Blog 39

        I am really tired. I didn’t get too much sleep last night and I have been sick all day. I hate having a cold, it is so annoying. Hopefully it goes away soon but I guess I’ll just have to suffer the next couple days. I watched the Bengals today and they lost again, to the Dolphins! What is up with them this year. They were supposed to be good this year and they are doing awful. They are starting to look like the Browns. I don’t know if anyone else is a Bengal’s fan but I think it is time for Marvin Lewis and Carson Palmer to go. I do like the Bengals but I’m not a huge NFL fan. I normally watch the Bengals every week and maybe watch parts of some of the other games. College Football is so much better than the NFL. Actually pretty much all college sports are better than pro sports because in college you are playing for your school and in the pros you are playing for money. I think pro players don’t even care if they win or lose; all they care about is getting paid the big bucks. I always hate when a player will miss practices or even games because they want more money. I mean come on, you already make way too much money in the first place. That is really why I am not too much into pro sports. It is all about the money and it just makes me not like it. College sports is so much better in my opinion. 

Blog 38

       Today was a pretty busy day. I had a lot to do today like watch football all day! Today I just needed a break so I pretty much just watched football all day. Then my best friend from high school came home this weekend so I just got back from his house. We just watched the Ohio State Game at his house with some other friends and just chilled. He goes to Toledo so he does come home every couple weeks. I was actually strongly considering Toledo in my college hunt last year. They have a really nice campus but off campus isn’t so nice. If I wouldn’t have gotten onto Main Campus then I would be going to Toledo.  There is just so many bonuses going to Ohio State, like football tickets. Plus Toledo gets colder a lot earlier than here and I’m not a big fan of cold weather. I like snow but just not the cold weather. Wow I just realized how random this blog is. Probably because it is 2 am on Saturday night. I really wish we didn’t have to do blogs on Saturday and Sunday. I just don’t think we should have assignments on the weekend because it is not a school day. The blogs aren’t really that bad, it is just a hassle to have to do over the weekend. I just the weekend would go so fast! Every weekend goes so fast. I guess this week won’t seem as long with not having class on Tuesday, which I am really looking forward to. Well that’s 250 words!

Blog 37

       Well today’s blog is about anything and I don’t really know what to talk about. I am so glad it is the weekend. This has been a very busy week and it feels good to have some free time. I had a math exam today and I am pretty sure I did terrible on it. I understand how to do everything and then the exam is so different. That and I always feel rushed and make stupid little mistakes. So I am pretty sure I did terrible on the exam. Well tonight I went to my high school’s football game at St. Charles. Our high school football team has been doing really well this year and they finished the regular season with a 9 and 1 record. They beat St. Charles by a couple tds and the only game we lost was by 1. They have had a pretty tough schedule this year but they have been playing really well. I have been to a lot of their games and I think they can go pretty far in the playoffs. We went to the State Championship game my freshman year and it was an awesome experience. Every year in the playoffs we have lost to the eventually state champion. Although our baseball team went 34 and 0 last year and won the State Championship. I come from a small school and we maybe have 5 state championships so it was really cool we won one my senior year. Well I am really excited to not have class on Tuesday but I have 250 words so I’ all done. 

Blog 36

         What if you were the greatest and something but you could not be acknowledged for it? What if you worked so hard to achieve your goal but you couldn’t get the acknowledgement of it because you made one mistake. You make one mistake and everyone seems to forget your great accomplishment. Wouldn’t you want to be forgiven for your 1 mistake? Don’t you think you would deserve a second changes and wouldn’t you want the recognition you deserve?

            When I was in High School I worked really hard in my classes and I always got good grades. I was the Salutatorian of my class but I wasn’t really happy with that. With all the hard work I put in I wanted to be recognized as the Valedictorian. That was my goal all through high school but I slipped up one time. I got an A- in my sophomore English class. All the hard work I did and I didn’t even get the Valedictorian spot. I got all A’s all through high school and that one A- I got destroyed my chances at the number one spot. I finished with a 3.97 GPA and I was just .03 short of the number one spot. I wanted to be recognized as the Valedictorian but I made one mistake and I wasn’t recognized in that spot.

            I don’t really like either one of these but I had to do them for this blog but I couldn’t really think of much for this so I’m not planning on using these in my paper.

            

Blog 35

        Today one of the articles I read on Commonplace was about Coke Zero. The title of the article was, Coke Zero, The Deadliest Beverage… or So They Say. I decided to read this article because it sounded interesting and I am someone who drinks a moderate amount of Coke. I have heard all this stuff about how pop is terrible for you and it is pretty much poison. I have heard this a lot but this article was about exactly that. The people who wrote the article went down the list of ingredients on a Coke Zero bottle and talked a little about each ingredient. The author did a good deal of research and was saying how all the ingredients in the Coke are perfectly safe. All the research was backed up by the FDA and was really convincing proof. The article was basically describing the ingredients in Coke and saying how they are actually not bad for you. Although they even said they aren’t saying that it isn’t necessarily good for you but it is not as harmful as everyone says. If you drink pop in moderation it will not affect your health. I do drink pop but not very often so it was good to see that the ingredients aren’t actually bad for you and that it is okay drink pop in moderation. For my second article I read, Its our Illegal Right. It was about how college student should be able to download music for free. I didn’t really find this article all this interesting. Most people already download all their music for free anyway so  I didn’t really like the article. 

Blog 34

         Well today helped me figure out what I am planning on doing for the Commonplace paper. My topic is greed and there are so many things to choose from for this topic. I decided to write about Pete Rose. I was going to use him in my analytical paper but after changing some things, his story doesn’t really fit so I am going to use it now. I really like sports and baseball so this will be pretty easy for me to write. The only problem I thought I would have with this topic was it being timely but it can be seen as timely. Even thought he was caught gambling on games over 20 years ago the argument for why he should or should not be in the Hall of Fame still goes on today. I personally think he should be voted in because he was one of the greatest players to play baseball and he gambled on games when he was a manager. I think he should be in the Hall of Fame because of his amazing stats and he shouldn’t be held out because of something he did after his playing career was over. His stats are even more unbelievable because he did all of this before the steroid era in baseball. Barry Bonds may have the most homeruns but he admitted to using steroids. Same thing for other players like Alex Rodriguez who have been accused of using steroids but they will most likely be in the Hall of Fame someday. If they still can be in the Hall of Fame when the cheated in their playing years then why shouldn’t Pete Rose because he cheated after his playing career was over. 

Blog 33

          Well today seemed like it was never going to end. I went to the Math 152 project workshop tonight and it was from 5:30 to 7:30 and I could not wait to get out of there. Hopefully I got all of the answers right but I wouldn’t know because the webworks have been down all night. Which is not only bad for the webwork project but I only have like half of webwork 4 done and I can’t work on it. So frustrating! Well I have a Math quiz tomorrow but I don’t think that it will be too bad but you never know. It just seems like all of my classes have something big going on this week and I have so much to do. Although with all these things keeping me busy the week seems to fly by which is good and bad at the same time. It is good because the weekend seems to come faster but it means that the due dates of everything this week is closer. Well I think we are starting on our next paper or something in English tomorrow and I am totally looking forward to that… not. I hate everything about Commonplace and our paper has something to do with that and I am not looking forward to that. I am hearing that we are supposed to have some really strong winds tomorrow so I am hoping it knocks the electric out and classes get cancelled. That would be awesome but I am not getting my hopes up at all. Well time to study for tomorrow’s math quiz.

Blog 32

         Well once again the weekend went way to fast and its back to class tomorrow. School is keeping me so busy and this is probably going to be the busiest week of all so far. We had my mom’s 50^th birthday party today and it was fun to see all my family. We always play games when we get together and our games of Euchre get pretty intense. It is always a fun time to get together with my family so that was fun but I didn’t get much homework done today. Other than that I don’t know what to talk about. I guess I could share the code I got for one of my comments. I left a comment and my security code was vainga. When I first saw it I thought it spelled another word but after I looked at it closer is saw that it wasn’t. I found it to be pretty funny and I thought I would share it. I thought blogger was family friendly but maybe not. Well Ohio State got back on the right track by beating Purdue this weekend. One of my teammates from my high school football team is on Purdue’s team. He is a freshman offensive lineman and he is redshirting this year. The first string lineman got hurt in the off season and he could have actually started this year but he wanted to take a red shirt year to get stronger and some experience. It was kind of fun to rub it in that Ohio State was dominating but it was cool to see him again. Well I’m over 250 words so I’m done. 

Blog 31

            Well this is another blog about anything and I don’t really know what to talk about. I think I will talk about my dogs. My family has two German Shepherd dogs. Their names are Maddie and Tressel. Maddie is 5 years old and she is a bicolor German Shepherd. Tressel is almost 2 years old now and he is an all black German Shepherd. They are both huge and most people are really afraid of them. Maddie is around 90 pounds and Tressel is a little over 100 pounds. Maddie and Tressel are really protective  but they are also really friendly. Maddie is older and she loves to be petted and Tressel is still a puppy and he loves to play. Pretty much anytime you see Tressel he has a toy in his mouth and he is ready to play. We live out in the country so they both have plenty of room to run around. My sister and her husband have 2 Yorkies and they stay at our house every once in a while. It is always funny when the little dogs act like they are the bosses of the big dogs. One of my sister’s dogs is 16 pounds and the other is about 10 and they like to attack the big dogs for some reason. It always is funny when they think they can take on the big dogs but of course the big dogs win every time. We have always had a German Shepherd dog and this is the first time we have two at the same time. They are defiantly my favorite kind of dog and I will probably always have a German Shepherd dog.

Blog 30

           Well another week is done and I was so ready for the weekend. I was going to write about a funny code I got when I made a comment but I think Ill save that one for next time. The week was a really busy week and I realized that next week is going to be even busier. Its mostly in math where we have a paper homework, a webwork, a quiz, an exam, and the project thing all this week. Not to mention I still have to work on my final draft. Hopefully I can get a head start and get some of those things done this weekend but I tend to procrastinate so I don’t know how that will work out. Well tomorrow I have the Ohio State game in the morning against Purdue and one of my friends from High School is actually on Purdue’s football team so that is pretty cool but of course I’m still going to root for my Buckeyes. Then Sunday we are having a 50^th birthday party for my mom. That will be fn but Sunday is normally the day where I get a head start on my homework so it looks like I need to work extra hard on Sunday. I am a little nervous for my math exam on Friday so I want to start studying for that asap. Needless to say I could have done better on my first math exam so I am planning to start studying early to make sure I can get the best grade I can. So wish me luck!

Blog 29

         The biggest problem I am having with my paper is coming up with my thesis and making my argument strong enough. After the meeting yesterday I think I have a better idea of how I am going to get all of that done. The thesis is the biggest problem for me. I am doing Jayne’s greed from the Firefly episodes. I think I have a really good real world connection with the stock market and I still need to do some more research about all that. I am doing the Ariel episode and I need to make sure I get the analysis of that cleared up and I should be pretty good from there. I have came up with a couple thesis that haven’t been good enough but I think I have an idea of how to come up with a better one. I have all the ideas for the paper body but now I just need to figure out how to tie it all together and get my thesis done. I just need to make sure my thesis isn’t too general and that is the problem I have been having. I have been using words like everyone and everyday which is really hard to prove. I think I have got that part worked out but I still have to figure out how to get it worded and everything. I think it would be better if I just write the body of the paper and then come up with the thesis. Once I know what is all going to be in my paper then the thesis should come along better. 

Blog 28

           Well from everyone’s comments it seem that pretty much everyone hates math 152. I’m thinking our English class just needs to make their own study group. That would be sweet. I finally finished the webwork and by finished I mean most of it. This webwork was really hard and I couldn’t figure of like 3 of them so I just gave up. It’s not good to give up but after trying the problems like 25 times, it is acceptable. Tomorrow is Thursday and that is my least favorite day of the week. I have four classes on Thursday and it always seems like time does not move. I have an hour break in between each class so I don’t get much time off in between each one. The only good thing about Thursday is that the next day is Friday and I’m done with class by noon. Except this weekend I get the privilege to work on this paper we are supposed to be writing. So I am totally looking forward to that….not. So far this year I have been trying out some food places around campus and I have found some good ones. But I find myself eating the same thing too often so if anyone has any suggestions on good places to eat please let me know. That was completely random but I still haven’t made my 250 words yet. I thought the blogs about anything were going to be easier but I have no idea what to write about. Although it is interesting reading about some of the stories and other things people have been blogging about lately so I guess it isn’t that bad.  

Blog 27

              Well I am still working on the math webwork and it is kicking my butt. This one has been really hard and I need to get some help on it. Some of you hate having to do these blogs but I hate webworks a billion times worse. It wouldn’t be so bad if the problems were easier but they aren’t. It is time to get some help. Today was a pretty boring day and there isn’t much to talk about. Last week on Friday I played racquetball with my brother and it was so much fun.  I haven’t played in years and it just fun to play. We played for like 2 hours until I had to go to my second class on Friday. So after the class I got up and I was sore! I never thought it was possible to get sore playing racquetball but I guess I was wrong. My legs were stiff from running and my arm and shoulder were sore from swinging the racquet. It was a lot of fun and I think we are going to play again this Friday as long as I don’t have too much homework to do. He did beat me 4 games to 3 so I will have to get my revenge the next time we play. If you are looking for something to do racquetball is a lot of fun and something that is pretty easy to do. So if you are thinking about trying it, you definitely should. That is more than 250 words so that means  I am done until tomorrow. 

Blog 26

           One day down and four left until the weekend. Had my first economics exam and it was pretty easy. I did a lot of studying and I thought the whole exam was simple. I just finished watching the new episode of House. I just randomly watched House one night when it was in it’s first season and I have watched it ever since. Normally I don’t really like doctor shows but for some reason I like it. I think the mystery of all the episodes is what makes me like and it is pretty funny too which I like. I have been working on my math 152 webwork for the last couple hours and I’m still only like half way done. Webworks are the biggest pain in the butt ever. I still need to work on that a little while and read chapter 3 of Commonplace before I call it a night. Well I guess it is funny story time. So my junior year during our football 2-a-days we were doing this passing drill. We would run 10 yards and back, 20 and back, and 30 and back. Then every 5 yards a person was standing and the quarter back would throw in between one of the sets of people to the receiver. It was kind of like a distraction drill for the receiver. Well one of my teammates was doing the drill and he was a shrimp that never played and our quarter back threw it a little high and the receiver completely missed the ball and hit one of our receiver coaches right in the crotch. Now our quarterback threw extremely hard and I had the perfect view of it. It hit him square in his crotch and we all hit the ground laughing. Our head coach was over with us and he was laughing pretty hard too. So our training came over and got him some ice to put on it haha. I have some funny stories from football and I’ll probably write about some others in my other blogs.

Blog 25

            Where did the weekend go? I always look forward to the weekend and it always goes so fast. I went to church this morning and I have been doing homework for the most part today. I have been working on my math webwork and been studying for my economics exam tomorrow. I’m not too worried about the exam tomorrow because it seems to be pretty easy stuff for me. The math webwork is pretty hard and it takes a lot of my time. So since I have nothing to write about I thought I would share a hilarious commercial I saw several weeks ago. I was an Axe commercial and it called wash your balls. When I saw it on TV I was shocked that it was allowed to be on TV. I have only seen the whole version on TV one time and I haven’t seen it since. I did watch the commercial again on youtube and it was just as funny the second time. If you want to watch it go to youtube and look up Axe Wash Your Balls commercial. If you like funny commercials I would take a look at it. I am one of those people who hate commercials but I actually enjoyed that one. I am kind of disappointed with the Super Bowl commercials over the last couple years. That was one of the best parts of the Super Bowl and now with all the rules and regulations, they aren’t even funny anymore. There are a couple that are funny but they are nothing like the used to be. Well, back to my studying.  

Blog 24

           Well I am watching to OSU game and we are getting completely dominated. I am pretty pissed to put it lightly. Well we can go ahead and say bye bye to that National Championship. At least we got to be number one for one game. Its half time and we are lucky to not be down by more. Who knows Ohio State could pull it off but that is a long shot. I knew this would happen and it is so frustrating. Well I guess there is always next year? Other than this terrible game  I don’t know what else to write about. This weekend is going so fast and I don’t want to go back to school on Monday. Man I didn’t think writing 250 words would be that hard. I am just so mad I can’t think of anything to write about other than how terrible Ohio State is playing. Michigan lost for the second week in a row, which makes me happy. Denard Robinson can’t do anything when he plays a team with a defense and he’s probably the biggest wimp in college football. He has gotten hurt every game so far, be a man Denard. Well the Bengals play tomorrow but they will probably lose again cause they are sucking it up again this year. So who is going to be number one after OSU gets done sucking? Boise State will end up being in the top two which makes me really mad since they play in the worst conference in the nation. They play one good team a year and they are set. I wish Boise State would play a decent team for once and see how they do then.

Blog 23

         Well it is the weekend and I am glad for a little break from all the school work. The first couple weeks of college haven’t been too bad so far. All my classes are fairly easy except for my math class. I am in math 152 and it has been a challenging class so far. I can’t believe that we are getting ready to schedule classes for the winter already. It seems like everything has been going so fast> I have heard that college goes even faster than high school and I can see why now. I am looking for some interesting GEC classes that I can take over the next couple years. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know. I am pretty excited for the OSU football game tomorrow. Wisconsin is a good team and Camp Randle is a hard place to play but we are the number one team in college football so we can handle it. I think it will be a good game but of course the Bucks are going to come out on top. I have some really high hopes for the football team and I am hoping Tressel can get his second National Championship with the Bucks this year. But that is still a long ways away and we have some tough games coming up. Well I don’t know what else to talk about. I really thought that the anything blogs would be easier but its hard to come up with stuff to write about. I look forward to reading what the rest of you write in your blogs over the next couple days. 

Blog 22

          In the Firefly series we see that Jayne’s greed occurring throughout the different episodes. His greed has made him make bad decisions throughout the series but luckily other crewmember have been smart enough to not listen to him. In The Train Job episode he wanted to leave behind Mal and Zoe to finish the job. He would rather risk their lives and get paid than go and look for them. Luckily the rest of the crew refused that but the crew can’t save him every time. I am doing my paper on the Ariel episode and he ends up turning Simon and River in to the Alliance for money. No one knew what his plan so no one could save him from making the mistake. He turned in two of his crewmembers so that he could make some money and we see things like this everyday. For my real world connections I talked about Pete Rose and how he made bet on baseball. Pete Rose was a professional baseball player who already had unreal amounts of money but he bet on baseball because he wanted more. He did that over 20 years ago and it still haunts him until today. You can also connect it to the recent economic downturn. Greedy Wall Street investors were a big contributor to the recent economic decline. They are both articles about how a person’s greed can affect them and people around them. I think that they are both pretty good examples and I hope it helps support my argument. 

Blog 21

          Pete Rose was one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game. He played in the Major League for 24 years and racked up unbelievable stats. He had over 4,000 hits, 1300 RBI’s, and 200 stolen bases. Not only that but he also has 160 homeruns and a career batting average of .303.  He has won three World Series rings, one MVP Award, two Gold Gloves, and made seventeen All-Star appearances at five different positions. With stats like that how can he not be in the Hall of Fame? There is a simple explanation for that; when he was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, he bet on games. He gambled on baseball and even though he never bet against the Reds, it is still against MLB rules. He made one mistake and that alone is what is keeping him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jeffery Standen, aka The Sports Law Professor, showed just how big the mistake was when he said,” There are 4,256 reasons to vote Pete Rose into baseball’s Hall of Fame. There is one reason to keep him out.”(Standen, 2010) This quote means exactly what it says; he is not in the Hall of Fame for one reason. This story helps prove that a person’s greed will affect them in someway. His greed not only affects him but it also affects many other people. Now people don’t see him as the greatest baseball player of all time but as a cheater and as a gambler. He did so many great things but the one bad thing he did is what he will be remembered by. Pete Rose made one mistake and that mistake has and will continue to haunt him for the rest of his life. It is so crazy how one greedy decision can affect you the rest of your life. 

Blog 20

          Greed is something that can take over a person in no time. A person’s greed can cause them to make irrational decisions that end up effect no only them but everyone around them. This couldn’t be truer in Wall Street. A person’s greed can cause harm to a couple people and even to the entire nation. Laura L. Hansen, that has a PhD in sociology, couldn’t have made this idea anymore clear when she said,” One of the most popular explanations of the contemporary financial crisis with its disastrous social and economic consequences is personal greed, a “selfish” pursuit of “self-interest” that has no recognition of others at its boundaries or limits and involves no connection between satisfaction and further pursuit of attainment.” (Hansen, 2010)This is proof that investors in the stock market can cause harm to the entire nation. This is important because greed has been a contributing factor to the recent financial crisis. This seems so crazy that a couple individuals can cause the entire nation harm. This helps prove my point that greed not only affects the person but everyone around them. This may be an extreme case on how it affects everyone in someway, but it is sadly true. It is just alarming how a few bad apples on Wall Street can cause so much havoc. It is a scary fact and I hope that there are steps to take to change this fact. Something has to be done or Wall Street greed will lead to more problems down the road. 

Blog 19

        Today I read an article simply titled, Greed. I found this article to be much more useful than the one I read yesterday. It started off by saying how headlines today are full of stories of individual greed. It was arguing how there in a increasing awareness of personal greed at the top, such as Ceo are getting outrageous incomes for not doing much of anything. It also gave an example of Opes Prime and their story. The Opes Prime story seemed to be confusing to me but, after the story the explained a little of what was going on. One of they things that they mentioned how Opes Prime was manipulating and risking the investments of many for their own gain and for the gain of their buddies. They were also arguing how Opes Prime and similar companies provide the stage for which greed and corruption can flourish. It also argued how we are living in an “what if” society but the way they explained that part just ended up confusing me. This article also described a couple different forms of greed. Greed for money, material goods, sex, power was some of the examples they gave. They also argued that there is a difference better wanting something because you need it but it is greed when you take more than you need. They were arguing how we take as much as we can like it won’t be there anymore. One of the examples was how we have been doing things such as, destroying forests for papermaking. Our greed is making us ignore environmental factors even though we know it is bad. That was an example in their argument that companies are denying or ignoring the negative effects of their actions. Overall I thought this article has bits and pieces that can be used but it wasn’t that great. 

Blog 18

          The article I read today wasn’t as helpful as the other so far have been. The author was making a point on how history shows that Americans have been misused money and short-term greed and power over long-term prosperity.  He supported his idea by talking about how America is looking for a short-term fix to the economy over a long-term fix. It also talked a little how the Bank for International Settlements warned that years with loose regulations of free market, greed, and power would lead to another decline. Other than that I did not find the article too useful. It did give me a real world example of the Lehman Brothers but that is pretty much all they talked about. I really expected this article to contain a lot more useful information but it didn’t. I really would like to find an article about a person or a group’s greed and how that affects eceryone. The article I read yesterday included some of that information and I would like to find more. I think information like that will help me write my paper more than anything. Most of the articles I have read so far have been dealing with politics and everything and I would like to find on about a common person and their greed and the after affects of it. Although the Pete Rose article had that in it but it was more about how the decision affect himself and not the people around him. That has been my favorite article so far. I am really interested in sports and I know a lot about it so the Pete Rose story will be a big contributor to my paper. 

Blog 17

           Today I read an article about greed on Wall Street. This article really helped me see just how much greed can affect the stock market. One of the arguments in this article was how greed was one of the key contributors to our recent economic decline we have experienced lately. It talks about how the greedy bank investors, lobbyist, and corrupt politicians and their greed is a big factor in the economic meltdown. Just the first paragraph showed how dangerous greed can be. Greed of individuals has caused economic problems for the entire United States and even other countries that were hurt by the recent economic downturn. It just seems crazy to me that individual greed can cause harm to an entire nation. Although greed isn’t the only reason for the downturn but it played a big role in the so-called “depression”. The recent depression wasn’t the only topic of the article. It did talk so about greed on Wall Street with investor which kind of ties in with the depression. But It also talked about how people have been greedy in Wall Street and in other economic areas for as long as they can remember. Reading this article kind of alarmed me and made me somewhat mad. Reading about how investors, who already have way too much money, were a major contributor to the economic downturn. It also shows just how dangerous greed can be and how it affects everyone. Now that I have read this article I have found some good real life connections for my paper. 

Blog 16

         I am doing my paper on greed. The article I read today was about one the best MLB players to ever play the game, Pete Rose. As many of you know how Pete Rose’s greed put a bad name on himself and a ban from the MLB. Although that is a misconception, he is not actually banned from the MLB but “permanently ineligible list”. The article talked about the huge mistake he made and how that has seem to put a damper on his career. Pete Rose had amazing stats and should easily be in the Major League Hall of Fame. But some poor decisions has made him the greatest to the stupidest. Pete’s greed lead him to bet on games when he was managing the Reds. Some people might think that isn’t that bad but think about it, he was betting on games he was playing in. If he want to some quick money why not just bet on a game you are managing and fix it. His greed for money turned into an addiction and it has made himself look like a fool. Pete Rose played in the MLB and was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He was being paid outrageous amounts to play and manage the Reds so why did he need more? Greed. He let greed control him and look what it has done to him. This happened over 30 years ago and it still haunts him to this day. This is just one example of how greed can make you do crazy things and you see how bad the outcome can be.

            

Blog 15

          For my paper I am writing I am looking for some information on greed. I want to find why it exists, what it is, and why people are greedy. I want to be able to explain why people are greedy and just to get a better background of everything to do with greed. Not only that but I also want to read some article about actual real life stories of greed. That can help me get a better idea of the greed concept and it will also give me an idea of how it affects people; not only the person but the people around them also. One example I can think of is Pete Rose and him betting on baseball games. I think this is a good example of greed and it will help connect with anyone that enjoys sports.

1.    Hansen, Laura L.; Movahedi, Siamak. Sociological Forum, Jun2010, Vol. 25 Issue 2, p367-374, 8p

2.    Harris, Jaime C.. New York Amsterdam News, 1/8/2004, Vol. 95 Issue 2, p42-42, 1/3p

3.     James, Eshanda A.. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, May2010, Vol. 2 Issue 1, p415-429, 15p

4.     Long, Susan. Psychodynamic Practice, Aug2009, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p245-259, 15p

5.     STANDEN, JEFFREY. Nine: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture, Spring2010, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p134-140, 7p

Blog 14

           For my analytical research paper I chose the Ariel episode in the Firefly episode. I chose this episode because it was one of my favorite episodes that I watched. Not only that but it worked almost perfectly with the topic I want to write about. I am going to talk about how greed can make a person do really stupid things. Jayne in this episode works perfectly with that. Watching the episode for the second time helped me understand the show plan better and it helped me generate some ideas for my paper. For those who have never seen the episode, a crewmember makes a stupid decision because of greed. He is offered a large amount of money for turning in two fugitives that are on their ship. He agrees to a deal and put himself and his entire crew in danger. Throughout the series Jayne is making poor decisions because he is greedy and because he only thinks about himself. To someone who has seen the show should not be surprised by what Jayne did because he has done it over and over again. Not only does this connect to Jayne but also this has many real world connections. Just as a general example, think of all the people who are in debt over their eyeballs because they are greedy. They keep spending money because they want something and they end up getting in trouble. That is just a simple and general example of how greed can get you in trouble but there. There are countless real world examples of where someone’s greed gets him or her into some type of trouble so I don’t think my topic will be too tough to write about.  I don’t want to talk about what I am going to put in my paper because so everyone can come up with their own ideas for their paper. 

Blog 13

            Today I watched the Trash episode of the Firefly series. Today’s episode showed just how stupid Mal can be. In today’s episode one of Mal’s old war buddies introduces him to his wife, which is, none other than Mrs. Reynolds. So long story short her husband leaves her and it is just her and Mal. Mal tells her many times to start walking and to leave him alone but she convinces him to let her get on Serenity. I cannot believe he would let her get back on the ship after what she did earlier in the season. Then Inara talks to Mal about how she can’t get work because he is laying low and insults his work. So to prove her wrong he goes to “Mrs. Reynolds”, because she mentioned that she had an easy job worth a fortune. So he goes and lets her out of her crate and she explains the job to the rest of the crew. As the whole crew is dumbfounded why he trusts her, she explains the plan. The job is an artifact worth a fortune that will be stolen but it is coded so they can’t get the artifact out the door. So they come up with a brilliant plan to put it in the trash and reroute the trash bin to a place where they can meet up with it later and recover the artifact out of the trash. So she has all the door codes and everything and she keeps up on her deal. But then we find out she is married to the guy they are stealing from.  So the guy lets Mal steal the artifact but he calls the feds on them. The thing is why didn’t Mal just leave her there to be caught by the feds and just escape for himself. But they do end up escaping and this is where Mal’s stupidness really comes in. She makes him think that she is all sad and he tries to comfort her and she end up getting his gun and takes over the mini ship. So she strands Mal and goes to get the artifact for herself. Luckily Inara got the artifact before she got there and everything worked out but I still cannot believe how Mal trusted her. Of course another example of Jayne’s greed came into play again today. As he is layi g on the Doctor’s table the first thing he asks is, if they got the job done and if we got the money. 

Blog 12

         Today I watched the “War Stories” episode of the Firefly episode. Well in today’s episode, the main theme was jealousy. Today we got a dose of how Warsh really feels about Mal and Zoe. Even when Zoe was telling one of her and Mal’s war story Warsh got jealous. She was just explaining to Kaylee why she always cuts he apple with a knife instead of just eating it. That wasn’t even the beginning of it. The jealousy got really bad when Warsh had an idea on how to get ride of the medical supplies they stole in the last episode. Zoe told Mal his idea and he rejected it and so did Zoe. Then Warsh asks what she thinks and she just tells him exactly what the captain said. He saw that as her always following in the captain’s footsteps. That’s not even the worst part. He ends up changing the controls for one of the personal ships so that Zoe and Mal couldn’t do the drop together. He refuses to tell them the new controls and he insists that he goes instead of Zoe. Warsh gets his wish and he goes on the drop. The problem is that they end up getting caught by Niska from the Train Job and they end up getting tortured. When they are late Zoe goes out to find them and she knows where they are. So she is able to buy Warsh back but the captain is left to be tortured. But of course they can’t leave him behind and the entire crew ends up breaking in and getting the captain back. Although Warsh’s jealousy kept Zoe out of danger, he ended up getting tortured because of it. He could have easily got himself killed but he was lucky this time. Now that he went through that I think his jealousy may be gone. 

Blog 11

            In the Ariel episode of Firefly today, Jayne’s selfishness was truer than ever. Inara had to have a physical examination on one of the central planets and the crew had no job to do. The crew was going to stay on the ship until they found work and the doctor gave them some work. The doctor came up with a brilliant plan to get River into the hospital for a scan of her head and for the crew to make money. The plan was to have the crew dressed as medical personnel and for the Doctor and River to be “dead” bodies. While the Doctor did scans on River’s head, Mal and Zoe went and stole some medicine that they could sell to other planets for a big profit. They decided this wasn’t wrong because it was government medicine and the stock would be refilled within days. Now is where Jayne’s selfishness comes in. He actually called the feds and told them that he has their wanted felons. He was offered a big amount of money for them and he was stupid enough to make a deal with them. The thing is, the feds backstabbed him. Instead of rewarding Jayne money, they arrest him for helping felons. So his greed ends up putting himself and the rest of the crew in danger. Luckily they are able to escape back to the ship fairly unharmed. Then when they get back to the ship the Doctor thanks Jayne for “saving” them and he just acts all noble. But he could not fool the captain. Mal knew what he did and he almost kills Jayne. Although Jayne did admit that he got greedy and was stupid that doesn’t make him noble at all. I think he just admitted he was wrong because his life depended on it. 

Blog 10

            Today I watched the next episode of the Firefly series. Today’s episode started off confusing but it all made sense as the show went on. I guess I can also see why they titled this episode, “Out of Gas”. At the beginning of this show started off with Mal laying on the floor appearing to be taking his last breaths. I had no idea why and Mal kept having flashbacks to when he first bought Serenity. So in this episode while they were celebrating the Doctor’s birthday, the power flickers. Not only does the lights flicker but, a huge ball of fire ends up flowing through the ship. During the blast Zoe is hurt badly and has to be treated. Today’s episode was another part that contradicts us thinking that Mal has morals. Warsh was with his dying wife and Mal demanded that he does work. Warsh refuses and he ends up grabbing him and Warsh does what he is told. Not allowing him to be with his dying wife was a terrible thing to do and that shows he has no morals. However, he thinks of the others before himself later in the show. He tells the rest of the crew to leave on the small ships while he stays with serenity. Long story short, he ends up getting the replacement part for the air, get shot in the process and nearly dies. The rest of the crew ends up coming back for him and found him with a bullet wound. He did lose a lot of blood but he seems like he with be okay. On today’s episode, it seems like the whole crew is working together better and is coming closer together. Another thing I have noticed in the last couple episodes is that River is making really good progress. She is talking now and is interacting with the crew. Seems like she is recovering just fine now. 

Blog 9

            Today I watched the Jaynestown episode and I was really shocked at what happened. In the Firefly episodes Jayne has been a selfish and crude man. Throughout the series he has always only thought about himself. For example, in the Train Job he wanted to leave Mal and Zoe behind and finish the job just for his own safety. He didn’t want to displease the boss man so he rather put Mal and Zoe in danger rather than himself. Another example was when the doctor wasn’t coming back to the ship so he went through all of the doctor’s stuff and was stealing his things. Not to mention in today’s episode he pretty much destroyed the doctor’s medical room just to find some tape. Today’s episode showed Jayne as his normal self pretty much all the way through the show. If you have seen the episode he thought that he was hated in the town where they were working so he didn’t want to be there in the first place. Then he finds out that he is seen as a hero. Once the people find out that he is there, he is worshipped and he takes it all in. He didn’t want to be there in the first place but now he was singing taking in all the praises and acting all heroic. That was something I expected from him but what he did at the end, I didn’t expect at all. At the end his old partner tries to kill him and a mudder takes the bullet for him. And the surprising thing was that he was mad at the man for doing that. He felt bad for the man and he didn’t want him to do that. Not only that but he explained to everyone that he really isn’t a hero and that he shouldn’t be worshipped. But that’s not even the most surprising part. He even knocks over the statue of himself and destroyed it. The selfish Jayne destroys his own statue. I couldn’t believe it. Even back on the ship he was asking why the guy took the bullet for him. This episode seemed like a big step for Jayne.