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Skype Telemarketing/Spam

I just got a telemarketing call on skype. What is this world coming to?

Labels: technology

Scattered Around the World

Rob Foxell and I had a discussion recently about the advantages and disadvantages making friends around the world. Rob is English, and like me, he has done several programs abroad where he has made many good friends. Sometimes it makes me sad: I develop deep friendships with people, and then after separation, I wonder if we'll ever see each other again.

Fifty years ago, people often lived in the same place for most of their lives, and a move was a defining event. Thus the people who attended your graduation went to your marriage, and possibly your funeral! Today, our relationships are scattered around the world, and we are forced to communicate with our friends with skype, messenger, and facebook. This bothers me a lot, and sometimes I hunger for deeper relationships with more permanence. Yet Rob reminded me that as travel becomes cheaper and more common, this we will see each other often. Also, he brought up that using technology, we can support more relationships. It is said that we can only have 12 deep friends, and around 100 other acquaintances. Today, I think that is changing. I keep in touch with hundreds of acquaintances, and I have more than 12 close friends. Applications like facebook allow us to know what's happening with our friends no matter where they are. Skype allows us to talk with them for free wherever there is an internet connection.




Here's an example: last week I went to Monterrey, Mexico for a few days with a group from my church. Though I've never spent time there before, I already had good friends there. Above is Luly Uribe, a student at the Tech in Monterrey. We studied together in Paris at the Alliance Française. We became quite close over after-class coffees and weekend excursions around Paris. Though I haven't seen her since May 2006, I have kept in touch with her via occasional phone calls and messages on facebook. Further more, I have spent time with Christopher, a friend of Luly's from Monterrey. Christopher is studying in Boulder, and we've spent a few weekends together in Denver and up in mountains.


Despite its disadvantages, I'd rather have my friends scattered around the world. Though we don't get to see each other as often as I'd like, our relationships are deepened through cross-cultural experiences. Technology helps us maintain these friendships, and cheaper travel lets us spend time together - despite the distance.

(i can't believe I just wrote something cheesy!)

Labels: mexico, muse, technology

Facebook

I finally took the plunge and dived into Facebook. I've long believed that Myspace was superior because of the freedom to customize your page and also because the general myspace crowd is artistic internationally. But the tide grew too high, and I joined facebook this morning.

My initial thoughts were that it's a bit boring and mostly American. But after spending a couple of hours on it, I've realized that's it not as bad as I thought. The photo pages are vastly superior, and I like how it asked how you met someone. The negative side to facebook is the lack of customization. I can't add my own background, change my fonts, or post pictures on my profile page.

I'll give it a try. Add me to facebook please. :)

Labels: technology

technology is a beast - UPDATED

My powerbook has slowly died since Sunday. At first I thought it was some software issue, but slowly it froze up more and more. Monday, it worked fine, but yesterday was hard. I concluded it was my hard drive, but as I tried to back it up, it froze. I got my music and my photos .... but I'm afraid I might have lost everything else. argh!

And my mobile phone's USB port isn't working right, and I get my iPod to work right. Argh ... I'm going to buy an external hard drive tonight if I can't get my computer to ressurect.


---UPDATE---

So yesterday I went to Denver and talked with my local genius at my local genius bar. I was lucky and got to speak with a manager. Even though my warranty is expired, he worked with me, and found out that my hard drive was still complete, though malfunctioning. He suggested the same third party software that Jonah did: diskwarrior.

I downloaded a version and burned it on to a CD, but I couldn't get my computer to boot off it. Next I downloaded to a computer, and started my ailing powerbook in target drive from my sister's iMac. I installed diskwarrior on to her computer, and repaired my hard drive that way ... There still seem to be a few loopy files, but I have managed to back everything up, and I think everything should be fine. :) Thank you, Jesus!

Labels: technology