05.05.10 #18

This is my last post. Finally. Hopefully I get the extra credit to go along with an A for the journal project which would be the only one for the semester in this class. Reflecting back in the course, I have to admit that I didn’t give it my all. As admitted, I just did what I had to just to get by. This was the least that I’ve spoken to anyone in class. Usually I made friends in the others and had a class buddy. It seemed as though everyone in class was uptight and wanted to do their own thing. Or was it because I was the old dude in class? Nonetheless, I’m relieved that this part of my return to school is over. I feel like Rodney back to school.Dangerfield in Back To School where he is an established person and goes back to school.

05.05.10 #17

There’s a good chance that we’ll be moving from our Aurora house to possibly a condo or smaller townhome. If it doesn’t sell soon, we might go for the short sale. We still plan on living in Aurora, just a couple blocks west in Kendall County from DuPage county. This benefits us in several ways but the main reason is for my school purposes. Although I live in DuPage, I am still in district to attend Waubonsee Community College for general courses. I am not in district to take part in the Nurse Program which means I have to pay higher tuition fees and also have less priority to get in the program where there is an overload of applicants.

05.05.10 #16

My family is taking a vacation the weekend of June 19 to Kauai in Hawaii. After 12 years for working for an airline, this will be our first time going to Hawaii. Since I’m on a leave of absence, we purchased tickets for the first time in god knows how long. We purchased them fairly cheap at about $575 each and ironically enough, on American Airlines. We’re only going to be there for 4 days and I campaigned for a longer trip but we cannot leave the business in others’ hands too long. We also got a great deal on the hotel which received 4 out of 5 stars and is located on the beach. Six more weeks!!!

05.05.10 #15

I mentioned that I am a business owner with my wife and that I also have a regular job for an airline. The question that might be posed is: Why am I back in school? I’m in school to be an RN. Apparently RN’s, especially males, are in demand. But I’m not trying to be an RN to work at a hospital. I’m trying to be an RN to be able to sign off on forms and save money on our business by not hiring anymore outside RN’s. Our business is in the home health care agency. We own Benevolent Home Health Care, Inc. based in LaGrange, IL. We service mainly medicare patients and occasionally Medicaid as well.

05.05.10 #14

After completing the required entries for this journal, I need to get crackin’ on the revisions that are needed. I need to redo the annotated bibliography and possibly revise the editorial analysis. Depending on my time, I’m probably going to be able to do only the annotated bibliography; I can live with my C+ for the other. Actually, the annotated bibliography is not a redo, but that I have to add 12 more entries to have the minimum of 15. Sounds simple enough but time is definitely against me. The portfolio is due Friday with everything completed and I also have my final lab test for Anatomy and Physiology. But I will try to make time for the extra credit of the reaction of a child to the original story of Cinderella.

05.05.10 #13

Whenever I turn on the television, I surf the channels according to my favorites first and go through the rest. I start with my present favorite the Travel Channel. I think I enjoy 90% of their programs especially now that they picked up Three Sheets with Zane Lamprey. That show started on MOJO exclusively for Comcast as a starter HD channel. But since then, hundreds of other HD channels popped up and drowned out MOJO. FLN picked up the show last year but didn’t do too well considering the other programs surrounding it wasn’t in the same ballpark. But I think it’ll have a great home in the Travel Channel. In short, Three Sheets is a show about a guy traveling the world and drinks the native drinks.

05.05.10 #12

The Storyteller, in the movie of the same name, is John Hurt. The name was vaguely familiar and I could not put a face to the name. For some reason the face I associated with the name was Sam Neill’s, of Jurassic Park fame. I Googled The Storyteller and The Three Ravens and imdb had an entry so I found out the right. I’m usually good with useless information and pop culture trivia like this. One of the best time suck web sites to go to is www.sporcle.com and I could sit for hours, if I had time, and go through the questions.

05.05.10 #11

After this post, I only need 7 more to go to meet the maximum of 30. The freedom given to us by Dr. Lorde to go ahead and make up entries from hereon is great and helps out a lot. There’s only so much to talk about regarding the research paper and it just gets deathly boring to read. I think she proposed this approach to keep her interested in our transformed journal to a personal diary and rant forum. As mentioned in our personal meeting regarding the draft of the research paper, I can easily babble about anything pertaining to nothing. This definitely supports that case.

05.05.10 #10

In class today, were given our study guide for out 2 day final exam. The first part is to be taken on Monday and is consisted of an essay analyzing the story of The Three Ravens on the model from the Bettelheim article. It sounds easy enough. Apparently the study guide is more of a cheat sheet where this is the exact question that will be posed in the exam. My plan is to write it out at home and know what I want to say and rewrite it in class. But I don’t understand why revision and proofreading is necessary if this was the intention of giving us the study guide to do this ahead of time and redo it during the exam in class.

05.05.10 #9

Juggling my schedule is a task in itself. Aside from being business owners, I also have school, family, and the brotherhood to deal with. But I also have another job which I took a leave of absence from to accommodate my school schedule. I took a leave from American Airlines and I actually miss going to work there. It is very laid back and the people I work with are a riot. It sucks not being there at this time during the summer because being on leave means that I give up my flying privileges. At first it didn’t bother me because I intended on taking a summer class to get this done sooner but unfortunately that class was filled up immediately.

05.05.10 #8

I mentioned previously that I am a Freemason and very involved. My Lodge practically gets together every Tuesday night either to hang out for fellowship or to conduct an official meeting. This year, I am heading a Charity Golf Outing benefiting the American Diabetes Association. If anyone is reading this out there in the world wide web; more details are at www.wheatonlodge269.org and click the Golf Outing links. As if I weren’t busy enough with school, work, and family life, I also have to plan this big event. The event will be at Glendale Lakes Golf Club in Glendale Heights, IL on June 26, 2010.

05.05.10 #7

Looking at the date, May 5, 2010, I just realized that my last cigarette was 362 ago on May 8^th of 2009. I still get some second hand smoke from friends but the stench doesn’t bother me and it doesn’t give me cravings. When I was a smoker, I smoked all the time. I lit up a cigarette practically when I first get up from bed; either I go to the bathroom and light up turning both exhaust fans or step out in the backyard if it was nice out. I am not, neither was I a coffee drinker but when I did drink it on occasion, it did feel like it goes together.

05.05.10 #6

Another recent steal that I encountered on eBay was Avatar on blu ray. When the blu ray first came out, retail stores had it on sale for $20 from the regular price of $25, or so. That price of $20 is a deal to others but I knew better. If retail stores are willing to go that low, eBay will be lower. I got it for $17 and change including the shipping. Some people can’t wait the extra couple days to receive items and pay retail cost, but patience is a virtue and it pays. In this case, it paid about $3.

05.05.10 #5

I love eBay. I am addicted. I need to know that I’m getting a better deal than anyone else. Rarely do I shop for stuff in retail stores other than clothes (I have to try them on). That doesn’t stop me from going out to them, only the fact that I’m just looking to start my comparisons. For example: my wife has been bugging about a Kitchenaid mixer which runs about $200 to $300, or so, at a retail store depending on the specific model and features. I bought one on eBay a couple days ago for $127, which includes the shipping price, and is brand new, sealed in the box.

05.05.10 #4

The NBA playoffs are taking place and my Los Angeles Lakers are up 2 to nil on the Utah Jazz on a best of seven series. Unfortunately I fell asleep the last game. Staying up late to watch the west coast games is too much for me to do nowadays. The first half was a nail biter, and through the rest of the game as high lighted by ESPN. LeBron James probably deserves the MVP for the season award only because his team depends mainly on him. Kobe Bryant knows that to win in the sport, it takes the whole team. I hope Lebron never wins a championship and unfortunately neither will Jerry Sloan, head coach of the Jazz.

05.05.10 #3

In class today, we were given back our dreaded documented argument essay aka the research paper. I got exactly what I expected- a C; actually a C+. Woohoo! No sarcasm here. I was, no, I am ecstatic about the C+ because I aimed for something, and I achieved it. My standards aren’t as high as others’ but I want to reiterate that I just need to get through this class and put it behind me; way behind me. So far behind me that I’ll practically forget everything the minute 10:50 am strikes on May 12, 2010. I don’t always try to do the minimal. Take this journal for example, I’m trying to get to the max entries of 30.

05.05.10 #2

As mentioned in the previous post, it’s funny how everyone becomes Mexican on Cinco de Mayo. That brings me to my next point where everyone becomes Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. Why is that? Not only for these 2 holidays, but during others as well. The fourth of July, Independence Day, everyone suddenly becomes patriotic and shows displays it by blowing up fireworks and barbequing and getting loaded. How patriotic is that? We’re in Illinois where fireworks are illegal and somehow nobody cares. Personally, I get annoyed especially when it goes through the night and I have my windows open. I don’t want to overrun the air conditioning unit so I’ll give it a break at night only to be disturbed by the fireworks and the car alarms which it set off.

05.05.10 #1

Cinco de Mayo! Funny how cultural holidays transforms others into the culture of the holiday. Bars around town are for sure to be packed with wannabe Mexicans to indulge in the special of the month beers which are most likely Coronas, Tecates, Dos XX’s, and one of my personal faves: Modelo; either Negro or regular, I’ll take both and double fist it. Actually, I had a couple Dos XX’s last night after Lodge. I guess I never really mentioned that I was a Freemason, which originally was one of the reasons of my interest of doing my research topic regarding Freemasonry.

04.29.10

I finished the portfolio essay and I must say that it is well written. As I was writing that essay, as a requirement for the portfolio, this research journal was needed to be included. I counted back and I only had 11 entries where the requirement was 30!!! I need to get hopping. While looking for the assignment sheet for this research journal, I could not find it. So I went online to the class documents and links, or whatever, and found a copy there. As I read through it, the damn prompts were added to the assignment sheet online. I was looking for those prompts and figured that the instructor never put them on. Following entries will be a back step to follow those prompts…

04.23.10

I finished the final revision of the documented argument essay and it feels real good to get that load off my shoulders. I tried to follow Dr. Lorde’s suggestions, comments, and corrections as well as I could have. One thing that I did do which I mentioned in my previous entry, was to cut a lot of the information out. I knew that I was babbling and rambling on and on to build the info (and space), but now I took some time to cut the fat. I kept the parts which pertained to my revised thesis where I stated that transsexuals should retain the right to pro-create.

04.16.10

Reflecting back to the actual writing, or typing, of the draft of the research paper, I decided that I will document as much information I need to fill the minimum required of 2500 words. To my surprise, I surpassed the minimum and went over the maximum of 3000 by about 500 words. My devious plan worked out getting all the info onto paper as a draft and now I just have to construct it into a masterpiece. I figured that reading the info first and putting it down on paper would be easier than going back and looking for more info. This way, I would only have to deduct and restructure instead of building up from what I had.

03.25.10

I believe it was my proposal essay that I speculated that a cause of transsexualism could be due to how one is brought up during their adolescent years. This was a long shot claim but when researching my topic, I came across a website which mentions my theory (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A830413). It said that researchers hypothesized the same claim I had although they could not prove it “conclusively.” This means that if it was not conclusive, there were still signs that this could have been a factor; they never actually rejected the whole idea. They also compared the size of dead transsexuals’ brains to that of the “real” sex counterpart and could not find anything conclusive because of the lack of specimens to compare.

03.12.10

I Google searched my question of Transsexuals: Nature or Nurture? and found an short essay written by Rebecca Kastl trying to establish the same thing. I skimmed through it and found some interesting things. She says that there was a doctor, who was performing a circumcision, accidentally cut off the penis! Since the doctor cut off the penis, they reassigned the baby’s gender to be female. Kastl says that this instance of transsexualism is definitely on the nature’s end which I definitely have to agree with. I haven’t done a background research of this instance, but if it were true, as a father, I would be extremely pissed.

03.04.10

After some preliminary researching for the Freemasonry question of why are there ridiculous accusations in initiation ceremonies, I decided to change my topic. In an earlier post in this blog, I proposed my backup question of why homosexuals were the way they were. As mentioned, I do not have any problems with gay people. This question probably lingers in people’s minds but do not have the courage, or contacts to ask directly. I already took note that this question is quite broad so I decided to narrow it down a little further: Are transsexuals the way they are because of nature or nurture?

02.25.10

I found absolutely nothing using this database. With a substantial amount of hits using Google to search “initiation”, I was expecting at least more than enough hits regarding my search. After trying my first search for any hits regarding “initiation”, I tried the other key topics, or words that pertained, and listed in question number 3, to my research question. Nothing.

According to the directions of the Library exercise, we were search “terms” in the database. I took “terms” as a one-word search for each of my topics. So I individually searched for “freemason”, “initiation”, “goats”, and “myths”. I think I’m going to check out how the other searched for their topics.

02.11.10

As I recall, there was something mentioned in class about gay people if they were born with that "lifestyle" or became that way. (I'm really trying to put those words in a manner that will not offend anyone.) This was a coincidence because for some reason or another, this was a topic of conversation I had between some peers in the not-so-distant past. I honestly forgot how the topic was brought up, which was during some imbibing, but recollect that it was due to the fact that I thought of my uncle, when mentioned, who happens to be a transsexual. The conversation continued to a psychological path: are gays the way they are because of nature or nurture?

Can this be my tentative back up for my research paper?

02.10.10

I feel the pressure coming down on my shoulders regarding this damn research topic. I know I have a strong interest in Freemasonry, which would help ease the load of having to do research. Ironically, there was some discussion in today’s class about some Freemason-related topics. English composition suddenly became a U.S. history class discussing originations of the card catalog and the invention of the library. Thomas Jefferson is known to have developed the card catalog and Benjamin Franklin is known to have started the first library. A question was posed in class if anyone knew who started the first library but no one responded, although I did know the answer. Franklin is one of the most prominent U.S. Freemasons next to George Washington. The movie National Treasure was fictionally based loosely on Franklin’s involvement with the Freemasons, which was also brought up in class. This reminded me of The Lost Symbol which had several references to Franklin’s involvement. I think I will read the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which was also mentioned.

I just had an epiphany: How do the Freemasons affect/impact today’s world?

01.31.10

I posted my previously mentioned tentative topics in the discussion board. I knew these were broad topics, which were not narrowed down. I decided to NOT do sport bikes and there was a quick discussion regarding Tiger Woods and that there might not be sufficient scholarly articles regarding his “transgressions”. That leaves the topic of Freemasonry. What do I want to know about it? I was reminded that Freemasonry is not a secret society (which I mentioned in the discussion board in parenthesis) and I know well that it is more in the lines of a society with secrets. There are numerous questions that I can pose towards Freemasonry. One that I would like to be answered is: Why are they blamed for conspiracies? Does this seem narrow enough? How about: Who joins Freemasonry and for what reasons? Or: Why have this society, or fraternity, as it’s recognized as?

01.24.10

We were instructed in class to fill in the chart about our roles in life to help decide on a topic for the research paper. My roles in my personal life: male, Asian-American, sports enthusiast especially basketball and golf, loves sport bikes, and diverse music fan. My roles in my family life: husband, father, son, and older brother. My roles in my public life: Freemasonry and philanthropist. My roles in my school life: part time student progressing to become an RN.

As I look at this chart, there are many possible topics for research. Should I research more about Freemasonry? How about sport bikes? Possibly the affect of Tiger Woods’ absence from the PGA? It definitely ceased my viewing of golf tournaments.

01.20.10

First day of English 102 and it seems like it will be a rough ride to go along with my two biology classes. The class, as expected, did not seem ecstatic to hear the overview of the syllabus. What else is there to expect on the first day of class? I don’t think the dreary syllabus overview was the downer, but the actual content of the itinerary. We found out that we have numerous quizzes. We found out that there are exams. We found out that we have to do this along with the research paper! We, at least I, were not required to do any of this in 101. I’ll try to keep this interesting despite any topic chosen. Now what to write about….?