Alana's 1300 Blog

Hello New Students!

2009-12-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

Students of next year here is some advice. Next year in class, pay attention to different formulas in Excel. Double check them when you are done to make sure the formula is correct. Make sure you pay attention to class because any homework will be about the things you learned in class. Take good notes about the speakers. If you are going to be quizzed on Trinity rules you should read them.
This class was very fun. Even though I already knew many things, I still learned a lot. Photoshop was really fun to work with and creating a website was very exciting. This class is a fun experience and I recommend it to everyone.

Does teeth whitener change skin color?

2009-11-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

The picture I chose is a scary bat picture because I wanted to make it look different. I looked at a bunch of pictures on the internet and the bat scared me so I wanted to change it. The picture came from an article about the rising popularity of vampires. I wanted to make the bat funny so I added a smile from a dentist website that was showing how to take care of teeth. After I made the picture, I wanted to use it to make a statement I believe in, so since I used an animal, I decided to make it a picture against animal testing.

For the picture, I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the mouth out of the original picture. I then flipped the mouth. I then used the eraser to touch up the mouth after I put in on the bat using the move tool. I then used brightness and contrast to make the mouth try to match the bat. I used hue and saturation to change the color of the bat to show a bad side effect of animal testing. Then I added text, used a bevel technique on the words, and put a sentence in a talk bubble.

I manipulated the bat at first just for fun because I wanted to make it look different and was just brainstorming ideas for a fake photo. Once I saw it, I decided to use it to protest against animal testing because I think it is wrong to test on animals. The manipulation was not harmful because it does not hurt anyone. The picture is actually trying to help animals. I made an eye-catching, funny picture to get people’s attention about an issue affecting animals.

Presentations!

2009-11-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

My two favorite presentations were Aubrey Wilson’s on the Myer-Briggs type indicator and Jessica Trevino’s on being a forensic psychologist. For Aubrey’s, I loved the background. It was beautiful with all the colors and how they spiraled. The different colors went along with the description of all the personality types. I have never heard of this test before and found it extremely interesting. Her presentation did a great job of describing the test and the different outcomes possible. I really want to take the test now. The stacking was also well thought-out.
The other presentation I liked was Jessica’s. Her presentation was very informative. I loved the reference to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. There was amazing stacking and organization. I learned a lot about her topic. There was so much information, but it was not overwhelming or crowed. Everything flowed perfect. If I was not so interested in my own major, I would look into it. I never knew how much forensic psychologist did like pick jurors. The animation was great also.

PowerPoint Presentation Drive Me Crazy!

2009-10-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

PowerPoint can be very annoying. It is so easy to go wrong with a PowerPoint presentation. From reading the websites, I have realized that even though I have been trying to use PowerPoint right, I have been doing projects wrong. PowerPoint projects have become so mundane that people do not even pay attention anymore. Nowadays, presenters have to be very creative to gain AND KEEP and audience’s attention. An interesting fact I learned was that you should not use clip art. Some of the articles are old in computer time, and clip art has much improved so I do not see anything wrong with using it especially because it has photos in it. When I first used PowerPoint, I was in middle school and was excited about all the options and effects and tried to use them all in a thirteen-slide presentation. There was a different color, effect, and transition on every page. I thought it looked cool and my teacher did not mind, but now I know how distracting and bad that presentation must have been. It was not until high school that I effectively could make a PowerPoint presentation. After reading the articles, I realize I still have much to work on starting with these five guidelines:

1. Do not read your slides word for word.

2. Be creative and try to use you own pictures or graphics.

3. Do not be too wordy on your slides.

4. Do not cram too many things like graphics, words, and animations on one slide.

5. Explain your points, not what you wrote on you PowerPoint.

CLT: Coolest Location at Trinity!

2009-10-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

Going to CLT was so cool. Even though I had been there before, going there is so much fun. I did use a Mac for the first time on this visit and it was an experience. I knew Macs were different from PCs, but I never realized how different until I was actually on one. The entire desktop was different and I could not find any of the programs because there was no start menu. For about ten minutes, all I did was click around, opening random programs that were on the bottom of the screen because I did not know where anything was. I did eventually find all the applications and saw some of the cool tools like sticky notes and Garage Band. I liked how I could have about six windows open at the same time and see them all at the same time. In addition, the windows were very portable. I also went to Illustrator and just played around for a while. When I was done, I had to ask Trevor how to log out because I could not figure it out. The Mac was confusing, but I finally saw what all the hype was about. It is a very cool computer.

I think CLT will come in big handy for future projects and for class. I have already worked with Illustrator, Flash, and Photoshop so I know I want to take classes that use those programs. Also because I want to look into a double-major with Communications and Business, and I know I can use those programs for Communication classes. In addition, my hall wants to create a music video or just a cool video together and having CLT is an easy way to access video editing software. The programs are so expensive that it is good to know I have a place where I can access them. I work at the library so it is very convenient to stop by to work on computer class assignments after my shift ends. Also just messing around with the programs is fun because you can create such interesting projects. I am glad I came to a university that provides such amazing, high-tech equipment for all students and not just students in certain classes. Thanks AT&T and Trinity! = )

Excel, Excel, Excel!!!

2009-10-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

Excel is not my favorite program, but I find it very helpful especially in class projects. I knew many basics from my high school computer class, but it was before the new Microsoft came out. In my class now, I learned where everything is on the new format. I also learned the “If” function, which I did not know before. That is something that can come in handy in the future. My major is Business, possibly a double major in Communications, and I know Excel will be used in those future endeavors. Already at my job in the library, my supervisor asked me to make a table on Excel. It is a useful application for many academic fields because it is a great way to organize information in an easy to read format. In many fields especially Business, there is going to be a lot of calculating numbers, comparing information, and creating graphs so Excel is a necessary tool. Excel is also a time saver because you do not have to crunch the number; Excel does it for you. I think Excel is great and I am glad I learned it.

Chris Nolan

2009-10-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Chris Nolan was a very good speaker. I learned so many new things that will help me for school assignments. One of the most impressive things I learned was about Google Scholar. I did not know about that feature, but I will certainly be using it in the future. I also liked hearing about the Easter eggs on websites. I will definitely be searching for them especially the flight simulator on Google. It was cool also to see the comparison of sites for a topic between Google and Yahoo. The most surprising thing I saw was when we had to look up a website and analyze it. I looked up the Martin Luther King Jr. site (www.martinlutherking.org/) and at first did not really notice anything too disturbing. It was when I started clicking links that I saw that something was wrong. I went to the chat boards and saw they were powered by a group called White Pride and fully realized that this website with Martin Luther King Jr.’s entire name in it, that ends in “.org”, and that pops up on Google as a top site was a white supremacy site against Martin Luther King J. I was completely baffled. I think Google needs to fix their search because that site, no matter how popular, should not be one of the top sites when searching for Martin Luther King Jr.

Fake Katie Couric

2009-10-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

The picture I chose was of Katie Couric being completely doctored because as a female I think it was wrong of the editors to do that. They made her into something she is not and showed everyone especially little girls how females "should" be seen as. They showed something that is not true also. The person they made does not exist because it was not truly Katie Couric. The picture was originally CBS's official first picture of Katie Couric. Watch magazine took the original and doctored it for their September issue. The picture dramatically slimmed down Katie Couric in her body and face and changed her skin tone. Also her suit was darkened. It was manipulated to make her look better in the eyes of the magazine. They wanted her to look more "appealing" to readers. The manipulation was harmful because it made an unreal person. Katie Couric is an average woman who can appeal to average women across the nation, but the magazine turned her into something she is not. Girls can see the picture and think they have to be skinny and develop disorders that are unhealthy. They would try to change themselves into someone who does not exist and that needs to change. Magazines need to leave pictures alone and let the true inner stand out.

COPYRIGHT

2009-09-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

Copyright is a huge issue. I partially agree with many of the laws. I do think that people should not be allowed to download thousands of songs for free. Artists and musicians work hard to make a living. I do also believe that record labels are too harsh on little cases. They should not force someone to pay millions or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for downloading five songs. They need to go after the people downloading thousands of songs and selling them. In regards to artwork or literature, I think the laws can be a little ridiculous, especially when it comes to using works in projects. People are too money crazy and that fuels their cases. Sure, if someone tries to claim something that is not theirs, that's bad. But just using something in an assignment with should be OK. People have just become too greedy. Everything is about how much they can get and how much they can sell it for. The world needs to get their priorities straight and change.

Network Diagram of Trinity's LAN(Local Area Network)

2009-09-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Visited by Joe Hatch

2009-09-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday, my computer class was visited by Joe Hatch who is a User Support Services Analyst. He gave us some survival tips about the Trinity network and about how to make our computers work better and faster. The most interesting thing he showed us, at least for me, was about the cleaner. I used it on my computer and deleted 257MB of junk on my computer. I also was fascinated by the disk defragmenter. I love anything that helps my computer run faster. My dad has been telling me forever to do these things to my computer to make it better, but I never knew how. I am so glad I learned how to do these things and hopefully my dad will get off my back now. = ) Yeah for happy, faster computers!

Hello my name is Alana!

2009-08-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hey, I’m Alana Ramos. I’m from San Antonio, TX and this is my first year at Trinity. I go by Alana and I was born and raised in San Antonio. I went to St. Anthony Catholic School from three years old to eighth grade. That school is about five blocks from Trinity. For high school I went to Incarnate Word High School, an all girl school, which is about ten feet from Trinity so I know the area extremely well. I have been wearing plaid uniforms since first grade and am so glad to be able to where regular clothes for school. When I was little I played soccer, softball, basketball, and volleyball. While doing that, I was also in pep squad, dance team, and took two dance classes. Interesting fact(interesting not secret): I cheered for St. Anthony High School, where my only brother is a freshmen, which you can see from some of the dorm rooms in the back of the Trinity campus.

I have been taking dance classes since I was three. I have taken tap, jazz, ballet, polka, lyrical, Broadway, and recently modern and swing dancing. My favorites are tap and jazz because you have to have so much energy and character when you dance. I watch every dance show on TV like So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Best Dance Crew. I used to dance in a polka group that goes around the county performing. I love dancing and watching people dance because it’s freeing your spirit and expressing yourself in movement.

Besides dancing, I love to sing, even though I sound bad. My senior superlative was “Able to sing a song to a random word” because at school while talking to my friends, they could say a random word and I would just start singing to a song that has that word in it. For example, if someone was talking about a brand new shirt they just bought, I would start singing “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick where the song would go, “Ill shine up the old brown shoes, put on a brand new shirt. Ill get home early from work if you say that you love me.” My love of singing comes from my love of music. I love all types of music except country. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either. All other types I love to listen to and probably have on my mp3 player. Other favorites I have are: color-purple, food-soft pretzels and cotton candy, and animal-dolphin. new students. I will also be working in the library so look for me the next time you are in there.

My computer background is not too extensive. I have taken a basic computer class but that was before Microsoft 2007 came out. Last year I took a multimedia class where I worked with Photoshop. I have also made a two minute cartoon with Flash.

P.S(ecret). This summer I went to Seattle with my cousin for two weeks to escape the heat in San Antonio but ended up getting there when they had a record high heat wave. My cousin and I then went to Long Beach and Waikiki which are in Washington State where the temperature was in the low to mid sixties. It was so cold but felt so good.

Thanks for reading!

Alana = )

alana.ramos@trinity.edu