Crystal Cabinets

For my business I chose to do Crystal Cabinets because I worked there over the summer and I have a pretty good idea what they do there. It is a cabinet making business located in Princeton, MN. Crystal is a very friendly working environment so it was really fun to work there even though the hours I worked weren’t very convenient since I am not a morning person. They mostly only hire people that know other people that work there like family or friends and since I grew up in Princeton I knew a lot of people that worked there. I believe there are about 7 different departments in the building that I knew of: wood cutting, panel doors, painting, drawer making, assembly, and shipping. I myself worked in the painting department but I mostly sanded the pieces of the cabinets so then they could get painted.

Crystal Cabinets is a private business so they don’t sell their products to big businesses like Walmart, Menards, and etc. The cabinets are sold all throughout the world and they are mainly sold to homeowners or other small businesses because they are very expensive. I was looking through the ordering book they had there and the most expensive cabinet I saw was about $6,000. They were estimating on bringing in about $4 million in profits at the end of 2014. They really take pride in the way they make the cabinets with the amount of time it takes to get the details right. 

One Amazing Trip!

This is my family visiting the JFK museum with the Boston Harbor in the background.

When I was about 11 years old I remember going down to my grandparent’s house in the cities because we were going to drop my dad off at the airport that night for his work trip to Boston. He had traveled a lot when I was younger for his job so it was nothing out of the ordinary for my siblings and me. My mom told us that after we drop my dad off at the airport we were going drive over to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to see my aunt and uncle. We weren't very excited about this because we had to wake up at about 4 to bring my dad to the airport and then we had to drive a longer ways to a not very fun place. So we got up around 4 just miserable, piled in the car, and drove my dad to the airport. When we arrived I told my mom jokingly that I was going with my dad and she responded with “how did you know” to my surprise. All of our faces lit up with excitement because we were going to Boston! Although my dad wasn't very excited because he still had to go to work out in Boston while the rest of us toured around Massachusetts.

When we arrived at the Boston airport we had rented to cars, one for us and one for my dad. We started our adventure by going to the city and checking out all the buildings and historical sights. We walked the streets of Boston looking at some of the historical American revolutionary places like Paul Revere’s house, and the church where Paul Revere rang the bell to let people know the British were coming. Also, we went and checked out all of the old graveyards where Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin were buried. That was probably one of the coolest parts of the trip for me. Later that day we went to the harbor and ended up going on a whale watching boat. Whales look way bigger in person, I was a little scared when I noticed they were bigger than the boat we were on.

The next day we took a ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard which is little island of the coast of Massachusetts. My mom had told us that this was the island where they filmed the movie “Jaws” so us kids were a little nervous about that. Martha’s Vineyard was one of the coolest places I had ever been to. It had this little town filled with tourists and a ton of little shopping places and food places. Later that day we actually went to the beach where jaws was filmed and swam there for a little bit (although I was still a little scared so I only went up to my chest). The next few days we just hung out and went to the beaches around Boston before we had to say goodbye to that awesome city. I will for sure be going to Boston though in the near future!!  

Summer Conflict

I had this one complaint that started last year with my roommates that I have today. I am usually not one to complain about something but this problem just had me confused and kind of mad. Last year I had gone in on renting a house with 5 of my friends to live in for this year. I went home for the summer so I could work and make money to pay for my colleges expenses and so did 3 of my other roommates. The two roommates that stayed up here were working in Duluth and living at the house for the summer. The problem arose when they wanted the other 4 roommates that went home for the summer including me to have to pay for utilities over the summer when we were already paying for rent. I just thought it was kind of stupid because I was paying for stuff that I wasn’t using. It wasn’t that big of a deal but I just didn’t understand why they couldn’t just pay for the things they used when we weren’t even living there. Also, some of the bills in for the utilities were just crazy for only 2 people living there. The electric bill came to $63 for 1 month. I was a little bitter about that because that is pretty high for two people. I asked them why it was so high and they just said they must have left lights on or something.

 I’m not going to lie, at first I wanted to call them up right away and tell them there was no way I was paying for that stuff but then my dad was the one that talked some sense into me. He told me not to get in an argument with them because it wasn’t worth the fight. I wanted to have a fun year this year without any tension going into the year so I just bit my tongue and moved on. Sometimes people just need to stop and think about what they are fighting about. The small things that get people angry are not worth losing a friend or messing up a relationship. So far I am having a very fun year and making lots of memories with my roommates. 

Grouse Hunting Fun

(Don't mind the fingers haha it was a joke to my other uncle that couldn't come)

Every year after summertime comes the best part of the year in my perspective. The temperature cools down to a nice 50 or 60 degrees and the leaves start to change. Also it is the beginning of football season. But the best part of fall is the beginning of the bird hunting and deer hunting season. One of the best feelings is driving up north to the cabin to hunt. When you step out of the truck, after arriving at a trail that you feel will have grouse down it, then you grab your gun and slide a few shells into it. Finally you start on down the trail with high hopes of seeing a bird after waiting about 8 months.

It is kind of startling the first time you jump a bird in the beginning of the season because you have all this excitement built up in the off season. After you get a couple birds you head on back to the cabin to clean them. Then you start a fire, have a couple beers, and joke around with your relatives and just relax. I love grouse hunting because it is just a chance to get away from reality for a couple weekends out of the year and step out into the woods to have some fun with your friends and family. In my opinion I would rather be at the cabin or out in the woods instead of sitting at home watching TV.    

Aristotelian Rhetorical Analysis

The McDonalds Corporation and LeBron James is sending the message in the video. McDonalds is one of the biggest fast food chain restaurants in the world and have some very unhealthy food. LeBron James is a star NBA player that a lot of people like. The audience that is being targeted in this commercial would be anybody that watches TV, and basketball fans. It is aimed mostly at basketball fans because LeBron James is the one sending the message. The intended audience members in this video are people who might be having money problems or are just easily influenced because in the video it says that there are 1 and 4 wins and everybody that won in the video won big prizes. The rhetor made this video because they want the viewers to go out and purchase their products. The effect that was intended to have upon the audience was that if they buy the products shown in the video they could have a chance at winning big prizes. LeBron James is a very big star in the NBA world and they probably put him in this video to influence people that are fans of his to buy their product because he buys the product. The rhetor appeals to the audience’s sense of logic by showing the “1 and 4 wins” in the commercial to make people believe that if they buy this product they could win millions of dollars. They establish credibility because they have actually had people win the prizes in real life but I myself do not trust the sender because it is not that easy to win big prizes. The rhetor appeals to the audiences emotions by showing people winning in the commercial and acting happy and they also appeal to the emotions by showing the odds of winning.