PWR 381 Experience:

To future students and those interested in my blabber.

I would like to think that I learned nothing from the class, but the fact is there was a lot to learn. The most important lesson I got was that writing can almost never be perfect. It is important to edit, edit and edit, some more. There is always room for improvement. I am sure most of us have taken a look at some of those great pieces we wrote. say a year ago and noticed the billions of errors, some of which are laughable, actually.

I know we all hope that one day we will make it big as future writer, but the truth is there are not that many jobs for writers and the chances of making it are zoo-ch, yes? NO! That is something else that the course gives you. New ways of getting yourself hired and the millions of fields, which could use some one just like you.

I am glad this was a required course for me, for it is something I never would have thought of taking. It has, however, opened a lot of doors for me and hope it will do the same for those that are inspired by this, my scribble.

–Maria

Critiquing My Own.

So,
Anyone can write, now?
Anyone can read, now?
Preach and doctor, now?
Can anyone beat now,
Now?

We,
The Shakespeares of today,
Have neither the learning,
Nor the enormous array,
Of beautiful images escaping
To earth, like a ray
Of sunshine, brightly shining,
Through clouds, on its way,
To arouse lovers, slumbering
Still, at the break o’day.
(Oblivious to sorrows, calling.)

Yes,
We can only aspire
And endeavor to acquire
Some of those achievements,
Which are the monuments,
Left behind as landmarks,
Transforming our inexperienced barks,
Into voices of reform:
Challenging the zealous Politician,
Questioning the “great” Historian,
And analyzing the media’s
Ever tantalizing “objective” ideas.

Thus,
This our journey begins,
Following in the footsteps,
Of our benevolent forefathers,
Who made the rules
And broke the rules,
Only to redefine old ones,
By creating new ones.

Oh, but
We follow the rules
We know not, while
We misuse the ones
We know, trying to
Create a form of our own:
One free from criticism,
But soon we learn,
Ours is as much
For the critic, as
It is for our
Own Catharsis.For never
Can we claim individuality
From that, our society,
Which tossed free thought
Outside in an effort,
To fashion and frame
This, our person, from
That, our purest innocence,
At our earliest infancy.

–Maria

Curse You VISA

Recently my home has been under renovation and as a result, there have been contractors in and out of my house for what seems like forever. Aside from the traffic and dust that accompanies such renovations, the main issue my family has had has been with a certain marble company. *Cough* ONYX MARBLE *Cough* They “installed” a countertop and backsplash but did it in a rather abysmal way. We insisted that they fix it or they don’t get paid, but as it turns out they will get paid anyway. After a lengthy conversation with VISA it turns out that when we submitted our VISA number upon initiating the job (A mandatory step in the contracting) we inadvertently agreed to pay them regardless of if they completed the job or not. VISA went on to say that VISA is not a moderator, merely a substitute for cash and they would not cancel the transaction that was not sanctioned by my parents, as they are not liable to do so. In the contractors contract, somewhere in the small print, he had outlined this and VISA more or less does the same. Therefore, technically, any contractor you commission to do a job does not even have to finish assuming you signed a contract (Which any contractor would make you do) While I understand the need for such contracts, (What if I decide I don’t want to pay them for no reason?) ultimately in this situation it is me and mine who got burned and not the contractors. Bottom line, read the fine print, even if it takes some time.

–David

While in the bookstore the other day, I came across a book that taught you how to do yoga. In my opinion, learning a sport from a book is not as effective as learning one on one with an instructor. However, this book seemed to explain everything in detail. It had an introduction explaining what yoga was all about and what the benefits of yoga are. It then went into different chapters, each chapter focusing on a different part of the body. I also liked the fact that the book started out with simple poses and got more advanced throughout the book. I liked how there were pictures in each chapter that showed the reader how the proper form of the pose should look like. What I also found useful were the tips for each one of the poses that were being introduced. I think it is very important that books are very detailed and show diagrams/pictures about the topic that is being explained in the book, especially if it is a beginner’s book.

Denise

I was trying to learn about Track Changes in Word Perfect for another class, and to my surprise the explanation in Word was very helpful.  First, Word explained all about tract changes and then went into detail about the different tools that can be used when using Track Changes (for example, inserting comments).  In Word, I also had the option of learning about Track Changes through a recording.  This was even more helpful because I could listen to the instructor while at the same time follow the example on my computer screen.  At the end of the recording, I had the opportunity to do an exercise using Tract Changes on Word.  The outcome….I now know everything  I need to know about Tract Changes and I learned it in such a short amount of time and hassle free.

Here’s a Question for Ya

Hi guys!

 I was commenting on Denise’s post about user manuals when something funny occurred to me.

What if someone were to write a manual for digesting technical information!

First of all, how would it look like? (besides Prose 2910)   *think do’s and don’ts

Second, what would you call it? (besides Digesting Technical Information…duhh)

-mai

      My friend has just begun to take guitar lessons.  While listening to him practice I took notice of the book he was learning from.  In my opinion, a beginner’s book about learning a new instrument should contain visuals.  This book had no visuals.  It described the strumming techniques in brief technical details with no pictures to show an example.  The first problem is if this is a beginner’s book, how would a beginner understand musical terms.  For example, one of the exercises tells the beginner to play the strings alternating “index and medius, and then medius and annularis.”  How would a beginner player know that the medius is the middle finger and the annularis is the ring finger?  (Index is understandable).  There should be a picture of a hand that names each finger.  The thumb is called the pollex, and how would a beginner know that pollex is thumb unless he understood Latin?  In my opinion, this is a poor excuse for a beginner’s guitar book and I wonder how this book ever got published.Denise

It’s not about the bonus marks…ok…it is.

I figure I might as well contribute to this blog once in awhile. I’m going to follow the lead of Zagita with a small rant.

There is a thing called “MySQL AB.” This thing, as the website describes it, is “The World’s most popular open source database.” The database is commonly used to connect websites to databases that store all kinds of information. I happen to know that WordPress, Livejournal, and Myspace use MySQL exclusively for there databasing needs. You use MySQL.

I’ve been trying to learn how to set up MySQL on my home computer so I can run a database through my website. Let me tell you, it is not an easy thing to do. Why? The instructions. They are written by geeks for geeks. And although I may be a geek in training, I don’t quite speek their language. The one step I struggle with the most came directly from the MySQL reference guide for setting the password for the user “root”, here it is:

shell> mysql -u root
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('newpwd');

The problem here is “newpwd.” The first section of the manual explains the notation used throughout the manual. The notation section explains that when a user is to input their own information it will be identified like so:

instead of: newpwd

it should have been: type_your_new_root_password_here

Because of this, my password was set to newpwd without me knowing, causing me wasted hours and hundreds of access denied messages. The point is that professional writers do have an impact on the way people live and work. Although it only my time and sanity was spent, inconsistencies like notation standards could have greater consequences.

-Jonathan A

just a rant

I don’t know if this post would be appropriate for this blog, but I have an unbearable desire to rant right now. It still has something to do with this course, particularly the ProbSet#1 that we have to complete.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I kept encountering problems in my effort to complete this test. Somehow, I managed to get error notifications TWICE while doing the test. The first incident happened yesterday. I was on the first question, and when I clicked the OK button to submit my answer, I was greeted by an error notice instead of the second question. I was annoyed to say the least, but I quickly regained my composure and wrote an email to Professor Agnew asking for assistance. She was kind enough to fix the problem so that I was able to redo the test today. However, on my third attempt I was again greeted by the now too familiar error notice. I got so frustrated that I felt like punching my monitor. But then I realized that having a broken laptop would be an even bigger disaster, so I restrained myself from doing so. Instead, I emailed Professor Agnew, again. I wouldn’t blame her if seeing my name in her inbox leaves a bitter taste in her mouth by now.

I don’t know anyone else in class who has encountered such a problem. Maybe I’m having bad karma with the internet. Maybe I’m not meant to do well on this test. Ah, maybe I should just go to bed. After all, we do have an early class to attend tomorrow.

To Professor Agnew: Please feel free to remove this entry if you think the content is not suitable.

Zagita

in quandary

As a third year Professional Writing student in the stream of Institutional Writing, I find myself in writing dilemma. I changed my major to Professional Writing in my second year; therefore at present I’m also taking a second year course to fulfill the requirements. My 2000-level course deals with essay rhetoric. In class we are responsible to read a different personal essay each week and do rhetorical analysis on them. The course also requires us to submit our own personal essay at the end of the semester. The problem is the exercise of writing and reading rhetorical devices goes against what we are taught in this class. Digesting Technical Information is all about writing concisely in a simple and direct manner, avoiding jargons and archaic expressions whenever possible. On the other hand, rhetorical essays demand us to use figurative language and incorporate connotative meanings as to elevate its interest level.

 

Of course I understand that both courses exist in different writing contexts, thus it is probably unfair to view them as parallels. However, as the one who has to do the weekly assignments for both courses, I suffer from contorted writing flow. I cannot stay in a consistent writing trance each week because I have to change writing styles and the kind of lexicons I use for different classes. If you have never experienced this before, let me be the one to tell you that it is a quite uncomfortable experience.

Writing to me is a therapeutic exercise. So when I find myself pulling my hair out week after week trying to complete different writing assignments, there must be something wrong. Now, what do I do?

- Zagita T.