a blog for a class

my mom thinks I'm funny

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I found yet another cool diagram about social media on Stumbleupon. I really like websites that show me really cool random things, I'm also a fan of wimp... can literally spend hours on either of these websites.

This particular poster really stood out to me; there is so much truth to it. Have you ever realized that you learned how to use the Internet in kindergarten? These are basically the 5 simplest tips when it comes to browsing the web. Something so complicated and full of depth is actually so simple and easy at the same time. Love it.

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For my second digital project I teamed up with Dana and Holly. We decided to make Guelph themed playlists for students just like us called UofGTunes. We started with 8tracks but unfortunately we were all having problems uploading our playlists so we ended up switching to Songza which seemed to work a lot better. The playlists that I contributed were titled Songs to Sing on the Drunk Bus (which included an array of songs that everyone know) and Painting the Cannon (songs with a colour in the title). Dana and Holly added playlists about the crowded gym, walking across campus in ten minutes, and nights at the ranch. We tried to think of things that are unique to Guelph that only student who go here can relate to.

People are always saying how UofG is such a special place and a great community. There are Facebook groups with thousands of Guelph students and it seems that the most popular posts are the ones that are very specific to Guelph whether it be a funny gif or a serious discussion. We all agreed that most student listen to music, so why not have a playlist that all Gryphons can feel a certain connection with. We figured it was just another way for student on campus to have a fun thing in common that they can talk about and listen to together.

If we were to continue to create playlists on this account I truly think it could become a big thing here at Guelph. There are many things that are unique to the university and I'm sure if more people were involved we could come up with even more great playlist ideas.

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I found this picture while browsing through stumbleupon (a favourite of mine). This list of tips was created to help run a website, service, and sell products, but I think a lot of them can apply to personal pages as well. Some stood out to me more than others and I will touch on those in this post.

2. Stop and ask would an ACTUAL person talk that way?

This is something that I don't think I personally do, but I definitely see on other people's social media pages. A definite no-no in my books. Most of the time it is either people trying WAY too hard to sound smart (where really they just sounds dumb) or when people post derogatory or offensive posts that they would never say to anyone's face.

6. Don't try to be clever, BE CLEVER

This one comes up a lot on social media. A whole lot of people with a whole a lot of opinions. Whether trying too hard to be funny, to be smart, or intuitive. Most of it seams like a whole lot of BS to me.. but that's just me.

8. Always write back

This one I find just to be out of common courtesy. Don't have a social media page if you're not going to write back! What's the point? 

17. Update your page or delete it.

This one I also classify under common courtesy. There's nothing worse than looking at a basically empty profile on Facebook.

31. People care what you had for breakfast - if you're a food brand.

Unless you're breakfast was made by Gordon Ramsay, I don't need to see it.

and finally 36. It's an organism, not a process.

Couldn't agree more. Social media is truly alive. Always changing, always being updated, formatted and all that stuff it does ALL day EVERY day... just like living organisms.

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For my personal digital project I decided I would create something that I truly cared about. My handy dandy iPhone comes with hundreds of wonderful Emojis like the ones above. My favourite is the girl in the pink shirt with the scissors in her hair... for no particular reason. Some view my love of Emojis as an illness; I use them more than I use words when I text. A lot of the time I combine a few Emojis together to communicate to my friends... words or so boring compared to Emojis so why not have fun with it right? There are hundreds of apps that have different versions and new Emojis, but none that put a bunch together to make a sentence. Well I decided I was going to design an app called I-Moji that when downloaded would add new pages of Emojis to the basic IPhone Emoji options. These though would be a cluster of Emojis put together that mean specific things meant for those people out there like me who write in Emoji sentences (I know you’re out there!). The user can also contribute his or her own Emoji sentences to the app. To showcase it to the class (since it is not a real app) I used the Google X-Ray Goggles. The original webpage I used was another Emoji app on the iTunes website. I simply used X-Ray Goggles to use the same format of the app on the website. I inserted pictures of Emoji sentences that I came up with, a description of the app, an app logo, and obviously changed the name. When I was done it looked just like it was the website of a real app. I made about 15 template Emoji sentences that I showed to the class during my presentation, I think they enjoyed guessing what they all meant. I tried to take this project a little further by searching if it was possible to pitch an idea to apple. Unfortunately they don’t accept pitches and any idea that apple comes up with comes from an employee. The only way I could actually make this happen would be to find an app designer and have them create the app and then try to sell it to the app store. I truly believe that if this app were a real thing it would be very popular. Emojis are used on a daily basis by most of my friends and they are clearly very popular based on the amount of other Emoji apps in the app store.

I found X-Ray Goggles to be pretty simple, but I did have a few problems with it. The biggest struggle I had was with adding my own photos that aren’t from a website. I eventually created a twitter account for the app just for the purpose of putting up pictures. I tweeted out the pictures I wanted to include on my website and voila, I could link them to X-Ray Goggles! Overall I found the program easy to use and I will definitely be using it in the future.

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Playlists

Someone in our class presented a great project this week. She asked her friends to send her songs that make them happy (for whatever reason) and made a playlist on 8tracks. This is basically the point of 8tracks, for people to make whatever playlist they want, and to share it with the rest of world. Any mood, any day, any activity, there's a playlist on 8tracks for you. I realized that I basically do that in my own Itunes library. I have a playlist for when I go to sleep (I can't sleep without music), I have a playlist for when I'm just hanging out, its very mellow (called ichill), I have a pre playlist for when I'm hanging out with friends before we go out - mostly consists of remixes and crazy pump up songs. Maybe I should upload them to 8tracks?....But anyways, her project was a great idea, and I love playlists.

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So I got a Pinterest account. It was easy to use, had an array of pictures and thousands of users. I started the tutorial and began searching interests of mine. I have a weird obsessed heart shaped things that aren't supposed to be heart shaped, so I started with that. I found a few I liked but I don't really see myself using Pinterest to collect pictures of other things. I don't even see myself using it for heart shaped things accept for this one time. I once found a sweet DIY halloween costume for a ninja turtle on Pinterest, so I may run into something helpful in the future. Overall, I thought it was a good website but organizing other peoples pictures doesnt really interest me unless I'm looking for a specific thing, like DIY ninja turtle costumes.

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Complete the Circle? What's the Rush?

I'm not much of a reader, in fact, the last three books I've read cover to cover were assigned by Mark. I have a very small attention span when it comes to books, if I'm not hooked by at least the first chapter, that's it. I went to Florida during reading week and knew that I wouldn't want to be carrying a huge book around with me, especially to the beach where I know it would get destroyed. I torrented the ebook version to my IPhone and read it off my phone. I realize how ironic it was that I was using technology to read a book about how technology could possibly take over our lives. It was the first time I read a book off my phone and I actually loved it. With such a small screen, there were about 80 words per page. I felt accomplished when I would swipe to the next page in less than 30 seconds, it actually made the experience of reading a book less painful (I get bored reading a full page of text). Once I really got into the book I seriously could not put my phone down. I was no longer happy to swipe to the next page for the sense of accomplishment, but I needed to see what was going to happen next.

When Mae first began working I compared The Circle to Google a lot. A lot of the descriptions from the book are what I imagined Google headquarters to look like. I was really impressed with the company, I liked the connection, I liked the technology, the opportunities the staff had to try anything they want. I started to get suspicious after Mae received her 4th screen at her desk. That was the turning point for me. After that point I really thought that they were pushing it too far with all of the technology and lack of privacy. Each screen came with doubt and disgust. As I read through the book it seemed unimaginable and even a little unrealistic. By the end of the book I was really just intrigued to see just how far The Circle, and their new star employee, Mae, would go.

The ending was absolute genius. Dave Eggers could not have finished this book any better way. Just when I thought Mae snapped out of her hypnotic state in The Circle, I was slowly let down to realized there was no turning back.

I was a little confused about why they wanted to close The Circle so badly. The company is all about innovation, and new ideas, and improvements, so why end all that? Did closing The Circle mean ending all changes and improvements in the company and living through what they have been working on for all of those years? But why would they want to stop improvement and change? Isn't that the whole point of The Circle, to improve it in any way possible?

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https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-prn2/v/t42.1790-2/1029031_10151970811872083_273236792_n.mp4?oh=0c07056c672fffea379ebc1da0787763&oe=53399688

Kindness DOES Count!

This week in class we had a lengthy discussion about neknominations. I think we all came to a conclusion that they are dumb, dangerous, and that they would soon become less popular.. just a ridiculous fad that everyone had to be a part of. As my Facebook page was about to explode with video after video of neknoms, a sudden burst of random acts of kindness videos began to surface. Some friends of friends of mine were founders of a non profit organization called Kindness Counts, that encourages people to be kind in all aspects of life. They started a campaign called #feedthedeed that has similar structure to neknominations. You do a good deed, film it (or not) and then nominate your friends to feed the deed and pass it on. It immediately took off and soon my Facebook homepage had more #feedthedeed videos than neknominations. In class a few people frowned upon people doing this, posting a video of themselves and being in a competition for the most likes. I understand their point of view, but I think they are missing the whole message. Yes, I get it, you should be doing acts of kindness anyways and shouldnt have to be posting it to Facebook waiting for praise from your friends. But you know what? For the hundreds of people who have done a #feedthedeed video, there are more than thousands who were touched by their kindness no matter if it was for Facebook popularity or not. We don't live in a perfect world where there is kindness everyday, all day, and an internet fad that encourages people to do an act of kindness is exactly what this generation needs.

This leads me to my next point. I was nominated to #feedthedeed coincidentally the same day Mark challenged us to do a good deed for a family member over reading week. I decided to surprise my mom with flowers and her favourite chocolates, she was VERY shocked and confused but happy.. as you can see in the video!

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So Mark asked us to give ourselves a midterm mark.... very rare in any university situation, but especially for students in sciences. My roommates reacted as I thought they would...complete utter shock. After they thought about the other crazy things (crazy to them) Mark has made our class do they realized this is behaviour they should expect from this class. Obviously they told me to give myself 100. I know it doesn't really mean anything so why shouldn't I get 100? Well it is impossible seeing as the one mark I do have in this class is not 100, still high, but not 100. I'd say that at this point in the semester I have kept up with blog posts, participated on the wiki and have tried to participate in class, mostly taking in everything that is going on rather than actually speaking out loud (I know, something I can work on). I would give myself a mark between 80 and 90 seeing as I could still work on participating in class discussion (though I would like to point out I have not missed a class).

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I stumbled upon this photo (really, I was on stumbleupon.com). As I wrote in my previous post, the photo I brought in for class that represented God to me was the great and powerful Morgan Freeman.

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So before I went to class I showed my roommates the photo of Morgan Freeman and told them why I was bringing it. They obviously laughed and told me they wouldn't expect anything else from me.

I rushed home from class to watch the bachelor with them so I kind of forgot to tell them about class but I did make them stretch their wrists during a commercial break.

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Bruce... I'm God.

So last week Mark asked us to bring in a picture of what we think represents God or Power. Honestly, the first thing that came to my head was Kanye West... sad, I know but I think that helped me realize that I don't really have a clear image in my head of what God is. I consider myself a conservative Jew and really only go to Synagogue on high holidays to please my parents. I like being Jewish but I'm not really sure about God. The only God I ever see is when it is somehow portrayed in movies and TV, so, I decided to bring in a picture of Morgan Freeman from the movie "Bruce Almighty". If you don't know, Morgan Freeman plays God in the movie. He gives all of his powers to Bruce, a guy who complains about God all the time to teach him that it's hard to run the whole world. I got a few chuckles from the class when I put the picture of Morgan Freeman in the middle of the room. It was actually interesting to see what everyone else brought in. Some funny, some meaningful, and some seemed like the person tried hard to make it really deep but really it didn't make any sense to me which is totally okay.

We handed in our papers. I have to say that this was one of the hardest papers I've ever written. It took me a few days to even think of something to write about. Writing this actually made me learn a little about myself, I kind of just started writing and kept going until I had something good. Putting out all of that on paper made me realize a lot more about myself than I've ever really thought about. I still hated it though.

This week we did a wrist exercise. I couldn't do it for that long because my wrists began to sting after a while but it is definitely a stretch that is much needed. About 90% of my daily activities involve using my hands and wrists and I never really take the time to stretch out those muscles. So that was good.

Can't think of a famous movie quote to sign off, so bye.

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So this week I came home and showed my roommates my game timeline. They criticized it and said that there is no way those are the only games I've ever played. I KNOW, RELAX. They then laughed at me for being held victim of an awkward and cold neck stretch, but then they continued to chat about how much they needed a massage, so I guess they are jealous again. After I told them that I had to write who the fuck I was they reassured me that I would have something interesting to talk about but I could also make it funny so it wasn't SO boring. I'm hoping I can babble about who I am but also make it a little interesting to read, they said they all want to read it, but we'll see...

Side note: that tiger is pretty bad-ass I had to choose it

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Who the fuck am I????

This week in class Mark gave us all a blank piece of paper and instructed us to make a timeline of all the games we have ever played. I drew a horizontal line indicating my life and struggled at where to even begin. Both of my parents have owned daycare centers and are still involved in early-childhood education, so naturally I played a TON of games as a kid. The first set of games I put down were at my current age, drinking games, cards against humanity, and apps mostly. Then I tried to fill in things like barbie, house, school. I eventually had a pretty good picture of what games I have played throughout my life, but obviously forgetting hundreds. After looking at my timeline I realized that I played a lot of school and house. I have vivid memories of setting up my stuffed animals at "desks", taking their attendance, and then proceeding to teach them lessons, usually just writing the alphabet on a chalk board and reading them books. I found this interesting because I love children and being a teacher is an option I have thought about. Was playing school with my stuffed animals really what formed my interest in being a teacher though? Who knows.

Throughout the class we were all pulled aside to get our necks stretched out by strangers. Not complete strangers because it was my classmates, but still, strangers. My mind was stimulated after thinking hard about what games I've played and my neck was stimulated by a strangers cold hands. Great.

Of course, the last bit of class Mark further explained our upcoming assignment. He wants to know who the fuck I am. First I need to figure out who that is. Definitely not looking forward to writing this... going to have to start thinking really hard. I kind of feel pressure and rushed to reflect on my whole life and come up with a paper to conclude it all. I'm sure in some way I'll get some kind of satisfaction out of it?

May the force be with you.

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Last semester my roommates were always interested in what I was up to in Liptons class. Now that I have a blog, I decided to write about their reactions. All three of them are in sciences, two are in human kinetics and the other is in marine and freshwater biology. They don't get to take fun classes like this (unless you think disecting a human body or a random type of fish fun), so they are always fascinated by what we are doing. I've decided to try out an app called "Animal Face" to try to hide their identities.. and also because it's really fun to put animal heads on their bodies. Anyways, I came home from class and told them all about what I did for the past 3 hours. I then told them about our foot massage and their minds were blown. They could not comprehend why we were massaging our feet in class. I responded by telling them that Mark not only wants to stimulate our minds but our bodies as well. They gave me a look and all agreed that it was totally weird (I think they are just jealous though).

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Can I Rock your World?

I had a sense of what Lipton's class would be like after being in his class first semester. I think everyone was surprised when only about 45 people showed up to class though. After introducing the course Mark went down the attendance list and asked everyone in the class somewhat personal questions about their lives, the main being "what is your life goal". Well, good question Mark. I had the most time to think about my answer as my last name starts with a Z (I'm determined to find a husband who's last name starts with a letter at the begging of the alphabet so my children wont have to suffer like I do) but unfortunately I didn't really have an answer. Mark seemed to be disappointed when someone would say they weren't sure what their goal was but I think that it's perfectly fine. Sure I have goals and I have ambitions, but a lot of that is just bucket list items (things like traveling, raising a family). I don't really think I need to have a set goal for my whole life for me to be successful and happy. Life is a process and it can take 50 years for me to figure out my final goal. It was interesting and sometimes funny to hear people's answers though, I think it helped everyone who hasn't experienced a Lipton class get a good sense of what's to come.

Moving on.

After everyone was interviewed (interrogated) by Mark he split us into groups and we rocked each others worlds (not that I think anyone who isn't in this class is reading this, but if you are this was a sort of trust exercise). After our worlds were rocked Mark explained that he not only wants to stimulate our minds throughout the semester, but he wants to stimulate our bodies (not as creepy as it sounds). He had us take our shoes and socks off and guided us through a foot massage, it was great...different...but great.

My first impression of this class was good. I kind of knew from last semester that Mark likes to avoid lecture style classes and this is something I really enjoyed and found effective. That's all for this week folks.

Live long and prosper.