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I can remember as a little girl when the first robots were used in manufacturing. All the talk about how the robots were going to take over the work force and no one was going to have a job anymore. I remember being really scared and thought robots were bad things.

Then I remember going to the world’s fair and there was a japanese exhibit that used  a robot arm to write your name in japanese. I of course thought this was awesome. So it helped me to have a more positive outlook on robots.

I really never thought about what all constituted a robot in today’s world until the lecture. They are really all over and we don’t even think much about it at this point. We use them everyday. Now we only take notice when they do some really big important thing like disarm bombs, go into space or the field of nanotechnology. But most of all I think we notice the ones that act most human. There is just something about being able to create ourselves. Robotics and the medical field both work on this and the field of nanotechnology where they come together is fascinating to me. If I were more programmer inclined I would probably pursue that field. But I have learned very quickly that it is not my can of worms. So I will just sit back and watch the rest of the world unfold and take it in in awe!

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I am a little disappointed in my scratch project. It is not what I wanted. I wanted to have 2 boys passing a football and kicking a field goal. I tried and tried to find enough images with the positions needed to do all the moves for football but I could not find enough. I can’t draw at all so making them myself was out the question. Honestly I have never even painted anything on the computer. So the most creative I could get was to make my name. That is definitely not what I had planned. But I had used so much time looking for other things that it got to a point that I had to do something.

I was able to do everything I wanted with my name. But I could not figure out how to make it go back to background 1 after the stop button had been pushed. I worked on that for a long time too but never figured it out. Other than that I am happy with my scratch.

I saw other people’s in the class and theirs is definitely off the chain. I hope they are advanced!

I realized I forgot to talk about security. I find hacking interesting. I think they are some of the smartest people out there. At least extremely creative! I have always wondered what all the malware is out there and now I know. It seems like an important topic for anyone going into the computer science field to learn more about. How can you protect yourself from  someone or something unless you know what is out there and what preventions to take.

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I think the Scratch program is really cool. I have played around some and am still putting together my idea. I am still forming my program in my head but will put the so called pen to paper this week. My kids think it is really cool. They pick up on things much faster than I do. I think I just put too much thought into it. I have to think about what I am going to do in a project for a while but when it comes time to do it, it just seems to pour out. I think I need the power of procrastination to do my best work.

I really enjoyed the talk by Randy Pausch. I have been thinking about it alot over the past couple of days. Childhood dreams seems to be a theme in the videos we watch. I also notice it seems to be more men that do this. I rarely hear women talk about their childhood dreams. I wonder if that is because for so long women weren’t expected to do much with their lives. I know my mother was the first in her family to go to college and she went back to school like I am. She brought my sister and I up to be independent so I always knew I was going to college. But I have to say that a lot of my friends did not.

I guess I always knew I was going to be a nurse since I was a child and I fulfilled that dream. I got a BSN from ETSU and worked as a nurse for 11 years. I worked cardiac, intensive care and finally hospice. I got burnt out and have spent a few years trying to decide what to do next. So here I am.

The only other thing I knew I wanted to do with my life was get married and have kids. Of course I thought I would be married happily ever after but that did not happen. But I do have 3 wonderful children that I love dearly.  I love being a mom, just not a stay at home one. So I have always planned on having a career.

Anyway, I am excited about making my cartoon on scratch this week and can’t wait to see the final result. I sure it will be quite novice. I lack the imagination of a lot of people. I am hoping that will change. I am working on trying to see the bigger picture in things instead of the task at hand all the time. I seem to just let the big picture overwhelm me and I want that to change.

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I just noticed I had put my last blog under the thoughts category. I changed it to csit1110. Guess that sums up how last week went. This week has been much better. I think my nervous breakdown is over. (Well almost anyway!)

I have actually enjoyed making my webpage. I learned to do several things other than making the webpage that I did not know how to do before. One is saving an image off the web. Another is moving files around in different ways, such as dragging. And more. I guess it just takes some experience and playing around to get more comfortable with the computer. Before coming back to school, I had not even been getting on the computer much. So I feel I have completed my warm up session.

Now on to bigger things. I was very intimidated when I first started putting in my code. But I just started with what I thought would be easiest and built from there. I got frustrated at several points but in the end I am pleased for the most part. I had my data in my columns moving around for no reason. Well, I’m sure there is one, I just don’t know it! I wish my headings were even across the page but they start all over the place.

I also wish my pictures weren’t so cluttered with the text, but the more I played with it the worse it got. Padding just wasn’t working for me. So I am happy with how it is. Pretty good for  a first time I think. My kids think so too. I let my kids help me pick out the colors so they would have a vested interest in looking when I kept asking them to come look (sneaky)!

I could not get it loaded from home but I already sent an email about that. Not sure what that is all about.

I am also feeling better since we started talking about databases. This is more my language. I feel lost and intimidated by programming but not about databases. I actually feel  a little better about programming right now. Holy cow! Don’t tell anyone! I have a love hate thing going on in java. Thank god html showed me it is really just basic stuff. Jave is just a more complicated basic!

I am excited about learning more about SQL in later semesters. I think I can think about relationships of data without too much brain strain!

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I am about ready to blow up all computers in my site! I finally got on my dashboard after 2 days of trying and getting errors. I tried to hook up a router to home computer and lost internet access for home computer and laptop. Finally got that resolved to a point! I feel very overwhelmed right now. I have done the html tutorial and felt pretty good about it until it has come time to apply it. I find that I understand concepts but have a lot of difficulty applying them. I am questioning if I am gonna be able to do this. I think it should not be this hard to get the basics.

As far as my webpage goes. I have written out my paragraphs and headers. I have gotten the info for websites and pics that I want to use. I have a general feel for the layout I want. I tried to start on it this morning in lab but had trouble even loading my page to just say a header. I had hoped this was going to be a bit easier than it is for me. All I can say is I will do my best.

This kinda turned in a journal session huh? I feel a little better though!

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I apologize for being late with this entry. Working, going to school and raising 3 kids is starting to catch up with me and I have been a little forgetful.

So far I have really enjoyed this class. I find the history of computers fascinating. The pace of advancement is very impressive. The ideas of where technology is heading are very intriguing. I also find it a bit intimidating since I don’t understand all the concepts. An example is the Emotiv. I really didn’t follow along with how that worked. But as I learn more I am sure these things will make more sense.

I also feel like I am at a disadvantage by not playing games. I have never played anything bur cards and puzzles and have certainly not changed any of a game’s programming. Quite frankly I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I assume it would start with find out out the instruction set and going from there.

On that note, I found the ALS very interesting. How binary operation is actually applied is really interesting. I did follow along with the binary part pretty well. I have to actually do step by step  on the ALS to see what’s happening. Just reading the program doesn’t sink in for me.

I got lost during the assignment of building a computer. I was overwhelmed by the application of building but understood the concepts. I let myself to get too frustrated with how to out all the pieces where I should have just slowed down and watched a video again. So I ended up copping out on that part. I feel silly for it now. But what’s done is done, so time to move on.

To tie things up I will say again that I am really enjoying this class. I can easily follow along during lectures and always have the notes to refresh my memory. I have to read, write, see and do something to really understand it and you do a great job at presenting in that fashion.

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I found this assignment quite intimidating. Honestly, I don’t feel much better after finishing. I would have to go by instructions to put this together, but I was sure to make sure the slots were compatible. I stuck with anything that seemed familiar to me, whether it was name brand or a feature. All I can say about actually putting this together is  I would start with the case, then motherboard, then CPU and cooling system. The rest I would figure out from there. Hope all this makes sense, but I put the links to the parts I selected and told why I selected each one.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213931&sku=M17-7300 Windows Home Premium 32-bit

I chose Windows because this is the operating system I am used to and have on computer at home already. It meets my needs and I avoided the 64-bit since I have heard many people complain about it with compatibility issues.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6758870&sku=M17-1727 Keyboard and mouse

I really had no preferences about the keyboard and mouse other than being wireless.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6052506&sku=V18-2238 Monitor

I chose this monitor for it’s widescreen and integrated speakers mostly. The full HD with resolution of 1920 x 1080 is nice too. It is an energy saving device. It is black so it matches the tower and can be wall mounted or free standing.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5639261&sku=E145-9864 Video Card

My kids play a lot of games so I wanted a decent but inexpensive card. This one boasts of its value and “bang for your buck”. It is also power saving. It is good for games and pictures. I do put all of my pictures on the computer so I wanted a card that would provide a good image. I have heard GeForce GPU is good by word of mouth in the discussion board.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6246700&sku=O451-1017%20OEM DVD Drive

I did not have a preference about the DVD drive other than the trusted Sony name and the price.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073702&sku=TSD-2000S2 Hard drive

Basically I looked for one that was internal and not expensive. I was attracted to this one for the Samsung name.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=833176&sku=A208-5100 RAM

I looked for  8GB that were DDR3- 1333Mhz.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073159&sku=I69-2600K CPU

I chose this CPU because I wanted the best. The i7 is the newest one. It has hyperthreading which is nice when I am doing several things at once on the computer, which I find myself doing more and more since starting back to school. The 8MB of cache is good. The temporary storage is nice for as much as I research on the computer and all the documents I am creating.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7335485&sku=C13-2527 Cooling System

I looked at price and compatability with the ports on the motherboard.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7343096&sku=A455-3043 Motherboard

ASUS was recommended to me while shopping for a laptop. He told me ASUS has been making parts for computers for over 20 years. I also knew I wanted Intel i7 and looked for a compatible motherboard. The 6GB SATA means faster performance and it is an energy saver.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7195038&sku=C13-2802 Power supply

Basically, it is what was recommended on the website for the CPU I was buying.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6610150&sku=C13-6000 Case

The case just needed to be simple and appealing to the eye. I am a rather organized person so I liked the cable routing holes. The 4 USB ports and 2 audio ports are convenient. Steel is durable, especially with kids to consider.

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