Look at me! I'm posting even though I have nothing to say. I consider this a big step considering that when I first started blogging, I wrote these lengthy, ponderous postings. Now, I feel free to just ramble.

Speaking of which, we thought that our school message board was there for us to use, whether we used it for school work or for fun. Because it's a writing program, we have one difficult class which is partially concerned with the odious task of learning the ins and outs of grammar. Nifty. The textbook, which is probably quite good, was written in 1968. Most of us weren't born then. So in addition to all the quaintlly common examples which are similar to the olde Dick and Jane readers, we are learning things like the possessive and plural forms of the word "Negro". I totally skipped that exercise because I have no intention of even using the word.

Most of us are having an extremely difficult time learning the grammar. Those who aren't are just having a difficult time with it. But our instructor, who is also the head of the program, is so amazingly dedicated to the art and craft of grammar, that she became somewhat offended when I started a post (in response to one's classmate's inspired entry: "Dear Gucker, I hate you. Love, Angie") that I have called "Open Letters to Gucker". In it, classmates are free to vent at Mr. Gucker (dearly departed) about anything associated with grammar. I thought it was harmless and therapeutic, but my instructor apparently did not. Now, she didn't come down too hard on us, but she did post a message about the "tone" of the posts, warning us that developing this kind of habit could lead to trouble in our future professional lives. I can see her point. But I still want to vent about the grammar. A few of my classmates have posted messages stating that they thought that because it's a class message board, they thought that the tone was appropriate. Then, they started a discussion about the rhetoric of electronic messaging and that's when I lost intereste. However, I'm hopeful that people will keep posting. It's funny, and therapeutic. And grammar is not.

As a little side note: for a project for our professional readiness class, I had to create a resume. To do so, I had to consult the new web page for the golf course at which I'm currently working, part time. They announced the new web page over the summer, and kept asking if we'd seen it. I just saw it for the first time the other day. I just about crapped. They are proud to say that they are (perhaps) the premier golf course in our area, but they didn't bother to spell check. On the home page, the web"master" actually typed "Douglas Furs" in a description about the golf course. The mistakes didn't end there. I clicked onto four pages, and there was one glaring mistake on each page. I didn't even bother to look closely at the grammar. I just couldn't. I emailed my findings to my friend who is one of the managers. She said that she found it funny, but I can't see how. I wonder what's going to happen. I have mixed feelings about it. It made me feel good that I noticed the mistakes; but it made me embarassed for the golf course.