The Final Project

Wholly Cow (I used to work there) I am so frackin' excited about this project! Alright, so here's how it goes. I currently have an uncounted amount of hours put into writing html code, and make a CSS. At least twenty but much further beyond than that. I have 20 note card sized notes on what I need to remember to do, add, delete, ask about, and design ideas for page layouts and my logo. 10 lists, 1 for every genre, of titles to get started with to read, watch, and review. I know I mentioned I wouldn't get the "real" URL until I had content but I got a bit excited, not to mention ahead of myself and you can visit my page at www.twentyfourpages.com. (Note: this is still just frame work of what can be expected, there are a bunch of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors, but honestly I have a .com and that is the shit)

After a few minutes of staring at my web page dashboard, it wasn't hard to figure out what went where and how, a really bad youtube video also helped, kind of. After I get content on the page, at least one review for each category, I will be setting up e-mail for the site, and creating a facebook page. A facbook page will serve three functions. The first advertisement. I wont be paying for ad space, but hopefully the handful of friends that are interested in what I do will like the page and their friends will see it and like it and so on and so forth. The second, a discussion forum about the various articles. Even though the web hosting site I chose (iPage) offers easy, non-html, ways to build a site and create discussion forums, I really don't have the time to be my own administrator, and deal with trolling. Spammers and trolls can be reported by anyone who has my back, and delt with by the people who are paid to do so. Granted, this is not a long term idea, just until I have time to figure everything out on my own. the third, a way to keep people updated on the going-ons of the site. This is where I might finally have use for facebook's timeline function. Noting the first posted review the 25th, 50th, 100th. When changes will be made. Introducing a new reviewer. All the little milestones that don't need a permanent place on the site itself.

My first review will be posted by 4/25/12 afternoon at the absolute latest. I'm doing "Where the Wild Things Are." It was a quick read and I picked up the movie for five bucks. I have a reviewer lined up to do "Fight Club" something I'm hoping he can have done before the project is due. Also, being posted will be reviewer bios, links to the author, and hopefully the links to the fun stuff.

Stuff to come, probably after the project is "turned in:"

~Project Northwoods by Jonathan Bruce: The first ten pages of his awesome book with the ability to purchase an electronic copy if you just have to read the rest (and you will). Plus other interesting stuff.
~Kim Ziegler Designs: She is responsible for my logo and the graphics to come, so she gets special note.
~ Advertisements: to offset web hosting, logo/graphic design, product development (buttons, stickers, t-shirts, tote bags) copyright and security costs. Plus, possibly a monetary offer to those contributing to the site.
~Twitter: Maybe, this is a big maybe, not a fan but I can see the potential readers it could bring to the site.

DIY Prezi

http://prezi.com/pv7eka2e6lbl/edit/#5

here's hoping this works.

DIY - What's it about

DIY means just what it stands for: Do It Yourself. This is not for menial chores. Taking out the trash, instead of having the boyfriend do it, or cleaning the bathroom instead of paying a cleaning service. DIY is in regards to an education. Maybe it is an education in a particular craft or skill: fine tuning how to build a canoe; coming together to crochet/sew/knit for the purpose of sharing a message; planting your own garden, and being just slightly less reliant on “the man,” and helping your neighbors to be less reliant too. Maybe it is an education on education: teaching yourself a new language, physics, algebra, politics, anything, that is outside the classroom and done with your own interest and motivation. Maybe even in a classroom, but not degree oriented.
       
DIY, especially when paired with the word craft, seems like a hippie term in this age; tie died t-shirts, hemp jewelry, hand carved incense burners, but it really does encompass more than the handy crafts of our grandparents time. It moves beyond the field of handy craft, and into digital craft: graphics, web sites, sound bites, movie clips, art! All of these, the handy crafts and digital crafts alike, take knowledge gained through various sources. They take the oration of generations past, reading different print media, watching demonstrations -live or filmed- and hands on experience.

DIY has caused evaluation. Progress. Each new person improving upon it, little bit, by little bit. Quilts used to be an article for warmth, now they show support for our soldiers, and raise money for AIDS research.  Crocheting, another skill used for warmth (sweaters, scarves, afghans, booties...) can now bring an audience’s attention (unwillingly) to the hidden dangers of war, of land mines. The same can be said for digital photography and some image editing (photoshop/gimp). Take a look at www.thetutuproject.com. Some guy, in a tutu, with his camera, raising money for breast cancer patients. Not only does he himself dress up in the tutu, he is the camera man, he is going to be his own publisher, and not for his own financial gain, but for better health care for breast cancer patients, and to help ease the pain of his wife with laughter.

Granted DIY is more than an awareness movement. It is fun, too. How about Jon Lajoie or Jonathan Coultan, these two are self made “rock stars” using a video camera and the internet (also some musical instruments/computer generated music)    Have you heard about fan fiction? Writers can DIY (well, Do It Themselves) their favorite characters. They can rewrite the story they were in, or make up a new story, they do not even have to write it, they can animate it, or film it live action. With the internet not only are they read/seen by those closest to them and a few outliers, but anyone across the globe can read their work or watch their videos. This causes a fan base, or an ignition of ingenuity for someone to Do It Themselves, and take it a step further, making our options for entertainment (both poor and extremely entertaining) increase exponentially. Also, increasing our sources of information (what works, and what not so much) and inspiration.

DIY is learning, and improving upon what you learn. Passing it on to anyone with interest, and being part of a global community, with very little effort, and larger impact than one could imagine.

amature media and lessing

These two web sites are great pair. You have Mimi Ito who glorifies the amateur media network and praises that amateur doesn't mean what it used to, that this new amateurism is leading to a more professionalism in the amateur market. Then there is Lessing who also sees the how people are taking 'professional works' and acclimating them to their own uses, sometime unintentionally, but makes the audience aware of the legalities or illegalities behind this new media.

“People  are going to be forced— lawyers and . . . older politicians —to facethis reality: that everyone is making this music and that most musicis derived from previous ideas. And that almost all pop music ismade from other people’s source material. And that it’s not a badthing. It doesn’t mean you can’t make original content.”All it means—today, at least—is that you can’t make this con-tent legally. “Permission is vital, legally,” even if today it is impos-sible to obtain."

  

Notice how I can't even pull text from his own page without iot being scewed and fucking up my code. There are spaces here I promis. I 'll have to come back to this

Before I Even Get Started.

I love Jonathan Coulton, thoough The Presidents is my all time favorite (it would be nice if he'd update it with every election, he stopped at Bush)

Wiener and McCollough

It is interesting how Wiener deconstructs the machine and illustrates its more human like qualities, and than addresses how humans beings are being treated like cold, lifeless machinery. It is also interesting to see this exploitation of people, whether for 20 cents or 20 dollars an hour, as a degrading lifestyle and that it is morally unjust to life (liberty and the pursuit of happiness) The over arching idea seems to be that there is more value in the machinery then those that create it, maintain it, and operate it. Yet, these machines where created by people using basic messaging systems that people use, and that at the end of the day the value should be in the people that are actually experiencing the physical and emotional toll of the experience. Wiener does a fantastic job at conveying the idea that messages are not just from person to person, but animal to person, person to animal, person to machine, machine to person, machine to machine, and alludes that this is not the end of sender and recipient combinations. He hammers home this idea without being redundant or boring, bringing in enough detail to sell his point on each variation but leaving out enough for further exploring later in the book.

As for in class discussion there really are not questions or anything that needs more in depth conversation, author note will be posted later.

Moving on to McCollough.

"While computers might seem to increase the mediation between the hand of the maker and the final product, McCollough pointed to the increasing tactility of digital design processes and predicted that this would only on crease in years to come." (Into to chapter) 
He was right. You can draw/paint with your fingers on several applications for apple. What doesn't have a touch screen these days? I can even go to target and they have a touch screen directory to their video games and systems. And even though the design process for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Move, or X Box Kinect, might not have been tactile, their digital uses all are.

Out of time, be back later.

Notes on weaving digitial

"Weaving is digital, in the sense that it relies on digits -- on fingers -- for its production. Digits, understood in this way, tend to emphasise the sensory, and more particularly, the tactile aspects both of technology and of culture per se. Thus, the digital involves a palpable relationality between producer, product, and culture. Digits imply a connection- a tactile, lived connection - to a wide array of cultural meanings, woven by the community as a whole, and handed from one generation to the next."

This passage best describes the link of digital and hand made items in DIY culture. It implies that they are one in the same. How do you not feel the key board as you are typing on html code? the camera as you adjust to snap another picture? the video camera when shooting a movie? the mouse as you manipulate your work in the various computer programs? And all of this is done with your fingers, by extension your palms, wrists, forearms, elbows shoulders and the rest of you. Digital craft is hand made. Even if you remove the tactile feeling of a project there is still the emotional behind it. The rage, joy, exhaustion, validation, and so on. All the same emotions that go into the hours of crocheting a scarf, knitting a sweater, carving a kayak, sewing a dress, are weaving and stringing together necklaces. Digital craft is not that far from hand made craft, just that the 'technology' of the two are different. The people are the same. The feelings are the same. 

[Notes on authors will be posted after class] 

Digital Artisans Manifesto...

This was an interesting read for two main reasons. The first, because the intro plainly tells you this is a joke, and is mostly plagiarized from other "credible" manifestos. Secondly, it throws around political terms that leave me having to check my ideas at the door. Neo-liberal for example. I see liberal and I think "like me" but as I read their description it is nothing like me, that's when you find out that neo-liberal is more like libertarian, and that is just an extreme that I can't wrap myself around, but it fits the tone of what the author is getting at. That everyone should have access to digital media, and the resources to create it. It should not be left to be exploited by those only high enough in the "digital mastery food chain" while those that can't afford the technology or the education for the technology are left at the wayside. (A sort of digital media social Darwinism.) This manifesto is very socialist in its idea of making technology, and not just its use but creation as well, available to all. To allow what has already been made to be recreated and shaped by others. To introduce forums and networks to expand the technology information and keep it progressing forward. To make it for everyone and not just the few. Also, to make it not only work, but leisure. It is to be enjoyable.

[Notes on the Author will be posted this evening.]

IT"S ALIVE: Making Something Digital

I took an Animation class in High School, I was also part of the Color Guard. This is from my first project in that class that incorporated my knowledge of twirling a flag, a flip book. To make this video, I un-stapled my flip book and took a photo of each page. I uploaded the picture to Adobe Premier and then began to work on getting each photo to fit into the frame size and adjusting the length each would be seen. Do enjoy!

Project Status

One week from today I will have a completed scarf. Well, I'm sure it will be done before that. I'm currently hovering around four feet in length, the target being six. I've added fringe to one end, and I've weaved in loose ends. Not a fan of going back and working the yarn in, it feels kind of aimless and haphazard, so I'm going to try crocheting over the loose ends when I add my next ball of yarn, I'm hoping that I'll have more confidence in the security of the loose ends without caving and just tying them off, which will look bad. The project tends to weave in and out a bit in its width, but honestly something only really noticeable when you fold it over and start comparing. At some point I lost a stitch, this almost put me to tears, but seeing that time is a constraint, I got over it and pushed forward. I got bored last week and started playing with how I was going to add another color to each side. Instead of making two separate pieces and then seaming them together on the scarf, I decided to just crochet right onto the finished product. With this, I'm hoping to help disguise any varying widths, and add a new texture to the scarf. So excited about all of this. Just wish I had a camera around whenever I started to work on it so I can illustrate the gradual process.

in response to Van

so Van brought up not being able to grow meat, and it reminded me of a book I had to read last semester called Feed. a difficult read because it uses a stylized and even more futuristic leet speak (like lol, omg, and other abbreviations for words) but it really touches on the idea of how far we will let consumption take us. back to Van's comment, the farms are meat farms. it is acreage after acreage of fillet mignon and other cuts of meat growing, and instead of the smell of dirt, hay, and manure found on farms today, it smelled like raw meat (ever walk into a cutting room at a grocery store or butcher shop, not pleasant.) it seems that if "farmers" could find a way to do it, mainly getting the government to ok it, they would

An Image

I did this in a photo class the fall semester before last. I cranked up the contrast and removed the dark cluttered background. It's my favorite pic of me and boyfriend, Jonathan. (It's my mother's favorite too, and she's kind of a no-hand-holding-in-my-presence sort of woman.)

 

This is the original picture, before any photoshopping was done.

My First (stupid) lolcat

My apologies. Turns out I chose a picture that requires me to purchase a license. I'll be redoing this assignment soon.

Define Craftivisim/In Class Writing Reflection 2/28

This is short and sweet, as far as definitions go, than again, maybe not. Craftivisim: the act of using craft/crafting to make a statement or send a message with political/religious awareness in mind.

As for my own work, I don't feel it is so much activist because it is assigned, or it is filling a need that can't be met else where. Sure I could go buy a scarf for the bf, but I'd have to compromise on color, length, material. I could go and purchase a necklace or bracelet but then again, there is compromise. If I already have the idea I want, why not execute it myself. So, than again, maybe it is saying "damn the man" for not giving me what I want and doing it myself. I mean, if you want something done right and all...

Purchasing the crafts of others, that I can see as being an activist. I find more joy in buying from the local farmers market than any grocery store (and I work at one) or knowing the individual that probably spilt some blood sewing a quilt or threading together an ornate set of earrings. I know that, sure, I can buy it less expensively at a big box store, but I know that it is worth all my pennies knowing it wasn't made with exploited labor.

Craftivist History/Craft Hard Die Free

Greer writes almost as if she is writing to herself, explaining the evolution that has taken hold of her life. She comes off as enraged but hopeful, curious, a little timid in her endeavors but still pushes forward. She recognizes her choices may not be the best in hindsight, but you do the best with what you have. Though she does addresses an audience, I doubt she is addressing a singular type of person. Even though she does make her political views clear to the reader (woman’s reproductive rights, and the war on terror) I don't see her saying that this craftivism is only for those with the same ideologies. It seems clear though that she wants voices heard but in a more productive manner. Instead of one rally/protest that is only heard/seen by the participants/spectators present and those news agencies that dare share the story, it seems more pertinent to have "agents" across the county/state/country sporting a pin/patch/hat/armband that airs the same message. It starts a conversation. It leads to research, getting involved and a larger voice heard than of one protest. Less damage caused than one protest. Her essay, coming from an experience approach versus research, sounds more common person, every person, than that by Black and Burisch.

Black and Burisch's Craft Hard Die Free has more of a research paper feel. The audience more academic than lamens. They speak less from their own experiences and more from a this-is-what-we-have-learned-of-others-and-now-we-will-share-with-you. Though, this is not to say, that their information is any less or more important. The political scope of craftivism goes further than wearing a badge for or against an idea/act. It can be as simple as awareness and as homily as comfort and warmth as is the idea and effect of the AIDS quilts. It can also bring people’s attention to things that would otherwise be ignored such as Barb Hunt's antipersonnel series which at first sight you see intricate knitting works, but upon further examination of the exhibition the onlookers learn of the "...global context of the project through a booklet...[that] includes detailed information about landmines and their use worldwide..." (210)

I can't claim that it is hard to see the link between craft and activism; we have read so much that clearly illustrates it. However, even when forced to think about their connection, I really don't. It comes down to keeping the ideas separate. Sure a person could quilt or knit a blanket for AIDS patients or for soldiers but I see it as a project for that purpose, no craft. Yes, craft is being used, but crafting isn't the real purpose behind it the statement of awareness or support. I find it interesting that even though craft has been and continues to be used to propagate movement, that I still find a disconnect between the two.

Wanted to mention...

The last article we read mentioned Biedermeier furniture, the Milwaukee Art Museum has a permanent collection on display, and since this coming Thursday is the first Thursday of the month admission is free, even to the Accidental Genius exhibition that has been recommended by Kristin. Also, they are open until 8pm which is supper convenient to go to after being in classes all day. Parking can be a mess or expensive, though.

The Good, The Bad, and What it all means

Absolute best learning experience would be building my own computer. It started with a book. It walked me through all the hardware components I would need, how they would fit together and how to make sure they were compatible for each other and the software that I wanted to use. Next, I had to find the hardware that would fit both wants and needs. This consisted of hours of clicking back and forth between NewEgg.com pages comparing prices, sizes and other specifications. Eventually, all my pieces arrived and I had to put it all together. I watched a video tutorial on how to safely remove and apply thermal paste. Was called a “newb” when complaining about trouble shooting woes on facebook, (apparently you don’t put everything together straight away, just a few parts to make sure they work first). Spent a few hours near tears because I couldn’t get power and I swear I plugged everything into the right ports (I didn’t.) Then finally, after about twelve hours (not straight, there was a break for my actual job and sleep) My beautiful, beautiful machine was up and posting, and I was able to install my operating system.

The twelve hours was only the building it. I can’t tell you how many times I read and reread that book, and checked back for specific information. Met a guy on the NewEgg FB page who was super encouraging (got a lot of trolls telling me to go back tot he kitchen and make them sandwiches) The thermal paste video, probably saved me from frying my mother board and ruining my CPU. And of course there were the endless hours of shopping. It happened at least twice, I was already to ‘check out’ and I would find that one of my items wasn’t available, which meant, not only replacing it but other components. Over all, the pace was, about two or three months. And damn was I committed. Not a single person, including myself, was going to get in my way. As of today, not even a year later, I’ve built two computers, and am looking forward to my third.        

As for my worst learning experience. I don’t think I’ve ever been in an “un-learnable” situation. However, two situations that didn’t exactly help the learning process. Once, was last semester for an online English class. The instructor was absent. She didn’t help lead or guide discussions, beyond the question or two that was to be addressed. There was no feed back until after the semester was over, so at no point was I or any of my classmates aware of strengths or weaknesses, or just plainly, where we were standing. The other, would be a few years back when I tried teaching myself guitar. I was doing pretty well, teaching myself to read music, and was able to play “Ode to Joy” without mistakes, though a bit slowly. However, there was one person that kept telling me it was a waste of time, and my money, or made me feel guilty for spending the money on myself instead of on them. Even though I got supportive words from friends and family, the negative ones won out and I eventually quit playing.

The difference between these two situations is mostly the support. The good experience, I didn’t give a flying &%^$ about any of the negative comments, because they came from people who didn’t mater. The two bad experiences, well, I got either no support or negative support from an instructor and a significant other. Those are pretty important people not giving encouragement when and where needed.        

In regards to my learning and crafting experiences and what they have taught me about relationships with other people, is that these success have the same characteristics of the best relationships. You start off excited for something new. Maybe you fumble at the start, or get comfortable and make mistakes. Some enough to pull your hair out, but you end up with something beautiful in the end and worth all the strife. Crafting, and I will include computer building in the, because there is a delicacy to which one must handle the components, and an accuracy for it to turn out usable, just reminds me that you can’t quit when things don’t go as smoothly. That there is more satisfaction, when you can work through problems, instead of not bothering with them. As for day to day interactions, well, I have a new pool of knowledge to share and discuss, relating to a wider selection of people I share interests with.

Playing With HTML

We are looking under the hood today. Wow, that's exciting. Really.
I can't believe how thrilling it is. Here's what's so great about it:

1. tags look like carrots,
2. internet nerd jokes make so much more sense now,
3. and staring at HTML code is how I like to spend my Friday nights.

Crafting thus far

For the crafting part of this course I decided to return to crocheting. I picked it up several years ago, when I worked at WalMart, to participate in a store quilting project. It was easy enough to pick up plus the effort was going to help people. For class I opted to make a scarf, one) because it is a pretty basic item and 2) because I know it will be put to use once I am done (unlike coasters or hot pads.)
Honestly, this was a bit ambitious. As of this moment, I’ve put in maybe two hours and I only have about eight inches of a scarf, and I want a long one, about six feet not including fringe. I enjoy this craft because it is simple, I’ve been able to work on it during the car ride to and from campus (the boyfriend is driving) or while I’m “watching” television. At the same time it does take some concentration, I have snagged yarn, missed loops, starting to tightly or to loosely, though most of the eight inches are pretty even the scarf did start out a bit narrower than it has become.
I haven’t learned any new more than the two loops or knots that I picked up when I first started but I am looking forward to learning how to seem things together once I get further with this. This is taking a lot of patience, and with what precious little time I have between two jobs and three classes, that is effort. It will be worth it though for several reasons: I’ll get better, I’ll have a quality product once I am finished, and it will be an assignment I’m proud to get graded on, versus something that I just turn in to get it over with.
I can’t say there is to much to think about while I am doing this, when I’m not counting stitches or fixing snags, I’m usually going over in my head what else needs to get done with the time I have, or I’m listening to the television or the boyfriend tell me about his day. It is rather calming, much better than mediating.

Janet Atwell and Rhetoric Reclaimed

Three days a week I tutor literacy to kindergarten through third graders. Most of the students that are taken into the SPARK program are grade levels behind their classmates in reading and writing. At the school I’ve been placed it is even more difficult because English is a second language. There are a handful of students, however, who have no issues with the reading, yet, when they are done and you start to discuss what they just read they give you this blank stare, because they haven’t the slightest clue. Comprehension is just as important, if not arguably more so, than being able to spit out all the words on the page. As I read through the first two chapters of Rhetoric Reclaimed, looked over the focus points for the required notes, I had that same blank stare. Comprehend I did not.

In chapter three there are two sections of the text that did stand out and make sense. One discussed a “liberal education” and the other “geometry.” What made these two sections stick was that the terminology used I was already familiar with. They either reflected my own thoughts and understanding (liberal education) or had been used repeatedly before, throughout several years of classes, so that it had become common knowledge (geometry). The rest of the text was new. Even with definitions often within the chapter, and a dictionary or computer to help clarify, the constant use, manipulations, and slight variances made the experience a bit overwhelming.

No matter how often I reread a paragraph or section, or how slowly, or even aloud the information hasn’t quite decoded itself yet. It will take time, just as understanding geometry had.

What I did take away for the text, very simply, is that techne is art, or craft. Its origins is much broader of a definition then we currently associate it with, but that is to be expected when you are analyzing it through the eyes of philosophers and not the laymen. Like Hauser’s rhetoric, being speech of emotion, something that is used to manipulate others, techne is a skill that can be taught, then manipulated (invent new paths) for” particular situations and purposes” (48) The text goes on to explain the various ways that techne is utilized within more specific fields such as medicine. This helps assert that art (techne) knows no bounds in which it can be used and is especially more open to interpretation than current day connotations.

Stepping away from the text and looking into the author, Janet teaches English at the University of Tennessee, and is “obnoxiously” proud of her son who is an opera singer. The text reflects her life’s work of study and teaching in English.

There isn’t one thing in particular I would like to look at, the text will start to settle and make sense as it is reread and discussed in class, however, in chapter two Atwill references Ong, I didn’t see a clarification in the foot notes, but I was just curious if it was Walter J. Ong, S.J.?

Gerard A. Hauser and Introduction to Rhetorical Theory

Introduction to Rhetorical Theory is a text book, to put it simply. If you google him you’ll come across links to Amazon, Google, Barnes and Noble, and the like, for his books. You will also find a link to his academic bio for he is a Professor of Communication at Colorado at Boulder. He may have written this book because it is his life’s work, studying communication and rhetoric. Absorbing all the knowledge he can and than spitting it out for colleagues and students to soak it in, apply it to what they already know and get just slightly closer to the Truth.



Chapter two focuses on rhetorical thinking, what it is, how it is used, and the different forms it takes when it goes beyond thought processes and moves into the sphere of oration. This chapter seems to break down the different types of oration of rhetorical thought so that in future chapters you know what is appropriate for what type of audience.

The most important thing to take from this chapter is that rhetoric is “eventful.” That it is used to argue points and come to some mutual understanding, or concession of an idea. Everything from why a particular book is held in favor, to why we should be active participants in politics. The spectrum in which rhetoric is used is never ending.

Issues had with this chapter, and I could assume the rest of the book as well, is that rhetoric, dialectic, and even discourse have meanings that overlap one another, and there are very minute difference to separate them from one another.

Rhetoric, before reading this chapter, is what I would have called the conversation between two or more politician (regarding to politics of course and not, their plans for the weekend.) It is good to know that that is rhetoric, more properly when they are on screen or radio for a laymen audience, and that in private it would be refereed to as dialectic. It is also, good to know that rhetoric is used in everyday conversation, amongst classmates, family, coworkers, and the list goes on, that it is not just relevant to one topic of particular people.

With the age of technology and a new popularity with do it yourself craft, Hauser’s discussion of rhetoric fits like a glove. Anything a person wants to do, they can just type into a search engine. If they are a novice, there are sites full of rhetoric that can be easily followed, and they‘ll pick up with experience what works and does not and can join a side in the conversation. If it is someone with considerable skill, they’ll be able to find those that can speak more technically on composting or composing or whatever their crafting heart desires.

The DIY Blog I Follow

So, like I said in my first post, this is a DIY blog by a friend. Maybe it will help some of you with being creative for an hour.

K Ziegler Design

Entry #1... AKA Intro

To start, I'll admit that I don't read to many blogs regularly. I have a few that I follow, one is a DIY blog by a friend, but even then, it has been a few months since I clicked on her link. I'll be sure to share it with class, she walks through how to make stuff step by step , and the last time we chatted she was talking about going to video. Plus, if her audience expands it might help her post more regularly.

I have two other blogs on this sight, I think my link might take you to them. One I started for an English course last spring and was hoping to transition it to a blog about books I've read. Since, I've gotten a bigger idea about the book blog so that's on the back burner until I figure out web page design. The other is about my computer building experiences, pictures included.

This particular site is super easy set up. Literally, I typed in the name of my blog, the URL I wanted and my captcha code. Picked a template and started typing. I'll rearrange stuff at a later date, mostly because it is seven am the day this is do, and I leave for class in thirty minutes.

I chose the current template because I already have the one with books, and the one called Awesome, for my other two blogs, this was plane and un-distracting, but like I mentioned before I'll probably fiddle with it sometime during the semester.

For all of my blogs I write pretty flow-of-consciousness, this is no different, though I did have the topics to be addressed in another window. Normally I don't have my "editor" read through my blogs before posting like I would any papers for class. Just let me know if that gets distracting, and I'll make sure to have another set of eyes read over things so they are coherent, and indicative of college level writing.