Technology Advances

It is becoming clearer every day that we are becoming more advanced with technology. From everyday computers, to life saving technologies including the internal pacemaker and defibrillator. More people are e-mailing rather than sending postal mail, more people are paying their bills online rather than sending in checks or money orders, and more people do all of the finances online rather than in paper.

One technology advance is how computers can take pictures of the ocean floor. One computer expert found a wreckage in the bottom of the Santa Monica Bay. An article on CNN.com stated that a gentleman by the name of Gary Fabian, found a jet fighter wreckage on the ocean floor after 54 years.

The advance in technology with pacemakers and defibrillators has increased significantly. One gentleman had a major heart attack in which it damaged 30% of his heart. After undergoing a double by-pass, he then had to get the pacemaker and defibrillator surgically implanted. After speaking with him, his internal pacemaker and defibrillator has saved his life. His pacemaker helps his heart pump ever 15 beats out of 100. And his defibrillator has only gone off once in order to shock his heart into a normal rhythm.

Technology has come a long way for this generation of teens. Many of them grew up with having old Macintosh computers. Now there are several other brands of computers from Dell to the new Mac's. Just think about the upcoming generation and how much technology will advance for them in computers and life saving techniques.

One-Person Media

With the story I briefly explained in the previous blog, the individuals involved and who supported the website worked as a one-person media outlet.

With everyone commenting on the website, because Evan created an area for people to comment and blog on the website, this was one way that it was a one person media. Everyone came together and was able to find out who this person was who stole the phone.

This created a one-person media outlet. By having everyone giving news and opinions and ways to help each other out, the website had a lot of information and news on the site.

The Power of Words

In the story "Here Comes Everybody" by Clay Shirky, a women by the name of Ivanna lost her phone in a cab. She accidently left it there and someone sold the phone to a women by the name of Sasha. Ivanna was able to find out who took her phone and get an e-mail address of Sasha. Ivanna's friend Evan contacted Sasha and she was not willing to give the phone back, after knowing who's phone it was and made threats. Evan then decided to go to the people and created a website about the situation and by the power of the people they found where Sasha lived and was able to get her phone returned.

It was easy for people on the web to care and be involved in this event because it relates to most everyone. Most people have a cell phone and most people have lost something in their lifetime. These situations make it easy for one person to help out. It seems that when someone can relate to something so easily it makes them want to help out because they have been in their shoes and knows how it feels.

It is amazing on how people can send messages and they get across the Internet so quickly. Once Evan made the website, he sent the link onto his friends and his friends continued to send it on, and so forth. This is what was able to get the wide group of people.

Take Caution

Several lives are lost each year due to drunk driving and car accidents. On the MADD website, it stated that in 2007 12,988 deaths occurred from a .08 blood alcohol level or higher. That was out of the total of 41,059 car related deaths in 2007 in the United States. Also on the website, they give more statistics about drunk driving deaths in America. One statistic that stood out to me was that they stated "on average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 45 minutes."

Those statistics are scary. If there are 1,440 minutes in a day, that means on average, 32 deaths occur each day due to alcohol related deaths.

On August 6, 2005 Mark Omo and his friend Chris Pollet were driving down West Ave. in Jackson going home from the local movie theatre. They approached the intersection of Franklin and didn't think twice. They went through the intersection when another car didn't stop and crashed into his car. Mark was killed instantly and Chris passed away shortly after.

The drunk driver who hit them, had no idea on how he got to Jackson. He was from the Detroit area and decided to go for a drive when he had too many drinks. He took the lives of two 19 year olds because he decided to get behind the wheel after drinking.

It is simply amazing on how many people drive while impaired. The Center for Problem Oriented Policing produced an article stating that a recent survey done in the Untied States about 3% of drivers on the road at any give time are legally drunk. "On weekend evenings the number of drunk drivers raises significantly: about eight percent of all drivers have blood alcohol concentrations great than .05, and an additional nine percent of drivers have at least one drink, meaning that on weekends about 17 percent of all drivers are under the influence of at lease some alcohol."

Please think about the other wives, mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, sons, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandpas, grandmas and friends on the road. Please think of them when you want to drive home after a few drinks. You can always pick up a phone and call someone who you trust or a cab company to take you home.

A Hybrid Form Of News

AnnArbor.com is an excellent example of a hybrid type of news. One article that I was looking at was about the U of M vs. Eastern game yesterday. Inside the article it talks about the highlights of the game and has a quote from the U of M coach.

After the main article, there is several other areas that they give for other stories about the game. Not only does it include other stories, it also includes links to videos, pictures, interactivity from the game.

The hybrid form that AnnArbor.com shares with what Professor Tracy talks about in "Evolution of the Newspapers of the Future." This is a way to for the reporters to enhance their research.

Michigan's Unemployment Rate

Just the other day on the local news station online, www.wilx.com, they had a story about "Michigan Unemployment Rate Raises Again". The story stated that Michigan's unemployment rate is at 15.2 in August, which is the same as earlier in the summer. Is this really a surprise for Michigan?

In Jackson, I know of several people who have lost their jobs recently this year due to the economic crisis and the automotive industry. My fiancé's shop laid off a total of 65 workers this year. His shop had 150 employees at the beginning of the year. Luckily, my fiance was safe from the layoffs, however his father was not safe. He is now calling MARVIN every other week to get his unemployment.

Spartan Electronics in Jackson was the head-quarters for the company. They make circuit boards for medical equipment. My cousin was a employee of the company and they announced that they would be shutting the doors because they were not bringing in any profit.

I worked for Jackson Community College for 2.5 years as a Student Consultant, once I graduated from JCC, I was offered a Staff Member Position. It was a temporary part-time position, and I was under the impression that I could become a permanent part-time employee. My contact was renewed for an extra three months and once that contract came up they could no longer keep me on staff. I was forced to leave and I am now calling MARVIN every other week.

So with this, can one really be surprised at the unemployment rates? I think most people in the state, and across the nation is feeling these hard times as the unemployment rate raises and as the prices for good are raising as well. I know I am hoping for extensions for unemployment to get me through school so I can focus just on school and look for a job after graduation. And I know that my fiancé's father is just going to ride this out until he can start collecting his retirement fund. And my cousin is eligible for free schooling because her job went overseas. But we all are holding on and hoping for the best.

I Never Thought This Day Would Come

I never thought I would ever want to agree with my dad as a teenager. I always hated that when I went home sick from school I would have to stay in bed. I always hated how he made me go to bed early a week before school started. I didn't like that he made me read before I went to bed, when there was my toys I wanted to play with. I never thought I would ever say this, but I'm glad he made me do those things. And don't you ever repeat that I said this.

I realize that now, when I don't go to school or don't go into work (when I was working) that staying in bed is the best thing for me. I get over my cold 10 times quicker and I don't get as bad as I could have. I take to bed with me a bottle (and sometimes a gallon) of water and grab a movie and lay in bed all day. When I do get up it's to make myself a bowl of soup and I go right back to bed. And for some reason, I get over my cold a lot quicker than I would if I didn't. Jason doesn't get why I stay in bed, he thinks it's because I'm lazy, but it's because that's how I was brought up.

Now that the new semester has started and I was out of work for the later half of the summer, I wish I would have gone to bed early a week before my class started. I never understood it until now. It's so hard for me to get into the hang of things and to get up for school in the mornings. Just this morning, I wanted to go back to sleep after I got woke up by the maintenance workers at the apartment complex started mowing the law 45 minutes before I had to wake up. Many times I thought I would just stay home today... but I drug myself out of the apartment into my car and drove 45 minute to school.

I am so happy that he made me read before I go to bed. I hated reading as a child and teenager because I never found any books that I enjoyed reading. Now that I am older, I found author's that I really enjoy reading and a genre that I really enjoy reading. Even though I already read a book, I may want to re-read it again just to get the rest of the details. My future father-in-law was very surprised at how much I read one afternoon while he was mowing. I read about 100 or so pages in about 2 hours. He just didn't understand why I enjoyed it so much, but it takes me out of the real world. It's like when I read I am able to be in the main characters world and head and it's the best way to escape reality.

My dad didn't always make the right decisions and I never understood why he made me do the things that he did but now I see why. It was all for my own good. I am happy that he did and he was right.

My Perfect Dress

Okay, so I promised that I would update everyone about my wedding plans that have been going on. Well now here is my update.

My future mother-in-law, my maid of honor, and a bridesmaid went to Lansing to try on wedding dresses. We walked into David's Bridal... looked around at what I was supposed to do and then a lady walked up. I gave her my name and told her that I was there for an appointment. She crossed off my name and had me fill out paperwork. One question kinda got to me, it asked how many mothers/grandmothers were going to be in the wedding... and I only got to write down 1. Just my future mother-in-law will be at our wedding as I lost my mom 21 years ago this November. It kinda made me realize that and I got a little down. But my lovely ladies were there with me and helped bring me up.

After all of the paperwork I was told to look through a catalog to find dresses that I liked. While she was looking through my paperwork, she asked me for a wedding date. I told her that we didn't have one. She then proceeded to tell me that she couldn't guarantee that the dress I liked would be there when I wanted to purchase my dress. We expressed that we were just there so I could try them on. After she agreed and dropped the subject of trying to get me to purchase today, she backed off and continued to let me look through the catalog. I showed her three dresses that I thought were pretty on the other models, but I knew they wouldn't look that good on me.

The receptionist came out and had me try on several dresses. She didn't seem to care and kept leaving us to go do other things. I tried on 10 dresses and they all had some things that I like about them. But one dress, it was the second one I tried on was simply amazing. I fell in love with it! But then the receptionist advise kept coming forward in my head that they wouldn't be able to guarantee that the dress will be there in the future. And I planned on going other places and trying on dresses, so I let it go.

I cannot believe how people act. If you don't want to purchase something or show that you aren't seriously going to purchase something in the near future, they don't want anything to do with you. But what the receptionist didn't realize was that I was going to purchase my dress there along with the bridesmaid dresses there. But I have decided against this because of the poor customer service.

My maid of honor, who is my cousin, and I decided to go to a local small bridal shop in Jackson. She purchased her dresses there. I went in and grabbed a couple dresses to try on and I grabbed on I didn't think I was going to like at all but I decided I wanted to try it on. And I fell in love. This has to be my favorite out of all of them and I loved it a lot! I asked the owner of the shop, who assisted us, and she informed me that there was a way that we could make it work. She said that they do go out of style but she would take down my information and when she receives the notice that they will be taking the dress of the shelves she will contact me and let me know so I can go in and place my order. She was much more honest with me and understood my situation. And I will be going back there to purchase my dress. I would post a picture... but that is a surprise and nobody will be able to see it until after I get married!

There is the difference between good and bad customer service. One I will never return and the other I will return. So for everyone who works in that field, please remember that your attitude changes everything. I know that the sales rep from David's Bridal probably works on Commission but if she was nicer, I would have gone back and asked for her. That is what happens when I am satisfied with customer service.

Something I Never Thought I Would Enjoy...

When I was younger, my father would go out to sprint car racing and I was never really interested or even want to go to the races. Now that I am older I have decided that I actually like racing and I really do have fun watching the races. I never really cared about sprint cars, or cars in general for that matter. All I cared about was getting my own car and being able to do the things that I wanted to do. Just recently we, Jason and I, went to Milan Dragway and watched the NMCA Nationals. I had a blast!!! Watching the cars go down the quarter mile track, smelling the sweet smell of racing fuel and the strong smell of burning rubber. Hearing the roar of the motors as they wait for the green light, watching their quick reaction times, and the one crash, had my blood pumping. Something about watching made me want to be behind the drivers seat and go that fast. Then came out the jet car and that was the loudest and coolest thing ever. Watching her go 300 mph down the quarter mile and hearing the car rumble and feeling it in the ground was awesome. If you blinked the car was already done and there was no more show.

Needless to say, I found out that I really enjoy drag racing and Jason and I already planned on going again, only to 131 Dragway and watching the Nitro Funny Cars. Ahh, the smell of racing fuel and burning rubber has my blood pumping through my vains again.

Check out a 5.5 minute video of the NMCA Nationals at Milan Dragway here.