Where's the freaking wi-fi in this desert?

Today while celebrating the joys of Christmas eve with my extended family, I realized that our internet access in my parents' Palm Springs house was not working. Their home is nestled in the boonies of the boonies where luckily a Starbucks is a mere seven miles away. Needing to do a quiz for my online class, I got into my car and crossed my fingers that Starbucks had wi-fi access. I had always heard about this whole starbucks internet access phenomenon but I had needed to experience it. As I entered the coffee shop with two hours to go, I ordered a drink and prayed that I could connect. Nope.

Apparently T-mobile has a monopoly on Starbucks in Palm Springs and you need some funky account in order to use it but you can't sign up at Starbucks, you have to go to T-mobile to sign up. I quickly jumped back into my car with no idea of where to go to get "hooked up." Forty-five minutes later, I find an open kinkos and hope in desperation that they have internet access. Yes! They do but it takes me another 15 minutes to figure out how to connect my laptop to the thing. I then proceed to freak out because the little machine next to my laptop eats my credit card. I put it in and it stays there! Luckily the kinkos guy explains that when I clock out, my credit card will come back out.

I hate how much I had to rely on technology today. Especially when everyone swam and bathed in the sunlight all afternoon while I drove around all of Palm Springs in a desperate attempt to find internet. Even better, my brother decided to try and fix the internet an hour after I got back and had it up and running 15 minutes later. I could kill him.

Technology Overload

Ok, for the past couple of weeks I have had to juggle three computer-intensive courses through Chapman University. I am on computer overload! In all honesty, I think that I would prefer to add an extra hour on to my classes rather than have an hour of online "chatting" required for each class. I am over having to navigate through a million (yes, for emphasis, a million) different conversations to see if anyone has replied to what I wrote, then figure out what it was that a wrote, then read what others have written. Do that for an hour, repeat, and then repeat again...each week. Many who know me understand that I am a verbal type of person. I miss the heat of an argument, the adrelaline rush as you patiently wait to verbally attack the opinions of another students, and the soothing ambiance of a classroom where everyone is on the same page and understands a new topic together.

Ok, this is not to downplay the essential quality technology can hold. But, if this is where classrooms are headed, watch out because us verbal-izers are not going to be happy!

Technology in the hands of doctors

As I mentioned in a earlier post, a close friend of mine has cancer. His weekly blogs usually talk about all the different medicines and doctor updates he receives. This one was a bit different. He wrote about how a book a nurse had given him that explains some general differences between western and eastern medicine. The book, and he, discusses how western medicine and the doctors involved often stress on the importance of the technological advances in machinery and medicine and therefore rely on these advancements for the improvements of their patients. The book also explains how eastern medicine stresses the importance of the healer and how patients need to look within themselves and not the technology around them to measure their health. While its important to check blood pressure, white blood cell counts, and temperature, it is more important to check the overall spirit of the patient.

He has taken this idea and now has really begun to implement it into his treatment. When doctors and nurses ask him how he is doing, he does not automatically look at the big machine monitor next to his bed. Instead, he ponders his recent meditation sessions and his overall health. It has proven to be a better indicator than what the box next to him says.

I have really begun thinking about this. Will probably need to think more about it.

I have no text messaging and life goes on...

A few days ago, in a mad rush to get to my car, I dropped my phone for the 278,395 time since I bought it more than 1 1/2 years ago. Thinking nothing of it, I grabbed it, brushed off some gravel and jumped into my car. A few minutes later, my phone begins to ring and I grab it to see who is calling me. To my sudden horror, my phone had decided to no longer allow me to see anything on my phone. No caller id, no phone book, no text messaging! Gone are the days of ignoring pesky callers. Gone are the days of having every possible friends' (and some not quite friends) phone numbers. Gone are the days of late night sexy text chat.

Suprisingly, I feel a bit liberated. I merely just don't answer my phone anymore. When I hear the ring that informs me I have a text message, I simply check off another person thinking that I am ignoring them. Really, the important friends have figured it out and know to leave me a message. The rest just think I am a jerk. After three weeks of this (yes, three weeks) I was finally able to convince Sprint to give me a new phone for free (gotta love the powerful methods of persuasion and sex appeal). The phone should be arriving sometime this coming week. If I have ignored you, I apologize.

Teaching Job

Alright, so I just got this gig teaching social studies to sixth and seventh grade students at a charter school in East L.A. Instead of lamenting on how limited my knowledge of ancient civilizations and world history is, I will instead talk about the cool phone and laptop I got with it. Apparently, part of the school's mission is to make teachers more accessible for students. So, I get to carry around a school cell phone with me and am required to be on call until 8:30 every night. The idea is that if students do not understand the homework or need a little ZPD guidance, I am just a phone call away. Great for the students, kind of sucks that I can NEVER not be a teacher. Oh, I also get a laptop with wireless internet and wireless printer settings so that when I need to print something it goes directly the big copy machine that is convienantly just two doors down. This whole uniform printing method is great for me because I am able to print much copies straight to a big ole laser printer and everything is done quite quickly. Kind of sucks though for the teachers a little farther away that can't just run out to grab some copies.