On Demand Revolution!

The On Demand revolution has impacted society and myself in ways only imagined just a few short years ago. Education, access to information, entertainment, and social interaction has changed significantly. In fact, much of what we do each day is directly tied to On Demand media.

For example, internet access to TV, movies, books and social media video has allowed me to read the best books and watch my favorite shows, movies, and videos on my own time, not on broadcast time. I can then better schedule my homework, volunteer and leadership activates.

My classroom is enhanced by On Demand media. The content is much richer than just a text book. The teacher can access up-to-date information and we can virtually travel to anywhere in the world. Classrooms can even talk live to astronauts in the space station. Some students can even attend school using on-line classes. Studies indicate that classroom learning is enhanced with On Demand media due to the fact that many students of my generation learn best through visuals and audio.

On Demand media also lets me search and find more and better information for my school reports. My parents for example, had to spend hours in the county and school libraries in order to find just a few reference sources for their school reports. Today I can search the internet and the whole world is available for me to research. I can search such noble institutions as the Library of Congress, The British Museum and the Louvre, or more obscure sites such as A Taste of France for recipes for my French classes.

However, we need to be careful. One wrong click (intentional or otherwise) can send us to dangerous sites as well. Content filtering helps, but no filter is full proof. People need to beware and be careful of what media they might be using.

I believe that On Demand media will move more to streaming media rather than to DVR and other personally recorded media. I don't think people want to have more devices, but instead more access to content. Commercials can be annoying, but they are the sponsor of the content and that allows for more and varied content. That in turn allows me to better pick and choose what I want to see and when I want to see it.

In fact, On Demand media has already allowed me to enhance my future college education. I can research colleges and universities like never before. I can watch their videos, see maps, view on-line testimonials, research costs and apply for scholarships to help fund my education.

On-Demand media is opening up whole new worlds to me!

Torn

Lately I've been thinking about my future and kind of what I want to do with my life. WHAT?! That's right I've been thinking about my future. This must come as a big surprise to most of you because you know my opinions on the future, and the lame things I want to do with my life, but its been on my mind a lot lately. Obviously I've thought about my future job, how I want to live my life, what I want to do with my life, career ext. All that normal future good stuff. The one thing though that has really been on my mind is the question of East Coast or West Coast.

East Coast: My heart has always been on the east coast. I went to the east coast as a child, my dad is from the east coast, part of me just loves it there, the history, the beauty, all of it. Plus many of my sports teams are east cost.

I mean look at that! They have REAL fall! They have REAL winter! Yeah some of their weather is a pain in the butt but I've never had pain in the butt weather (other than heat). 

West Coast: I live on the west coast now, I've grown up on the west coast. That means obviously my heart is here too because this is where I've grown up.

(that's ^ pretty much our winter AND summer)

I know that I don't have to make this decision now, I have a LONG time until I have to decide but I cant help but think about it. I'm torn, I've never been this concerned about something like this. East Coast or West Coast?

2 Year Goal Update #1

Remember this 2 year goal of me ridding my bike down to the Laguna area and hopefully making it a huge deal (considering its 300+ miles) to be able to meet McKayla Maroney? Well here's an update on how its going.

I've been doing OK, but not as great as I would like. I went through some stuff, and that made me take about a 2+ week break from training. That my friends adds up let me tell you that, but I have gotten back into it. I just started these past few days, so I'm working on it.

I've been really blessed to have people who are willing to support me with this goal. A few friends have asked if they could come along, I get text messages of encouragement when I tell people I'm exercising, when I ask for motivation they give it. Its just been a really good experience for myself. Heck the other day a friend told me that they were encouraged by what I was doing, and that made them start to want to get into better shape.

Thank you to all who have been helping me with this exercise, its been really important to me. I am truly blessed.                          

           

                                   

 

Mechanic Please

I have this theory about life, or well I guess you can call it an analogy. I think of life as a car, things run smoothly until you hit a rough patch and your car starts to mess up. At that point the car is broken (Meaning you as a person are kind of down, going through some sort of struggle, ext.) and you need to fix this car. Imagine your car is an older model and you know how to fix it. So what do you do when your car breaks? You try to fix it, BY YOURSELF. Obviously right?

Now you've tried fixing your car (getting out of this struggle by yourself), but you just cant. What do you do now after trying so hard and for so long to fix it yourself? That is when you call the mechanic (a friend, family member, ext) to help you fix it (get out of the struggle).

I've always been that person that tries to fix my car on my own because I think being able to look back and see that I fixed that all by myself is something to be proud of, but right now I think I'd rather call a mechanic and lose some of that pride than have to replace this car.

Amazing Friends

I know I talk about this a lot, about how I have the most amazing friends in the world. I just I cant get over it. I mean these people mean the world to me. I've never been really good at making and keeping close friends but these people I love and never ever want to leave me. I mean they have made the biggest impact in my life and I don't want to imagine my life without them. What got me thinking about this was that Phillip Phillips song thats popular right now, Home.

"Hold on, to me as we go as we roll down this unfamiliar road."
I mean we are all going down this "unfamiliar" road we call life, and it means the world to me to know that I have these friends that I can hold onto and lean on while going through all this, while going through life. I know that I have people that I can trust with everything, friends that I can lean on when things get rough. I mean we are all going through it, we might as well hold onto each other and go through it together.

"The trouble it might drag you down If you get lost, you can always be found"
I think that's what friends are supposed to be there to do, to find you when you're lost. I know for a fact that my friends HAVE and WILL do that whenever I need it (which seems to be a lot actually). I mean friends are always there for each other, and will be there when you're lost, they'll find you and bring you back.

"Just know you’re not alone Cause I’m going to make this place your home"
In my friendships we really aren't alone. We might feel like it at some points, but we aren't and we never will be. We stand by each other through all of it whether it be anger, sadness, or anything else, we are always there for each other. We often check up on each other to see how things are going. We aren't alone, and we make sure we know this.

I've been blessed with amazing people, that I know are always here for me, and I hope to God they know that I'm always here for them.

2 Year Goal

Right now I am trying to get into shape for a few reasons let me give you an idea of why I would do this crazy thing. This list is in order of least important (#1) to most important (#3).

1. Because I'm lazy and unhealthy and its good for me.
2. I want to go to the Olympics. Qualify at least. (Good goal for me right? Makes me laugh every time.)
3. So I can ride my bike 340 miles from my home town to Laguna Niguel, CA McKayla Maroney's home town.

This sounds crazy right?! Well, it is. But its one of my goals in life to me her. Its one of my crazy goals in life and to reach a crazy goal you have to do something crazy. I mean this isn't unreasonably crazy right? Maybe the meeting her part is kind of crazy but the bike ride isn't. Right? Please tell me I'm right? Plus I just want to meet her. Its not like I'm those creepy guys who want to marry her. I just want to meet her, have a conversation with her, take a picture, thank her for being an inspiration and maybe have a glass of water and a meal with her. Thats not an unreasonable request right?! I mean I'll have rode my bike 340 freaking miles in the freaking heat! Come on thats the least she can do for me!

To meet the crazy goal of meeting McKayla Maroney I have to do something crazy such as ride my bike 340 miles.

So McKayla Maroney watch out because in 2 years I'll be riding my bike down to Laguna Niguel to meet you.

**I'll keep you all updated throughout the training**

Olympic Obsession

You remember how I told you I LOVED the Olympics? Yeah? Well I still love them and every year the love  continues to grow and grow, and every year I find a new Olympian that I love. 2008 was Shawn Johnson, now this year, 2012 is, you guessed it, another gymnast. Its McKayla Maroney! Woo yeah! Pro vaulter, great at everything else, gold and silver medalist, has her own meme, and from interviews is just down right hilarious!

Now its not just her I like, I like all of them, heck I just like the sport of gymnastics in general. Every year though I pick a gymnast that I stand behind and hope for them to go to the Olympics in the next 4 years and right now that one is McKayla. (actually I'd love for most of them to go).

I don't do gymnastics and I thank god that I don't because I could never do any of that stuff. Mad props to all you gymnasts out there! But any way the goal of the Olympics is to "Inspire a generation." every year they do that. Every Olympic year they do that, and the team that does that for me is always the gymnastics team.

Thats all I wanted to say. I just wanted the world to know how much I love gymnastics, McKayla Maroney, and all the other amazing girls on the team. Thank you for once again inspiring a generation.

"Its not just like a puppy you want for Christmas...its the Olympics." -McKayla Maroney