I am relieved that I am almost done with English. It is not a favorite subject of mine. I don’t like writing 1,500 word papers, researching information, and making sure everything is cited correctly. It is a real pain for me to do. Writing is so subjective and it can never be perfect. Two people can read the same paper and have totally different opinions about it. But how do you know who’s right and who’s wrong? How do you yourself determine if your writing is good, or needs major improvement? These kinds of unsure things frustrate me. I never know what grade I’m going to get on a paper. Sometimes I think that I didn’t write it very well and receive a good grade. Other time I really like what I wrote, but the instructor gives me a bad grade. At least with tests I have some idea of the grade that I will get. After a test I can go home and look up answers. I can’t go home and see of I wrote my paper correctly.
I’m glad that these blogs are over with, also. Like I predicted, I ended up writing them all at the end of the semester. If I don’t have a due date I will just keep procrastinating until I have no choice but to take action. I wasn’t looking forward to Compostion 2 and everything that I predicted about it was right. I don’t plan on taking anymore writing classes, but I know I will probably have to write a few more papers in college. Hopefully I’ve become a better writer through this class. I think I learned a few things throughout the semester.

The 2005 hurricane season has been the busiest one in history, I believe. Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to the end of November. But Tropical Storm Epsilon is proof that storms can also form before of after the set dates. As long as the water is warm enough, there is always a possibility. Epsilon is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet and was used because forecasters ran out of their standard list of names. Epsilon formed over the Central Atlantic Ocean, and so far meteorologists do not expect it to reach land. Assuming that no more storms are formed this year, there were 26 named storms. The previous record was 21 named storms all the way back in 1933. Thirteen of this year’s named storms were classified as hurricanes and seven were major. The normal season average is 10 named storms, six hurricanes, and two major. Three of the hurricanes this year were Category 5 storms, and two of the three that struck land (Katrina and Wilma) caused severe damage. My family lives in Fort Lauderdale and they were struck hard by Wilma. They weren’t hurt at all, but they were scared. A window broke and their shed was damaged. Their power was out for 3 days and many people were without power for a lot longer. The traffic lights were also down for a while. I didn’t see any of it, but I’m sure it was a disaster.

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Scrapbooking is something that I enjoy doing. The feeling of being so creative with cute pages, your own pictures, stickers, and all kinds of other things is really good. I’ve been making a scrapbooke for a few years now and not until a minute ago have I ever considered making it digitally. Apparently, that is now an option. Many people are finding digital scrapbooking very easy and convenient. Photo-editing software and other programs can be used to arrange digital or scanned photographs, text and embellishments onto a page. Finished pages can be printed and inserted in standard scrapbook albums, bound in hard cover books, burned to CDs and DVDs, or shared through email. Pictures can be cropped to different sizes and pages can be printed multiple times to share with others.
I think digital scrapbooking is a good idea for some people, but I don’t think that I will ever be one of them. I don’t think making a page on the computer would be as fun or allow me to be as creative as I could on paper. On paper, the possibilities are endless.

For more information on this subject visit this site.

I don’t read many non-school related books very often. The only books that I can remember voluntarily reading in the past few years are the Harry Potter ones. When I first heard about Harry Potter I thought it was a child’s book. I even thought my friend was stupid for going to see the first movie. Then my other friend started reading the Sorcerer’s Stone for English class and told me that it was really good. When she was done with it, I read it also. After the first few pages I was hooked. J.K. Rowling became my favorite author. I am continuing to read every Harry Potter book that she writes. When I found out the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I anxiously awaited. I picked it up on the day that it came out. Like the five books before it, this one didn’t disappoint. I read a chapter whenever I had some spare time. The first two thirds of the book wasn’t extremely exciting, but the end of it was. There were so many unpredictable elements that made me keep reading and reading. Once I start reading something, it’s hard to put the book down. I just have to find out what happens next or the suspense would kill me. When I finished the book I was relieved, but hungry for more. I hope that the next book isn’t the last of the series. I could probably read many more Harry Potter books.

Quotations from book:

“It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind.”

“Quite right, take another ten points for Gryffindor. Yes, it’s a funny little potion, Felix Felicis,” said Slughorn.

“The clear winner!” he cried to the dungeon. “Excellent, excellent, Harry! Good lord, it’s clear you’ve inherited your mother’s talent. She was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was! Here you are, then, here you are– one bottle of Felix Felicis as promised, and use it well!”

Citation:

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. U.S.A. : Warner Bros., July, 2005.

A few months ago my boyfriend told me that he was planning a trip to Europe and he wanted me to accompany him. I told him that I would love to go, as long as I could make enough money in time. We plan on flying in to Amsterdam and then going to Germany, the Swiss Alps, maybe Italy, France, and England. I went to Europe on a cruise two summer ago. I traveled the countries bordering the Baltic Sea with my grandmother. It was awesome. We got on the ship in Copenhagen, after visiting for a few days, then took tours in Finland, Estonia, Germany, Russia, and Sweden. I can’t wait to go to a different part of Europe with my boyfriend. I’ve always wanted to visit Italy and England, especially. If we each can come up with enough money, we would like to stay for two or three weeks. We would be going in late May or early June next year. A plane ticket, other travel expenses, food, and shelter will probably cost $2500-$3000. I hope that we make enough money to go and stay for a while. I think it would be such a great opportunity and we would have so much fun together.

Appendix 1 in Writing Arguments is all about Informal Fallacies. The chapter looks at ways of testing legitimacy of an argument. Sometimes there can be a logical flaw hiding within a respectable-looking argument. Arguments can sometimes be labeled as inconclusive, which means that they can not be proven undoubtedly true. However, just because they are inconclusive, does not necessarily mean that the argument is false. We use the informal fallacies of logic to explain how inconclusive arguments can make us believe they are conclusive. The fallacies are put into three categories: pathos, ethos, and logos. The Fallacies of Pathos are: Argument to the People, Appeal to Ignorance, Appeal to Irrational Premises, Provincialism, and Red Herring. The Fallacies of Ethos are: Appeal to False Authority, Appeal to the Person/ Ad Hominem, and Straw Man. The Fallacies of Logos are: Begging the Question, Complex Question, False Dilemma/ Either-Or, Equivocation, Confusing Correlation, Slippery Slope, Hasty Generalization, Faulty Analogy, and Non Sequitur. Each fallacy is described in detail in the text. Many people use informal fallacies in their arguments. Some of them we use without even knowing. A few can be very effective persuasive techniques at times, but others should be avoided. By knowing about each one of the fallacies, a person can prevent themselves from being influenced in an invalid manner and refrain from committing an informal fallacy in their everyday lives. Some of the informal fallacies can be a little confusing, but taking the time to understand each one could allow one to present more accurate arguments.

I am a pretty big Harry Potter fan. I’ve read every book, watched all the movies, and even played all the video games. I just saw the fourth movie on my birthday (November 21st). I thought it was really well done. The actors/ actresses did an excellent job. I read the book a couple years ago, so I don’t remember how accurate the movie was, (if they left anything out) but I think it was pretty good. There wasn’t a dull moment in the whole movie. It was very action packed and I never looked away. It’s interesting watching movies of books that I’ve already read. It’s like the book is coming alive. I get to actually visualize what I once just pictured in my head. I will definitely go and see the following movies. I hope that they are every bit as good as the previous movies.

Cranberries are already known for their ability to help prevent urinary tracy infections. Dental researchers reported new evidence that cranberries can also help prevent tooth decay and cavities. The cranberries appear to prevent bacteria from clinging to teeth, and help ward off plaque. Hyun Koo, an oral biologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York said, ” There’s potential to find compounds there that prevent dental cavities.” The ultimate goal is to extract the berry’s protective properties and add them to toothpaste and mouthwash. However, researchers are still unsure why the berry is so effective. But don’t be in a hurry to consume excessive amounts of cranberry-containing products. Lots of sugar may be added to the product, which is not going to aid in fighting cavities. Cranberries also contain lots of natural acid which can strip away minerals in teeth. Researchers performed a study by coating a synthetic material with cranberry juice. Then they applied a cavity-causing bacteria. The results took about seven months to obtain, but showed that cranberries are about 80% effective in protecting teeth.More tests will need to be done to try to isolate the active compounds before trials with patients can occur.
I hope that the researchers are able to do what they need to do in order to create a toothpaste or mouthwash that is truly effective in preventing cavities. That would be an extremely good product to market. Cavities are painful, expensive to get rid of, and a hassle to deal with. I could do without every getting one again.

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Carrie Underwood has become a household name since her appearance and win on American Idol, Season 4. I am a fan of the show and watched every episode of Season 4. I was rooting for Carrie all the way and contributed a fair amount of votes toward her win. The 22-year old from Checotah, Oklahoma is becoming very successful. Her first album, “Some Hearts” was released November 15th and she performed her first single, “Jesus Take The Wheel” at the CMA Awards the very same day. Her album includes two song which she co-wrote, “I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore,” and “Before He Cheats.” “Jesus Take the Wheel” made it into the top 25 after two weeks. The Country Music Industry is hoping that Underwood will reverse the 10% slide in sales this year.
I think Carrie Underwood is a very talented artist. The first time I heard her sing on American Idol, I knew that she was going to win. She is such an amazing singer. Every performance that she did on the show was entertaining. I believe that she is going to have a successful career. She makes wonderful country music. I am going to buy her album as soon as I can. She has a lot more talent that some other people that somehow get signed to a label. She also worked so hard for her recording contract. She deserves every good thing that comes her way.

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Throughout my time here at USF, I have found that the end of the semester is both good and bad. On one hand, the end of the semester signifies that students are almost done with classes and most look forward to some time off. On the other hand, students usually find that they have a whole bunch of work to get finished in a short amount of time. Procrastinators, like myself, will find themselves trying to catch up on the things that should have been done already, like blogs. I just always tell myself that I’ll have time later, and put it off for the moment. Fortunately, there are only about two more weeks left of classes and everyone will get a break from schoolwork.