And Finished!!!!!!!!

Yay! I'm done with classes and all that crap! Only three finals to go and then working Monday-Friday next week. Then I get to head to Elkhart and work there...woo hoo!

The poster presentation went well I think. I think they should have allowed more time to walk through though because I was at the end of the room and I was late to work and I'm pretty sure there were people late for class because they hadn't talked to anyone yet. I can't remember what else I am supposed to talk about in this final post...so, a summation of my thoughts about the class:

The blog thing was crazy, I understand making one and doing a few posts, but every week is ridiculous.

The exams were insanely long and the wiki study guides were useless.

I had stayed away from Twitter for a reason and didn't like that I was required to have it, though I have kind of grown to enjoy it to an extent.

The technology pitches were a joke and so poorly organized.

The poster presentations were also poorly organized as far as time went.

I was not a fan of the class overall. At all. I will be very glad when it is over and I can only hope that voicing my opinions will not negatively effect my grade because I am only following the assignment. Perhaps my comments will be taken into account for future classes. I don't know. Everything is just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Almost done for the semester!

Alright, so I have soooo much crap going on right now with final papers and projects. We did half the poster presentations for Com 435 on Monday and it was alright. I still think it's ridiculous that we had to tweet about them. I got mine done though and then went to work and then class and then work again and then had to do a bunch of homework. Now, I'm finally done with class and work for the day and have to work on the two papers that are due tomorrow. So hopefully my comment about the poster presenation will suffice for now and count for my technology/communication coment for this post. I'll write again on Saturday about how my poster deal went. Hopefully the next couple of days won't be too crazy, I have a feeling it will be just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Back from Texas...:-(

So I'm back from Texas. Which makes me super sad. But I had a FANTASTIC time. It was incredibly fun. We landed in DFW, flew to Midland, stayed there for the night. Then went to San Angelo Wednesday, stayed there until Friday, went back to Midland for the night, went to Nazareth Saturday, back to Midland for the night, bummed around Midland Sunday, flew back into DFW, flew back to Indy, drove back to school. It was crazy. But awesome.

I don't have much time because I have to go to work, so I'll cut straight to the technology part, but I will update with further details for Ellen later since I know that she is missing me.

Technology:
I got to shoot some targets over break with some guns that I had not shot before. I shot the .22 again and I hit a target about the size of my palm from ~100 yards, I was pumped. I also shot a 9mm pistol and a 30-30...not sure how to correctly write that, but it's a big rifle that has some kick to it. It was awesome, but the technological part that I'm going to connect to it is that I think it is amazing how something as old as a gun is still around and still used for so many years without too terribly much altercation. Yes, they have been updated and modified, but not to any extreme extent in most cases. The inner workings have been a little refined, but if the people that used the first guns were to pick up a gun today, they would still be able to use it. I think that means it is a pretty well designed piece of equipment. Effective through the years. It's just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Crazy, Hectic Monday and Tuesday

So, it's Tuesday morning and I leave for Texas in just a few hours!!!!!!!!!!! I woke up for my 7:30 class this morning, only to remember, as I looked in the door, that it was cancelled. So I was up for no good reason, but since I was on campus, I came to the lab to get things done.

This weekend in Elkhart was actually not too bad, surprisingly. My sister's play was fantastic. They were doing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and it was so good. I had never seen the show before, so that was cool, and I haven't seen my sister dance or perform in a LONG time. She has gotten so old, it's just totally weird to see. My dad was operating the curtain and my brother was up in the booth doing lights. Which is also totally weird because they haven't ever been involved in that kind of stuff before that I can remember but they were all into this show. And we went out both Friday and Saturday night after the shows, which was also weird...plus my dad didn't complain about spending the money...even weirder. My brother had gotten his braces off, so he looked way different and he has the scar on his head from his stitches, and he's crazy tall. My sister has gotten way tall too (I'm now the shortest in the family) and she has gotten boobs which is not even allowed as far as I'm concerned. My dad's pinkie is recovering from his surgery that he had to have on it a while back that I don't think I have discussed here, but he had some pins put in it after he smashed the bones to bits...The story here is that the drain in the basement flooded and he wanted to fix it himself instead of spending money on someone to do it. So he rented the machine, but his pinkie got caught in some chain or something and it smashed it to pieces. And he finished doing the job, might not have even gone to the hospital, but his sister said he should, so he did, and he walked down there instead of my mom taking him...granted it is only a couple blocks down the street, but seriously, ridiculous. Anyway, he ended up having surgery on it. So he has this elastic thing that he keeps on it to help the swelling and stuff. And then he has wicked scars going on. And he has this stuff like Play-Doh that is different strengths that he has to use to work with it. He went to therapy for a few weeks, but he has to keep working it himself now. Friday he had gone to the doctor and gotten this splint that he has to wear at night. He said Saturday morning that he had only made it about 45 minutes that night before he had to take it off because it basically takes his pinkie, which is hooked now, and straightens it. Which hurts like hell. Usually, the pinkie is mostly straight, but after he works it, it's like a pirate hook.

Anyway, I have to finish this up and get other things done...technology, technology...
Crazy that they can put pins in someone's pinkie to straighten it! Also! About the play! So the venue was pretty small (a high school auditorium) so there wasn't an orchestra pit. So up in the box where the lights were done, they had a video camera set up that was connected to a TV that was in a room off to the side of the auditorium. That's where the orchestra was! They were seeing the play live on TV, but none of us saw the musicians. My grandma and I actually thought the music was a recording, we didn't even know there was an orchestra! It was pretty damn cool though when we had it explained to us. It was just nuts. Completely pistachios.

And Now for a Little Lull...and a Trip to Elkhart

Alright, so last week was crazy. This week isn't quite so hectic, but I have to get a lot done regardless because I am going to Elkhart this weekend and then I'm going to be back for Sunday night and Monday and then I leave for Texas on Tuesday...so yeah. This is going to be a quick post because I have to get things ready!

I guess I want to talk about this ridiculous study that I did today for Com Extra Credit. I was supposed to be in a chatroom with a few other people and we had to do problem solving type things. Instead, I was in there with one other guy that did NOTHING. He only responded by agreeing to me or questioning me, even when I was right. It was totally ridiculous. Though I do appreciate the fact that I can get extra credit for doing research studies, I think they are silly sometimes. The TA that was running this particular study was the TA that I had for recitation as soon as the study was over. I went into class and actually asked her if it was a computer or something or if it was to test if I would still work on the thing and try to communicate with someone that wasn't responding. Unfortunately, she said that the guy probably just sucked that much as a partner...which is kind of sad. Regardless, I got my points, so I guess it's not too bad. I think it's silly though that the COMMUNICATION research is often done in silence, on computers, without actually talking to someone. That is just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Busy Times!

This week is CRAZY! I have a lot of my classes cancelled, but I also have a ton of projects, papers, exams and things going on. Our pitch for Com 435 was this morning and it went pretty well. Kate ran out of time at the end, but considering we found out that we couldn't use notes literally moments before we presented, I think it went well.

I have discussion questions that I have to do for my Anth 230 class on Blackboard. I think it's kind of cool but impersonal that we have groups that we work with and we are supposed to have this discussion on a website with people we don't actually know and have never met. It's a little bit nice because you can be totally honest about your opinion and you don't have to worry about reprocussions...at least not yet, we work with that same group later on this semester, we'll see how that goes later I suppose.

I have to do an online quiz too for my Mgmt 200 class and I HATE online quizzes. Especially when they involve math. You have to copy everything down to work it out first off, then you have to work it out. And there is no chance for partial credit or anything. You're just wrong. And since it's multiple choice, half the time I think that I actually, finally, have the concept down and I'm finally getting somewhere. And then that stupid automatic grader sends you your score and you find out that you are, in fact, screwed by technology again. And instead of understanding the material and what you did wrong, you are told by the computer that you are an idiot and now you can feel bad the rest of the night because technology enabled you to know that you just failed that quiz, congrats.

This week is going to be just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Hershey's Bars Rock

And now for the Halloween update!

Didn't they turn out well? I cut his neck hole a little bit too big, but it worked out well enough in the end. The glud didn't hold the sides, so they were just open which actually worked out better because it allowed for some ventilation and movement.

The party that we went to sucked though, and I'm going to (go figure) blame technology!!! Everything was going well until they turned on the fog machine. Fog machines are great inventions in and of themselves because they make foggy, cool atmospheres. However, it seems that when fog (which is basically smoke) combines with a smoke detector, chaos insues. And because of the combination of fog machine and smoke detector, twenty minutes into the party, the fire alarms started going off. Now, if they could have just turned off the alarm because there was clearly not a fire, things would have been fine. But, being a fraternity, that was not an option. Instead we had to evacuate the house (and it was really cold outside...I sat in the truck and wrote on the fogged up windows, much to Jonathan's chagrin), the fire department had to come out, search the entire house, and then turn off the alarm before we were allowed to go back inside. This was all ridiculous on its own. But then they sent 2 police cars, a ladder truck, a regular truck, and an abulance. And it had to be explained that it was just a silly mistake with a fog machine gone awry. It was just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Halloween is Almost Here!

So Halloween is almost here. Jonathan and I are going to be Hershey Bars, I'm original and he has almonds...get it? I'm making them from felt, hopefully they turn out ok. This post is going to talk about sewing machines, because they are technology! I was considering using my sewing machine to make our costumes, but it isn't my favorite and it seems like a waste of time when just glue will suffice. Sewing machines these days amaze me. My absolute favorite is still my Grandma's. It has a knee pedal and it is the one that I learned on. It just has the basics; you go forward, press a button to go backward, etc. However, now you can buy these monstrocities that Laura Ingalls Wilder couldn't have even imagined in her wildest dreams! Machines that are programmed to do certain stitches and embroidery and sail you to the moon. Like this crazy machine that has more buttons than a keyboard. There isn't knowledge or skill needed anymore to sew, which is a real shame. I remember learning to sew in my Grandma's basement with that knee pedal, following the line on a piece of notebook paper with an unthreaded needle. Those were the days...these machines now are just nuts...completely pistachios.

It's Been A While, Let's See Where This Goes

Alright, it's been a long time. And because I am not really feeling up to writing a lot tonight, I'll just cut straight to the point.

The study guide, sadly, for this class, so hopefully I won't get a lower grade because of this post, was a JOKE. We had to create a wiki. In itself, not completely ridiculous, but not really my thing. I understand the point behind having the students create the guide so that we sift through the material and realize what is the most important. However, when it comes to actually studying, that sucked. There was no way to view it as a comprehensive list, you couldn't print it off, you just had to click through the information. And since everything came straight from the notes, ther was no point in trying to remember half the information on the site.

Wikis seem like a decent idea. If you are trying to collaborate an idea with multiple people, fine, but with 100+, it seems a bit crazy. If you don't have to ever see all the information that has been gathered at once, again, could be a good idea. I don't know how many people actually used the wiki to study, but I know that I did not. Hopefully the teacher can figure out some other way to use wikis and teach the class about them, because creating a study guide with them was a terrible idea.

That's all, I don't know if this will fill requirements, but the main point is that technology, in this case, did not make studying easier, just more complicated, confusing, and nearly impossible. It's like a theme, the more I think about technology the more I find that it just complicates my life and makes me frustrated. It's just nuts. Completely pistachios.

October Break with Jonathan, Frustration with GPS, and Roller Coasters!

So this past weekend (October 10-14) was October Break. I got out of work at 4:45 on Friday night, which was awesome because it was before 7:50 which is when I usually get done. We didn't really do much Friday night because there wasn't really anyone in town. We did go up to the house and drink a couple of beers with the very few guys that were there, but I am super cool and I fell asleep on the couch next to the table where everyone else was playing Landmines and partying around me...I know, my lameness factor is just astounding. However, Friday night led to Saturday!

Saturday morning I really needed a kick in the butt to get moving because I was feeling so LAZY! However, we finally got all packed and on the road to Sandusky, Ohio...why you ask? Because we got to go to CEDAR POINT! Yes, Cedar Point is still open this time of year and actually better because it's not so stupid busy. Jonathan had never been there, so he used his iPhone's GPS to get directions. Normally, this might not be a bad idea, but it took us all the way up I-65 to 80-90...which is near Crown Point. That means we went North (good) West (bad). However, it took us through Elkhart, where my family lives. So we decided to stop and visit. I tried to make it a surprise but my family has kind of big mouths and that failed epically. We got to town at about 6:00. First stop, Grandma and Papa's house to see them and Mamie. We stayed there for about half an hour and visited, saw Liv's senior pictures, talked, etc. Then we headed to the high school to see my brother because he seemed like he actually wanted to see me, which was a bit odd, but it's better than him not wanting to see me. He was out there at the soccer game and it was COLD so we didn't stay for long at all. Then we stopped at St. Thomas where my mom was for Trivia Night. We had a whirlwind of introductions to people I don't really know, but Jonathan did get to meet Mrs. Sutula, which was pretty cool. Then my mom told me that Aunt Colleen wanted to see me, so we stopped by her house and saw her, Laura, and Lanie (Jonathan for the first time). At this point it was only about 7:00, if that. Then we ran to my house where my dad was and Jonathan saw where I grew up and all. We were back on the road by 7:30. Pretty impressive right? The only people we didn't see were my sister (she was baby-sitting) and my Uncle John, Olivia, and Drew (Mamie's family, they were at a band competition) and my other Uncle John and Becca (they were at the hockey game). Still, all in all, impressive. So we continued to drive, paying astronomical tolls the entire way until we finally arrived in Sandusky. Now, unfortunately, we did not have hotel reservations. Apparently Columbus Day must be a bigger thing in Ohio than it is in Indiana because we stopped at probably 10 hotels and called at least 5 more before we found one with a vacancy. It was a Red Roof Inn and it was decent, it definitely worked, plus they had free breakfast, which is always a good thing for me!

Sunday morning we woke up and went to Cedar Point! It was awesome. It wasn't super cold, but it was definitely cool. I wore a tank top, a sweatshirt and my Columbia fleece and I was good, except my fingers on the rides. We had so much fun! We went on almost everything, but when we were just about to the front of the line to ride the Top Thrill Dragster, it broke down, so we got out of line and didn't return because it was always too long or broken down. (That's the Dragster to the left, obviously I didn't take this picture because I never actually got on it...but it is 420' tall and goes 120 mph in 40 seconds...ridiculous.) We did go on tons of other rides, like the Millenium Force, Mantis, and Magnum (three of the other big rides at Cedar Point.

I don't really know what my favorite ride was, but I really, really love the Wicked Twister (to the right). Last time I was at Cedar Point with my sister, we went on this twice, back to back. She and her friends made fun of me mercilessly because I do this laugh/scream thing while I'm on roller coasters and it was particularly bad on the Wicked Twister. Well, turns out I still do this laugh/scream thing (luckily, Jonathan thought it was hilarious and cute because it would have been a very long day for him if he thought it was annoying or something.) It also turns out that it is particularly bad on the Wicked Twister still. We got off the coaster and this guy was like, "Oh my god, was that you laughing hysterically the entire time?? That was so awesome! It was hilarious! *insert impression of me laughing*" Needless to say I was a bit embarrassed, but I was still laughing so I couldn't really do too much about it. This has all the technical information about the Wicked Twister, which I am now slightly more afraid of knowing all the details! After the Wicked Twister, we went on maXair (to the left), which is pretty awesome because it is a huge circle with 50 seats facing outward that spins (not super fast though) while it swings like a pendulum. Pretty cool if I do say so myself. Then we headed out because it was about 6:00 and we got there at about 10:45-11:00 and it was starting to get pretty chilly.

We headed down to Dayton, Ohio for the night because we were going to the Air Force Museum on Monday. We made it down to Lima, Ohio and decided to stop for dinner (we wanted something semi-healthy because we had been eating junk all day) so we stopped when we saw a Cracker Barrel so we could have salad and nothing else really sounded good, but then there was an Olive Garden next door to the Cracker Barrel and Jonathan said that Italian food had really sounded good to him but he didn't want to hold out for an Olive Garden, but since it was right there, we decided to stop there. We had soup (Zuppa Toscana), salad, and bread sticks and it delicious and the perfect healthy(ish) food to end the day. Then we decided that we were too sleepy, and though we could get to Dayton without trouble or being unsafe, and decided to just get a hotel right there in Lima because there were a ton of hotels. And again with the booked out hotels! Luckily, we only had to go to two before we got a room at a Courtyard by Marriott. It was so nice! We had a king-size bed, flat screen TV, plus it was super nice with decorations, art on the walls and it was just pretty!

Monday we woke up and headed down to Dayton and the Air Force Museum. It was really cool, there were so many planes and of course Jonathan was in heaven. Plus, I got my own personal tour guide with all kinds of inside information about the different planes, their history, what they were used for, why they aren't used anymore, what they were good for, why they are famous, etc. without having to read the signs, though sometimes I did anyway. I really liked the nose art on them, but not all of them have nose art, which was a little bit sad. But Jonathan told me that there is a nose art museum in Midland, which I now really want to go to. I kinda liked the Boeing P-26A "Peashooter" (above). I'm not really sure why, I just like it. Isn't it kinda cute?

The North American F-82 Twin Mustang (to the left) was another one that I really liked. It is one plane with two cockpits so that two pilots could fly for long periods of time without having to stop. One would just sleep while the other one operated the plane. It was just really cool to look at it because you think your eyes are playing tricks, but they aren't. The other one that I really, really super liked was the Lockheed F-94C Starfire (to the right). It is awesome! It has 24 rockets in its nose and then 24 more in 2 wingpods (12 on each wing). If you look at the picture you can see the wing pod on the right where there are 12 holes in a star shape to hold the 12 rockets. Pretty much, the museum was pretty awesome and Jonathan loved it, so that was cool. He got to see the Northrop B-2 Spirit, which is a cool, stealthy plane that looks all sneaky and advanced. And of course, he saw his favorite planes, the P-38 Lightening and the P-51 Mustang. It was a great trip all in all. We had a lot of fun, even if we didn't sleep a whole ton like you are supposed to on break, then again, who is to say that you have to sleep on break, it's your break, is it not?

And now for the technological part! As I mentioned before, we were using the iPhone GPS (and a map when it failed) to navigate our trip. As I wrote in my previous post about the Garmin, I think that GPS systems are complete crap. Granted, there is no great way to get up to Elkhart (or Northeast Indiana in general) from West Lafayette, however, the GPS took us possibly the most inconvenient path that exists. We went totally Northwest and then took toll roads the entire way to Sandusky, spending probably about $15-20 on tolls alone. Then, when we used that "handy-dandy" feature on the iPhone to try to find hotels, half the ones that I could literally see from the truck, did not show up in the search. Then there is the fact that it doesn't update quickly enough to be of any use if you happen to miss a turn. Or it won't have service when you are in the middle of nowhere with no idea at all where you are! Additionally, if you try to use the "Current Location" feature to get directions from where you theoretically are to where you need to go, you might as well close your eyes and spin around and start walking in whatever direction you end up facing for all the good that does because it will say that you are on a road that you can't even find if you search up and down for it. Now, possibly if you were a local you would know the 7,000 different names that are often attached to one road, or you would know that the road that the GPS says you are on is in fact the one that runs parallel to the highway that you are actually on, but then you wouldn't be depending on a GPS now would you?

The only "good" thing that the GPS did was to give me a more detailed map of Dayton than the one that we had so that when we got hopelessly turned around (compliments of the damn GPS in the first place), I could tell Jonathan how to get where we needed to go (because I am the navigator on our trips, which is a little bit frightening to some people who know about my mom's complete lack of directional sense...sorry Mom, but it's true...but I can actually figure out where north, south, east, and west are and keep track of it as we turn around and travel. Plus I can read a map and figure out the best path for us to take when GPS fails.) One of the most frustrating things was though, was when the signs on the highway had information about the Air Force Museum and Jonathan decided to follow them because the GPS had sucked so much on the trip. Unfortunately, those signs took us a good half hour, 45 minutes out of our way according to my map. Slightly frustrating, but not the end of the world because for all I know, my map was totally wrong or something. All in all, I think GPS sucks and causes more problems than it solves and I will not be investing in one anytime soon. Instead I will buy a map, and maybe a compass, and call it a day. Old school style. But maybe some people will just think I'm nuts. And I am nuts. Completely pistachios.

Grumpy Mood to the Extreme Due to Stupid Talking Girls

So I'm in an incredibly grumpy mood today because these stupid girls sitting behind me in my Management class would NOT STOP TALKING!!! I am doing very poorly in that class and was going to actually make a big attempt to pay attention, take notes, and figure out what in the world the teacher could possibly be talking about. Instead, I listened as they talked about how poorly they are doing in that class...no shit, if you talk all the time!

I blame technology for doing so poorly in that class...well, partly. So yes, I am going to say that technology, in this case, SUCKS.

For this management class we have:
2 Web sites
Online homework/quizzes
Online PowerPoints (by the authors of the book, so nothing is reworded to be comprehended)
Online Book (because a print copy of the book was $200+ instead of $86...I don't have $200+)

Now mind you, I have to print out each chapter of the book as we go (my printing quota is diminishing quickly) because you cannot have the chapter open at the same time as you are doing the homework, even though they should theoretically open in separate windows. The teacher goes through the PowerPoints in class (all at least 60+ slides) that he is provided with from the book company, so all the information is basically the book in bulletpoints.

Then the homework/quizzes. I worked on the most recent one for an hour two days ago. An hour. For ten questions. The worst part is that I thought I was doing so well, I was finally getting it (I thought), until I submitted it for grading and found out that I got a 40%. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Now, why do I blame technology for this?

Because some stupid book company thought that it would be more cost effective to put their book online instead of printing it. I have to print off the chapter (which is 60+ pages long) and so I have to put 2 pages in the space of 1 page and double-sided so it doesn't cost even more of a fortune. Then I have to try to read this little tiny print while I sit in front of a computer staring at this problem that makes no sense (though at least these aren't timed like some). You might think that because the assignments are multiple choice, I would at least be able to come up with a good guess, but that would be wrong because they have to toss in those stupid answers that you get if you correctly use the incorrect process, so you think that you are right, but then you're wrong.

To sum it up, I hate online books and online homework and I wish that these things had never become possible, much less popular. The electronic books that are coming out now, I understand that they are "helpful" or whatever, but I hate them. If books ever start to disappear, I will spend all my money, take out a loan, whatever it takes, to buy as many of them as I can get my hands on. And I will store a few thousand of them in boxes so that I can take them out from time to time and smell the new book smell because it is an awesome smell and even if they come up with some sort of new book scent to put on your electronic book, it will never be the same. I don't like when people mess with my books. It hinders my learning. It makes me grumpy. And mostly it's just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Tailgating...or Moving Your Living Room Outside?

Alright, so this weekend, like a good Purdue student, I attended the Purdue vs. Notre Dame game. And of course, I tailgated the entire day before the game. While I was there, I was looking around in complete awe at the amount of technology that can be found while tailgating! I'm not talking about the normal grills with the little propane tank. We're talking about satellite dishes hooked up to 32" flat screen TVs. I guess that is the sign of a committed tailgater nowadays. I literally walked by an RV that had a TV that was in the side panels of the vehicle, a TV sitting outside on a table, and a TV inside. It was ridiculous, why on earth would you need 3 TVs at a tailgate? (To watch multiple games and see how the competition is doing is the obvious, though ridiculous, answer.

I passed one guy listening to the game on a radio, it seemed so primitive even though that's relatively young technology if you think about it, I mean, the first radio broadcast was in 1915, which is less than 100 years ago!

Our own tailgate was comparatively lacking to others in the technology department, but it was still pretty amazing if I do say so myself. For a bunch of college kids and recent alumni, I was impressed, though I think it was those alumni that really made it happen. We had 2 tables full of food...pasta salad, buffalo chicken dip, deviled eggs, brownies, chips and salsa, potato chips, a veggie plate, pretty awesome. Then there was the meat! Of course we had hot dogs, burgers, and brats. But Devin smoked an 8 lb. pork butt and a 7 lb. brisket. It was DELICIOUS! He smoked it for about 8 hours and it was just fantastic.

This is (some of) the group of people at our tailgate.

One last little blip about technology, in case I haven't fulfilled my requirements for class yet. My brother came down for the game with some of his friends. One thing that I cannot get over is the fact that they got down here by telling me that they "had a general idea of where they were going." What does this mean? That they had a Garmin and just put in "Purdue" to get here. No maps, no written direction of any kind. Just a little mechanical contraption to direct them the entire 2.5 hours that they were in the car. Did they get here without a hitch? Of course not because Garmin can't tell you that there are policemen all over the place directing traffic and since they didn't have a map they didn't know where to go when they were redirected and silly little Garmin lady couldn't figure things out as fast as traffic was moving (not very quickly through campus, but still quickly enough that she was lost). So the epic failure of Garmin of course led to the inevitable use of cell phones to figure out where they were going...again, no map, not that they would know how to read it anyway, what could they possibly ever use that skill for now that they have Garmin and GPS and MapQuest to give them step by step directions? So up the hill and down the road I was running to try and catch up with their car while they tell me their each and every move over the silly cell phone that slips out of your hand as you run because the creators never imagined that you would have to try to catch a car while using it, just marveling about the fact that this is all just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Cloudy with a Chance, Cloudy with a Chance, Cloudy with a Chance of M-e-e-e-e-atballs!

Alright, so I finally got to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, as is obvious by the title of this post. The title is actually the little song that I made up that I sang everytime I saw the preview and which was very successful in driving Jonathan crazy until he agreed to take me to see it. He actually didn't need much convincing because once he saw how excited I was to see it, he promised to take me. We went on Sunday night and I was going to make popcorn and put it in a giant purse and I bought M&Ms and it was going to be awesome...until the popcorn button on the microwave popped my corn for too long and it burned. (I love the popcorn button, but I am not a fan of it when it burns my deliciousness.) We were going to go to my apartment and get more popcorn (because I apparently suck at outfitting an apartment and Jonathan's lacks popcorn) but we turned the wrong way out of the parking lot so we just decided to forget the popcorn and just eat the M&Ms.

Anyway, the movie. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!! First off, when you go to see a little kid movie at 9 on a Sunday night, there are not too many people in the theatre. In fact, we were the only people until some more people showed up (still no more than 20 of us in there). Secondly, you get to see awesome previews for other little kid movies that are yet to come! Where the Wild Things Are is going to be fantastic. There were some other previews, but I can't remember them now.

Really now, the movie. It was HILARIOUS! First favorite line? "Dad, I don't understand fishing metaphors!" (Ellen, his tone and voice just made me think of you a lot, you will love it, you have to see it, just do it.) That line was at the very beginning and it just got better from there. Seriously, a talking monkey that fights the giant size gummy bears off the flying car by ripping them apart as they reassemble themselves (picture a clear gummy body with a red gummy head) and then finally the monkey (Steve) plunges his hand into the green one to rip out his little gummy heart and yell "AHA!" and then gobble down the gummy heart? Totally hilarious and awesome. I almost cried from laughing so hard.

Steve (the monkey, duh) had some of the best things since he had a machine hooked onto him that spoke his thoughts. One of the best was when he was licking something and it's in the background over and over "Lick, lick, lick" as he was licking. Subtlety at its best.

Also, a Jell-o palace! It was amazing. And I want one. When you (Ellen, because I don't want to feel like I'm so important that anyone else is reading this and I don't want to feel like I am writing a letter in Spanish class where you have to write to Juan about your trip to Chile or whatever, and I don't want to be that creeper that is talking to everyone like I know them...in other words, it's just easier to pretend I write this all for Ellen so that when I reference a 'you' it is a certain you that I am talking to) see the movie, pay attention to the background of the Jell-o palace because there is one part where they are talking and there are just spoons stuck in everywhere all haphazardly. It's very entertaining.

Needless to say, because I'm sure it is clear by now, I loved the movie. Unfortunately for Jonathan, I was also incredibly hyper after the movie for some unexplicable reason (maybe we should blame the M&Ms). But at one point in the movie, Flint (the main character, duh) does a summersault. So of course I wanted to do one too and did so as soon as we got back into the apartment. It was so fun, you should do one because it feels like being a little kid, I kind of recommend spinning around in continuous circles then because, again, it makes you feel like a little kid.

All in all, the night was just nuts. Completely pistachios.

And now for the technology section!

I loved watching that movie, duh. But it was also really cool to see how they were able to create massive foods, Jell-o palaces, a talking monkey (Steve, duh), a flying car, fighting gummy bears that reassemble themselves, etc. Even though it was an animated movie, it's still pretty remarkable how lifelike everything looked. The Jell-o bounced back just like it would in real life, the pizza looked edible even if it was bigger than Shaq, and damn did it make you want some gummy bears! Looking back at movies, even like Toy Story, which isn't that old and that was/is (depending on who you are) considered to be amazingly well done, the Froot Loops (you know when Woody falls into the bowl to cool off his head after that mean kid burns him using the sun and the magnifying glass?) look fake. It's just pretty incredible how far everything has come so that they are now able to take a computer and create this masterpiece that has the ability to look real and lifelike even though it was all generated and it clearly fake at the same time. It's just nuts. Completely pistachios.

Sidenote/add-on. I figured out how to add hyperlinks to things! I'm very proud of myself. I also changed the background for my fishies so they are in real water! It's gorgeous isn't it? Also just nuts. Completely pistachios. (Tee hee.)

Missing Smellie Ellie...

So I have been thinking about Ellen a lot...probably because I read her blog religiously since she has ditched me for Sweden. I was thinking about it the other day and if she had gone to Sweden years ago, I probably wouldn't have talked to her for the semester that she was gone. I might have sent her some letters or something, but most likely I would have just been filled in on her events after they happened. As it is, I get to read her blog so I know what she did the day after she did it. I have chatted with her on facebook chat, I've IMed her, etc. It's crazy. If I really wanted to (and if I could afford the equipement) I could talk to her on Skype through the computer.

That all being said, I have friends scattered across the world that I can get updates from anytime I want. I know that Slovakia and the Czech Republic are 6 hours ahead of me so when I am talking to my friends there, they are usually awake really late. I read their facebook statuses (stati?) that they post while I am asleep and know what is going in on in their lives even when I haven't seen them in years. I am able to keep in contact with people that live far away, keep connected with my family, find out everything important in their lives with the click of a mouse. It's just crazy. That's all. Just nuts. Completely pistachios.

First Blog of Class

So I have to keep a blog for Com 435...Emerging Technologies in Communication. Not quite my cup of tea. I'm going to attempt to make this something interesting, but if there is every a random bit of information about technology, blame it on the class.