My writing is always improving. Constantly I create a piece of writing that amazes myself, and this last piece is no exception. I improved on a lot of things in the last article for the magazine, and these things all really made it more interesting and relevant.
& the Second Reflection
Posted by Jacob Harris at 10:42 AM 0 comments
& the Reflection
This magazine was a huge process to go through. My article alone went through 4 drafts, which aren't really that many, but it could be counted as 5 if you include the original blog entry. The drafts helped a lot, and through it I helped a lot of other people improve their drafts. After that was all over, I, being an editor for the magazine, formatted various articles into their pages for the magazine. This came along with a lot of work on Photoshop and InDesign. The articles ended up turning out great after a few good ideas by other teachers and peers, and numerous revisions. After all of the formats where finished, they were compiled and sent off to the printer. The next day, we got proofs back and had to work on tons of revisions. I went through a large section of the magazine with a partner and fixed various pictures contrast in order to bring out both the whites and the blacks.
Posted by Jacob Harris at 8:41 PM 0 comments
Honors Character Sketch
The book that I read for honors this month was the Grapes of Wrath, a book about one families struggles through the Great Depression. Since this book was written by Steinbeck, there have got to be interesting characters and a great story, and there are.
The first character I will be discussing is this guy...
Jim Casy.
He is a very interesting character. A very stretched guy, about 6'2", he has a long muscular neck, very tight hairless cheeks, large eyeballs to the point which the eyelids have trouble covering them, a very pointy nose, , and gray hair that "was mussed back from his brow as though he had combed it back with his fingers." He wore overalls, a blue shirt, a denim coat, canvas sneakers, and a spotted brown hat. He rarely sweats, even under the greatest heat, and doesn't really have any scars or markings on his body to speak of.
He used to be a Christian preacher, and holds that reputation throughout the book. He quit because he slept with young women in the fields and started to not see the "sperit" anymore, but throughout the book he keeps being told that he is a preacher and always will be. He is asked a number of times to pray for the main family the story follows, the Joads, who keep him with them because they are certain that he will be a blessing to them in the future. This causes him to struggle with the fact that he can't run away from his former life.
He starts out a really untrusting person, who is constantly looking for who he is, but can't accept the fact that he is a preacher. But, as the book progresses, he is reminded of who he really is and always is. Over time, he slowly deals with the fact that he is what he always was; he only stumbled in his life a little.
According to the prompt I am supposed to be writing to, I have to devuldge the meaning of his name. I don't really see much of anything in his name. The name Jim, is derived from the name James. The only thing I found on that name is that it comes up 3 times in the New Testament. The two that I see as most relevant, is that the first one is the brother of John the Apostle, and the second is where it is mentioned that Jesus' brother's name is James the Just.
This was the honors blog.
Posted by Jacob Harris at 2:30 PM 0 comments
Internship Immersion Photo Essay
The beginning of every day is a mixed deal. Usually I had to wake up early, due to swim practice Mondays and Wednesdays, or because I have to iron clothes, which I should do the night before but that never happens. Then, once I’m all half asleep, I have to get on the great, loud, and monstrous trolley to take me from the Old Town transit station, to 5th Avenue trolley stop. The trolley is always full of interesting characters, such as an older woman that I saw twice who always had a young Labrador wearing a vest that said “Autism Dog in Training” that knew how to give its owner its leash on command, which I think is genius. There was also the guy with a stain on his shirt that fell asleep every other day and snored every so often, which got so irritating that I almost got off and got on the next trolley that came.
My workplace was an interesting one indeed. Upon arrival, it seems like a very high class, “This means business” type of appeal, but once you get in to the actual office room that I work in it seems a little more inviting. With a Tesla Coil/Buddha, lava lamps on every desk, people in business casual attire, and nice, comfy chairs, it seems a little cozier and a little more fun to work in. The people are also very inviting. My mentor came in to work wearing Crocs almost everyday he was in, and all of the people that worked under him (he is the “overseer” of the software division) are just regular guys who happen to know a lot about computers. Lastly, you have the lunchroom with free tea and coffee, vending machines, and 3 refrigerators.
The project that I am working on in conjunction with my partner is an inventory system that is capable of keeping track of anything and everything. The idea first sprung from the offices addiction to RC Helicopter flying, where flights take place every hour or two in our office room (The Bus). It happened one day before I got to work, the people in the Bus talked about the helicopters and how they can’t keep track of all the spare parts they have, thus spawning the idea of the inventory system. Of course, we aren’t just going to use it solely for helicopter parts. This inventory system can and will also be used for hardware and other general stuff that is in the software development peoples interest. The lunches were always a treat over internship immersion. Be it Indian, Pizza, Ramen, Salad, or Burgers, all of the food was great. Because of our location downtown, we had every genre of food at our disposal, and it didn’t cost me a thing. The people at my office were great guys because they paid for every lunch we went out for. I did offer to pay multiple times but eventually I just gave up and accepted it with a big thank you. Sometimes though, we ate inside the office, whether because of the fact that only me my partner and my mentor were there at the time, or because we wanted to just keep working. Eating inside the office was also quite delightful. Every so often, the office would order something like Italian for someone’s birthday and not finish it, leaving it for the people in the software division to finish off. This was especially great when I didn’t bring a lunch and everyone else was staying in.
This whole experience has taught me a few things about the business world. The first is that it is usually a very fun place to be if you get put in with the right team and job. Second, if you get into a position where you are really needed, you usually feel great about yourself at the end of the day because you helped a greater cause. Third, lunch is usually very satisfying. And the fourth and last thing is, if you office area is bland and boring, you can usually make it more fun to be around by adding things such as lava lamps, or RC helicopters.
Posted by Jacob Harris at 10:21 AM 0 comments
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
This book is an interesting one, and is different from most of the honors book's that I have read so far in that it takes place in the late 90's. It is a first person perspective of an autistic 13 year old investigating the killing of his neighbors dog. Of course that is not only what is in this book, but I am not going to spoil the book because it is a good one and it should be read by you, the reader of this blog, because if it isn't, you are missing out.
"People believe in God because the world is very complicated and they think it is very unlikely that anything as complicated as a flying squirrel or the human eye or a brain could happen by chance. But they should think logically and if they thought logically they would see that they can only ask this question because it has already happened and they exist. And there are billions of planets where there is no life, but there is no one on those planets with brains to notice. And it is like if everyone in the world was tossing coins eventually someone would get 5,698 heads in a row and they would think they were very special. But they wouldn't be because there would be millions of people who didn't get 5,698 heads."In a weird convoluted sense you can sort of understand why he believes this. He does so because of his mathematical "savancy", and because he thinks that the odds are good enough that life such as we have on Earth would have happened eventually.
Posted by Jacob Harris at 3:07 PM 0 comments
Immersion Preparation
I am most excited about being able to get away from school and be able to just go out to internship everyday just like I would after college. I am excited about this because it will simplify my schedule and it will be a fun experience.
Posted by Jacob Harris at 10:02 AM 0 comments
What The *Exclamatory* is Science?
After reading a nice little article about Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, I decided (was assigned) to write a nice little blog about the occurrence of science in our society, and why it is useful for people to be aware of what science is and-or does. Science is one of the leading factors in television shows such as (but not only) anything on the Discovery channel, CSI (sometimes) and the NBA (think physics). It also determines some laws, such as the fact that our frontal cortex, which help us control our actions in somewhat impulsive situations, is fully developed around the age of 25, which puts the alcohol drinking age limit at 21. While this doesn't exactly seem logical it makes a lot of teens with just 21 year old siblings that like to party happy, because they get to drink underaged. This is one point where people need to learn some science. Alcohol can really tear through your brain (believe it or not). If more people knew that drinking before you are 25 could stop and even reverse decision based brain development, less college students would be passing out on a beach in the spring time, or anywhere else any other time for that matter.
Posted by Jacob Harris at 5:26 PM 0 comments