Ecologicla Lifestyle

My original ecological footprint was a 4.6 and that seemed okay for me since it wasn't as high as others in our class. To reduce my footprint scale, I didn't throw out a lot of items in the trash cans and I kept recycling to reduce the amount of waste in the garbage bags since I try to drink water so I recycle all of my water balls. I tried to eat local foods from the super market which wasn't hard to do since my mom does that alreay. Buying organic is more expensive for some reason so I didn't try that idea simply because it's only for one day, but I will try to use some organic products since it helps our environment. I had taken the quiz again today and my ecological footprint went down to 4.3 so the little changes that I made did make a difference.

Economic Lifestyle

I wasn't able to find someone in my particular field about the position, but I was able to speak with my nursing advisor, Sebnem Thiel. My major is nursing and my advisor was able to tell me what I would expect to happen after graduation. I asked her is it easy for nurses to find a job after graduation. She said that we always need nurses so most likely I'll be able to find a job soon and maybe even near my place of residence since it's a good, needed field. I want to become a nurse practitioner or a pediatric nurse and she said that their's a good amount of job positions opened for specialty nurses so that was good information. The security with being a nurse is strong due to the fact that their is a high demand for nurses and therefore I will be able to have a stable job, even though I may have a spontaneous schedule depending on what area I choose to work. Financially, the pay is well enough to make a good living so that was great information which I had already previously known. In all, I learned that my profession is stable and is usually in high demand and it's secure.

A Day without Technology

My experience without technology was not as bad as I thought it would be. The easiest part was staying off the computer. Not checking my Face book and Myspace accounts was really easy since it was just for 24 hours. Now, turning my cell phone off for a day was not that easy since I usually receive a good amount of text messages during the day so I missed out on those messages which was ok since some of my friends new that I wasn't allowed to use my phone for class so it worked out well. I realized that without the technology that we have now, communication would be difficult since having a cell is one of the best technology we have to keep in touch with one another and it's good for emergencies. The internet is also something that is important to help shorten the amount of time we use to research material for class projects and other things in our daily lives. So I think that the technology that we have now is a positive effect overall within our society.

One Challenge

One challenge that my family and I have to face is the economy and how it has not been so good in the few years. Due to slow business at my mom's place of work, she sometime's doesn't get the chance to work as many days as she usually would, which is 5 days a week. Sometimes she's only given 3 days to work throughout the week which isn't enough hours for her to pay the basic bills within our household. Although we do have some finances to help pay the bills each month, the economy has made it hard on our family to really save as much money as we can for emergencies. So that is one of our biggest challenges as of now and hopefully things will start to prosper within the next few years.

Directions for Project 2

For this second paper I'm using Mortal Kombat as my video game. I think that I want to talk about the games effects on society as a whole. Either by mentioning different views on the game, whether it's ethical or unethical. I want to definitely look up statistics on violent video games and how they may or may not affect someone's behavior. I was also thinking about discussing the games ratings and if they are accurate or inaccurate due to the games amount of action and aggressive behavior from the characters. I may start off my paper with a different thesis, but I think the one that I have so far is good. I might put in others opinions about the games violence and what they think about the game in general. I'm still planning out what to write so hopefully these different examples will be helpful.

Articles on video games

1st article: http://www.almenconi.com/articles.php?art_id=781

This article was writen by Al Menconi and basically gives a whole review on the effects video games have on children. The writer has found statistics and researched psychological information based on the effects on children who play certain video games. The article states that video games tend to influence the players behavior, especially if the game is rate M. The writer is stating that parents should be careful about what video games they allow their children to play since it may influence their behavior. Violence and disrespect may be learned through these games so he is saying that it is best to make sure that parents watch what their child is playing before any negative influences occur.

2nd article: http://www.newser.com/story/38708/online-gamers-leaner-than-your-average-couch-potato.html

This article from Newser is argues that video games may have been mistakenly placed in the wrong category for one of the leading causes of weight gain in our society. The article talks about how video games are not as bad as watching television on the couch and consuming numerous amounts of junk food each day. In contrast, playing video games, in their opinion, is better than sitting on a couch for most of the day watching a certain program. The article is giving a positive outlook on playing video games and that it's better than being a "couch potato" even though some people sit on a couch, their bed or stooll to play some games.

Paper One Assignment

Thesis Statement: Darfur's society is a major issue due to its violence which is shown through a popular video game titled Darfur is Dying.

The issue of McDonalds food being one of the main causes of obesity in the states.

(Still looking for another game to choose that would somewhat relate to Darfur is Dying)

A. Ethical or Unethical
1. Darfur is Dying concept
2. What's the main controversial issue
3. Society's views on the issues

B. McDonalds is "Bad for the body"
1. Activists against McD's food options
2. McD's causes obesity amongst young people
3. Bad talking the company's motos

C. Similarities in which they are controversal
1. Darfurs society is a serious issue
2. History on the issues in Darfur
3. Destruction within the country

D. McDonalds issues
1. Obesity in America is extremely high
2. Some blame popular fast food chains such as McD's
3. "Super Size Me" was hurting the nations health

E. Facts
1. Research info on the meaning of ethics
2. McD's variety of food options
3. Darfur is Dying main view points
4. Darfur donations/informational link

3 Video Games (1st blog)

1) Darfur is Dying

I chose to play the Darfur video game since we had played it before during our last class and it was a funny game, but it had a good point behind the humor. The main concept of the game may be offensive toward some people since in reality numerous people who live in Darfur are going through the same situations that are presented throughout the game which has a funny side to it. The issues in Darfur are extremely bad and the video game has somewhat of a purpose. At the end of the game their's a link that leads to a good organization which is basically focused on helping the people in Darfur by asking for donations and offering others ideas on how to the struggling people in that nation. This game is a serious game and an persuassive game since the situation is serious and is actually occuring right now in Darfur. It's also persuassive since it's trying to say that we should help the people in Darfur in anyway that we can by donating money to the websites organization.

2) Packaging Man

I chose this game because I thought that it was going to be Pac Man and it turned out to be similar to Pac Man except it's called Packaging Man. I think that this game is adver game since it's probably trying to advertise for another version of Pac Man. It could also be persusassive I guess since it's very similar to Pac Man the creator is probably trying to get the player to choose to play this game over Pac Man since they are almost just a like in many ways. I liked this game even though I lost when I was playing, but other than that it was fun since it's exactly like Pac Man so I knew what I was doing throught the whole process. This game was fun overall and I would choose to play this if there wasn't any Pac Man to play.

3) McDonald's Video Game

I chose this game since it seemed interesting and I thought that it would be something positive about McDonald's, but it turned out to be against the food chain. This game is an adver game against McDonald's foods and how it hurts the environment since their's numerous chains throughout the world. Something that was neat was that they had a group of men talking about how the environmental activists are trying to hurt the business by saying numerous, bad things about the fast food restaurant. Their was an obesity association basically saying that McDonald's is one of the main causes of obesity in America and how it's not a good thing to serve loads of unhealthy food to people around the world. I thought this game was ok since it did show some reasons why some activists are against McDonalds. I like McDonalds and the comment about obesity is true in some way, but they are not forcing people to purchase their meals on a daily basis. It's up to the person to choose what they should eat and how much should they consume in order to take care of their health.