I have Blog fever!

How many of you guys thought the same thing that I thought when we were told we were required to write a blog?  “Great! One more thing I am required to do that I need to keep up with,” is what I was thinking.  I honestly want to say, I hated the idea that I needed to post blogs for a grade.  I had no idea in any way how to even create a blog much less how to write one!  The anxiety of having to figure out how to work blogger scared me to death.  I felt stupid!  Here I am a girl who loves to write in her journal and enjoys writing in her free time (I know I am a loser, DON’T JUDGE ME) and I have no Idea how to create a blog.  As time went by I wrote blog after blog, (ok, this is only my 4^th)  but the point is, I did not want to blog.  One time I even went to my friend and complained to her that I didn’t know how to blog and thought about just not doing it.  I really do believe that the word blog scared me because I had no idea what it meant. 

            To move along in my story, I finally created my blog, and spent about 45 minutes typing up my new post only to find out that on tumblr I was unable to copy and paste!  So here I was cursing at the computer close to tears from frustration when I finally gave up and took a nap.  I procrastinated a few hours I believe until I realized maybe I should try another blogging website.  That was when I found blogger it was so easy all I needed to do was create an account then there is a button that says create new post.  I felt as though the world was lifted off my shoulders.  Awesome!!! I finally figured it out and it only took me a few minutes!  I had spent so much time procrastinating and being “scared” of trying something new with my writing that after posting one entrée I felt sudden relief. 

            As I go on with posting blogs now I find myself related my blogs to a lot of the same stuff I write in my journal.  The only difference is that I somehow need to relate the majority of my entries on topics discussed in class.  I believe that I am starting to really enjoy blogging and in a sense I feel stupid that I was so frustrated with the idea of it being a graded assignment for my comp class.

Working in a group is good way to make new friends!

Ok, so my previous post was on the topic of working in groups.  This post is very similar actually.  It is about how I enjoyed working in my group.

            I am a very social person, anyone who knows me even if they are not my close friends will tell you that I am an extremely social.  Therefore I really liked getting know my group- mates. (IF that is even a real word)  Anyway, I learned something different so far about each of the people in my group.  Kevin is an art major and really enjoyed taking photographs of the butts around campus to post to our Facebook group that we are using to raise awareness on the issue.  Nick is a great addition to our group because I know that since he is an art major he will be very handy with drawing posters or any visual aspect of raising awareness or in our presentation. 

            Victoria was actually a friend of mine before we were paired together for the project.  In fact, I believe she was in my summer connections group.  Her and I got to know each other more closely through this product.  She is very good with social networking and enjoys working on Facebook.  Therefore we all agreed that she would be good at creating our Facebook awareness group.  She really came through by not only typing up the group informational paragraph but she invited a whole bunch of people from Kutztown University to join the group. 

            Chad is an extremely creative human being.  He not only came up with our local issue topic but he is the one person who got everyone together for our meetings in the library.  This is excellent because if it weren’t for him being extremely organized and finding the time to take down everyone’s contact information we never would have been able to get together to write our proposal.  Chad also wrote out the questionnaire and took the time energy and patience to hand them out to students around campus.  This is great because I know in my busy schedule I never would have been able to put as much time into handing out questionnaires and waiting for them to be filled out. 

            Now, I know you all are most likely thinking, she is babbling on about what the other people did and did nothing to contribute.  I actually wrote the introduction and conclusion paragraphs as well as helping word the body paragraphs found in the proposal.  I enjoy writing so I was really glad my group assigned my job to be the editing and putting together of the proposal.

            All in all, I believe that we all put our hidden talents into working together and making out proposal the best it can be.  As well as we all became friends in the process.  Think about it, I never would have become friends with these people if I didn't have comp class with them or was paired with them in the project.  I believe that with all of our uniquely creative ideas put together we can perhaps create a very interesting, yet professional, final product and presentation.   

Do you like or dislike group projects?

Hi everyone

Ok so since we are all working on a group project this semester I thought I would share my ideas on the topic.  Well, let me first start off with I really dislike group projects.  They seem to be difficult because not only do you have to work together to get a good grade but you must find time in each other’s schedules to meet.  Half the battle is picking a date or times to gather everyone.  This can be challenging because we are college students and we all have different schedules.  Think about how much it stinks to miss your one and only program on television one night just to meet with your group!  I ask to watch one show a week (for me..it is Grey’s Anatomy) and I don’t enjoy having to miss it. 

                Another reason I do not particularly care for group projects is that there always seems to be one person who is so much more committed to doing a lot of work while others stand around and watch.  This is not fair for one person to have to stay up late finishing up a paper while the other students involved can go to sleep and not have a worry in their mind.  Think about a time you were assigned to work in a group of people you did not know.  You always have the worry that this person isn’t going to lift a finger or even worse be overly committed to the project and make you look like you have not contributed. 

                These are only some of my worries I have when I need to work on a project with someone.  However, there are a few pros that go along with working in a group.  I know I met my best friend in 8^th grade because we were paired together to do a project together.  Being paired with people you do not know is not necessarily a bad thing, I mean, you get to meet new people and that is a bonus.  Another reason some people like group projects is because the work can be split up evenly so neither one of the students in the group needs to as hard.  This is very time consuming to alter a plan on who is doing what but in the long run it may conclude worth it. 

                Lastly, I would like to point out that the project we are working on in class I am actually enjoying.  I feel that Professor Morris has tackled the anxiety of us feeling we may be doing all the work while others sit and watch.  I like that we need to state our contributions we made to create the group at the end of the projects.  This most defiantly allowed me to feel like we will be forced to all do the same amount of work and that our grades may all be different from one another’s. 

                All and all I have mixed opinions on working in groups however, I must say this project has gotten me to branch out and think of new ideas on how to bring awareness to tackling theft on campus.  I think that this Comp class is very different than other classes on campus.  Instead of watching a movie and being told to write a paper on it, instead, we are being forced to really tackle a local issue.  This allows us all to think “out of the box” and soon enough our creativity levels will rise.

Let's Disinfect the KU please and THANK YOU

Hi all!  OK so for my first blog I thought I would expand on my idea about my local issue.  I had chose to “disinfect the school.”  No one in the class wanted to choose this as their topic other then myself but I would like to expand on the idea.

                How many times has the girl down your hall gotten sick?   Then, magically you catch the bug they had within a few short days.  Everyone knows that being sick in college sucks!  You have to miss class and any activities you had planned for that day (or week). I believe that the spread of illness could be decreased if the school had people come in and vacuum/ mop the floors in our dorms.  Think about how many germs are lingering on the floor of your dorms.  You walk on your floor after using the restroom and most people wear shoes in your dorms!

                Another idea I had was to have a laundry service on campus.  No one likes doing laundry, it takes so much time and energy to sort and wash clothes then transfer them into the dryer.  So what if we had a laundry service on campus?  This would also provide jobs on campus; they could charge a small fee for doing each load. 

                Lastly, in the computer labs they should have disinfecting wipes available for students use before and or after they use the computer.  Think about how many people have been on that computer! You have no idea where their hands have been. 

                Think about how many objects we come in contact with that have been touched by other students!  It is nauseating to think about how quick viruses and other illnesses spread throughout campus!  Sure, people can say you won’t get sick if you keep your self clean but lets get real diseases and illnesses still get spread everywhere!!!  I believe that with a little more effort in being careful of what we touch we can help stop the spread of illnesses around campus.

                To add to this blog, my roommate had to leave this week because she caught the flu.  After she left, me being the germ phobic freak I am, scrubbed the dorm clean with Lysol and Clorox bleach.  I actually caught one of the custodians in the hall way and asked her if it would be possible for me to borrow some chemicals to clean up my room.  Sadly, she said no because it is against school policy to give out such hazardous chemicals!  I was thinking, “Are you serious!? I went down to Dixon Market and picked up a bottle of bleach, you cannot get any more hazardous then that!” 

                To make a long story short I cleaned my room all night long and even aired the room out so I didn’t die from inhaling all of the retched chemicals. I am not saying that my roommates illness could have been prevented, but I think that it is wrong that I had to take the responsibility to scrub down the room myself. 

                Anyways, I am sitting in my extremely clean safe haven of a room and feel somewhat accomplished that I had to so all the work myself.  I just feel that the school should take some responsibility in helping students keep their rooms clean.