An Interactive website that would be cool.

I am not sure if a site like this exists but, I would like to see a home theater optimization site. One where you could enter the size, shape, building materials and etc. into a database. Doing this would generate an interactive rendering of your room with speakers and such in the recommended locations. You could them put your couch and chairs or whatever where you need to. Also, this would create a list of suggested components for you to buy that would be suitable for this particular room. That would would be neat to play around with.

If anyone knows of a site like this, let me know! I would be very interested in trying it out.

Interactive websites

I have recently started using facebook. This is a very cool interactive website. I automatically get info from and about my friends as well as am able send info to all of my friends at once. Also, I like going on car manufacturer websites and building my dream car with thier "build your own" option. Very cool. It seems that just about all websites of big companies and a few small ones are all interactive in some way now. Whether it requesting information or giving it.

My take on the theme of "Where Are Your Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a journey into the psyche of a teenage girl. When Connie’s fantasies converge with her reality, it becomes a nightmare. Connie, after being in the sun too long, a recipe for hallucination, has fallen asleep listening to the radio and all of the songs that she bases the reality of love on. The next thing you know, a knock on the door by the stranger that she had seen the night before, Arnold Friend. His description fits perfectly that of Bob Dylan, presumably one of her idols; as he was for many in those times. Additionally, everything about Arnold is familiar to Connie, including his voice, but she just can’t put it together; “his face is a familiar face…” (Oates 213). It’s not just the physical description of Arnold, but the fact that he knows everything about Connie, her parents and what they are doing that gives light to the obvious fact that she is dreaming; having a nightmare due to a sun drenched haze. Connie, in reality, thinks she doesn’t need her parents or sister and that they are, as they said in the 60’s, “cramping her style.” In her fantasy world, due to the implied future harm that Arnold will do to her or her family, she realizes that she does, in fact, need her family as they are the first ones she calls out for when she begins to panic. Overall, the theme of this story is one of fantasy vs. reality. A fantasy is not always better than your current reality.

After reading all of the casebook articles, I agree in part with only two of them. The interpretations by Joyce Wegs and Greg Johnson do not to jive with my understanding of the story. I think you can go into just about any story about a teenage girl and draw Johnson’s feminist allegory theory. Also, Wegs’ Satan theory is just plain outlandish, you could find reason that any antagonist in any story is actually Satan. Generic is a word that comes to mind for these two interpretations. I do, however agree with Larry Rubin as far as it is a dream that is fueled by the hot sun and fear of adulthood. Mike Tierce and John Crafton’s argument seems partly correct to me as well. They too, see Arnold Friend as a rendering of Bob Dylan. With Rubin, Tierce and Crafton’s good points put together you get what I see as a logical interpretation. Connie fell asleep in the sun, had a bad dream about a boy she was fantasizing about. Since she didn’t ever hear his actual voice, he took on the voice of a radio host on a show that she was listening too. He scared the be-jeepers out of her and she realizes that her reality isn’t as bad as she thought. Simply a weird, inexplicable dream; we have all had them and they can’t really be interpreted.

It was very cool learning how to style a web page with html. This is how my exercise turned out!

Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets

HTML is used to create hypertext documents.
HTML defines the different parts of a document such as
headings, paragraphs and enumerated lists.
Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, define what an HTML
document looks like. CSS defines things such as fonts, colors,
backgrounds, and border styles.

Style Attributes

The STYLE tag in the HEAD tag changes the
style for all the other tags inside the BODY tag. With the
STYLE attribute you can change the style for an individual tag. For example, let's change the color of this paragraph to RED.

And then change the color of this paragraph to BLUE.
To do this, add a STYLE attribute to both of the paragraphs
and set their COLOR property to BLUE for the paragraph
above and RED for this paragraph.

CSS Classes

The STYLE tag in the HEAD tag changes the style for
all the other tags inside the BODY tag. With the CLASS
attribute you can name the styles in the HEAD tag and
then assign those styles to individual tags in the BODY tag.
To illustrate this, let's create a class that aligns the text of
this paragraph to the CENTER, makes the text green, and
bold.

Then create another CLASS that aligns he text of this
paragraph to the RIGHT, makes the text gray, and italic.

CSS Fonts

CSS allows controlling the font of your document.
First you need to choose the font family. Common font
families include: Arial, Tahoma, Impact, and Verdana.
As an example, we will style this paragraph with the
Impact font.

Then you need to choose the style of the font.
Here are some common styles: bold, italic, underline.
As an example, we will style this paragraph with Verdana bold.

Finally we will style the size of this paragraph.

Symbolism in "Hills Like White Elephants"

In Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” of all the symbolism contained, the references to a white elephant are most important. The reader must understand the universal meaning of a white elephant to understand the theme. Otherwise, it would seem that the story is just ramblings. A white elephant symbolizes a valuable possession; a possession that cannot be parted with, even though it is unwanted and the cost of keeping it outweigh its benefits. I believe that the white elephant, in this case, symbolizes 2 things: An unborn baby and Jig’s relationship with the man. Jig mentions that the hills look like white elephants to her, but the man doesn’t agree. This means that the man is unwilling to keep the baby, he doesn’t want his lifestyle to change and would rather that Jig undergo an “awfully simple operation” that is apparently an abortion; which in the first half of the 20th century would have actually been rather risky (Hemingway 295). Also, one can assume that Jig doesn’t believe she can go through with it. She knows that it will be a burden, but one that cannot and should not be parted with. She knows if she decides to keep the baby that her relationship with the man (that is already crumbling) will not continue.

In Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the black box is the central symbol. One doesn’t really need to understand the symbol to understand the theme. The nervous tension illustrated in the crowd helps with that and besides, the suspense is a nice touch to the story. However, the black box, especially, the references to the color black, gives the reader a sense of something awry with this town’s particular lottery. Also, the tattered condition of the box leads to a sense of tradition. The references to needing a new box refer to the town’s need for a new tradition like other towns are adopting.

I enjoyed “Hills like White Elephants”. It was hard to read, but a challenge. The fact that I had already know what a white elephant symbolizes, helped me to understand what was going on in all of the dialogue. Hemingway was clearly a brilliant writer. Jackson also made good use of symbolism in “The Lottery”, but it really wasn’t needed for us to understand the point that this lottery is unnecessary and clearly an outdated ritual.

Imagery and "The Birthmark"

The use of imagery in Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”, is profound. The most obvious use of imagery is the visual description of the birthmark on Georgiana’s left cheek. Not only do we get a good visual of it, but we also get a good idea of the significance of it. The birthmark is crimson and shaped like a tiny human hand. This gives a visual image of it. Then Hawthorne go on to blatantly tell what the birthmark means to Aylmer, “The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust. In this manner, selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death”. There is also good use of imagery at Aylmer’s laboratory. In one room, Georgiana’s boudoir, it is “an atmosphere of penetrating fragrance” and “The scene around her looked like enchantment”. Then, in the very next room, where Aylmer did his work, was described in a manner that gives the image of a dirty, well used, industrious scene and the smell of science; a chemical smell. The use of the imagery is mostly used to give readers abstract ideas. Aylmer, as a scientist, was a perfectionist. The birthmarks actual looks did not have as much bearing on the story as did the fact that Georgiana would have been perfect if not for one mistake by the creator. This mistake was not acceptable for Aylmer and he had to correct it. The birthmark is a symbol of mans imperfection as well as pursuit of perfection.

A Web App that I find very useful

I use google maps... alot. In the beginning, I only used it to find places to go or print directions. I now, due to the advent of blazing fast internet and processors, like the street view feature where you can virtually drive down the road and see 360 degrees all around you. I have used that quite a bit to get my bearings. I comes in quite handy so you feel like you have been there before and you know how the road is and where to go. Most recently, with my acquisition of a google powered android phone, I use google for gps directions. You can plot your trip on google from any computer and save the map. Then, on your phone you can simply choose that map and select driving directions. I find it to be more accurate than my Magellan GPS.

I also use pandora radio. I used to use it more, but now it has commercials and such and also a limit to how much you can listen to it with out a paid subsciptions. I guess not many good things last forever.

Facebook for the technologically challenged?

My grandparents and parents would surely enjoy a stripped version of facebook. One that is not so complicated and more automated. Like a lite version that they can easily navigate without all the games and advertisements and such. It would be fully integrated with the real facebook. Maybe to use it you have to be over the age of 50. My grandma has tried getting on facebook to keep in touch with family in Florida and says that she is overwhelmed by all the information on one page. I have heard basically this same complaint many times. Maybe it is already in the works, maybe not.

Birthday Party

Well, it has begun. My wife and I are in 2nd birthday party mode. Being that he will be turning two, he may well appreciate all the cool balloons, streamers and such this year... not to mention the gifts. He will receive so many gifts. Being that he has 3 sets of grandparents (my mom and dad are divorced and remarried). There will be around 40 people invited and it will be in our back yard. I vote that we have it at a party place like Gatti's Pizza or somewhere so we don't have to clean up a mess. Oh well, better enjoy it now. My wife and I are going to Columbus to shop for his Birthday tomorrow. We really haven’t a clue what to get him. He already has everything. But what does a 2 year old want? They can't really tell you. Any Ideas? He doesn't really watch cartoons all that much. And he is too young for golf clubs... or is he? HAHA! Well, that is all for now. I will let you all know how it goes.