Excel is fun, not scary

I know I am easily amused, but what I enjoyed most about working with Excel was getting to play with colors, themes, and images. I used to think, like most people do, that excel was for boring work-related spreadsheets that would make you want to tear your hair out. Now, I find myself making pretty colorful tables for anything at all - "Hey, I volunteered this weekend! I should put that on a spreadsheet! And make it green, and a pretty title!" (True story). It's also, I've found, a fantastic excuse to procrastinate. Now, whenever I need to make a chart or table for a class, I can spend an extra 10 minutes formatting it. And that's 10 minutes spent not working! Yay! On a more serious note, I can definitely see how being comfortable with formulas can be a major asset. I particularly liked the idea of using charts to keep track of finances, such as a running balance or using them to help you keep track of your budget. In fact, I should probably set up something like that for my debit card, so I don't just, OOPS, run out of money. Hmmm that could be more fun that doing my Chemistry lab report...

Disney rules the world...

Tuesday in class, we had an informative lecture about copyright laws, and while many interesting points were made, what stuck with me the most was a story about the Disney Corporation. Up until about 20 years ago, copyright law protected intellectual property, like Walt Disney's iconic characters, for the life of the author plus 50 years. When this deadline started approaching, the Disney Corporation lobbied to extend copyright protection so they could continue to enjoy the profit they made off of Walt Disney's characters. As a result, the protection was extended to 70 years after the author's death - a deadline that once again is approaching. So the question is, what is Disney going to do this time? Are they going to fight to save their revenue source, or are they going to suck it up and admit that they've leached off Walt Disney's genius for long enough?

 Now please don't misunderstand - I love Disney movies. This just happens to be one example of a much larger problem I have with society in general. People who have money have power, and often times use that power for their personal gain. I know it's just human nature to protect what one has, and I also know that there are exceptions. However, I have to say it irritates me a little when wealthy and influential people or companies use their power to pull strings in government and get laws passed in their favor. I know it's idealistic, but I do sometimes wish that people could see outside of their own personal bubble, and say "Hey you know what? I probably don't need that third yacht... I think I have enough stuff thanks." Now, the Disney Corporation owns the rights to characters beyond those they stand to lose if Walt Disney's copyright runs out. While obviously there would be some drop in revenue, I sincerely doubt it would be overly significant. In fact, at the rate they keep producing movies, there is certainly going to be a steady stream of income for quite a while yet. And a little bit of incentive to produce GOOD movies, and not crap, certainly couldn't hurt. Which is why I hope that copyright laws are not once again changed to accommodate the interests of one, admittedly powerful, corporation that is afraid to succeed or fail on their own merit.

My Trinity Network Diagram

Today in class, we got an extremely interesting tour of Trinity's server room by Jared Pack. To actually see something like a network, which to me was always such an abstract idea, was really neat, though kind of mind boggling. All those connections, and nearly identical black boxes with blinking lights - I think my head would explode if that was actually my job. So props to Jared and all the other computer guys, and thanks for doing the (seemingly) impossible and making it all work!
In designing this diagram, I tried to incorporate the wagon wheel image that Jared used to describe the network - that is, Ruth Taylor forms the core, and spokes (or fiber optic cables) connect out to all the other buildings on campus. This diagram shows how my laptop (located in Prassel, since that's where I live) connects to the internet through a wireless access port, the data closet, then to Ruth Taylor and wherever it needs to go, including the outside world.

Where am I?

I found this cute little waterfall thing as I was wandering around looking for someplace to photograph that was both artistic and original, but not cruelly hard to guess. However, in retrospect this might be a little challenging, especially for any first years. A hint to sophomores and upperclassmen - you've probably walked by (or over) it before, but the actual waterfall itself may just be a result of Hurricane Hermione (aka TS Hermine).
I was originally just going to add the fish (cause you know - fish in water, that's logical), but when I saw the bear, I thought, "Yeah, bears eat fish. That'll work!" So anyway, someone on campus is going to get a good dinner tonight. I also played around with the color effects for a while, and finally settled on this, though I forgot what it was called. I like how vibrant green it makes that bush growing out of the cliff, and the contrasting shadowy border is reminiscent of effects used in movies to show flashbacks, memories, or dreams. So, you could almost think of this as being the Bear's daydream, or possibly memory of a good time.

Best Tech Tip

During class on Tuesday, we were lucky to have Joe Hatch come and give us some useful tips about avoiding viruses, working with Trinity's network security systems, getting our computers to run faster, and protecting our identities. I found his suggestions for improving computer performance and speed to be especially interesting and helpful. As we browse the Internet, our computers automatically save pieces of information, like URL's and cookies, in temporary folders. Over time, this junk accumulates and uses up space in your computer's memory that could be used for other, more productive, things. Removing all this useless data can not only speed up your computer, but also may help protect you from viruses that are looking for sensitive information like usernames and passwords. Viruses can access the folders where past URL's are saved, and as a result know which online financial sites are accessed by the user. A program called CCleaner can be downloaded to empty these temporary folders. However, it may be necessary afterwards to defragment your computer. It's also nice to know that if have a problem with my computer, I can take it to the Student Computer Service Center in Winn 103 and they can probably help me.