COLD!!

It is unbelievabley cold! I had to go home this weekend to work and it was the coldest I have been in a long time. Yesterday the wind was blowing a 100 mph it felt like. The cold air would just go right threw you. I say that was the coldest I have been until today came. I know it was only a day later but today is the coldest I have been in a long time. The only day that I can remember being colder is when I was a freshman and it was in the low thirty's and raining/sleeting. I was a freshman that got pulled up to varsity for the playoffs. I thought it was so cool until I had to stand on the sidelines and watch a two or three hour football game in the freezing cold. We were also over a hour away from my school so the bus ride back was horrible. We stopped to eat at McDonald's and that even made it worse. I played a lot of away games in high school and I used to love to stop to eat. When I was cold and wet that night I was miserable. Anyways today felt like a flash back minus the wet part. I have an eight o'clock class and I walked out with just a sweat shirt on. I was completely miserable and I was speed walking to class.

Paper

Eight pages tough? I think so! I mean I just wrote a ten page paper for criminology the other day and it was alot easier than this English paper. I feel like i am beating a dead horse because I have written just about everything on this topic. I am struggling to get eight pages because I don't want for my paper to be repatative and just use the same points over and over. I have no trouble finding research but there are just only so many points that I can elaborate on. I feel that my paper is pretty good though.
In am kind of nervous about getting my paper number three back because it is very important. I understand that this one is more important that we are writing now but if I did good on the third paper it gives me a little bit of room to breath on my last one. I am in the same situation with my crim paper because I really need to do well on it so that i don't have to do perfect on the final. I am stressing out already and I kind of wish we could just fast forward too the end of the semester because I have so much work that I have to get done and study for between now and than. Hopefully everything goes smoothly because they say you play as well as you do in school and I defiantly want to do well on the baseball field.

Team House Internet

It is amazing that the varsity team house finally has Internet connection. There was Internet the first day and than after that there has not been any due to something with the server. The university has finally done something and fixed whatever was messed up. For Maryland to be a huge school in a huge conference (ACC) they do not give that much too their sports programs. The ACC is the best baseball conference i the country and we are the least funded team in the conference. Other teams in the conference have alot better facilities to use for indoor use and their outdoor fields are better. Don't get me wrong Maryland has nice things in the baseball program but it does not compare to some of the other ACC schools.
Maryland has a lot of resources and nice facilities compared to other schools in other conferences. It is just that the other ACC schools in the conference have really nice stuff. I know some people that play at small division I programs or even division II and III that would love to have what we have but it makes it hard to compete in this conference with just nice stuff because we need great. The team house Internet is just one example about how the university does not care that much about typical non-revenue sports programs. Another big problem is that we are so far north and we don't get to practice year around like the more southern schools.

Finals!!

It is just starting to hit me how tough these next two weeks of school are going to be. I have a rough draft due on Monday that is seven pages long and than another paper due on Tuesday that must be at least ten pages long, I have known about both of them for a while but I was not aware that the criminology paper had to be ten pages long. I have a couple page paper due on Thursday that is very difficult to write. On top all of this we have finals in less than two weeks!! This is crazy and I am stressed out already because every paper that I have due is extremely important and obviously finals are really important so . I just can not wait for the winter break because it is a whole month and I will need it after these couple of hectic weeks.
One of the best parts is that this is the last week of winter baseball so next week I will have a lot of time on my hands in order to get stuff done. One major problem is that the papers are due in the very beginning of the week so the time off will just help me study for finals not complete work for the last weeks of classes. I wish I could just fast forward these next couple weeks so that it will all be done and it will be Christmas time.

Great Break

I had a great thanksgiving break and I can not wait untill Christmas now. It seemed like as soon as Thanksgiving dinner was done than I started to think about Christmas. My mom started to put up Christmas stuff the next day and that is what really gets me into the mood. Than I come back to my dorm and there is nothing so it is kind of boring around here. I think we should decorate some in our room but we are not really here long enough for it to actually matter I guess because we only have school for a couple more weeks. I have to work on Saturday and head to another dinner for my family so I actually will not be here that long at all.
Thanksgiving dinner was great though and it was good to get some good food instead of just eating at the expensive diner. I love to eat so I like all holidays because most have dinners with them. I espically enjoy thanksgiving though just because it is entirely about food which is great. It was also just good to be home and get away form this place for an extended period of time. A long story short I had a good break and I wish it was longer but Christmas is right around the corner.

Football Game??

That was horrible! I can not believe that I sat out in the freezing cold to watch us get killed. I leave at half time and I think that I can go back and watch the Texas Tech and Oklahoma game but it is a blowout also. I have never seen a worse night of college football in my life. It is horrible to watch because nether game is even worse watching. That is one of the main reasons that I decided to do homework on a Saturday night. It has been a extremely long day and I wanted to kick back and watch some good football games but that is not happening.
I guess I can watch pro football tomorrow and than by the time that Monday night football gets here I will be able to watch it from my own TV at home. I can not wait in till thanksgiving break because I get to sleep in my own bed and eat some good food. I am so tired of eating the same food around campus that I always do, not including I am out of dining hall points. Anyways for the most part I am severely disappointed in the football game here on campus and in the nation. At least maybe I will actually finish my paper that is due on Monday before Monday morning.

Flag Football Game

The baseball team had their annual flag football game this afternoon. Like always the upper class men killed the under class men. They beat us by at least thirty points I bet and almost shut us out but believe it or not it was still a fun time. The only problem was that was the same problem there is going to be tonight at the real football game and that is the fact of it being extremely cold. Back home last night we got a inch or two of snow and I only live on the eastern shore so that could just as easy been here. That just goes to show you how cold it is and I don't ever remember it getting this cold all of a sudden like this before.
The other thing that the baseball team had today was a barbeque after the flag football game. The catch was that half the team got steaks while the other half got pb and j. The half that got steaks also got nicely cooked chicken too. We had a three game series at the end of our fall ball season that we call the world series and whoever wins get steaks and chicken while the other team only gets pb and j. I was on the winning team though so I did not care because I had a nice big and good lunch.

Football Game

It is going to be so cold on sat night at the football game. The game does not start until 745 and it is only suppose to get to 38 during the day so I can't imagine what it will be like when the sun goes down. But who cares? Thanksgiving break is only in a couple days and we get to go home for a break. The football game will be the last thing that I am thinking about when i am home next week. I can not wait it is going to be so awesome! It will be the first time in a while that I will be home for more than like two days. Than after thanksgiving we only have a few weeks and than we get a whole month off. It will be so nice to eat all of that food on Thursday. I love to eat so I can't wait to get away from this nasty dining hall food.
This whole weekend all I casn think about is just getting out of here on Mondasy night and heading home. We have practice Monday night and than I am gone. Of course on Monday morning I have english class where I get to turn in paper number three. I can't wait!!

Basketball

Everybody is talking about how bad the basketball team is going to be this year. They have not played anybody with any type of talent yet. If you watched the football team than play Middle Tennessee state than you would think they were horrible too. They have beaten tons of ranked teams this year and are a very good team. Teams play up and down to their competition so you can't judge a team until they play a quality opponent. Also everybody has good and bad days so you can't judge a team until it plays at least a few games. Maryland has won every game so far and people are talking about how horrible they are. How can you tell until they play a quality opponent?
I am not taking up for them at all because I believe they are going to struggle in a couple weeks also. I just don't believe it is fair to jump ship before even giving them a chance. It is not like they have really had a poor perform ace yet. They had one slow start but besides that give them a chance. I could see if you tell me this in a couple weeks but you might be surprised, don't judge a book by it's cover.

project on the economy aka dining prices

My group for the little class project is the economy group. The only thing that we are going to talk about is the outrages dining hall prices though. I have to totally agree because they don't give you enough points on those plans to even eat there but like once a day if that. If you can eat there that much than you have to eat like you are a 100 pound girl. The plan is perfect for a small girl. My plan next semester is to try and find some little skinny girl that does not eat much and get her to give me some points. That would be a great plan. Or the university could just come off with some of the millions of dollars they are making off of us.
All that they would have to do is adopt one of the ways other schools do it. One way is just charge you a certain amount each time you go in and make it buffet style. The other way is just have you pay a flat fee and than you can just go in as much as you want and whenever and it is free because you have already paid in advance. All of the other schools that I have been too do it like that but of course not Maryland.

Library???

I have never been to this place. I know that it is a horrible thing but I always have to go to study hall so I have never been. Now that we have to get 15 sources I guess I am going to have to break down and go. I don't even know..... can you check out books? Or do you have to just sit in there and read them. It does not sound like too much fun to me because you probably have to be really quiet and that is a problem for me. I am used to study hall where everybody just talks and does not really get much work done at all. I actually get more done back at my room but maybe if I go to the library I will like it. I can't imagine too many people actually going there so it is probably really quiet and resourceful.
I have heard from people that it is a great place to get stuff done so I actually might want to look into it. I sound like a horrible person I know but I do actually get my work done just not at the library. I am going to go this weekend and probably next week and hopefully it will count for my study hall hours. I think that these 15 sources are going to be really tough though.

Ralph

Did everybody else get the email from the football coach. He wants students to go to their practice on fridaty to get them pumped up. He also went into detail about how if Byrd stadium is loud then it increases their chances of winning. I hope thet they decide to play better than they did against tech. Of course they will though because UNC is ranked and we always play to our competition. I mean go all the way back to the beginning with the lose to middle tennessee. That was crazy. Than I believe either the next week or the following we beat cal. Of course Cal was ranked at the time so we played better.
My prediction is that with our undefeated home record and playing a ranked team that it should be a good game. My guess it 21-14 we come out on top but maybe even better than that. If we were playing them at their place than I would give it to the by atleast 14 because we can't play on the road. They play this loud tape recording of a crowd like everyday while we are trying to practice baseball but it does not help.

Study Hall

In the beginning of the year I used to hat study hall and I still do! I have come to figure out though that coming in the afternoon is a good thing. It is not nearly as crowded and you can actually get some work done. My main point before was that I could study better in my room than I could at this place. This place is actually a good resource if you come at the right times. That pretty much means that you should not come in at night time early in the week. That is what makes it impossible to work.
It is much easier to write blogs now that it is actually quiet in this place. I usually just watch movies and stuff in here and than once my time is up go back to my room and get done what I have to get done. In the afternoon here I can count like a total of ten people in this place but from about 500 till about 900 is is really packed. The worst times are on Monday and Tuesday by far because everybody needs hours. I have come to realize that it is easier to just wait till later in the week. Now that fall ball for baseball is done it makes it easier to come in the afternoons.

English class cancelled

Last week was a great chance to get away and relax. The only thing that I wonder about is if this paper is going to be this hard than should we have had class? Now it seems like to me that this paper is right up on top of me and I have a long way to go. I understand that she said to do research the week that we were off but I did not really understand the paper to well. I think that it will be really hard to try and find 15 sources on my topic. Most of my sources are on the same point of view as me so they don't really help much. I also see that our rough draft is due on Friday and our final is due the following Monday. What happened to the two peer editing sessions? Also that does not give us the chance to have our teacher edit the paper. From what I understand this paper is going to be tough and I would like to know if I am on the right track or not. I just thought the final paper would not be due until the following Monday after thanksgiving break.










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COLD

I believe that fall is finally here to stay. I don't think that we are going to have anymore 70 almost 80 degree days. We have been blessed with these beautiful days and it just makes you wonder how bad this winter is going to be. I was always taught that whatever comes around goes around so since the weather has been so nice it makes you wonder what the spring will be like. That is very scary because we start baseball practice on January 20 and it will probably be miserable. We did not have a single real bad day all fall but we start games in February so my luck it will be snowing. Back in high school I could not wait for it to snow so I could go outside and mess around in it. I live on a farm so we have tons of room to sled behind trucks or four wheelers. There is nothing more fun that riding a quad or trike all over the place in the snow.

Fall Ball is done

Fall ball is done completely now. Now I am ready for thanksgiving to come and go home and visit and get some good food. It will just be nice to go home for a little bit and get away from this place for a while. My roommates start to drive me crazy after a while. They are all a bunch of pricks and think they are better than they are. They are always more worried about what somebody else is doing instead of just worrying about their self. They are extremely annoying and they think that the world revolves around them. When quite frankly I could care less about them.
That is the only bad part about fall ball being done is that I have to spend more time around them at the place. I don't mind them on the field but when it comes to sitting around the place I can not stand even being around them at all. Anyways this week is awesome though because I don't have crim class and I don't have english. Also baseball is done so therefore I have a very free schedule. Lastly, this weekend I should be able to go home on Friday afternoon and enjoy my time away.

Voting

That is awesome that we have off all next from English. I have already voted by absentee ballet for the presidential election. I voted about two weeks ago actually so I won't vote on Tuesday but I completely agree that everybody should go vote. I defiantly agree that you should skip classes because professors should not have class on that day. My history teacher is going to have class on Tuesday but that is the only one I think. It is a little hard to vote if you have to go to school all day or work. I think that is partially why voter turn out is so bad in the United States. This election for president is by far one of the most important in a long time. People should want to have a say in who leads our country. Our country is in trouble economically and we are waste deep in a tough war and whoever comes into office is going to have their hands full. I believe that things need to be done by authority but presidents can't do anything unless they agree with congress. So go vote and be informed on everything that is on the ballet not just the president.

Cold Weather

It has gotten cold. We still have one week of baseball left and the weather decided that it could not wait another week. It has rained all afternoon besides that it is absolutely freezing outside. I even heard that there is a slight chance of some snow showers later in the week. It is not going to be quite that cold but I do believe it could flurry or something if the moisture is there. Next week we switch to all lifting and it is indoors but this week we are still outside. Baseball is not a very good cold weather sport because there can be a lot of standing around at times which gives you a very good chance of getting cold. Besides that you can not perform near as well when its cold. I don't mind walking to class in the cold weather even though I would prefer warmer weather. Anyways my point being that if the cold weather would wait till next week I would greatly appreciate it. I guess that is why mother nature is so interesting because we defiantly can not control it. Anyways next week it will all be over and it will not matter anyways especially since we don't even have english all week I don't think for conferences or something so that sounds good.

Scheduling

Why is there so many requirements you have to take into effect while scheduling? I believe that in order to get a degree you should have to get a certain amount of credits and that's it. The only special requirement should be that you need one english class and one math class. Besides that they should just let you pick your classes. It is so dumb all of the stupid stuff that they make you do that I will never use again. I am trying to find history and art classes to fit into my schedule that I am required to take but will never need them. It is stupid because it is not necessary for one thing and the other is that I have no interest. Those types of classes are just going to be miserable to me because I have no interest. You should be able to declare a major and have a certain amount of credits towards you major with english and math and you're good to go. The rest of all of the little pity requirements just try to complicate things. College is hard enough just taking classes that you are interested in so when you hate the class it just makes is horrible to take the class. College is defiantly difficult enough without taking stupid classes like we had to in high school.

1 week

I can't wait because we only have one week left of fall ball for baseball. Starting in November we switch to just lifting. I believe this will help my school work tremendously because I will actually have time to complete my work. Not including that I will actually be able to study for my test and get some sleep. It will probably take me the entire month of the November to get caught up on my sleep. During the week we just have weight lifting in the evening and than nothing instead of like three hour practices and than lifting after that. It will be much easier to get all of my study hall hours in becasue I will acually have a littlew bit of free time on my hands. I will also be off on the weekend too besides a early lifting on saturday morning. it will be great because I will actually be able to live a somewhat normal college life instead of just baseball and school. Not including I will be able go home some more and see my family and even go hunting. It will be great and than we will have winter break and than start up fresh again untill the end of the school year.

RAIN

It is suppose to rain on homecoming weekend. Hopefully it is going to be a good game and we will win big. But now with a rain game you never know what will happen because it will come down to whoever adapts to the weather conditions the best. Not including all of the events that happen tommorrow and stuff that is goign on. It will make tail gating even bad if it rains as much as it is suppose too because the parking lots will flood. Campus will be packed and than with heavy rains is will cause accidents and a huge traffic jam. It will be miserable to go watch the game in that weather also. If we play like we did against Virgina than it will really be miserable to watch. Than again if we play like we did against wake forrest than we will be just fine. I just hope that if it rains than it does it in morning and than it is just showers in the afternoon. The perfect option will be for no rain at all but since the sport is football if it rains it wont be bad as long as it does not rain really hard.

Mid Term

I just want to state right of the bat that I think only having two test in a class and that accounting for 85 percent of your grade than that is stupid. My history class has a unbelievable amount of information to cover. It is a class that requires over a hundred pages of reading every week with two jammed packed lectures of completely different information. This is the first test that we have had and its a ton of information and chances are they will only test on about a third of it because it is a 50 minute test. I am trying to study for it now and I am going to be up for a while because I need a break about every hour because it is so hard to remember. Of course my break this time would happen to be writing this blog. I need to vent because I am pretty sure that the class average will be about 30 percent and if you bomb this mid term, you pretty much are going to bomb the course.
That is the really crappy part is that you could do all of this reading every week and than not even get any credit. I would strongly recommend that no body take this course because it is by far my worst class of the semester. I am sure that everyone here has a class like this one that you only have like two test that make up your entire grade. I am just trying to look over everything because I have no idea what he is going to put on the test because it is just so much material.

Rehotorical Journal Assignment #2

Journal Blog Assignment #2

In the article “Reforming Big Time College Sports” written by Tom Price, he uses an informative style of writing. His main focus is on how major colleges perform major recruiting violations. He just tells story after story of how a lot of major schools recruit illegally. Price’s main argument is that it is not morally correct to recruit illegally but everybody does it. I specifically remember him saying that only one school is not currently on probation for a recruiting violation. He uses some pathos because he even describes some of the things that went on like the school providing stripers and sex for recruit’s visits. He goes into that much detail so that he effects your emotions and you realize how wrong that really was to do.

He tries to gain credibility from the audience by using some articles from some very well respected sources. Price talks about the well-known Colorado scandal right in the beginning of the paper to gain credibility because most people have heard about that and have strong feelings about how horrible that was. That means that most people will have the same opinion as him on that specific topic. This type of writing is using ethos to gain credibility so that the audience trusts his opinion. He than continues on throughout the article to use logos in his writing because everything he says is factual and actually did happen.

He uses all of these rhetorical appeals to write in an informative style, which that hopefully the audience agrees with his opinion. He uses strictly factual information and violations that colleges actually committed to inform the audience about this serious problem.

Weekend Off

We have got an easy weekend for baseball! We have a lift real early in the morning and than we are probably off Sunday as long as we have three good scrimmages. We intersquad or scrimmage, what ever you want to call it Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. That really sucks for trying to actually trying to get your school work done but makes for a great weekend. If we have nothing to do on Sunday than I am going to either just relax all day or even head home to see some people back there that I have not seen for a while. These next three days are going to be really tuff considering that I have alot of work and four hour scrimmages every night but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
First thing is that we have this weekend pretty much off which is like the frist one since I have been at college. Also another great thing is in November baseball cuts way back because all we do is lift like four days a week but no practice. So that will make for some great weekends plus I will have alot more time to get my school work done. Hopefully these next couple weeks go smoothly and than November will be here.

Baseball

Well today started off as a great day and than is amazing how one little part of your day can make it turn for the worst. I was having a great day because my classes were done at 12 and its beautiful outside. I even passed this big math test that moves me up to my next class. Than I go to baseball practice and everything good. I am hitting well and just playing overall good baseball. Than I make a couple throws and all of a sudden my arm starts hurting. Coach sends me to the training room to see what is up and boom I am out for all weekend which happens to be three games that I am going to miss. It is horrible because I am a freshman compeating for playing time and than I am devasted by injury. This is a huge weekend for evaluations by the coaches and I am not even going to get to play. What is even worse is that there is a chance that I could be out even longer. So therefor I go from having a nice calm relaxing day to horrible in all of about 20 minutes. Now my entire weekend is going to suck not including that all the upperclassman are going to look at me like I am a wussie. This really sucks but hopefully it will all work out in the long run.

Journal Assignment #1

Journal Assignment #1

“VW Unpimp-Drop it like it’s hot”

I choose the Volkswagen advertisement that is trying to sell one of their new model cars. I would say that the intended audience is a younger generation of people, most of the time people anywhere from a junior or senior in high school too people that are finishing up college or even working on their masters. If an age had to be set than I would say the intended audience is about the ages of 16-26. The purpose for this particular audience is because Volkswagen is putting the image that you are only cool if you drive this type of car. Most of the time people in that age group care about being cool. There is also one more type of audience that could be targeted by Volkswagen and that is just males in general because they put a good-looking girl in it, as some sex appeal. That could be any age male but I believe that the main intended audience is young people because of the “cool” factor.

I believe that the ad contains one major fallacy in this advertisement. It comes in the form of a logical fallacy, in that this ad is saying that you are only cool if you have this car. Volkswagen abuses the use of logos in that there are many cool cars out there and this one is by far not the only one. They don’t even give the other car in the ad a name; Volkswagen just calls it a what-you-ma-call-it. That right there is a logical fallacy because it might be true for some people but it is defiantly not completely true, there for it is a gimmick. They show the other car and than just slam the new one on top of the old one and don’t really give the audience a choice.

The main form of Rhetorical Appeal that I think Volkswagen used in their advertisement was pathos. Their main purpose was to try and effect the emotions of these young drivers. When the guy took the F off of the kid’s old car and said you fail than that was defiantly a form of pathos. The logical fallacy kind of ties in with the use of pathos because Volkswagen is saying you are not cool in less you drive their car and that is defiantly effecting your emotions. Volkswagen also used sex appeal because they had a good-looking girl in the advertisement and that is a form of pathos that directly affects males.

I also believe that Volkswagen uses ethos in this advertisement. They try to gain credibility through the intended audience by having the main guy in the clip attempt to talk in a “cool” way. This makes the audience say that this guy thinks like us so maybe we should listen to him and buy this “cool” car. That is ethos because they are trying to appeal to the younger age of car buyers so you have to gain credibility from them. If you talk in a real formal way with a bunch of statistics than you are not going to appeal to them at all. That is how I feel Volkswagen used some forms of Rhetorical Appeals in their advertisement.

Dark

I have just happened to notice that it is getting dark outside real early. It seems like just the other day it was getting dark and 830 and now it is pretty much pitch dark at 7. I have noticed that has been getting dark a little earlier but it was not till tonight that I realized it is real early. They had to turn the soccer lights on here by study hall at like 630. That is crazy because I thought that the time had changed by this time earlier. I know that it is suppose to save energy and everything but I don't understand it why they keep pushing it back. When they change the time it usually gets dark around 530. I don't ever remember there being this in between time of year when it is not dark till like 630.
I wish it would go ahead and change because than we would be able to practice under the lights the majority of the time instead of just the very end. It am 18 years old and have played and practiced under the lights for years but it still feels so cool and special to practice under the lights even now. I feel just like a little kid again every time I get the chance to do it again. I am also in a criminology class right now and from the stuff that we have been learning I would imagine that the crime rate goes up the earlier it gets dark. So I guess that would be one motive to not setting the time back any earlier than you have too besides just the saving energy factor.

Alarms

Does anybody else think that the alarms that are on all of the dorm dorrs are annoying? If you leave the door open for more than like fifteen seconds than this really annoying extremly loud noise goes off. The people that live next door I guess don't get the concept through their head that you have too close the door once you come in. I guess that the university is trying to cut down on thefts in rooms. If you close the door than the only people that can come in are the people that live there. You have to use your swipe in order to come in so there for other random people can't just walk in and steal your stuff.
I guess it is a good feature but it is extremley annoying when i am trying to sleep. I can't stand that noise because it sounds like a buglary at like a bank or something when the bank teller pushes the big red button. Anyways it is really annoying and I think that the choice of sounds is bad considering the only reason it goes off is because you prop open a door for a little bit of time.

Long Practice

I did not know if coach would ever stop talking. Practice was already long enough and than on top of it coach just started talking about signs. I swear that when he started talking the sun was way up in the air and by the time he got done it was pitch black. We have a scrimmage game already Friday, Saturday, and Sunday which means our entire weekend is going to be listening to him talk. On a weekand it is not too bad but when you need to get so many study hall hours done and your work done he needs to go ahead and let us go.
It is very fustrating because he already has said what he wanted to say but than he just starts talking to her himself talk. It is extremly boring because he repeats himself over and over not including that I think he just trys to drag it out so that practice is longer. He has a family at home with a wife and kids, you would think that he wants to get home and see them. I guess I think wrong because he continues to drag it out. That is not including that we don't get to eat because we have to get our hours in and the place closes at ten so you have no chice but to just run over to comcast and get signed in. That is enough of my rambling but I just need to vent because we had a useless long practice.

Library Worksheets?

Well first I can't even print the second one out because it says that the files won't transfer to print. Whatever that means? The other two printed out with no problem so go figure? Now to actually doing the worksheets that would print out for me. Is it just me or are the answers already done for you on like the first three problems? I don't understand them very well at all. I guess we will find out tommorrow when we go to the library and listen to somebody give us a lecture and check the worksheets.
I must say that I am looking foward to finding out how to do research in the library because I have papers due in my other classes and the library could become very useful. I don't have very much information for them so I really hope whoever gives us the lecture can really help us. I don't understand why the worksheets won't print but I am happy to be going to the library and I must say that is probably the first time that I have ever said that.

is fall ever going to come

It seems like mother nature is just going to continue to tease us for a little while longer. One day it could be windy and 68 while the very next day it is 85 and sunny. No wonder everbody is sick around campus. Two out of three of my teachers were even sick today. Also it seems like it did not rain all summer but as soon as we get to college and have to walk everywhere than it desides it wants to poor down raining everyday. I feel like it rains every weekend and I was lookin at the weather a second ago and it says it's suppose to cool back off again what a suprise? It also says that there is a chance of rain like everyday with some days more than others. I am sure after it cools down at the end of this week than the following week it will get hot again and probally rain.
This is crazy weather I am only from the eastern shore of Maryland so I am kind of used to it but I just wish it would stay summer or go ahead and switch to fall. Anyways it look like it is going to rain on tuesday which of course is a day that we have practice so it will probably mess up the schedule once again. but oh well.

Study Hall PACKED

This is impossible! It is impossible to concentrate in this room espically when you are trying to write your first year english paper. It is probably the hardest paper that I have ever had to write in my life and I am crowded between all kinds of people. It is impossible to think, let alone even trying to read because there is no way that you could comprehend anything. I don't quite get the point of study hall because pretty much i just have to sit here to get hours in and than when I get back to my place I have to write my paper. So did I actually get anything out of study hall tonight besides posting this blog? absolutly notw. It is horrible.
Now that I am done complaining I will talk about how great Mondays have became for me. Monday is now our only day off for baseball so even though study hall sucks really bad atleast we get a day for our body's to relax and recover not including we don't have to wake up early. I used to hate monday's back in high school but now it has became my favorite day. Not including that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are my easy day for classes so it just makes them all that much better. If everyday could be a innersquad game than I would not mind playing everyday and not even having a day off but it's not and we have to practice some. Thats why Monday's are now the best.

First Scrimmage Game Of Season

The basbeall team had the first intersquad scrimmage baseball game of the season today. It went pretty well for being the first time out. The red team which happens to be the one that I was on actually won. It was a low scoring game but that was expected because none of the hitters have seen live pitching in atleast a month. Our pitching looked really good for the first time out which means that there is great promise for upcoming terps baseball games. This could be the year even though this is supposed to be a rebuilding year. I don't think that the seniors are going to allow that to happen because they want to win this year not next year. That would not do them anygood obviously but terps baseball has a bright future from what I saw today. It was good quality baseball and was enjoying to play and part of that has to do with the fact that it was a beatiful day for baseball.
We have twenty one innersquad games this fall and as long as they continue to build on today's solid performace than hopefully the spring will bring winning times. I would say that there was probably ten hits total by both teams but hopefully the more that we get to see live pitching the higher scoring and more interesting the games will become. The terps baseball program has been down in the past years but it does not help that the ACC is the best baseball conference in the country. So hopefully all goes well in the spring and we can win the ACC tournament. PS: Remember that I can't spell without spellcheck.

Guest Speaker

Well tonight was the mandatory guest speaker and she did a very good job I think. Every athlete at the university had to attend. One benefit was that at the end we got a free t-shirt. Her main point was about imagining your goals in your life and than the steps to get there and than eventulally they can come true. One of her main stories was about when she was in high school and her and her friends attempted to steal a pumpkin. They failed misberaly and than they tried to run and had to hide in the bushes. She was a pretty good speaker but that was a horrible story which probably made it the worst part of the night. She also got four guys from the baseball team to pick this guy up over their head with just two fingers each. She used her visizuling technique that was the theme of the whole night to help the guys do it. It actually worked pretty well because the first time they didnt do it and than they did.
The best part of the whole night had to be when she sang her song that talked about getting involved in the community. She could actually sing very well and it kind of made the whole night worth it. The last part of the night that I have not talked about is when she had the entire theater close their eyes and visizualize. She like gave this setting and had you real relaxed and than told you to walk through this gate and see all of your dreams and asspirations. She said to do that everyday and it will signfintally help them come true. I think that she was a very good speaker and I am glad we got to be a part of it. PS: Remember that I can't spell.

In class wring assignment

My narrative for my paper is mostly going to be about all of the crap that I hear in my classes from regular students about how athletes get the easy road. I can tell you for sure that it sucks having to get up at 530 and go lift in the morning. Than we have to go to class all day than practice and study hall. At 10:00 study hall ends and over to the dinner we go and than repeat the process. I mean yes we get alot of nice clothes and gear plus we get schedule advantages but we still have to do the same work as the rest of the students. It's not like you get a free pass in class or anything because you still have to write papers and take test just like anybody else.
I just feel that it takes a great tole on your body being a student athlete and you should deserve a few special privilages.

Asian kid on Baseball team

ODD? Yea we all think so too. We have one asian on our team and his name is Matt Murakami. He always wears these mockisions and they are rather interesting looking. There have been some kids that have made fun of him but I am just waiting for all of the older kids to really make fun of him. I actually think that he is half white too and he is sitting right next to me now allowing me to write this. He is what you would call a "different" kid but I actually think he is a alright guy.
We have a wide range of personalties on the team anywhere from real quiet, to real talkative, to really angry all of the time. I think that is going to really help us this year to make us succeded because you need a little bit from everybody in order to win championships. Also remember that I can't spell and there no spell check on this thing so please forgive me. Back to our team and how we are defiently going to win the ACC this year. The team had ups and downs last year and actually won thirty games so hopefully with this new good recruiting class than we can have a really successful year. Maybe even the asian kid can pitch in and help lead us the the ACC title and possibly even a national championship.

Late Night Dining Hall Food

Is it just me or is it the exact same thing to eat at the dining hall every single night from 9-12? The main thing is always mozz sticks and chicken wings. I have only eaten at south campus dining hall at late night but I assume that it is the same at north. I always come back from study hall and stop in there to get some food because our practice usually makes us miss dinner. I know that there are options of fruit and stuff but when you have not eaten in like 8 or 9 hours than you feel liek some meat. Than when you get there it is the same food everynight and it makes you get tired of it real quick.
My next point is that you don't really have much choice because at 10 o'clock at night there are not too many places that you can eat if any? I just know that late night is open and possibly the common shop if you just wanted to get a snack but it has extremley weird hours. They are open at all different times and somtimes they are the most random times I think that they could possibly think of. I think that the dining hall should change up the food some and they can keep the same type of stuff but just mix it up. What I mean is they can keep the snack stuff but there are way more options than just chicken wings and mozz sticks. In other words they should change there food or somebody with a kitchen could probably start making some good money if they want to serve a variety of good late night food.

Scooters

I have been looking around compass seeing a whole bunch of little scooters riding all around. It makes me so mad because I wish I had one! I think that alot of the kids that have them are upper classman and/or athletes. I have heard that they are only around 1200 dollars which I think is not that bad of an investment (only if you can get your parents to buy it for you). I completly understand why people have them becasue walking back from practice or walking back from study hall real late at night sucks really bad. Usually you are real sore and that long walk back feels like an enternity.
That also leads me to my next point of why America is so fat! If you are not an athlete than you should not have one because you need exerise! We are so lazy now days that we let technology take over our lives. I have seen real fat people riding around on them that I know that there is no way that they could be on a team. Are they really helping themselves? They are just adding to the statistics that America is ont of the fattest countries inot the fattest. All because they are too lazy to walk to the dining hall or even class. That is why I feel that scooters are good for some people but not for all of the people that I have been seeing ride them around campus.

Baseball Practice

Tonight we had our first real team baseball practice. Some people would call it hard but I just enjoy being out away from school work and playing on the field. It is enjoyable even though we run every two seconds and have to bullpen a bunch of pitchers. It is just like a time to relax and get away from all of the school work. For example, we ran like two miles and than did like twenty sprints but at the end you can just stop and think atleast I am not reading a book or writing a paper. It is fun too me because atleast I feel like I am improving my self physically.
When I read I feel like I am wasting time because I am just learning a bunch of stuff that I will never need to use again. That goes for all books except for the english readings because it never hurts to know a little something about war (plus it is interesting) and you will always need to know how to write. Than there is baseball practice where you might not always need to be able to play ball but it never hurts to stay in shape. I want to be able to live the longest life possible and you enhance your chances be being physically fit. America as a whole is fat and I don't want to fit that stero type. That is why I believe baseball is much more important than reading. (Except of course English 101 reading assignments).

Study Hall

Hi, tonights wonderful topic that I am going to write about is this wonderful thing called study hall. It sucks really bad and it just so happens that I am in it right now. I think that this program could help if it was not about a hour walk. I live in allegany which is all the way on the end of south campus. It takes about a half hour one way and that is no exggration. It is by far the worse part of my day. Than once I am here (like tonight) it is not to bad because i can get some stuff done that needs to get done. For example, I can type blogs because it is so loud in here that it is impossible to read. If you are a student athelete here at maryland your first semenster you have to get atleast 8 hours.
My next point that I am going to talk about is this blog assignment. I am finally starting to get the hang of it. I am still not sure if you are just suppose to type random stuff like this and post it or not. Anyways I think that this assignment is so much better than having to write it even with all of the problems in the begining. The only problem is that it does not have spell check and I am a horrible speller as you can probably already tell. My paper usually looks like a christmas tree when I get done typing it because there is so many errors. So that is the only complaint that I have about this assignment now that it is working correctly.

Dinner

I don't reaal know what I am supposed to be writing about or if I am even suppose to be writing right now but anyways i am going too. This whole online blog assignment is really confusing me. Tonight I went to the stamp and got some chicken from Chick-f-ila after my workout. It was really good and I know this is extremely boring but I don't know what else I am suppose to talk about. I love to eat at the stamp because there is so many options and it is so much better than the dining hall. My night always consist of coming from class to practice/workout and than eating. Than unfortunally I have to go to study hall all the way in comcast. It is extremly boring and long and I don't know if any of you guys are athletes or not because you would know what I am talking about.
If anybody is bored enough to read this and want to comment than please tell me how this blog thing works. I do not know how to do anything except type in this box and than hit post. So even if you do comment I am probably not going to know how to read it. Also if anybody else out there is occuring any of these problems than please comment and tell me so I will feel a little better. That is if you know how to comment on somebody elses writing. I personally do not even know how to look at somebodys blog. Anyways the main purpose of this post was to say that the stamp food is really good so if you have not been there to eat than you should.

1.Hi my name is Tyler Bennett. I am from Preston, Maryland which is on the Eastern Shore. I went to Colonel Richardson High School. I plan to major in criminal justice while here but the main reason that I came was for baseball. I want a degree but i could get that anywhere so I came here because I was recurited.
2.I have not done much writing as you can probably tell but I did some arguemative writing in high school. I do not write very much out of class besides a grocery list.
3.I usually write a paper starting with a outline and than a rough draft following with some editing. Than at the very end I get to my final finished paper. I think that writing the rough draft is the hardest because you don't have much to work with besides some thoughts on a piece of paper.
4.I like to just write a short story or something that you make up and make it interesting and funny. I get satisfaction out of that because it something that I did on my own that a teacher did not make me do.
5.The longest paper that I have had to write was my junior year english paper it is was like 9 pages. I prepared for it by doing the most research that I could to get ready for it. I learned from that experience to not procrastnate.
6.The one and only thing that sticks out to me about being useful is the use of notecards for writing down your research. I also think that outlines are pretty useful.
7.I think I am good at staring papers but than i feel I am really bad at ending them. I think I could defiently use some help with the end of my body in the paper and than the conclusion.
8.I think I will need the most support with constructing my rough draft because that is where I feel that I struggle because just looking at a outline does not help me much.
9.I would probably write about steriods because I feel that is a very easy but popular topic to write on these days.
10.I love to argue I am just like anybody else I think I am always right. I enjoy to write papers where I can argue my point. I think arguing is just when two sides disagree and they decide their case through an argument.

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About Me
Natalie Corbin
I'm currently an Instructor for the English Department at the University of Maryland. This semester, I am teaching two courses: one section of Engl 101, and one section of Engl 101X. Additionally, I am currently pursuing my Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry. View my complete profile

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Your First Blog Assignment!
Dearest Students. Upon creating your blogs, please complete this survey/self-assessment as your first blog assignment. Please copy the survey, complete it, and post it to your blog by 11:59 PM Sunday, September 7th.Best!NatalieWriting Autobiography and Self-AssessmentINSTRUCTIONS: Please share a little about yourself as a writer. Use the questions below as “invention” questions to stimulate your thinking, and post the answers to your blog. Write in complete sentences, using as many specific details as you can recall. At the same time, write quickly, without interrupting yourself to revise. This assignment calls for an informal, personal response, so it will not be graded for grammatical correctness. However, note that you may be sharing this information with the public through your blog, so it does need to be readable and not overly personal.1. Introduce yourself briefly. Where are you from? Where have you gone to school? What educational plans brought you to the University of Maryland, and what fields of learning or potential majors interest you at this stage in your academic career?2. What kinds of writing have you done in high school? At UMD? At another college? Outside of a school setting?3. What steps do you usually follow when you write a paper? Do you outline? Revise? Compose on a word processor? What part of the writing process do you find easiest? What part do you find hardest?4. What kind of writing has given you the most satisfaction?5. What is the longest or most challenging paper you have ever had to write? How did you go about preparing and writing it? What did you learn about writing from that experience?6. What do you remember learning about writing from other courses or other writing experiences that you found useful?7. Assess your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What are you good at? What aspects of your writing are you dissatisfied with?8. What part of the writing process do you think you will need the most support with?9. If you had your choice of subjects for a research project, what issues or topics would you like to write about?10. What do you associate with the term argument? How do you feel about taking a course that focuses on argumentation?
Posted by Natalie Corbin at 2:45 PM 0 comments
Thursday, August 28, 2008

Welcome!
Hello, hello! Welcome to my blog for English 101 at the University of Maryland. If you are one of my students, please link this blog to your own blog, since I will be using this blog to post prompts, assignments, and other useful information. I'll also throw some fun stuff in here, from time to time. Let the blogging commence!
Posted by Natalie Corbin at 8:48 AM 0 comments
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