Month: July 2011

Goodbye “College Life”

There comes a time, after you graduate from the college, that you outgrow the “college life” and leave it behind. Meaning, you outgrow the way you lived in college–partying, staying up super late, making a fool of yourself, etc. You realize you are too old for it.

Tonight was the night that I fully realized that I am too old to act like a college kid. Don’t get me wrong, I love the friends I have that are still in college. They are nice people who are fun to be around. They are still young and should fully enjoy their youth. But I am not them, and I am no longer their age. No longer can I do the things they do. And frankly, I don’t want to anymore.

Tonight I move on from that life. I put it all in the past. I’m not sad about it because I would rather act 23 than 20. I would rather have responsibilities and privileges than drunken nights and hangovers.

Goodbye Space Shuttle Program

I had the opportunity to watch the final Space Shuttle Atlantis launch this morning. Honestly, if I hadn’t gotten up early and checked Gizmodo, I probably would have missed it. It has been a long time since I watched a Space Shuttle launch, I think the last time was when John Glenn went back into space in 1998.

I have long been infatuated with space, NASA, and the Space Shuttle missions. When I was kid I wanted to be either an astronaut or an astronomer. I even went to Space Camp at age 10 and loved every minute of it. I still have the book they gave us of all information on NASA’s history, Space Shuttle mission information, and even lists of meals that were available to astronauts in space. I thoroughly enjoyed being on simulated missions, both in the Shuttle and in Mission Control.  I vividly remember the Columbia disaster, hoping that the Shuttle would land on Earth and then coming to sad realization that it was never coming back. I love to watch the move Apollo 13, and still get choked up and worried during the return to Earth scene (If you’ve seen the movie, you what I’m talking about).

It saddens me that today marks the last Space Shuttle launch. Given NASA’s recent history, with all their budget problems and Shuttle disasters, there is no telling what’s next for US space exploration.  The future for NASA doesn’t look all that great.

I guess I should count myself lucky that I got to see the last launch in real time. Call me a nerd, but I got goosebumps when it happened. I also shed a little tear when the announcer reminded viewers that it was the last time this would ever happen. Hearing the team members from Atlantis thank Mission Control and all that have worked on the program made me smile. (Told you I was a nerd!!)

Goodbye Space Shuttle program, goodbye Atlantis, and PLEASE come back safely.

Google+

I hate Facebook, there I said it. Yes I use it for my job, and yes I am good at using it for business purposes. But I hate it. Why? Because it is buggy, full of spam & privacy issues, and as I am writing this my account is “temporarily unavailable”, whatever the heck that means.

Long have I hoped for something to come along and kill Facebook. I got my hopes up for Diaspora, the KickStarter funded social media network, but when it didn’t really pan out as I had thought, my hopes were dashed.

Enter Google+, the hot-right-now Google social network. If it belongs to Google, you can be sure it will take off. Right now its invite-only. Lucky for me my boyfriend works in tech and invited me when he got in. Soon it’s supposed to go public, and from there I can only hope that it dominates.

I am still learning all the features of Google+, but so far what I love that you can share different posts, pictures, and other content with different “Circles” of people. That way you can choose what parts of your life people get to see. I see this as being particularly useful if you are planning a party and only inviting a choice group of people. You can give them updates about the event byonly posting content for that group of people to see, genius! You can also edit comments and follow people and topics you like, all without the terribly annoying Facebook application crap. That’s right Zygna, I’m talking about your stupid games that I never want to see again.

I can’t wait for this go public, and when it does I hope that it becomes more awesome. I am already a slave to all things Google; Gmail, Chrome, Docs, Android, etc. So if Google+ means that Google will soon take over the world, I am OK with that. Oh and if you want invites to Google+, let me know. I need an email address, so if you feel comfortable giving it out, leave it in the comments below.