Mountain Biking Video Draft

Link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ0IvyRvgP8

This is what I have so far for my project. But I also have some of the interviews done but I haven't added them in yet because I am unsure where I should put them in the video. Should I break up the clips of riding into seprate sections with interviews inbetween each section? Also how is he sound ratio with the video clips and the music?

MMMMM FOOD!

                Food. There is just so much you can say about food. So I think I'll try to go in the direction of what I personally eat. I would have to say my all time favorite meal would have to be breaded chicken breasts and buttered noodles on the side with some sort of vegetable like steamed broccoli with a little lemon juice on it. Other than that I would have to say that I love basically any kind of pasta with homemade sauce from my mom. Every Sunday there is always a big plate of pasta waiting for me for dinner. But I definitely don’t just eat good wholesome meals like that all the time. I would have to say that I am a pretty big junk eater. If I had the choice of good food all the time I probably would choose it most of the time. But that’s just unrealistic in our world now. So a lot of times I will just grab something quick to make me feel full even though I know it's bad for me and that I'll be hungry again in like fifteen minutes.

                Another reason why I eat a lot of bad food is the fact that I work at McDonalds. Now there is no one forcing me to eat the food there in any way. But I usually work a six hour shift after school and then on the weekends I will work a nine and a half hour shift. So honestly I could not go through a whole shift without eating because my body needs food to keep up with the craziness of fulfilling orders. When I do eat there I tend to buy some of the healthier menu items (yes, there are some healthy things at McDonalds). I usually get a salad with grilled chicken and apple dippers on the side and water to drink. Other than that I'll get a wrap and apple dippers. But I never eat the burgers because I know how bad those are for you.

                Other than that I really do try to eat healthy because I realize what will happen to me if I don’t. I do my best to eat right but I also do have some candy every once in a while. But that is how my diet has been for my whole life and so far it has worked out for me so I plan to keep it that way.

My Skirmish Experience

This is a video of the game, I am in it at about 2:43 wearing the yellow mask and white shirt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKq3YAwmXpE

                The perfect example that I have in my life to show that I was a leader happened in Pennsylvania  during the largest paintball game ever in the world. This game had over 4100 people playing in it and it lasted three days long. It was played on a field that stretched 100 acres and included woods, swamps, and open fields. The theme of the game was the famous war battle of Invasion of Normandy.

                Now on the last day of this game my friends and I were in the middle of a huge open field with hundreds of players from both teams battling it out for control of the field. In this game people were allowed to use smoke grenades, but it was so hot that day that one suddenly lit the grass on fire in the open fire that we were in. It took a minute but the fire was put out. Now at this point all of my friends had finally run out of paintballs, but I still had a little bit more. So I was in the middle of the field and the other team started pushing towards us. My team began to retreat but I stayed to fight.

                Suddenly I looked back and saw that I was the only person left on my tem out on the open field and the rest had retreated back to the woods. As I looked forward I could see literally hundreds of players on the other team moving towards me. At that instant I had the choice of running back to my team and getting shot about a million times or making one last attempt to rally my team and still get shot a lot. Naturally, I chose the more brave route of the two. So I looked back at my team once more and started sprinting towards the other team. I shot my gun as fast as I could just absolutely painting every person I could reach until I was completely empty. I got shot upwards of 100 times but right after I did it my team cheered and all started running back on the field again. As I walked off the field in A LOT of pain I looked back and watched my team take back the field.

                This was honestly one of the best feelings I have ever felt because I had an effect on so many people. As I met my friends they told me I was crazy, but the followed by saying that I was the one who made that all happen and that it was pretty amazing.

My Math Crisis

               So far this year I haven't had to many tough times having to do with my college experience. But I would say that the only thing that has really been a bit of a speed bump for me is my math class. I am in Math 100 which I thought would be a pretty good class for me because I am not good at math at all. But I soon realized that this class is still going to be a challenge for me. I thought I was doing pretty average in the class until I took the midterm. As I was taking the test my professor announced that there was five minutes left and I looked down and saw that I had about seven questions unanswered. I panicked and ended up getting a D on it. This brought my overall grade down to a D also. I already knew what my parents would say when they say this. But I told them before I started going to college hat I wasn't going to let this happen again so I was determined to change my grade.

                Now when this happened I thought to myself, "This has happened so many times to me with math classes, and I'm not letting it happen again." So after that day I have been studying harder. I also am getting some extra help from my professor and from a friend that is in the class. I am doing much better now and I can honestly say I am understanding the work much better than I ever did.

Hidden Study Spots

                This is a place that I have used to study at already in my time at SCSU. From the picture you may think I'm talking about the bagel wagon but I am actually talking about the walkway next to the outdoor tables. That walkway is pretty rarely used. From my experience it's not loud at all over there. I would sit there during my two hour break on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It is a great place to get some peace and get your homework done but still be outside.

                I guess there is two downsides to this spot though. One would have to be the obvious fact that it is an outdoor spot so it can only really be used in nice warm weather. But it's not a big deal for me because otherwise I just go into the student center and there is always an open table there. The other bad part about this spot is the fact that you are sitting on concrete. This only really matters if you are going to be sitting there for a long time because it can get pretty uncomfortable after a while. But I was okay with it most of the time and I was able to get most of my hw done there for the first month or so of school.

Computer Science

                In my computer science class I am feeling pretty intellectually stimulated. I think the reason for this is that I want to go into a career in computers. I have always found them very interesting in general. Now with this class that I am taking I am learning how to actually make simple programs that we all use every day on the internet. Also this is the first class that I have ever take that I can honestly say that I feel a great sense of accomplishment for completing the assignments. This sense of accomplishment comes to me because I can actually see something that I made from scratch working perfectly, and I know in my mind that if my program was part of a website then it would work perfectly. The class seemed difficult at first but now that I am really working hard in it I am learning a lot and doing very well in it. Designing each program and then writing the code to find out how to make just one button do so much is pretty challenging. I never really knew that so much happened inside the computer when you clicked a button.

                When I came into college I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go into a computer science major but now that I am taking this class the pure joy that I get out of it definitely out weights any second thoughts about the major. So in a sense this class really helped determine what my path through college will be and what my career path will be later in my life.  This class is much better than I ever expected and it is definitely a very intellectually stimulating class.

Stress? What Stress?

                This is a perfect week for me to write about stress relievers because I have a pretty busy week ahead of me. But I already knew this going into the week so I have been attempting to relieve all my stress and clear my mind. The only thing that I have been using this week so far is sitting down and making playlists on my computer. I love to listen to music and I make new playlists all the time. I find it very relaxing to sit down and listen to my library of 10,000 songs and try to make a playlist that fits many songs together well.

                Another big stress reliever for me is going mountain biking by myself in the woods. The woods are always so calm and they are a great place to just sit down and think. So I guess going on  hike alone would work for that one too. Also since it is starting to get colder out I always find going to a mountain and snowboarding down a very low populated slope very relaxing. It's just you and the white snow flying down the mountain, and at that point you have control over everything that happens next whether you know it or not.

                But if you're not into the whole sports and outdoor thing there is always a very easy one. I do this one probably more than any of the others. The reliever that I am talking about is when you are taking your shower just sit for a moment and let the water poor down on you. Clear your head and don’t think about anything. It is an amazingly relieving experience and it makes me feel like I am completely away from all the things I need to get done. So I would definitely recommend this one to anyone and everyone.

                So, those are my stress relievers hope that they can help someone in the future with their stress!

Grade Inflation Hurts

                Going off of the conversation that we had in class about grade inflation I was left with a different perspective on the question that Ilmar posed. The way that I interpreted his question was that it was asking if students put forth a good effort and still get something wrong is it right to give them a good grade. I answered it in the sense that it is wrong to give someone a grade that they do not deserve. I feel that if a teacher gives a student a grade they don’t deserve then it can really hurt the students in their future.

                If a student receives a  high grade just for trying hard even thought they got something wrong then that is going to teach them that they can just try hard every time and get a good grade. It teaches that it doesn’t matter if you don’t get it right all that matters is if you tried hard. That is definitely not the case in the real world so teaching this to students is really hurting them for their futures.

                As for the way that we were discussing the question in class I would have to agree with DJ the most because I feel that students should never receive a passing grade for just showing up and doing ONLY all that is asked of them. There is always a time when a student needs to go above and beyond for every class they take, and whether this means that they are going above the standards to get a better grade overall or if they are just trying to pass the class there is still a time for every student.

                SO overall I think that grade inflation is a bad idea with good intentions and it will honestly hurt students in the long run. I know that any company that sees that you attended a college that inflates grades will not look at you the same as someone who attended a school that didn’t.