2/17/11

Bear's Den

• Not very crowded
• Everyone has backpacks or notebooks
• A few people have laptops out and seem to be furiously typing away getting last minute work done
• Creepy girl with a black hat sits next to me and introduces herself as "Kelsey"
• Her friend Phill also sat with me and grabbed some breakfast
• Everyone is eating, they all look exhausted like they do not want to go to their next class.
• In the cafeteria part of the room, people were very talkative in lines with their friends. It was clear where the groups of friends were because some people were not talking and others were in circles chatting.
• The decoration in the building is very creative and reminds me of the design in Fire n' Ice.
• Lunch ladies are very nice

I have to say that i felt like quite the creep scanning the room and people watching, i think some people took notice to me. There were very little people here when i first got in, but as i sat for about an hour, the crowd seemed to grow larger. classes must have been getting out. everyone seemed to have a backpack because they are all students and coming from or heading to their next class. it was difficult finding things to take notes on and I'm not sure why, but it was a good learning experience to help me do my real research at the NAC which is the place that I'm doing my final paper on. i feel like i have a better idea of what to look for, even though the people in a gym are going to be very different from the students in the Bear's Den. somehow i feel that will help me because i will be able to differentiate between certain people.

2/11/11 Reading

The reading that was due for Friday was very helpful to me in sharpening my understanding of this upcoming essay. I was a little befuddled when it was first assigned as to how to go about this, but in 8 pages Ms. Williams was able to fluently bring the point across of her research. She was studying the people and how they reacted to their scores and teammates. she was also able to find out prices of items and get a good understand for how all of the leagues are run. I like how she commented and observed on each person's outfit and guessed from that what they were like out of the bowling alley. such as the man with the triple H t-shirt. she knew he liked wrestling from this and was able to come to the assumption that he would be leaving soon to go watch it because wrestling is on every monday night at 8. she was able to get very involved in the activities and is able to prove to all of us that writing a 5 page paper on this topic should be a piece of cake as long as we put the time and effort in.

Research Area Questions

My research site is the Newport Athletic Club. It is located in Middletown, Rhode Island and is a fitness center/gym. There are many areas for me to do my research such as the fitness center, weight lifting room, nautilus room, pool area, and basketball courts. Each area has different people and activities going on that i can study and get into more depth with. There are more younger people and women in the nautilus room, and the "beef heads" in the weight room.

I know a lot about this gym but some things i need to do involve interviewing the manager to find out more about how the gym is maintained. I also would like to find out more about the pool area for i am rarely in there. I would also like to check out the diversity in the fitness center because there are usually very different types of people in there. I plan to research the whole building because it is not too big, but big enough to get a lot of writing and research done.