Bob Woodruff

Watching the special on Bob Woodruff yesterday, To Iraq and Back, made think about how lucky I am. Bob Woodruff was reporting from Iraq when a road side bomb destroyed his tank. One second he was on top of the world: lead reporter for ABC news, wonderful family, and living his dream. The next second he is fighting for his life. It is amazing how quickly life can change. It took several months for Bob to recover and it truly is a miracle that even he survived the accident. Now, months later, Bob is alive to tell his unbelievable story.

I sometimes forget how blessed I am. I have a great family, friends, and I am in good health. What more do I need! In the special last night, I saw kids my age (18 years old) in war. What a wake up call! These kids risk their lives each day to protect our country. There are many kids my age that have been severely injured in Iraq. Some with missing arms or legs, others with permanent brain damage. They go through each day not knowing if they will make it. They truly are heroes and I hope they can come back safely. I need to appreciate what I have and count my blessings each day. God Bless The Men And Women Serving This Wonderful Country.

I Wish I Was There!

This is a picture of a place where I wish I could be for Spring Break! Instead, I am staying home and the weather here (in Michigan) could not be any more different than the weather in this picutre. So far there has been an ice storm, which has made the roads brutal to travel on. I am jealous of all my friends who are somewhere like this picture. It was my choice not to go, but I really do not have the money to spend. A couple of my friends, like me, stayed home, so it looks like we will be hanging out for the majority of break. Hopefully, the weather will start to turn around and so will my break.

Cinco de Mayo

Well, I really wasn't sure what restaurant I wanted to do a review on, but I think I found the one. I decided to go with Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican Restaurant located on Beech Daly Road, just past Five Mile. There were many restaurants to choose from, but I decided on this one because I have never been there before. My mom and her friends go out to eat here, and they always rave about how much they love it . I will not be biased toward the restaurant and I think that it sounds like a very interesting place to do a review on. I believe that I will be able to go there tomorrow, so I am looking forward to the experience.

I called the restaurant today to get some background information (the restaurant's history) before I go there. I spoke with one of the owners, Guillermo Torres. He explained that his family owns half of the restaurant, while Miles Handy owns the other half. The Torres family moved from Guadajara, Mexico. They had been looking to open a restaurant for quite some time, and when they talked with Miles Handy the right opportunity presented itself. He mentioned that most of the food is homemade. A lot of the food is taken from recipes used back in Mexico. Trucks deliver new food each day, which keeps the food fresh. The restaurant opened November 24th, 2006. I can't wait to eat here!

Paper Agenda

1.) The first thing that I need to do is to change my thesis around. Professor DeGenaro said it was very good, but I just need to steer away from making it sound like a five paragrapg essay thesis. I already have an idea in mind.

2.) The second thing that I want to change is making the body paragraphs follow the P-I-E format better. I tried to do this in the rough draft, but I need to improve on what I have already done. I have a clear idea of what needs to be done.

3.) The last thing that I want to do add is more vivid details. I have established a good tone for the paper, I just need some more details. The more details, the better!

Restaurant Essay

As I was looking at the class syllabus, I noticed that we are going to have to write a restaurant review essay over Spring Break. Although, I am not to excited about having to write and essay over break, the idea seems interesting. I have a couple of restaurants in mind, but nothing set in stone. I absolutely love to eat, and I love to go out an eat with family and friends. The restaurnat experience always seems to make eating that much better. I am curious to see the requirements for this essay. Hopefully, they won't be too bad!

I am finishing up the corrections that I had to make from my peer viewers. I tried to incorporate their input/ideas as best I could. I think I did a pretty good job of doing so, but I shall wait and see. This week is very busy for me and I am sure that it is very busy for the rest of you too. I have a test, mid-term, and the profile paper all due on Thursday. I am trying to keep ahead, but it seems like things just keep getting piled on!

"I Just Want To Be Average"

After reading this essay it certainly makes me realize how lucky I am. I take so many things for granted, so when I read or hear a stopry like this, it makes me feel sad. All of the things that I take for granted are things that people, like Mike Rose, only dream of having. Mike Rose's father inspired me because even though he was very sick, he still managed to keep his family together. He never complained about how much pain or suffering he was in, which truly is incredible. Roses' father tried to be the rock of the family, and from the sound of things he did a excellent job. I enjoyed reading about the special relationship that Mike and his father had; it was something special.

The last paragraph from this excerpt was the one that I thought had Rose's main message. He says, "What finally affected me was subtler, but more pervasive: I cannot recall a young person who was crazy in love or lost in work or one old person who was passionate about a cause or an idea" (122). He then went on to say, "I developed a picture of human existence that rendered it short and brutish or sad and aimless or long and quiet with rewards like afternoon naps" (122). These two quotes gave me the idea that Rose'schildhood affected him in a neagtive way. It painted him a "picture" of society that no young child should have to deal with or understand. His childhood taught him that life was tough and most of the time things are not as promising as they seem. It is sad that Rose had to experience these things at such a young age. Most kids are lucky enough and do not have experience the struggle that Rose had to.

Resonse to Today's Class

I really enjoyed reading the two essays today by Stephanie and Holly. Both were about people who had great personalities and who had a real love for life. After reading their essays, I noticed that in my paper I could describe Mayor Landry a bit more. I tried to stay away from making the essay to personal, and concentrated on making more critical analysis. However, I realized that adding a few more details would make the paper that much better. It would allow the reader to have a better picture and understanding of Mayor Landry, which is vital.

In response to the comments I received, I really appreciate them. Both of the readers said that my paper was very good and that I stuck to my thesis throughout. Two things that I want to work on are: having more action verbs and making a few more original claims. I tried to make sure that I addressed these two areas in the rough draft, but I need to do more. I was very pleased at how the rough draft turned out, and hopefully the final draft will be that much better.