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May 31, 2006

My favorite tech-world to real-world analogy

Email is like a postcard - delivery isn't guaranteed and anyone can read it before it reaches the recipient without you or they knowing.

And an extension I thought of today talking to Ryan: It's also good for a quick note to say to someone "Wish you were here!" You don't have to have an epic story to send an email to say hello!

Posted by Janice Ryan at 8:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 24, 2006

Okay, it's finally safe to say it now!

I'VE GRADUATED!!!! YAY!!!!!!!

I've suspected for weeks now that this was the case, but I wasn't sure. Seeing the last grade in my transcript and a GPA that meets the minimum wasn't enough. Walking in the graduation ceremony wasn't enough.

But this is enough:

AT THE GRADUATE LEVEL IN ENGINEERING
* * * * * * * * * * ACADEMIC PROGRAM * * * * * * * * * * *

School: ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCE
Division: ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCE MASTERS
Degree Program: MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING
Major: TELECOMMUNICATIONS & NETWORKING ENGR

* * * * * * * * * * DEGREES AWARDED * * * * * * * * * * *

05-15-06 MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING

That's straight off the top of my unofficial transcript. Woo Hoo! It's official!

I think I can order my fancy diploma frame now.

Posted by Janice Ryan at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 16, 2006

I really hate AIM

Okay, so, having been a geek for a long while, I've had the same screenname on AIM since 1994. I've never changed it. Sometimes, people I knew in high school, when AOL was the place to be, will IM me out of the blue because they know my name. Occasionally, I get messages from the mother of my last high school boyfriend, whom I really liked - the mother, I mean. The boyfriend was okay too, I guess, but I digress. It tends to be the only way I communicate to some long-lost or faraway friends, so I keep using it.

I can deal with the IM viruses that send me the same message 8000 times, trying to get me to go to a website where I'll really like their profile. I've found a different client now that AOL's sucks. I turn off all the annoying sounds.

So what is it that drives me nuts? It's the schoo-aged kid named Wyatt who has given out my screenname to his friends. I understand why - they're a pain in the ass. They keep IMing me, despite my insistance that I'm not Wyatt. They ask my name - I give them the name of my high school calculus teacher, which I occasionally use to sign up for stuff where I don't want use my real name. They then tell me me "LOL Wyatt, cut it out." Eventually I warn them or block them and they go away for a while. But because names you have blocked show up when you edit your buddy list, I tend to delete them eventually, because I forget who they are or I just get tired of looking at them. They must have straightened it out with Wyatt by now, right?

Nope.

UPDATE: Diana's really mad at Wyatt, and another friend wrote to tell me that. I got this friend to give me Diana's phone number, but no area code...I'm trying to think of a way to get it out of them

MORE UPDATE: Diana has a profile on Xanga, which lists her location. I wonder how Diana's mom is feeling about her daughters computer use...maybe I'll call and find out...

HOPEFULLY THE LAST UPDATE: Another of Wyatt's friends IMed me and actually believed me. She said she'd tell people to stop or I'd call Diana's parents.

Posted by Janice Ryan at 7:13 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack