Technology and Me

As much as I hate technology, there is no way I could live without it. I rely on technology for everything, but I rarely ever realize I am doing it. I always have my phone and I google whatever answers I don't know. I call my mom and my sister at least three times a day each. Even if I don't have anything to say, I will call them just to say hi. I take for granted having a phone that will connect me to everything I want. I could not imagine growing up in a time without such advanced technology.

My first phone, the orange enV

I got my first phone the Christmas of seventh grade, an orange Verizon enV. I was the last of my friends to have one. I was always jealous of my friends, they could call and text each other every hour of every day. To get in contact with me they had to call my house phone and hope that I picked up. It was lame that I didn't have a phone for so long, but looking back on it now I really didn't need a phone.

My phone in 7th grade allowed me to get in on all the drama, gossip about people, and have my mom call me at 11:00 and ask me when I was coming home. When I would lose my phone or forget it at home, it was like the end of the world. I was attached to my phone, just because I finally had one. There was no reason I needed to be in contact with people all the time like I was.

As I got older, I became more and more dependent on my phone. Social media became more and more occurring, and it was right at the tips of my fingers. My freshman year of high school, when I first got a Facebook (again I was the last of my friends), I had the ability to scroll through my newsfeed and keep up with my 'friends'. When Twitter and Instagram came out years later, I too got one. I am always the last to get with with the social media, but I just as addicted as everyone else.

I wish I never got involved with social media. It is like one of those things that once you start, you can't stop. I would save so much time if I wasn't so obsessed with my phone and keeping up with social media. I think knowing that I am so reliant on my phone has helped me not be as reliant (if that makes sense). I make an effort to leave my phone in my room if I go to one of my friends room just so I don't use it all the time. I love using airplane mode on my phone. It does not allow texts, emails, or calls to come through, but you don't turn your phone off so you can still check the time. My phone goes on airplane mode when I workout, when I am studying, or when I am sleeping. Airplane mode allows me to lose contact from the world, even if its only for 20 minutes.

One great thing that I love about technology is the ability to stay connected. My cousins and I have a group chat, which all 20 of us write in just to let each other know what is going on. Most of the time we talk about stupid stuff (like yesterday we talked about what we were all being for halloween). It is nice to be able to talk to my cousins so easily. I could not imagine writing letters to them, and waiting for them to respond days later.

Even though I say I hate technology, I couldn't live without it. I don't know how people went to college without technology. I could not imagine writing papers by hand or looking up information in a book. If I was at college without technology, I would be so homesick. Technology is a double-edged sword.

Save the Sea

If someone asked me where my favorite place on earth was, without hesitation I would say the beach. This is so cliché, everyone loves the beach. But I am different from everyone, I love the beach in a different way then everyone else. I can sit on any beach for hours on end. During the summer, I leave beach block, I spend every day there. Some mornings I would get up early and watch the sunrise over the ocean, while some nights I would walk down the shoreline with the water hitting my feet.

When the tide is low like this is my favorite time
 to walk on the beach. 

After reading The Touchy-Feely (but Totally Scientific!) Methods of Wallace F. Nichols by Michael Roberts, I realize that my feelings towards any beach, are not extreme or bizarre. They are actually completely normal. There is a certain kind of person with these beliefs, that there is somethings special about the ocean. These people are Nichols' target.

Nichols believes that by understanding how we feel around water, we will have an easier time finding solutions to conserve the ocean. Nichols, who is a biologist, is trying to get this idea in motion. He "envisions cognitive neuroscientist constructing detailed models of brain activity for experiences like sitting on a beach, then using their findings to drive public policy." Basically, Nichols is trying to find proof that emotions drive our behavior. In doing this, he can use emotions to save the ocean.

I like Nichols' attitude towards his idea. He is not in it for the fame and fortune, he really just wants to conserve the ocean. Nichols is a down to earth man. He is smart, but not too smart for his own good. He has social skills and knows how to express his beliefs and hypothesis to people so they understand. Nicholas is like you or me, a normal person, only he is using his
skills to save the sea.

It is Nichols personality and my love for the beach that drew me to this article. Nichols is onto something great. There is no calming place better than the beach. Had Nichols been doing research about something less occuring in my life, I probably would not agree with his carefree, laid back, and lack of scientific proof approach. Not only do I agree with Nichols' argument, but can relate to it. My love for the ocean drew me to this article.

 If we keep polluting the ocean and treating it like it is no big deal, pretty soon that luxury will be gone.
 I really hope that we can make changes in the way we act to conserve the ocean. If not, we are all really going to regret it.

For more information about Nichols visit: http://wallacejnichols.org

The Things I Google

Google is a life savor. Without google there is no way I would have passed high school, let alone get into a school like Fairfield. I googlethings everyday. My last five searches include:

• health articles (I find these really interesting)
• why don't some jews keep kosher (for my interview for religion) 
• convery 726 kJ to J (for my chem homework)
• what time does barone close (just wondering)
• Loyola University women's soccer (looking up Jess' stats)

I don't know what I would do without google, it provides information at the click of a button. Marion Wink says in the article The Things They Googled, "The things they googled were determined by forgetfulness, by need, by desire, by curiosity, and by the endless availability of information." We google things not because we need to know information, but because it is so easy to do. More than half the things I google are stupid things I don't need to know. I couldn't imagine living a life without google. What would we do to find information, look it up in a book?

Google is really helpful when it comes to my weekly Chemistry homework. Our homework is online, and is mostly common examples that are online, just with different numbers. I have figured out that if I google the first couple words of the problem, usually an example will come up with different numbers. This makes doing my homework so much easier, all I have to do is follow the example that I found though google, just putting in my own numbers. I save so much time by doing my homework this way. Rather than flipping though my notes and seeing what equations I need to use, I just google them. All the information is right in front of me, it makes doing homework so much more efficient.

My mom thinks she is a doctor because of google. Whenever any of my brothers or sisters are sick, she will google the symptoms and tell us what is wrong with us. It is so funny because we always joke that doctors don't know anything, they just google it (that's why they always walk in and out of the room). Obviously this is a joke, doctors are really smart. Its crazy to think that an normal person can find out what is wrong with them by googling it.

I don't think people appeciate how much google has improved our lives. Google has made it possible to keep up with fast paced life we all live in. Reading The Things They Googled by Marion Wink showed me how much Google has influenced my life. I now realize how much I use google, and how different my life would be without it.

Blind

Today I dropped my contact when I was taking it out of my eye, and I cannot find it anywhere. I know, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but to me it is the end of the world. I hate wearing my glasses; they are too big, fall down my face, and give me a headache. I am not one of those people that can survive without glasses or contacts, I am blind as a bat. I rarely ever take my contacts out because it is gross, I have always hated sticking my fingers in my eyes. When I first got my contacts it took me over an hour and a half for the doctor to teach me how to put them in. I could not understand how people nearly poke their eye out trying to put a contact in. I took so long to learn that the doctor had to leave and help another patient while I sat there and waited until I was mentally prepared to put my contacts in for the first time.

Right after I showered (which was a cold shower because there was no hot water in my dorm), my eyes were really dry. I decided to take out my contacts. I figured I should considering I can't remember the last time I had taken them out. (Yes, I know this is really bad for my eyes!) I took my contact out of my left eye with no problem and put it safely away in my case. I didn't have great luck with my right eye. I swear my contact just disappeared, because it is no where to be found on my floor. Usually when I drop them (which happens pretty often) I find them after a couple seconds of searching. This time was different, my contact was lost.

I started to panic because I didn't have a back up pair, the pair of contacts that was in my eyes were the only ones I have at school. I had 3 friends searching for my contact while I called my mom and asked her if she happened to slip my spare contacts in my bag this weekend when I was home.
"I emptied my purse today," she said. "And your contacts were in there. They are now sitting on the kitchen table." I asked her if she could overnight them to me, so I didn't have to wear my contacts all weekend. "I'll do it first thing tomorrow morning."

I started to relax. I convinced myself to stop being such a drama queen and told myself that I could survive wearing my glasses for one day. Then my roommate says, "We don't get mail on Saturdays. You won't get them until Monday."

Immediately I called my mom, who told me to find a Lens Crafters or eye doctors that would have my prescription. Of course I had to lose my contacts, something that is not sold in drug stores. I had an attitude towards my mom; it wasn't her fault I dropped my contact or that mail wasn't delivered on Saturdays, but I had to blame someone. I hung up and told her I would figure it out by myself, even though I did not have the slightest idea where to begin.

 My mom called me back and said, "Bean I'm by a UPS store, I think I can overnight your contacts to another UPS store, that way you will have them tomorrow." I was so relieved, because there was no way that I could get my contacts by myself and I certainly didn't want to have to wear my glasses all
weekend. 28 dollars later, I can now take the stag bus to town after 10:30 tomorrow morning and pick up my contacts. Thanks mom for saving my weekend!

Chaos

This weekend I figured out why it is important that I don't come home more often. I can't get any work done. Trying to get homework done right now is physically impossible. I don’t know how people that live at home and go school do it. My house is to loud to even think straight. You would think a 87 year old grandpa is watching TV, that is how loud it is. I can hear the TV blaring through my closed bedroom door. My mom is yelling from upstairs in the laundry room to my brother who is downstairs to go to bed. You can't even hear her over the sound of the dryer going and the slamming of the washing machine it closes, never mind with the TV on. My little brother Jack, who's 10, is on the couch yelling back to my mom that he can stay up because everyone else is up. They aren't even on the same level of the house, yet they are having a full blown conversation. 

My little sister Sunny is so needy. Literally every sentence that comes out of her mouth starts with, "I need..." She just took out the ironing board, in the middle of the upstairs hallway, and decided to iron her shirt for tomorrow. She must of forgot that 1. I am in my room trying to study, and 2. the ironing board squeaks every time someone moves it. Like my mom and brother, she is yelling downstairs to my sisters boyfriend about her project that he is helping her with. Billy, who has been dating my sister for over a year, is running through my downstairs playing with Teddy, our dog. You would think there is a 4 year old child running downstairs, but no, it's just Billy. 

In addition to that noise, my brother Alex, who wrestles, is wrestling my sister Tori to the ground. He took her down with a slide-bye, his signature move. Tori is on the ground with Alex on top of her. I know this is not normal, but for a "wrestling family" like mine this is an everyday occurrence  My dad is at a meeting, but if he was home he would be yelling at Tori telling her how to escape. 

Through this chaos I'm trying to study for my religion vocab quiz. I told my mom to, "shut everyone up," but she just laughed at me. My mom knows that there is nothing she can do about the noise and she knows that someway or another I will find a way to be prepared for my test. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to deal with this everyday, I don't know how I made it through high school with such good grades. Having lived on my own for three months, I forgot how annoying it was to live in such chaos. Don't get me wrong, when I don't have stuff to get done, I'd be right with my family being loud and obnoxious, but being that I am a tad bit stressed out, I can't deal with this. I love my family, but this is one thing I don’t miss right now. I need to be back at school, in an environment that is made for studying. My house is way to fun to get any work done. 

Alex perfecting his handstand, in the
family room

Alex's response to my mom asking him to empty the dishwasher (he didn't actually hit her thought)

Surprise!

Yesterday I surprised my best friend Jess at her soccer game at Lehigh University. Jess is freshman forward for Loyola University Maryland. She has been telling me to come down to Maryland to see one of her games since she left for school. I really wanted to visit her because I know how much it means to her to. Jess loves to have people watch her play and support her. I suck at planning and traveling alone freaks me out so getting there was going to be hard for me. I don't understand train schedules and I felt bad begging my parents to come pick me up only to drive down to see Jess. I've been looking online to see if Jess was playing anywhere close to Fairfield. I saw online that she was playing at Lehigh on Saturday, which is only 50 minutes from my house. It was perfect because I was already coming her for the weekend. How could I pass up surprising my best friend? 

Jess and I obviously needed a picture
 together

I got a ride to the game with her parents, so I didn't even have drive to Lehigh. We got to the game after Jess had already started warming up, so I had no idea if she knew I was there or not. We watched the game (they lost 2-1). After the game Jess started walking towards us and I hid behind her parents. If she didn't see me, I wanted to pop out. As she got closer I heard her yell, "I known Bernard's here!" I jumped out and hugged her. Jess was so surprised and appreciative that I came. She kept saying, "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were coming." Even though her team just lost she had a huge smile on her face. Jess said that she knew I was there during warm-ups. She turned to her roommate and said, "I think Kristina is here." Her roommate looked and said, "Yup that's Bernard." Jess told me she was going to ask me to come, but she felt bad because she knew I wanted to spend time with my family. After ten minutes of talking and joking, Jess had to get back on the bus. 
Though I did not really get to hang out with Jess, I'm glad I went to her game. Jess is my best friend, so doing something that made her happy made me happy. I miss laughing with Jess while we are apart at school. My time with Jess made me realize how good of a friend she really is and how much I miss having her in my life. I can't wait until her season is over so she can come visit me!

Why Am I Still Here?

There is no reason that I am still on campus right now. Monday is Columbus day, so we don't have classes. This 3 day weekend is a common weekend for Fairfield kids to go home, and I am no exception. Except everyone left sometime either yesterday or today, but I am still here. Don't get me wrong, I love Fairfield, but the more I think about it I wish I was home right now.

This is going to be my first time home since I left for school (I'm surprised I made it this long). Originally the plan was to have my parents come get me very early Saturday morning to avoid traffic on Friday. I have class until 3:00, so at the time it did not seem worth it to sit in rush hour traffic. We can make it back to New Jersey in under an hour and a half by car. If I knew how to, I would have taken the train home, but that kind of stuff overwhelms me. I've never done it before, and would want someone that I know with me to show me what to do. I agreed with my parents idea to have my dad outside my dorm at 5:30 am, that way I am home by 7 am, I can fall back asleep in my own bed, and still get on with my short time home. Now though, that idea is not sounding so good.

As I walked around in the late afternoon when I was on the phone with my sister, all I saw were parents carrying duffle bags and suitcases and Fairfield students leaving for the weekend. Today there was the most adults on campus since move in day. I could't help but feel jealous. It may not sound like a lot, but these kids have 12 more hours than me at home. That makes all the difference.

The last couple hours have dragged on. I don't even know what I did, but time is moving so slow. I tried to do homework, so I don't have to worry about it over the weekend but I can't focus. I'm too excited! I am not used to the quiet in my room, on my floor, or around campus. On my walk back from the gym I only saw 4 people. That's how you know everyone is already home.

I'm glad I only have seven and a half more hours until my dad is going to be here to pick me up. Hopefully I will fall asleep soon so I have enough energy to enjoy every single second I have at home.

My bags were packed long before I left
(yes, I am bringing laundry home)

Library Fun

I just spent the past two hours in the library, and it was torturous. Don't get me wrong, I love to study and do not mind doing homework, but something about the library doesn't sit well with me. In high school, I loved going to the library during lunch (sounds nerdy, I know). I didn't go because I didn't have friends or a table sit at, I went to the library so I could get all my homework done before I got home. I would rather spend the 45 minutes I had for lunch doing work so come 2:15 I was free and did not have to do anymore school work.

When I got to college I assumed I'd be spending a lot of time in the library. I was completely wrong. My bag nearly snapped as I walked there with my ginormous Chem and Calc textbooks, along with other notebooks and binders. I hated hauling my books there, the awkward silence, and how crowed it is. I had a hard time sitting still and felt like everyone was looking at me whenever I made the littlest sound. I like to spread my stuff out (well I'm messy), so the tiny table that I was sharing with 3 other people was not big enough for me. I was unprepared, I didn't bring anything to drink (I don't know how I thought I was going to last there considering I drink coffee every three hours). I also didn't bring headphones. I don't do work listening to music, but I do like to listen to a song or two to break up my time.Now, these are extreme complaints about a library and I know I am overreacting, but I feel like I just waisted 2 valuable hours of my life that I could have used to study.

Fairfield University Library

Now that I know I don't like the library I probably won't be back. There is plenty of places around campus that are great for studying, and way less formal then the library setting. I am perfectly fine with studying and doing my work in my room. My roommate is great about dealing with my homework/study habits. She knows that I sit in weird positions or lay on my floor, and have papers all over the place. I'm starting to appreciate the fact that I can actually get work done in my room, because if not I'd probably be failing out of school.

The City Solution

In the 1800's, the idea of a city had a negative stigma attached to it. Cities were not cities we know today, but slums that were considered homes to the poorest of the poor. According to the Victorians, these cities were "colonies of breeding animals." Robert Kunzig's essay The City Solution is ironic because the essay starts by addressing the terror behind olden cities and how they should be shut down, but continues to describe cities as a solution to many prevailing issues in the world today.

Kunzig's first section is in the past, addressing the issues that cities have. Kunzig starts with Jack the Ripper to get your attention and invite us in with someone we all know about; we are all are interested in scary things so this makes us want to continue reading. London was the biggest city back then, seen as the leader in technology. Kunzig then uses Ebenezer Howard who believes that cities should really be like suburbs, but we later find out the Howard is not the hero.

Kunzig breaks the reading up into sections which contribute to his thesis, that urbanization is now "good news." The first section addresses the fact that economist embrace cities. Kunzig speaks of economist Edward Glaeser, who says that poor people flock to cities because thats where the money is. Having so many people in one place "reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas." Kunzig concludes this section by saying no technology ever invented is as important as a city.

The next section addresses the view of cities from environmentalist, which is surprisingly in support of cities. Kunzig says that cities use less space, leaving more open land, cities use less resources, including heat and lighting, and finally people living in cities drive less, taking public transportation. Carbon emission and energy use are lower than the national average in cities. This argument supports his thesis, that cities are helping the Earth. The end quote of the section shows that the government needs to change in order to adapt to the new urbanization.

Kunzig then uses the example of the capital of South Korea, Seoul, that transitioned from being one of the world's poorest countries in the world to being richer than some European countries. This economic growth was due to population growth, from 3 million to 10 million, between 1960 and 2000. This example shows that cities can urbanize quickly if needed. This urbanization helped the economic issues, but is also done in an environmentally friendly way.

Next Kunzig uses a counter example to get out attention again. He talks about stopping the development of cities is impossible. Park Chung-Hee, the dictator of South Korea, surrounded to city with a greenbelt to stop further development. By using a greenbelt, the issue of urbanization is not resolved. People cannot be stopped from wanting to be in a growing city because of cheap transportation and rising income. Like Howard suggested, many people want to live in a house with a yard. For that reason, many people opt to live outside the city and commute to work.

The ending is talking about Letchworth, England is a suburb right outside of London. It is great closure to open and close with England. London survived because they have wildlife parks and they expanded with transportation. It is exactly what Howard envisioned when he saw cities, it has houses and open land, but is still close enough to the city to get to by train. Howard tried to escape to Nebraska, but would not handle the country lifestyle. The end of the article quotes Howard again, and we see his beliefs have changed.

Kunzig picked a timeless argument because there is always an issue with cities. Because of the mass amounts of people and limited space, many people see cities as a home for crime, unsanitary living conditions, pollution, and chaos. Kunzig chose to argue against those beliefs, and drew out reasons why cities were beneficial to the world.  I liked how Kunzig chose to support his argument with an environmentalist, because many people see cities as a main cause of global warming.

Kunzig's article The City Solution is an effective article because it made me think about cities. Prior to reading this, I used to see cities as a crowded, dirty place that only poor people lived in. I did not realize that there was an economic component to cities, or that they are actually eco-friendly.

Mr. Know it All

My dad just called me and the first question he asked is, "Are you going out tonight?" - No dad. My dad is the kind of man that wants his kids to experience life and make a bunch of memories to look back on laugh. Don't get me wrong, my dad loves that he raised good kids, but it secretly kills him that my sister and I aren't out 'experiencing college' as he puts it. My sister and I find it so funny that my dad is the one that is pressuring us to go out and have fun. His main rule is A's and B's in the school work and social aspect of school. Last year my sister got a 4.0 at Drexel (which is awesome, GO SIS!!!), but my dad still jokes that she failed socially because she didn't go out. My mom gets so angry at my dad's comments, but he doesn't want his kids to be locked up in their rooms doing work, missing out on life. My dad just wants the best for his kids, he just has a weird way of showing it.

Another joke my sister and I make about my dad is that he can only talk about two things, 1.) wrestling, and 2.) construction. Though my dad denies it and says that he can talk to anyone about anything, my sister and I are right. The second topic of conversation that we talked about on our 13 minute phone call was what happened at his work today. He told me nonchalantly that one of his workers flipped a dump truck on its side by trying to empty it on an angle. For a second I thought he was kidding, how could he possible tell me this happened without being the least bit angry? But he went into explaining the whole situation, using construction lingo, dropping a couple f bombs. My dad was explaining the story to me like I was one of his workers and I knew everything he was talking about. He was like "My worker probably cost be $5,000, but what really pissed me off was that he made me late to dinner with your sister!" (Where my dad is working is right by TCNJ- where my sister now goes to school. I keep telling him to bid jobs by me.) He said with a laugh, "I was fuming so I put on my head phones (these really big wireless headphones that block out every other sound), downloaded a couple songs, and listened to music as I ran my machines. At the end of the day I fired him." This story probably isn't funny unless you know Pat and can picturing him doing this.

I'm so glad my dad called me tonight. The phone call was a bit of comic relief from my hectic day, (an english quiz, chem exam, lab, and spanish exam). I love talking to my dad because he always has a moral to his stories. He has taught me how important it is to balance work and having a life outside of work. He has showed me I need to experience college because it is the only four years of my life I am able to do this. I've learned that getting upset about something that you cannot change won't fix it, you can only move on and do better next time. Every time we talk he tells me that he is proud of me, which inspires me to keep up with all my hard work.

My dad does not have goals for me, he makes it so I can have goals for myself. He never wanted me to feel pressured into going away to school or feel overwhelmed by his expectations. All my dad expects from me is that I do the best I can in everything I do. That is why I love him.