Wrap-Up

To put this all into a convenient little box, in my last three blog posts I commented on Jamie, Brandon, and Rebecca's blogs. We didn't have to make a comment on anyone's blogs in our intro post, and from what I was told when we made our Facebook page we only had to post a picture and link to it so you could see that it was done.

Finale

Well it's that time of year again. Yes, the end of a semester. The end of an era. The end of all things that we have come to know and hold dear over the past few months. Or rather, the end of having to post in this darn blog! Do you have any idea how hard it is to force yourself to write a post about something you care absolutely nothing about? I do. I hate social media, I hate it so much. I only use Facebook because all of my friends use it to make events, and I occasionally check out a song or a movie trailer on youtube. Besides that, I don't use anything else. Twitter? I've tweeted my last! Blogspot? You don't have a spot in my life. Delicious? Not unless it's an adjective describing my food! (Speaking of food have you checked out Jamie's blog? She's majoring in nutrition and has some pretty awesome sustainability stuff posted!)

This whole thing has just been frustrating. I don't own a laptop, so classes were infuriating sometimes when we would be told to do something online that I couldn't physically do on my iPod. This blog is just... frustrating. And that Wikipedia assignment was horrible. The only things I learned in this class that I think may be useful in my life is wear red to an interview and how to use Google Docs. I just don't see why every single person in the ALES faculty is forced to take this course.

Back to the topic of things I use social media for, I found a really talented violin player on Youtube the other day, and I would recommend that you check her out here! Anyway I can't think of anything else that needs to be said, so I guess I'm done here.

Ahem

Facebook. What is it about this site that makes us stay on it even after all the ridiculous changes they've made recently? What is it about Facebook games that is so addicting to so many people? Why is it that even though this site is still relatively new (only launched in 2004), most people cannot imagine their lives without it? The impact social media has on our culture is astounding, and can simultaneously open us up to the whole world, which isolating us completely. You can talk to your friend from across the ocean, all from the confines of your own tiny room. You can have a conference call on Skype with fifteen people from all around the world, yet you are completely alone in your house. Why go outside when you can chat with your friends on Facebook? Or Twitter? Or Skype?

But I digress. While I would love to rant about how I feel about the isolation of our society I have work to do here, and so comes the ever fun and exciting obligatory stuff. Have you heard that NASA has recently discovered a planet that is very similar to ours, except about twice as big? It's pretty interesting, and I actually found out about it when one of my friend's posted it on Facebook. You can check it out here! And speaking of links, have you checked out Brandon's blog? I'd never heard of Vlogging before but from what he says it sounds pretty nifty! And you can apparently get paid. Seriously, daaaamn.

And now, sine you've probably been sitting at a computer for far too long, here's a pretty picture of a tree!

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Wikipedia Mayhem

I know I'm not going to be able to get the marks for this assignment, and I don't expect them. I flubbed up. I had a topic that I was going to write on, but through a supreme feat of idiocy forgot to write the article. Now it's weeks past the due date and I still hadn't written up at least the blog post for it, so I come sulking back, tail between my legs, knowing that I missed one of the assignments for the most important and heavily weighted project in class. I was just so intimidated by the thought of it that i kept putting it off until I managed to throw it out of my mind completely.

But seriously folks, just think about it - I am 19 years old. I have practically no life experience, and I have a very very narrow area of knowledge. Wikipedia is accessible by people around the world, and practically relied upon for useful, accurate information. If not a single on of the millions of other users was able to turn a stub into a proper article, how could I be expected to do it? I know there are clearly other ways of getting information, but to me this was one of the hardest things to even begin wrapping my head around, let alone actually starting to work on. It took days for me to decide on a topic, and even after I made an account on Wikipedia I couldn't figure out exactly how to maneuver the technical parts of the website. Combine this with the intimidation I feel every time I think about all the stipulations for a correct blog post and this whole e-portfolio assignment is just... not my thing.

I hate the idea of posting things on the internet for anyone else to see, and I would honestly rather have a midterm and a final than to have to do this blog. I would rather cut off my pinky finger than to have to do this blog. It's just so frustrating to me, because I am not a computer kind of person and having this many sites and accounts that just keep bloody emailing me is incredibly annoying!

But I digress. As per the stipulations I feel that I need to point out that Rebecca seemed to have the same kind of idea toward the Wikipedia article as I did, although unlike me she overcame it and actually seemed to have enjoyed looking up information on her topic. But really, with a name like hypergymnasia it does sound kind of fun, until you learn that it's a disorder. Whoops. And now I'm almost out of my 2-4 paragraph wiggle room, so I will leave you with a picture of a person looking frustrated while trying to use a computer.

Facebook Page

Because in this world of increasing social media, everyone who is (or plans to be) anyone needs to have a Facebook page. I have a picture of mine in this post, and the link is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-J-White/217561331637003?sk=info

Introducing Me

Hello to all of you reading this post! My name is Amy and I am currently an undergraduate student in Agriculture, or more specifically Animal Health. That's right folks, I want to be a veterinarian. I haven't decided yet whether I want to work with small or large animals because I think either way it would be an extraordinary challenge and opportunity to look after them all. This is going to be my 'professional' blog as part of my ALES 204 class, as we are learning about the important of communication and/through social media.

As with most careers these days social media plays an important role in communication of thoughts and ideas between people with jobs in animal health, and this isn't a bad thing. To be able to connect instantly with thousands of people in your profession all over the globe is incredibly powerful. Sharing breakthrough technology and procedures in seconds was something unheard of just a few decades ago, and now we are not only able to do that but to control machines for delicate surgeries via remote control from halfway around the world. Communication technology has come far since its inception and it will continue to grow and expand at an incredible rate, and it will continue to be important to people around the world regardless of career.

(On another note this is my second attempt at a blog because as it turns out the University is picky with what it allows its emails to do.)