I love computers!! And a few realizations.

Okay, so not a weird way at all!





And don't even think about saying "well if you love computers so much, why don't you go marry one?!" because that is soooo fifth grade. And sooo my joke.





But the truth of the matter is, I'm awfully fond of computers and the Internet and all of the useful things that go along with them!





The other day, I got a text from my friend in Washington State (who I met online) and he was on vacation. But something came up, and he needed to contact our mutual friend in Nottingham, England (who we both met online) about some urgent business concerning him, and yet another mutual friend who lives down in Alabama (who also is one that we met online)! I got the text after school, and as soon as I was home, relayed the text to my friend in England who appreciated the help and took care of things from there.






It made me feel special to be a part of this sort of "grapevine" of messages. Like I was in that movie 101 Dalmatians (the cartoon, not the real life one with Hugh Laurie, Jeff Daniels, and Glenn Close) and it was that part where the dogs have their little "barking chain" thing going on? Not that I am anything close to a dog, but the basic concept was close enough for comparison.





Now, I have a considerable amount of online friends, colleagues, acquaintances, etc. who I communicate with on a daily/weekly basis. And I feel connected! I have three different pals in Romania, two in Wales, three in England, and one each in Ireland, Russia, Turkey, India, and South Africa. And about a dozen others across the United States!





And friends that I've made in my life that have made their way across the globe and are now in places like Cambodia, Argentina, and Hawaii.

And those people have dozens of contacts around the world as well! It is amazing what a small world we have!



And it's getting smaller every day.



I have a friend here in SC who comes over and chats about once a month. She's really awesome, and very very interesting to talk to. All of her kids have moved out of the house. I have met only one of them, but I hear her talk about the others and feel like I know them.



Just the other day, I had this friend over and we were having a nice conversation about why I was learning Romanian and about the things that each of us know about Europe and other far away places. And as it turns out, her son is really into Gypsy music. And we chatted about that for awhile. She asked if she could give him my e-mail address and I said that that would be fine, and I gave her the one I use for personal interactions. And she also mentioned that he had a blog, and suggested I check it out.


So I checked out his blog, and my mind was blown.


You'll understand why in a minute.


I guess. . . growing up in the South, I don't really realize how . . sheltered. . . I've been. Especially growing up in a LDS family. And I realize now that having friends out there in the world doesn't really give me an accurate view of the world itself. The life I live goes by like a slow, quiet, gentle river. My constant sub-urban surroundings have sheltered me from the chaos on either side. I've never known city life. I think I know it from movies and books, and fancy magazines, but those never tell the truth about what it's really like. They dress it up and throw it out there on display for everyone to see, but for no one to really experience.


Growing up Mormon helped as well. I've had LDS friends as long as I can remember. And it's WONDERFUL! I rarely hear any foul language, I never have to deal with any smoking or drug use. I don't have to be around alcohol. Being surrounded by people who share the same beliefs as I do has made my life easier than most. I know my friends would never ask me to do anything that is against my standards or beliefs, and I know that as long as I am with them, my values and morals are safe. I'm constantly uplifted mentally and spiritually by the people I surround myself with, and it's splendid. Sure, I know about the things that happen in the "real world" and can tell right from wrong, but I really haven't had to make that many decisions on it. I've never been offered drugs or alcohol or cigarettes. (Although I'm sure I'd say no if I were offered.) And I haven't seen firsthand the effects that these things have on people, families, or friends. I have never been around anyone who was intoxicated. I've never been around anyone whose life has been torn apart from drugs or some other dangerous addiction. I don't really "Know" what it's like to see someone throw their life away through substance abuse.


Watching movies, I've come to a certain sense of what is "normal". I have ideas and concepts of what a "normal" person is like and, for the most part, expect that everyone is just as "normal" as everyone else. I recognize different cultures and traditions and religions, but all in all, I think to myself, everyone is really the same.


-Back to the "Mind Blowing Blog"-


And then I stop by that blog. And I see things that make me think. Just seeing his video of him riding the L train at 6:00 in the morning in New York and riding a bike through the streets going from work to home blows my mind! There are people who live in New York and they actually ride trains and they work all night and get home early in the morning. There is a big, busy city there that I personally would be scared to go anywhere in without my mother's permission and a printout of directions from Google maps. And I certainly would never think that anyone would walk to where they need to go! Much less ride a bike!


I guess I never really realized that those people on the streets are actually transporting themselves from home to a job or to school or to a party or from a friend's house back to home or something like that. I never really realized when I watched those movies that Hey, this is actually their form of commute! And I saw that video and I absolutely went nuts with this realization. Why hadn't I thought of that before? Why hadn't I realized? Why am I just now seeing this??


And then this guy whose blog I stopped by, I see that he's not Joe schmo office worker calling a cab to take him to his apartment or to his cubicle. I see that he works in a bar. His culture and surroundings and social life are completely different than anything I've ever seen. I started to realize that maybe not everyone is the same. I guess people are different. And can be unique without being those attention-starved posers you see in the halls of your high school. This whole different "sub-culture" of punk gypsy bands and going to places, and trying to break into "the biz" (my word, not his) of tattoo artistry. This life that he leads is an eye opening view!


Not to say that since reading his blog, I'm now an expert on the world. I'm not. I'm still protected and sheltered here at home. I'm just a little more aware now. And a little less. . . brainwashed by media portrayals.


Needless to say, I'm going to stop by more often.


The Aforementioned Blog: Captain

Blog Highlights 4

Blog Highlights is a thing I did earlier in my blogging, that I haven't done in a long time. I know both medical and non medical people visit my blog, and also that people my age and "more mature" ( I originally put "Old People, but I know how sensitive some of you are when I go there, so I didn't ;) lol) people as well stop by here every once in awhile. So I figure, why not show each the other side by highlighting the blogs that I find interesting, and kinda giving them a tour around the blogs I like!

This comeback blog highlight will be about...... SCANMAN!!!

Over at catscanman.net!!

Alright, so in case you guys haven't seen it, Vijay has a podcast up. Now, even though he hasn't done an episode since like, February. . .(we want more Scanman!!) It's still wicked awesome!! He tells awesome stories, and with his own time limitations, all three episodes take a little less than 45 minutes to listen to! (I know, because I went through them all last night on my zune!!)

Check it out right HERE!! My favorite one is the one where he talks about meeting his lovely wife for the first time. Very funny story if you haven't heard it, and hilarious story even if you have!!

If you have a zune, like me, just copy/paste this address:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ScanManSpeaks

into your add podcasts section and you'll have instant access to whenever he posts a new one! (Which should be soon! Now that I've found them, I want more scanman podcasts!!)

So check that out, and also check out his blog over at http://www.catscanman.net/blog/

He always has interesting and fun posts like one with a image perception personality test on it. . . (I just had to take it to see how my scores matched up with his!) He got Artist and I got Guru!! We are only one space away! We must be twins or something!!

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

NFPS - The Guru

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on what's in front of you (the foreground) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to deal directly with whatever comes your way without dealing with speculating possibilities or outcomes you can't control. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

______END OF BORING QUIZ YOU DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT____

So yeah, go check out his blog, and his podcast and his twitter!! Follow him on Twitter here if you aren't already!! --> http://twitter.com/scanman

He's an awesome medblogger and an even more awesome friend! He was one of my first medblogger friends, and has been an amazing person to know, and I feel privelaged to have met him!

If y'all wanna know exacly how awesome he is, stop by the Dr. A podcast next Thursday night, and he'll probably be in the chatroom ready to greet and befriend any newcomers that stop by! You won't regret it!

______________

(if any of you care to see the other posts in the Blog Highlight series, just click on the tag, and you'll be whisked away into a land of . . well, you'll be taken to a page with all of the blog highlight posts on there)

Just a few notes. . .

I had wanted to blog about a local news story awhile back. But I feel that the time has come and gone, and it's really not that big of a topic for me anymore.

I wanted to blog about certain goals I've been reaching for, but they don't seem that important now, because my progress is hardly showing.

I wanted to blog about that new book I got: "Med School Confidential" because it had a few activities in there for the future medical student to do to see if they REALLY REALLY want to go. Just questions, really. Like "why do you want to go into medicine?" or "what do you think it will be like?" etc. etc. I figure when I don't have other papers to do, I'll sit down and think them out.

I was going to share my "threw up in philosophy class" story, but then I figured it wasn't all that . . neat. At all.

So this leaves me no choice. I've gotta blog about something I've been thinking about lately, and something that applies to more people than just me.

So how many blogs do you stalk? How many blogs do you stop by on a daily basis without commenting just to read? How many bloggers do you admire who have no idea you exist??

I can count mine on one hand.

Now, how many people stop by your blog without commenting? How many silent watchers does your blog have?

You probably can't count that number as accurately as the first can you? Why? Because the silent watchers are just that- silent! No comments on the blog, no tweets on twitter, no e-mails no nothing. The only way you can tell they've been there is because your sitemeter tells you that you have a hundred or so visits that week. (by all means, not a real number, I look at my sitemeter reports ONCE and then forget everything that was in them, but I'm sure I don't get 100 views a week.)

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm not! I love stalking blogs and not feeling like I neeeeed to comment. I like stopping by blogs without the pressure to actually interact. (Although I do wish that certain people would acknowledge my existance!!)

I love the fact that there are people who read my blog (probably only once and then they run away!) and I don't find out until I see them on my blog's blognetwork on facebook or something. It makes me feel special (warm and fuzzy inside, etc.)! :) I even sometimes doubt they actually exist until things like that happen.

Or until I find a comment that they've left on a post I wrote awhile ago and didn't check the comments until the other day when I went back and reviewed all my posts/comments.

But honestly? I'm always scared that I've chased them all away! I'm always paranoid that I'll post a dumb blog post one day and then no one except my mom (thanks mom!) will ever ever want to stop by ever again!

And I also freak out when I don't post a comment on someone's blog and then they won't know how amazing and cool I think their blog is! Yaknow?

So anyway, I just want you all to know that yeah, I read your blogs. Even if I don't comment, I'm there. I'm enjoying and google reader starring your posts one after the other. I'm thinkin about y'all when you have no idea I'm around.

And wouldn't it be cool to have a list of the people who read your blog? Like if you could have sitemeter jot down the names of everyone who stops by and be like "oh yah, so and so stopped by and checked out your blog for (random amount of time)" Wouldn't that be nice? That would be nice.

Also- Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is a hilarious show, and I dont know why it's so funny. Inflatable Bubby is amazing.

A Mommy Story

[From The Desk of Our Very Special Guest Blogger!! Enjoy! -3M]

First and foremost, I would like to thank Mary for asking me to place a post on her blog – I am always delighted to “share” my many life experiences with Mary. She is so sweet and so very easy to talk to. As she stated in her intro, we met in medical terminology class and have continued to grow our friendship ever since :)

During our weekly gathering after class, we all sit around a table and talk about our many classes. As I listen to each of the students, all of whom are so much younger than I, I cannot help but to think about how lucky I am – here I am, 42 years old and surrounded by young adults in their 20’s, just starting their adult lives with such enthusiasm and open minds! How fortunate I am to feel accepted by the warm and loving hearts of our campus community.

After sharing the fact that I have a son (who ALSO attends the same college) I decided to tell them one of my many “mommy” stories about my son, Andrew …

At the very end of my pregnancy in the summer of 1990, I became quite ill. It was a hot summer that year and I wasn’t due to give birth to my son until July 17th. On July 2nd, I spiked a temp (approx 102) experienced a backache, nausea and vomiting. For 24 hours, I tried to deal with the “virus” I initially diagnosed myself with. Sometimes, those who are in the healthcare field make horrible patients – seems we are always ready to help others, but fail to take care of ourselves the way we should :)

Well, that temp did not go away and I knew that it signaled an infection. The back pain I experienced was near my kidney and I was concerned enough to go to the Dr. After a trip to the OB/GYN, he confirmed a kidney infection. Since my “due date” was only 3 weeks away, he wanted to contact the pediatrician to see which med the baby could tolerate best. He sent me home with Keflex and assured me that my 4th of July holiday would not be negatively influenced by this illness :)

As instructed, I went home and took that horse pill! They also prescribed Phenergan, which helped to cease my vomiting and also made me sleepy. The next morning, to my elation, I woke to find that the Dr was right! Here it was, 8 a.m. on the morning of the 4th of July, and I awoke after the BEST night sleep OF MY LIFE! My fever broke, the backache was gone and I felt WONDERFUL! I remember my husband and I rolled to face one another in bed. I told him how happy I was to feel so much better. He embraced me as we snuggled together for a moment. I then giggled softly and said “too bad we couldn’t have a 4th of July baby” …

I then sat up in bed, and my water BROKE – literally GUSHED right after my statement! Andrew entered the world that evening, 10:42 pm, amidst the fireworks I could see from my hospital room window! As soon as he was born, the Dr and my husband commented on his striking RED hair, so fitting for a 4th of July baby!

He truly is, and always has been, my little “firecracker”!

The moral of the story might possibly be: A good night sleep will prepare you for all you may face the next day :)

Guest Blogger Coming Soon!

Hey everyone! I know it's weird for me to post more than once a week when school's going on, but I have a special treat for you all!

I have secured a special Guest Blogger who has agreed to share a story with you all. I have had the opportunity to know this woman in real life, and let me tell you, she's amazing! I was lucky enough to meet her in my Medical Terminology class last year, and her sweet spirit and enthusiastic personality made the whole class brighter every day! Her encouraging words helped people to get excited about the world of medicine, and her kindness towards everybody in the class made going to it a special treat!

I'm fortunate enough to have her in my Spanish class this semester, and, as before, her amazing attitude and wonderful sun-shiney personality have made this class better than, I think, it would've been in her absence.

I myself have had wonderful discussions with her inside and outside of class, and our discussions are always pleasant and enlightening for, I'm sure, both of us!

The other day, she shared a story with me that I loved hearing so much that I wanted you all to enjoy it as well! I asked her today after our Spanish class if she wouldn't mind sharing the story with you guys via a Guest Blog! Thankfully, she said that she would love to share the story and was delighted to be a guest writer on my blog!

I decided that she deserved and introduction, and didn't think that I fit an introduction about someone so wonderful into a paragraph before the guest blog.

Thus this post. So stay tuned to this blog, and keep an eye out for my Guest Blogger! You'll kick yourself in the head if you miss this one!

The Birthplace of Spam?

No, sillies, I'm not talking about that processed ham substitute that they shove into cans so that the un-healthily minded can scoop it out of said can and shove it into their mouths.

No. I'm talking about the type of spam that afflicts anyone with any sort of access to the internet. The type of spam we come across on websites, in our e-mail inboxes, and even in the comments we get on our blogs!

It gets annoying to find your inbox filled to the brim with advertisements, insincere offers of free gifts, and even promises of monetary gain!

But where does it all come from? Who actually has time in their life to write a letter asking for people's names, address, telephone numbers, etc?? Who had the time to sit down and write the letter I received today detailing the gruesome recent demise of an African billionaire who- oops!- doesn't have anyone to give his billions upon billions of dollars to after his tragic death on the top of a mountain in some far away land??

My theory? It comes from the land of geeks. Every corner of whatever online role playing game floats your boat hold a spammer. Every single online game that you come across where there are people pretending to be mystical creatures surrounded by horrible graphics and poor plotlines is an opportunity for a spammer to be born.

These people obviously have no life, right? They've been unemployed and living in their mother's basement since they were 15 or so and, even though they are in their mid-30's now, the only thing that has changed in the last few decades is that they went from playing Dungeons and Dragons with their buddies in person to playing World of Warcraft with their buddies that they never see, and never really talk to except on the game to trade armor, or swords or whatever the heck you trade on there.

Anyway, on with my theory. Since these people have no contact with the outside world except when they occasionally go out to an important family event, they obviously have to do something when their computer/internet goes through some lag-time, or while their computer -gasp- loses power. So that's when they put together their plans. That is when they compose their outlandish stories and etc. to fill the gap left behind by the absence of internet.

The other theory I have is of the Door to Door salesman. Haven't you all noticed that you never see door to door salesmen anymore? Why is that? Did they die out? Are they extinct? Did a meteor land on their "door to door salesman" convention in the middle of their annual get together? No, my friends, they have gone to the internet. The same annoying little distraction from your otherwise normal day is certainly unwelcome, but do they care? Of course not! They go about their business of having doors slammed in their face (without the physical door!) and being virtually ignored by not only stay at home moms and housewives, but also by their friends and family and anyone who has access to a computer!

Sorry door to door salesmen, but the gig is up, and the sad thing is? This online spamming thing is even worse for your wellbeing than before.

Not that all people who play online games or go door to door selling things are bad. I'm sure they're lovely people who are, at least, beautiful on the inside! I know some completely wonderful people who are not in any way awkward, socially challenged, pimply, nerdy or anything close! In fact, there are some people who play these games that are perfectly normal people who may or may not spend an insane amount of time online, and also find time to live a life. I'm not trying to diss them at all. And going door to door selling things can be a very respectable source of income if you do it the right way! I have nothing against most of them.

No, the problem I have is with the spammers. The people who waste other people's time (not to mention their own as well) with meaningless messages, e-mails, pop ups, advertisements, etc. The people who have nothing better to do than to sit at home on their computer and bother other people who just want to go about their business in peace.

Also- everyone deletes spam. Everyone closes pop-ups. If their is any worse way to advertise something, it's by using popups and spam. So thanks for that offer of 3.2 million dollars if I wire you money to escape from some country I've never heard of. I'll deeeeeply consider that offer. I'm already halfway to the nearest bank to transfer it into your account right now. Really. Keep e-mailing me. It'll get you something. Be persistant, PLEASE! And maybe you can share your boundless wealth and (no joke) "2 boxes of treasure" with me. R-E-A-L-L-Y.

My Weekend (well, last weekend)

*BEEEEP*

This is Mary's phone, and even though we have AT&T, we still had no bars in that podunk little town we stayed in during our vacation. So thanks for that call about. . well if anyone had called, I wouldn't have gotten their message.

But seriously, the vacation last weekend was pretty fun. We left home round about 4pm on Friday night, and arrived around 10pm that night to the house we were going to stay at.


The house we stayed at was nice, and we were able to take a tour before we went to bed Friday night. We chose the rooms we wanted to stay in and then explored the rest of the place. It was a cute little house and I wouldn't mind living there at all, but the house was owned by the company my dad works for, and is on the property. It's a guest house for employees like dad who need to commute back and forth from work on the weekends and such.





But it had a pool table, and we all were able to improve our pool skills while we were there. So that was pretty neat. And the plant was a wonderful place for me to take pictures and look around. So I did that once or twice.

Saturday, we woke up early and were out the whole day almost. We looked at houses, and met my sister for lunch in Augusta. I wasn't feeling like being there at all because I'm not too fond of Zaxby's. Especially after I found a bug on the sandwich I ordered. I got a new one, but really didn't think that it made sense. "There was a bug on your last sandwich, so let's get you another and hope there's no bug on it!" Yeesh!


But other than that, Saturday was alright. We had fun playing pool and hanging out at the house.
Sunday we went to church down there, and even though our church really is the same all over, the congregations are definetly not the same all over. There were alot of . . . older people. Talk of dentures and depends littered the conversations I overheard. Although they were awefully nice people, I wish that there had been more people my age around. There was even a college right across the street from the church and there weren't any kids my age around!

Monday, we stopped by the Airspace Museum down in Macon, and I took tons of pictures, etc for my buddy who wants to be a pilot. The museum was pretty interesting!

But I'm way glad to be home, and to have the internet!! And to be back in my own bed, and have an actual signal on my phone (not that anyone calls me, but still). I don't know why it took me so long to post about the trip, but I'm glad I did.

Aaaaand, one more pic, just cuz I like this one.

Was taken in Downtown Macon, GA. The full view is much better. I sure do hope these ones all pop up if you click on them. . . that'd be nice.