Has it Been That Long

It has been brought to my attention that I haven’t blogged in a while and no one knows what has been going on with me.

So, I’m still recovering from the accident. My shoulder is the only thing holding me up. So, no fast pitches for me yet.

I have started my last semester at Quinnipiac. This causes bursts of excitement as well as dread. I will miss most of my classmates. Though I’ve only been in school since August. I missed some faces during winter break.

It has also been brought to my attention that I have taken advantage of my full college experience. So, I will try to redeem myself becuase I do not believe in regrets and try to stop being so anti-social. I counting on the masses to keep me in check.

Head of the Class

Enjoy the pictures of my classmates. We had a grand ole time at Bar and the pizza was EXCELLENT!

Long Time, No Blog

It’s been very busy on my end.  Slowly, I’m getting the feeling back into my arm.  Unfortunately,  for me tis the season and I can’t go shopping by myself.  (The bags are too much for me.) 

Gladly for those who want to come over my place, I have been able to clean.  Without the use of my arm my place was getting sketchy.  However, I still maintain the wish for a live-in maid.  Maybe, I can downgrade and get married.  ….LOL…. 

However, it will probably be easier to hire a maid, since I can’t stay awake on a date.  I’m like a ninety year old woman  trying to find love.  I have to do “Crystal friendly”  activities.  Which means no bowling, no outdoor activities, no skating.  So, if it involves a chair I’m good to go.  That is until nap time.

So, the end of the semster is coming to an end and I can’t wait.  The first day off from work and I don’t have class, I staying in my bed as long as possible.  I can’t wait.  It’s funny how fantasies change with age.

The One Arm Bandit

I have only just realized how hard it is to do things with one arm. Apparently, once you are hurt unless you are in a plastic bubble you are open for more injury. It could be physical or emotional. Most of the time, it is emotionally where I get injuried repeatedly. Until recently. Unfortunately for me I forgot to wear my “Don’t Touch Me” t-shirt and ended up being punished unintentionally for my forgotton fashion. They didn’t mean to do and felt bad about but it doesn’t change the fact I have been in constant pain for two days. Not to mention doctors are really no help. They just want to drug you up. So, I’ve been trying to do very little with my right arm. But without the help of a maid I can’t cook for myself, wash clothes, nor clean. So, I guess I have to learn to adapt.

Privacy Is For The Dead

Sharing Is Caring

Technology breeds change. Even though things are created to make our lives easier, it allows us the freedom to concentrate on other things. Hopefully the things left open to concentrate on benefit society. However, what if it does benefit society, but it also violates the law. You know a modern day Robin Hood, robbing from the rich to give to the poor.

So, who suffers more – the people who need the “illegal” technology or the people who the law violates. I know copyright laws are in existence to protect the copyright holder, but does copyright also provide a hindrance. Times have changed. We now share information differently, as well as communicate and share thoughts and ideas with people thousand miles away. So, programs were created for people distances apart were able to share the things they liked with the people they liked.

It helped recreate sharing the hottest single with your best friend. However instead of going down the street with the song, you can now send it thousands of miles without stepping one foot outside your door. So, miles apart you and your friend can relive the “good old days” by still sharing your likes and dislikes.

Unfortunately, record companies didn’t get all warm and toasty inside. All they saw was a technology being invented that was losing them revenue. Why allow us to share with our friends when our friends should be paying for the privilege. However, before the digital era, everyone was sharing music without adding revenue to companies. It just wasn’t being transferred digitally over thousands of miles. I can burn a CD of a song and send it a friend via the mail, but I can’t send it digitally.

What makes new technology so enforceable? Is it the traceable breadcrumb trail? Is it the detailed lost revenue trail that computers leave? Is it not realized making digital sharing illegal is hurting them more. By my not sharing things I like with others, how I can I make someone else interested. Potential customers and consumers are being lost. But how can one measure the benefit and/or the lost.

You can’t. However one of the fundamental rules that is being violated we learned in Kindergarten – Sharing Is Caring.

More Hours Needed

It’s no fun trying to handle a full time class schedule, a grad assistantship, and a full time work schedule while feeling like crap.  I wish I could add more hours into my day just to get the little things done, but it’s impossible.

So, the only question there really is what must be sacrificed.  When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.  For know, I’ll try my best to fit everything in.

However, I can’t wait for Winter Break!! 

Such Is Life

I thought I was crazy enough to want to become a fulltime student, as well as a full time employee.  Apparently, I must be.  My life experiences these past two months have been enough to make any sane person crazy.  So, I guess it was a good thing that I was already “mad” because I didn’t have far to go. 

As, terrible things happen to me I get more out of life.  Sometimes I get too much, but at least I learn something.  Not only I’m I learning the strength of my character, I’m also learning about the characters of others.  In a perfect world, I probably would have not noticed these traits in people I encountered. 

 So, not only am I blessed to have strength of character, but I’m also blessed to be alive.

Trained Monkeys, I Tell You

If a website should be built with the user in mind, on what level should the user’s intelligence be based. Should a site be so user-friendly trained monkeys could use it.

Apparently, the web is no different than everyday life. The less we have to think about something the easier our lives become. Somewhere down the line thinking has become “evil.” Our society is highly based on finding efficiencies, so we can use our brain less. A great example is the Pet Rock. It required no instructions and you didn’t have to think to take care of it. The only brainpower one probably used was to open the package.

Now that the web is in the mainstream, it too now has to find efficiencies in order for the mainstream to continue to use it and to grow a bigger audience. Also, the web is generating revenue. This prospect of profits makes websites owners more eager to make their sites more “user friendly” because an audience is needed. To accomplish this, one must cater to the masses. Unfortunately the “masses” have the same attitude you do when it comes to things they find difficult. They don’t deal with it. What may be hard for me may not be hard for someone else. So, now you have to think of efficiencies. In other words, your website should be a pet rock for the web.

Since, it doesn’t take too much intelligence to figure out the Pet Rock, what should be the intelligence medium for your audience? How can a web developer tell if his site is too hard to navigate? Buttleson, Booth, and Weintrop say usability testing is key. They believe “that usability testing be a continuous and integral part of the Web site development” (196).

According to Krug, “the fact that the people who built the site didn’t care enough to make things obvious – and easy-can erode our confidence in the site and its publishers” (15). So, should trained monkeys be used as an example of the least intelligent of their users. Since monkeys display cognitive ability in research studies and definitely are able to care for a Pet Rock, how hard could it be for them to navigate a website that doesn’t require the user to think.

So, if a monkey can do it, why can’t you. Unfortunately, no matter how “user-friendly” a site is, someone will find it challenging despite the number of usability tests conducted or how “simple we make it. “Although developing a usable and effective site is challenging in its own right, maintaining and redesigning that site to meet the constantly changing needs of users is a seemingly impossible task” (196).

Sources:

Krug, S. Don’t Make Me Think. Indianapolis: New Riders. 2000.
Battleson, B., Booth, A., Weintrop, J. Usability Testing of an Academic Library Web Site: A Case Study. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27.3 2000.

Everyone Needs a Laugh

Someone sent me very interesting directions.  Go to Google.com and type in the word “Failure” in the search engine.  Click on the first link.