20 Year Absence

After a 20 year absence, I am on my way to finishing an AA degree in Computer Science with an emphasis in Database Administration. This will be an assignment for a Web 2.0 class I am currently taking. I will share my thoughts on the class, other classes I am taking and the challenges of being a full-time student, a husband and a father.

Rock Formations

This is one of the rock formations I saw during a recent family trip to Utah.

Arches National Park

This is one of the arches in Arches National Park just outside of Moab, Utah.

Web 2.0

No pictures in today's posting. However, we are learning about subscribing to blogs and the reader page on certain websites such as "igoogle".

Personally, at times, I find the advancing information age overwhelming. With Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, g-mail, texting, Skype, Pidgin and the like, we are inundated with information on not just a daily pace. This information is coming at us by the second.

Projections say that over 50 million people, like myself, have established blogs. This can be great for family members who want to keep in contact with a constant feed of videos, pictures and updates on little Johnny's tee-ball game. However, maintaining this constant stream of information can be overwhelming.

Well, speaking of being overwhelmed, class is out and I have homework to do. C-Ya

Web 3.0

The newest form of web information and organization will be titled web 3.0. As the initial web was titled web 1.0. This web was heavily dependant on coding of web pages, browsers and chatting/e-mails. I remember when I would call into a company server over a land line with my laptop and authenticate my user name and password. The company server would then allow me to retrieve my e-mail. When setting up a website, html would be used to code each word, line, quote, graphic image and photograph.

With web 2.0, you can set up a web based e-mail account within seconds. You can also set up a blog, which you can use, as I am, to communicate with others and post links for other media you may have stored elsewhere. You Tube will allow users to upload videos. They will store them for you rather than you taking up precious memory space on your own computer. Flickr and other picture hosting sites will allow users to upload all of their pictures online. This allows a user to upload pictures while traveling and helps prevent your pic card from getting filled up. Professional writers and photographers also use this for storing their work as backup in case of computer failure or natural disaster. This is just a small number of enhancements that have occured from web 1.0 to 2.0.

Ok, so what's with web 3.0? Well, this will be a brief description of the new web. I will add more information as the class continues. Currently, "googleing" a serach word or phrase will bring up some paid advertisements in that category. You will also see tags where companies pay to have their web sites listed higher on the listing priority. But what if you wanted to see some obscure listings by someone who has a small website with not that many hits? And what if the site is orginated from a certain geographical area? What if you are only interested in searching for companies that advertise in southeastern Washington? Maybe just the Tri Cities area? Well, that's what's coming. Now, you can find a site in an area that deals with a specific subject. Some websites sell a subscription to bring websites in a certain area together. But, those are the companies who have an advertising budget and can afford the fees. In the works is a system to allow you to choose a geographical area or a subject and then drill down to the specific information you would like. This elminates the need for long intensive searches for some site you heard about but can't for the life of you remember the name. Ever had that happen? I sure have. So, conceptually, this new web 3.0 would be similar, if not more graphically pleasing than say craigslist. More on this later.

So, here is a picture of me.

The Gummy Bear Song

So, for my kids and my two nieces, not to mention its part of the class, I have added a link to a very popular video. (at least for the kids) It's the Gummy Bear song. Enjoy!!

The Competition

Here is a clip of a new indie movie created by some folks associated with my church. Hopefully this can help get the word out a little.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CAST AND CREW OF “THE COMPETITION” FILM!"The Competition Film" is a finalist for the prestigous "Remi" award at Worldfest International Film Festival.
Worldfest is the third largest independent film festival in the World, and “The Competition” producers were notified April 7th, that the film would win either a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal in the student film category—high school. (To qualify for this award 85% of the work had to be completed by students.) While the film won’t air at the festival (they award over 100 categories of production) the fact that it was selected as one of the three best by a jury is fantastic!
The award will be announced on April 26th—check back here for results.
LOCAL SHOWING OF THE COMPETITION!April 20 & 21st at 7pm, The Competition will be shown at Fairchild Cinema in Pasco.Ticket prices are $5, with a family pass of up to 6 members being sold for $20.The DVD and Soundtrack will be available for purchase after each show.Fairchild Cinema has generously donated all ticket sales to the Tri Cities Community Arts Projects, the not-for-profit that produced The Competition.Grab your family, friends and anyone you can think of and bring them to Fairchild Cinema in Pasco on April 20 & 21st, right off of road 68 across the street from the TRAC.For additional information contact Katie Klute at 430-9988.

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The Competition Trailer from Betty Adams on Vimeo.