Fry’s Food

A store that doesn’t follow much of Malcolm Gladwell teaching in “The Science of Shopping” is Fry’s Food & Drug grocery store. The store researched in this essay is located at 2700 W Baseline Rd in Tempe, AZ.  They sell food, alcohol, bathing needs, and they have a pharmacy. The floors are clean, the place doesn’t smell bad, and it’s brightly lit. But the problem is the store is lacking in many ways that Gladwell said is a must. The reason for the customers that go there are unique even with the service is not always so friendly.

Fry’s Food does get a lot wrong but the things it getting right is done in some interesting ways. Paco Underhill, a “retail anthropologist” who was talked about in Gladwell essay, talks about the decompression zone. It is a zone which people slowdown from walking speed to shopping speed.(Gladwell 98) This spot is normally right where a person would enter the store but an interesting thing I notice was at Fry’s that transaction normally happened outside the store. This happens because almost all people who go shopping grab a shopping cart but the shopping carts are all outside. This forces people to slow down before entering the store to grab one, I saw this happen with nine out of ten people who needed to grab carts. Because of this the entrance to the store can hold more items of greater value and post signs of special sales or events. There is a problem with people who don’t grab carts but those people already know they only want to buy one or two things for their hands. The other thing they did right was placing expensive items at eye level and having temptation objects by the register. Fry’s does this things great but in some of the other areas they are lacking.            Fry’s could potentially make more sales if they followed more rules on store placement and organization. Some of the more simple things that Phil Lempert, sometimes known as the shopping guru, talks about is lighting in a store, smell and music. Fry’s has none of these things. Lempert discusses that having dim lighting slows people time making them stay in the store longer, having the smell of food in the air making people buy more food, and that music calms and slows shoppers.  Fry’s is really bright with no smell and rarely plays music even though they have speakers for it. Back on the topic of Paco Underhill discuss on shops is that we walk as we drive staying on the right and turn to the right while when you walk in everything people need is on the left. (Gladwell 101) Some people that didn’t understand the stores layout turned to the right of the store before stopping and turning left to get what they needed. Other problems are the fact that they have no greeters and some rude employees.

Some of the people who shop at Fry’s gave a lot of the same answer when asked questions about why they shop here. A common answer was “Because the store is close to my house.”  But the other one given was often was “Because I get a good deal because of my Fry’s Card”. Comparing the prices of the same food items brought at Fry’s to what them would cost at Walmart. Walmart is seen to be cheaper. The main reason that people go to Fry’s is because it’s nearby a lot of people and the Fry’s membership card looks appealing because everywhere in that store, on almost every item is a cheaper price if you join the membership.

Fry’s may not be the perfect grocery store but the things it does right is done great and the wrong things are not that bad. From fooling people with prices to not playing music, Fry’s is store that is doing well.

Steven Universe

 

A current running TV show unlike one that I see before that breaks the mold of what a modern family should look like is Steven Universe. It is a show about a young boy that is half-human, half-alien being raised on Earth by three “mothers” and one father. The “mothers” are really allies of the main character Steven’s real mother and he current lives with them. The father lives in a van that he parks around town. Steven’s mother Rose gave up her body so Steven can have one when he was born and in a way exists inside of him. This show that plays on Cartoon Network and is aimed at young and young adult audiences’ shows a child being raised heathy mainly by three. New episodes of the show plays at 7pm Wednesday nights with the channel other popular shows. The shows is known for expressing character emotions through songs and even dance sometimes. If it wasn’t for the dancing and songs like some song by Estelle or character being voice by Nicki Minaj it would be hard to tell when this show was aired. Other than all that this show is a little complicated with its view on a family roles.

To go into the roles of the family the first character to start with is Amethyst. To Steven she still gets a motherly role in his by but she acts more like an older sister. She crazy, head stronger, and is sometimes a bad influence. Next is Pearl who acts as the over protective mother. She cares deeply for Steven safety and tries to keep him out of trouble. She is so concerned that she sometimes watches him to sleep to make sure he’s safe in the night. Other than her love for Steven is the fact she was in love with his mother who is now a part of Steven making her even more protective and this is way she has distaste for Steven father. Garnet is the strong and encouraging mother always trying to push Steven to be stronger while she also leads and protects the family. Another side of her is that she is a fusion of two people name Ruby and Sapphire is literally the embodiment of their love. Last is the father Greg who leads his sons creative and helps reminded him of his humanity at times.

This show has a main character that is made by two women love for each other. It has a woman who protects and tries to raise the child of her old lover. There are almost no shows for kids that show families like this. There are little to no shows for kids that show any kind of homosexuality in a positive way. This shows is a great one to watch for its messages interesting story and deep characters. Below this is an episode that shows Ruby and Sapphire along with a song sung by Garnet that if truly expresses the love that is her made by them. This is a show to watch and hope others follow in its footsteps. Last thing, just remember: “Believe in Steven”

Writing Growth

Writing has never been my strong point but I’m sure I got better at it this year thanks to class and help from friends. Along with my writing I also improved with just school in general.

My was never that great but got me by till college where I feel that my writing really got better. I gotten better from trying to help other people with their work which made me rethink. I also started listening to my writer’s voice which was better at writing than me. I remember finding this old short story I had wrote in 11th grade a month ago on my computer and I can see all the problems with it other than I wrote sweat instead of sweet in the title. Messing up words like that was my weakness but it is not as bad as before. Than when it came to assignments this year the hardest was not the essay but the problems that came up with getting information for it. The end result came out well in the end but It would not have if it wasn’t for some people.

My first semester of English was shaped by the help of a few people. First I should thank my teacher Yvonne Watterson for being a great teacher. She kept the class interesting  and fun to be in. She was also very patient with me when I was stressing to hand in an assignment I needed to pass. Other than her two of my friends helped me in the class. The first I should leave unnamed as the way he helped me was him failing. I looked at him and said I don’t want to be that. It’s a little messed up but it is what brought me to work harder in class. I need to thank Ariana as well because she helped me do my work and focus on it. This first semester was not easy in anyway and those who helped me got me through.

On the topic of this semester not being easy I need to explain my other classes. I had five classes and I know I failed programming. I have two years of programming experience but the languages I learn use a different compiler than python, so when I tried the class nothing worked. I could not get my head around it. My other classes were hard but at least do able. My favorite class is game design since that is my major but it has so much homework. While the other classes were okay. This school is hard but it is fun and a great learning environment.

I never thought I would make a blog and truthfully I still do not like having to post thing to it much but I was a fun experience to tryout. My writing is better and that will help down the road when it comes to making stories for my future game projects.

Game Modding

Modding is not just a pastime that has no effect on the gaming industry but supports it as well by increasing sells and adding new creativity to the industry. The game industry is improved in almost every way by the fans that take time to mod and add their own personal touch by modding. Modding also gets workers for the industry and adds replay value to games.

Modding helps gets sells to the game industry and even created one of the most popular genres for online sports. Minecraft is an extremely popular game that is fun on its own but one major reason that it sells well is thanks to mods. If Minecraft and mods is ever searched on YouTube millions results show up. Minecraft is now the second most popular game in the world and one of the reasons for it is mods. League of Legends is one of the most popular games in the world and but its genre didn’t exist till a mod for Starcraft came out. The mod was called Aeon of Strife and it was the first MOBA which at first was not very popular but years later as newer and improved forms came out the genre because a huge success. John Funk, an author for polygon, stated that “Few gaming genres can claim to be as influential or lucrative as the MOBA can right now; even fewer started life as a mere custom map.”(Funk). A mod created one of the most popular genres and helped one of the most popular games.

(Iron Man in Skyrim Mod)

Making mods requires skill, knowledge of programming, and design skill that companies like and need. Game companies such as Bethesda, which is well known for making Skyrim, look for a modding background when hiring people. The game director himself said “Because our [game production] tools have been out for so long, if you’re applying with us, we’ll say, ‘throw something up!’ So we can look at their mod, their level-and our bar is, ‘Would we have shipped this?’”(Wallace). The director asked himself if they would have shipped what the modder had made when looking at his or hers background. Modding can help get someone a job for their pastime. Modding bring need creativity to the field and helps keeps things fresh.

Not all mods are great examples of human creativity and wellness, and all mods are also technically illegal. One of the reasons mods had a bad start in the beginning was thanks to when Mario first became hackable. Super KKK Bros was the first of the offensive mods that kick started the trend of making them(Kush). There are a surprising amount of other mods like this one or worst. Another example is a mod for Skyrim that allowed you to kill the kids in the game. Allowing players to kill kids in games is never allowed and the most notable example of this is in Grand Theft Auto series where there are not schools or kids under 21. Modding continued to grow but offensive ones or misuse of the games concepts can lead to the modder being sued since they are modifying copyrighted works. Ryan Wallace talks about“Square Enix, the developer of the popular Final Fantasy series, found out about a fan-based mod that had taken art from a ROM file for a game owned by the company, Square Enix promptly sent a cease and desist letter to the mod developers threatening $150,000 in damages per work.”(Wallace). Even modding the source console can also lead to a lawsuit which happen in 2005 by Microsoft to a group of modders for up to $100,000.(Poulsen). Modding is not always simple to do without running into trouble but in current times it is less likely for someone to be sued over a mod.

Game modding was once looked down at because of a few bad mods and even to today people still make ones like that but most are not like that and are great and creative. The game industry will only continue to grow and get better and mods are part of the reason why.

References

Poulsen, K. (2005, February 10). Hackers sued for tinkering with Xbox games. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/10/tecmo_sues_xbox_game_hackers/

Funk, J. (2013, September 2). MOBA, DOTA, ARTS: A brief introduction to gaming’s biggest, most impenetrable genre. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.polygon.com/2013/9/2/4672920/moba-dota-arts-a-brief-introduction-to-gamings-biggest-most

Kush, Klan, and the weirdest Mario Bros. hacks. (2014, July 10). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjDac2m-vKk&list=UUnc8DxbEb6rzOCk3vea8wrw

Wallace, R. (2014). Modding: Amateur Authorship and How the Video Game Industry Is Actually Getting It Right (1st ed., Vol. 2014, p. 37). Provo: Brigham Young University, Reuben Clark Law School.

 

The Bedroom

A place where someone stays can tell a lot about them. If its messy or clean, how things are organized or whats on the walls and under the bed. My old bedroom is no different. First on the the door is a sign that says keep out that every classic teenage boy has. Once walked through there’s a scent from outside from the windows that are always open. Right of the door is a bed with a bedside table each side. Across the foot of the bed is a tall dresser, and to the left against the far wall is a long dresser with a big mirror on top. To the right of the door is a closet and in the corner is a desk. The closet is fill with clothes in no order. Some look never worn while others worn out. The floor is covered in old board games with monopoly the only one not covered in dust. Leaving the closet and looking at the desk you find and old computer and the chair is fill with old junk, but one the wall above it is a photo from an old field trip and a framed passage Foot Steps. Moving to the tall dresser is there is a monument of sorts. One top of it is a paintball mask wearing many colorful leis. It also wears a 2 fake plastic hats and a Knicks foam finger behind it making it look like it was holding it. Now to the far side of the bed is dirty clothes on the floor that can’t be seen if you didn’t come to this side of the room. The bed is unmade on this side that also has the best view point of the tv, but to surprise the bedside table has books each filled with bookmarks at different places. Onto the long dresser is a tv and a big mirror with alarm clock rather far from the bed. The dresser is covered in many things from necklaces to cups and jars filled with coins. Video games, candy and even a copy of the Declaration of Independence. It all looks unorganized buy if anything were to be moved it would be lost. Lastly to walls are many different posters from video games and movies and one of a women that is sexist and defiantly photshopped but to bad Mom I’m not taking it down. That’s my room and think what you want of it because I like it that way. (Well a bigger tv would be great)

Gun Talk

Lets say that guns could talk and one gun was giving a speech about gun control to US citizens.

“Hello everybody, I am a gun. Please don’t be afraid, or hide your kids because I will not shoot. We are tools made by you to protect yourself but you turned us into weapon to harm others. I believe in your second amendment right to bear arms and I believe in gun control but to an extent. I believe that you made guns themselves the enemy but the true one is he who pulls the trigger. I remember when I read about a young students getting suspended from school for eating a pop tart into the shape of a gun and “shooting” his friends with it. Their are many cases like this from kids making finger guns or anything of the sort and getting in real trouble for being kids. People fear the thought of guns but not the one who holds it. Human always made weapons but they were originally made to get food and survive. When food became easy you turned the weapons on each other and made more. Sticks to spears to bows to swords made of stone. looked at fire works and saw destruction. You made guns, then made them better, easier, stronger. You made it a right to own us, but now you want to hide us, blame us for the bad that happens. Us made by you makes it easier to hurt someone but we don’t hurt people but at the same time people have the right to protect themselves but not without some control. You should need to have a permit and background check to own a gun no matter where your from or what you look like. But is M4 Carbrine doesn’t belong in an Everyday Joe’s hand. Maybe an ex-military can own one and that’s because he is properly trained to hold one. Even to some this might not be acceptable to them because they are a collector and that’s perfectly fine but do you need live ammo to each one in your house? Temptation is real and if you own a gun you want to use it, but you can do that at a firing range. “Do countries with strong gun control laws have lower murder rates? Only if you cherry-pick the data.” Thomas Sowell said this and its true in a lot of cases if you research into it. We guns were build to kill other others but we don’t kill you.

Where I’m From

I am from the controller

from Nintendo  and Random House(publisher of the Magic Tree House Series)

I am from the empty ring case

Nice, Soft, but Hollow

It felt borrowed

I am from the concrete

a rose that somehow grow there

Kind, Loving, but has thorns

I’m from the midnight Christmas and black hair

from Flore and Robert

I’m from the neat freaks

and those who like the mess

from don’t climb on the couch

and clean your room

I’m from Jesus,

the one who rose again

I’m from Haiti but born in Brooklyn,

The Haitian Patty and Hamburger .

From the my parents first came together

to the time when I didn’t understand why they broke apart.

In the garage you find them all stacked up

I am from my family and Bloomingburg

My Way of Life

Before we get started let me tell say one thing. I’m a mailbox and my name is #476. I would like to tell you about my life, my neighborhood and the family who owns me. So I should start off when I was in my first form (and oh yea I change forms sometimes). First I was a P.O. box at the bottom of this hill on a side street. There’s an old grave yard next to me from the 1800s that the neighborhood kids dare each other to go in. They also go down my hill on bikes and skate boards dangerously fast but lucky no one gets hurt. The family that owns me is a nice black family named the Alphonse’s and they have to walk down to me to get their mail. One time the Oldest Son comes to pick up the mail, he is only 9 at this time, didn’t notice that the Youngest Son was following him outside. Now get this, he was naked. Okay he is only 1 but that was funny until that car almost hit him. A little after that I had to change forms and I moved to the front of my owners drive way. I’m now a single white mailbox and I’m now on the main road. I can see a lot of the houses now and even my owners house a little but it was still hard to see since they had a long drive way and some trees blocked it a little. I can also see my owners neighbors. The ones on the left invited my owners over a lot and they did the same to them, but the ones on the right were mean. I don’t understand why they were mean to my owners, but I believe it was because they had different skin colors since I heard them say something like that before. So not much happen for a few years till on day I saw the Father leave the house and he didn’t come back. The next day I saw the Mother bring the Youngest Son to the bus but that’s what the Father usually did. Sometime later mail came saying the eldest of the kids the Sister got into college. She soon left. The nice neighbors moved a year later and new ones moved in soon after. A family of four and they got along nice with my owners. They threw lots of party though but that ended after a fight broke out in the middle of on and soon after they moved away to. That house is empty to this day. Not to long after that it was the day before Halloween and I saw a car and bright lights then someone hit me over the head. I woke up in a new form and I was cemented into the ground. Sometime later the Oldest Son did the same as the Sister and left leaving just the Youngest Son and their mother. The Youngest Son soon got a car and would go out a lot and bring friends over. One thing I notice over these years since the Father left was that the Mother went to work earlier and earlier than got home later and later. I wonder why she worked more. Well that time finally came when I got the letter saying it was the Youngest Son time to go to college. Soon later he left and now its just the Mother. I wonder if she okay in that big house all alone. Well not always alone she been inviting some guy who she eats dinner with her. He seems nice, I hope everything going to be alright with them. That’s my story till this day and I got nothing else to say so goodbye.