Advice to Those to Come

Dear New English 304 students,

The semester ahead of you will seem laid back, and it almost will be. However, be careful that you put forth some effort when it comes to working as a group and when you work alone on your class assignments and quizzes. These areas are where your grades will come from and therefor to actually receive an "A" in this class you will have to put forth some effort.
Make sure you actually do the in class readings because the good Lady Rogers will take a surprise quiz/daily grade from one of them. After that occurs, you might as well sell the book back (at least you could have this year). I highly recommend that you attend every class, it's not worth missing a daily grade to sleep in when the class is this simple to get an A in.
Oh and one final thing. Always start working on your portfolios a day earlier than you think you need to because they aren't as simple as they seem (at least its very easy to have problems with them). Other than that I wish the best of luck too all of you!

without wax,

Unappologetic

We found a fascinating article about the trend in celebrity's to be unapologetic. It talks about Martha Stewart not posting an apology due to her pending court hearing. It mentions several other public icons and how pathetic it is that we let them get by with insincere apologies when what we as the American public really want is real remorse. I really liked this article and think it is a very true and sad statement about where our society is at today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4443-2004Jul21.html

without wax,

Ethical Lapses

It surprises me that 73% of Americans say they see a lack of ethical judgment in their places of employment. As a student with a short two years before entering the business world this should scare me. But my experience has already taught me otherwise. I am part of the 73% having worked for a company that was proud of one of their illegal advantageous competitor stomping episodes.
I think this is a sad place for America to be in. As one of the economic powerhouses in the world our country should lead the way in ethics and morals. Unfortunately the opposite has become true our over confidence has led us towards corruption. This is a scary place to be in and we should push to turn the tide as ethical humans not just as law abiding citizensIf for no other reason businesses should put a swift stop to unethical behavior just for its counter productivity.

without wax,

From paper to the net.

Writing a paper and writing on the web are two different forms of writing. The main reason they differ is because of the audiences and the atmosphere surrounding the writing. They are, however, very similar in the fact that they both communicate and they often use the same sentence structure.

When a person writes a paper it is usually to a superior or to the public. This requires the writing to look and be professional. Web writing on the other hand does not generally need to be professional. Web writing is almost always to peers and subordinates and therefor can be written just to communicate and nothing else.

When transferring a paper to the net it is very important to remember the audience and to concentrate on how attractive the text is. It is often important to make the web writing more concise and less formal so as to not loose the audience.

I say thank goodness for computers and the web because they save trees from death!

without wax,

Killer Bunnies

I love free blog posts! this week I have decided to write about the ever so unpopular of card games called KILLER BUNNIES. This is the most amusingly silly card game I have ever played. The goal of the game is to obtain the magic carrot. In order to accomplish this the player must have a bunny in play and have chosen the correct carrot (1-20). Players compete by sending weapons at opponents (examples are radioactive raisins, the kitchen whisk, and a nuclear bomb). Players bunnies often die of terrible misfortunes. Killer Bunnies adds insanity to the world and therefor I highly recommend it!

without wax,

resume cheating

The article really helped reinforce my understanding of the consequences of cheating on a resume. I personally don't understand why someone would feel the need to create a false resume. The more accurate you are about yourself the better match you and an honest company can make. A good match means both the company and you will be happier. Resume accuracy is key to a nation having a solid work force.

without wax,

The presentation I enjoyed the most

I enjoyed the break from normal class with the presentations. The ones I remember most are the one about animal adoption, Judith's about shooting and the presentation about the golf course summer internship. I enjoyed them because they were different and some of them were even awkward. I think Judith's was most member able just because she asked us all to go shoot with her. I really appreciate the opportunity to present myself and I'm glad we took class time to do them.

Without Wax,

Reflection on my mock interview

I had a lovely interview with My English 304 professor as part of a project/assignment. It went very well and was definitely not very hard core. There really isn't much to post about. I came at it maybe with to much of a real interview mindset and might have overdone it. Other than that Mrs. Rogers had a few suggestions about things to fix and then mentioned that the interview went really well. I have been interview with quite a few company's looking for a summer internship so I don't think i learned anything particularly helpful. Although I am learning that you have to tailor your interview to the person interviewing. (If its a perky lady let them talk, if its a hardcore business man you have to prove yourself etcetera.) Anyway that is all for now. Thanks for reading

Without wax,

A post of ....whatever

This weeks assignment is to write about anything I want, so, I think I will tell you all a story.

It was a cold morning, not the frigid cold that every so often forces Clemson students to run for the warmth of the indoors, but cold non the less. A lone figure with his hands stuffed inside his jacket pockets dodged puddles as he attempted to cross bowman field. He realized he failed when he felt the mud water lap against his ankles. He tried to jump out of Bowman Lake quickly but as always it was futile and he had to finish his trudge to class with soaking wet socks.
I have born witness to this man and been him on several occasions. The moral is leave with plenty of time to get to class so you don't think that crossing Bowman field/lake is a good idea.

Without Wax,

Cover Letters

I agree with almost everything that was written in these articles about cover letters. The only place I differ is on the P.S. part. I don't think that the way they worded the sample part of the P.S. of the letter would come across positively in a potential employer's mind.
I found that I did not know that a cover letter should not be written about me, but rather should explain what I can bring to the company. I found this section of these articles to be the most helpful. I also fully intend to use this strategy when witting my own cover letter for this class.

Without Wax,

Interviewing

After reading several more than the two interviewing articles required for class I am required to respond. I find it odd that Professor Angie assumes (in her blog for this assignment) that we students won't need to interview for real until we graduate. Apparently most college students don't apply for summer internships (oh well, all the more jobs available for me to choose from). As a matter of fact, I've already been in several interviews and face many more in the next two weeks (searching for a summer internship).

Just to continue the negative feeling my last blog had, the article "Mastering the Interview" gave horrible advice. One paragraph title was Prepare Prepare Prepare. This may seem like a excellent thing, but in my experience the more effort I put into preparing for an interview the worse I do. There is a obvious amount of preparing that should be done. For example, Dressing up and doing everything necessary to look nice, researching the company/job position, and making sure that you have a few short stories about yourself ready to share for the obvious questions (for example, tell us about a time you failed/succeeded).To really show your strengths though, it is better to know yourself and not have yourself memorized . When you just state back what you have memorized employers can feel the unrealness and are less prone to hire you. The experiences you have on the resume are your's there is no need to memorize you, it should be natural to tell people about who you are and what you have done.

In an attempt to turn this blog into something positive I read the article "Worst-Case Scenario Survival Tactics for Job Seekers". I loved it. I was in the stumped question scenario with one of the first interviews I ever had. I tried buying time with a number of stalling techniques and I am glad I am not alone and that it is even considered a decent strategy (if done correctly of course).If I have taken nothing else away from this I now have some good ways to divert complete interview disaster.

Without wax,

Picking Your Nose Is Healthy?

I have another assignment this week so here goes.

According to http://www.kidzworld.com/article/4361-is-picking-your-nose-and-eating-it-good-for-you

Australian Lung specialist Dr. Fredrick claims the picking your nose and eating it might not only be O.K., but that it is actually good for you! He has two supporting reasons for this. 1. The nose is kept cleaner nose do to fingers getting places handkerchiefs cannot and 2. "Eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system. The nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria is collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine."

This article uses two forms of persuasion very well. It establishes Ethos by informing us that the source of the information is a respected Doctor. Then the article uses Logos to explain why picking your nose and eating it is healthy. The article, however, fails to use pathos or emotional appeal very effectively.
when it comes to comparing or contrasting this article with other persuasive works it generally fails in comparison. For example, DR. MLK's letter used all forms of rhetoric extraordinarily well (enough said); while our in class speaker had poor pathos and logos abilities and very little ethos to stand on when it came to public speaking. She was new to recruiting, she rabbit trailed way to much during her speech and she tried to tie things together that didn't correlate. This poor use of rhetoric was rather funny due to that fact that she was trying to teach us how to be persuasive.

I would rather read another article about picking ones nose than have her speak in class again.

I apologize for this scalding review but I'm just keeping it real.

Once again without wax,

The ten year dream

It was tasked upon me this week to write about where I see myself in ten years. This is of course a very irritating task because, if I knew exactly what and where I wanted to be in ten years, I'd spend most of my life being miserable because I never would get there. I have learned this simple truth through life experience, life will never be absolutely perfect. There are a precious few moments when life is far better than perfect. Then there is the rest of the time when life is far below perfect. However, if I happened to be in control of the world then ten years from now would look like this: I would have a beautiful trusting wife and be working on producing a herd of offspring. I would own and operate my own multi million dollar company, which somehow only takes part of my time. There would be lots of vacations and adventures (skydiving, scuba diving, and maybe a cruise or two). I would own a large chunk of land with a functional house in the middle of it. I'd have a few horses, a tricked out Toyota Tacoma six speed stick shift crew cab with a long bed and a roof rack. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my chunk of land backs right up to the best ski/snowboard resort in Colorado, oh wait I own the best ski/snowboard resort in Colorado...yeah that is it.

In reality ten years will probably look like this: I'll be working in some office somewhere (hopefully). Paying taxes out the rear thanks to those of you who have voted for individuals in the democrat party. Married happily with kids. Living in a nice house in the suburbs of some city. I might even get that Tacoma. All the while wishing I was back in college. In another reality I might get the chance to work in some orphanage overseas which would be a much more fulfilling life (generally I have found that when I give my time and energy to love on people in need, my life is blessed and more meaningful).

But who knows, I am open to the possibilities, and while that might make it hard to make a solid resume in this class I think it is a wise way to be thinking because there is so much potential life left to live.

Thus my blog ends for this week once again
Without Wax, (without faking, aka sincerely)

Web 2.0 the maching is us/ing us

This week I was mercilessly forced to watch a horribly long (4 minute) you tube video, the horror. I'm kidding, life could be so much worse. Actually the video had an excellent point. While some people believe we are more addicted to machines the truth is that we are more addicted to communicating with each other. While the title web 2.0 is an interesting concept, I feel like the web has always been the web. While its use may have changed slightly, the concept has not. the concept of web 2.0 has very little affect on this generation because we already use it all the time. The concept of web 2.0 does mean that current workforce peons must adapt to current forms of communication to keep up. The video made a reference to rethinking everything, I think innovation is needed to progress and learning to use the web advantageously is a excellent idea.

Without Wax

How it all begins

Hello, my name is Keith and welcome to my Blog. I am a finance major currently studying the art of business writing at Clemson University under the direction of the lovely Angela Rogers. As such, you will hopefully see improvements in my posts as this semester progresses. Things to tell you about me, I am six feet tall, part Scottish, and have way to many hobbies. For example, I love to ride horses, backpack, scuba dive(certified as of the end of this semester anyway), sky dive, rock climb, attend Scottish highland games, hike, fly, travel, snow ski, swim, and host spectacular Christmas parties. I have the ability to laugh at myself and life (a skill many people seem to lack). I love God and I Love people. In fact, I find that I can get along with most people rather well, but my best friends tend to be the uncool kids with really weird senses of humor. I am looking forward to this crazy semester and meeting all of you. I'll see you next class period. (-:

Without Wax