Microserfs Paper

Jessica Billingslea
Professor Yerks
English 106 section 002
24 April 2009
The Future of Blogging
“Clearly, we are only at the beginning, as the news industry faces one of the most significant transformations in its history” (Bradshaw 52). Blogs, message boards, and texting have all changed our way of story telling. Comparing the use of certain details to telling the full story, things such as diaries and notes are more personal to telling a full story because it is used to express the way someone feels. Blogs and other sources of social media are public, which would mean certain parts of a story are left out due to the fact that the public will be able to read what the author wrote.
Most people that write in a diary use it for venting purposes and do not let others read it. Personal bloggers tend to write blogs for feedback on situations or advice on what to do. The main reason I write in my diary is because it is a place of privacy, somewhere that I can go and express my feelings so no one can judge me or have to know about it. When talking to my friend Branden about his blog he said “I blog to network with other people and to get advice on certain issues that I need help with, like how and where to start a music career”. Those are just some of the differences of blogs and diaries.
The similar qualities and characteristics between blogs and diaries are that both are a way of expressing yourself. They both give the writer a chance to freely say what they want and announce issues that are bothering them. I use mine to think personal issues out and try to get an understanding of how or why someone else would react a certain way depending on the situation. Blogs and diaries are both opinionated writings that can be used for venting purposes or just to record something that happened on a certain day. In a way, they can be personalized journals to keep track of the events that happen to them. In the novel Microserfs by Douglas Coupland, the main character Daniel types a personal journal on his computer at work everyday. He talks about the things that go on in his work place and within his life. As the days go past the subject of death and the afterlife comes up almost everyday, which is on of the major topics within the novel, and he types the journal to get a better understanding of death because he doesn’t have an opinion on it himself. Even though he types is thoughts and feelings on the computer, he isn’t using a blog to express himself.
Observing other blogs on the web, I found that the details that were put into the stories that are written on them are vivid and was descriptive and others were just full of thoughts that were to be followed by comments from other bloggers that were following up on that person’s blog. For example, the Grimes Family blog was describing their trip to China and goes as follows:
Last week this time we were preparing to land in Jax and see our boys. I couldn't wait to wrap my arms around both of them. Over the last 3 years we have flown occasionally, and each time we came back home I would say, "one day we're gonna come around this cornor with our little girl!" That day finally came! As you might imagine, it was quite emotional. My sweet Jason tenderly cried on his daddy's shoulder before greeting his sister with a sweet kiss. Andrew was running late due to an out of town tennnis match. His Aunt Cheryl was not gonna allow this moment to slip away from him, so she rallied our youth pastor to rendevous with the team and Andrew made it to the airport while we were in luggage claim. He was adorable as he ran through the airport to meet his sister. My heart was so full in that moment! They are so loving and patient with their sister. She is blessed to have them!
Depending on the writer of the blog and the purpose of the blog makes a big difference as to how much detail and description is put into the blog. Blogs aren’t just used for personal purposes, journalists use them as well.
Journalist have been adapting to the change in the use of blogging. Some feel as though “their work had been changed by the simple act of blogging” (Bradshaw 51). Some journalist “use the blog to put the call out for information and sources” (Bradshaw 51). They don’t just go out and do their own research anymore, which has its benefits and consequences, instead they blog with people that have similar interest or knowledge to get more information about their story, making the feedback from other bloggers their research. As Kate King says “journalist no longer control the message. Today digital publishing is practiced by the masses, and it is inseparable from the practice of journalism” (12). We do not know exactly how the use of blogs will contribute to the future of newspapers and scholarly articles, whether blogs are going to be the new source of information or if newspapers are going to be modified to fit with the new system of gathering information.
Considering the different uses of blogging and the different people that use them, it is hard to tell the future of blogging if it changes the effect of story telling and the life of newspapers and scholarly articles. Diaries and blogs are used for personal purposes to either vent or to get an idea out there to get a respond or some type of advice. Journalists also use blogs for their work. They use them to easily find research from people with interest on their topic or knowledge on it already. This makes their job easier in terms of having to find the information by traveling and doing face to face interviews. It looks as if blogging is going to take over the world of communications.

Works Cited
Bradshaw, Paul. "When Journalists Blog: How It Changes What They Do. " Nieman Reports 62.4 (2008): 50. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, MI. 19 Apr. 2009 http://www.proquest.com/
Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.
Grimes Family. “First Look.” Weblog Entry. Grimes Party of Five. 25 March 2009. 20 April 2009. http://grimespartyoffive.blogspot.com/
King, Katie. "Journalism as a Conversation." Nieman Reports 62.4 (2008): 11. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, MI. 19 Apr. 2009 http://www.proquest.com/
Thomas, Branden. Personal Interview. 18 April 2009.

Profile Paper

Profile Paper
Walking in to an office filled with vibrate colors in the form of stripes along the wall with the huge Taco Bell logo placed in the center of the wall, I saw my District Manager, Christina Mims, sitting at her desk talking to one of her Restaurant General Managers about bringing up there customer base. I sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk with my tape recorder and notepad full of questions about the ins and outs of the restaurant industry and Taco Bell. As she ended her conversation with one of her General Managers, I looked around her office and saw all the awards she received in just the two years of being a District Manager and didn’t realize how difficult and rewarding it could be to have her position. With her long sandy brown hair that came down to the middle of her back and her brown blazer, she got off her blackberry and smiled at me. “Good Afternoon Jessica, I’m so excited that you decided to interview me today. Are you ready to start?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth as her eyes lit up and her smile continued to show on her face.
Asking about the differences between Taco Bell and other restaurants, she thought the main differences between them were “Taste, Appearance, and Price.” When compared to Dell Taco, one of Taco Bell’s biggest competitors, she said “Their taste is bland, they have smaller portions of food, there are no common characteristics about all there buildings on the inside and outside, and their prices are lower due to their smaller portions.” Christina also believes that Taco Bell handles their customer complaints differently. We do have a system that we follow when dealing with upset customers to make them want to come back, and keep them satisfied. The system is called L.A.S.T, which stands for Listen Apologize Satisfy and Thank. When approached by an irate customer, this is how Christina attacks the situation, “I listen to the customer twice because they tend to talk about their problem more then once and they just want someone to listen to their problem and sympathize with them. I apologize for their inconvenience to let them know that the company is concerned with the problem and we did not mean to mess up their order. I satisfy them by offering them something more then what they asked for like an extra cinnamon twist or drink. Lastly I thank them for coming to me with the problem and allowing Taco Bell a second chance to correct the problem. That way they know we are more then just a fast food restaurant company, but we are also a company that is concerned with our customer’s satisfaction.
Due to the change in economy I also asked her rather or not she knows of any projects that had to be discontinued because of it. She responded “Yes, there were a lot of scrape and rebuild projects that we had in mind to expand the company and upgrade some of the older stores. Since the company has been unable to renew land contracts there will be some closing of stores, and we are unable to buy more land because the interest rates on loans are so high. Our budget as to how much money we can spend on uniforms, equipment, and other supplies have been cut also.” Christina has found some trends in the food industry despite the economy, “such as sales have increased because people can’t afford to dine in at full service restaurants, pay tips, and a full meal. Also, now a days people want a quick meal because they may have two jobs and don’t have time to cook or eat a full meal in-between shifts. As a downfall on our part, I found that our customer service skills have decreased because everyone is depressed or stressed out from the struggle.” Even though Taco Bell is in the struggle, the company still tries to help out the community by “hiring a lot of people that have been laid off rather then young adults, giving coupons to non-profit organizations, and also participating in donations for World Hunger and the Boys and Girls Club.”
Staying positive is one of Taco Bell’s main focuses with the employees. We believe that a happy and successful company comes from the employees that work there because there is nothing more important then them but the customers. So when hiring people some of the biggest challenges that Christina faces is “finding the right people with a positive attitude, well qualified, that wants to work, and is willing to do the job.” We have various kinds of customers that we have to please so hiring the right people is very important. The three main types of customers we get are “the lunch break customer, kids/teens that are indecisive and play around in the store, and the family that just wants their order to be correct and time isn’t that big of an issue.”
Fast food restaurants have a lot more to them then just the simple cash or credit transaction that goes on between the customer and the employee. Not many people see that, and being an employee I have learned how to treat people that are at work because I know what they are going through. I know that they are not only working, but they are trying to meet goals for their company.

Podcast Script

Module III: Podcast Script
The Ultimate Taco Bell Show
Complete Show Length in minutes: 5 minutes and 5 seconds
Episode 1
Topic: What goes on behind the counter, and outside of Taco Bell?
Intro Music Clip: Title: Why Pay More Theme Song Time: 20 seconds
Intro: About Taco Bell Time: 1 minute
Welcome, my name is Jessica and my podcast is about the commonly known fast food restaurant named Taco Bell. The Mexican restaurant is known for its bold approach to get the customer’s attention and efforts to keep its menu diverse. Open for a little over 45 years, Taco Bell has continued to attract all kinds of customers and keep the environment up to date as far as appearance wise. This vibrant atmosphere host some of the most creative and friendly people behind the counter. The service is always memorable and the food taste fresh. When I tell people that I work a Taco Bell, I get a lot of comments telling me that I have either the best job in the world or the most fun job in the world. I can see where they believe it.

Segment Music Clip: Title: Taco Bell Rap Time: 20 seconds
Segment: The ins and outs of Taco Bell Time: 2 minutes
There are a lot of different perspectives that someone can get by just looking behind the counter of a Taco Bell. The customer can see a happy and friendly environment where everyone gets along and is happy to be at work, or they can see determined professional employees working hard to make each and every customer happy. Either perspective is both accurate and positive in attitude which is what we at Taco Bell try to pursue throughout everyday of work. We try to make every guest’s experience memorable so they can come back.
Outside of the walls of Taco Bell, the company is doing its best to stay in business due to the current economy. Projects such as Scraping and Rebuilding, and Grand Openings for new store have either been postponed or completely dropped due to the recession. Much advancement was in progress to expand the company, but with the high interest rates or loans and the inability to renew land contracts some Taco Bells will be getting closed down. Although Taco Bells around the area trying to help the community by giving coupons to non-profit organizations and hiring adults rather then young adults due to the lay offs.
End Segment Music Clip: Title: Think Outside the Bun Song Time: 20 sec

Ending: Relating all the restaurants Time: 1 minute
Although Taco Bell is getting hit by the recession, the company still tries to keep the employees motivated and happy. Also, other restaurants are going through the same thing as well. Even though fast food restaurants are increasing in sales due to families not being able to afford to go out to eat anymore, they also suffer from budget costs that affect their uniform spending, food orders, and supply orders. Staying positive and thinking outside the bun is what we try to strive for.
End Music Clip: Title: Taco Bell Dong Time: 5 sec

Littering

Persuasive Essay
Walking home from the corner store this past summer, my sister and I were in a deep conversation about our futures, we discussed how we want to move out of Detroit and go somewhere south, where the weather is better. In the middle of describing my fantasy home, I tripped on a 2 litter Faygo pop bottle in front of one of the many foreclosed homes on the block. Picking myself up from the ground, I begun to look around the street, I noticed all the trash along the curb, in the tall grass of lawns that hadn’t been cut for months, the field by the railroad tracks, and along the foreclosed homes on the block. There was furniture in the field, and general pop bottles and chips bags along the curb and abandoned homes. Just then, I realized how dirty the city of Detroit is.
The littering around Detroit is getting worse as months go by. The trash either falls into the storm drains or travels down the street with cars and buses, polluting the water and the rest of the city. Although the city does street sweeps every few months, it seems like the trash is just pushed to one area and never picked up. Making the city look worse then its reputation of crime and violence. The trash is not only a threat to the pollution, but to the safety of pedestrians. I could have fallen and gotten seriously injured if I was not able to catch my balance in time. The trash around Detroit should not threaten the life of pedestrians.
The affect of littering on the environment is critical, but it is just as important to the wildlife of animals and insects. Littering can be traced back to diseases from mosquitoes and the killing of wildlife. From the online encyclopedia Wikipedia “Open containers such as paper cups or beverage cans can hold rainwater, providing breeding locations for mosquitoes which have been known to cause diseases such as West Nile Virus and Malaria”. Also, “cigarette butts and filters, a threat to wildlife, have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds and whales, who have mistaken them for food” says Wikipedia. Littering doesn’t only affect humans, it affects everything around us, from the ground we walk on, the air we breathe, and the animals around us.
There are ways to help prevent or reduce the amount of trash around the neighborhood with the help from the people within it. If neighbors create clean up projects within the neighborhood to pick up the trash in the streets and around foreclosed and abandoned homes once a month, it would help to make the city a better place appearance wise. After a few months of the cleaning project, the results will compliment themselves. The trash will decrease and the amount of trash to be picked up each month may decrease as well because the other neighbors will see that people are trying to keep the city clean. The neighbors might not want to litter anymore or they might even join and pick up some trash themselves every now and then.
The cleaning project will be organized to meet every month. There will be several groups within the neighbors that have volunteered, to split up and go to different areas of the city such as Downtown, Southwest, and Southeast Detroit. The groups will be no more then 10 people, and they will travel through their specific area picking up trash from the curbs, and around homes with picks and garbage bags. For the larger pieces of trash, like furniture and other bulk materials, together the groups can rent a dumpster to throw them in. Detroit as a city needs to be cleaned, and with the help from the citizens within the city and neighbors that want to come together to help the city, Detroit could become a much better place.
Littering is an issue throughout the whole world. It’s something that a community, neighborhood, and the world can not get away from. It is an important matter in our lives and the lives of the animals around us today that needs to be addressed. Littering slowly affects our lives, and drastically affects the lives of animals. The importance of not littering is not stressed enough. With the increase of trash along the roads and around houses the danger of pollution and safety of the community increase as well. The awareness of this issue is necessary and without the issued being solved, not only the city of Detroit, but also the world will have a high pollution rate.

Higher Education for High School Students

Reflection/Essay

When this assignment was brought to my attention, I thought it was going to be easy. Using my imagination and being creative with a project really caught my attention. Although, I did complete the assignment on time, I found that the assignment wasn’t as easy as it seemed. There were many obstacles that I came upon and many decisions that I had a hard time making throughout the project’s completion.

Thinking of a topic to advocate for was one of the toughest decisions I had. I did not have a clue as to what I wanted to advocate for or what I was passionate about so I picked something that was relevant to me and what I convince all my friends to do, get an education. Once I had a topic the professor helped me to determine specifically who I was going to target as my audience, high school juniors and seniors. While typing my introduction in class I started thinking about how hard this topic is going to be to attract high school students because, most of them have either already made their mind as to what they are going to do or just do not want to hear about college.

Making the project interesting to high school students was another challenged I faced. Kids now-a-days seem only to care about fashion, music, and television. I was thinking of doing a comic strip, but I’m not too good at computer graphics. I then thought about a video, but I’m not comfortable in front or cameras or camcorders even if it’s just me taping myself. So I went with the next best thing, a power point presentation consisting of photos off of the internet that related to my topic. It also was a great choice since I spent my whole weekend in the hospital and only had two to three days to complete my project and still work full time as an assistant manager for a fast food restaurant.

Searching the web for suitable images that go well with my topic was harder then expected. Education image searches are filled with a lot of people such as principals, and teachers. Finding meaningful images seemed to take the longest. Most of the images where from educational websites which made me feel better about them. The points or arguments that I made for higher education were strong ones and I hit some of the major reasons why most of my friends did not want to attend college. In a way, my friends not wanting to go to college helped me with this project and made me realize that not a lot of people have the desire to get a higher education.

Struggling to get the project done and turn it in on time with quality effort, I managed to complete the project and feel pretty good about it. Although I do not believe it is my best work, I still feel that I did the best that I could given the conditions and circumstances that came my way. This topic was a hard one to tackle, but I managed to do my best and tried my hardest to get it done. I put in a lot of work over the past couple of days that I have been out of the hospital, and even though I’m not strongly passionate about the topic, I believe I touched on some very valuable points.

Image from http://www.syracuse.com/north/index.ssf/2008/03/30-week/

College

Education higher then a high school diploma is now becoming more important then ever before. In the near future, getting a job will require a degree, if it does not already. Companies are looking for educated people that are reliable and can contribute to the company. Companies are realizing that without a high degree of education, it is hard to trust employees as to what they can do for the company.
Higher education will attract students that are in high school who do not believe they are right for college. Although, they feel as if their grades are too low, they won't have enough money for college or they are not ready to go to college. There are colleges out there that will help you to get in. They will work with you to set up a payment method, or help you to get into organizations that will help you to feel comfortable. The work load of a college student might be heavy, but because the class schedules are not everyday of the week, there will be time to get the work done. College may seem to be scary at times but there are people/ advisers that are around the campuses that are there to help students in all kinds of decision making situations.

Screen Shot

When i saw my screen as a photograph, it took my awhile to view it as more then just a "screen shot" or image from my computer. Until I saw it smaller then my normal computer screen. In a way the image looks 3D, I also realized that my computer screen has a lot going on on a daily basis.
In digital spaces, composition can change the way people look at things. In a way, digital spaces can be both negative and positive. In a positive point of view, it can help to visualize things beyond imaginations. It can help to open eyes and expand minds. Also negatively, digital spaces can close imaginations and change point of views on certain topics. A better way to fully understand digital spaces it to try to understand where the photographer's mind was or what they were thinking of to see what they were trying to capture. Also, taking the time to appreciate the digital space would also help to better understand digital composing processes.