Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine

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Anyone else watch jeopardy for the last three days? What did you guys think of it?

I've been regularly watching both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune ever since we moved to Canada way back in 1995 with my parents (and my maternal grandfather when he is here)... and it's never been this interesting and intriguing to watch. I can't believe how long I've been anticipating to watch these three days worth of Jeopardy (especially because if you know me, I don't watch much TV).

Sure, watching through Ken Jennings' winning streak and seeing how long it would continue for was something and watching the teen competitions is always fun and uplifting because it highlights their intelligence (it's nice to know not all American kids are clueless about the world)... but this was something different.

Past Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter played two Jeopardy games across the span of three days against Watson, a computer created by IBM. Jennings holds the show's record for winning the most consecutive games (74) and Rutter is known for earning the most money in the history of Jeopardy.

In the first game, *SPOILER ALERT*, Watson dominated and beat the other two by a large difference. I believe in the second day of the first game Jennings and Rutter combined only answered five answers!

Watson wasn't without fault though. Because Watson could neither hear or see he repeated a wrong answer that Jennings had just given. Watson is fed the answer in text form at the same time the information is made available to Jennings and Rutter. Watson then goes through its database for an answer that it finds to be appropriate... and it cannot use the internet. It would only buzz in to respond if his surety met a certain threshold.

Technology continually advances in front of us and it's amazing to see what will come next. Kind of crazy/scary how much of human actions are or can be replaced by a computer isn't it? It's nice in the sense that we can learn so much more much faster -- like medical advances or accessing information through the internet (I can't even remember the last time I went to the library). But take that same thing, and can you imagine how many librarians amongst other professionals lost their jobs because of such advances? Think about self check out lanes in your grocery store (compared to those who had jobs as cashiers before). That's just one example out of oh so many!

What's your take on this? The Jeopardy segment and/or the larger scenario.


P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

You're Obsessed with Facebook. Here's Proof

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I saw this here earlier today.

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Rutgers vs. Syracuse Football Game

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This past Saturday, I attended the Rutgers vs. Syracuse football game, courtesy of winning two tickets through NJ.com's (online version of a local newspaper) twitter account.

I graduated from Rutgers last May, and had not gone to any of the games so far in the season, so this game was also my first game as a Rutgers Alumni.

The first half of the game was quite mundane, but it quickly picked up in the latter half. Unfortunately, we lost.

It was, also, the first home game Rutgers was playing following the game against Army, where Eric LeGrand was paralyzed from neck below.

Here are a few pictures we took at the game:

Sea of Red:

The student section formed the number "52" in honor of LeGrand: 

During their half-time show, the Rutgers Marching Band formed a "52" in honor of LeGrand:

The Fall 2010 semester at Rutgers so far has been plagued with unfortunate events. Read my post about what happened in September by clicking here and October by clicking here. As for November -- right before half time, one of the people attending the game fell at the game and is hospitalized in critical condition with injuries to his head. You can read more about that here. Some commenters on the news article seem to suggest that Rutgers is playing down the story, and all I can is this -- I was just a few feet away at halftime in a crowd of people at the concession stands, and I didn't find out until I was back in my seat later on via twitter.

Hopefully next semester will be a lot smoother.

I meant to write about the game that night, but when I got home my laptop suddenly would not turn on! It was running absolutely fine until before I left for the game, so I am not sure what happened. I ended up getting a new laptop Sunday, but I AGAIN lost everything from my old laptop which is quite annoying.


P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Empire Today, Follow Up

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As a quick follow up to my blog post last night about our horrible experience with Empire Today, I wanted to post real quick that I just received a call from Empire Today. The woman, Rebecca, said she had read my blog post from last night and was calling to apologize.

I think it's great that Empire Today is using the growing technology for their benefit in terms of connecting with their customers.

While it does not make up for the rude woman we had to deal with twice from their company (last week and the week before), I do appreciate a company owning up to what happened, taking responsibility, apologizing and promising to take an internal look into what happened. How refreshing!

As I mentioned last night, we got our carpet installed through Empire Today earlier and we had absolutely no problems. The guy was informative and friendly and everything happened pretty smoothly.

I've always thought that if  you aren't a people's person and friendly, you are in the wrong business if you are in retail/sales (or anything similar). I've worked in retail in the past alongside school, so I've seen both sides of it -- and I can't say it enough -- the way you interact with your customers makes a HUGE difference.

I'm never this quick to blog anymore, but I didn't want to leave it hanging - because I do appreciate Rebecca calling to apologize. Companies lately seem to forget that without their customers, they are nothing.

 P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

My Thoughts on the Rutgers Tragedy

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As a society, when are we going to say ENOUGH is ENOUGH against bullying?

I would hope that if Rutgers ever received so much attention, it would be for a positive thing. As a very recent alumni of Rutgers it was quite dissappointing that they, instead, made headlines locally and nationally because one of the freshmen committed suicide as a direct result of cyber bullying.

Our generation, growing up, has seen so many technological advances - and like with most things - each comes with its positives negatives. At eighteen years of age and as a college freshmen, however, you are no longer children and are deemed responsible for your actions - and those responsible MUST be held responsible for their actions. I've read so many comments on articles in this case that defend those responsible and say 'it was just a joke'. How can bullying ever be just a joke? The simple answer is, it can't!

When are we as a society going to start accepting each person for who they are and leave gender, orientation, ethnicities, race, and disabilities amongst other things as barriers behind? It seems every time we take one step forward as a nation, we also take two steps right back - leading us further behind from where we even started.

I'm not naive - I don't think it's know it's not going to happen over night, but it's something we need to work on individually to bring that change on a collective level.

My condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased. Such a young life, with a promising future, cut so short.

 P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Gotta Love AT&T... NOT! (Part 2)

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Would you believe that 26 days after I wrote about my horrible experience with AT&T last month, I was still having issues with my phone this morning?

I did get the battery the next day, but as it turned out - my phone was also a part of the problem because it continued to get stuck randomly (and especially when I went to charge my phone), and shut off on its own.

So I was sent a replacement phone (the same phone I already had EVEN THOUGH I was told before that I would receive a different phone with the same features because they no longer manufacture this phone anymore).

I was thinking everything was resolved when I received my replacement phone a few days ago, but would you believe they sent me a defective phone??

Like seriously, are they trying to be annoying and going out of their way to create a hassle for their consumers? Do they not have somebody checking to see if their phones actually work?

If their brand new phones are already defective, can you imagine why the few people that I know that have this phone as well have all had problems with their phones too?

So back to the warranty/device support center I went. The woman looked at the phone, apologized, and confirmed that it was  indeed a defective phone. Fortunately, they had the phone in stock this time and she just replaced it for me there.

I am hoping my old phone was the issue, and its not just something that all LG Vu's do (considering its history), because the last thing I want to deal with is another member of the AT&T team.



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Gotta Love AT&T... NOT!

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For a few months now, my phone (LG Vu) has been giving me a hard time. It would just shut off on it's own randomly, sometimes restarting on its own - other times, not. Another problem was that at times when I went to charge my phone, as soon as I plugged the wire into my phone - it would freeze and shut off.

This has been happening since November and I got the phone only a few months prior in May!

Both of these aforementioned problems, though, I put up with. I put up with them because a) it wasn't happening all the time and b) it wasn't really effecting me using the phone too much.

Then, near the end of last week I started noticing that my fully charged phone would go to extremely low battery as soon as I made a call or accessed the internet (or after a few text messages).

Because I only had one class today morning, I finally got around to contacting AT&T. The lady I talked to online first through the Technical Support department told me to go to a specific AT&T store and they would test the battery to see if the problem was the battery or my phone itself. She also noted that she was leaving a note on my account on the problems I am having with my phone and that "the agent at the store will have access to the notes and assist you from here". I kindly thanked her for her help and went to the store she specified right then because I would need a working phone before I left town on Monday.

I get to the store, and I explain the problems I am having with my phone to the guy helping me and what the lady from the technical support department had said earlier. Apparently, there was no such note left for them to access (just my luck!) and so I again explained everything. He did a few things to the phone, asked me a few questions (like when I got the phone) and then finally told me that I would have to go the Device Support Center.

But the lady from the technical support department from customer service JUST told me specifically to come here!!!!

To which he replies, I know - but they do this all the time... they always refer the customers to us instead of the Device Support Center. Another worker chipped in to agree and also said they are just a sales store.

I don't know if they were all just shifting the blame to one another, but well, if that really is the case then it is a lapse in their system and something needs to be done about it. How can the customer service department not know where what happens when this is what they do day in and day out!!!

I asked the guy if this place would have the replacement for me, to which he said they definitely would because this is the stuff they deal with it.

Annoyed, I next went to that Device Support Center. I once again explained the problems I was having with my phone and she takes my phone to the back for less than a minute and comes back and says the problem is that my phone is overcharged. I usually never charge my phone until it needs to be, so I don't know how much of that I believe(d). 


I guess the lady saw that I wasn't buying it because then she takes my battery and spins it and takes another battery and spins it with a less spin like I was stupid or something... and goes see, yours spins more - that means it is over-charged.   


Whatever... as long as I'm getting the replacement battery.

She goes on to say that she can order a replacement battery for me because they didn't have any in stock and the earliest I would get it is on next Tuesday. I ask her if there is a way it can be priority-shipped or something because I am leaving Monday and I need it before then not to mention the fact that I was just assured this location would have the damn battery!

No. The earliest you can get it is on Tuesday.

My brother asks if any other locations would have it and she said maybe in stores in Union and Paramus (along with a few other places that were too far). We have them check and of course they don't have it either!

I go ahead and place the order anyways because I really had no other choice.

Back in the car, I call customer service to see what they can do. I AGAIN explain everything and also ask if they can priority ship it. This lady says no (surprised?) and that the device support centers handle that and that if I want, I can go to one of their stores (like the store in the mall I went to first) and buy it myself but the warranty wouldn't cover it. That the warranty only works through the Device Support Centers - and I angrily not very kindly reminded her that the Device Support Center (this location AND the other one) did not have them!!

Well than what's the point of having these Device Support Centers if they aren't going to carry the replacements?? To which she sheepishly responds: To provide replacements under the warranty... for free.

Yeah, well... it kind of helps if they actually have the battery!!! Just saying.

I go back to the store I originally went to earlier and talk to someone different than I had from when I was there previously and I tell him that the location they sent me to ordered it for me but I wouldn't get it until next Tuesday and to see why they couldn't just replace the phone if they don't have the batteries in stock, and of course the phone is no longer sold. Which I'm not surprised at all about because EVERYONE that I know that has this phone has some kind of problem with it. He checks for the phone and the battery in another location and they too don't have either (surprise surprise).

I ask him about the battery and emphasize that I need it before Monday and he says he can place an order online and that I would get it Friday (tomorrow!!). I thank the man (and I felt kinda bad because he took all my anger that was building up from the first four people I talked to yet he was the most helpful of the five by far) and leave (slightly) less annoyed.

Sheesh. Was that SO hard??!!


As I was walking out the store, I compared the two confirmation sheets from the Device Support Center and this sales store and both have the same links, the same area from the website where they ordered it from so:

• I don't know why this store sent me to the Device Support Center when they could have just done it.
• I don't know why the Device Support Center said that Tuesday would be the earliest I would be able to get it when the sales store was able to choose the following day.

But at least, after talking to FIVE different people... I got somewhere with AT&T.

All I am saying is, I BETTER GET THE BATTERY FOR MY PHONE TOMORROW!


Just watch - the problem will turn out to be my phone and not the battery.


P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Why I Like Twitter

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When I originally joined twitter, I played around with it for a few hours and then gave up because quite simply - it looked too complicated and I didn't get it.


Months later, I was convinced to give it a second try. And I'm glad I was intrigued to do so because now is it probably one of my primary sources to get the news (I talked about this here). This was just around the time when it seemed as if all the journalist and broadcast news organizations were creating twitter accounts as another way to stream the news. At this point, it's been about a year since twitter became really popular amongst journalists and news reporters and other public figures.


What I love about twitter is that I can follow whatever I am interested about from my laptop or my phone ... or anywhere else where I'll have access to twitter. Say I'm sitting in class or in the student center in between classes and can't watch the news coverage of something I really want to be watching. Chances are someone many people are tweeting quotes or paraphrasing the content of whatever is currently happening that I am missing.


For example when the whole 'balloon-boy' fiasco was happening, I was sitting in a class done the assignment I was supposed to be doing and suddenly I started getting tweets about the whole mess from the start and through all of its twists and turns.


Twitter has not only been great for news - sensational, real or otherwise, but it's great for having interactive discussion with others who care about what you care about. If you agree, great... if you don't - I think it's even better.


As I was watching Obama's SOTU address, I was following the trending topic and getting to read other people's thoughts live and have a conversation about something I care about with other people who care about the same thing. I don't know about you, but I feel like in my social group, very few people care about the same things as I do. It puts new media to a whole new level.


Not only that, nowadays, I probably access most of the articles I ready daily off of twitter from what others share in their tweets or what organizations like magazines tweet. Instead of going to different websites to find articles that are of interest to me or anything like that, they are all brought to me in one central location.   


As 2009 drew to an end, it was even cool to look through "Top Twitter Trends of 2009" which summarized what we as a collective groups of people from across the world found most important and worthy of attention across a variety of categories. 


It always amazes me when people compare twitter to facebook because they two could not be any more different and have two completely different purposes.


Do you use twitter? What do you like most about it? Or what do you use it most for? If you don't use it - is there any particular reason or you just don't see a need for it?



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

The News: Old School vs. New School

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I'm a news junkie.

Everyone (and anyone) who knows me, knows that. I have 'breaking news' alerts from many different sources delivered to my phone, a few major websites are bookmarked, I have many RSS feeds coming into my Google Reader, I read the news online daily from various sources, I 'follow' newspapers, news broadcasting organizations and reporters themselves on Twitter... just to name a few (I used to even have news headlines and whatnot emailed to me but it became a bit much). I like to know what's going on not only around me, but nationally and worldwide as well.

I credit that to my dad - for as long as I can remember, he has ALWAYS read the newspaper and watched the local news, the national news, and various channels that cover international news. For as long as I can remember we would, as a family sit in the evenings (usually at dinner) and, talk about what happened that day. Even nowadays when our schedules conflict, when we are all finally home at night, we still do it.

Anyhow, back to the point. If you didn't notice, I'll point it out: most of my sources for the news are online. I do still watch the news on the TV sometimes (a lot more during election cycles). Technology has, without a doubt, come far. I can't even remember the last time I physically picked up a paper to read - even though we get them delivered to our home everyday because my dad still reads them.

I can remember when we had to wait until the next day to read in the newspaper about something, whereas nowadays - it's readily available to us with a few simple clicks. Sometimes (a lot of times) we know something is going to happen before it happens (especially in politics)!

A few weeks ago, I remember as I was reading an article on a local fire on the website of my local newspaper and I couldn't believe that the newspaper had gotten the article from the Associated Press! Why a local newspaper had to use an article from the AP to cover a local fire had me annoyed and amused at the same time (more annoyed at the time). Anyhow, I noticed it again a week or so ago and that time another thought came to my mind. As sad as it is that a local newspaper is looking for outside sources to write and publish articles for local situations, the unfortunate reality is perhaps that the local newspapers don't have the resources to cover such issues!

Sure the internet has created great conveniences for us all, but there has been setbacks and consequences as well. Can you imagine how many people have lost their jobs in the newspaper industry because they were no longer needed?

It got me thinking about it on a larger scale. Are people in the news industry losing their jobs because of the internet? Or are more and more people turning to the internet for their news because a newspaper simply is not enough.

At first, I thought that the answer was simple - people in the news industry are obviously losing their jobs because more and more people are choosing to get their news elsewhere (mainly the internet). Don't you think, however, that it is also equally plausible that more and more people are going to the internet because they have a variety of options and can hear from 'different voices' on a particular issue? We don't subscribe to many newspapers, but can very easily subscribe, or at least view, to many different sources online. Let's face it - a single newspaper can't objectively provide everything the internet resources can. And I don't know about you, but I want to know a few different sides of a story.

So now I'm curious. Do you guys read the news? If so, do you do it the old fashioned way (a physical paper) or go the internet for it all? Is one better than the other in your opinion?



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Thoughts on Earthquake in Haiti

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I'm sure, by now, everyone has heard of the devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti earlier this week on Tuesday that has caused so much destruction, left so many people homeless and without food, injured countless people, and killed over 45 thousand people (and counting; the number is expected to sky rocket tremendously). Not to mention the amount of 'missing' people that are still unaccounted for.

I keep reading in the news and through twitter that government officials in Haiti are pleading for basic essentials like water and food, and aid to treat the injured. That they don't have the capacity to treat the injured. That they lack the technology in so many aspects, such as being able to locate people and notify their families elsewhere that they have been accounted for in one sense or another.

At the same time, technology has gone so far in our part of the world through the White House blog people learned that they can donate ten dollars at a time by simply texting 'HAITI' to '90999' and confirming their donations when prompted. The ten dollar donation will appear on your next cell phone bill and a 100% of it will go to Red Cross to help those effected by this earthquake.

It gets you thinking about how much you take for granted on a daily basis and how much we have to be thankful for. It also got me thinking about the fact that it takes a catastrophe like an earthquake for people to really count their blessings.

But you know what - I also thought about the fact that it was once again proved that when we really need to... we can rally together as one collective group of people for a worthy cause. A couple of hours ago I was reading on twitter that through cell phone donations alone the Red Cross and Yele organizations have received donations of over six million dollars combined! Pretty amazing, don't you think?



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Same Blog; New Domain!

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I bought my own domain name yesterday and was finally able to start using it tonight.

The old summaiyahhyder.blogspot.com is now summaiyahhyder.com (the old one should redirect you automatically).

I've been wanting to get it for the longest time (well over a year), and i finally got it. I'm actually glad I waited to make sure I was going to continue to blog for the long run before I made the investment.

The process turned out be quite long and in many different steps to do the conversion (and took over a day to complete) - thankfully my brother Faraz did it for me, because I'm not sure I would even know how to do it.

When I have some free time (which means after graduation), I want to turn it into more than just my blog - but a website. We'll see how that goes.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

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Happy New Years!

Anyone else think 2009 just flew by? It seems like every year goes by faster and faster than the year before.

There are so many things i'm looking forward to this year - graduating from rutgers in may being one of them - and i'm quite excited to see what this new year brings.

I was just telling my parents and my aunt and uncle about a week or so ago how crazy it is that it was TEN years ago when there was so much pandemonium about the new millennium and the Y2K bug. I've been thinking all week about Y2K (and all the havoc it caused). It seems like it was so long ago, yet at the same time - it feels like it was just yesterday.

I was reading some of the 'tweets' on twitter with the hashtag '#10yearsago' earlier, and it was so interesting to read some of the responses. My personal response: i was 11, in the 6th grade, living in Canada (but moved later that year to New Jersey).

It's crazy how much times have changed. For instance, texting didn't exist ten years ago - and i can't even imagine not being able to text or accessing the internet all the time.

I can remember when we were younger and the internet was new (and was connected to our phone lines), our parents would only let each of us go online for half an hour each day (unless we had homework or something, of course). Nowadays, I am always connected to the internet on my laptop and can access it no matter where I am through my phone.

I wonder what was 'big' that year? Except all the hype and the drama the Y2K craze caused, of course.

Anyhow, Happy New Year! I hope it's full of wonderful things for everyone and brings great things your way.

Do you have any resolutions for this year?

UPDATE: I gotta add this. My brother wrote this on facebook, and i thought it was nicely written:

'What a strange decade. We went from the panic of Y2K to a digital decade. In 2000 text messaging didn't even exist. Facebook/Twitter/Youtube and the likes weren't even dreamed of yet by their founders. Most people didn't own a cellphone. High speed internet in most homes was still years away.'

Isn't it crazy to think what will happen in the next ten years?

Games - the Old Fashioned Way

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I don't know about you, but i LOVE playing old board games with family and friends. Tonight, my little cousin Imran stayed over after a really long time and we (my brothers, Imran, and I) played a game of monopoly (that took over four hours!) the old fashioned way (after a few years) - and it got me thinking.

We used to play so many board games (like chess, checkers, chinese checkers, mastermind just to name a few) when we were little... and it reminded me of that time today. I wish we still played as much as we used to, but honestly no one does anymore. Like i was telling some of my family members some time ago, no one takes the time to play board games or actively play games outside and things like that anymore. Now, 'playing' a game means playing something on the computer or a gaming system like the Wii or X-box. By the way, i can pretty much guarantee my brothers will argue me on this.

Even the newest edition of monopoly now is computerized with a 'credit card' like system to take away the mathematical portion of the game. Don't get me wrong - it's a neat aspect, but part of the fun of the game was the old fashioned way to play it. Sure, the game runs much faster now... but that was half the fun.

I am still relatively young, but i can remember clearly that we used to go outside and play regularly after school and whatnot when we were younger. Nowadays, you don't see that too much. Of course there are changes with each generation, but don't you think some things should always remain the same?

Not only is playing actively outside or a board game with others healthy, but it is great for your social skills. People nowadays, especially little kids, lack basic social skills that are necessary to be able to communicate with others. I can't count the number of times I've noticed people (of all ages) not being to communicate with other people face to face.

Technology is great, by all means - I'm not arguing that. But sometimes, it inhibits people. Nowadays, people 'communicate' primarily though email, texting, or instant messaging (or just Facebook). While all of these have made communicating with people much easier, it should not mean that you are no longer able to talk to people face to face at all.

The next few times you are talking to people from various age groups, take note of it - you'll be surprised at how many people can't even make eye contact when they are speaking to people!

Trending Tweets in Review: 2009

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As the year 2009 quickly comes to an end, in ten short days, there have been articles everywhere online about "2009 in review" - just like there are every year. This year, however, i came across a new list - one that hasn't been so widely available in the past, and which i found quite interesting. I feel like it captures all the other sources and information all into one.

It's called "Top Twitter Trends of 2009".

In essence it's everything everyone was talking about and discussing throughout the year. It's what we, as a collective groups of people from across the world, found most important and worthy of attention.

Do you agree with this assessment? What would you rate to be the the 'top three' in each category? The ones you found most important. Did any one of the aforementioned surprise you? Or, are there any other you would have included?

Tiger Woods' Fifteen Minutes of Negative Fame

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Normally, I do not take the time to write about an athlete and his (wrong)doings... but for a week now, all i keep hearing about are the million variations in the story and it's driving me crazy.

1. first i hear that Tiger Woods has been involved in a "serious" car accident (near/outside his home).
2. then i hear that Tiger Woods' wife used golf clubs to break the rear windows of Tiger's car to get him out of the car after the car accident.
3. then i hear that Elin (Tiger Wood's wife) was actually hitting Tiger's car (aiming for Tiger) with the golf clubs after the two had been fighting about Tiger's possible infidelity- and was not trying to get Tiger our of the car after his accident as earlier reported. news surface of Tiger's affairs with two other females.
4. at this point, Tiger has refused to speak to the police i think like three times. Suspicious? sure.
5. more rumors continue to spread.
6. then, five days later, today - Tiger Woods issues another statement saying he has let his family down, and regrets the "transgressions" among other things, but does not admit to an affair or offer any other information. 

Let me get this out - i do not think athletes/celebrities/politics, etc. owe us (the public) anything about their private lives. If Tiger Woods had done something in his athletic field or something that would directly effect athletics (like steroids), by all i means i would be pressing for more information or an explanation. However, it is not.

Famous or not, your actions have consequences for not only you, but for your family members too unfortunately. While it saddens me that yet another person has not only let their own family down but embarrassed them publicly, i still do not think it is the right of the media nor anyone else to press on this matter for the sake of his family.

If Tiger Woods is indeed guilty of what is claimed, you can not honestly tell me that Tiger did not know he would be caught. Politicians, athletes, celebrities are hounded every minute and every thing they do is released to the public (from what they are wearing and eating to anything extraordinary), so it was only a matter of time before such news would come out. nonetheless, it is hard to fathom why people do the things they do. I'm sure this is what Woods will be remembered for (unless he does something worse in the future), so i don't understand why he would risk all of his success.

And another point, I don't know why he denied the claim/lied (only to later confirm it). Like we weren't going to find out ? Come on people, in this day and age of technology, we find out things the instant it happens in so many cases.... so lying is only making it that much worse. Like i said, they owe us nothing... and they don't have to say anything or release statements to the public, but lying to the public on their free will... is ridiculous.

The bottom line is - What politicians, athletes, celebrities, etc. do in their private sphere should be their own business. Until it effects or comes into their public sphere, it should be left alone. And no, i am not naive - i don't think this will ever happen... but it is wishful thinking.

I do not know the complete truth of what Tiger did or did not do, but i'm sure i'll find out soon - simply by opening a newspaper or reading the news online. Why such things are "breaking news", i will never understand.

Oh well, happy Wednesday everybody! Until another (and more intriguing) story breaks...

Technology

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Gotta love technology... (sometimes).

So as i am currently sitting here deciding whether to start working on one of my papers, my lab report, or my presentation first... i figured i would rant a bit to release some of my frustration.

So throughout my whole college career, i have always typed all my notes in all my classes (it's more efficient, organized, and legible)... and never have i had a problem... until today. As always, i was sitting in my class typing my notes away... and then attaching/emailing it to myself. But for some reason it didn't attach in the email, the file became corrupt, and the backup was deleted... so i'm completely out of luck... and of course, it has a lot of stuff i needed for my final for that class.

The thing is that in this class (cognition lab) we are all sitting at our own computers, so i don't use my own laptop in this class only... so i couldn't even do a system restore to try and attempt to get back the file! how frustrating!!!

But then again, i don't know what i would have done with my laptop as i typed up FORTY-TWO typed pages of outlined notes for one of my classes in the span of two days this past weekend. My hands were killing me typing that much, so if i had to resort to writing it all out... i probably would have never even done it.

Or for the millions of other papers i've written. Or without my cell phone (for texting, especially). Or without wireless internet (or internet just in general).