Multitasking with my ipad

I am a mobile worker, meaning I work from home.    There are many pros and cons to being a mobile worker.  The Pros:  I’m close to the fridge, no commute and I save money on gas.  The cons:  long hours, all day meetings, late lunches, and occasionally no breaks.

As a mobile worker, I make the best of it with the help of my ipad.  Let me explain.  People at my work like to host meetings, sometimes we have meetings to plan for other meetings.  Yes, I know… really productive!!!  I had a few of those meetings this week.  These types of meetings use to bother me, but not so much now thanks to my ipad.  When a meeting becomes boring or the host has a monotone voice I usually play with my ipad.  My ipad makes the meeting go by fast and helps me stay awake.  I usually play games and surf the web.  Welcome to Corporate America…for Real!!!

Watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTsehSp6Gws&feature=related

We are all suckers!!

We all know technology improves every year with updated models, yet we spend hundreds of dollars on getting it now.  Take for instance, the iPhone 4s currently priced at 399.99.  Everyone bought it, now we’re hearing news about the iPhone 5.  Eventually we will purchase the iPhone5 when it comes out.  It’s impossible to resist temptation on things that we think help make our lives easier and things that make us feel connected to the rest of the world. 

Google to the result

When you’re surrounded by PC users, who do you turn to for help?  My suggestion is to use Google.

I spent my weekend creating my webpage and ran into some issues.   So, I turned to Google.  Google saved me.  Google provided so many results and it helped resolve my div questions in Adobe Dreamweaver.  It’s no wonder their stock price continues to climb.     

I also found out about Google docs.  Yes, I know…I’m slow!!!

Lily embracing change… 

5 external hard drives please!!!

Yep, I said five external hard drives!!!  Why would a person need five external hard drives?  It’s to backup your backup, to backup that backup and to backup all those backups.   You hear it all the time, especially from teachers, friends, or coworkers who have lost data.  You can add me to that list.  

I lost my data twice.  Yes, twice…I’m slow.  First experience:  I was working on my Stop-Motion animation.  I imported 800 pictures into flash with success.  I named it and saved it in two different locations.    To cut the story short, the Flash drive crashed and I lost a day worth of work.  It sucked!!! 

Second experience:  Again with the Flash drive.  I started my creature project.  I drew my creature and didn’t save.  Drive crashed again.  My creature was lost.  All because I put my trust into a single little flash drive.   I should have saved it to another hard drive.

My tip:  Buy five external hard drives, label them, and save your work every two minutes.  This way, you spend more time saving your work then actually doing your work.  Productive…NO, but at least your data is saved.

    Lily embracing change at a cost of 5 external hard drives!!!

Ipad

What does my 2-year old nephew say to me when he sees me?  He’s definitely not saying hi, or yelling my name.  He is, however, happy to see me. Not because I have candy or because he wants to play, it’s because of my iPad.  As soon as he hears my keys rattling and see’s my face he yells “IPAD AUNTIE, IPAD, AUNTIE!”  I created a little monster.  I am only forced to give him my ipad.  You might wonder what a 2-year old does with an Ipad.  Well….he plays games, watches Youtube and, you guessed it, deletes all, or most of my games and changes my interface. 

 That’s the price I’m willing to pay for him to learn.  I know...I’m an awesome aunt. 

Bill Joy

Bill Joy wrote a very long article cleverly titled, “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us.”  This is a WONDERFUL article! I even read it twice!!! Boy, did I have fun.  Despite my enthusiasm, the article had some interesting points about advanced technology and the risk it brings. 

There are two main quotes I liked.  The first one is, “In our time, how much danger do we face, not only from nuclear weapons, but from all of technologies?  How high are the extinction risks?”

The second quote I liked is, “I have always believed that making software more reliable, given its many uses, will make the world a safer place and better place; if I were to come to believe the opposite, then I would be morally obligated to stop this work.”

This got me thinking about my growing nieces.  They’re young, but very knowledgeable about surfing the web and playing games.  I’m proud that they are explaining their knowledge, but at the same time I’m scared of the potential dirty old men (DOM’s) on the other end.  It will still be a couple more years before they open email accounts, Facebook, or begin chatting over the web.  As a caring and awesome aunt I worry about predators, especially since I’ve watched Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator.”   It’s one thing to monitor what they do over the web, but what technology doesn’t prevent are the DOMs that are ready to strike. 

As technology enhances year by year, the more creative DOMs become.  I can’t even imagine where the web will be when my nieces turn into aunts themselves.  I won’t deprive them of knowledge and learning the benefits of the web.  I know I won’t always be there to protect them, but I can only teach them about the potential risks the web can bring, just as Joy talks about with advanced technology and the risk it brings. 

Lily embracing change....

CRAZINESS

System overload…. I’m learning to use my MAC book pro at the same time, trying to learn Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Flash and Photoshop.  Study group anyone?  Lily embracing change…

I purchased.....

Out with the old and in with the new, I purchased a MAC book pro this weekend.  It's sooooo sexy!!! I also spent an hour with apple care because my 'new' laptop locked up.  Lily embracing change....