New Writing Sample

I've had an idea running through my head for sometime about a world that once had a creator, but left quite some time ago and left the world to ruin upon itself since the inhabitants gave in to their sin.

I won't go into too much more detail here, but a relic was left behind to test those worthy to possess it and with it could once right the world again and show that they were capable of their god's love once again.

The idea has been running through my head for years and it is obviously a fantasy piece, but I've decided to go ahead and do some work on it and post it here instead of ever trying to get it published. It is not what I would call one of my better ideas, but it could serve as a good warm-up piece for something else later on.

Here is a snippet, though it is very rough and is more or less in a free-writing form at this point:

"Oh lord, thrust ye light upon me and choose my destiny. will ye consume my fate, or will ye show me another path. A path of light so golden and true, that will cleanse my soul of sin and give me the strength to thwart thine enemies and rid the world of ye children of darkness that ye left behind for us to realize our mistake and to eventually consume with ye wisdom and holy light. For I shall arise as the holy warrior of light as per prophecy and summon all thy children and create an army of light to rid us of all darkness forever. Bequeath me the right to carry thine sword into battle and smite thee foes so that we will once again return ye love and restore faith to the land once more."

Thanios gazed upon the sword of light hovering in the air above him and plucked it from the air. The light grew dark and Thanios stood still, frozen in time, a voice echoing throughout the cavern and within his mind "YE ARE NOT THE ONE, SO THE SWORD WILL FOREVER HOLD YE HERE TILL HE FREEDETH UPON YOU. THERE IS ANOTHER, AND HE IS A BETTER MAN THAN YE WERE EVER PROPHESIED TO BECOME. SLEEP FOREVER UNTIL THAT FATEFUL DAY HAS COME UPON YE AND RESTORED YE ONCE AGAIN MY SON..."

The sword left Thanios hand and hovered back to its original position, the light reborn within it. Thanios, stood still, arm raised, body of total crystal, and forever he rested there, waiting....

Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie” Pictures

So here are some pictures of my Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie”. I made this for the Super Bowl party that CJ threw and then wrote a paragraph on it for extra credit in my COM 105 class.

Before going into the oven:



After coming out of the oven:



And one after it was somewhat devoured at the Super Bowl party:



And here is the original recipe if you would like to use that instead of my modified one linked above.

Process Paragraph - Extra Credit

Author's Note: This is an extra credit paragraph that I did for my COM 105 class in which I received a 3/5 or an B+ letter grade on (at this point I already have a 100% in the class so the extra points will be added to my Research Paper if I need it).

Process Paragraph – Extra Credit

In making Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie”, some preparation and a handful of ingredients are needed, but in the end it is all worth it. First, the ingredients you will need are one butternut squash, 1tbsp. of brown sugar, ¼ tsp. salt, which is optional, a pinch of white pepper, which is also optional, three to four normal-sized Jonathan apples, 1 ½ tablespoons of shortening or margarine, ¼ cup of sugar, though I replaced this with Sugar In The Raw Premium Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar, which made it all the more awesome, three single serving boxes of cornflakes, which is equivalent to about 2 ½ cups, ½ cup of chopped pecans, 2 tbsp. of butter and ½ cup of brown sugar, I also substituted Splenda brand brown sugar for this as well. First, cut the butternut squash and scrape out the seeds. Once you have completed that, either steam the butternut squash for thirty minutes or bake upside-down on foil at 300 degrees until tender. You can also microwave the butternut squash and I found that a combination of baking upside-down at 300 degrees for thirty minutes then microwaving for an additional 2 and ¼ minutes, gets the butternut squash sufficiently tender enough to work with, but be careful and let it cool down a little for a few minutes since it will be extremely hot! Once it is ready to work with, scrape out the pulp of the butternut squash and mash or beat smooth. Season the top of the mashed butternut squash pulp with cinnamon, though the original recipe called for one tablespoon of brown sugar and a ¼ teaspoon of salt and a pinch of white pepper, I found the change I did made the overall product much more tasty. Now, gather your Jonathan apples and core and slice them, but don’t peel. The trick to this is to slice them up into small pieces instead of wedges and I found that doing this created a much better base for which everything else in the recipe builds upon. Next, heat one and a half tablespoons of shortening or margarine in a small skillet, you can also just use normal cooking spray, which is what I used, Pam’s Canola Oil variety, and get a good layer saturated onto the skillet. When the skillet is ready, add your apples and sprinkle one-fourth a cup of sugar on them, or in my case a one-fourth cup of the Sugar In The Raw Premium Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar, but any Turbinado sugar will do. Cover the skillet, in my case I used a 9-inch, 8-quart, round, baking casserole dish, and simmer until they are tender. While the apples are simmering you can start working on the nutty topping, crush your cornflakes coarsely, then add a half of a cup of chopped pecans, the two tablespoons of melted butter and the half a cup of brown sugar. Finally, once the apples are nice and tender and everything else is finished being prepared, spread the fried apples into an 8 inch square or 9 inch round casserole (1 ½ quart) dish. Spoon the butternut squash pulp evenly over it. Last but not least sprinkle the nutty topping over that and bake the work of art at 325-350 degrees until the nutty topping is a light brown, or a bit darker if you like it extra crunchy (usually 30-45 minutes, give or take). Enjoy Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie” with friends and watch their warm reactions as they devour into it.

Research Paper Topics - French Health Care

Author's Note: These are just some generic topics that I made a list of for my research paper. The funny thing is that in the end, I picked one of the subjects and narrowed it down to one specific example.

• Universal Health Care
• Progressive Tax Reform
• Dwight D. Eisenhower – last good Republican president
• Capital Punishment
• Abortion
• Liberalism
• Charlie Chaplin
• Cats should not be declawed

In the end, I did not pick any of these subject and instead decided to narrow down the subject of universal health care into one perfect example, which is the French Health Care system.

My thesis statement will be: The French Healthcare system, or French Care, is a single payer system that is probably the most perfect healthcare system in the world with its ability to provide health insurance for all, allow for additional private insurance, and its continual evolution to remain relevant with the times.

I will be using some or all of the following sources (minimum of five):

National Coalition on Healthcare - France

Health Care Systems in Transition by Simone Sandier, Valérie Paris, and Dominique Polton

French Family Values by Paul Krugman

Health Care in France and Germany: Lessons for the UK by David G. Green and Benedict Irvine

France's Model Healthcare System by Paul V. Dutton

AFP: France is healthcare lader, US comes dead last study

Healthcare in France: An Introduction

The French Lesson in Healthcare

I am sure more will follow soon as I do more research, but this is a good beginning I think.

Life Without Television Essay

Author's Note: This is the only essay assignment I had for my COM 105 class (though I wish we could have had more of these and less of the single paragraph assignments), and from this point on all of my writing time will be focused on my reasearch paper since that is the last grade we will be receiving in the class. I received a 25/25 on the paper, which is an A letter grade, despite the fact that there was one area where I strayed a little off topic. Despite this, I am presenting the essay in its original, unedited form.

Life Without Television

I dream of a world of higher intellects, where people read much more than they do and participate in intellectual debates and other activities that require more thinking and less zombifying in front of an electronic device that does not always produce high-quality intellectual programming. I think with the passing time and the increase of more and more television viewing over the years our culture loses some things, and while I do not think that all television programming is negative for us, I think the majority of it is and only helps in leading to some of the problems we face, and will continue to face, unless the culture of reality television changes. Life without television, I think, would only improve, and on a much more specific scale would lower the level of child obesity this country has, increase the level of intellectualism in most people, and people’s individual level of aesthetic tastes would improve overall.

If television where to end today, I think you would see a vast improvement in child obesity within a few months, and while television is not the only cause for this problem that we face currently, it is one of the main stimulants. We live in a culture, compared to others around the world, which does not put as much effort into combating this problem as we should. If there were no television, I think children would be more prone to go outside and play, take a walk with friends, hang out at the mall for hours on end and browse, and would also later have a more positive suggestion to exercise as often as possible and that it can also be rewarding later in their lives if they do so. There would probably no longer be the routine of coming home from school, grabbing a snack or two, and then turning on the television and sitting and watching for hours on end while their bodies and minds desperately cry out for exercise. Instead, there would be the routine of coming home; possibly getting homework completed first, since they would no longer be distracted, and then hanging out with friends and doing various recreational activities that would help stimulate more exercise. At the minimum, I do think that television has a place in the things to address when dealing with child obesity and do believe that it is one of the major deterrents for progressing out of the rut that child obesity currently has us in.

On the level of intellectualism, I think our society faces a very large hurdle to climb when it comes to anti-intellectualism thought and the role that television plays towards feeding it. I think it is because of some of the sophomoric humor that most of our top watched sitcoms contain as well as the fact that the majority of television being watched is reality-based, sitcoms, or talk shows, which the majority to me seem to represent, and stimulate growth of this further, the anti-intellectual, sophomoric humor engaging section of the population which seems to me to be in the majority. This is the reason why, I think, that we hear comments pertaining to “Ivory Towers”, and similar sentiments that suggest that just because people think more, study more, or like to be intellectually more engaged in something, that suddenly the opinions of these people should not matter at all and are always totally way off base because they apparently do not have the cunning intellect of the average Joe, which to me, does not like to always engage in intellectual forethought on a daily basis and would rather watch hours of intellectual disengaging television every day. Mind you, I do not think that television is the sole contributor of this problem, but I do think that it is one of the major contributors since, when compared to other societies, “the average American watches over 4½ hours of television every single day”.

It is because of some of the things that the average American watches on television that leads me to believe that television is definitely one of the factors for decreasing aesthetic tastes when it comes to most forms of art and entertainment. We no longer, as a majority whole, enjoy more quality pieces of art as we once did before the onset of television. The majority of people that listen to music, like what is played on the radio, which in my mind is not always the best samples of the larger musical world to enjoy, and I think it is because of shows like American Idol and others that are similar, that stimulate this lower level of aesthetic tastes that the majority of Americans prefer. All in all, like anything, I do not believe that television is the only factor in causing this decline, but I do believe that it plays an important role and that if we were to ever decrease our television viewing amounts, I think you would start to see a slow, but steady, increase in aesthetic values across the whole of our culture.

In conclusion, while I do not think that television is the sole factor in contributing to some of our problems as a society, I do believe that it is one of the main ones and I could see things improving much, for the better, if people within this society would just watch a little less television each day. The problems of child obesity, the decrease in intellectualism, and the decreasing aesthetic tastes of the populace would see a slow, but dramatic increase in my opinion if we just started finding other hobbies to enjoy and put as much time in them as we do with our television watching. In the end, I am not saying that all of television is bad, in fact I think that there is a decent sized amount of good programming out there, whether it would be creativity stimulating shows like Lost, or intellectual programming like that of what you would find on channels such as The History Channel and The Science Channel, that lead credence to why some television viewing can be good for us, but in the end I think it all boils down to the quality of the programs we watch on the majority level, and the amount that we watch them being the two major things that we should think about and reconsider the next time we turn on the tube.

The Gloom

Author's Note: I will fully admit that I am very weak when it comes to poetry, or at least I think I am. I have a tendency to write only things that I can put to music, as if the words were actual song lyrics dancing in my head. This piece is my first attempt at breaking away from the mold and has been collecting cyberspace dust for awhile now. Tonight, while at work, I received some inspiration and decided to dust it off and try to finish it. I'm not sure if this piece is finished or not, and will probably be revisited at some point, but for now I am satisfied with at least sharing it.

Sporadic raindrops falling on my head

No one knows what's in store

Which makes today's life such a bore

And all I want to do is sleep instead

For the wrath of the night has won the day

The gloom spreads forth its icy touch

Layering us all with the darkness's dream

Speaking words I cannot understand

But sounding like bare feet running through the sand

I ask what it wants but it does not answer

Only mumbling and moaning to my ear's fright

Casting shadows of the landscape in flight

Finding dawn's light, to escape this prison, I search

Till tomorrow's awakening rising of light

New Header!

Well, I hope you like the new header I received tonight. I personally think it is perfect for the site.

Thanks to Amory Abbott for the time to create it for me after asking him about it earlier tonight at work. I wasn't expecting it to be completed this quickly, but that is what Amory does. He loves little projects like this and likes to keep busy doing art.

Hats off to you man, you did a fantastic job!

Update: Wow! This thing looks even better on a PC that actually has a decent video card. Jesus I need to get a new computer soon. :(

Mr. Pickles Exposed!

So, totally unknown to myself, Amory actually had some images of the sketch that I am basing my Mr. Pickles short story idea off of online, one charcoal (which I like the best) and a digital color painting.

Here is the digital color painting:



And here is the charcoal:



What's even better is he's given me permission to use these later if needed. Now I just wish I had some damn free time so I can actually work on the story. Le sigh.

Interview Paragraph - Extra Credit

Author's Note: This is an extra credit paragraph that I did for my COM 105 class in which I received a 4/5 or an A- letter grade on (at this point I already have a 100% in the class so the extra points will be added to my Research Paper if I need it).

Interview Paragraph

I interviewed a fellow co-worker yesterday named Tariq Atkins, and my main reason for interviewing him is because he and I have some similarities in regards to working full-time while going to school full-time, as well as also having some differences in how this process was approached. Tariq Atkins, like me, has had to work his entire collegiate career, which has consisted of obtaining a Bachelors degree and continuing from there to work on a Masters degree. He has also had to work full-time through the majority of this process too. While he values the advantageous affects this has on one’s character, he does caution against pursuing this path lightly. He stated the major disadvantages to working full-time while going to school full-time as missing out on one of the better parts of your life. He recommends that people take advantage of their collegiate situation by preparing ahead for it, which would entail saving up enough money to help pay for it, get the best grades you can get in high school so you will be able to obtain grants and scholarships easier, taking out as much student loans as you possibly can to survive and pay for college on, and to maybe only work part-time, if needed, during all of this. His reasons for this are simple, you are only young once, and college is the time in your life when you can still enjoy a certain amount of things while also learning to be responsible and working towards the type of life you want to have in the future, and sometimes missing this can leave one lacking certain experiences that may or may not be needed down the road. He listed some other disadvantages as well to taking the path that he has to get through school, such as working jobs you do not necessarily like, building up a level of cynicism that may not necessarily be all that positive or healthy, plus having to juggle a tight schedule and learning and accepting that some things are just going to have to be sacrificed, most of all a social life, and a combination of less study time and less time to sleep depending on how you arrange your schedule. In the end, it is hard for him to say whether he would do anything differently if he had to do it all over again. Part of the thing that helped him was that he was a reservist in the Army, which allowed him some of the funds that helped him on obtaining his Bachelors, but then a year and a half into his two year contract he was injured and honorably discharged and lost a lot of the funding and other help he had received previously. He also chose the path he did mainly because he did not want to create a lot of debt that he would have to deal with later in life, as opposed to having more of a social life and a better schedule with a substantial more amount of debt to tackle in the future. Tariq also had no real set definitive direction on where he wanted to go or achieve during his collegiate career, so paying his way as he went allowed him to focus more on what he wanted to do and narrow it down and also allowed him to take breaks here and there while deciding this, which in the long run would have hurt him more if he had taken out more student loans and other financial aid. Also, while this took him longer to obtain his degrees, the extra time did help him in eventually deciding the path he wanted to take in his collegiate career, and now he has a solid direction that he is secure in and knows he will not waver from. Taking all of what Tariq has said to me in account, it would appear that there are some advantages and disadvantages to working full-time while going to school full-time, but I know, just like him, that my decision to do so was the best decision that I have ever made and I know I am set in my goals and will not waver, and look forward to when I have obtained the degrees that I desperately seek.

Compare and Contrast

Author's Note: This is the ninth paragraph that I have done for my COM 105 class and I received a 4/5 or an A- letter grade on it.

Compare & Contrast

The differences between Obama’s and Clinton’s three main policies while small are significant. On the first issue regarding health care, while Hillary Clinton’s proposal for universal healthcare is superb to Barack Obama’s proposal for a health care system that is not a mandate but still enables everyone to eventually become covered, Obama’s has the bonus political aspect of allowing the concept of single-payer universal health care to be sold more easily to the American people since there is still somewhat of a significant hurdle in regards to this issue. On the second issue regarding foreign policy, there is a very small difference between how Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy proposal and Barack Obama’s foreign policy proposal would work out. While Hillary seems to want to cater to the Neo-Conservative base a little with her foreign policy proposal, which for the most part includes less diplomacy and more chances for war, Barack Obama’s foreign policy plan enables us to step back and start talking with leaders with have disagreements with first and try to resolve our differences and doing our best to avoid another war. Plus with Barack Obama’s plan we have a chance to heal some of the wounds with the world that we have created thanks to some of the current administration’s bad foreign policy plan. Finally Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s energy plans are very similar, but Barack Obama’s calls for three times as much financial stimulus. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both want a cap and trade proposal that will reduce GHG carbon emissions by 80% before the year 2050. They key differences is that Barack Obama wants to auction off 100% of those emissions and $150 billion of the auction proceeds to be used over 10 years to stimulate clean energy development", while Hillary Clinton only wants to auction off only $50 billion. On top of all of this, Obama also “is willing to ban new coal-fired power plants that fail to use the latest technology to prevent carbon dioxide from getting into the atmosphere”, and whether this means he is willing to follow Chris Dodd’s approach and ban new coal plants unless they have “operational carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facilities”, which is a huge deal and a very significant progressive approach to a progressive energy policy, or follow John Edwards approach in “banning new plants unless they are compatible with CCS -- i.e., requiring that new coal plants be IGCC”, which is not as significant as the former, but is still an additional bonus on what Hillary Clinton proposes and still takes on a progressive approach and moves us forward into dealing with the energy crises we need to resolve within the early years of the 21^st-century. In conclusion, while there are very few differences between Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s three main policy proposals, the differences are significant and when you add it all up it is enough for me to support Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.

Cause and Effect Paragraph

Author's Note: This is the eighth paragraph that I have done for my COM 105 class and I received a 4/5 or an A- letter grade for it.

Cause and Effect

I came back to school for many reasons. One of the main reasons was because I was tired of working contract jobs in IT and wanted a career that was more stable and allow me to gain benefits once again. I have had to go to the emergency room a few times and have had other health issues crop up, where having insurance would cover most of the costs instead of leaving it solely up to me to pay, which is part of the reason that I am in the financial situation that I am right now. Another reason why I wanted to go back to school was because I felt like my life currently was not as pleasant as one that was filled with an education and possibly multiple degrees. I am currently working on my A.A.S. in Veterinary Technology, and despite a lot of stress brought on by my current financial situation, I could not be happier. I see myself pursuing a bachelor’s degree after this one is completed and not being satisfied until that is accomplished as well. Lastly, and probably the number one reason for me returning to school, is because I love animals and I really want to work in an environment where I am learning about them more and helping them. My goal is to work in a zoo, possibly at Sea World, or in an exotic animal rescue environment, and in order to do that, one must have the appropriate degree and desire. I have always had the desire, but now I need the degree, and that is what I am currently working on. Despite it all, I am very glad I went back to school, it has allowed me the opportunity to learn more on the level I’ve been wanting to, getting a degree in the appropriate field to help make some of my career dreams come true, as well as help me change my career completely and get into a field where the pay may be less, but the benefits are much improved, never mind the satisfaction I will receive from helping animals and others that love them.

Argument Paragraph

Author's Note: This is the seventh paragraph that I have completed for my COM 105 class and I received a 5/5 or an A letter grade on it.

Argument Paragraph

Barack Obama is the best candidate for the next presidency because of his ability to draw people from all sides, has the best foreign policy ideals, and because of his progressive health care plan. Barack Obama has an uncanny ability to talk in ways that appeal to voters from all sides of the debate. While I believe he is a very progressive candidate, he has gone to great lengths to sound like a moderate and has succeeded in bringing independent voters as well as moderate Republicans to the progressive side of the debate in hopes of bridging some of the divisions in this country and getting it moving in the right direction again. When it comes to foreign policy, Barack Obama has the right ideas to continue moving us forward in the global world as well as regaining our respect from it. He is willing to actually talk to other foreign leaders and try diplomacy first, especially with certain leaders that are seen as the “axis of evil”, or other leaders that have not cooperated with us in the past. This, in my opinion, is the best foreign policy to have, since I believe that we can resolve some of our differences if we will just listen to each other instead of continuing the usual failed foreign policy of shooting first and asking questions later. Last but not least, Barack Obama has a very progressive policy for health care in the United States. While Hillary’s and his plan have minute differences and are both a gateway to single payer health care, one of the things I think this country truly needs to continue to succeed, I think Barack Obama’s has the right message behind it when it comes to not making it a mandate and will be something that can be used to sell single payer health care easier to the American public and eventually ease us into it. All in all, Barack Obama is the right presidential candidate for America if it wishes to continue to succeed and be a respected global leader of the 21^st century.

Definition Paragraph

Author's Note: This is the sixth paragraph that I had to do for my COM 105 class, for which I received a 5/5 or an A letter grade on it.

Definition Paragraph

I am a procrastinator; in fact I am the king of procrastination. A procrastinator is someone who postpones work out of laziness or habitual carelessness, and I have multiple examples of how I do this on a daily basis. My first example focuses on test taking and the need to study before said test. I am horrible at studying and will usually wait till the night before, or even the day of, to start studying for a test. Sometimes this works to my benefit, and sometimes it does not, but overall if I would just study more and not procrastinate so much, I would do much better on the majority of my tests. Another example is writing paragraphs for my COM 105 class that I have this quarter. I think I am a bit too arrogant in my ability to write well as I will usually procrastinate on writing a paragraph that is due till the morning of the due date. So far procrastinating for the class has not hurt me, but I really need to cut that out and get to work if I am ever going to finish my research paper and do well on it. Thirdly, I turn procrastination into an art form when it comes to chores and other duties around my home. Sometimes I will let dishes stack up in the sink for weeks before finally doing them, or not dusting and doing other cleaning jobs around my apartment for months at a time. So, in conclusion, I hope you can see why I am the king of procrastination as I wait till the last minute to study for tests, do not write written assignments due till the morning of, and shirk my chores at home to the point where I can not tolerate the mess any more and finally do some cleaning.

Description Paragraph

Author's Note: This is the fifth paragraph I have written for my COM 105 class in which I scored a 5/5 or an A letter grade, on. Also, yes I've been watching too much of Lost. :)

Description Paragraph

I could tell by looking in the room that a spirit lives here. As I opened the door, a blast of musty air hit me in the face causing me to crinkle my nose. I looked around and saw a dimly lit room, the only light source being an oil lamp on a grungy, wooden table in the center. I entered the room and closed the door behind me noticing that I was leaving foot prints on the dusty, old and creaking, wooden floor. There also appeared to be only one window, and it could barely be called that as it was very grimy and had small breaks here and there in the single pane of glass that it was made of. The room suddenly gets cold and I can see my breath before me as I began to become anxious and look towards the door, frantically hoping I was still alone. At this point I heard it, a soft groan that seemed of loneliness and a creak that accompanied it. I spun around and saw an old rocking chair next to the table rocking back and forth and a ghostly apparition sitting within, softly outlined by the oil lamp on the table next to it. It merely nodded at my presence and muttered one word “stay”. I stood there motionless and caught my breath, knowing, for the first time, that I was in a room that only a spirit could reside.

Archives

So, for anyone that cares, you can obtain archives of my previous website as well as the earlier incarnation of this one from a website called Internet Archives and using their Wayback Machine tool.

If you wish to view archives from my previous site crimsonsun.org then you can access the archives here.

If you wish to view archives of the earlier incarnation of hundredschoolsofthought.org, then you can view those archives here.

Some of my earlier written material from those two websites will eventually appear here but will be in a revised form.

I just wished I would have known about this site earlier, oh well, now I know and can make use of this valuable tool.

Process Paragraph

Author's Note: This is fourth paragraph that I had to write for my COM 105 class. For some reason I initially struggled with this one, but was able to rewrite it, the end result being another 5/5 score, which is an A letter grade.

Process Paragraph

In making a latte various ingredients and equipment are required. To begin, you will need some whole espresso beans, some milk of any variety, coffee bean grinder with an espresso grind setting, and an espresso machine. The next step you should take is to steam the milk. You can do this in any number of ways using any means you have available, just make sure that the milk reaches at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the milk is steamed, you can then set it aside and start working on grinding your espresso. The amount of espresso you need to use is entirely up to you, but if you are making a normal 16 oz. latte, then you will need to at least grind enough espresso to make two shots. How to determine this is entirely up to the type of espresso machine you have, if it uses a portafilter then just fill the filter to the line. If it does not have a portafilter, and requires cup measurements instead, then make sure you grind half a cup of espresso. After this, you will need to fill the espresso machine with the ground espresso, but before doing this, and this is the most important step as it determines the quality and strength of the shots, you will need to pack the espresso as tightly as possible and make sure you do not fill the portafilter, or other device for holding the espresso, too full. To achieve this you can use what is called a stamper, which allows you to tap the portafilter in a way to arrange the espresso so it fills the entire filter, and then stamp the espresso down with as much pressure as you can humanly muster. Now, fill the espresso machine with the espresso, whether you are connecting the portafilter to it or putting the espresso in a basket within the espresso machine, and make sure you have it set to distribute two shots of espresso. This usually does not take too long, and if you are using a high-end espresso machine with portafilters, like they have at most coffee shops, then you will only want the water to filter through the espresso for about 17 to 24 seconds for a very quality shot, otherwise the shot will be too sweet or too bitter depending on how short or how long the time was to create the shot compared to the desired amount of time. Finally, pour the espresso shot into your cup, add the milk, and then stir the mixture up a little bit if you want. At this point your latte is complete and you may enjoy it however you see fit.

Quality Paragraph

Author's Note: This is the third paragraph I wrote in my COM 105 class and I received a 5/5 on it, which is equivalent to an A letter grade.

Quality Paragraph

I greatly admire the unconditional love quality my cat Georgie has for me. First, she goes out of her way to cheer me up if I am in a bad mood or am sad. She will sit on my lap all day and purr and only get up when she or I has to get some food or go to the restroom. Second, being a Bengal, she is very vocal and likes to communicate. She will “talk” to me when I am talking to her and sometimes it seems like we are actually carrying on a conversation. Lastly, she is very affectionate and loves constant attention. Georgie will never resist a good pet, especially if it is a long lasting one and will respond in kind by rubbing against me, nibbling my hand, and making soft growling noises that lets me know she is enjoying the attention. In conclusion, my cat Georgie has an excellent quality of unconditional love that she carried on from her previous owner to me, and I enjoy it extremely.

Second Quarter Goals

So I'm on my second quarter in the Veterinary Technology program at Indiana Business College (after this quarter is over I will have exactly one year left) and am trying to get on the Dean's list (minimum requirement is receiving a 3.5 GPA for the quarter or I can get on the Dean's list with distinctions if I receive a 3.8 or better GPA) to make up for the fact that I didn't do as well as I wanted last quarter which resulted in a 3.4 GPA.

The great thing is that half of my classes are easy A's for me this quarter, and of those two classes one is giving me a lot of practice with writing that I have been wanting for awhile, and now I am forced to practice.

Speaking of which I have been slowly uploading my paragraph works that I have done so far this quarter in my COM 105 class and will upload the rest soon once I get them in Google Docs and modified correctly. Once I finish my essay that will be due Tuesday and get it back graded I will get it uploaded as well, and then finally my research paper once we get to that point of the quarter. I've finally picked a topic for it and it will be on the French health care system.

I'm also trying to properly format some papers I did for last quarter and will get those uploaded just as soon as I finish them. These are mostly papers I did in my Strategies for Success class and will have a few images in them here and there.

Some other goals I have this quarter, outside of school, is to get the short story that I am currently working on finished. I am not sure I will be able to make that goal, but I should be able to finish it sometime soon thereafter.

So here's to my future 3.5+ GPA and soon to be completed second quarter, leaving me with only a year before I receive my degree.

Work Paragraph

Author's Note: This was the first paragraph I did for my COM 105 class. I received a 5/5 on it which is an A in the letter grade format.

Work Paragraph

Working at Mo'Joes coffeehouse has been the best job I have ever had thanks to the totally laid back and positive atmosphere, abundance of new people I have met, stimulating conversations and feeling I can openly talk about anything, and the fact that my boss cares about my input. First, Mo'Joes has a very laid back and positive atmosphere. I am always treated very nicely by all of the customers and have yet to have a confrontation with any of them. All of the people I work with display a much more positive attitude towards the job than any other co-worker at any of my other jobs and they seem to actually enjoy being at work. Next, I have made an abundance of new friends and acquaintances working at Mo'Joes that I have at any other job, plus these are people I actually would like to get to know more, hang out with on a personal level, and would also follow up with in the future if I ever quit working there. Thirdly, I feel that I can openly talk with anyone there about any topic, controversial or otherwise, which just leads to stimulating conversations that give me some enjoyment and allow me to get to know people on a more intimate level. Lastly, and this may be the most important factor, my boss actually cares about my input and asks for it on an almost daily basis, where as before any input I gave was either ignored or dismissed totally, not to mention the rare circumstances where my input was not wanted at all and was frowned upon if given. All in all, I could not ask for a better job and am glad that I found something that allows me to enjoy work.

Stress Paragraph

Author's Note: This was the second paragraph I wrote for my current COM 105 class, which I got a 4/5 on it, which is an A- in the letter grade format. I'm mostly updating this to test how publishing Google Docs does to my Blogger account, since last time it didn't work so well with my last website. Expect the rest of my college papers for this quarter to be uploaded soon.

Stress Paragraph

I have a lot of stress in my life. I go to school full-time, work a full-time job, and am currently having a hard time just paying normal bills, which all contribute to the current level of stress I am feeling these days. When I decided to finally go back to school, the program I wanted to get into could only be taken as a full-time student until just recently. Because of this I elected to go ahead and be a full-time student and pursue my career change, which is just one part of several that can be the reason for the level of stress I am facing presently. Work also contributes to my stress because I am forced to work more hours than I did before, along with going to school. Plus, the type of jobs full-time students can choose from are limited in the amount of hours available and pay, which can cause more problems down the road and add on to the level of stress already associated with being a full-time student who wants to succeed more than normal. Since I decided to go back to school full-time and wanted to change my current career, I had to quit my last job, which paid more, and then take something that paid far less, and this is the number one reason for why I am having a hard time currently just paying normal bills and will also be the reason why I will have to find a second job in the immediate future to compensate. In conclusion, trying to change your career and going back to school to succeed in that is a very stressful road to take, and I do not recommend it to any one who is not at least one hundred percent dedicated.

Excellent Charlie Chaplin Wallpaper

I found this wallpaper when I was looking for a new background for my blogger and was trying to find some of Charlie Chaplin, in tramp style, that would fit.

Mr. Pickles - Prelude

Mr. Pickles is the working title of a short story that I am currently working on and hope to some day get published, if not sent off to a writing contest to win some grant money for college.

It's based on a sketch, that I unfortunately can't link to at present, that a friend of mine, and fellow co-worker, Amory Abbott, did within his sketchbook. He had asked me an opinion on it and we had started talking about it the rest of his work shift from there. Weeks later a story begin to form in my mind and I asked him if he was going to do anything with it and if he wasn't if I could use it for the basis of a short story. He had no plans to use it beyond a sketch and thought it was a cool idea for me to write a short story based around it.

The sketch itself showed nothing more than a girl between the ages of eight and twelve and had her looking down at a cat that was blocking her path and was also staring up at her. She says "Mr. Pickles?" and there is also a caption below which reads "Two years after the house fire destroyed everything".

Below is your first taste:

Acrid smoke filled her lungs, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't cough, she couldn't even think, all she could do was gather what strength that she had and crawl out of bed, trying to expel the poison that was slowly filler her lungs. With each inch of struggle she succumbed more to the flaming nightmare, she tried to whimper, to call for help, but not so much as a squeak left her lips. This had to be a dream she thought, a very horrible dream, one that she was a prisoner of, that was claiming her slowly as she finally made it to the floor in one exhausted heap, letting the demon of fire and ash consume her. Without warning she saw something, a miracle, a shadow of a giant engulfing her bedroom window. The glass and frame exploded into what she thought was a million pieces, and the shadow entered her room, bent down, and extended its hand...

More teases to come soon.

And another one does, another one does, another one bites the dust...

On the Republican side anyways. Mitt Romney decided to call it quits and fold to the awesome might of John "The Maverick" McCain, leaving us with the evangelicals' hero, Mike Huckabee, to battle it out with "The Maverick". I can only imagine how proud James Garner and Mel Gibson are right now.

So why did Mitt the Mormon quit? Apparently it was for the love of god, country, and to keep those dirty liberals out of the White House so the terrorists don't win.

The one quote that really floored me was:

I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st century...

In all honesty I am perfectly fine with us becoming and would find such a thing particularly great, but in all honesty it probably won't go that route (I'll take their health care at least) and Mittens' quote is nothing more but the typical bullshit pandering that the Right likes to do to spook people in thinking that liberals are some kind of boogeymen out to steal their children or something.

Which is why I need to post my endorsement for Barack Obama and tell exactly why I want him to win. So sorry if I sound a little overly harsh, but I'm a bit fed up with the Right's talk-down wankery that I have been hearing non-stop for seven long years now. I don't know about you, but I'm a bit exhausted from it, know several moderates that are as well, and am ready to get America back on the right course and actually deal with some legitimate issues instead of calling each other names and pinning the evil tag on one another.

Just because some of us want a progressive agenda, doesn't mean we are in bed with terrorists as well...

Genius, pure genius!

Yes, I am a giant dork...

Thanks to my friend CJ for the link.

Bare with the mess...

I am still trying to find the right template that pleases my asethic values for this blog. In the end I will probably just use this template and change the colors more to my liking. I hope to have something solidified before the weekend is out.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

My Top 20 Movies

So I've decided that I want to do a personal top 20 movie list, which will be something of a project since I've seen a ton of movies. I will not do a post on it, but instead will post it as a sidebar on this blog.

The list will compose of a whole range of genres and I am going to try my best to not make it a homage to American-centricism and instead plan to include movies from a wide variety of countries (especially since I prefer foreign movies over most of the crap that gets released in my native country anyways).

Since I didn't see a lot of movies last year, at least not a lot from the Oscar list, and don't have immediate plans to watch the Oscars this year (I just know No Country for Old Men will not win Best Picture, so best to start my ban of the Oscars early) I figured I would make up for that by doing this project.

Don't expect it to be completed any time soon, since I both work full-time and go to school full-time and have a research paper I really need to start putting more work towards, but I do expect to it get it out within a month.

As for the comments that are soon to follow, if there is a movie not in the list it's a safe assumption that I haven't seen it or I have a really good reason for not including it in my top 20 list, so please refrain from "Oh my god, movie X isn't in your list!?" posts and instead focus comments on the choices I made instead and why I consider it superior to movie X (if I have seen movie X).