School is done for another semester!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think I can begin to express just how happy I am about this news. The last two semesters have been ROUGH. Really, really ROUGH. It wasn't because the classes are particularly hard, it was because I was so tired and burnt out that I had no more motivation to do it. But now, I have a five month break. Breaks are good. I just got a job at a media marketing company in town and will still teach voice lessons.
Life is good now.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
July Root Beer
For our July root beer adventure we tried Thomas Kemper root beer. Its a company based out of Oregon. They make their root beer with cane sugar and honey. We were big fans of this one! It has a sweet and smooth, creamy texture. It was easy to drink. You could taste the honey which gave it a unique but familiar flavor. Ry and I both give this a 4.5 out of 5.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
What will technology do to our preservation of history?
I'm just like millions of Americans who are crazed by technology. I own a smartphone, a MAC computer, an iPad, an iPod touch....I tweet, I Facebook, I'm LinkedIn and I'm even on Google+. I take pictures on my phone and upload them onto my computer or to Facebook, where they undoubtedly sit for months on end.
I do, however, have several pictures hanging in my room. I love pictures. I love being able to look at people I love whenever I want. I don't forget what they look like and I'm reminded of happy events, beautiful places and so many other good times in my life. Someone in my room the other day noticed I have no pictures of Ryan in my room. Well, I haven't gotten around to printing any off!
Every month I get my subscription to Real Simple magazine. I love this magazine. Before I had a subscription, around the 15th of the month, I would stalk the magazine racks at the grocery store. Ask Carlee Miller how I reacted when I realized the new issue was out. A small child's energy somehow finds its way out and I may or may not jump up and down a little. There is something about the smell of the pages, and the beauty of way the magazine is put together.
But it's not just Real Simple that gets me lit up. It's books in general. Maybe it's an inherited trait or a learned trait from my dad (My dad has a floor to ceiling, wall to wall bookshelf in my old room and it's full), but I have books everywhere in my room. I have magazines stacked here and there (neatly organized...I'm not nor will I ever be a candidate for that crazy hoarding show). I have books on bookshelves. I can spend HOURS in Barnes and Noble. I just love books! The irony is I don't read them very often. And yes, most of the books I own are books about music or food. I have eBooks, and I'm fearing that many of those eBooks will take over good REAL books. When generations from now look back on us, will books be archeology? I hope not!
There is another aspect to technology that concerns me. Our personal history. I have kept journals since I was around 12 years old. However, now, and since the age of 19 or so, I have kept some sort of personal records online. I don't even remember the website's name of a live journal that I had at one time or another. I've had my blog for a while now, but with the touch of a button, it could be deleted. Facebook might even be a thing of the past if Google+ has anything to do with it. When my mom died, some of my most cherised possessions of hers are pictures. I wish she had would have kept journals. These two things could become obsolete with modern technology. Will this hinder the future generations in understanding their ancestors?
Indiana just passed a bill where they will no longer be teaching cursive writing to children in schools. Will children in a couple of generations from now look at old cursive and not be able to understand or read it? Will it be hieroglyphics? A person's handwriting says a lot about them. It can actually be a way to identify someone. . I understand that typing is becoming more important than cursive, but we should still be teaching it! I don't know...it just all seems fishy to me. On the back of those pictures that I love so much, was my mom's handwriting. It was personal to her. A lot of people print the same, but their cursive is really what shows their penmanship. Good handwriting (good writing for that matter!) is becoming a lost art! It again emphasizes my question: Will technology make written things obsolete? Will my favorite magazine no longer be around when I'm old because we have programmed our children, literally programmed them, into technological freaks who only read things on a computer screen?
If we can delete something online with the touch of button, can we, ourselves, become obsolete? Will we be eaten up in cyberspace? Will we become a society that is inept to carpel tunnel syndrome and near sighted-ness because we sit in front of computers all day long? Technology is embracing isolation even though we have social networking at our fingertips by putting us in front of our computers by ourselves inside. If we aren't careful, technology could do just as much evil as it does good.
I do, however, have several pictures hanging in my room. I love pictures. I love being able to look at people I love whenever I want. I don't forget what they look like and I'm reminded of happy events, beautiful places and so many other good times in my life. Someone in my room the other day noticed I have no pictures of Ryan in my room. Well, I haven't gotten around to printing any off!
Every month I get my subscription to Real Simple magazine. I love this magazine. Before I had a subscription, around the 15th of the month, I would stalk the magazine racks at the grocery store. Ask Carlee Miller how I reacted when I realized the new issue was out. A small child's energy somehow finds its way out and I may or may not jump up and down a little. There is something about the smell of the pages, and the beauty of way the magazine is put together.
But it's not just Real Simple that gets me lit up. It's books in general. Maybe it's an inherited trait or a learned trait from my dad (My dad has a floor to ceiling, wall to wall bookshelf in my old room and it's full), but I have books everywhere in my room. I have magazines stacked here and there (neatly organized...I'm not nor will I ever be a candidate for that crazy hoarding show). I have books on bookshelves. I can spend HOURS in Barnes and Noble. I just love books! The irony is I don't read them very often. And yes, most of the books I own are books about music or food. I have eBooks, and I'm fearing that many of those eBooks will take over good REAL books. When generations from now look back on us, will books be archeology? I hope not!
There is another aspect to technology that concerns me. Our personal history. I have kept journals since I was around 12 years old. However, now, and since the age of 19 or so, I have kept some sort of personal records online. I don't even remember the website's name of a live journal that I had at one time or another. I've had my blog for a while now, but with the touch of a button, it could be deleted. Facebook might even be a thing of the past if Google+ has anything to do with it. When my mom died, some of my most cherised possessions of hers are pictures. I wish she had would have kept journals. These two things could become obsolete with modern technology. Will this hinder the future generations in understanding their ancestors?
Indiana just passed a bill where they will no longer be teaching cursive writing to children in schools. Will children in a couple of generations from now look at old cursive and not be able to understand or read it? Will it be hieroglyphics? A person's handwriting says a lot about them. It can actually be a way to identify someone. . I understand that typing is becoming more important than cursive, but we should still be teaching it! I don't know...it just all seems fishy to me. On the back of those pictures that I love so much, was my mom's handwriting. It was personal to her. A lot of people print the same, but their cursive is really what shows their penmanship. Good handwriting (good writing for that matter!) is becoming a lost art! It again emphasizes my question: Will technology make written things obsolete? Will my favorite magazine no longer be around when I'm old because we have programmed our children, literally programmed them, into technological freaks who only read things on a computer screen?
If we can delete something online with the touch of button, can we, ourselves, become obsolete? Will we be eaten up in cyberspace? Will we become a society that is inept to carpel tunnel syndrome and near sighted-ness because we sit in front of computers all day long? Technology is embracing isolation even though we have social networking at our fingertips by putting us in front of our computers by ourselves inside. If we aren't careful, technology could do just as much evil as it does good.
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