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After looking at the facts about Mac’s and PC’s, it is easy to find four justifiable reasons that PC’s are better than Mac’s. First the price of PC’s is much cheaper. Mac computers have a sticker price that is extremely high compared to that of a PC. A Mac with 2GB of RAM and a 150GB Hard Drive cost anywhere between $1,400 and $1,700 where as a PC costs anywhere from $500 to $800. So for the same exact hardware a Mac costs double that of a PC, and for what? Apparently the cool factor is worth that much money. Another reason I prefer PC’s is because of the internal parts they possess compared to Macs. Companies such as Intel, NVIDIA, and other computer component companies make special products just for Mac’s. Because Macs want to have a sleek design, they use smaller internal software which actually compromises on performance. They use less advanced software so that it fits into the sleek Mac design. Another reason I prefer PC’s is because they are more compatible with computer programs. Many different programs or games for computers are designed specifically for PC’s, not Macs. So if you own a Mac you must find alternative programs if they are not compatible with Macs. Finally, PC’s are personally easier to use and more familiar to me. I have grown up on a PC and most of Americans are the same. The whole layout of PC’s are very easy to maneuver through for most people just because they are used to PC’s.

Audience for review assignment

Since as long as computers have been around, there has been a debate about which one is better Mac or PC. It is no surprise that sales history shows that PC has dominating numbers compared to Macs. But as of late Macs have gotten much attention especially from the younger crowd ranging from about 15 to 25. Everyone in this age group sees the commercials all the time, showing Mac’s as the hip young guy and PC’s as the nerdy old-timer. Mac’s are seen as the hip choice lately by many young adults, especially college students I have noticed. To many young people the actual hardware of the computer comes second to the design and look of the computer. Small things that Mac’s have like the magnetic charger and the hi-tech touch pad grab their attention while the important things like processor and RAM sit on the back burner. I think that also many students like Mac’s because the fact that they see other students with them and they want to fit in. I even asked a friend of mine who has one why he got it and he responded because it is, “cool”. I guess that they like to have the same things as their friends so that they are more socially acceptable. I believe that students need to look beyond the cover of their computer. Although Mac’s my have a sleeker and more stylish exterior compared to most PC’s, their internal components are far behind PC’s, when it comes to the technology. It is also hard for me to understand how so many students can afford Mac’s especially since many are paying for college. Mac’s cost upwards of 50% more than PC’s for the same hardware. Apparently many students are willing to pay the high price just to look fashionable. Mac has done a good job with targeting the right audience though. Everyone sees their commercials or knows someone with an iPhone and that gets many younger students hooked on Mac’s. Many of the students that own a Mac computer seem to either be one of two, a preppy type guy or girl which use the computers because there cool or an artistic person that actually uses them for the purpose they were made for, artistic programs. Many students just need to know the real information behind Mac computers and not just the cool, stylish features that draw most customers in. Students need to learn to break away from the pack and go with what’s cheaper and better quality, It will save them money and will benefit them in the long run.

Review Idea

I have decided to write my review on Mac Computers. Since I am a PC fan I will write about the downside to Mac computers.

Thesis Paragraph

If your someone just visiting or this is the place you call home, it is not hard to see that the campus here at The University of Central Florida is a very crowded area. Everything from the classrooms to the student union here at UCF are always extremely congested, but the area that suffers from the most overcrowding is by far the parking. There are no special preferences here, when it comes to the shortage of parking everyone is hit equally as hard, students, staff, and visitors alike. Finding a spot during prime time parking hours at UCF on the weekdays (between 10am and 3pm) is defiantly a challenge for everyone, sometimes taking over an hour just to find a spot to put your car for a few minutes. Whether its trying to make it to class on time or just coming back to the dorms after a long day of work, the parking dilemma here at UCF has a very profound impact on everyone that is a part of the UCF community.

Outline

Outline

I. Intro into the parking problem.
A. Explain what is wrong with the parking here at UCF.
B. Tell why a change is needed to help fix this problem that effects so many students.
II. Who is the parking effecting here at UCF and how.
A. Use a short interview with a friend about a troubled time they had with parking
B. Give my own personal opinion about parking
C. Tell Mrs. Moody’s personal story
D. Explain the problems that this lack of parking is causing
1. Students are late to class
2. People are parking very far from their destination
III. What is being done now to improve the parking and in the future.
A. Talk about the overflow lots
1. Tell how even they are full
2. They are across a major road
B. Do research on what is being done to help improve the lots for the future.
C. Give some personal suggestions on what should be done to improve the lots.
IV. Who enforces the parking here and how.
A. Parking permits
1. The ridiculous amount they cost for the towers.
2. Visitors parking prices and problems
B. Talk about the campus police and the parking police.

C. Tell stories about run-ins with the law enforcement.
1. My own story.
2. My roommates story.
3. My girlfriends story.
V. Conclusion

Analyzing a Commentary - Metrosexual Matrimony

Colton Keller
Seth Rojhani
Taylor Nielsen

1. What is the trend or situation on which the commentary focuses? The trend that this commentary focuses on is the fact that men want to be more involved in the planning of their own weddings.

2. Does the author give the reader an interesting introduction to the issue? Why or why not? He give a pretty interesting introduction that has a story of a man who was very involved in planning his wedding.

3. Does the author explain the context of the issue? How in-depth does he or she go? What do you think this signifies regarding the intended audience of the commentary? He does not go too far in-depth explaining the problem, he uses situations and stories of different grooms to get his point across.

4. What are the possible causes of the trend or situation the author explores? The article says that it is because people are marrying later in their life, so they are more involved in their careers giving them less time to plan their weddings themselves.

5. What examples or observations does the author give from his or her own life to back their belief that these are the possible causes? The author does not use any examples from his life in the commentary, just ecamples from other peoples lives.

6. What is the author's stance on the topic? I think the author does not mind that men are getting more involved in their weddings but i do believe that he/she does not like when men pay people to help them plan a proposal.

7. What significance does the author see in this trend or situation? The significance the author sees in this trend is that weddings are no longer only planned by the women, the grooms are now doing their part to make the big day just as special for them too.

Letter to a Friend

Dear Christa,

I have not seen you in such a long time. How have you been? How is college life at USF? Well as far as things around here I am loving it! My roommates are very nice and I have made so many new friends. I love everything about this campus except for one little thing. The parking! It is horrible. Parking here each day is like trying to find a spot at Disney World on a Saturday. The dorms I live in are called Lake Clair and we have our own special parking lot. Too bad only about half of the students cars actually fit in our designated parking lot. What does your school do about parking for the dorms on your campus? I know that here they are trying to improve the situation by adding overflow lots across the street from the dorms, but trying to cross the road on foot in the middle of the day….forget it! Sometimes when even the two overflow lots fill up, we have to park in a dirt parking lot across Greek Row ( The street with all the fraternity and sorority houses are ). The walk from there feels like its almost five miles! Don’t think I’m just lazy or something because I’m defiantly not the only one that complains. I even heard this one girl in my Psychology class say that she wanted to go to a different university just because she can never find a parking spot when she gets here. Now I’m not that upset about the parking I just really think something needs to be done about it. I think that they should build a parking garage near my dorms just so everyone that pays the ridiculous amount of $2,700 a semester for their dorm can park in a safe and secure area, not a dirt lot across a street.

I remember my good friend Billy was telling me about how he had a class at 11:00a.m. and he showed up on campus at ten o’clock just to get a parking spot so he wasn’t late to class. Guess what happened to him? It took him until noon to find a spot and he missed and hour of a class that only last an hour and a half. I just think its out of control around here. Also the campus police and parking enforcement are defiantly not my favorite. On the first day of school I received an e-mail saying parking violations do not start until the second week just so everyone could get used to their surroundings. The next morning I walked out to my car to find a big fat ticket under my wiper blade! I couldn’t believe it. I tried the whole appeal process online and I got rejected anyways. Now I am stuck with a $35 ticket that’s due in a week! The whole parking situation here is just very frustrating to me.

Well sorry for venting in my letter to you but I just had to get it out of my system. Please write back as soon as you get this and let me know how things are going for you. Talk to you soon!

Sincerely,

Colton Keller

Interview with Seth

Interview with Seth, the answers are direct responses from him.

a. How do you know what you know? (evidence) I know from other peoples experiences who have cars.

b. Who are you to the subject? (perspective) A student who does not use parking much.

c. How is this event connected to other events? (patterns or opposing forces) It causes students to be late to class and other events.

d. What if things were different? (suppositions/predictions) It would be a lot easier to park and more people would be on time.

e. Why is this important? (significance) Because it effects hundreds of students and teachers each day.

My Questions

1. How long has the parking at UCF been a problem for the students and staff? Since the school expanded.

2. In what ways does the lack of parking at UCF effect its students and staff? Makes them late.

3. What is the University doing to try to improve the situation about parking? making more parking lots.

4. How many people at UCF are effected by the lack of parking? A couple hundred a day

5. Who enforces the parking and how do they go about doing it? The police by giving tickets

Five Questions

1. How long has the parking at UCF been a problem for the students and staff?

2. In what ways does the lack of parking at UCF effect its students and staff?

3. What is the University doing to try to improve the situation about parking?

4. How many people at UCF are effected by the lack of parking?

5. Who enforces the parking and how do they go about doing it?

Developed Commentary

I decided the topic I wanted to develop was my first idea about the parking here at UCF,
specifically at the Lake Clair dorms where I live. As far as I know the parking around these
dorms has not been added to since the creation of the dorms themselves. When they were built
UCF was not even near the top five in largest schools in the country. So I’m sure not every room
at Lake Clair was occupied like they are now. But today the numbers of parking spots available
are outnumbered by the students who need to use them by a great deal. They have tried to
make improvements by adding overflow lots near both ends of the dorms, but it is still not
enough. The whole situation with the parking seems to be very disorganized and cluttered to not
only me but many of my peers. I have talked to many fellow students that live in Lake Clair also
and they find parking to be a huge hassle also. I find myself driving around the parking lot for at
least 10 to 15 minutes every time I try to park unless it is a weekend. It is unlike anything I
have personally experienced before because I have never lived in apartments before. I have
always been used to a home with the driveway reserved for me every time I need it. I never
thought of parking as being such a big part of my day until I moved here. It is a huge
inconvenience to everyone that lives here and I hope some additional parking will be added to
the dorms very soon.

Commentary Brainstorming

1. I could possibly write a commentary on the parking at UCF and the lack there of.

2. Another event I have noticed happens a lot around campus is students talking/texting on their cell phones while driving.

3. I don't fully understand why fraternities/sororities are such a big deal to some students.

Memoir - Final Draft

It was another Saturday afternoon in Dunedin, the sun was shining and the sky was clear, a perfect day for baseball. The stage was set for Americas greatest pastime to start and my grandma and I were attending.

The high pitched squeak of her light blue Oldsmobile echoed through the air as we pulled into a parking spot at Jack Russell Stadium. My grandmother and I both got out of the car all decked out in our Clearwater Phillie's gear. We both wore a red Phillie's shirt, but I liked to wear a hat too unlike my grandma who enjoyed having her dark brown perm uncovered. Once we had everything out of the car that we needed, we began our long journey across the parking lot. We trudged through ditches and across gravel roads until we arrived at the other side. When we reached the front gates at least three of the employees working the ticket both greeted her by her name. "Hello Jean", said one of the ladies working behind the counter. "Two Please", responded my grandma. As the woman handed us our tickets she let out a small smirk in my direction, probably just because she had seen me there with my grandma so many times before. We were what you would have liked to call the "usual's", since we were there at least once a week. After we got our tickets we made our way into the stadium. The smell of fresh hot dogs and popcorn filled the air as soon as we walked in. The players were beginning to take the field, so it was time for us to pick out our seats. We decided to sit right down the first base line, which happened to be our favorite spot. Not long after we had just been given the chance to sit down, we had to stand and remove our caps (or at least I did) for the National Anthem. Then the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by some local celebrity. Finally it was time for my favorite part. The umpire stood up from behind home plate and shouted "Play Ball!" The game was finally underway.

The away team was always up first, so the occasional “boo’s” were always shouted. But not by us of course, we both liked to show good sportsmanship. We never said anything bad towards the other team when they were at the plate. Don’t get me wrong though, once the Phillie’s came up to bat lets just say we were not the quietest fans in the crowd. We cheered for every player that would come up to bat, calling them by there full name. I guess it was kind of a way for us to connect with the team that we followed so meticulously. My grandma used to tell me that they could hear me out there, that all of my chants inspired each player. I know that was just her way of making me feel important to the team, but hey, she is my grandma that is her job.

So the game went by as usual, three up three down for both teams. The score was still zero to zero, a rather uneventful game so far. It was now the middle of the seventh inning, which meant the 7th inning stretch. Take me out to the ball game take me out to the…you know how it goes. This is also the time we usually went to go get some snacks. Hot dogs, cotton candy, and peanuts were foods that “normal” people got during the 7th inning stretch, but my grandma and I always wanted something different. I can’t recall why but something about going to these games always made us crave personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut. There just happened to be one Pizza Hut vendor at the entire stadium, so we were always in luck. Seeing as this game was about midway through the season and we got two pizzas every game, the man behind the counter knew us pretty well by now. As soon as we walked over to the concession stand, the man turned his back and walked right over towards the food before we could even order. He grabbed two pizzas out from under the bright red heating lamps, both with the sticker labeled “fresh” on them. “A pepperoni for you Jean, and a cheese for the little guy.” said the older gentleman. “What do you say..?” whispered my grandma to me. “Thank you”, I replied. That’s just how my grandma was though, always making sure I was polite to everyone, even if it was to the pizza man at a ball game.

So back to our seats we went, pizza in one hand, empty baseball glove in the other. We found our seats just in time for the bottom of the seventh inning to start. The game seemed to pick up right where it left off before the break. No one was getting any hits for either team until it reached the ninth inning. The inning started off with the away team getting a home run, putting them in the lead one to zero. After the opposing team got three outs without scoring again, the Phillie’s came back up. Most people left the game before the bottom half of the inning even started, figuring that the game was pretty much over anyways. But true fans like my grandma and I stuck it out until the end every game. The first two batters struck out swinging, and we were left with one out. One of the Phillie‘s players actually got a single and kept the game alive. Then the last person anyone wished for to come up to bat with the game on the line came up to the plate. He was a skinny guy, about 5’7’’, relatively the size of my grandma. So lets just say he was the least likely candidate to pull a late inning heroic. To both of our surprise, with two outs and two strikes the little guy crushed the ball into left field. Gone! It was a walk-off home run! My grandma and I jumped up out of our seats and began cheering frantically for the little man who was now rounding first in his victory lap towards home.

After catching our breath and gathering our belongings, we decided it was time to head home. We left the game that day with a great feeling of accomplishment, like our cheers actually helped the team win their game. All we could think about for the entire trip home was the great game we had just witnessed. The car ride consisted of us reminiscing about the game and talking about how much fun we had together that whole day. Once we arrived back at my house I turned to my grandma before leaving and asked politely, “Can we do it again next week?” “Ill have your hat and glove ready for you.” she replied softly.

My once a week visit to the ballpark with my grandma gave me a great love for the game of baseball and all sports by teaching me the rules of the game, telling me past stories about the game, and showing me how to demonstrate good sportsmanship. We enjoyed many more Phillies games throughout the years, but none came close to having the excitement level that this one provided us with.

Memoir Draft

It was another Saturday afternoon in Dunedin, the sun was shining and the sky was clear, a perfect day for baseball. The stage was set for Americas greatest pastime to start and my grandma and I were attending.

The high pitched squeak of her light blue Oldsmobile echoed through the air as we pulled into a parking spot at Jack Russell Stadium. My grandmother and I both got out of the car all decked out in our Clearwater Phillie's gear. We both wore a red Phillie's shirt, but I liked to wear a hat too unlike my grandma who enjoyed having her dark brown perm uncovered. I also brought my brown leather baseball glove to the games just incase a fly ball happened to come my way. Once we had everything out of the car that we needed, we began our long journey across the parking lot. We trudged through ditches and across gravel roads until we arrived at the other side. Once we reached the front gates at least three of the employees working the ticket both greeted her by her name. "Hello Jean", said one of the ladies working behind the counter. "Two Please", responded my grandma. As the woman handed us our tickets she let out a small smirk, probably just because she had seen us there so many times before. We were what you would have liked to call the "usual's", since we were there at least once a week. After we got into the park the smell of fresh hot dogs and popcorn filled the air. Seeing as they were a local team, seats were not too hard to come by. So we decided to sit right down the first base line, which happened to be our favorite spot. Not long after we had just been given the chance to sit down, we had to stand and remove our caps (or at least I did) for the National Anthem. Then the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by some local celebrity. Finally it was time for my favorite part. The umpire stood up from behind home plate and shouted "Play Ball!" The game was finally underway.

The away team was always up first, so the occasional “boo’s” were always shouted. But not by us of course, we both liked to show good sportsmanship. We never said anything bad towards the other team when they were at the plate. Don’t get me wrong though, once the Phillie’s came up to bat lets just say we were not the quietest fans in the crowd. We cheered for every player that would come up to bat, calling them by there full name as if we were on first name basis with them. I guess it was kind of a way for us to connect with the team that we followed so meticulously. My grandma used to tell me that they could hear me out there, that all of my chants were heard by each player. I know that was just her way of making me feel important, but hey, she is my grandma that is her job. So the game went by as usual, three up three down for both teams. The score was still zero to zero, a rather uneventful game so far besides the great catch made in center field earlier in the game. It was now the middle of the seventh inning, which meant the 7th inning stretch. Take me out to the ball game take me out to the…you know how it goes. This is also the time we usually went to go get some snacks. Hot dogs, cotton candy, and peanuts were foods that “normal” people got during the 7th inning stretch, but my grandma and I always wanted something different. I can’t recall why but something about going to these games always made us crave personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut. There just happened to be one Pizza Hut vendor at the entire stadium, so we were always in luck. Seeing as this game was about midway through the season and we got two pizzas every game, the man behind the counter knew us pretty well by now. As soon as we walked over to the concession stand, the man turned his back and walked right over towards the food before we could even order. He grabbed two pizzas out from under the bright red heating lamps, both had the sticker labeled “fresh” on them. “A pepperoni for you Jean, and a cheese for the little guy.” said the older gentleman. “What do you say..?” whispered my grandma to me. “Thank you”, I replied. She always made sure I was polite to everyone, even if it was to the pizza man at a ball game. So back to our seats we went, pizza in one hand baseball glove in the other. We found our seats just in time for the bottom of the seventh inning to start. The game seemed to pick up right where it left off before the break. No one seemed to be getting any hits for either team. We were both growing rather tired by the time it reached the ninth inning. The inning started off with the opposing team getting a home run, putting them ahead by one. After they got three outs without scoring again, The Phillie’s came back up. Most people left the game before the inning even started figuring that the game was pretty much over. But true fans like my grandma and I stuck it out until the final out every game. The first two batters struck out swinging, and we were left with one out. One of the Phillie‘s players actually got a single and kept the game alive. Then the last person anyone wished for to come up to bat with the game on the line came up to the plate. He was a skinny guy, about 5’7’’, relatively the size of my grandma. So lets just say he was the least likely candidate to pull a late inning heroic. To both of our surprise, with two outs and two strikes the little guy crushed the ball into left field. Gone! It was a walk-off home run! My grandma jumped up out of her seat so fast that she dropped her last piece of pizza on the ground in the process. She didn’t care though. I soon followed in getting up and we both began cheering for the little man who was now rounding second. We left the game with that feeling of accomplishment, like we actually did something to help our team win the game. The car ride home consisted of us reminiscing about the great game we had just witnessed and talking about how much fun we had that day. Just before I got out of the car to run inside and tell everyone about the game, I turned to my grandma and said, “Can we do it again next week?” “I'll have your hat and glove ready for you.” she replied softly.

My once a week visit to the ballpark with my grandma gave me a great love for the game of baseball and all sports by teaching me the rules of the game, telling me past stories about the game, and showing me how to demonstrate good sportsmanship. We enjoyed many more Phillies games throughout the years, but not many games came close to having the excitement level that this one provided us with.

Memo

TO: MRS.MOODY

FROM: COLTON KELLER

DATE: 9/15/09


After having Seth evaluate my paper, I noticed many areas of my paper I could improve on. In my introduction I have good details he said, so I plan on extending those details throughout the rest of my memoir. He also liked my use of dialogue so I plan on using more of that in my memoir too. The one area he thought I should add to was about how I felt when I was at the game with my grandmother. So I will try to go back into the introduction and add some more emotional words about how I was feeling that day. Overall I like how I wrote the introduction so I will try to carry out those writing strategies throughout the rest of my paper.
The introduction went well but finishing the paper is far from done. I want to break up my paper into three sections. The first is about the baseball games I used to go to with her (the introduction). I am almost done with this part but I just need to add more details about the rest of the baseball game and how that day ended. After I am finished with that I want to write a section of the memoir about her passing. I want to describe where I was, how old I was, and how hurt I was when she passed away. My feelings in the aftermath of her death will support the first section of the memoir in showing how strong our relationship was. And finally I would like to end the memoir by describing how my life is today without her. I want to describe how she still has a great impact on me today, and how she still remains in my thoughts and prayers everyday even after she has been gone almost seven years.

Introduction

It was another Saturday afternoon in Dunedin, the sun was shining and the sky was clear, a perfect day for baseball. The high pitched squeak of my grandmother's Oldsmobile echoed through the air as we pulled into a parking spot at Jack Russell Stadium. My grandma and I got out of the car all decked out in our Clearwater Phillie's gear. We both always wore a red Phillie's shirt, but I liked to wear a hat too unlike my grandma who enjoyed having her dark brown perm uncovered. Once we had everything out of the car that we needed, we began our long journey across the parking lot. Once we reached the front gates at least three of the employees working the ticket both greeted her by her name. "Hello Jean", said one of the ladies working behind the counter. "Two Please", responded my grandma. As the woman handed us our tickets she let out a small smirk probably just because she had seen us there so many times before. We were what you would have liked to call the "usual's", since we were there at least once a week. After we got into the park the smell of fresh hot dogs and popcorn filled the air. Seeing as they were a local team, seats were not too hard to come by. So we decided to sit right down the first base line, which happened to be our favorite spot. Not long after we had just been given the chance to sit down, we had to stand and remove our caps (or at least I did) for the National Anthem. Then the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by some local celebrity. Finally it was time for my favorite part. The umpire stood up from behind home plate and shouted "Play Ball!" The game was finally underway.

Intro to Memoir Ideas

I want to start off my memoir with a setting of where I was at with the person the memoir is about. If i do the one about losing my grandmother, I wanted to start off the story describing a Clearwater Phillies game because we went to those games almost every week together. If I do the memoir about my mom getting cancer, I would like to open it up with describing where I was when I found out the news, which was leaving my kindergarten class on my way to the car circle.

With the opening about my grandmother, I want to give the reader an idea about the relationship I had with her. I will describe how she spoiled me and how good she was to me. It will give the reader an idea of how close we were and how tragic it was for me to lose her. In the opening about my mom, I want to get across the point of how young I was and how shocking this news wasto my sisters and I. It shows how my life was dramatically changed in just an instant. It went from a regular school day to a tragic one in just a few minutes.

Brainstorming

My first possible idea i could use as my memoir would be about my parents getting divorced. It was a very big event that happened in my life. Something of this magnitude would be a good topic for my memoir because it happened so long ago and it still effects what i do and how i live today.

The second topic i was thinking of using was when my grandmother passed away. Most kids went to preschool when they were younger, but i went over to my grandmothers house. She was like my second mother and took care of me all the time. He passing was a very difficult time in my life and it still effects who I am today.

My final idea I thought of was writing a memoir of the time when we discovered my mom had cancer. It was one of the worst times in my life but looking back on the situation helps me realize that it has helped my family and I grow closer and stronger than ever before.