Cyberspace/F2F

I have made friendships only in cyberspace, but only over xbox live for video games. I don't trust anyone on the computer, so I just stuck with xbox. They actually really aren't all that different. You get to know each other and sooner or later your calling each other by your first names. You see the other person online and you immedialey invite them to play and you start talking again. You almost do everything the same as if you were face 2 face friends, except doing the physical things with other that involves both you two to do (like eating, playing baseball, etc.) but other than that we talk like we know eachother. Ask how the day was and so on. Nothing really too different besides the fact that you cant see or do anything with eachother. Some intense and serious gamers give each other their number or facebook and then notify or set up a date and time to get online and play.I've actually had several experiences with this, but like I said, i won't trust anyone on the computer though. I've seen too many incidences happening on the net.

Etiquette Rules

I have been bothered by cell phones, most out of the selected in the question. Especially while your working and trying to help out the customer who is on the phone. That is probably one of the things that makes me most frustrated out of everything. It makes me not be polite, look them in the eye or help them in the way I would with any other customer. They're on the phone, no need for us to bust our balls to be polite to them, there the ones being rude. They probably aren't even listening to the other things we our saying, ie, saying thank you and all that. Touch pads don't bother me at all, never had a counteraction with someone being rude or disturbing me with one. Laptops and computers as well, don't really have a problem with them. Answering machines no, if anything, the help someone out by leaving a number and an option to call someone back. Beepers, not really an issue at my age. I don't really have a problem with call waiting, as long as the person TELLS me it might be a while or has to call me back. I don't think it's rude for a person to take another call, as long as i'm priority number 1 and that person makes it quick or let's me know she/he will call me back.

Week 12 Discussion Q #1

Organizations are tied to our environment based on many things. Especially their surroundings and how they get and receive their resources. For example, paper companies, smog shops and marijuana dispensaries. When someone goes to move somewhere they check their surroundings and if they see a dispensary or a smog shop across the street from them, there not going to want to move there.

The school I attend and the city it's in creates traffic, pedestrian crossings, and college students all around. When driving by you always have to be aware of who and what's around you (like cops.) 

Ethical obligations has a huge impact on the local community. Students having part-time jobs pursuing their profession while they continue in school while they finish up, and then when they do, they turn to full time. Many students show up everyday for class, pay for parking and park correctly, and do all their necasary classwork in order to succeed. Therefore most students follow the roles that are guided for everyone there, along with their own which are usually good things they do.

Potential Romantic Partners

When I think about considering someone as a romantic partners, there are a ton of factors that come in to play. I think about my situation and theirs. I also think about the things we do and we do them. How we talk, is it sweet talk to eachother or flirt talk between us? I always think about another girls personality and how she acts when I'm around her, that determines whether or not I can stand or like that personality for the times coming. Another thing is how they speak and smile, that can tell me if a girl can talk politely and correctly. And then when they smile I can tell if they take care of there self and see if their mouth is clean, that shows me a lot about someone. I have eliminated someone by using a sociological and pre-interaction cue before, and it's something I won't consider doing again. I went off of pictures of them and how there body looked. And another thing I went off of is how she was texting me, I could kind of tell she was a little dumb by the way she was texting me. 

Rigid Complemtarity, Competitive Symmetry, or Submissive Symmetry

1). Which pattern (rigid complementarity, competitive symmetry, or submissive symmetry) do you think would be the most difficult to change? Why? Which would be the most damaging to a relationship? Which would be the most potentially damaging to the self-esteem of the individuals involved? 

I think the one that would be most difficult to change is the Rigid Complementarity because day in and day out we listen to our parents, they teach us things we need to learn and we take aftter what they do. They are in control of us until a certain age when they either send you on your own (when you move out or go somewhere for school) or if us as a kid leave on our own. The most damaging to a relationship would be Rigid Complementarity as well. Because if we choose to break away it's usually in a hurtful way, whether it was one of the parents fault or the kids. In some cases the parent has no choice and something happens to them, leaving the child on there own. I believe that the one that would do the most damage to someone's self esteem would be Competitive Symmetry. Competitive Symmetry is something I know a ton about (I played baseball and football for 13 years and now I am currently bodybuilding) and if I don't have something or someone to motivate me or push me, I simply won't do it, and it pisses me off when that happens. Which in some cases makes me train harder in certain aspects. But as far as Competitive Symmetry goes, it lowers my self-esteem when I need someone to push me or compete with me and there's no one to do so. 

Rationality, Perfectibility, and Mutability Premise

 I do believe in the rationality, perfectibility, and mutability premises, but only to a certain extent.  I think that they are a major part of who we are and how we got this way but I still think others are more important. But for the rationality part I think people do use that, but it's not an answer to everything. Things can be found out using common sense, past experiences, and some of us don't think when making decisions. Yeah there's times when we think deeply about all the logic that goes into what were doing or trying to figure out, but I don't think it's one of our top premises. The next one is perfectibility, I do believe in this one. Except for the god given talent they are given when their born, making them an expert in certain areas where they just simply don't need practice or effort to achieve. Lastly, is mutability. Mutability is the one that I agree with most. I agree with this because we do everything we hear and see around us. What our peers taught us in and out of school. This is the most crucial one out of all theses because we learn new things everyday and it's just part of our nature to adapt to all of our surroundings everyday.

"Creatures of our Culture"

I do agree with Benedict's "creatures of our culture" our shaped by our culture. Think about how you grew up. Your parents taught you everything they know, corrected what they did wrong, and learned new things themselves while trying to force the good habits on you. Whether you are Hispanic, English, Dominican, etc; you take in everything you see around you, no matter where you're from. If you go and visit Mexico or Italy it is nearly impossible to go there and only use what you know in your culture, therefore you adapt to the languages and visual aids you see and hear in order to get by. Think of it as a exchange student who is staying at your house for a month: They come in with only their knowledge from where they are from along with maybe a tiny bit of the American culture as well. But they eat our foods, try and communicate with our language, act as we are acting and follow in our footsteps. And we would do the same if we went somewhere outside the U.S.

Nonverbal Messages

Because nonverbal messages can be ambiguous, they are open to misinterpretation.  Have you ever been wrong about the meaning of someones nonverbal message?  Describe what happened.  How can people increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal messages?


I in fact have been guilty of misinterpreting someone's non verbal message. It turns out I met a girl working out and her parents help out with their county fair. So she was going to be there both of the days during the weekend. She ended up having to leave so I didn't get a chance to tell her I wanted to go to the fair one of the days and spend the day with her. It was a beautiful day out that day so I wrote a little note about when we would meet up and stuck it under her windshield wiper. Also leaving my name and number on it so she could call me. She never did call me or text, so I gave her a non interesting look the next few times I saw her at the gym but still said hello. It was just a few days past the fair and I saw her and we got a chance to talk for a good 15 minutes or so. And it turns out, she does have a boyfriend and I didn't know that. So that was one reason why she didn't contact me. Which I can understand.


I think people could just not assume things right off the bat. Maybe they can wait it out for a little while and not jump to conclusions. I mean there is not much more they can really do except not to respond until you get an answer from the other person.

Men and Women's language

I do agree that men and women use language differently. Just by stating out the basics guys talk about girls all the time, and then more guys spread the word and somehow it usually ends up back to the girls being talked about. But for some reason it doesn't seem like the girls words get's spread around nearly as often or as quick. I don't know if it's just they can keep a secret and we can't, or they do not care to talk about guys the way guys do about girls.
Guys don't get butt hurt when they hear things girls say about them but girls always do. Then you have to turn your attitude around and kiss their a** to get back on their good side (if your lucky.) You can always tell when a girl is upset, you can hear it in their voice. And when they say their okay, it means there is something wrong. When they say there not upset, it means of course their upset. Guys will usually say exactly what's on their mind when their asked things, but girls don't. They will hide their true answer until we figure it out ourselves.

Perceiving Others

I believe it is almost impossible to perceive someone without judging or categorizing them. When others start talking to us, we start to listen, but as they continue to speak, we start to make observations. Either the way they talk, what they are wearing, how they approached us, and many other ways. And always, everyone is going to talk about someone behind their back. The moment they are away from each other, the truth and trash talking come out, they're put in a category, and the judgmental comments are said. 


To make this as fair as possible, it's always nice to not let the other person here about what is being said about them. But why is it so hard for us to not be judgmental? It's part of our society to do so, whether is critiquing them on what they said or even correcting them without them knowing. Or simply it's fair enough to suggest  how they can talk better or approach the topic in another way.

Week 4 Discussion Question #2

A well known speaker of my choice would have to be The President of the United States. Not because it was the example in the question, but because there isn't many well known speakers that I know today. Obama's strongest characteristics are power and credibility. To me he is not an attractive person but to others he may be. But in terms of power, he is the President of the United States so people are going to listen to him, and earning the spot he's in now put him through the test of winning the audiences attention by making them believe everything he says, and used ethos, pathos and logos to show the crowd his emotional side, his logistics side, and his credibility. His credibility is everything you would imagine it being as the President. He dresses nice, not showing too much skin but not covering his face or hands. He is cleanly shaved and his hair his crisp. He speaks clearly and just fast enough to where you can understand everything he says. Any questions he's asked, he returns the answer involving the question, along with an answer.

Week 4 Discussion Question #1

I have been influenced by a speaker, and yet again it's Steve Jobs. I love how he built up his speech until the end. It kept me waiting on the edge of my seat until it was over. He used many examples on his previous jobs, personal stories of his family, and how he did in his earlier in his education. The tone in his voice also kept interested as well. I tend to focus on voices when I'm listening to a speaker, if him or her has an annoying voice. I do not tend to focus as much if they had a decent voice.

I'm trying to think of this speaker I had in 8th grade during a school wide event, (I can't remember his name) and this guy I tell you, had an annoying voice, and kept looking down at his paper. Didn't make great eye contact at all. He didn't involve the audience and wasn't funny when he tried to be. I don't know if I was just young and didn't know a thing about communication, but I thought of this guy first when you asked about  the worst speaker I have heard.

Week 3 Discussion Question #2

The pragmatic perspective would in fact make sense to think of as a patterned interaction. Going deep into detail about communicating; you look at your phone, find the person, write or send your message, and wait for them to respond. If you don't hear or see a response you look at your phone again and see if they've responded. You do this over and over until your read the response, send your response back and wait for them again. Until one person stops, it's usually the person who's turn it is to respond.

I do think of it as a game as well, kind of like most games played today, you both get a chance to go, you wait for your partner to go and when the other person has a chance to respond, you play your part to return the favor, and it goes on and on until one loses (or fails to respond.) In any way someone communicates, I think of it as a game, whether they are trying to win an audiences attention or cheering in a grand stands at a race or game. Trying to beat their oppenents by helping out who they are communicating with.

Week 2 Discussion Question #1

I believe that in today's society we very well continue to build new worlds of communication. Whether it's using our newest innovations/technology or methods. Individuals all communicate differently depending where they are located, what resources they have, and what culture they are from. We have a ton of ways in which we communicate today, such as; Cell phones, cameras, video cameras, speakers, computers, texting, instant messaging, commenting back and fourth on blogs, and articles or written papers. People express their ways of communication based on what is available and conveinent for them. Not everyone has phones and internet, so they have to find other ways of communicating with one another, such as notes, symbols or anything else they can think of. Our ways of communicating are expanding today because of the time and effort people put into making a new electronic way of us to pass communicate I think that's it's great that we have the newest items for us to have options to, but I also believe that it's ruining our culture the most by going in the deep end with our economy, and using our money to put into items we try and innovate, but not succeed.

Discussion Quesition #3

The concept I chose from week 1 to discuss in detail was the Communication Today: Contemporary Departments of Rhetoric and Communication Theory. It's crazy to think that in modern time, the new technology then was printing and where written communication became important. Then universities and colleges were organized into departments because that's what rhetoricians during the modern period believed was the correct way to study the spoken word of literary works and became known as the English department.

During the earlier years of the twentieth century, Rhetoric and the new teachers of the public formed their own professional organization, making their own speech of communication departments. And as of today, they are apart of the more popular campuses throughout the United States. Before the teachers created their own departments, students during the early days became serious about studying literary communication.

Discussion Question #2

In my personal opinion I do believe that an orator has to be morally good. Otherwise your just a speaker who is trying to win the audiences attention by telling them false information and things they want to hear. Whether they are true or not. I believe that goodness, truth, and public communication all can be tied into one. If you want goodness you must speak the truth. And if you speak the truth, it will get out and around to the public. And individuals will notice you and want you to be a leader for them. Talking to the public takes a lot of responsibility. Whether it's using Ethos, Pathos, or Logos to reach them or by already knowing the answers to the questions they're going to ask.

Discussion Question #1

A speaker who I admire is a guy by the name of Steve Jobs. I admire him because the first real speech I heard entering into the Communications world was "How to live before you die" by Steve Jobs. Jobs uses Ethos, Pathos, and Logos; but more of Ethos and Pathos. He uses his own experiences from his past within his family, the school's he's attended and the companies he's worked for.
For me, I personally believe I use Logos to do most of my pursuading because I like to provide others with facts and statistics, so they know I understand the topic were discussing or problem were trying to figure out. As for Aristotle's classification theme, I do believe it worked for Steve Jobs.

Introductory Post

Hello all,  I am actually fairly new to communication so I do not have much experience as of right now. I did take business 85 the semester before if that counts!
I am majoring in Business Marketing.
I love going to work, I love working out, hanging out with friends, longboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding, anything outdoors you can think of, I love it.