Update

I have not posted in a while. I am updating everybody who chooses to read this blog. I have a new site Everyday Life. This is photo blog that I hope you will all enjoy and help me to build. Enjoy :-)

Alex's Class

For my final project I am planning on doing a photo blog of some sort. If I were to use the mash-up technique, I would take the pictures I take and mash them with a picture in a different angle to give a different idea of how to look at the subject. For example, I could take a picture of a lightening blot and have the next picture be a piece of tin being struck by an electric arc, which would make the lightening bolt seem less dangerous. Another technique I could use is to make a photo wiki were I could post photos of different objects and try to define the object and see what other people identify them as. The third technique I could use is the hardware hacking technique. For this one I could take pictures of different ways to make a household project into something other then what it is intended to be and post them in a blog.

new link to my story.

So i wrote the story up on jottit.com. It works much better here. So heres the link.

my hypertext page

I keep trying but I can't figure out how to make the text into pages. Heres the link. but I don't think it worked right. I'm gonna keep working on it and hopefully I'll figure it out. hypertext.

The story is about a guy and his struggles to make ends meet. He finally gets a break and things turn arouind for him.

I am still tryint to figure out how to save the pages. If someone can help...please do. Thanks a bunch.

Lightening Strikes.

With winter coming, I have been preparig myself for winter storms. Primarily thunder/lightning storms. I have a fear of thunder storms. It's a fear from my childhood that I have not been able to out grow. So I am trying to find ways to get over it. In preparing for these storms this winter, I started thinking about the age old saying that lightning never strikes the same place twice. I never totally believed this so I did some research. Turns out, lightning can and will strike the same exact spot numerous times. Comforting. Anyway. After thinking about how lightnin can strike where ever it may, I wanted to know how to prevent it from striking me.

There doesn't seem to be a way to prevent lightning from striking you or your home. All you can do is be prepared. There are ways to try and conrol the lightning when it does strike. Also there are tips for what to do when it strikes in a place where you happen to be. The Board of Health for New York State has a

pamphlet available for lightning safety. Lightning, for me, is scary and my fear is getting cought in the path of a lightning bolt. I have noticed that pictures of lightning are beautiful, even if it is terrifying when it does strike.

Get Healthy

I recently bought a workout video from Target. The video is called The Firm Cardio Dance Slim Down. It promises visible results in 10 workouts. So far I have done 4 workouts and I think I am becoming a believer or the workout video. I never really trusted that you could do these full workouts in your home and actually see results. I guess its not really all that different from going and working out in a gym like 24 Hour Fitness or something. I learned that, at least with my video, the quality of the workout is in how hard you push yourself.

There are many different types of workout videos. CollageVideo.com gives you the ability to preview these videos before you buy them. Hip Hop Abs was my first choice when I was shopping for a worout video. Unfortunately it was too expensive. So I got Cardio Dance Slim Down. This is just one way I found that I can get myself into shape. I have found that work out videos are the best for people with busy schedules because you use them when you have the time and you can stop the video when you feel you've had enough or have to leave. I have started to really enjoy my workout. I am happy to say that I have started my journey to a new and slightly healthier lifestyle.

hobbies and collectables

I am not much of a collector. I don't collect anything that is expensive or really all that interesting. But I do collect pens. I love pens, especially pens in bright colors. Some people say that this is a reflection of my personality, but I am not really too sure about that one. I have noticed that pens are not something that many people really collect. Most people use them and then toss them. I have a habit of keeping them for a while, even after they are used up and dead.

So, I decided to look into some other items that could possibly be my new collection items. Something that is actually a collectible, not just something that I happen to like because it's a bright color. In my research, I found this website. This website sorts the items into categories to make your searching/shopping easier. So there are dolls, sports memorabilia, die cast toys and beanie babies, coca cola products, and so many others that I was amazed what is considered a collectible today.

After finding some other items I could become interested in, I started thinking about why people collect stuff. In all honesty, a collectible is just something that sits on a shelf and collects dust. So what is the psychology behind it. So I did a little more research. I found an article by a gift shop owner, Patricia Twitchell. She had some interesting insight into this question for me. Another article by a company called Cabremigel also gave me a little deeper insight. This article stated that "collecting is a popular kind of hobby. A person can choose to collect almost any type of article, and they can continue collecting different examples of this object their entire life. The desire to collect usually starts early in life but sometimes a life changing event will create an interest for an individual. Collecting as a hobby often teaches the collector a great deal, because it demands a thorough knowledge of the article collected."


I must admit that I had never really thought about collecting in this way before. It is true that you must now about your items if you want to keep collecting them, just like I know which pens write better than others and which ones are more comfortable in the hand. I believe that I have come to a conclusion. While there are very interesting items out there to collect, I will stick with my pens. At least for the time being. I am content having my eighty pens in my drawer that I can pull out and use any time I want. To those of you that also have a collection, continue your search for new and interesting additions to you stash, and increase your knowledge of those items. You never know, it may come in handy one day ;-).

Commercials have their place too.

I love commercials. old, new, interesting, boring, commercials of all kinds. Of course commercials are ads, trying to get the American public to buy the product. But I love commercials none-the-less. I recently saw this commercial for Tostitos.




I love this commercial because the majority of the commercial has nothing to do with the product they are trying to sell, but it still makes the name memorable. Tostitos is not the only company to use this advertising strategy.


Budweiser recently did the same with their Real Men of Genius campaign. These commercials celebrate the regular, everyday guys and their total ordinary-ness. Bud Lite is not even mentioned until the very end of these commercials. Each one of the commercials in the campaign is funny and interesting and catches the viewer/listener's attention.







In my opinion, commercials that aren't overly, and sometimes annoyingly, pushing their product are the commercials that really sell well. I also enjoy the comical commercials, such as the Beggin' Strips commercial.



This commercial, shot in the '90s, is one of my favorite. Its catchy, its funny, and its well shot. You actually feel like you are looking from the dogs perspective, not like the camera happens to be there. Commercials today are so over-the-top and sometimes unbelievable. It is nice to see ones like the Tostitos and the Bud Lite commercials. These companies understand the American public and how we prefer to think, or not think, when it comes to television and commercials.


These are just some examples of the great commercials that are out there. If you have any recommendations for great commercials I should watch, let me know. I am always open to new, entertaining commercials.

The Three Blogs I Found

I found three blogs that are based on similar topics to what I want my blog to be about. My plan is to write about the thoughts that pop into my head over the course of the day, talk about the videos I watch, or quotes and thoughts that i come across while surfing the web. Press button, receive bacon ,is one of these blogs. This blog talks about emails received, videos seen and and other news from the day. In each blog is a series of links that help to show and explain what the post in talking about. Not only does the author talk about truly random things and thoughts, but also about current news stories and what she thinks about them. Another example of the direction I want my blog to go in is Comically Large Things. This blog takes pictures of really big objects and then writes about them with humorous descriptions. I really enjoy this blog because of the relaxing nature of the posts. Each of the posts uses different pictures that have almost no connection other than they are all of really large objects. The pictures aren't really useful to day-to-day living but they do serve for a good laugh. The last blog I found, I did not know that yesterday , is another example of a blog about random thoughts and facts gathered throughout the day. This blog takes interesting topics, such as the creator of Velcro, and researches it, then posts the findings. This blog is more useful than the other two because it actually will research the post topic and the reader can learn something from it. The author keeps the blog recreational while giving the reader he information. It is written in a very professional way when giving the information, but the intros are written in a more conversational style. Each of these three blogs are excellent samples of the type of blog I want to write. I hope to bring to you readers the same entertainment that these blogs bring to me.

My First Blog Ever.

I have never written an actual blog before. So lets see how this goes.


I am adjusting to life in the big city. I moved here from a small town in central California. There is such a difference between the people here and the people there. I have also noticed a difference in driving styles. Up here, people are in more of a rush and where I am from, people tend to take their time to get where they are going. The main high way was a two lane up until recently. The beginning of summer brought about road construction which is expanding both sides of the freeway by one lane to make commuting much easier. When I compare the six lanes here to the two from back home, I know the highways would be a virtual parking lot with all the commuters. I can't wait until I am able to either move back home or to move to a small town and get away from this rat race and the all the crazy drivers in this area.