LIFE'S A KICK

Tyler Hadden

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It's Friday Night!

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Vidify Your Life 4

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Vidify Your Life 3

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Last Sunday I took part in the 24 hour no cell phone or internet. Let me tell you this. This was a lot harder than I originally thought it would. I picked to do this on a Sunday because I usually sleep in and then when I wake up I get ready and then head off to church. After church I then go to rehab and then the rest of my time during the day I either sleep more or do homework. So I figured perfect! I would not need my phone or internet for at least half the day because I am busy.

Well I was wrong with this assumption. It first started when I woke up. My phone was already off from the previous night. I woke up and my natural instinct and muscle memory is to grab my phone and go through my Facebook, Email, and Twitter and browse the internet. This was the first major problem because it was something I have not done since high school, which is when I didn’t have a phone. I did feel anxious right away and I had to focus on something else so I made myself a big breakfast before church. During church I felt a couple times that my phone was vibrating. But clearly my mind was tricking my body because my phone was still at home and not even in my pocket. Actually this was the worst part I think because my phone is on silent during church anyways and my body was still trying to feel for the vibrations of text messages and emails.

After church I grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed to rehab on lower campus. This was also another problem because while I rehab I listen to Pandora on my phone. Since I could not use the internet I could not use Pandora. This sucked big time. This was terrible because the music usually pushes my through my rehab and makes it seem like it goes by faster. But without the music my hour rehab felt like a two hour rehab session.

When I got home I had no homework so I had free time to do anything. At this point is when I got anxious because I would normally browse through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and ESPN. But I could not do this. So instead I went to play FIFA 13 on Xbox. But as turning it on I realized I can’t be connected to the internet. So I had to play the computer which is boring because the computer is too easy which creates boredom for me.

Ever since I completed those rough twenty four hours I have viewed my cell phone differently. I realized that I am too dependent on my phone for entertaining me. I think that we are all guilty of using are phone too much and that we need to be able to step away from our phones without feeling the anxiety that we are missing out on something. That is why we as humans struggle with this is because we feel like we are missing out on something when we do not have our phones.

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Lakeshow

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First Timer Here!

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An Athlete's Best Friend

One of the newest film companies that have became popular in the past couple years is called Hudl. This is a system that serves for many different purposes while keeping coaches and players pleased. Founded by David Graff who is the current CEO of Hudl created Hudl after being a Graduate Assistant. He was a GA working with the Nebraska Huskers football team where he discovered how inefficient the team's process was for receiving and sending film. The target users for this system are coaches, players and recruits who hope to play at the collegiate level. For example, at University of Hawaii our coaches use hudl to share film to us (the players) which enables us to watch film on a computer, smart phone or Ipad of ourselves of games, practice, or even scout the other teams. I have personally never used Hudl for recruiting but I do watch film using Hudl. I like to use Hudl because it is simple to use and you can slow it down rewind and fast forward. The whole system is very user friendly. Collegiate hopefuls use Hudl to create a profile where it shows all their athletic information, academic information, and a place where they can store and share film to colleges. Not only can they share all of their information but they can also edit their game films and create highlight tapes where it can display all their tops plays. I think that this is a for profit venture because this system would either be successful and work or it would not work at all and fail. I think that Hudl is a legal enterprise under US law and it does not operate in a grey market. There are a couple different companies that this systems compete with. The first one is Youtube which I think Hudl replaces for recruiting purposes. Originally before Hudl recruits would post their highlight videos on Youtube but now they put them on Hudl because that is already a program that coaches use on a daily base. The other company that is used to help recruit which is way more impressive then Youtube but is about the same with Hudl is called NCSA. In NCSA you create a recruiting profile just like you do in Hudl. Since Hudl is a well known company among athletes and coaches there has to be perfection within Hudl system itself. Therefor the relationship between the support team at Hudl and the coaches are players are among the top. The support team always has an answer is willing to do anything they can to help the customer. Through Hudl coaches and player have a closer relationship because a coach with one look of a player's profile knows everything about them athletically academically before they meet the player. This is pretty impressive. I would choose Hudl over any other company they compete with due to the fact of the overall great quality and how their customer service always helps you figure everything out.

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To Reward or not to reward?

Last Wednesday in class we watched a film that discussed how people are motivated and if rewards motivate people. I think that rewards motivate people even though that it goes against what was said in the film from TED.  Dan Pink argues that rewards dont always work. I can prove this wrong. My girl friend's mom is the manager of accounting for the company Nestle. Nestle rewards their employees by how well the over all numbers come out at the end of the semester. If they are returned positive then they are rewarded with another "pay check" of a designated amount. There are plenty of times where I am over at the house and her mom is working on her laptop. Why? Because she wants to have a positive number at the end. Why? Because she will receive an extra check. In my COM 320 class we were discussing how Skinner's Positive Reinforcement Theory is the most efficient way to run a business and be successful. This theory concentrates how rewards are given within a business for motivation which creates a bond between the supervisors and the employees. This relationship is a relationship that creates a positive atmosphere within the business. I think that Dan Pink brings up great ideas in the video, but this is false due to Skinner's Positive Reinforcement Theory.

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Longest, shortest weekend ever!

This past weekend at first seem so long! Then I woke up this morning and realized how quick the weekend went by and how very little free time I had, My girl friend had her first weekend of softball tournaments for UH. They won all their games except for their last one they lost to Washington. Their record going into this week is 5-1 ranked 25th in the nation. After her last game on Saturday, I had some buddies over and we played some card games. Sunday morning I woke up at 7:30 AM to go to church. Right after church I drove down to Costco and got some food for my house. Later that evening my girl friend and I went to Walmart and then went to the mall to look at Michael Kors watches that I may be interested in. 

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Class Time

10:36 - have no idea what the answer was to the quiz. People around me we went ABCD ;) 10:37 - Starting presentations about people and interesting about them. 10:38- 5 car crash and not a scratch! :o 10:40 - same birthday as her sister but 2 years apart. wow 10:45 - Learning how to use gmail mydrive! 10:48 - Starting to discuss the readings from Convergence Culture 10:53 - Book is based on 3 concepts: Media Convergence, Participatory Culture, Collective Intelligence. 10:56 - seems not many people did the readings.. HA 11:00 - This is why you have to be careful what you put online because you NEVER know who will find it! 11:08 - Trundle needs a drawing lesson before this semester ends... 11:20 - Till next time ALOHA

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Another Day in the Office

10:30 - Apparently we have a lot to do today... 10:31 - Pretty sure im the leader on the leader board... not bragging at all. 10:34 - More people introducing themselves todays. 10:35 - Man he had a lot of animals. 10:35 - Pretty impressive. bird sounds from her mouth haha 10:40 - TVs were in every middle class home in 1960s 10:44 - Every context is another medium. 10:51- Eat at Joes. Man im hungry. But lights change the atmosphere at home, workspace, leisure etc. 10:56 - The content of the light in here is not the words of the chalk board. But it is them whole room. The room would not be here without the light. 11:00 - It makes sense how this concept says that a television will change society. 11:03 - Print is a dominate medium in society. 11:20 - Till next time Aloha.

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Goodnight world.

Today has been a very long day. I woke up to going over and helping my girl friend because she was sick. Then I came home to watch 2 amazing NFL playoff games. The games were pretty intense and one of them even ended in a game winning field goal (How ironic). I watched the game with two buddies and my girl friend. Then I took a pretty good nap. Woke up and started doingn laundry which led to cleaning (not OCD but I like things pretty clean). I soon started homework which was a translation for my Samoan class then did some postings and started the reading for this class.In addition I did some reading for my COM 201 class and looked over some notes preparing for tomorrow. It is now about 11:45 and I have to get up at 6:45 AM for football workouts. So until tomorrow. Goodnight world.

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GOOOLAAAZOOO!!!

EA Sports has dominated the production of sport games for a while now. One of their big hits every year is the release of FIFA. This past year FIFA 13 sold over one million copies on the release date and would follow for the next five days to sale 4.5 million copies. I would say the general public has a favor for FIFA every year. 

FIFA 13 has so many features that you have enough things to do and accomplish until the next year's edition is available. This game interacts with the Microsoft Kinect and PlayStation Move. The use of these two systems were added so while playing in a match you can call out "Mentality" or "Tactics" and change your teams mentality and tactics just through these systems. It even goes as far as offensive language towards the refs. I say this is a great add by EA. 

The actual game play is unreal in this game. As any soccer player knows, you have a "touch" which is basically how well you can control the ball. Another great add to touch is how well you can display moves and jukes. It is smooth and not so choppy as it was before. The game displays this perfectly. In addition, while shooting you can control curves and dips. The defending has improved from FIFA 12. You can play more physical by running shoulder to shoulder while trying to bump the attacker off the ball. 

The different leagues, teams and players are very accurate. If you are connected to the internet the game stays updated with additions on new rosters as well as injuries. Also the game is accurate with the correct jerseys and how they look. This too is updated when a team gets new jerseys. The game play is no different then the regular game play. When you play in "Seasons" online you can either win and be put in an upper division or if you lose than you are demoted to a lower division. The game play gets either harder or easier according to how you do online. You can even play as a single play and only control that player for the whole game. This is an awesome feature that brings the game even closer to real life rather then watching a game.

Overall another great EA sports game. I am interested in how they can better this game for next year because I consider this game a perfect fit.

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MIB III

Usually when movies have sequels they seem to never be as good as the original movie. On my flight back to school I watched the latest Men In Black. When I first saw the previews for it I did not find interest in it but I ended up giving it a shot. I really liked how the movie goes back in time so that you see K when he was younger and what he had been through. But I was very caught off guard when at the end of the movie they showed that K was there when J's dad was killed and that he pretty much took care of him after his dad died. Even though the movie is fiction, I thought that they could have done a little better work on the special effects. There were some parts in the movie where I told myself "that looks too fake." But overall I thought it was a great sequel and yet again Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones made the movie a great one.

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When is it too young?

In class on Friday we watched a film about different technology and how it affects us in our daily lives. There was a part in the film where it discussed how technology is now used in schools. When I was school the only technology I used was computers to type papers and power point to create presentations. We did not even use power point until I was in high school. Most of the time we used over heads AKA "ELMO". Growing up even outside of school I only watched television and had a Gameboy. I never even got an Xbox until my second year in college. Is the youth now days getting introduced to technology too soon? Yes, absolutely. I have 4 cousins all under the age of 10 with the youngest being 4. They all play PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and have an IPad as well as IPods. Children only have the NEED of technology to type papers and presentations and for research. Nothing else. This will help students when they are older so that they are not trying to multitask. As the film showed we are slower when we multitask. This I think will help students concentrate on one thing so that they can learn it and comprehend it.

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10:30 - Yet again no one talking much. Awkward... 10:35 - Daniella from Sweden. Very cool to have an international student in the class 10:40 - Lights, camera, action!.. movie time! 10:41 - Netflix.. college student's life saver! 10:43 - We live a digital life... literally. 10:45 - Funny how it was said txting while with friends is okay and its mutual. My mom is always on my butt about not doing that.. 10:50 - it is common sense. When you only concentrate on one thing, you will understand it more rather than multi-tasking and being slowerr then normal. 10:51 - I think it is ridiculous how young kids have phones and play video games. I didnt get my first phone till sophmore year of high school and i didnt have a gaming platform until my first year in college. 10:55 - Psh. I grew up with pencil and paper and only having an overhead projecetor. When was the last time you used one of those? 10:58 - hahaha great to take a picture of the students and they dont know. 11:01 - I think that there needs to be a happy medium with the amount technology that students use in school. 11:15 - Its amazing the gaming world. 11:20 - Till next time. Aloha

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Is it worth it?

Robert Griffin III has been the center of attention on ESPN and Sports Center because of his recent knee injury that took place. There is a slight debate in the NFL about what kind of quarterback is the "normal" quarterback, whether it is the quarter back that is 6'5 and can throw the ball. Or is it the quarter that is not as tall but can throw and run the ball. In the past couple of years in the NFL athletic quarterbacks have become a new trend. To name a few; Robert Griffin III, Cam Newton, Russell WIlson, Michael Vick, and Terrelle Pryor. But the problem that has taken place with Mike Vick and most recently Robert Griffin III is that they are very vulnerable to injury. RG3 was a huge loss for Washington as they needed him at the end of their playoff game to lead a comback. But that didnt happen due to him tearing his ACL and PCL. Many critics say these types of QBs are a risk because they run and get hit and get hit hard which leads to mulitple injuries throughout their career in the NFL. Washington Redskins took a hit when this happened because he is not only their starting QB but he is also their franchise player. My thoughts are if you create an offense for these types of players. Then you better have a dang good back up who can also run the ball as well as throw it. Best wishes to RG3!