Art Project

I know we are supposed to blog different ideas for our art project but lucky for me I know what I want to do. I have wanted to learn how to make videos for a long time on the computer but have convinced myself I don’t have time to figure it out. For my wedding Imade a slide show for the reception. I did it on powerpoint with a hundred or so slides. I put one picture per slide and had a seperate track of songs on a stereo to go with it. It worked out fine, but I have been asked by family members for a dvd of it. I have NO idea how to do it. I also have a program on my computer called Windows Movie Maker that came with it when I bought it. I am going to learn how to use it, then import the pics I used from the power point, set music to it and then make a video file that I can burn to DVD’s for Christmas gifts for some family members. I am excited to learn how to make my first movie.

World Aids Day-December 1st

 

Oprah and the Red Campaign

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Financial Analysis

I have lots of dreams…most include me living on our family’s farm in Hood River, Oregon with views of both Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams in a house that I build with my husband…a couple of kids, a few dogs and lots of time to garden and help farm with my dad and brothers….OH, did I mention the smashing career in marketing or sales??? I am as confused as you may be with the whole business women meets farm girl thing. Especially in Hood River of all places. I guess what I am trying to say is I have lots of dreams that don’t exactly line up right now, the dream I am most closely debating is continuing my education and getting my MBA. I need to make a decision soon and the financial aspect of it is a huge factor so that is what I did my financial analysis on. 

Instructables

I have had my teach project up for a day or two at instructables.com. I am starting to like this site a little more than when I wrote last. I figured out how to put links where I want them …its still not as user friendly in my opinion as the WordPress editor but none the less doable.  Also, I have got a lot of feedback already from other people about changing oil; tips, things they do differently, things they wouldn’t do at all, etc.  However, my comments have been from all men, which you could blame on  my topic (changing oil) or that most bloggers on the site seem to be men.  Regardless, it has made me think of an issue I brought up in my Culture Site project about men dominating the internet, even though women make up half of its users . I mentioned in my culture site that I don’t typically always like feministic views because often times they make women out to be the ”victims”. It’s not that I am in denial of statistics, I agree with them for the most part and am saddened by things like the little number of women CEO’s, male/female pay ratio, etc. I just don’t like saying I am weaker because of my gender. So I am not going to. I would rather participate in the world and prove that women aren’t inferior by not being an inferior woman. Instructables is a great tool for women to take advantage of. Here’s an opportunity to easily show that you know a thing or two. 

My Week…

The highlight of my week was getting comments from my Culture Site person, Anina. She had a lot of encouraging things to say. I need to figure out how to respond to her, so I can thank her. She also gave me a suggestion for teaching my lesson. She suggested instructables.com. Its basically a “teaching site”. I really like the website as a whole, its a great concept. I was glad to learn something new and find a new site to refer to when I need to learn how to do something. I really liked how you can put up a picture for each slide and then write notes on parts of the picture, for example my lesson was on changing oil so I was able to show where parts were on my car. I did have some problems with it-you can’t embed a link in the middle of a sentence the link goes to the beginning or end of your page. For the most part though it was user friendly, you just can’t make things too colorful or full of links. 

Me??? Teach???

On a long drive back from Vancouver visiting some family, my husband reminded me that I needed to change the oil in my car. I answered jokingly, “You mean YOU need to change my oil and I need to help remind you.” He then sparked a conversation that I should learn how myself. A similar conversation I had with my father when I was 15, who did teach me, but then ended up doing it himself for the years I was at home and to be honest I don’t really remember a thing he said. 20 dollars at the Jiffy Lube is worth it to me, but I actually think they might be right. I am guilty of complaining about not being included in the “guy” things, I guess I could step up to the plate and show them I can do it and besides it might even be a little self fulfilling. So, for the next week I am going to figure out how to change my own oil!!!! And then teach everyone else too on my site.  Stay posted.

Good Ads…

I recently did a presentation on the Dove Campaign, Campaign for Real Beauty for my advertising class and I am totally fascinated at how Dove is currently communicating their brand. One Ad that is out right now is only getting circulation through the internet and since I now know how to put up video…. I thought I would do my part to get it more exposure.

I AM SO FRUSTRATED…

….so last week, I thought I would be clever and utilize the wordpress tools and create a private page so that I could play with images and not cite them all at once. I didn’t want to get in trouble for using copyrighted images and it seemed like a good idea at the time….NOT ANYMORE. After writing my paper on Anina I was very inspired to try and learn to do things on my own and try to use all the resources I have. I did that, and now I can’t get the setting off.  I have went to the manage area and I edit the privacy setting but it still doesn’t turn off. Besides trying throughout today and yesterday I  have been at this for 2 hours…..just clicking settings. I’ve contact the site host, hopefully I will get help…….soon!!!!!! I will write a better post when all of my energy isn’t going into this.

Handbags…Seriously?!?!?!?!

So today in the midst of my research on an academic journal database I searched for “women” AND”mobile phones”. In hopes of finding a little more information relating to women in business or women on the go… I was kind of annoyed at what I found in the related search column. If you are unsure what I am referring to, it is similar to when you are shopping on-line and they suggest other items you might like….except with Search Inquires.  The suggested related searches were…fashionable phones, handbags and teens with cell phones. Just to feed on my annoyance I typed “men” AND “mobile phones” it was then I got the results I was looking for…the business, American users….etc.  Thought I would share….Grrrr!!!

A little more information about Anina…(Ooops I wrote this a couple weeks ago…never published it)

I just watched an interview on my person,  Anina, that I found on PBS’s Nerd TV.  She gave an explanation as to how she began coding…she needed her cell phone to do more for her and to become more mobile with the Internet. She began by navigating around the Internet on a PC and was able to find programs and stuff that others had created and from there she was able to figure out little things to manipulate her own phone. It got me thinking about my generation….she made it sound so easy. When I was in first grade most people didn’t have their own PC at home and there was one in our class room but the screen was maybe 4 inches wide. Internet was still unheard of. By fifth grade the Internet was heard of but dial-up was your only option and the computers were a little more complex and useful. By the time I entered college my parents still had dial up at home but I was able to hook up at school to DSL or Cable and thought it was pretty cool. I am now entering my Senior year at college and I hook up to WiFi any time I can. I have it at home and am very excited that I can pick it up at school in almost any building now.

The reason for my life story is when I look back, I truly believe I adapted to technology on my own. I don’t feel like it has always been there in the form it is now and no one ever taught me about Microsoft Office or Search Engines….without a little self discovery first. I can honestly say that outside a little Word Processing my first class about computers was my freshman year of college, but it seemed very introductory to me. It seemed like I already had picked up on my own,  what was being taught.

With this mindset it truly does aggravate me sometimes how computer illiterate my parents are. They say they were never taught how in school and I always tell them to just navigate around and see what they can learn on their own. Pull down some toolbars and learn from their. There usual reply is “whats a toolbar.” My grandparents are even worse, I had to label the “on” buttons and still their $2,000 system is limited to solitaire.

With this said, I think of Anina and what she has accomplished. She admited that she was just looking around and from there started doing coding that fitted her lifestyle. It blows me away how much she was able to do with her cell phone, when most people at the time were just making and recieving calls and occasionally setting an alarm. I remind myself of my grandparents. I am in their position with coding but if I would only search around a little more, I may be able to get more from my phone. Anina makes me hopefull as to what I might be able to accomplish, if I would only put out the effort. Instead of overwhelming myself all the time.