Port-a-Blast :: Personal Narrative Writing

Port-a-Blast I had been waiting in the cold, empty interrogation room for hours anticipating the dreaded arrival of the detective. It had to be one of the longest nights of my life waiting in anticipation to find out the consequences I was about to face. I had numerous thoughts running through my mind about how I was going to get out of this predicament. I was the last of four, Kevin, Chris, Brian, and I, to be interviewed. To my relief, I did not have to talk my way out of the crime I had committed, which seemed to have occurred days earlier. It was about ten o’clock on a brisk and lonely night in November of 2001 when we parked my car about 800 meters away from our target, the notorious port-a-potty, which was located on the west side of the park. My car was the only car in the parking lot, which turned out to be our biggest mistake of the night. We sat in the car for about ten minutes with thoughts racing through our heads of the getaway route we were going to take. We talked about what we would do if we got split up on the run back and where we would meet. We also made sure we emptied our pockets of cell phones, wallets, and anything else that we might drop, which could connect us to the scene. The walk through the park to the port-a-potty seemed to be one of the longest walks of my life. The anticipation and excitement was like that of a kid opening presents on Christmas Eve. We were not exactly sure what was going to happen when we would place the sparkler bomb in the port-a-potty, but we had a good idea and could not wait to find out. When we finally reached the port-a-potty, we were constantly on the lookout for passers-by. We ended up waiting about thirty minutes for the coast to clear. We did not want to take any chances, because we knew of the considerable distance we had to run. Kevin would be the one to light the sparkler bomb, while Chris, Brian, and I were on the lookout. We made sure we had our running shoes tied up tight one last time. As Kevin stepped into the port-a-potty, we waited about ten feet behind in a row of trees impatiently anticipating the lighting of the sparkler bomb.

Microsoft: A case in cross-company transformation Essay

One of the key challenges facing this company is the lack of proper innovation. Most of the products that are produced by the company for the past years are mainly influenced the existing products from their competitors. This is very evident from the fact that the Windows operating system was much influenced by UNIX which had been incorporated in the Apple operating systems. Also, Microsoft office suite was greatly influenced by lotus and also word perfect. The lack of innovation in Microsoft Company does not stop here (Terwiesch & Ulrich, n.d.). It has gone further to produce the product that is similar to those that are on the market. This browser, internet explorer resembled Netscape and recently they have produced a search engine Bing, which is very similar to Google. This implies that there is a continuous strategy that is followed by Microsoft when it keeps on producing imitations of other products with the help of very heavy managers of marketing to help in promoting these par ticular products among the people in the bid to get a very big share in the market. Due to this, it can be easily criticized that despite the fact that million dollars have been used on the search engine Bing, it has not offered anything worthwhile or anything that can be termed as extra better as compared to whatever is being offered by the search engine google however, it is expected that Bing would contain some more features as compared to google. This would mean that Bing will contain a little more features that are not available for google. This is only thin that may favor the low profile Bing and give it an added advantage to Bing and give a better platform to the users. I realize that without getting proper innovation ideas, it will be very difficult for Microsoft to generate the same amount of profit and sustain this amount that they are currently earning backed up by the company’s cash cow which is Microsoft office and also Microsoft windows. Going by the I production of this Microsoft cloud computing, Microsoft has to prepare itself very well for the purpose of the incoming web based computing and not give much attention to their traditional desktop computing. For it to continue with the innovations, it has to be very careful on how to plan the prices that it will be charging for its operating systems and its applications which are usually available free of charge through the internet (Vermesan & Friess, n.d.). It should now continue with the innovations on the basis of its new Bing search engine and make sure that there are some unique features and this will give it enough reasons to the customers as to why they should consider this parti cular search engine. Microsoft should try to analyze this issues keenly and tap resources and extract its full potentials for the purpose of innovation. Addressing this challenges will help Microsoft in the future in a lot of ways. For instance, it will make sure that Microsoft is stable in the market and that the competition that it may receive from other competitors in the market will not derail it (Terwiesch & Ulrich, n.d.). Addressing this challenges will make sure that Microsoft Company gets unique features that stand out in various ways thus rendering the company a unique and different face in the market thus more customers will be drawn and maintained in the company for the purpose of the unique products. Low pricing strategy.If this company adhere to this strategy strictly, it will now be very differentiating candidly among the monopolistic practices that it had adopted previously on the basis of their operating systems. Microsoft company can just continue to operate under this strategy and also provide its regular products but maintain the price at its minimum and this will go a long way helping Microsoft in that it will be very difficult for other new entrants to diffuse into the market (Vermesan & Friess, n.d.) .aided by this low pricing strategy, Microsoft a s accompany will gain a lot of popularity by reaching out very many users. This will see Microsoft gain a very large market share .this will work effectively since the majority of the users will prefer to use the low price products and services as compared to the pricey ones. Another strategy that Microsoft can use is the no-frills strategy. Due to the introduction of the cloud computing idea, the majority of the computing will be online based and this means that the customer loyalty to the web-based applications and online soft wares is foreseen to be low. This means that customers can change their online web-based applications and the software if they are given good quality products at relatively reduced prices (Vermesan & Friess, n.d.). If Microsoft keeps their main focus on the innovations, this idea will be attractive to the customers that are price sensitive and do not care about the product quality. If this strategy is adopted by Microsoft, it can retain its customers while ensuring that their customers get best products with reduced prices. I would strongly recommend these particular initiatives to be implemented in Microsoft I at all they are interested in grabbing the future market and through this, they will remain to be the best company that p rovides the services of their kind. Reference Vermesan, O., & Friess, P. Building the hyperconnected society. Terwiesch, C., & Ulrich, K. Innovation Tournaments.

The Trojan War - Fact or Fiction - 1674 Words

The Trojan War Ââ€" Fact or Fiction? The Trojan War. Confined totally to the pages of Homers The Illiad, the indulgent fantasy of a Greek poet who lived over two and a half thousand years ago- or a historic fact at the centre of the most famous quarrel ever? The Illiad is the ancient tale of a mighty city called Troy that lay at the edge of Asia Minor whose prince abducted Helen, the most beautiful woman of all time, from the king of Greek Sparta, causing the Greeks to send an army in a thousand ships to attack and lay siege to Troy for 10 years. Historians have long doubted the credibility of Homer as a reliable historical source. However evidence has been uncovered by archaeologists to suggest that The Iliad has some basis in truth†¦show more content†¦The city that was revealed had characteristics of classical Greek and Roman times- a much later period. Korfmann noticed one faint feature that was out of place- a deep ditch cut into rock that marked the boundary of the lower city. Korfmann surmised that it s purpose was to keep enemy chariots from entering the city, located it in the fields below and found remains from the late Bronze Age buried in it. This evidence proves that the ditch marked the boundary of the city in the late Bronze Age, making the city a lot larger than was originally thought with a population of between four and eight thousand and completely supporting Homers description of Troy. Korfmanns team found that Bronze Age Troy had been destroyed by war and burnt to the ground. They found evidence of violence, arrowheads and sling pellets heaped together suggesting close quarter fighting and many skeletons are found e.g. the skeleton of a sixteen year old girl with burnt feet. That a young girl would be buried rapidly in a public place is highly unlikely unless the city was under attack resulting in civilians dying in the streets. Homer states that it was Mycenae that attacked Troy, and two and a half thousand years later modern archaeology supports him. The excavation of Mycenae as it was in the Bronze Age revealed that all roads in the country led to Mycenae, indicating that it was the centre of Greek civilization and therefore also the political centre Ââ€" any expedition ledShow MoreRelatedTrojan War: Fact or Fiction?1298 Words   |  5 PagesThe war began with a grand wedding between Peleus, the son of Aeacus, and Thetis, the sea-goddess. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding. Enraged at this, she stormed into the wedding and threw a golden apple of discord on a table. The apple had the inscription â€Å"For the fairest† a quarrel soon arose between three powerful goddesses. The three goddesses; Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all wanted the title of fairest. They wanted to Zeus to be the judge of this contest. NotRead MoreAnalysis Of The Iliad And The Odyssey785 Words   |  4 Pagesthought of as works of fiction, but there has been data proving otherwise. What if these epics could be scientifically proven to have actually happened? The epics take place near Greece during 12th century BC, following the hero named Odysseus as he fights in the Trojan War, and journeys home. Although the piece of literature features mythical creatures, magic, and unrealistic circumstances, we shouldn’t immediately disregard the idea of the literature being completely non-fiction. Archaeological evidenceRead MoreBarry Strausss The Trojan War1664 Words   |  7 Pagesis fiction, whereas some believe that it is nonfiction. As seen in Barry Strauss’s The Trojan War: A New History, the author argues that the Trojan War was significant and then shows evidence from as of late that supports the concept of the Trojan War actually occurring. Throughout his book he explains and gives insight into what happened during the Trojan War and how it developed based off of Homer’s writing. Strauss’s sole purpose is to inspect what was previously said about the Trojan War andRead MoreThe war between the Trojans and the Achaeans, which resulted in the Fall of Troy1084 Words   |  5 PagesA war is a behavior patterned of organized violent conflict, which the causes are extreme aggression, societal disruption and high mortality. It involves two or more groups which has found a conflict which may not be resolved, only through war. In all cases, there is always one participant or group which remains successful at the end. Leaders always enter a war with their nation even though they s ay their actions were defensive; however when viewed objectively, their actions may more closely be dueRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s The Iliad 1348 Words   |  6 PagesFor thousands of years the Trojan War, spoken of in Homer s epic poem the Iliad, has been believed to have been a legend made up by Homer rather than a poem based on historical fact. It was only in 1865 that archeologists began digging up Hissarlik, the supposed site of Troy based on the Iliad, situated in Troad in the North-West of the Asian Minor. The first archeologist at this site, Frank Calvert, was convinced that Hissarlik was the site of the ancient city of Troy. After numerous archeologicalRead MoreAchilles, Aeneas, and Roland979 Words   |  4 Pagesget through their very insecure days, people would tell oral stories of great heroes, like those of Achilles, Aeneas, and Roland. Achilles was a Greek war hero who fights in the Trojan War, a ten year long war between Greece and Troy (present day Turkey). Aene as was an epic hero in ancient Roman folklore. He was a soldier who fought in the Trojan War and after surviving the destruction of Troy, he later founded the city of Rome. Roland was an epic hero of the Franks, a Germanic tribe in present dayRead MoreThe Trojan War Essay1479 Words   |  6 Pageshas gone into the excavations there by many archaeologists, and many interesting artefacts have been found. The story of the Ancient City of Troy is a great one, however many people believed it didn’t exist and that Homers Iliad, the story of the Trojan War was just some story. This has since been proved untrue as the city of Troy was discovered, and the pieces of this amazing puzzle have fallen together. Homer described Troy as an exceptionally large city with large high powerful walls, wide streetsRead MoreThe Odyssey by Homer1210 Words   |  5 Pagesoverhears reciting two poems, one is an account of the Trojan War, the other a love story between two of the gods. Odysseus then a sks Demodocus to return to the theme of the Trojan wars, specifically about the Trojan horse, which he played a large role in executing. Odysseus accidently reveals his identity to Demodocus since he cannot hide his passion for the event. Prompted by Demodocus, Odysseus recounts the events since the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus then goes on to tell the stories of theRead MoreHomer’S Two Tales, The Iliad And The Odyssey, Are Both1749 Words   |  7 Pageswith our culture today. Homer is a name that needs little introduction, but to understand ones works you must first possess the right knowledge of the creator of said works. For the longest time the Iliad and Odyssey were considered historical fact by most all the way up until approximately the 17th century CE (Burgess, 21). The term â€Å"creator† may not even be correct since many scholars now believe that â€Å"Homer† is likely a number of different poets and authors who either came together to createRead MoreThe Odyssey vs the Lord of the Rings1526 Words   |  7 Pagescertainly is present in the Greek myths, for example, or in Homer’s epic poems that draw on these myths—both of which describe a world in which men and gods mix freely, a world that is no more. Tolkien’s own work is something between mythology and fiction, locating itself in a middle ground between a past that is remembered only in song and the everyday present of the reader. This sense of ancientness is constantly present, brought to life in chants, poems, and graven inscriptions. As Tolkien shows