11/11/11

Ya no real reason for this post other than to say it's 11/11/11 so hopefully it's a lucky day.

A Post

Okay last time I was talking about the book Quite Strength and I still am.  Tony finished out his college career as one of the high up quarterback and when the draft came (it wasn't televised back then) he and a buddy were waiting bye the phone.  They waited....and waited.....and waited.....and waited.....and then the phone finally rang.  His buddy, Herm was taken in the 100 something round by the Redskins.  Tony was happy for his friend but no afraid for himself.  So he waited....and waited...but the call would never come.  He hand't been drafted and it wouldn't be until a few days later that he would get a call from the Steelers to pick him up as a free agent, as a DB.  He'd never played DB before never even considered it but that's apparently what god wanted for him so he went with it.  Later people would say that he wasn't drafted as a QB because of his height, or his weight, or his arm...and yet some would even say it was because of his color.  That seems like a laughable idea now with Michael Vick and Cam Newton playing football, but back then maybe it was true, maybe the NFL wasn't ready for a black pro quarterback.  That's something that we'll probably never know...and perhaps it's better that way.  Anyway he went to Pittsburgh for training camp and thought he;d never make it.  He has some of the greatest players at DB in front of him and they weren't even starting, but he figured that if he was going to be there he might as well work his ass off to make it.  So he studied film, he asked questions and those great DB's took him under their wing in a way and taught him the position, and lo and behold, he made the roster.  Those same players also helped him become a better Christian.  They were dedicated to their faith in a way that Tony admired and hoped to achieve.  They knew that football was a game, a great game, but still only a game.  And that it was not football that should define them but their faith and character as men.  Well that's all I got so until next time

Finally

Here at the end already, time sure flies.  Anyway I chose to answer question 2.  This semester i read books focused mainly around war or football with very little in between, and of those two genres i can honestly say war was probably the bigger one.  It really wasn't hard to find a book to read or to stick with because for the most part the war books are written very well with the goal of keeping you interested.  All but one book came from your in class library and the books I chose were chosen mainly because their title looked good.  I had little trouble meeting the page requirements each week because I honestly wanted to keep reading these books.  Also I would usually read in study hall daily, so there's 45min of reading so really the 100 or 150pgs wasn't that hard to reach.  And ya that's all I got for this so adios, peace out, hasta luego, see you on the filp side, cya, and good bye. 

Currently Once More

Quiet Strength: 276-301pgs
Dresden Files: 131-190pgs
Total Pages: 100pgs

Don't really have any favorite sentences but instead I have a lesson from Quiet Strength, Tony Dungy talks about football and how it's a great thing but how it's only a game.  Football cannot define who you are, it can only be a passing thing in life.  A Tony talks in great deal about how his faith defines him and last forever, while football is only a time in life.  Tony also uses football to help spread his belief in god.

Blogging Today

So I've been reading the book Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy.  I've heard football coaches talk about this book and what it means.  The book really is a great book that follows Tony Dungy through apart of his football life.  It starts out following Tony in the end of high school career and looking towards college.  He always dreamed of being a Spartan, for Western Michigan I believe.  There was a coach there that he had always wanted to play for (the name escapes me right now and the books far away so....ya) but he retired before Tony could go there so he ended up going to the University of Minnesota.  Tony played quarterback in college and he was good.  There was one instance, however, where he put himself before the rest of the team.  He was one TD pass away from setting a new school record and despite his coach telling him to run the ball he called a pass...and it was intercepted.  His coach said on the sideline "I'm so mad if I had a gun I'd shoot you."  Tony's team would go on to win said game and he would end up throwing that record setting TD but he learned something, you do whats best for all not for yourself.  Well that's all for today so I will talk to you all later, see you at the beginning....

Blogging

So I completely finished Joker One.  It was cool to see how the unit grew and developed throughout their time in Iraq.  One of the best parts was when Lieutenant Campbell was asking him men how they felt about leaving and they all gave pretty much the same response: "I'm excited to go home and see my family but I hate to leave when we're not done yet."  They're afraid that the unit that replaces them will come in and screw up everything they've been trying to accomplish.  The unit leave with less men than it came with, a sad fact of war, but the men that are still there have become a family of sorts that can only be made through the hell that is war.  The book goes on to tell a little about how hard it was for them to adjust back to civilian life.  Lieutenant Campbell talks about how it was hard to walk down a crowded street, how every time a door slammed or car exhaust shot off he flinched.  War changes people and to change back and explain it isn't an easy thing to do, sometimes it's impossible.  Lieutenant Campbell wrote Joker One as a tribute to his men and what they did over there and I think he did a great job with it.  It's give a small taste of what happened over there and what the men had to deal with.  So until the beginning.......

Close-Reading Bingo

1."They were the free standing kind: a pair of integral signs swooping upward between the two floors they served without struts or piers to bear any intermediate weight" and  he tells us that "On sunny days like this one, a temporary, steeper escalator of daylight, formed by intersections of the lobby's towering volumes of marble and glass, met the real escalators just above their middle point, spreading into a needly area of shine where it fell against their brushed-steel side-pannels, and adding long glossy highlights to each of the black rubber handrails" By using such imagery and specific details, one is able to clearly paint a picture of the lobby in their minds. Break up the quotation into a few sentences.
 http://theycallmefreshmoney.blogspot.com/
2. He describes the boy’s feelings towards his parents with a negative, abusive and defiant diction. He makes it clear with his word choice that the feelings of the boy are arrogant and bitter towards his parents.  Avoid the he says part
http://allison789.blogspot.com/
3. ...he Mezzanine, Baker’s literal tone, but relaxed voiced allows the reader to get inside the mind of the speaker... Avoid referring to the reader.audience.
http://notoriouslymofulla.blogspot.com/ 
4.  The Mezzanine, written by Nicholson Baker is elegant, elevated, and also scholarly in the verbs being used. This excerpt was not extremely musical. It was also literal in denotation, as while reading it. Throughout the excerpt Barker used excellent verbs and description to explain all of the sentences. Don't be so vague with supporting quotes.http://jess-jess1993.blogspot.com/

Best one I saw: The dignified formality of Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine describes the unusual tolerance the narrator feels for escaltors in his work place. His strange admiration is expressed with metaphors like "the free-standing kind: a pair of integral signs swooping upward" and "a temporary, steeper escalator of daylight" which help make a mental picture of the escalators as well as give an appreciation for the escalators. Baker's scholarly yet straightforward lexicon holds the flowing simile "like the radians of black luster that ride the undulating outer edge" to convey the graceful energy the narrator feels toward escalators. http://thatgirl-abbie.blogspot.com/