What Do YOU Want to See?

Input please?

As I explore more and more with WordPress, I would like to build my site more. However, the problem with this is that I don’t know what else to add. So, I turn the task to you, my amazing, insightful readers, to suggest what pages or features to add to my site that would A) make my site more interesting beyond the homepage, and B) increase my skills in website building. The more input the better (preferably in the comments section of this post). So, suggest away!

Also, content ideas would also be helpful.  If you have some ideas or topics for the site, also discuss them in the comments section.  I’d like some inspiration and know what you all want to read.  Of course, I will stick to my usual double-degree/both-sides-of-brain/writing/technology niche, but extra input would be lovely.

Here’s what I have so far for widgets/features for my site (for a reference):

• An About page
• A projects tab with my Rhetorical Analysis, Digital Journalism, and Final Project for my ENGL 3880 course
• A “Follow Me” Widget that allows you to subscribe to my blog.
• My Twitter feed, so you all can read my random rantings and some commentary about Braves baseball (which actually comprises most of my posts.)
• My Summer reading ticker/updater.  See the previous blog post for more info on this widget.
• My blogging buddies.  I like to spread the word and work of my friends and readers, so check these folks out.  Feel free to let me know if you want your blog in my list.  The more the merrier!  I just wish that WordPress updated the list whenever someone updates their blog, like Blogger does.
• A tag cloud
• Archive & page directories (basic WordPress blogging stuff)
• A search bar (for your searching pleasure)
• And random WordPress stuff on the bottom of the site, along with the scripture Proverbs 31:30.

Overall, I would like to figure out how to expand and stretch myself as a blogger/web designer.  The more I work, the more experience and skills I acquire.  AKA, the more fun stuff I can add to my repertoire!

Reading Progress Ticker

For your creeping pleasure.

Another way that I intend on keeping my summer reading in check is by my progress widget on the side of my blog. So far, I’ve started on 2 books: Jane Eyre and Frankenstein. I will attempt to keep this ticker updated as I read.  So far I’m 1/3 of the way done with Frankenstein, while I’m still getting started on Jane Eyre. Here’s hoping that this will be a good monitor for my reading.  I’m a structured person who likes things to be done in bullet points and to-do lists in order to get done with a task.  This ticker will act as such for me.  In addition, you, my faithful readers can check back to see how far I’ve read and if I have completed my goals.  This should be fun, if not just easy to keep things organized.

Here’s hoping that I don’t forget to either read or update the ticker. 😛

Bookin’ It

Image by Wayne Gooderham on The Guardian.

Huzzah! The end of the semester has come! Now commences my first summer break in 5+ years! As I wrote in a previous blog post, I have intentions to read several books over the summer. I didn’t read many books before college, which is a sin for an English major, so I will be reading many legendary works that I should have read by this point. I’m going to list these books in hopes that I will be able to keep myself accountable.  So, here is my list:

1. Jane Eyre: I’ve read a couple of chapters from this book, but never finished because of random school stuff.  However, since my Long Romantic Period class will be reading it, this summer would be a great time to get it out of the way before I get bogged down with school work.  Also, the fact that I actually own this book helps.
2. Frankenstein: This is also listed on the book listing for Long Romantic Period.  Plus, this is the one book that gets taught in every class but mine.  It’s about time that I read this book even if it wasn’t required.
3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn: I can’t tell you how many times I have been scoffed at the mere mention of the fact that I have not read, or at least completed, Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn.
4. The Invisible Man:  Because H.G. Wells‘s writing is fabulous.  I have heard great things about the story that make me excited about the story.  I loved Wells’ The Time Machine, so I want to read more of his books.
5. Alice in Wonderland:  I read snip-bits in my Victorian Lit class this semester, so I really want to finish it.  It was neat seeing how the 1951 Disney movie twisted the book in cool ways from the little bit I read.
6. Treasure Island: I read about a third of this book in high school, but didn’t finish by the time it was due from the library.  As a result, I never finished.  *sigh*  Plus, I told myself that I wouldn’t watch Disney’s Treasure Planet, which is based off Treasure Island, before I finished the book.
7. To Kill a Mockingbird: The main reason for this addition is because my friend, Megan, told me that it had lots of word play and puns, two things that are up my alley.  I read a little bit in high school, but like most of the books on the list, I would like to finish it.
8. 1984: I actually read 1984, but I want to read it again.  However, this time every time I read “Down with Big Brother,” I’ll think of a particular institution that I have dealt with this past semester.
9. *Updated!* A Midsummer Night’s Dream
10. *Updated!* The Taming of the Shrew

Considering that I am a slow reader, this should take me the whole summer.  However, the summer will be spent expanding my mind and keeping it running.  This will be good.

Meme-tastic!

She has the ability to scare young children… and that is ok.

What makes a meme?  Better yet, who here knows what a meme actually is?  For the interwebz impaired, a meme is an image that becomes viral.  Usually they have a quirky joke to go along with the image, which aids its viral nature.  Several popular memes include Philosoraptor, Socially Awkward Penguin, Annoying Facebook Girl, The Most Interesting Man in the World, and others.  I’ve written on memes before for my Writing and Digital Media class, so if you want to know more about the Socially Awkward Penguin meme, feel free to check out the post.

So what is this post about?

My sister has decided to become a meme.  We think that we have started a revolution with a photo of her with a very disgusted look on her face.  Some of her friends thought the photo amusing–as do I–so we decided to go on memegenerator.net to make her image into a meme.  If you want to read them all, or make your own Extremely Attractive Jordan meme, feel free to do so!  We’d love to get this to the point where Meme Generator will add it to its search.

Yes, I did this one. #shamelessplug

Critically Minded

Image found on http://betterwritinghabits.com by Suzannah Freeman.

It’s amazing to see how many connections I can make between my IT degree and my English degree.  One connection is having a critical mind in regards to writing–whether it be poetry or programs.

I took a Software Testing & QA class this semester, where the primary goal of a software tester is to eradicate defects and make sure that the product fits the needs of the customer.  Hmmm, doesn’t that sound like editing?  Make sure that there aren’t any errors (grammatical, spelling, usage, etc.) and make sure it pleases the customer (teachers, professors, especially if they have a particular grading style).  Whenever an English major would ask me about this class, the response every time was, “Ew.  That sounds awful!”  In response, I would note the comparison to having someone edit a paper.  The same occurs on the IT side of this argument.  I have nearly, if I didn’t actually do it, compared a concept in Software QA into writing a paper, which most of the students would not relate quite as well.  The teacher might see the connection, but not the students who never want to think about the prospect of papers.

Both being an IT major and an English major have given me a critical lens.  After seven literature courses, and writing classes like Visual Rhetoric and Writing & Digital Media, I can analyze a poem, story, image, even a song, in order to find a greater meaning.  I can look at things to find what is wrong, with a constructive criticism purpose, of course.  Through these courses, I’m learning to look at things with an analytical mindset.

Even though, I am someone who hates getting the red marks in papers and getting comments that suggest things that I thought that I had already done, I know that these things are helping me to become a better writer, as well as a better programmer.  Sometimes we have to take a bite out of our own pride to make ourselves better.  This is not limited to writing, programming, or anything else school related, but can also apply to life.  I want to be the best person I can be.  However, I physically cannot see myself the same way as everyone else can.  I need to rely on my friends and family to point out my flaws.  It may be painful, but sometimes you have to bear a little pain in order to get better.  Just like testing out programs or editing poems, we, as humans, we need to work on ourselves and have a solid group of people to keep you accountable and point out what is wrong.  This is not to say that we need to nit-pick each other, but we need to look at each other in love when help each other.

Don’t you love how I turned a technical post into a sappy post about life?