Taleo: Totem

{ February 28, 2010 @ 7:56 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Marquis Evermonde – Cat

Marquis Evermonde represents a cat because he is very lazy and depends on others to do things for him. He thinks he is better than everyone else, especially the peasants. He thinks that they are no help to him. Also, cats look very cute innocent, but they are ready to attack at any time.

“Monseigneur could swallow a great many things with ease, and was by some few sullen minds supposed to be rather rapidly swallowing France; but, his morning’s chocolate could not so much as get into the throat of Monseigneur, without the aid of four string men besides the Cook.” pg 79

Darnay-dog


Charles Darnay represents a dog because he is so loyal. He loves Lucie with all his heart and would do anything she asked of him. Darnay doesn’t believe in the way his Uncle treated the peasants, and when an old friend calls for his help, he immediately returns; even when it means risking his own life. He truly is man’s best friend.

“Even if Miss Manette held me at this moment in her innocent heat…I could retain no place in it against her love for her father.” pg 103

Carton- Fish

Sidney Carton resembles a fish because he is very easy going. He is calm and respectful, and would never aim to hurt anyone. He is okay with Stryver taking the credit for his work, because those kinds of things don’t matter to him. He is a happy go lucky man who doesn’t seem to have a clear purpose in the book at the moment.

“Carton, you summon no energy and purpose. Look at me!” pg 67

Jerry Cruncher-Fox


Jerry Cruncher is like a fox because he is so sneaky. On the outside he appears to be a strong and honest man who loves his family. But, he also has a sly side to him. Jerry is a grave robber at night. Like a fox, he sneaks around and “hunts” at night.

“Towards the small and ghostly hour, he rose up from his chair, took a kew out of his pocket, opened a locked cupboard, and brought forth a sack, a crowbar of convenient size, a rope and chain, and other fishing tackle of that nature” pg 122

Graduation

{ February 22, 2010 @ 11:44 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Graduation was amazing! I am going to start at the very beginning of the trip, this will probably be a very long post… 

On Thursday I finished packing and finally fell asleep at 12am. I was just a little excited(:
Friday I got up at 2am to head to the airport. We got there at 3, checked in, went through security, and boarded the plane at 5:30. I slept the entire flight! We flew into Arizona where we had a layover that consisted of getting off the plane walking to the other terminal and getting on a plane. Then I slept on the flight to San Francisco. We were off the plane and out of airport by 10. The very first thing we did was head to Guide Dogs for the Blind campus. We got lost a few times, but we got there! I was amazed at how many people there are everywhere! We stopped at an In and Out Burger on the way to campus and I swear there were like 100 people in there! It was crazy and no one seemed to notice that there were tons of people. In Colorado at the busiest time of day there are like 20 people, tops! Anyways, we got to campus and it was raining! We went on a tour anyways and I loved it! There were only two other people on the tour so I got to ask all the questions I wanted! :) After the tour we drove around San Francisco and San Rafael. We went over lots of bridges and I saw some sea lions! The last time I was at the ocean I was 4 so it was really exciting for me! Then we went out for dinner and headed to the hotel for bed!
On Saturday I got up nice and early and got ready to go. We got to campus at 10, went to the gift shop, took some pictures, and finally headed in to check in. At 11:45 they brought Gabrina and her partner, L, out. Gabrina pulled L all the way down the hallway and climbed into my lap even though I was sitting in a chair. I guess you could say she remembered me :) . She was so excited and wigglely, just like I remembered!
We never found out how old her partner is, but we guessed around 70. She has children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She has RP and started losing her sight around 50 years ago. L lives in San Diego in an apartment alone. Despite her age she is very active and happy to have Gabrina as her 3rd guide dog. They seemed perfect for each other! Finally it was time for graduation to start. I was the 3rd to last one to present. When L walked away to go on stage, Gabrina looked really concerned. She didn’t understand why L was leaving her! That’s when I knew they were the perfect match. Gabrina was excited to see me, but she knew that she belonged with L. When I went to hand over Gabrina and give my speech I realized that I still had no idea what I was going to say. I had been so busy I didn’t really think about it. So when L handed over the microphone I said what came to mind. I was going to talk longer than I did, but I was on the verge of crying and when I cry I can’t talk anymore, so I wrapped it up real fast before I lost it. I know there were many blogger friends there. I didn’t get the chance to meet anyone and I know most of you were there for other reasons, but thank for coming anyways!
After graduation L had to catch a flight right away so we said goodbye and headed to the beach. It was amazing and I played in the sand and in the cold water for 4 hours! I really liked it :) We went out for dinner and then went on a night hike and looked at San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge at night! It was beautiful.
On Sunday we went to the beach again and hung out. We went to a lighthouse and I saw a whale! More animal excitement! Then we drove through the mountains and redwood forest. It was beautiful! Then we went to dinner and headed to the airport. Our flight left at 6:30 and we were on our way to Arizona. We had a two hour layover this time so we walked around and at ice cream and had fun! I love traveling and airports so I love flights with layovers! Then we flew to Denver and got home around 2 am.
It was a very busy but fun weekend! And the best part was that I didn’t cry the whole time! I got close to it while giving my speech, but I didn’t! Saying goodbye to Gabrina and L was really easy because Gabrina was so happy. Her tail wagged the entire day and I knew she was where she belonged.

That’s the end of my puppyraising adventure with Gabrina. L promised to keep in touch, but my work with Gabrina is done. It couldn’t have been a more perfect ending :)

Reading Strategy: Chunking

{ February 10, 2010 @ 4:17 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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This week while reading a Tale of Two Cities I practiced the strategy chunking. Chunking is when you break the book into short sections to read over a certain period of time. On February 4th we were assigned to read 20 pages by February 8th. I chunked the reading into two 10 pages long sections. I read one section on Thursday the 4th and the other section on Sunday the 7th. Chunking the reading really helped me understand what I read. I paid attention through the entire 10 pages and then was able to go do something else. Instead of when I try to read 20 pages and I zone out about half way through.

I did the same thing with the 20 pages assigned on February 8th. I read 10 pages on the 9th and 10 pages on the 10th during my off hour. Again, chunking the text really helped my pay attention so I understood what happened.

I am planning to chunk the rest of the reading assignments. But of course, things come up and it’s not always possible to read a set amount every night.

A trip to Cali

{ February 10, 2010 @ 2:05 am } · { Uncategorized }
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On Saturday I am formally presenting the first puppy I raised to her blind partner. The dog is Gabrina, a female yellow lab. I got her in July of 2008. I kept her for an entire year until she left for California for her formal training. During that year Gabrina did everything with me. She even came to school. I taught her all the basic commands she needed to know. On July 10, 2009 she headed back to California. For 8 months she trained hard learning how to be the perfect guide. Now she had been matched with a blind lady. The graduation is on Saturday. It is the first time I will have seen Gabrina in 8 months. I get to give a speech about raising her, meet her trainers, and meet her blind person.

I leave on Friday morning at 6am. I have a ton of things to do before that morning comes. I have no idea what I’m going to say in my speech. I think I might focus on the confidence Gabrina taught me. But who knows, that’s the least of my worries at the moment. I have a ton of homework I need to get done. On top of that I have to finish the scrapbook I have been making of Gabrina’s first year with me. This is a gift to the family of the blind person. The scrapbook I pick out plays the theme song of the TV show Friends. (I’ll be there for you). This way the blind lady can enjoy it even though she can’t see the pictures.

I know this was a super lame blog post..but I have a lot of things to get done.

School Classes

{ January 31, 2010 @ 12:43 am } · { Uncategorized }
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It’s that time of year again, high school registration. Next year I am going to be registering for my junior year. Your junior year is the year colleges look at most, so I know I should be taking challenging classes. The two classes I am required to take are English and Modern America. I am going to take AP Composition and regular Modern America. English has always come easy to me and I want to learn to be a better writer. But I have never enjoy social study classes. This year I am in AP Human Geography and it’s one of the worst classes I have ever taken. I don’t want to suffer through another AP geography class so I’m just taking regular.

My major problem is that I have more electives that I want to take than I have room for. I have ten semesters open. I know I am going to take interrogated Trig and Physics. This class takes up four of my semesters, leaving me six open. I am also going to take AP Chemistry, which takes up three more semesters. And I want to get four years of Spanish in during High School, so Spanish 3 takes up two more semesters. This leaves me with one open semester. I need to take an applied art class before I graduate. Applied art classes take up one semester. I also want to take Self Defense (one semester), First Aide (one semester), Genetics (one semester) and AP Physiology (two semesters) all next year! See the problem? If you have any suggestions on what classes to take when please let me know!

Reading Strategies

{ January 29, 2010 @ 8:09 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Reading difficult novels can be very frustrating if you don’t use reading strategies. These not only help you understand the text, they allow you to enjoy what you are reading. There are a few reading strategies that I recommend using while reading A Tale of Two Cities.

The first major strategy is to determine the importance of a certain section. Sometimes in older novels there is a lot of characterization that it difficult to understand. When you are reading a section pay attention to characters names that you recognize and ones that you don’t. Try keeping a list of the characters and when you see an adjective by their  name in the story write it down. This was you can understand the description without stressing because you don’t understand every word.

Determining the importance of a section is also important when reading nonfiction. There are parts of nonfiction that are very important when writing a report, but there are also parts that are just little details. Focus on the main idea and come back to the details only if necessary.

(http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/teacher_resources/literacy_pages/comprehension_strategies.htm#importance)

Another strategy to remember when reading is to choose a reasonable amount of the story to read at a time. If you choose to read a long section you are going to check out and not pay attention to the novel. When doing this you can miss key points that could be crucial to understanding the plot. But on the contrary, if you read it in small sections at regular times you won’t get burned out as easily when the reading gets tough. Try creating an outline of which pages you are going to read on each day. This way you will get the novel read on time without completely missing the plot.  (http://www.studygs.net/texred1.htm)

High School Soccer

{ January 24, 2010 @ 12:01 am } · { Uncategorized }
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I have played soccer for 11 years and this will be my second year playing for TV High School. Practices started on Wednesday. These practices are just basically scrimmages in the gym. There were two seniors, three juniors, four sophomores, and 12 freshman. The scrimmages are meant to be fun kick-arounds so we can bond as a team. Our coach doesn’t keep any sort of attendance nor does he pay attention to our skills during the optional practices. But of course, the freshman feel the need to play very aggressively as though it is a life or death game.

There is expected to be around 20 freshman tryout this year. So, there are definitely going to be cuts unlike last year. What these girls don’t realize is that most likely non of them are going to play varsity. In high school you have to earn your spot on the team. And not earn your spot by your skill, you must earn your spot by your age. Freshman play JV, Sophomores play on varsity occasionally but mainly play JV, Juniors play JV occasionally but are mainly varsity, and Seniors are varsity. No questions asked. They think they are all high and mighty and expect to play varsity. But they aren’t going to and they don’t listen to anyone.

Last year we didn’t have enough girls tryout to form a complete JV and a complete varsity team. Instead of not having a JV team and cutting a lot of girls my coach decided to put everyone that isn’t a senior down as swinging. The 11 girls that played on JV each game played the entire game and everyone else played varsity. This was the varsity team could still be rested and our JV was good because it was mainly Sophomores and Juniors. This years freshman got word that that was how it happened last year and now think that they are going to be swinging as well. But what they don’t realize is that there were 5 freshman last year, not 20.

Tale of Two Cities: Book 1

{ January 20, 2010 @ 11:51 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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In my English class we are reading Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The book opens with a comparison of France and England in the 1770s. There are three passengers riding in a mail up Stover Hill. They do not know each other nor do they trust each other. All the men are very cautious of the possibility of robbers and murders hiding on the hill. In the middle of the night they are stopped at the top of the hill by a messenger. He gives a message to Mr. Lorry and they continue on their trip. In the morning Mr. Lorry is dropped off at hotel. In the hotel he meets Miss Manette where he is to tell her the story of her father.

I am reading this book, not only because I am required to, but because I am getting the opportunity to learn to read a style of diction that I wouldn’t normally choice. It is a challenging book that will help to improve my reading level.

So far I have not really enjoyed the book. The old English writing style is hard to read and understand. It is difficult to connect to the characters in this story. There isn’t a lot of characterization making it hard to relate to the characters in the story.

This story relates to current time in terms of fear and trust. In our society we no longer trust people we do not know well. It used to be that parents could send their children down the street to the pool and not have to worry about anything worse than a scraped knee happening to them. But now parents need to supervise their children at all times. There are kidnappers and child molesters everywhere. In Tale of Two Cities the men on the mail are very worried about getting robbed or murdered. They hide their faces to protect their identity and have a guard when traveling by mail.

This is an image of the mail being stopped by the messenger as it goes up Stover Hill.

Why blog?

{ January 8, 2010 @ 8:09 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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According to the articles, what seems to be the top reason for blogging?

Most people blog to share information about a subject they love. Blogging is fun and has the capability to be profitable.

Think about your future career (or something you might be interesting in pursuing). In what ways might your boss (or yourself if you end up work on your own) need you to promote the business via the Internet?

I am looking at Orientation and Mobility Instructor as a future career choice.  In this job I would be formally training guide dog for the blind as we as instructing the visually impaired on the proper use of a guide dog. I could use the Internet to share with blind individuals the freedom and confidence they will gain from getting a guide dog. In my blog I would also be able to explain the training the dogs go through and the training the blind individuals go through. This way, when someone comes in to train with a guide dog, they will know what to expect.

How does blogging help people in their careers?

People use blogging as a source of income. With time and effort, a blog can bring in enough money to live on. Blogs can also be used to advertise products and to announce updates on a certain product.

Why is blogging more about the readers than the writers?

Blogging is more about the reader because if the blog only interests the writer, no one will read it. If you are using your blog for advertisement, it needs to be interesting to the reader, or no one with bother to buy your product. Your blog must be interesting, easy to read, and about a subject that others are interested in if you want to be successful and especially if you want to earn money with your blog.

Raising Ruby

http://servicepuppyruby.blogspot.com/

This blog is about a puppy named Ruby who is being raised in Colorado to be a service dog for someone with a disability.

Abroad in Spain: Travel Blog

http://www.abroadinspain.com

This blog is about an American who is studying abroad in Spain. He shares about the culture in Spain and what it’s like to study in another country.

Child Psych

http://columbiachildpsychologist.blogspot.com…

This blog is about the mental wellbeing of children. It talks about mental disorders such as ADHD and OCD as well as how to gain the trust of a child who has been abused.

The topic of my blog for the next semester is going to be my life.

Hey :D!

{ January 7, 2010 @ 1:02 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Hello everyone! It is snowing outside. But are we going to have a snowday? Probably not. We will have a “go to school in the snow” day. Fun fun.

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