#5 State of Your Research Prospectus (freewrite, 10 minutes)

My research question/topic is “Could Americans today live without the internet?” I plan on going into detail as to how deeply embedded the internet is in today’s society. I will give specific examples as to how the internet affects our everyday lives and how the world would be today without the internet. Honestly this is a very new topic, as I just thought of it a couple minutes ago. My previous research topic on the International Space Station was going nowhere so I had to abandon ship and ditch that topic. I think with this topic, I will be able to elaborate well on everyday life processes that involve the net, and I think I will be able to portray a detailed image of what life would be like without it. This would be intended for both people in the technical field that use the internet on a daily basis, and for those people who are casual internet users. Mostly it will be for the people who let the internet consume their lives, and are lost without it. As many people don’t know though, almost everything today is linked together somehow. Processes that you would never think require an internet connection use them for many purposes in which I will go into in the paper. I think this is a good topic, however I am unsure how technical I should go with it and if my audience should be focused on someone else.

Set #5, Freewriting #4

#2 Open Topic (freewrite, 10 minutes)

For this free writing exercise we are to write about anything we want for 10 minutes. That wouldn’t be too hard, but considering I just finished the last “write about anything you want” exercise I might have to think a little about this one. The cold weather is kind of getting old, and I can’t wait till it’s warm again. The winter has been fun though, lots of memories and good times. This summer is most likely going to be pretty exciting; I have a month of training in Ft. Lewis, WA and then hopefully I’ll be attending airborne school at Ft. Benning, GA. The Airborne slot is not guaranteed but I’m pretty sure I will be able to snag a slot. That will be awesome because I have always wanted to go Airborne and if I get that slot, then I will be double stacked because last summer I went to the US Army Air Assault School at Ft. Knox, KY. Air Assault is a lot harder than Airborne and also a lot harder to get, so I am glad that I got Air Assault last summer when I did because most likely you will not get a slot unless you are assigned to an Air Assault unit which there are only a couple in the entire army. I could talk for days about the Army, but my ten minutes is up so I think I’ll stop.

Book review of "The Essential Engineer," by Henry Petroski

By Thomas Hayden
Sunday, February 28, 2010

THE ESSENTIAL ENGINEER

Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems

By Henry Petroski


The Literature Review I read was about a book called “The Essential Engineer” written by Henry Petroski. The Literature Review was written by a man named Thomas Hayden. Reading this review was definitely a new experience for me. I have never read anything like it before, and it really did the job of convincing me that I want to read the original text. Hayden starts off by proposing an idea, and then by using the book as evidence he cites ideas from the book to back up the original point. He does this for several key points and I think it’s really effective the way he does it. I find it interesting how he offers his own insight in support of the books argument, and even though it is completely based off of his own opinion it still offers so much to the review. I think this is the idea of presenting an idea, then backing it up with evidence. In this case, Hayden gets the ideas from the original text, and then by using facts in the book he uses that as evidence to support his idea. I learned about this style of writing in my HIST 100 class, strangely enough. She is really focused on expanding out literary and research skills and less concerned about memorizing dates of battles events which is really cool. I think writing a literature review would be a great way to support my argument for my research paper. It would provide insight, and reputable evidence that would add a life of its own to my argument. It’s also a way to provide just the portions you need of a text, without having to summarize and re-state the entire paper.

Set #5, Freewriting #2

#2 Open Topic (freewrite, 10 minutes)

This is the last week before spring break, and honestly I can’t wait for it. I have three exams this week and once I am done with them, I AM OUT. My plans for spring break are going down to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week with about 20 friends of mine. It is definitely going to be a good time; I just have to make it through this week first. I have two exams on Thursday and one on Friday. The one on Friday I am really not worrying about at all, it’s for HIST 100 and it’s an essay test on pretty much any topic we want. The two on Thursday I am kind of freaking out about though. The week we get back, I have two exams also. The thing is, I really want to go to Myrtle and forget about school for awhile so I can recharge and drive on with the rest of the semester. This is my last semester I have to work like crazy because the Army only looks at your first three years of college. Once you become a senior your “profile” is already sent to Cadet Command and all you have to do is wait for your assignment, and graduate. Anyways, back to the original point, this week is going to be dedicated to nothing but studying and working. I have to do excellent on all three exams. I know when I am sitting on the beach drinking a virgin daiquiri; I will be glad that I worked extra hard because it will only make my relaxation time even more rewarding. I should probably start thinking about my essay topic for HIST 100 though, because if I am too complacent about it, it might backfire and I might end up not getting an A+ on it. Its classes like those, I feel I have to excel in because it’s one of the few chances I get to have interesting lectures about stuff that actually matters. The teacher is so into the class lecture, and she really gets the entire class involved which is something that engineering classes definitely lack.

Free Writing Exercise #5, Week 4

So these past couple weeks have been pretty interesting. They have been really hard, but also really fun. Last week I had to be at mason by 6 am every morning for Physical Training, and I definitely felt it by the end of the week. After 3 days of training, I could barely sit down I was so sore. Thursday was fun because we played dodge ball and everyone had a good time, but then Friday was followed by another smoke session. I guess you could say I am ready for this week, I have two major assignments to turn in but for some reason, I am really not stressing out about it. I guess ROTC and Engineering have taught me to not freak out, and to accept hard work as a constant in a successful life. I actually found that my weekly planner book that I picked up at a kiosk in the JC has been a lifesaver. I forgot it at a table this past week, but thankfully a friend of mine was there to hold onto it till I met up with him later. I realized how much I actually use that thing, and without it my life would be lost. I write so much stuff in there, whether its due dates, assignments I have to complete or things that I have to do, everything is written in that little book. When I am done with an assignment, I cross it out really hard to relieve some stress and have the feeling of closure and completion. I find that it really helps to write everything on your mind out because when you don’t it just feels like you have a cloud of things to do and you freak out about it because you can single anything out and do it, you just have the feeling of a lot of work. With the planner, you know exactly what needs to get done and when it is due. When you see each thing individually you can better plan your time out and meet time hacks and it definitely makes your life easier.

Free Writing Exercise #4, Week 4

On my trip here to school, I definitely was trying to drive as fast as possible. I have this problem I guess you could say, that I always want to pass people on the road even if they are speeding themselves. So that was a big part of my trip like always. For some reason I notice that if I catch one red light, I am plagued with red lights for the entire trip. If, however I pass the first light and its green, ill be good to go for the entire trip. I am really not sure if the lights are designed that way or what, but it seems to hold true every time. Sometimes I am really close, and ill have to speed through a yellow avoid the 15 reds that I get if I don’t keep going. I also notice the cemetery that I pass every time I drive by it. It always gets to me when I see people visiting, because of the mood that they must be feeling right then. I have to admit if I whipped around someone going to slow in the left lane, and looked at them angrily, and then I saw them turn into the cemetery, I would feel horrible. Whenever I pass by the cemetery I always feel sad/taken back/uncomfortable because I realize that one day I will have to bury the people I love, and if I am not lucky enough, they might have to bury me. After the cemetery there is a line of nothing but houses lining the street on both sides. Then comes mason, I enter mason where the electronic billboard is and always go as fast as possible around that curve that gets me into Lot A. I almost never park in Lot A, but for some reason I find myself entering mason at that entrance always. From there I either go to Lot J, or Rappahannock river which is the best on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I have my first and last class in the lecture hall which is right there so its perfect.

Free Writing Exercise #3, Week 4

The type of writing in my field is both very diverse, yet quite specific. I will go about explaining why. The reason I say very diverse is because “Engineering” is one of the most diverse fields out there. You can be outside in the field telling backhoes where to dig, or you can be in a lab with a lab coat testing silicon for new transistor technology. Of course Electrical engineering is a little more specific, but still has many different areas in which you can work in. When you Google search engineering, you will get 1,000s of results, and each one is a type of writing that an “Engineer” could write. You will get technical papers describing new technologies that they have just started using, to overviews of engineering departments that offer technical services to companies. The reason I say that the type of writing in my field is quite specific is because once you get down to the specific type of engineering, you are then looking at an area that specializes in something. For instance, once you get into the field of petroleum engineering, you will get very detailed work that is being done in the field of petroleum engineering.