Smart Phone

When I got back from Spain, I had to have a new phone. For some reason or other, both of my batteries had blown up. Well, not literally, but neither would hold a charge for more than an hour or two when the phone wasn't even in use. So in June I got a Samsung Droid smartphone. Smart. Yeah right.

This short blog isn't really about how dumb those phones can be though. The more features you add, the harder a phone is to use as a phone. I think mine serves more as a computer now. It is super hard to type with the tiny keys though so I don't do a lot of typing. But because I am not on the computer nearly as much now, that means I am not spending nearly as much time with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and you guessed it, my blog. So that is one reason I haven't written much.

The other is that I forget my ideas by the time I make it home from work. Or I am just too tired. But when I get on, I try to write a few blogs. Maybe I should be setting a schedule or something?

Politics

Usually there's nothing really going on that affects me enough to care to write a senator or representative. Little did I know one of those issues would be arising while I was over seas. Yesterday I was able to write Representative Ross along with encouraging other friends on Facebook to write their senator and/or representatives, especially those in the Little Rock area whose representative was a co-sponsor of the SOPA act.

It was nice to be involved. But even more, I saw a lot of people on Facebook getting involved, writing their congressmen/women, and raising awareness. It was nice to see so many people being involved in the political process. I have seen that both Boozman and Griffin have removed their names from the respective bills and said they will vote against them. Hopefully we see that through, and hopefully with all of the letters nationwide the bill/resolution will not pass.

Speaking out while you can

It is all over the news. It is all over the social media. Although, from Spain I see very little of the "protesting," that has been reported such as the Wikipedia blackout (this links to Wiki's explanation of the blackout and some more info about the whole idea.)  and Google's photo of the day. However, I have read some articles and seen videos explaining the intent of a new bill/resolution introduced to the U.S. Congress. In the house it is commonly referred to as SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act; and in the senate the name is so long I will only refer to it by acronym, PROTECT IP.

I am going to try to keep this blog fairly short so if you want a lot of details I would encourage you to look at some of it yourself. Some of what is reported that the bill would do is require all websites such as YouTube, facebook, etc to remove any material that might infringe on any copyrighted material. Those that don't would suffer from fines and penalties. Search engines and advertisements would have to remove all links to infringing websites. And the government would be able to block access to the websites. That sounds like a very dangerous precedent to allow to be set to me--the government being able to block access to any website deemed to be in violation.

I was glad to see an announcement stating that the white house does not support this bill. For once I can agree with them. I know in countries such as China many websites are filtered through the government. For instance, without a special way around their filters Facebook is not available in China. Now, this bill may not exactly let the government pick and choose what sites to filter but it is still a dangerous precedent. What might be next?

At the same time I can somewhat sympathize with the entertainment industry. They spend thousands or millions of dollars to make a movie or an album, only to have it end up on the internet where anyone can download for free. But, if I am a true fan of an artist I am going to want to buy their products to show I am a fan and to support them. Without the sales they may not be around for long. As far as music goes, being able to listen to songs on Youtube or other websites doesn't mean I won't buy a CD, in fact, if it is often why I buy a product. If someone sends me a link to listen to a group and I like it, I might buy a CD. Without Youtube I would probably never have heard of the group. So banning all of this could actually hurt the industry even more. If I can't preview music I won't buy music. I have enough in my collection already and there is always the radio.

Busy Week

This was a busy week! Starting Monday I had very little free time. I posted on Facebook that I wished every day were like that Monday was. I got one comment back from a friend that disagreed and thought I was crazy. But working from 8-5, Monday through Friday, and sitting in a cubicle bored is no fun. I rather be busy.

It was nice. I took photos. I took video. I edited video. I edited stories. I posted stories. I edited photos.I attended meetings. In one week, I was using pretty much everything I learned.

And, I received my new diplomas that had Cum Laude on them. Things are going good. I love my internship and definately hope that they have an opening sometime in the future.

The worst part is living so far from Asuka and all of my friends. Hopefully, I will be visiting next weekend.

I am still waiting to hear from Spain. I would really like to get it wrapped up. If I don't hear anything by mid to late June I will just have to give up and start searching for a regular job or see if I can get my internship extended.

I got the job...well, the internship that is!

I was awoken from my nap a little after 5 last Friday when my phone began ringing. I had left it on the other side of the room which isn't a normal thing when I sleep. I usually keep it by my bed with an alarm set, but this time I didn't even set an alarm. Usually, if my phone rings while I try to sleep I will ignore the call and call or text the person later (unless of course they leave me a text or voice mail, then I might respond a little more quickly). But something important caught my attention on that call.

The area code was 501. I didn't know who the caller was but I had an idea before I answered and thought to myself it would be in my best interest to answer, so I did. And I was right. It was good news, the news I had been hoping to hear.

I went to Little Rock a week or two before that for a job interview with Heifer International. It is a humanitarian organization that I actually would love to work for one day and they had a summer internship position open for journalism majors. I quickly applied when I found out it was also a paid internship. I didn't want to get my hopes to high, but was even more excited when I found out they wanted me to come for an interview.

That Friday, I got ready after my 11 a.m. class and drove to Little Rock. The interview lasted about an hour and included an editing exercise along with questions. A few days later I send a thank you email and two links, one to a website I designed in internet communications (click here to view), and my Youtube account.

Then the wait was on. Of course, I had applied earlier to a different organization for an opportunity to intern with an Arkansas Newspaper. I heard that I might be able to work at one in El Dorado or Pine Bluff. I said Pine Bluff would be the best option because it is close to my family. But I still hoped to hear back from Heifer International.

Thankfully I did receive that call from Heifer telling me I got the job. I look forward to being able to work with them and getting to help make a difference in the world.

Internet

I thought I wasn't even going to be able to write this blog tonight because it takes so long to load a BLANK page. I don't know if you have ever seen the text editing page for blogger. If not, here is a screenshot.

The following is a Facebook status in which I tagged Arkansas State University-- although I do not know how much good it will do. They don't seem to do anything that makes since.

Video Length: 1 minute 12 seconds. Time to load and watch- Cell phone: 1:12; computer: 14.5 minutes.... CONCLUSION: Arkansas State University - Jonesboro should start charging less for athletic fees, and recreation fees and allocating money in areas we really need it like technology and academics.

 The story behind the status: I was talking to friends today and said I could probably load a Youtube video faster on my cell phone than I could on my computer. I got so tired of it that I finally tried it tonight. Sure enough, the results were not a big surprise. It loaded more than 13 minutes faster on my cell phone! It only took the length of the video, a minute and 12 seconds for me to load and watch it on my phone.

Another one of my friends posted a status around the same time as I posted mine saying she had just lost an entire homework assignment because of the internet.

I do not know for sure about hers but my experiment was performed using ETHERNET, not wireless!

Something has got to change. Classes depend on the internet now! It is the primary source of research. It is one of the main ways teachers and students communicate, especially outside of the classroom. It is how many students take classes. In some classes, videos are a part of the class. They have to be watched outside of class and are streamed through blackboard and/or Youtube.

I use half of the money they charge me for laundry each semester. This semester I pay 50 dollars to be able to park anywhere on campus for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week. I pay 180 dollars in Athletic Fee. I pay 180 in Information Technology, 50 in infrastructure. I pay 105 for Student Recreation and 150 for Student Union. Then another 20 for Student Activity.

If I go to every home football game and buy a ticket, it would cost me about 85 dollars. There are 95 dollars left for basketball (men and women), baseball and soccer. Most students don't go to every football game, much less all the other games. I would rather pay to enter a game than be overcharged.  And where does all the other fee money go? Obviously some of it goes to watering the sidewalks around campus. Some of it (a lot of it) goes into searching for a new president.

Why don't they decrease some of these other fees and put the money into EDUCATION? We need reliable internet. We need reliable computers in the library that do not have viruses or crash in the middle of typing a report. We need new academic space more than we need a new place to work out. Academics should be a top priority. I would rather be known as a university that turns out some of the most educated students in the State of Arkansas than a university who is all about partying, playing and sports.