So if the purpose of the new, revised version of our blogs is to get to know each other better, than in that spirit I will share a big part of my life with everyone, SPORTS! I know it may come as a shocker for a guy my age to value sports and view it as an integral part of their life, but I do. Of course I have my favorites; football, basketball, baseball (GO YANKEEYS!) but lately I have become more and more interested in all other sports. I never thought I would here myself say these words, let alone write them, but I don’t even mind watching Nascar, if no other big sporting event is on of course. I am not sure if poker is considered a sport but I love playing and even watching poker on TV, little crazy right? It doesn’t stop at watching sports but sport shows are big as well. All I gotta say is, thank god for ESPN. My girlfriend can’t stand it when I watch sports and even more so when I watch sports shows like Mike and Mike in the morning or PTI, etc. but I am slowly bringing her over to the “dark force”. I can get her to watch football with me if the Colts are playing, a small step but none the less a step. I don’t know what I would do if sports weren’t in my life, I need to watch and talk sports; it’s like breathing for me.
Anyway, I bring this up not only because it is a way for people to get to know me better, but also because for me sports act like a “third place”. I can go to a live game with some friends, watch a game on TV, or even just sit around and talk sports. It is a way for me and my friends to talk about something we all care about and are interested in. No matter where or what is going on sports is a good way to “break the ice” by the way for anyone who can’t think of anything to say. Honestly, I talk sports with random strangers just like they were a long lost friend.
At first I didn’t think I would be able to come up with anything to write about that would be interesting, not that I am claming that I have, but I just thought writing 500 words a week of basically anything was going to be a disabling constraint, but the freedom is nice. I find myself looking at others’ blogs to see what they have been writing about and how their blogs are coming. This is a good thing because it is the whole point of having us do these blogs and until this week I hadn’t looked at anyone else’s. Basically what I am trying to say is that the change in what our blogs should be has worked, at least so far; it has gotten me to look at other people’s blogs.

Getting into the “right” position:

Why did I wait so long to start writing this paper? “Man up and just get it done!” I kept telling myself. All the research is done write the outline and the paper will practically write itself from there. One question kept swirling around in my head, when will I find the time to write this paper? Well, I can either pull an all nighter tonight or I could skip class tonight and knock it out. No, I can’t I just skipped class two weeks ago! Well, I guess I can just check the syllabus to see what we are doing tonight, it won’t hurt to look. Lets see:
“Discuss case 23-2: Nokia”
“Group work”
“Read chapter six for next week”
Well not too important. It begins, my mind starts listing reasons why I should skip class in favor of writing my paper. “I can read the case myself, group work, who needs that, and I can read chapter six summary before class next week.” Now I know I should not listen to myself, go to class, discuss the Nokia case, do the group work, and then go home and stay up all night writing the paper; but it’s just not that easy arguing against myself. My two sides start arguing some more, on the right shoulder stands the “angel”, representing the good side, on the other shoulder stands the “devil”, pitchfork in hand he continues his argument. In the movies the angel always has a great logical argument and usually wins; however, unfortunately this time the devil is the one who has the sound more logical argument. I can’t argue against logic, can I?
Within a few minutes the devil and his pitchfork knock the glowing angel off my right shoulder; with only the devil to listen to my mind is soon made up for me. I must skip class in order to write my paper. Why not? That makes sense, but first I need to figure out what excuse I could conjure up to email my professor. That’s the least thing I should do, I think Mr. Angel would want me to. What to go with; flat tire, car won’t start, family in town from some far off location? Better yet just be vague, “Sorry, I will not be able to make it to class tonight. See you in class next week. Thanks, Jase” that sounds good. Now I can write the paper, right after I put on the coffee, put together a good play list, and gather all of the research.
Here we are, we’re going now, off to a good start; name, date, class, title, perfect! Now what, check the outline. Hmm, “Intro” way to be specific Jase! Okay start with the background, that’s a good way to break the ice. Then move on to the body paragraphs, put in the transition sentences . . . Two hours, four cups of coffee, and six pages later it was finally done.

Getting Restless
Revision = "Death Work"

Revision is “death work”, at least most of the time. Lots of times when I must revise something, whether it is a research proposal, research paper, or a presentation it takes me longer than it took to write the original. (Maybe that is why it needed so much revising in the first place.) The work “revision” just has a very negative connotation attached to it, for me anyway. I understand the importance and significance of revising, but that doesn’t make it any easier to do. However, sometimes revising my work is very gratifying. When I turn a good piece of writing into an even better piece by revising it is worth it, that is the whole point, but too often revising takes on another role for me. To me sometimes it seems like busy work, something that all teachers feel that has to be done. It seems like some teachers assign revision not to help the writer get better but just because it is drilled into them that it is what should be done. I feel that in order for revision to take on a more productive role in the writing process the student must see the worth in it. I know that when I am assigned to revise a paper and the professor is only interested in me correcting grammatical errors then that is all I will do. I am not going to rethink any part of the paper if I know that the professor isn’t interested in that. The times that revision has been productive for me are the times that my professor has actually spent more time on the revision process; looking at the revised copy, making comments on further revision, and then expecting to see even more improvement. Sometimes the point of revision gets misunderstood, it is not only to correct mistakes but also build upon what is already done.

Revision of Proposal

In the spirit of revision, for this week’s blog I am going to build upon my final project proposal. I thought for a long time about what I could do in order to get my message across with out writing a boring research paper. Of course I will have to do the leg work and research the issue of Global Warming thoroughly but I wanted to come up with a unique way of presenting it. Of course I thought of a Power Point presentation but that too can be very boring. However, I am taking a “Writing for Multimedia” course this semester which addresses the different ways multimedia can be used in writing. I never knew how much one could do with Power Point. I, like many others, have only used Power Point for presentations, but Power Point can be used to create much more than just a presentation. You can actually make your own short movie, starting and ending on its own, with video, audio, animation, etc. Of course, there are other software programs that are more advanced, like Adobe Premier, but for a beginner like myself I think I will stick to Power Point. I am excited to see what I can make that will present my case thoroughly and accurately.