Entry #7. Blogging is Now for Me!

Before this semester started, I read some of the online reviews of the GCC English 101 course, and Professor Nielson's class format. I noticed that quite a few of his prior students commented about how much they enjoyed the "blog" portion of his class. Frankly, as I read these positive reviews about how much they enjoyed the blog assignments, I was thinking maybe this is not the class for me."What the hell is a blog?" I thought to myself. Then, when I found out that the blog projects accounted for 15% of our grade, I decided I better try to figure out "What the hell a blog is." At first, I found this more than a little frustrating. Half way through Entry #1, I went to my toolbox to get a very important blog tweaking tool.

 As stated in the title my first blog, at this point I was sure that "Blogging is not for me." Fortunately,

I didn't use the hammer on my computer or myself. Instead, I sat in front of my laptop and did the best I could to try and make sense, maybe even learn, what blogging is. 

The more frustrated I became, the more determined I became. The thought of not being able to do something that has become so commonplace these days, was not going to get the better of me.  So I put away the hammer, tucked my pride in my pocket, and I started asking other people for help. I was able to get my thoughts in order, but I had no idea how to submit them electronically. I found out something that shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. The less you know about something, the more others are willing to share their knowledge with you. The companies that produce men's slacks should build in a "Pride Pocket" for us men to use. With the help I received, basically from strangers, I was able to submit my first blog. Wow! It sounds silly I'm sure to anyone reading this, but to me it was a big deal.    

So now I'm feeling OK with this blogging stuff. Instead of thinking "What the hell is a blog.", I'm thinking "What the hell can I blog about?" This just goes to show you that some of the old sayings are true, and some are not. True; "You're never too old to learn." False; "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." 

Entry #6. Fathers Day

     I just realized yesterday, that Father's Day is this coming Sunday. I know that for most people, Father's Day takes a back seat to Mother's Day, because after all, Mom carried you in her womb for 9 months. Most likely, she was also the one who nurtured you the most during the first few years of your life. For many people both male and female, mom was always their anchor, their go-to parent in times of need. Mom was always there with sympathetic eyes and ears.

http:/mar2396438.blogspot.com

   Historically, dad was a different breed. He was more concerned about being a provider, as well as the disciplinarian. He might of even seemed "cold" at times, heading off to work no matter what, and then punishing us when he arrived home, for things that we did wrong while he was away at work. "Wait till your father gets home!" used to be a popular phrase for mothers to threaten misbehaving children. Even though we were a little afraid of dad, that fear also taught us respect. Like it or not, You probably learned a lot more than you think from dear old dad. Dad was always there for you as well, in his own way. When you thought he was being mean, he was really trying to teach you about life from the hard lessons that he had learned. If your father is like most fathers, he doesn't expect much for fathers day. So give him something that is priceless. An hour or two of your undivided time will mean the world to him. As you spend your time with your father on Father's day, it's important that you remember this:

                                                              

If you text, talk, email or google during your "Special Father's Day time" together, you might just bring out the disciplinarian side of dear old Dad that you had long forgotten about. Trust me on this one.

Entry #5. Can You Disgust Me a Little More, Mr. Kenner ?

As part a of class assignment in English 101, we all watched a movie today, that was titled Food, Inc. It was a somewhat graphic movie centered around food production in our Nation. After carefully watching this movie in great detail, I think I might try a new life style, and NEVER EAT ANYTHING AGAIN! Obviously, that's not realistic. I had the opportunity to view this movie prior to the classroom presentation. This allowed me the opportunity to observe the various reactions of the other students, to the informational segments, as well as the somewhat graphic video portions. It was interesting to see, that while some of students were clearly upset by the graphics, other students were bothered more by some of the information that was provided. I think in making this movie, Robert Kenner new how to kick everyone's Achilles Tendon in just the right spot. Good job Bob! The portions of the movie that snapped my tendon the most, were the parts that showed what a monopoly the food industry really is. From my research that I had previously done for another project, I was already aware of the "Big Four" meat packing companies that control 80% of the meat packaging in America.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           I was not however, aware of the stranglehold that these corporations have on the farms and the farmers as well. Going only by what I saw in the movie, it seems to me like today's farmers endure modern day "Share Cropping." Perhaps a better comparison would be "Organized Crime." Once you get in, you can't out. Only in this case, It would appear that the farmers don't join voluntarily. The information on the Monsanto Company was the portion I personally found the most disgusting.










                                                                                                        How could any one company be allowed to gain such control over not just an industry, but what ends up on our store shelves, and our plates as well. I would bring up about how George Bush appointed former Monsanto attorney Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, except I'm afraid that might it be a criminal offense. Robert Kenner and his Food, Inc. movie did an excellent job of disgusting our class in various ways. It sounds like a bad thing when I put it that way, but actually it's the opposite. It seemed to have a big impact on the entire class that's for sure. I know that throughout the movie I became more and more disgusted with our current food system. If there could some how be a way that everyone in this country could be enticed into seeing a "Slap you in the face" movie like Food, Inc., there is a chance, that a change could begin. So thank you Mr. Kenner for totally disgusting me.

Entry #4. The World as We Know It, and it Will Never be Again....... Thank Goodness!

I was going to title this "The World as I Knew It, and it Will Never be Again." Problem is, if you've read any of my entries, I'm sure you've come to realize that I'm not exactly a kid. I'm equally as sure, that if I had used my original title, you would not have been looking forward to reading over and over and over again, "I remember when......." If I did that, I'm pretty sure you MIGHT read two or three of the, "I remember whens........", before you would put on your old people eye goggles, ear muffs, and do something way more interesting. I know I would, and I'm (kind of) old! The reason I chose to change the tittle is because of how I feel about progress in general. Through creativity,ingenuity and improved education, our world as we know it, is far superior to the "Good ole days." In this day and age, we literally have the world at our fingertips. We can do almost any thing we want to do, just by touching a few buttons on our latest,greatest hi-tech widjit 4.0. Yes, it's a wonderfull life. Question is; do you honestly believe that we are the first generation that thought we were the "Shit" because we had the newest gadget that made our lives easier and therefore better? Do you think that we will be the last?  Of course not. If we look back even a decade ago, we often laugh at how something that seemed so cool back then, seems almost silly now. Our technology is no longer increasing at a linear pace. Technological advancements are now coming at us at almost an exponential pace. I'm sure a decade from now. we"ll be looking back at today with at least a smile on our face. So enjoy the wonders of today, but get too attached because the world we know today will not be hear forever........Thank Goodness!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Entry #3. Who or What the Hell is WALL-E?

Forgive me for being so apparently out of touch with the movie biz. I hope that my lack of knowledge about WALL-E has allowed my to view an excerpt I recently watched from the blockbuster movie, with open eyes and a fresh viewpoint. I watched this short clip seven times trying to get the point(s) of it. I picked up a little more of the satire as I watched each time. I thought it was very clever how the creators poked fun of today's society by placing our values and attitudes towards each other in a futuristic setting. It's much easier to laugh at ourselves in an animated, futuristic version, than it is to laugh at the reality of today. Very clever in deed. Most of the parallels were quite obvious. A lazy, obese society, because no one ever has to leave their chair, thanks to technology. I'm not quite sure how distracted driving can cause a roll over accident while sitting in a smart chair, but it was kind of cute. None of the characters in the cartoon ever seem to have the need, or want, to communicate with each other very much, other than electronically. I don't think that's too far fetched, since we're already seeing a shift in that direction. I got a chuckle out of how, much like today the characters allowed some form of media to dictate what type/color of clothes we should be wearing to be cool. Te part that I got the biggest laugh out of, was a little more subtle. It was the part where the students are getting brainwashed in the classroom while learning the alphabet. "A is for Axium, your home sweet home, B is for Buy N Large, your very best friend." How cool was that? The children of today have to wait until after school to get brainwashed by the television commercials. As indicated in my title, I never even heard of WALL-E before watching this short clip. Now I'm thinking that I might of missed out on something kind of neat. Maybe I'll even try to find the DVD and watch the movie in it's entirety. It's always fun to laugh at ourselves when we think that we are laughing at something else. In this case, it's futuristic cartoon characters, so it' OK to laugh. "L is for laughter, MY very best friend."

Entry #1. Blogging is Not for Me

This whole "Blogging" thing is brand new to me. I guess maybe I'm simply behind the times. I hope maybe at some point, that through these required assignments, I'll open up a whole new exciting medium for myself  that I will enjoy. So far though for me, it's a two thumbs down, but hay you never know till you try. RIGHT! I was browsing through some the suggested sites for this assignment and found one that had me laughing to the point of tears. I clicked on "The Top Fifty Blogger Blogs" then clicked on "Post Secret". It was filled with many drawings, sketches and sayings that were down rite sadistically funny. One that caught my eye because this is a college assignment, wasn't really evil, but kind of cute.The phrase is: I am a 23 year old college grad and I would rather join Organized Crime than spend the next 40 years in some cubicle. It's accompanied by sketches of some mean looking guys whose last names all end in vowels. There was a lot of funny stuff in there that I really enjoyed. Maybe there's hope for me yet. I've got one thumb up now. Not so fast. From there I went to see what TMZ had to offer. I didn't find anything there to interest me. I'm not interested in Brittany Spears' broken ankle. I don't care that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West went to a fashion awards show in New York. I REALLY don"t care why Caitlyn Jenner chose to spell his/her new name with a "C" as opposed to a "K". PLEASE!!!! Right now it looks like I have one thumb up and one thumb still down on this whole blogging thing. I'm going to leave you for few minutes to go read some other blogs to try and find a tie breaker. Be right back........ Sorry about that, but I do have a bit of good news. I clicked on the Huffington Post blog button and found some very interesting reading there. I never new that 1 in 35 Americans were either incarcerated, on probation or on parole. I especially got a kick out of an article about Jeb Bush. It seems he's trying to raise the age for Social Security retirement. Problem is, he doesn't know what the retirement age is at this time. It looks like I have one thumb up now and one thumb sideways on this blogging thing. Considering I started with two thumbs down, maybe there's hope for me yet. Who knows, maybe in no time, every morning I'll be sharing with the whole Universe how I slept and how the Grape Nuts tasted. You never know till you try. RIGHT!

Entry #2: Michigan vs Arizona

Hello again. Having moved out here to Arizona from Michigan about a year and a half ago, I can't help but draw some comparisons between the  Midwest and the Southwest regions of our country. The most obvious difference of course is the weather. By weather, I'm not just talking about warm vs cold, I'm talking about the entire weather picture. Anyone who has grown up and always lived in Southwest should really take a trip to the Midwest in say, February. Make sure you take a friend so that one of you can shovel the snow off the driveway, while the other one is scraping all the ice and snow off of your vehicle before you guys drive down to the corner store for a loaf of bread. I can't say I miss that. I've also noticed a difference in the people. People in both regions share some similarities in terms of politeness, generally friendly, helpful, etc. The only real difference I've noticed out here about the people, is that they seem a little less approachable or should I say more guarded. I'm not sure why. I first noticed that at the fitness center that I go to. When I lived in Michigan and joined a fitness center there, a lot of people, noticing I was a newbie, came by and introduced themselves. Every morning you could observe people smiling, talking and joking with one another. The fitness center I go to out here, it seems like everyone is wearing earbuds and in their own little space. I see a lot of the same people there every morning, and no one is talking to anyone else. On the plus side of this area is honesty. The people here seem to be, for the most part, more honest than from where I'm from. On two separate occasions since moving here, my money clip had somehow fallen out of my pocket. In both cases a person picked it up, caught up with me and returned it. Where I'm from, there's a better chance that someone would "help" the money clip fall out of my pocket. No joke. I've been "helped out" several times in the Midwest region in different States. Another thing I've noticed out here is that apparently, nobody cooks food at home. I have worked all throughout the Midwest as well as the Northeast, and have never seen so many restaurants/fast food places in my life. I get hungry every time I drive down a main street. All those aromas blasting through my car vents, and I'm ready to eat something, even if I just ate! I get a kick out of some the subtle differences that I didn't notice at first. I just recently realized that none of the houses out here have rain gutters and down spouts attached to them. I'm kinda slow sometimes, so at first I thought "Whats up with that?" Then I enjoyed a hardy laugh at my stupidity. "Don't need em dummy." I thought to myself. Another one I got a kick out of occurred last winter here at my doctor's office. It was kinda cool that morning so I wore a hoodie. I walked into the waiting room, took off my hoodie and started looking for the coat rack. Like a dummy I'm walking all around this large waiting room looking for the damn coat rack. Finally one of the receptionists ask me what I was looking for. When I told her she did her best not to breakout laughing. Knowing my background, she said very politely "We don't have one Mark. You're in Arizona now." Of course the other patients in the waiting room did not contain their laughter. I joined in and laughed at myself as well. Other than the things I have already touched on, I haven't noticed too many differences YET. At least not big ones. At this point in time, I definitely have not found anything big enough in a negative way in the state of Arizona that would convince me to move back to Michigan.