Ok, honestly, the only assignment I've completed for Week 4 is the revised essential and foundation questions. Can you say, SLACKER?! I know, I know. So, since I can't really talk much about the work I did on my assignments this week, I'll reflect on something else...ME!

Rascal Flatts sings a song called "I'm Movin On" and in it are these verses..."I've lived in this place and I know all the faces, each one is different but they're always the same. They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it, they'll never allow me to change. I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong. I'm movin on." This kind of sums up the place I'm at right now.

I'm in the process of deciding whether to stay in Huntington for the rest of the summer, or go home. If I stay in H-Town I will need to get a job, and if I go home I will want to get a job so I'm not sitting at home day in and day out! I went home for the long weekend, and I think I've made up my mind! Don't get me wrong, I like being at home and seeing my family, but that's about it. I only have a few friends here and usually they're not around. There's really nothing here for me. It's like that saying, "It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." That's how I feel about my hometown. I like coming home to visit, but I am always ready to go back to Marshall when the time comes. I just like it better away from home.

Now don't worry, I'm not going to ramble on and on about my life, I have a point and surprisingly enough I can tie it in with a point in this class! Wow, I really feel brilliant now, because when I started I didn't really have a point that would tie in with class stuff! One other assignment I did do this week was the Learning Highlights, and I think in it I said something about not having confidence in myself as a learner, etc. Well I believe that my lack of confidence as a learner comes from my lack of independence as a person. Many times I simply don't believe that I can do things because I've never had the opportunity to try or to learn for myself how to do them. Still to this day, people want me to learn from their mistakes and experiences instead of letting me figure things out on my own. Yes, this is a good way to learn if it keeps you from getting in big trouble or majorly hurt, but sometimes the lesson is in the trouble or the hurt. Sometimes there is no trouble or hurt, but still a lesson. I have a real problem with this learning technique. When I took the VARK test, it said I was a kinesthetic learner, I liked to learn by doing and figure things out by trial and error. This is very accurate because that is exactly what I'm trying to do. I want to be independent and do things for myself and by myself, in order to learn. I can do this in Huntington, not at home. So, if all goes well, I'm hoping to stay in Huntington for the rest of the summer. Thanks for letting me vent a little. Sorry Mrs. McComas if this one was a little off base! I did get it tied in with class topics though! Ok, I'm out!

This week has flown by! Where did all the time go?! I was so proud of myself because I've actually gotten a lot of things accomplished this week. The bad part is, they didn't have anything to do with this class! I got some of my assignments finished, and I still have to finish the ones due Sunday! I thought I would get this one done first. I'm not so sure about this webliography! Well, with some work and a little luck I'm sure I'll figure it out!

I subscribed to a professional mailing list about Alzheimers disease. It must be one of the "high volume" lists that Mrs. McComas referred to in her tips on this assignment because I've been getting 10-20 emails from them PER DAY!! Things were getting so crazy with all the email coming into my account that I decided to open a new email account! I'm going to use one for this class and then the other will be my new personal one! I haven't had a chance to read all the emails from the list, but I'm a little worried that they won't have much about speech and language in them (I could be wrong of course!)

Searching for my last name was pretty interesting. There were so many different people and businesses with my name, and I never even knew it! I mean of course I didn't think I was the ONLY one with my last name, but I didn't know that there were many people with my last name in so many different states. I found people anywhere from opera singers to congressmen with my last name! I didn't find any other Andrea's, but I'm sure there's probably at least one. Who knows what's out there!! Ok, well I'm done for this week's entry. Three weeks down, seven to go! I'm outta here!

I just wrote my entire entry, then went to save it and it messed up and made me login again! What's up with that?!?! Ok, luckily I have a pretty good memory so I can come up with a pretty good rendition of what I had before! I'm doing this entry late Friday/ early Saturday. At least it's before Sunday which I said I would try to do. I'm doing my blog sooner, but I didn't finish as many assignments as I would have liked. This week's assignments included subscribing and unsubscribing from a mailing list, reading about email and the web, finding people, and writing about personal histories and values. Some assignments were simple while some were a little more involved.

I finished the quick, easy assignments first as usual, then moved on to ones that would take a little more time. Subscribing and unsubscribing to the mailing list was cake, and didn't really show me anything extremely new. The email assignment did, however. I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about email, but I was wrong! The one thing out of everything I learned that I found the most interesting was about deleted emails. You think once you delete and email it's gone, right? Wrong! It actually may not be permanently deleted. Some places archive deleted emails for periods of time, and not only are they archived, but they can be used to subpoena you if you're being sued! How wild is that? It's probably safer just to keep any emails that you don't want used against you later, or don't write it in an email! To be honest, those were the only assignments I finished this week. So I have my work cut out for me next week.

I'm looking forward to doing the Finding People assignment because I do that all the time. It's fun to look up people online, just to see what I can find! I'll write more about this in my assignment because it's kind of a funny story! Anyway, I also think the Personal History and Values assignments will be interesting. I'll get crackin on those ASAP!

I thought that our class meeting in the MOO was very interesting this week. Our group discussion was about the knowledge of the general public concerning communication disorders and our profession, as well as the media's portrayal of them. All the groups brought up really interesting points, that I had never really given much thought to. Before becoming a CD major, I was part of the general public and I thought that a speech therapist just held up flash cards, had kids name pictures, and say sounds. What's interesting is that I'd observed speech therapy before because my youngest sister has been in speech therapy since she was just 3. I guess I never gave much thought to what went on before and after the sessions, as well as everything that goes on within a session! I've been very surprised, in the past three years that I've been enrolled in this program, to find out what really happens! Now when I observe my sister's therapy, I see so much more going on than your average Joe would see. You're saying, "Well I should hope so!" I like it how our group discussions in the MOO give us the chance to bring so many different things to the table. Each of us knows bits and pieces and we bring it all together to form thoughts, theories, and to find answers. That's really cool!

Well I'm finished with this entry (FOR THE SECOND TIME!) If it messes up again, I'll just scream! Oh, wait, I know, I'll email this thing to myself BEFORE I click save!! I'm so brilliant it's scary! If I would have done that the first time around, things would have been much easier! Who wants to take the easy way though?! Ok, well that's all for this week! Actually not really cause I'll have to post those Personal History and Values assignments! Anyway, see you next time, SAME BLOG TIME, SAME BLOG CHANNEL!! Ha ha, I'm a dork!