Blogs and Spring Break

Michael Shanks
At first I didn't see Shanks' writing as a full on "academic inquiry" type, but as I continued to read through and click on links, I saw it more and more. Although the information and thoughts are presented in a way that is user friendly, more than in a essay sort of form, it still seems to have the same characteristics as a academic inquiry paper would contain. Shanks is constantly asking questions throughout each post - and answering them. I don't think there is a huge use of sources, but enough to have an academic feel, and Shanks goes off of them. I also noticed in multiple posts that he clearly defines what he's talking about often, of which I see as an aspect of academic inquiry. It seems as though you can place a fine line between "professional" and "personal" writing. Shanks doesn't seem to cross over to either side in any obvious way that I would classify it as one or the other. He writes in a way that we can understand and like he's talking to us in person maybe, but it still seems "professional" enough to be more than just that. I suppose my favorite part was where I started (granted I honestly didn't go much further) a sort of concept of design. Clicking through the links throughout that led to interesting ideas on design, in my opinion anyways.

Dooce.com
In reading Dooce.com's "Indecipherable Rant" you definitely notice the difference in writing styles in comparison to something like Shanks. This blog is a lot more... internet friendly (?), I guess. I feel like that's more so how popular/regular basis bloggers blog. I think in reading things over the internet there is a lot less of a formal feel for it, for the reader and the writer. I personally wouldn't consider this "academic inquiry" writing, because it's much more personal without things like a controlling purpose, etc. Especially because it is a personal blog, it's extremely opinionated and contains personal pictures and the like.

Spring Break
Because I only have classes on campus on Mondays and Wednesdays you could say my spring break started a day or two early, which was beneficial to me because one of my good friends had her spring break that week, which meant we could spend the weekend without any worries. With that being said, we went to our cabin up north (3.5 hours to Dunbar) with the parentals. Having been there only one other time in the summer, it was a completely different experience. In summer it was more about pumping water and hiking around waterfalls, this time was more walking around the property and keeping warm with a fire inside. On a crappier day we headed up to Michigan to do some gambling (since 18 year olds are allowed to do so at that specific casino) -definitely didn't win any money, but was a good time. Other than that weekend, I've spent most of my break at work and very chill hanging with friends, nothing too crazy exciting. HOWEVER, I do not feel like going back to classes tomorrow :