprofen, but thats just me. If your sick please go to the doctor. They can help.

Anyone know people that play doctor over the internet? I'm sure there are funny stories, my mom actually called the doctor about what she saw on TV and told him he needed to do that to my little brother. He then let her know that the procedure often times caused more problems than found answers and he would not do it. The TV show didn't say that part about the procedure. The doctor did. The point: We aren't doctors, except Daniel..

RU 4 Online Dating?

I have been contemplating the way(s) that our increasing devotion to technology has affected the ways we communicate with each other and develop realationships. One obvious part of this discussion is the issue of Internet dating. I am really curious to hear your opinions on this topic. There are, of course, convincing arguments for dating online (you can find who/what you are looking for a lot easier; it gives you access to a larger "dating pool"; you can communicate and find out if there is any real compatability beyond physical attraction), but there are also a lot of reasons not to do it (first and foremost, there are a lot of freaks in the world, and many of them spend a lot of time online; the people you meet often live too far away for a real relationship; you can't know if you have chemistry with someone until you meet that person face to face; people are fake online, putting forth a false, or idealized, version of themselves). These are all arguments I have heard, not necessarily my own arguments. I'm sure you have heard these arguments, or similar ones.

So my question to you is this: Is online dating a good thing? Is it improving or hindering the way we meet and fall in love? Is it speeding up an outdated process or taking all of the fun and tradition out of what my grandparents would call "courting"? Feel free to share personal experiences. Do you meet people online? Do you have success stories? Horror stories? I am really interested in hearing your views on this topic, as well as your own diverse experiences.
~D

Here it is, you've all been waiting for it. What has Trey written? This, my peers, is it.

Feeling Lucky? Good
Rhetorical strategy is exactly that, a strategy. Planned, exact, and designed these strategies often times get the better of us. They work. Habitually, these plans of attack overcome our emotions, senses, and thoughts until we become what the strategist wants us to become. These attacks aren’t always obvious, free for us to consciously overcome them, although they are free for us to see, hear and read. They lurk superimposed between our logical freethinking mind and our irrational subconscious waiting for the time to strike. We are bombarded with these strategies to persuade us, to force us to believe what they want, do what they, even buy what they want when they want us to. Who are they? Everyone, our friends, family, teachers, writers, but most effective and most eager to sway our judgments are the marketing agents. From commercials to billboards to the magazines we bring into our homes, they are all strategies to influence and that’s exactly what they do.
The ad I choose to rhetorically analyze is from Smith and Wesson, a gun manufacturer. In order to accurately create an angle of vision through dissecting the ad, the target audience of the ad must first be identified. The ad tells us of the back in production Model 29 .44 magnum revolver, it also shows a list of three other model revolvers coming back to life, but its target is the .44 because is the largest image on the page. The Model 29 was made famous by Clint Eastwood in the movie Dirty Harry, and the ad plays into that. The movie was a man’s man movie of a super tough cop in San Francisco taking down the bad guys. Immediately I can say the target audience would be men. And not only men, but men from an older generation because not only is the movie nearly forty years old, but the model 29 was first produced in 1955 and only manufactured for 20 years, leaving over thirty years since the last time it was made. The revolver is classic handgun and typically not seen as prevalent in gun shops any longer. Other than older men, whom else might the ad be targeting? The revolver is a handgun that isn’t as popular nowadays with semi-auto pistols as competition. It certainly wouldn’t be used for personal or home safety so the average gun owner wouldn’t be the target of Smith and Wesson. They are targeting serious collectors or shooters that enjoy the traditional, timeless feel of the revolver. Now that the target audience is established how does the ad appeal to that audience in ways other than already mentioned?
The headline of the ad reads “Famous for over five decades of making punks question how lucky they feel”. That is the part of line in Dirty Harry that made the gun so famous in the first place, again appealing to the rough, tough ultra- masculine gun owner. Moreover, it states it has been famous for over 50 years, giving the gun as well as Smith and Wesson great accomplishment and precedence over the market, a textbook example of using ethos to appeal to an audience. The catch is this though, Smith and Wesson would assume the audience already knows this and so how can it still make the viewer interested enough to buy the product? It assures the potential consumer of what Smith and Wesson assumes the viewer already knows by cleverly stating “Smith and Wesson, The Revolver Manufacturer” at the bottom of the ad. This line makes the viewer more confident in the already outstanding manufacturer that is Smith and Wesson. The ending sentence in the paragraph telling the reader about the new manufacturing and availability of the Model 29 and other back-in-production models states, “Go ahead, make your day with a piece of history”. Again, they use play on words with a line from Dirty Harry appealing to their sense of ethos. Smith and Wesson is The Revolver Manufacturer and it has and continues to make guns etch their way into history through people, time, movies and most of all the ability to shoot accurate and reliable, which is the purpose of a gun. Smith and Wesson knows they are top-dog and they use their status to sell their product in this ad.
The target consumer audience has been identified; the strategies used to appeal to the audience have been analyzed, how effective is the ad? I cannot accurately say how effective the ad is because I am not part of the target audience, but the ad worked on me. I am not a revolver fan, but after taking an intellectual dive into the ad I feel I would be more likely to purchase a revolver. I can only imagine the excitement of a revolver collector seeing the ad and learning of the remanufacturing of the Model 29. The ad accurately and effectively brings forth its product in a way to make consumers want to buy the product and make Smith and Wesson part of their history.

I wish i had a picture of the ad to post with it....Too lazy to scan it and upload it and all that junk.

Congratulations are Due

This is my first blog and, rather than posing a problematic question or insight to make you think, I want to give a big high five and pat on the back to Daniel for completing his Doctoral thesis. It is a big deal and deserves a lot of respect. Hats off to soon to be Dr. Dan.

ha ha ha

hey speaking of calvin klein,
did anyone see his reference last night on family guy?
i think it was kinda funny because we were totally just talking about him, and stewie got on and did a photo shoot for his designer diapers, lol

Are You Sold on Sex?

Today we had a really great discussion about visual rhetoric, and one topic that generated a lot of conversation was sexuality in advertising. "Sex sells" is a truism that we hear from time to time, but we went a little deeper than that today. We discussed what ads that appeal to human sexuality say about us. Do they reveal how far we've come, to a point where we can openly celebrate the human body and our sexual nature, or are they gratuitous appeals to base impulses that exploit and objectify the body? Do they promote unrealistic ideals to consumers, especially young consumers? Or do such images depict common fantasies and impulses that we no longer, in 2008, have to keep hidden? And, from a rhetorical point of view, do these ads work for you? Does this image at all persuade you to buy these jeans? I would love for any of you to sound off on this.

Contempt prior to examination

While thinking about class last week i was reminded of a quote and i thought i would just share it.  

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information; which is proof against all argument; and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is contempt prior to examination."   Herbert Spencer

I completely agree that we should step out of our comfort zone from time to time.  If that is by learning about a different culture or a race we usually don't converse with, so be it.  There is much to be learned when facing the unknown and even more when it is something feared because of cultural differences.  It isn't hard to find diverse culture even here in Utah, where it is thought to be such a ethically dull place.  Just start looking for an opportunity to learn something of a different culture and try to understand why you don't like the things you don't like.  I am almost certain that close to 90% of the things we don't like about another race or culture is because we fall into the category of people being "contempt prior to examination".  Just as Herbert Spencer said,  this will do nothing less of keep you in an ignorant state and in my opinion very uneducated.  

Chivalry is Alive

Dave Chappell once said, “Chivalry is dead, and women have killed it.” This statement is as far away from the truth as you can get. Today, honesty and knightliness are attributes most people aspire to because they want to be more than they can be, like John Thatcher said in A Knight’s Tale, “Change your stars, and live a better life than I have.” People are trying to live a better life, and attract the people that will encourage them living a life of honor and charity. There was this time I was in Bolivia, and we were all rushing to get onto the boats because whoever missed this boat got left behind. So someone had fallen down, and instead of trampling over her, everyone stopped and helped her get up which may have saved her life, because there were so many people trying to get on the boat, which is a chivalrous thing to do. So the simple act of opening a door for your date, or letting your date open the door for you could be more vital than the actual conversation. The qualities that people have determine who they are going to become, and chivalry is that of an upper class nature. Third Eye Blind once wrote “She Likes Me For Me” which is a song about how a guy meets a girl who likes him just because of his personality. We are all one for earth is legion, essentially, but with different personalities, which define who we are, and what kind of people we have around us. The people we have around us also affect how we act, and which is a case of enviroment. Alec Guinness in “Star Wars A New Hope” said, “Stretch out with your feelings, and trust your instinct,” which is something most people do on a subconscious level, and instinctively we do the right thing, and behave like adults, as opposed to children. Mature adults naturally act chivalrous in their behavior, and therefore chivalry is not dead but very much alive.

Chivalry is Dead

“Chivalry is dead, and woman has killed it,” Dave Chappell once said this on the Dave Chappell Show, and at first I did not believe that honorable men existed no more. My opinion has greatly changed after I watch boys fighting over nothing at all. In Medieval times, the term chivalrous was a term that linked a man into knighthood, and granted him God’s blessing on the battle field. Where he would not pillage, or fight on uneven ground, but had a “courtesy” to his enemies, and would grant them the honor of fair combat, and did not bare any hate to his fallen opponents, and would bless them in hopes that they might find peace.
Today, there are but a handful of men who possess the attributes of chivalry, mainly because chivalry is so unknown to people that it appears creepy, outlandish, and outdated. Women today are in a man’s world, and are affected by man’s decisions, and thusly have to protect themselves from the idiocy of a man’s demeanor, hence the mace, R.A.D. classes, and putting bouncers at the clubs and bars. Then when a girl meets a chivalrous man, they don‘t understand what that man is trying to do. Assumptions get made, and the guy is marked a pervert, and is now the newest social pariah. But when she meets a guy who is kind of nice but is still a dick to her, she won’t leave his side because girls love to change boys into chivalrous men, and take the drama along the way. Or maybe another reason is because when you constantly have something, its value is less than something that is rare, and when a guy is a dick all the time, his nice moments mean a lot more than if he were nice all the time.
Chivalry is not only lacking in men, but in women too, in Kanye West’s song Gold Digger, he explains how women are no longer interested in the men, but they are interested in the man’s financial ability to take her out and buy her something nice, or let her ride in his fancy car. Eddie Griffin said, “What happened to just falling in love with someone with a bus pass just because you love the person?”(Ed-U-Cation 2001) As far as who is responsible for the fall of honor and chivalry, I place the blame on the woman because she is no longer interested in the man alone.

Why Drug Addiction Is So Hard to Kick

Why Is Drug Addiction So Hard To Kick?
Zach Himelright
As a recovering addict I have a lot of insight as to why drug addiction is so hard to kick. A lot of people don’t know but there are two parts to a drug addiction. You have your physical addiction, and you have your mental addiction.
Many people will disagree that addiction is not a disease, but it is an actual medical disease. The definition for a disease is, a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment. Now according to this definition an addiction is an incorrectly functioning organ (the brain) resulting from poisons (the drug).
Now with this little bit of information it gives us insight as to why an addiction is so hard to kick. The physical addiction of the drug goes away within a matter of about a week to two weeks. So you could just take an addicted person and lock them in a cell, room or just put them in a place where they have no access to drugs for a week and they won’t be addicted anymore right? Wrong, and I will tell you why. All you have done is taken away the physical addiction, but you have left the most important part of the addiction out of the picture, the mental addiction.
Let me tell you why the mental addiction is so hard to kick. The reason why is because you never stop wanting the drug. Why? Because as humans we like things that make us feel good. Another part to this is we are lazy and we like the easy way out of a problem. This is made clear by our technological advances. We have the car so we don’t have to walk, and soon we will be having robots doing our normal day to day chores.
Now you may ask what this information has to do with drug addiction. It has everything to do with drug addiction. What do drugs do? They provide an easy escape to how we are feeling. They are an easy solvent to our problem. And because of this the mental addiction never goes away. As soon as a trigger hits us we begin to brainstorm ways to solve the problem. And we always look for the easiest way to solve that problem. A person who has never done drugs doesn’t know what the relief that drug can bring. So all a person who has kicked the drug addiction have really done Is come up with a way to divert their mind so they don’t choose the easy way out and do the drug. This is what specialists, and any person who is teaching or trying to get someone to kick the habit, call coping skills. And having good healthy coping skills so that we don’t do the drug is the second most important part of a drug addiction. The first is the will to change. I am a firm believer that if a person doesn’t want to change or doesn’t think they have a problem they are not going to change no matter how much you tell them that their behavior is destructive.

Pretty much i have no idea what i'm doing here so i hope this works!!!

Sarah Palin Continued...

Based on our class discussion yesterday, I thought I might point you toward two editorials I read this morning. The first is by Jack Shafer, and he writes about the media and the "appropriateness" issue we discussed in class. The URL for his piece is http://www.slate.com/id/2199121/. The second editorial is by Bonnie Fuller, who argues that Palin is exploiting her daughter's pregnancy and is forcing her to have a shotgun wedding. The URL for that piece is http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonnie-fuller/sarah-palin-she-has-chose_b_123282.html. Please feel free to respond to either, or both, of these editorials on the blog. See you tomorrow.








Sarah Palin as runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant (left) and as Governor of Alaska (right)

Welcome

Welcome to our class blog. It was great to meet you all today and to talk about our goals for the semester. I want you to be able to post to the blog right away, so if you haven't done so already, please create a Gmail account and send me the address. I will send you an invitation. Thanks, and I will see you on Tuesday.