Qivaro Extreme makeover: college concourse edition Do the new renovations live up to the hype? By Jacey Gibb, Opinions Editor T* concourse here at the New Westminster campus and I have had quite the roller coaster of a relationship. The first day I came in for orientation, I remember gawking at how cool and college-like the wide open space felt. But those feelings were quickly replaced with ones of apathy and disinterest. I even wrote an article a few months back on trying to interpret whether I actually liked the supposed central of our school (Are you pro-course or concourse?) but by the end of it I had realized that more than anything, I just didn’t care. I can only assume that my words really had a personal impact on the Facilities Department, since over the summer it seems like the college decided to resuscitate this once dormant domain and make Douglas a bit less dreary. Probably the first thing I noticed about the newly decorated concourse was the flooring through the second floor and parts of the first and third. Before, where I walked was a dull and forgettable neutral colour but the combination of sea colours and greys now creates a more noticeable presentation. As well, the way the floor has been designed seems to create a comforting flow to the area in general. Of course, the most obvious change comes in the form of the new seating area, replacing what used to be endless amounts of stairs to nowhere. While I actually don’t mind sitting on uncomfortable steps, the new structure inhabiting Douglas’ concourse is a welcome addition in my eyes. Here there are fourteen round tables and four lounge setups; an impressive amount considering the area doesn’t look that big from the outside. Another gold star goes to the builders for designing it in a way that muffles noise coming from the rest of the concourse, meaning I can study just fine without wanting to rip the head off of Tammy loud-talker on the other side of the windowpane. The general idea behind the renovations seems to be “more modern” and “more places to sit.” That’s why on the third and fourth floors you’ll be greeted with a respectable amount of cozy setups with flat screens and chairs. While there’s no doubt about it that the chairs are better than what used to be there (steels benches with no backs), I feel like this is the one part of the makeover that let me down. They’re great for when you want to lounge back and chill, but they’re not really comfortable for when you have your laptop set up on the table or are trying to write. Let’s be honest here; we’re students and don’t need places to relax, but rather places where we can slaughter essays and book reports. Nitpicking aside though, the college really stepped it up this year and did a great job breathing new life into the concourse. Blasting bad bloggers Pointers on how to ensure your blog isn’t a bust By Jenn Markham ne thing I think people forget O- they’re writing blogs is that the internet is a public platform. Anything you write online, you may as well be screaming out while standing in the middle of the street. Some of the blogs I’ve found online contain overly racist, sexual or sometimes even violent content that just doesn’t jive with even the most basic of social norms. People might argue that blogs are just the place for that kind of taboo material, but I argue that a diary no one reads besides you might be a bit more appropriate. When writing a blog, keep the range of your audience in mind, which might even include grandmas. That being said, no one cares that your cat’s poop smells like popcorn, even if you write it humorously. Some things just aren’t interesting enough for the majority of the population to warrant writing about. Another problem with blogs 12 is the frequency that the writer posts things. Posting too frequently is annoying and can get really repetitive, whereas not posting anything for days at a time will cause your followers to lose interest. My favourite blogs only post once a day or every couple days, so try and stay around there. An extra aspect of blogging to use in moderation is adding pictures. They work well to break up the text and give readers a visual, but again I caution that they can be overused. A five picture sequence of your cat taking a poop, which will later smell like popcorn, is unnecessary. If you’re thinking of writing a blog, keep in mind what you are associating yourself with on the wonderful world wide web. If a potential employer Googles you, finding out you stalk the cast from Twilight in your spare time probably won’t qualify you over other applicants. The good blogs out there are definitely worth browsing through the thousands of mediocre ones to find. Welcoming words into the wonderful world of officialness Another year, another batch of new official words By Jacey Gibb, Opinions Editor ell everybody, it’s time to break out the mankinis and celebrate because we have a fresh crop of new words being added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary! While the collection might not be as exclusive as those snobs over at the “official” Oxford English Dictionary, to be one of the 240,000 words chosen still has some amount of esteem to it. However, after reading over some of the new entries, it seems like the people working overtime to promoted to the status of being real words? Well you do now! At least they had to decency to give woot an official title too. To be honest, I use that one so much that I had forgotten it wasn’t actually a word. A lot of the other words being added have serious what-the-hell properties though. While the ones I’ve mentioned thus far are technology themed and are therefore at least semi-legitimate, was anyone really holding their breath to see if jeggings or mankini made the cut? That’s right. Mankinis are a real thing: a brief one-piece bathing garment for men, with “Being one of the last non-tweeting humans alive, | was surprised to see retweet as one of words getting the stamp of authentication. Then again, sexting is probably even less relevant to our society and it’s also joining the club.” bring us a list of what we can and can’t use in Scrabble have been scraping the bottom of the vocabulary barrel here. Not surprisingly, a large amount of the word rookies are ones that are technology or internet inspired. Being one of the last non-tweeting humans alive, I was surprised to see retweet as one of words getting the stamp of authentication. Then again, sexting is probably even less relevant to our society and it’s also joining the club. I actually had a friend that didn’t know what sexting meant, but assumed it was just a funny way of saying texting. Other additions that were probably added in a desperate attempt to seem hip and in-the- know when it comes to technologic terms are cyberbullying (when an electronic platform is used to harass someone) and textspeak (something that refers to the language used in text messages, but actually just makes me think of 1984). By the way, did you know that OMG, TMI, and LOL have actually been a T-back. Too bad beach season is already behind us! Domestic goddess is another one that gets a face palm from this guy. While the term has logic to it (a woman with exceptional domestic skills), who is actually going to use that one around the dinner table? The words work fine on their own so why make the combination of the two a standalone entity? I suppose I should watch where I’m throwing my jabs here, since I always get narrow eyed when someone slaps me with a condescending “that’s not a word!” Back when language first started out, there were technically no official words at all, so it seems like every one of them had to start somewhere. Even as I write this article, my spell check is screaming to me in blatant red underlining at all of the words that don’t register, but fear not spell check. Language is something that is continuously evolving and, while it’s arguable whether it’s for better or worse, I’m going to embrace it. Can I get a woot woot?