Compare & Contrast: Water Bottles

It's a hot summer day and you stop at a convenience store on your way to the beach. Your mouth now feels like the Sahara and your body is sweating worse than it ever has. You're parched and the only thing that will satisfy you is water. Once you get to the cooler in the back you see many different types of water. What catches your eye looks like an oasis in the desert and in big letters across the front, it says FIJI. Fiji water comes in an interesting bottle. It is rectangular and on the inside, there is a picture of jungle leaves and a pretty, pink flower. The rectangular shape makes for a modern and possibly more "high end" look. When you look at the picture through the other side of the bottle it relaxes you. You imagine yourself in a tropical paradise being doted on and fed fruits by the water while being fanned with large palm tree leaves. Not only does Fiji water quench my thirst, but it takes me to a place where I can only dream to go. It is not only a water bottle, it is a teleportation device to Fantasy Island.

Now imagine that you're in the same situation. You reach into the frosty cooler and the water bottle you grab now is completely different. This time you grasp a cylindrical bottle. Running up the side of the bottle you see the word VOSS in big, spaced out letters. Voss water has a simple, yet appealing design. This cylinder shaped bottle has a much simpler design than that of the Fiji water bottle. Voss has no image displayed inside the bottle, it has really no color at all. It is a clear, tall bottle with a silver colored cap and lettering. Voss's water bottle also gives it a modern, almost futuristic, look. It's rounded shape makes it easier and less awkward to hold in your hand. When you look at a Voss water bottle it also has more of a "high end" look than that of any other ordinary water bottle. The height of the bottle alone makes it appear to be a nearly endless supply of pure H2O. Everything about this bottle makes it an easy choice when it comes to replenishing your thirst. It's height, simple colors and shape all make it a water bottle worthy of being chosen.

Don't You Just Love the Smell of Cologne in the Morning?

Walking down the street the last thing you would expect to smell is bacon. Where could it be coming from? You are nowhere near a restaurant and it is not breakfast. As you stop at the crosswalk you notice the smell get stronger and then you realize that it is coming from the person next to you. How can anyone smell like that? And then it hits you. He’s wearing bacon… cologne.
Bacon cologne is new cologne designed for both men and women. Designed by a butcher named John Fargginay in 1920, it was a “magical elixir” made to boost the moods of his customers. After a fire in 1924, the recipe was lost until now. The cologne comes in Bacon Classic (which has more maple) and Bacon Gold (contains a touch of citrus). There is no doubt about this product being new. What about controversial? Some people think that this is an insane idea, while others love it. When Fargginay first used his elixir, he had heads of state and celebrities that came to get the product just for a whiff to put them in a good mood.

This would quite obviously fall under the category of cologne, even though it is not your typical fragrance and it is one of the oddest colognes I have ever heard of. I suppose you could call the product aesthetically valuable. I mean, nothing seduces men more than the smell of bacon, right? Like I said before, some people are all in for the idea of bacon-scented cologne. Although it may come up short in comparison, it could be compared to unisex colognes such as Ck One, Roger Gallet Cologne, and 4711. Other food colognes and perfumes include Burger King’s Flame, Whopper-scented cologne. Also, a cologne called Que, which is Pork Barrel BBQ scented cologne. Wearing all that would make people hungry… or nauseous. I suppose out of any of those odd colognes and perfumes, bacon would be the least repulsing. It would be better than smelling like you lived in a Burger King for 20 years.

The five criteria I would use when evaluating cologne would be this:
1. A pleasant smell – are you or the people around you choking?
2. Packaging – does it have a nice label, name, etc.?
3. Variation – how many different fragrances in the line?
4. Accessibility – how easy is it for the customers to buy the product?
5. Popularity – how much is selling and how fast?

To briefly evaluate this cologne I would say that although I find the smell of bacon to be a pleasant smell, I think it is better suited for breakfast and wrapped around scallops, not sprayed onto my neck and wrists. The packaging does seem nice and aesthetically pleasing. The design of the bottle is curved and the colors used are simple, but eye catching and are easily recognizable as bacon strips. Since there are only two different fragrances in the Bacon line (Classic and Gold) I would say that their variation is lacking. I have not seen Bacon in any cologne and perfume stores, so I would say its accessibility is limited to online for now, which means that it is not a available to everyone at the moment. Finally the popularity of the product seems to be low. While it may be a funny gag gift, I don’t know a single person who wants to walk around smelling like bacon. In conclusion, I would have to say that Bacon does not make good cologne. Funny idea, but who in their right mind would buy it?

Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition!

When I take a look at my blog I see a simple background that was chosen quickly based on it's simple design and light colors. It's incredibly easy to read and even easier to use. I have no pictures, only text. Needless to say, my blog is boring. I had never made a blog before and when I finished putting it together I was satisfied. It got my point across and I got the grade. I mean, I wasn't the one looking at it, right? I now realize that although it is my words and thoughts, it is the reader's eyes and making my blog appealing to you, will get my point across easier. After being in the class this long I feel like I have a much wider range of where I can take this blog. I do like simplicity, but I don't like to be boring. With this new blog I hope to make it more exciting for the reader. I understand that you, Denise, have to read these one after another and that can get boring. I hope that after this makeover you will have plenty to look at. I would like to put a few pictures or videos on my blog so that if you get boring reading this you can stop, take a break, take a tour around my site and then go back to reading whatever assignment you’ve given us this week. I am excited to turn my blah blog into a beautiful blog.

My new blog definitely expresses me a lot more than it used to. It’s simple, but I like the colors. I think that they’re relaxing colors and there are no silly shadows of hummingbirds. I chose to add the College Humor videos because I watch them all the time and I think they’re funny as hell. There are more videos, but I couldn’t fit them all. I wish I could have had a scroll bar of videos along the top. That would have made this perfect. I feel that the choices I made to change my blog are for the better. It looks more mature, but it has touches of what I like. I chose features similar to Facebook where it has links of different sites that people may like and can click on. I decided to include links to different sites that I like and often visit on a boring, lazy night on the right side of my blog. Overall, I am now happier than ever with my updated blog. I feel that I accomplished my goal of taking it from “blah” to “beautiful” and I am confident that it will be a much larger success. I hope that this change helps the number of viewers I have. I would really like to increase the viewers from just the teacher, to the English 015 class and maybe even more than that. Now that I know how to set up an aesthetically pleasing blog and know what to write, I think I would like to continue writing blogs.

Growing Up Blue and White

Picture a college dorm packed with students. The halls are buzzing with life as they get ready for their first day of classes. Excited freshman talk about parties, hook-ups and new friends. Just outside on the busy, overcrowded sidewalks comes more excitement and more noise. Everyone seems full of life for this early Monday morning. All of the students that have flocked to Penn State for it's wonderful academics and even better parties are happy to finally be the ones cheering, "We Are... PENN STATE!" Now let's pan over to that one student that walks alone, tunes everything out with their music, and dresses appropriately for the season. That is the person that has lived here all of their life and, quite honestly, is tired of hearing "We Are..." everywhere they go. I am that person. Yes, campus is beautiful in the fall with its changing leaves and well-kept everything, but having seen this all of my life I am not under the spell. I wish I could share in the joy and excitement of a new school year at a beautiful school.
Watching everyone getting antsy before a big game makes me jealous. They are all tailgating and buying season tickets. I have interest in the football program, but I just can't get excited like everyone else. I have witnessed it for the past eighteen years of my life. It's the same thing every few years: big loss - riot; big win - riot. State College is overrun with tourists and visitors. There is no place to park and hardly any room to drive between the thousands of students parading through the streets.

My personal opinion of campus is that it's incredible... if you aren't from around here. I feel that growing up here gave me no real choice in where I would go to school. My college experience has been greatly influenced by growing up in the area. For me that isn't a good thing though. When asking students who grew up in the area how they feel they've been affected by being a local and going to PSU I got many different responses. Joe Mullin, a senior, says, "I don't think it has affected it really, but it is the reason why I chose PSU. I have been a PSU football fan since I was born and was raised in a family full of the same. There was not another option for a college for me really."
Sharing a completely opposite response, Catelyn McMinn, a freshman commuter, states, "I have grown sick of the environment in this town. The only reason I go here is because of my parents. They are alumni that moved here after graduating. They basically told me I was coming here."
I can relate to both of these people. While I like the football team and have pride, some of that pride has been diminished by the sheer fact that I have seen it all of my life. Finally, when asking an out of state freshman, Janelle Zimmerman, her opinion of the campus, she had nothing but positive remarks, "I love it here! My parents and I live in Michigan and used to visit to see family. We would always go to football games and it made me want to be apart of the Penn State community. The campus is so big. Sometimes there isn't much to do, but I've made a lot of new friends so it's not so bad."

The Smeal College of Business put together a website listing interesting PSU facts such as the college as a whole has over 90,000 students (at least half are here at main campus. The school also awards around 20,000 degrees a year. That could be reason enough that students flock here by the thousands. When going to a college it is always smart to look into the graduation rate. The people over at imakenews.com also threw together a few fun facts. In 2002, the largest crowd ever in Beaver Stadium (110,753 to be exact), watched Penn State win 40-7 over Nebraska. Perhaps students come for the football? Also, the average tuition for freshmen and sophomores this year was near $6,802 per semester.

The facts that I found made me think that I should be asking students not only how where they grew up affects their college experience, but why they came to Penn State. I think that getting to know students' reasons why they came will help me determine how well they will like it here. What were the students looking to find in their college experience and will they get it here? I think that after getting this out of the way I have a clearer focus on where I would like my report to go.