Final Blog!!!

Final Blog entry… I really liked this class a lot more than I thought I was going to. It was hard work but the way it was layed out made it easy to follow along and learn the things that we needed to. After this I defiantly feel so much more capable of taking on computer projects and just using the computer daily for everything. For my final project I was in the "Off The Wall" group. I don’t think everyone in my group equally shared the responsibility of the project. Some people (me) did a lot more work than other people. Well I’m just glad it’s over and I think it came out really well. If I learned anything from that it’s just that I still don’t like working in groups, I’d rather do it by myself. Our project was about a Las Vegas kidnapping. I think deserve an A for this class. I’ve been here every day, on time and ready with my assignments. I got an A on my midterm and I should get an A on my final as well. So I think that I should receive an A for this class. I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it when I started 11 weeks ago, but I surprised myself.

Final Project

Action Agenda for team… Off the Wall
For tomorrow at 4pm
Natasha: Take a minimum of 10 pictures, excel spreadsheet, chart
Priscilla: two 15 second videos, script written out
Sean: get different audio files and sound files ready
Ryan: get some garage band files ready
Well meet tomorrow in the computer lab, put together everything that we have so far and figure out what we need to do next. That way we can have our final project ready to go first thing on week 11.

You tube

You tube… We had to record a short video of ourselves and post it in our blog. First we had to sign up to get a you tube account. I really don’t like being in front of the camera so this was a little uncomfortable, but I survived. I had to record myself on my cell phone and send it to you tube, and from there post it into my blog. YouTube has many ways to help you find and watch videos. You can also interact with other YouTube users and around shared interests. If you make videos, you can broadcast them to the whole world, and maybe even develop an audience for your creations. I didn’t know how easy it was until I actually did it myself. If I can do this then anyone can!

Viruses???

My experience with viruses… so far I don’t really have any experience with viruses. Up until about 4 months ago, my computer usage was slim to none. I did everything by hand, projects, art work, anything that I needed to do. I guess next week were going to intentionally load some viruses on our computers to see what happens and figure out how to fix it. I know eventually I’ll get some kind of virus or something that I will need to fix myself. Intentionally giving my computer a virus isn’t going to teach me how to fix everything, but it will help the fear of the unknown. I guess I did have viruses on my laptop before, but I never dealt with it until recently. One of my friends fixed it for me, so I don’t really feel like that was an “experience”. Since I never used the laptop to begin with it didn’t really make any difference to me, or change my daily routine when I couldn’t use it. Things are changing for me though, I can’t imagine not using my computer now that it’s fixed and working. I’ve gone from almost nothing, or never sitting in front of the computer, to doing projects and creating things that never in a million years thought that I would be able to do. So the next step is going to be to learn how to fix the things that go wrong.

Picasa

Picasa…through Picasa you can find, edit, and share your photos. We had to go out and take some pictures of ourselves and post them as a gadget on our blog. To do that you have to go through Picasa and post them that way, following all the steps. It took me a while, but I think I finally figured it out. I couldn’t figure out the part where you can delete the bad pictures, so they all went through. It’s a work in progress. It’s wouldn’t be the first bad picture of me. LOL. There are still some kinks to iron out, but for the most part it’s not so bad. Now we have to create another gadget for out BOC that shows pictures of our life. Just pictures of what we do every day, like work, and school. I had help with this stuff in class because we worked in groups this time. Hopefully I can do this on my own at home. It’s also possible with Picasa to take pictures with your phone and download them directly to the internet, so they can be posted. You can use it to make photo collages or create a gadget to post on your blog. Picasa also lets you edit your photos with all the options that the system gives you. I can’t see myself using it, other than to do an assignment in class, but you never know. It never hurts to know how to do it.

Twitter... a waste of time!

Twitter is a service that allows people to stay connected and communicate quickly. Twitter is a free social networking service that allows its users to send and receive other users’ updates. An update is called a tweet, which is a text-based post of up to 140 characters. Tweets are displayed on the users profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them. If you set up your own account, you can allow anyone to access your tweets or you can restrict it to just those people in your circle of friends. Users can use Twitter on the Twitter website, or just use their cell phone.
Right now Twitter is still free to use over the Internet. I’ve never used Twitter, and I think it’s just a waste of time. I don’t see a point in reading what people are writing about every minute. There is no way of knowing if anything that is written, or tweeted, is actually true. I personally don’t care what other people are doing, and I don’t see any point in reading anyone’s Tweet. Is there really any benefit to sitting in front of the computer, or stuck to your cell phone reading about someone else’s live when you have your own? I can’t see myself ever signing up to use Twitter; I have my own life to worry about. If someone is really interested in what I’m doing, then they should just ask!

New Stuff

Things that I would like to cover that are not in the book… I’m not really sure what to ask about, because I'm not sure what I’m missing. I don’t know what I don’t know. Photoshop and Lightroom are good programs that I would like to learn more about. I know how the basics work, but I’m not completely comfortable with them yet. Those are some of the things that Ill use throughout school and my career.
It would be nice to use my I Pod. I haven’t even put music or anything on it yet. If I could get some help with that, it would be nice. I think I’ve already learned so much in the class, more than I ever thought I would. All of those things I would have never thought to ask about. Just sitting in front of the computer for four hours at a time is like a crash course in computer skills. So I’m not really sure what it is that I would like to cover that’s not in the book. I like what we’ve done so far, and I’m sure the next few weeks will be just as good.

Challenge

The biggest challenge for me in my Computer Applications class has been applying everything that I’ve learned to real situations. Things like using excel spreadsheets in a paper, or figuring out how to use my new blog to communicate with other students, is all new to me. Slowly but surely its getting easier, but this first few weeks have been very challenging.

Music

I like all kinds of music. From everything that’s popular on the radio right now, to things that came out before I was born. I don’t really have a favorite; I just listen to whatever is on the radio basically. I have an I-pod that I got almost 3 months ago and its still sitting in the box at home. That might have more to do with my lack of knowledge in technology, than it does my interest in music. If I had to choose my favorite genre id pick nineties rock. Bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, Rusted Root. I also like Incubus; Tool is one of my favorites. If I were going to make my own music, it would be something along that line. Music is not one of my talents, but I think it would be fun to try and create my own song.

Snapshot

3's About Me

Three names that I have been called: Natasha, Tasha, Tash.

Three jobs I have had in my life: Starbucks, Bartender, Sam's Club (for about 1 week).

Three places that I have lived: California, Indiana, Nevada.

Three TV shows that I watch: Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, The Biggest Loser.

Three places that I have been: Berlin, London, Bilbao.

Three people that e-mail me regularly: my mom, my aunt, Spam!

Three of my favorite foods: Nutella, Eggs and Bacon, Cheese Bread.

Three cars that I have driven: Camry, Spirit, Avalon.

Three things that I am looking forward to: Graduating school, Going to Spain, and getting a job that I love!

The Internet

Surfing the web is not as scary for me as it is intimidating. I don’t have good computer skills, and I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time. To make things worse, the Internet is filled with people and programs whose goal is to make life harder on someone. Every day it seems like there are reports of people who were scammed or lost all of their information because of a computer virus. Scare ware distributors are becoming rich off of creating these viruses or scams that trick people into giving them money and or destroying there hard drives.

This has already happened to me once. My parents got me a brand new laptop for my birthday 3 years ago. Since then its spent most of the time in my closet, not being used. Somehow I got a virus on it and I don’t know how to fix it. Eventually I need to take it somewhere to get it fixed, but that costs me money that I don’t have right now. I would like to know how to do this by myself but I just don’t have the knowledge for that.

I think it is very important for everyone to have sufficient computer skills. Especially now when computers and technology are such a huge part of our society, it’s almost required that everyone have proper computer skills. Technology is only going to get smarter and faster and I need to keep up otherwise I’m going to play catch up all my life.

About Me

As an Artist I’ve been designing and creating most of my life. From making a refrigerator masterpiece, to planning and designing for my own business, every step is an exciting challenge. I like being an artist because it gives me an opportunity to create something that has never been made before. It provides me with the freedom to explore alternatives and the chance to be different.

Artists use many different mediums to demonstrate, or show off their craft. As long as I can remember I have enjoyed drawing and creating different things. Over the years I have had several jobs, some more satisfying than others, but even though I always did the best I could, I always wanted more. I wanted to use my talents, to express myself. Creating artful things gives me satisfaction and pride in the work that I can create.

Of course I’m still learning and growing every day. There is so much out there to learn and see. That is part of the excitement, I know that I will never tire of being and artist and creating new and different things. I feel so lucky to know what it is that I want to do, and know that I’m skilled at it. What could be better than doing what you love for a living?