The last of the 23 things!

I finally made it to the last thing! LIBRARYTHING! I didn't think I would like using this so I went in to it kind of pessimistic. I do actually like it though. I added Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and wrote a review on it. I also added Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and I looked through some of the conversations people were having. There are a lot more people than I expected to be on that site and that active. It's kind of a cool concept to have something online where you can keep track of what you've read or are in the process of reading. Then later on you have the option to discuss it with other people. I can't guarantee that I'll use it all the time but it's cool to know that it's there and open to use when I want to.

Collaboration & Productivity Tools, part 2/3

I edited the shared NOPL document on Google Docs becuase I didn't want to go and create a new document. That and I didn't know what to even put on one if I did. It seems simple enough to use. It's not going to be something that I use everyday. It's pretty much the same as a normal word document which is good because then it's easier to use since you pretty much already know how to do it. I didn't really dislike anything about it. Like I said, I probably won"t use it again after the 23 things are over.

#20=Wikis!

I did not go and correct any wiki articles because I could be wrong on whatever I'm looking at. I didn't really look at wikis this week because I use it way to often as it is anyways. I use them for finding information for essays or whatever kind of homework assignment I have to do. In high school, most teachers were dead set against using wikipedia just because of the fact that anyone can go and change the information listed. Nothing on the Internet can really be trusted but Wikipedia is by far the worst one to trust. They aren't to big against it here at Fredonia, as long as we cite it then they don't have to big of an issue with it. They prefer that we use it as a last resort if we really need to. But, I don't really trust much on the Internet and Wikipedia least of all. Overall, I don't think Wikis are something that should be used by everyone on a daily basis for really important things. It would be good to use just to get a general idea of a certain topic but not as the only background for a project or something.

Youtube and podcasts!

Here we are on YouTube. I used to use this site a lot until I came to college and I started using it all the time instead. People are constantly sending me links on Facebook about videos that I should watch but unfortunately half of them are very stupid. I have a ton of video favorites and I subscribe to a few different users videos. It's a cool site, the amount of stuff they have on it is ridiculous. I tend to watch mostly comedians like Ellen DeGeneres, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Kate Clinton, and a few others. I'm a big fan of a Capella groups as well as a huge Star Wars fan, I finally decided which video to embed in here. The guy who did this is an amazing performer and really good with his videos.

Next on the list is podcasts! Pretty cool things if I might say so myself. I listen to a lot of podcasts for tech related things. I focus mostly on one in particular and that's the Invisible Children podcast. I'm assuming none of you really know about the Invisible Children so I'll use my computer knowledge and post a link for you guys to check it out. CHECK OUT THE INVISIBLE CHILDREN HERE! I've supported this cause for a few years now, even got in the paper once because of it back in April 2009. It's a good cause and people need to be more aware of it.

Back to podcasts though. I listen to Invisible Children, 2 Homos, B&N Meet the Writers, and Itunes: Meet the Authors as well as the different things on Itunes U. There's a lot of podcasts out there and everyone can find something that suites them. My dad is a big Chicago Bears fan and that's all he listens to at work. The options are endless guys!

Multimedia part 2 of 3!!!!

So...I did the Overdrive thing. It's not my favorite thing in the world and I probably won't use it again but it's good for if I do need it. I got a book on it but it was hard to get it working right when I tried to use it. I was just having no luck. I did look through Overdrive for a little bit and it seems like there is a good amount of things on it. It would be cooler if there was more but I suppose that's what Itunes and Zune is for.

Ah college

I'm back to college and the first week is done. It went well I think. Not to happy with my schedule, don't know what I was thinking when I planned it but oh well. We've been playing a lot of Frisbee and learned two new games called Ninja and Waa. They're pretty cool especially ninja, hence the name of the game. L...O...L...Been kind of a boring week and I wish I was working but there is pretty much no such thing as a job in this area. I'm keeping on top of my work do, I said I would get at least a 3.0 so that's what I'm aiming for. I don't really know what else to say. I heard this story about a mud covered troll which I will have to tell when I get home. It's hilarious beyond belief! Yeah...so, other than that nothing much has really happened, just kinda getting back in the swing of things I suppose.

Vampires suck? The movie?

This new movie came out that most of you have probably heard of. It's called Vampires Suck and it's a parody on the Twilight Saga. I haven't seen it yet but the previews to it look really funny and from what I hear so far, the previews give it no justice! This is not what this specific post is going to mostly be about. It will of course be about vammpires because that's been a long time coming, but it won't focus on that movie. More on the Twilight series than anything else.

At the begining of the summer I decided to read the Twilight series so I can no longer be a hypocrite and finally have some sort of backing as to why it is a sucky series. I was able to make it through the first three in the series but I couldn't finish Breaking Dawn. It dragged on way to much, so I just skipped to the Eclipse novella, The Short Second life of Bree Tanner. It was well written unlike the other books. It is an idiotic idea that the vampires in these books sparkle in the sun like diamonds though. This made me think...are they all like this?

I went on to read Insatiable by Meg Cabot which is a really good book. The writing is pretty good, a lot better than Stephenie Meyers in my opinion. In this book, the vampires don't sparkle. They can turn into mist to get into places that have been made holy. Being splashed with holy water and stabbed in the heart is how these vamps get destroyed.

Another book I read was Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. In this book, vampires are destroyed by having their heads cut off, usually in a pretty violent matter.

These different books lead me to wonder where the authors are coming up with these ideas. Some of them are decent and 'normal' ideas, like beheading. But...sparkling like diamonds and turning into mist is a rather obnoxious idea even for a fiction story. I plan to read Dracula by Bram Stoker at some point in the near future in hopes that that tale sounds a little more 'realistic'.

Multimedia, part 1/3

I did the Flickr thing. Got an account, uploaded a picture of my dog Maggie and I played around with the editing tools. It was pretty easy to edit it so that makes it better but I personally don't like this image sites. It's just not my thing. They're cool and everything but I just see no purpose to them. If I want to share my photos with people then I'll put them on my Facebook and be done with it.

Flickr and the Picasa program are easy to use and it's pretty quick to learn them. I used the Flockdraw drawing tool as well. That I liked. I'm entertained pretty easily. Those kinds of things are fun to me and I like that I can just draw whatever without any sort of 'box' to stay in.

I used these things to edit my photo and just played around with them but they're old things. It's something that I'm trying for the 23things but I will most likely never use them again after this.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today is my birthday!!! I made it to 19! Lol. I'm excited for two things: 1.)My kick butt Dr. Seuss Shoes are on their way here as I type. I'm so excited. I'm hoping that if I can wear shoes to work today, I'm going to wear those. And second...I have to work today! I'm actually really excited about that. Most people don't really like or mind working on their birthday but I am perfectly content with it. I have tomorrow off though =) If I didn't work today I would probably just spend my time packing for school and on Facebook saying thanks to a bazillion people for the birthday wishes.

Here's a keynote. I learned this morning that having your phone connected to your Facebook can destroy your morning. My phone is set to receive notices from Facebook when people do pretty much anything such as writing Happy Birthday on your wall. I turned my phone on and woke up to about 32 messages from a combination of Facebook and friends saying Happy Birthday. It's great and everything but it takes awhile for them to all load up. Anywho...Happy 19 years to me! Should be a great day!

DR. SEUSS SHOES!!!

One day I was using Stumbleupon for the 23 things and I stumbled upon the converse website! The awesome thing about this is they have a new series by Chuck Taylor All Stars. It's the Dr. Seuss Shoes series and they are totally sweet. I cannot possibly show all of my excitement through this post alone. THESE ARE ALL THE AWESOME DR. SEUSS SHOES!
I ended up going home and buying a pair. I really wanted the red and white striped ones because that is the classic Seuss pattern but they didn't have my size in women's and I so didn't trust the whole conversion from women's to men's sizes so I bought this pair...

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING!!!

THIS IS SO FRICKING SWEET! I was looking over the next 23 things step on social bookmarking and I was thinking to myself why do we have to do this? Then I kept reading more and Stumbleupon was on the list of sites for the Exercise section. I've always wanted to check out that sight so I was super excited about it cause I know alot of people that are absorbed by that sight as much as they are Facebook. I was checking my interests and all that jazz which is really easy. Then I went and started looking through different pages and one came up that I think is so funny. It's the world's 18 strangest bathrooms! Some of them are so cool but others are just so weird and pointless.

Technorati is a cool website if you're big into blogging. It's cool that it tracks the popularity of the blogs by linking and other factors. If you blog alot and like to look through different blogs, it comes in handy when you want to find the most popular blogs. It searches through all the blogs too so you can look at certain blogs that pertain to your search. If you want something specific or are just bored and want to look at the popular ones, then Technorati is a good site for you.

LinkedIn

I have a LinkedIn account. I went to get one and it said I already had one so I guess that worked out well. Lol. I filled out the profile and everything. It was super easy. Just as easy as filling out things for other sites. I have a few connections I think but I don't go on everyday and check it. I only go on when I remember that I have it.

Le Tour De France!

Now that the Tour is officially over...it is time to really talk about it. I'm super mad about Alberto Contador winning. Andy Schleck had such a good chance. If only his chain hadn't broken on one of the last few stages, then he could've won. That's just my own view though.

On to the more pressing matter! The issue during the final stage of the race with Team Radioshack and their unregistered jerseys. I don't know if anyone watched the last stage but at the beginning it was ruled that the black jerseys of Team Radioshack were unregistered and if they were worn during that stage, Radioshack could be disqualified therefore losing their lead in the team standings. The jerseys were black with the number 28 on the back representing the 28 million people who lived with cancer throughout the world.

Let's Tweet!

So far I've been way ahead of this whole thing. I got a Twitter account a long time ago when it was actually something big. Now it's not really anything cool anymore. When I first started using it, it was kinda interesting. I don't really remember if it was easy to get or not. It can be connected with your cell phone so when a certain person tweets, it can be sent straight to your phone and you don't have to go on Twitter and look at what everyone says. It's not really cool anymore but I guess it's cool that NOPL is starting to catch up a little. =/

World Cup/Tour de France!

Spain won the World Cup! Can I get a woop woop? The game was amazing, despite the brutal attack to the chest of one of the Spain players delivered by the Netherlands team. Yellow cards were given and waved aside as the game continued. It was by far an exciting game but not as exciting as some of the other games such as the game between Brazil and Chile. After that game, I was so rooting for Brazil to win this thing again but maybe next year. Overall, a good World Cup. Now on to the Tour de France! Armstrong is done...GO ANDY SCHLECK!!!

Things 5,6 & 7!

Facebook, Myspace, Bebo...What are they gonna think up next? I have Facebook and Myspace, I've tried some of the others but I don't like them. Probably just cause I'm not used to them. Not my cup of whatever.

Facebook is my big thing. I've had my account for a few years now. Never really wanted one but everyone kept telling me to get one so I finally bowed down to the peer pressure and got it. Oh well I suppose. I used to be on it all the time but now I'm not. Don't have as much time as I used to. It's connected through my AIM account, cell, and Itouch so I don't really need to get on alot. It's good for reconnecting with people and if you're super bored. If you compare Facebook to what it was when it started and was meant to be, it's alot different now.

Myspace. Oh Myspace. Thank god Facebook bought them out and they're going back to just music. I have a Myspace and I used to be on that alot til Facebook took over. Soon something else will takeover and all these popular social networking sites will be back to what they were meant as.

Social networking is a cool thing and I like the idea of it but sometimes I think it's taken a little to far when there are so many different networks with the exact same plan in mind...to reconnect old and young, family and friends, to bridge the distance gap between everyone.

Time to discuss things 3 and 4...I think

Well...this is about the oh-so-popular IM and Skype. I've been using them both for years. I use AIM which is really cool because through this one program I can stay connected. My AIM and Facebook accounts are connected so I can see who's online on Facebook without actually being on. In turn, AIM and Facebook are connected through my phone so everything gets sent there. It might seem pointless to do this but it keeps me informed. When I'm not stuck at home, I don't go on either very much so this helps me alot.

Now Skype on the other hand...is connected to my Itouch. It's cool I suppose. Skype is super easy to use. My grandparents use it which means literally anyone can. There is no excuse! Just saying. It's cool to get to talk and see someone that you don't get to see on a daily basis, like a long-distance partner or friend and even your family. With these kinds of apps and software, it's easy to stay connected to people you love or even hate. Lol.

Random Posting!

I think I might use this more frequently just to post random things besides the 23things. They might get boring real fast. I've been fooling around with the design settings and I like my layout so far. Might keep it, might not. Anywho...WORLD CUP! Did you watch the USA v. Ghana game today? USA got their butts kicked but it wasn't an unexpected loss. Ghana is good but not as good as some of the others. Excited about the next few games. Can't wait for the final Cup game. It's gonna be tight!

RSS FEEDS AND BLOGS!!!

BLOGS

So...I'm still not partial to the whole blogging thing. It'll probably grow on me eventually. It's interesting to see what kinds of things people are posting on here. I think blogs are more for people that like to share their life with the world, not for people who tend to not be as expressive as some.

RSS FEEDS!
Forget the blogs! Let's move onto RSS Feeds. I like these. LOL. They make things alot easier because I tend to have a lot of websites and things to check up on on a daily basis. Whatever makes my life easier, I use it! I think they are handy things though, easy use for everyone. I can search through the headlines of the World Cup without having to read all the article on the page. Just skim through them and be done with it! That way I can stay up-to-date on everything going on and still be able to watch the games whenever I'm not working. It's great!

Another day.

Here we go again...another post. Sitting at work, interning with Westy today, loads of fun! I'm loving the World Cup so far. Anybody with me? Pretty intense games I think. The USA Team is not that good. Not to be pessimistic but they just can't win, not compared to some of the other teams going this year. England has a good chance and I'm hearing Mexico and Argentina are doing pretty well. Not a surprise or anything. Just saying. I've been missing alot of games lately but thank the big guy upstairs for DVR!

First Post!

So...this is the first post of many I suppose. It won't be that entertaining. I never know what to put on these things and never liked them much. But hey...I'll give it a try!