Jackie's Technologically Happier Life

Oh my god! Last post, may 7th?!! That's horrible, Tomás! What are you thinking! This blog is gonna start collecting dust!

Well anyway, hello everyone. Once again, I'm sorry for not having blogged in such a long time. No Internet since about April ... but now it's BACK! That's right, the Internet is back! And now, I have the power.... THE POWER! .... to blog.

The topic of the day is one that is a strong and painful realization that computer people like me usually make every once in a while. As of late, I've sort of been dabbing in the computer repair trade; I've done it for a few of my friends but also for actual grown-ups. (yay!). What I've noticed however, is that people who own computers, but don't trouble themselves to know what is inside one, what kind of processor they have, whether they should upgrade, etc. lead more blissful, relaxed lives than those who do (in this respect at least). And the most amazing thing, perhaps, is that one does not have to look hard to find examples.

JACKIE'S TECHNOLOGICALLY HAPPIER LIFE

The following story takes place at some point in time that's not this one. It also alternates between past and present tense but it's easy to follow. Enjoy!

I know two people. One is named Jackie. The other is myself (god forbid I wouldn't know myself!). These two people lead different lives technologically. Jackie uses a digital camera. Tomás uses one as well. Both these cameras, being digital, must record the images that are shot with them onto a digital medium. So, to operate the camera, besides the battery (included to aid people like Jackie to lead the technologically blissful lives they live), a memory card is required, onto which the cameras will be stored.

It appears that Jackie's camera has come along in the mail with a FREE memory card. So, Jackie's all ready to go! Right now, Jackie's already taking pictures of her friends at the mall while they eat ten cheeseburgers (each), taking advantage of the beauty that is the 59 cent cheeseburger at McDonald's on Wednesdays and Sundays.You go girl(s)!

Tomás ' story is different, however. While Jackie's camera conveniently arrived at her house, in the mail, Tomás just had to do it differently. He wouldn't dare simply pick a pretty looking camera off Amazon and have it shipped Express Mail to his abode! Instead, Tomás just had to look at all the different models, all the different megapixel amounts, all the different F-stop and aperture specs. Gosh!

Finally, he decided himself on a bundle that came with everything - including a memory card! Happy as a clam, Tomás was, when he received it shortly after he placed his order. Opening it up, he feels excited and by the end of the day, he's taking pictures just like Jackie.

The next day, Jackie and Tom meet up to share the pictures that they'd taken the day before. It turns out that Jackie had spilled mayonnaise over her lens, and had simply swabbed it off with her finger!

"Jackie! You should use a professional cleaning kit for that!"

"No, there was no damage. The lens is all good."

"But a professional cleaning kit will allow you to even clean the insides of your camera!"

"Why would I want to do that? The camera comes with an internal self-cleaning trigger. See?"

"Well yes, but it won't be as efficient."

"But I won't even notice the difference."

"Fine. Let me see the camera."

Tomas analytically looks at the camera, reading the aperture specs on the lens, looking through the settings. At one point, he opened up the camera and saw that the memory card inside was a DXUI model.


"A DXUI memory card I see."


"What does that mean?!"


"Digital Xenophage Universal Instructor!"


"Ok then."


"L O L. Maybe we should both get a DXUI 2 model! It takes pictures at 100 images per second instead of the typical 900 images per second."


"Oh, wow. Sounds powerful. Ok I gotta go; TTYL!"

Tomás ridiculed the indiffernce of Jackie to the DXUI 2 card.


Tomás began looking for a DXUI 2 model for his camera. Turns out, his camera doesn't support it. So, Tomás bought a new camera. However, this one came without the lens, so he had to buy separate ones. But, then he ran out of money, so now, he's saving up to get himself a large DXUI 2 card.

He talked to Jackie one day on the phone - a never-before-seen event, I might add.

"So how's your camera, Tom?"

"Um, it's coming. What about yours?"

"Great! Been taking pictures all day!"

"Oh, I see." Tomas became a little sad, because he wanted to take pictures already, and not have to wait anymore.

"Maybe you should've just stuck with the memory card you got, Tom. It would've taken pictures anyway. "

"But not with as fast access speeds!"

"Better than not taking pictures for months!"

Being intrepid isn't always the best thing to be. Usually, it works out. But for Tom, the DXUI model fiasco would leave him without a date to the Photographer's Banquet (can't go without a camera!)

Not my greatest story, but I try.What I want to say is that people who just use technology - that just know how to work it and use it for what they need - lead happier lives. Look at Tom - he's fretting over having the latest and greatest memory card model, while Jackie, not even knowing that she could take pictures faster, just kept taking pictures with her DXUI card - no problem. She's still happy as clam, looking at how great her pictures look.

It's OK, Tom. You'll get it eventually.

See you guys again soon.

Jackie's Technologically Happier Life

Need Ideas for a Summer Documentary

Hello, everyone! I need soem help from you guys today. I will be shooting a documentary piece over the summer (this 2009 summer), but I stil haven't been able to think up topics for a good documentary. So today, I ask you, my humble readers, if you guys would have any ideas for a good documentary.

Anything is fair game, but if you guys need me to tell you more about what kind of documentary piece I'd like to shoot, I have no qualms to tell you more.

But know this - my budget is a big goose egg ( 0 ).

Leave your ideas in the comments! Thanks, guys!

Need Ideas for a Summer Documentary

Afraid of Change

Hey, guys. Haven't posted in a while (no Internet at home, so this hiatus is excusable, I hope; at least more so than the other ones). I remember that post I had done about change. In it, I talked about change as a good force, as a good circumstance. Well, for the most part it is. There are nations in the world that need change – we, the US, are guilty right now. But change will come – no doubt about it – and it'll likely be good. I'm cool with that kind of change – change for the better, right – but only because I have a good feeling about what the change is going to be. I could also be wrong … maybe, President Obama's proposed reforms unfortunately won't go through. I will tell you why that change doesn't worry me. It's far away. Not in terms of time, and not in terms of miles, but in terms of splash damage (video game much?). Changes are like earthquakes. They have an epicenter, where the change originates, and then the farther you are the less affected you are, but nonetheless, you are affected. Well, President Obama's change, to me, are going to be very important and appreciated, but not felt strongly. They're too far away.
Let me give you another change not so far away from me – my friends, the people I talk to, the people I know. I was thinking about this a few days ago, or so. Last Friday, I hung out with my friends afterschool and, after getting over the fact that this might be a punkish activity and that I'd never done that before and whether I should've headed home and worked on homework or something like I conscientiously would've done, I thought about the fact that that's not always gonna be that way. What I mean is … after these next four years in high school, everyone's gonna dissipate like the gas from an opening soda can. Everyone's gonna go in different directions. Not only this, everyone's gonna be all grown up. There's such a contrast, let me tell you, between my freshmen friends and my senior friends. Not just in age, but in what age brings with it – a lack of naiveté in these older fellers, another attitude that perhaps is less innocent or less … oh, I don't know, less like they are now. Everyone's gonna have different interests; the things we do now aren't gonna be the same. I'm still looking for the right words with which to describe the change. I know these few sentences are ambiguous, but they're as truthful as my developing mind allows them to be.
I thought I was the best authority on what I was afraid of. But there's one thing that my girlfriend was the first to tell me about – me being afraid of change. She's right. I am afraid. She made me notice that I don't think about the future much, and at first, I regarded not thinking about the future as being just because I chose not to thinka bout something I wasn't sure about. But no, it's not a choice … it's a fear.

I'm also scared of scary movies, skulls, and the like. But this is big man. But you know what, I'm gonna be a wimp about it. Don't think about what you'll do four years from now. Don't you dare. Unless you don't wanna sleep at night.

Thanks for reading guys. See you as soon as I'm able to post again. Good night, and godspeed.

- Tomás Monzón

Afraid of Change

Here's Tomás! Blog Update No. 5

Hiatus, much?
I know I said I wouldn't do this again, and I'm sorry for not keeping my first and so far only promise in this blog.
Golly, that ain't a good start.
But, I've got quite a few new things to talk about. I'll begin by saying what a trendsetter I've become amongst some of my friends! Now that's extremely assholeian (meaning explained later on, but you can probably guess what it means) of me to say, but let me explain why. I began this very blog over the summer, of 2008, and I've been popularizing it, so to speak, this year, amongst my new-found high school friends. Take a few months, and now two of my best friends in my English class also have blogs. Remember Victoria Marie, who published a few articles regarding Shakespeare and one of his most well-known works, Romeo and Juliet? We'll, she's gone on to bigger, better things, on this very website, and mind you, it's quite the nice read – you can see that right here. Highlighter Jacket, title and true fact, is also new-found and blooming like a rose in October (I know that probably doesn't make sense). It's got is share of nice pictures as well, so click here if you want to see what she's all about.
All right, well, hopefully now I don't sound as assholeian. Oh, by the way, those are two new adjectives I've come up with, and IMHO, I think they're fit to be new additions to the growing (or decaying) English language – assholeian, referring to something that is or someone whom is an a**hole, and then, assinine, referring to something particularly unsettling or not favorable. Assholeian should be used more for the actions of someone; and assinine for an event or circumstance. How's that?

I've been busy, as of late, completing some film projects. Now that Spring Break is coming, besides doing my best to hang out with friends (more on this later on), I'll also be working on a review of Linux Mint 6 Felicia, the most promising GNU/Linux desktop OS I've seen to date. You might not know what GNU/Linux is, or what Linux Mint 6 Felicia is.... but I'll tell you all about it when the video's all done later this coming week, Spring Break week for us students. Right now, all the narrations and video portions of the review are done; now I need to put it all together and maybe record me using Linux Mint as well.
I've also completed the commercial I've been trying to get done since February for my school's book club, which I am a part of (by the way, right now we're reading City of Bones, which is a very interesting read and bears, in my opinion, a slight resemblance to Twilight). I'm gglad to say I was able to finish the commercial last weekend; the week coming back from Spring Break, with crossed fingers, I can say that it'll be playing on my school's local newscast. I'll also, if I'm allowed, be putting it up on Youtube.

Once I get to go to the library one of these days, since there's no Internet at home, I'll also be updating information on the above on my Visionary Productions website as well.

I might be a wimp..... ok, yes, I am, but in my TV Production class, we've been assigned a pretty freaky assignment – recreate the shower scene from the 1959 Hitchcock classic, Psycho. The movie was great – both cinematically and at not allowing me to sleep well for a few days, and now, I get to be the murderous Norman bates in the scene. Why? Like, come on, the single guy in the class of 30 students that's freaked out about the movie has to be the killer. Like, come on, what is that?

This is getting very long, and winded, so let me wrap it up by asking a question that's been troubling me lately..... how does one get invited to parties and people's houses? Is it necessary to invite others to one's house/party first? But, if this is true, then what about the opposite sex (because doing so would be freaky if it's not a party)? These are the questions that trouble me. And, no I do not need a shrink.

Hope you guys have liked this article!! Once again, I'll try to stop going on such long hiatuses, but with no Internet at home currently (yeah, it sucks).... doing so will be all the more challenging. Thank you for reading, and see you guys again soon!!

-Tomás Monzón

Here's Tomás! Blog Update No. 5