What could possibly be my final blog post

In class today we got out peer evaluations back of our Introduction, Reflection, and Conclusion essays. In my Introduction essay I tried to show how I have become a more self-guided writer and gave an example of this by showing the process that my research proposal went through. Upon receiving the feedback of my peers, I have decided that this section is very detailed and would fir better within the Reflection essay. Instead, I need to go into more detail about my style of writing in my Introduction and show my "fun writing style". My Reflections paragraph needs parenthetical citations as well as more information about how I feel the pieces have turned out. I cite many changes I have made (almost in a list like we discussed in class), so I now I will describe how these changes have benefited the paper to make it seem like less of a list. I would also like to try and find a bigger picture and connecting point and try not to make my portfolio seem like a success narrative.
Now that the semester is coming to a close, and with exams approaching quickly, I am going to try to spend some of my time studying this weekend as well as putting the final touches on my portfolio. This weekend will also involve some fun things such as the showing of Step Brothers at Squires for only 2 BUCKS! Saturday is the swim team dinner and Christmas party. The freshmen class is going to a Japanese steakhouse together and I am excited for fried rice and steak! Only 13 days until I go home again!

I'M OUTTA HERE!!

So for my initiating action project, my final revisions before my presentation are to: add a description of the type of service (Baptist) that will be held and to make an additional flyer targeting...you...my fellow Hokies.
I really enjoyed everyone's presentation today.
I am now leaving for an invitational in Knoxville versus the University of Tennessee and the University of Kentucky. We are coming back at 2 am Sunday and then I have to stay in Blacksburg until Tuesday morning after practice : ( But then, HOME FOR THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!

Group Feedback

Today in class we decided into our groups and gave feedback on each other's Initiating Action Projects. My project consists of a flyer with details about Northstar's Christmas service which is being held December 14th at 10 o’clock a.m. at The Lyric in downtown Blacksburg. Some praises that I got on my flyer were that the Christmas colors that I used for my text were nice to match the Christmas theme, the pictures of food (Christmas cookies and apple cider) made the flyer more interesting, and the descriptions of the food ("warm apple cider") were good additions. Some suggestions were to get a better picture of kids on Santa's lap (possibly a picture where the kids looked happier) as well as adding what type of worship (i.e. contemporary) was being held at the service to the flyer.
Our group worked well at making sure that we gave both suggestions and praises in a pretty proportional way. The praises and suggestions, I thought, were really helpful.
I'm so glad that today is Friday and it is finally the weekend! Next week I am leaving Wednesday for a swim invitational in Knoxville, Tennessee, so it is going to be a short week. I'm glad I will have a short week, but this also means that I have a lot to get done before I leave. Most of this work will have to be done this weekend, but hopefully I will have time to do some other fun things. Tonight I'm planning on going to the basketball game and the rest of the weekend is a mystery.

Flyers

It seems the general consensice about flyers is to:
1. Keep it brief- only include the basic information
2. Use graphics- only graphics directly related to the topic at hand
3. Coloring- remind yourself what the flyer is being used for
4. Cluter- don't let pictures overwhelm the print message or vice versa
5. Size- make the most important thing the biggest and everything else smaller

The sources (eHow.com and catalogs.com) noth brought up good points to consider such as don't make your Christmas poster the same "holiday red" that everyone else will because you want yours to stand out. Also, you may think your flyer is informative, but its always good to have a second or third opinion. Ask someone to take a quick glance at your flyer and ask them what message they got from it and whether or not it was convincing.

Flyers are used by anyone who wants to get information out to many people in a quick and hassel free way. Professionals promoting their businesses as well as girl scouts promoting their bake sales can use flyers. Flyers allow much freedom and creativity, but you must use conservation.

Initiating Action..or lack there of

Cody got back to me and told me how Northstar is reaching out to the community in the upcoming weeks, but didn't mention what he thought could still be improved or initiated.
He said that Northstar has helped out with patients at Fairview Homes where people with mental and physical illnesses live (similar to a nursing home) and have redone the rooms there. Northstar has also made an impact on the homeless in Blacksburg by helping out, in particular, with two families by helped them get back on their feet by giving them work in the church office such as painting, or giving them rides whenever they need it. One of the father's in one of the families has attended the Northstar service the past 3 Sundays which is also really interesting. Finally Cody told me in December Northstar will be having church at the Lyric in downtown Blacksburg. It will be a Christmas celebration that the entire community will be invited to and there will be Christmas themed events such as Santa Clause being there.
To me this seems like Northstar already has reached out to the community in multiple ways so I still am unsure of what topic to do my assignment on.
I replied to Cody in a final effort to find something that needs improvement that hasn't already been acted upon, but until then I would like to build off of what Northstar has already planned.
Since Northstar is organizing the Christmas service/celebration and inviting the entire community to the Lyric, I think it would be appropriate to make flyers. I would find out more details about the event and let students on campus be aware of the event. It will be easy for students to attend because it is downtown and not off campus at Blacksburg Middle School (like a normal Sunday service). This is still tentative, but when more information comes I will post it to my blog.

Essay Feedback, Initiating Action, and Gamedays

My essay feedback this time makes me feel a lot better than last time. The larger change that I need to make is expanding on more general religious ideas like the “experience of God” and getting rid of some of the regular events that occur at Northstar that are towards the end of my essay. I feel that my feedback was extremely helpful and it was encouraging to know that although my essay has a lot of material, it is interesting to read. The minor things I need to consider editing are the usage of the terms worship and music (in my paper now I believe I use them interchangeably which I need to fix) as well as calling God “God” and not “He” (due to my larger audience).
For my initiating action assignment, I am still waiting on Cody (the worship leader) to get back to me about what he thinks could improve and how it could be initiated at Northstar or within the religious community. If he still thinks it is an issue like before, I am highly considering initiating other ways to reach out the community and get them involved.
The next few days are pretty big for me. Today is GAMEDAY and I’m really pumped to hopefully kill Maryland. First I have to get through my Chemistry test though : ( Saturday we have a meet against Clemson which is gonna be huge. We beat them last year at ACC’s but it was close and they have a really strong team. My mom is coming to watch so I will spend Saturday and Sunday with her.
Counting down the days until THANKSGIVING!

Problems In Communities

Today in class we discussed in our small groups and as a class the problems with Virginia Tech. Some of the things our group came up with were the math emporium, the size of classes, the fact that the dorms don’t have air conditioning, and the drill field is too windy. Other groups’ ideas that I thought were also important dealt with on campus parking, quality of service at Schiffert Health Center, lines at dining halls, and the ticket lottery for football and basketball games. After discussing all of these things as a class we talked about what we could do to makes changes concerning the issues we have. We talked about the student lottery for football and basketball. Our options include circulating a petition, sending a letter to the athletic director, possibly extend the stadium, or get rid of the lottery use a point system while award points to students who support other sports. Regardless of the tactic used we decided that one of the main things we would need to do is research further into the current system as well as find out other attempted solutions that already failed (to prevent repeating these attempts). Our group discussed making changes dealing with the Math Emporium. Research would include evaluating the performance of students at the emporium versus in a classroom with a teacher. We wanted to know the answer to questions such as “Why is the emporium off campus and not on campus?”, “Why does the transit schedule not coincide with the testing schedule?”, “If the emporium is so expensive why can’t we use that money to pay for more professors?”.
Now what I need to do is relate this exercise to my own community and decide what I would I think needs to change within my community and how I would go about making these changes.
This weekend I will be celebrating Halloween, and spending time creating a prototype for my engineering sustainability project.