SUMMER '11

LAST POST.

In excitement for SUMMER, I have decided to make a bucket list for myself.  Things are of coarse not going to go as planned and who knows what the summer will be, but I am super excited regardless and just wanted to set up a list for myself :)

- GO TO GERMANY/AUSTRIA.
- train to be a waitress at Bdubs - OR - get the internship in CHICAGO!!
- buy a car?? mazda3 pleeeeease!
- run AT LEAST every other day. distance is tbd.
- spend EVERY wednesday night with the girls (a tradition started last summer)
- go to the beach more than last year - it's always funner than it sounds
- don't lose tubing on the 4th of july
- wolf lake on the 4th :)
- get bible study group going again
- SAVE money.
- don't buy stuff for the apartment. wait 'til move in
- COLORADO to visit the Ali?!
- California?! with Molly??
- DO GOOD IN ONLINE EC 201.
- above all, have a good summer and DO NOT get sucked into the small town drama.

Here's to SUMMER '11:) can't waaaaait!

- miner moments.

Easy as Weebly

Preparing for the final and thinking about my presentation I had no idea what I would chose.  I considered making a website but never thought I would find something so easy and helpful to create with!  I was able to make a home page as well as add tabs so easily.  I could choose what I wanted to background to be, as well as my theme throughout the site making it very easy to follow a pattern and help to not make the site cluttered.  I was able to up load documents, and although not how I would have put them, am still happy that I was able to set them up like they were.  I was even more impressed with the ability to add a slide show.  I simply re-saved my slide show as pictures and was able to upload them "piece-of-cake" to one of my tabs within the site.  It amazes me the things the internet and technology can do!!

Check out my site: http://minermoments.weebly.com/
:)

-miner moments.

What If??

As part of the online session this week, we were asked to discus changes we would make to the WRA 110 course.  I really did enjoy this course and learned about myself, my strengths, and my time management - possibly not what the goal was however I'm satisfied.  I really enjoyed the fact that it was part online and part in class.  I was able to do work at my pace but still receive weekly help.  I have never taken a course completely online so can't compare it to all courses, but will definitely look for similar courses in the future.
As far as the work goes, it was most defiantly manageable - at times difficult and overwhelming, but what class isn't?  I enjoyed the cover letter project the most as it was something completely new to me and something I see myself getting a lot of use out of in the future with looking for a job or internship.  I really did not enjoy the research paper and my grade was reflected.  I found that assignment most difficult and had a very hard time putting my thoughts into words and onto paper.  Overall, each assignment was something to learn from and I felt useful.

- miner moments.

Chocolate Bunny!!

Easter Weekend!!

Headed home this weekend and am pretty excited.  I feel like I did just see my family - although it was a few weeks ago, compared to how much I've seen them this semester, this feels crazy that I already get to see them again! 
I've begun moving my things out of the dorm and goodness I over packed when moving in.  I am finding stuff that I remember thinking was so important to bring but have not used at all.  Average girl I suppose.... Moving has gotten me sad though.  I didn't realize how much I liked living here and being on my own.  This summer is about to be weird as it's back to curfews and asking permission on everything - who knows maybe things will change?! I am super excited to move home just to be close to friends and family again but I am so going to miss EL and am already super excited for next semester and moving back. 
It's also hard to believe that I am already scheduling for next semester! Things are happening far to quickly as I am used to figuring out classes in the fall.  I already have my apartment, classes and job figured out for the fall! Oh how things seem to fall in place :)

Life is good and the big man upstairs is really taking care of me!

- miner moments.

Prezi :0

"The Zooming Presentation Editor"

I have heard about this all semester as an option to create something with but never actually seen one.  They are AWESOME. I am now considering learning to do this and using it for my final as it appears to be something easy to navigate and a place where you can include visual as well as graphics.  While we were looking at each others re/mixed projects, one that I looked at was a Prezi, and I was blown away.  How much fun!! This gave me a little hope about my final/ portfolio so I will now see what happens with my brainstorming. 
Also on my mind is the re-write option.  As my research was well under what I would have liked, it was to be expected.  I really did not enjoy that project as my grade reflects it.  I find research papers very difficult because I quickly become far overwhelmed by them.  I was very interested in the topic and believe that I am now very well educated on it, however I could not for the life of me put my thoughts onto paper and come out with a strong paper.  Writing it was difficult for me, and that was before I even tried to start the APA correct citations.  Beginning the research to this paper, I knew absolutely nothing, so is it then correct to cite everything as everything I learned ultimately came from somewhere? Yes, I am still lost and confused with research papers, I don't see them as something that will ever be my "cup of tea".

So hard to believe that we have one class left as well! This has been the quickest second semester ever.  Love College :)

portfolio

I have come to the realization that high school was lazy college courses.  The material is what you make it and in high school it was easy as you did not have to do the homework and could still understand what was happening.  In college, the material can be easy as long as the homework, reading and attendance is kept up on.  So I shouldn't be surprised when we are assigned a "portfolio" as our final and it is nothing like what a portfolio in high school was like.
I was quick to think "sweet, just put my assignments in a binder, give a small presentation and done!" oh how high school was again, so lazy.  As a part of our online work, we looked at other peoples "portfolios" which were in fact super cool web sites, and I quickly came overwhelmed and stressed for our final.  I took my CSE class already so am supposed to know how to construct a website but am still going to be completely out of my element and not know what I am doing to be honest.  We are supposed to have a common theme with our portfolio's as well as address our audience, however after looking over my work, it does not relate other than the fact that each of the topics I addressed I had an interest in, but that's not saying anyone else will care about getting a summer internship, stopping teens from texting while driving and wonder what happened in the 1927 school bombing in Bath, Mi.
This generates a pretty large problem, and I have a LOT of brainstorming ahead of me.

- miner moments.

practice practice practice!

As a part of greek week, there are two dance performances - MTV night, and songfest.  I am a part of songfest this year and it is quite a change from my dance team in high school.  I feel like we have been practicing FOREVER and some people still don't know the dance :( It's frustrating to say the least.  However, last night we had a very long (and productive!) practice and I left feeling better than I ever have about the piece. 
I was honestly embarrassed to be in it and nervous to perform, but with it coming together, I truly believe that we will make less fools of ourselves and it could be fun! So now I'm pretty excited :-)
This weekend consists of Greek Week things for the most part - which is why I cannot go home to see my sister all dressed up for prom.  Super sad about that! I have a four day weekend yet will be so occupied with the practices before the performance on sunday I'm sure it will not feel like it. 

ONLY 2 WEEKS OF CLASS LEFT!!! then it's off to Germany and Austria with my Mom! SO excited :)

- miner moments.

remix

For class today we mainly worked on peer reviewing each others Re/mix projects/rough drafts - something that is way helpful! It's so nice being able to look at other peoples work to help generate ideas for your own project.  The only down side to this is I am still currently sitting in class staring out of the window of this beautiful sunny day :(
Many people are either using powerpoint or a video to create their visual.  I have never used the iVideo on my mac before, but when I started it was SUPER easy so that made me excited.  I have found pictures as well as the song that I wanted to use in the video however cannot seem to find pictures that hold the same common theme.  I want the video to hold some realistic things and I think that if the video is all of different people and shots it's going to be very tough to come across as believable.  I also am struggling with pulling a video offline and using it in my video.  I will continue to work on it however throughout the weekend and am really hoping this turns our great because it was something i was for sure excited for!

- miner moments.

yup!

For the online session we were in charge of taking a previous journal entry and in charge of recreating it into something pleaseing to the eye.  Did I accomplish that?? I'm honestly not sure.  I did not completely understand the assignment so I think I did a good job, but will have to wait and see on my grade! I chose to recreate the entry "the best is yet to come" and feel like it was a great choice to do so.  I was able to incorporate pictures of all the things included in my journal entry as each of them took place after making the journal entry.  It brought back fun memories and made me SO excited for this summer :)
I used elements from the C.R.A.P guide to not only give the journal a visual, but also (hopefully) allow the entry, title and pictures to contrast correctly.  Overall, I was pleased with my assignment and had fun doing it.  It was such a nice reliever from the other homework I am very tired of doing. 

Hope you enjoyed :)

- miner moments.

overwhelmed.

I have come down with a bad cold and on top of that am overwhelmed largly.  I suppose with summer coming up so quick my focus abilities have continued to decrease and it has become tough for me to focus and study which then leads to cramming - not something I am proud of, or good at.  To add to this focus issue, I have recently caught a cold, and I cannot remember the last time I had a cold but sure don't like it.  On top of the cold is the beautiful weather, one of the better parts of my weekend.  It was wonderfully warm and I was wonderfully stuck inside trying to focus and not get my roommates sick.  Overall, a very not productive weekend to say the least. 
Greek week is also being held this weekend and was where I was all night friday night - literally.  I'm sure it didn't help with the cold, but as a part of being in the greek system, we are required to attend the greek week events, and relay for life kicked it off friday night.  Being my first time, it was a learning experience to say the least.  I learned it is much more fun when more people are there, when I am awake, and when I keep myself busy with something.  My night was dull as all I wanted to do was sleep my cold off, but the few times I did get involved, things seemed to go better. 
Overall this week should go by pretty quick because I am super busy, but it's also going to be a stressful one.  Here goes!

- miner moments.

editorials.

For class today we were in charge of looking at 3 different uses of advertisment pamplets and take a close look in seeing the different ways the uses of C.R.A.P were used and if they were or were not successful.  Together, they all seemed to follow a simular pattern, so were much more effective than others however.  Using a black and white theme may be a tad boring, however the final product looked much more professional than the group who had the busy background with the 2 bold shades of blue.  It was very different to look at the 2 pamphlets and then look at the space programs slides for the presentation (I am not completely sure what they were supposed to be used for).  The space program's work was my favorite.  It had color as well as information and although too many words, it was done very professionally so made the excess reading slightly better.  Overall it was a great learning experience and was benificial to myself to see although each of them look okay as a quick overview, when looking closely each of them had flaws. 

- miner moments.

bubble gum.

As part of the online session today we were in charge of creating an advertisement and completely failing at it - I believe... and am hoping I did correct! Part of the new material is learning what is appealing and not appealing to the audience eye as well as what works and what doesn't.  With this, we learned the helpful word of "CRAP".

Contrast: create visual attraction
Repetition: repeat visual elements to achieve the unity
Alignment: make visual connections
Proximity: group related items closer together

Although slightly confusing, I believe I was successful in creating an advertisement which did not succeed in any of these areas and was therefore able to see how much each of these elements work.  A little bit of reverse psychology if you ask me :) This is making me excited to see what else we learn within this session and what kind of projects we will hopefully do!!

- miner moments.