Blog Assignment

Here are the 10 blog posts the I have chosen for my Blog Assignment.

1) This post is in response to the Activity from 1/29/2009. I posted it on Tuesday February 3rd. I chose this blog post because it is responding to Meredith Badger's article about imagery in blogs, which is a major objective of creating interesting blogs and websites. People decorate their blogs in a way that represent's themselves, it creates a sense of individuality, and in a place as immense at the world wide wed, I believe individuality is extremely important.

2) This post is responding to the question, "How has the interent changed throughout my lifetime?" I posted on Monday February 9th, 2009. I chose this post because I think it is pretty crazy to think out how different things are from just 10 years ago. The way the internet has evolved into such a huge part of people's lives is incredible to me. To some, the internet is a career, and to some, the internet is the means to a job or a career. People are able to do wild things on the internet. There are almost no limitations.

3) This post is in response to the activity on February 19, 2009. I posted it on Monday February 23rd. I decided to use this post for my assignment because it is short and sweet, but is able to sum up important material. This post is about internet journalism, and I go on to descirbe the different ways people are able to become news portals, in other ways than just newspapers or websites like MSN, or YAHOO. People are able to spread information through blogs and personal websites, which are sometimes visted more often that actual news sources.

4) Blog post #4 for this assignment is about how the internet has changed within the last 5 years. I was in response to the activity for 2/26, and I posted on Tuesday March 3rd. This was late because I'm not sure if you remember, but I had to take my mother to the hospital on Monday and honestly I was a little frazzled and forgot to post. When I did get it done though, I wrote about how websites like youtube.com and match making sites have improved people's worlds. Well, maybe saying youtube has improved someone's world is going a little far, but these days, you never know.

5) Post #5 is about the gaps between generations and how they are effected by technology. The post was in response to the April 2nd activity and I posted on Saturday April 4th. I chose this post because I gave perfect examples of how technology is different for generations, but how there are also exceptions to the rule. My father, is absolutley clueless when it comes to technology, yet my uncle, who is 10 years older than my dad, is an expert. There really are no limits to who can learn how to use the internet, unless of course parents have activated the parental control settings.

6)  I chose this post because I was able to talk about one of my favorite things.  I chose to write this post about the show Rescue Me.  I posted this on Tuesday April 7th, which was the season 5 premiere of the show.  Along with the internet, television is another source of media and entertainment.  I may not be the world's best blogger, but I think by writing about one of my favorite television shows, it shows a little part of me and my individuality. 

7)  The 7th post I chose for the blog assignment was in response to the April 9th activity.  The assignment was to write about our upcoming multimedia projects and how we envision our site.  In my post, again I believe that it shows a little bit of who I am because I decided to do mine on a personal interest.  I want my site to intense, yet simple.  King Henry was a very intense and dominant man, so the colors for my website need to be the same.  I think that I kind of go along with that too.  I am a very simple person, it doesn't take a lot to keep my happy, but I can also be very intense when I feel the need to be.

8)  This next post that I chose was posted on Saturday April 18th.  I chose this post because I wrote it on a night that a post wasn't even due yet,  I just intended to share a little bit about how I was feeling.  I was sick from the construction being done at my work, which is at Molina Fine Jewelers, and I was in the middle of watching a show based on what I am doing my multimedia project on.  In the beginning, truth be told, I really did not enjoy blogging, but now that I am accustomed to it, I even see it as an outlet, so it becomes more enjoyable every time.

9)  Post number 9 of the blog assignment is about social media websites.  The was in response to the April 16th Activity, and it was posted on Monday, April 20th.  I chose this post for the assignment because social media websites are everywhere these days.  There are constantly new ones popping up, and some that have stayed around since the beginning.  To name a few, the most well known right now are facebook, myspace, and twitter.  Those I guess would be examples of social networking.  Some social media sites could be considered Wonderwall and Perez Hilton.

10)  The last post that I chose was my last one about upcoming finals.  Like I said, now that I am used to blogging, it feels like more of an outlet to me than classwork.  Writing about stressing out over finals seems to make the whole ordeal feel like less of a big deal.  I'm glad that I took this class and opened my mind up to the concept of blogging.

Finals Week

It's that time of year again. Finals week is always such a stressful week for me. I'm usually not very stressed about the actual exams, but the final projects for classes are what kill me. I've always been able to write a paper so easily, or even cram for a test the night before and end up doing pretty well, but for some reason, projects take me a ridiculously long time to do. My whole life, I haven't even been a creative person. I never liked to play with dolls, I didn't have any imaginary friends, I never even really played pretend when I was a kid. I was either playing with other kids, or I was watching a television show. Thats probably why I love TV so much now. Anyway, I have two final projects, one for this class, ENG 494, and my other project is for BLE 220. I have to write a lesson plan using a strategy, then modify it for a ESL (English as a Second Language) student. Honestly, I didn't do extremely well on the first one so I need to correct that one, then do another one. Not fun, this is not going to any fun at all. So aside from those, I have already completed 2 finals, and I have one more exam on friday. I hope it goes well. On the 12th, the semester is officially over! See you in 3 months ASU.

4/16 Activity

Social Media websites are everywhere, and becoming more more frequently used by the minute. Personally, I don't really check social media sites on the computer. The ones I know about are Perez Hilton, and one called WonderWall. I sometimes read WonderWall because when i log on to MSN, they have some celebrity updates, and the link takes you to the WonderWall site. I never read Perez Hilton, and I don't really know what Twitter is, but I do know that John Mayer is a HUGE fan of it, because I'm always reading in the magazines that he has "trashed" another girlfriend, or made some obscene comment on his blog. I think that these sites are a great way to keep up with what is going on in the world with celebrities and other people, but I do feel like it is something to do when one wants to escape from the realities of everyday life for the average person. I can relate to spending crazy long hours at work, wishing I could be someone else at that very moment. "Oh, I wonder what it is that Angelina Jolie is doing at this moment, whatever it is, I am SURE it is so much more exciting than what I am doing right now." For moments like that, I can understand why someone would want to read about what the rich and famous have going on during a Monday afternoon. For those who wish to escape from their lives for just a moment, these social networking sites are exactly the place to go to.

Home on a Saturday Night

I honestly cannot believe how close we are to the end of the semester. For the next 3 weeks I have one big project, 2 research papers, and 3 midterm exams. Definitely not looking forward to it. Tomorrow though, I am very excited because I am going apartment hunting. I live on campus now, so having my own place will be a very nice change from the dorms. I do have it pretty easy though honestly. I live in the towers, and don't have a roommate, so it is basically like having an apartment now, even though the carpet is pretty gross, and there is a weird brown stain on the kitchen floor right in front of the refrigerator. Even with shoes on, I always stand to the side when i need to get something out, never going near hat very strange brown stain. I don't know what it is, or how long it's been there, but one thing I do know, is that I am not going near it.

I'm at home writing this on a saturday night, pretty sad, I do have a good excuse though. I worked all day today and for some reason I feel exhausted. They were remodeling the kitchens and storage rooms in the building today so I was inhaling dust for 8 hours. That, mixed with the fact that I have asthma does not seem to be working in my favor. Definitely planning on finishing up the new episode of The Tudors, getting my laundry done, then going to bed. Gotta be sure I catch up on the doings of King Henry VIII if I'm going to do my media project on him. In the previous 2 seasons, he managed to make prevail over both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boelyn. This season he is on his 3rd wife, Jane Seymour, only 3 more to go!

4/9 Activity

For my multimedia project, I plan to make my webpages look as clear and clean as possible while still being able to hold the reader's interest. I like simple solid colors for backgrounds, and basic colors for the font. The font I plan to choose will also be simple and easy to read. When putting together my project, I will add titles and links for different sections of the project, and make sure that the amount of writing for every page does not exceed 2 paragraphs. Usually, I feel that if there is too much text on one page, and if the writing is really tiny, then going through all the information tends to hurt my eyes and leaves me with a headache later on. Like I said, I plan to use a simple font at a decent size, so the reader does not feel overwhelmed when they see the page. It is important to make sure that the page is not too cluttered, and remains easy to navigate with all of the links to the different pages. I am not sure yet exactly what I want to do my multimedia project on, but I do have a vision of how I would like it to look. For example, if I were to do a page on the wives of King Henry VIII, I would have the central page as Henry, and each link would branch off to information about each of his wives. The colors I may use would represent the time period, dark colors, such as dark reds, purples, golds, etc, to represent royalty. I think that may actually be exaclty what I am doing my project on.

Rescue Me

This may be a pretty lame post this afternoon, but not going to lie, I am really excited for the return of Rescue Me. Season five premieres tonight at 10 pm. Rescue Me did not come on when it was supposed to last year because of the infamous writers strike, but now that that ordeal is over with, Denis Leary and his loyal crew of "firefighters" are back for 22 episodes of fire, comedy, and numerous celebrity guest stars. Season premier opens with the addition of Michael J. Fox as Denis Leary's character Tommy Gavin's, ex-wife's, new boyfriend. Pretty excited to see how NY truck 62 manages to captivate it's audience this season.

April 2 Activity

I agree about what the article has said about how different the world has been for people born within the last 30 years as opposed to the generation before them, but growing up around computers hasnt made everyone born in this era a computer wiz. When I think about the difference in generations regarding computers, my first comparison is between me and my father. He has no idea how to work a computer. He can barely even text. He uses a blackberry for business, and he really has mastered that, but if he recieves a text, it overwhelms him and he will not respond, even though it is basically the same exact process as responding to an email on his blackberry. Now with me, I think I can use a computer pretty well, but Iam no expert. I do what I need to, and I use it for all kinds of purposes, but when it comes to our last project, creating a website, I needed a little help, and thats where my buddy Adam came in to save the day. I know a lot more about computers and the internet than my father does, but I dont even know half as much as my uncle does, and he is in his 60s. My uncle John program and fixes MAC computers for colleges. He knows pretty much everything there is to know about everything electronic. Now even though he was born well before the Gen Y generation, he knows far more than I ever will. Although it is the common idea that us young people know all about computers, don't rule out the older generation, because even though some of them (my dad) know absolutley nothing, others like my uncle, can rule the computer world.