During the several months I’ve had my headphones, I’ve been careful with them as I never was before. Before I used to let my iPod dangle from the headphones wire to try and untwist the wire. Now I do it by hand, instead of letting the weight of the iPod slowly pull the wire of the headphones. I do this now because when the headphones die, only one side works and if I play around with where the wire meets the connector, it goes on and off on the broken side. I thought that it was because I was pulling and damaging it by pulling on it like that when untangling it. Today my headphones finally “died”, (I consider headphones dead when either one or both sides don’t work and/or diminished sound quality.) the left side of the headphones not working. Before I was using a iPod nano 3rd gen but have upgraded to an iPod Touch 3rd gen. I don’t know if that affected the results but only time will tell.

I bought the Sony brand MDR-E818 on 11/27/09. It definitely lasted longer than several of my previous (same type) headphones. I was hoping that it would hold up until the 6th month but alas it died on my way to class. (My major pet peeve is having technology/electronic issues.) Some of my headphones only lasted a few weeks while I think the longest was half a year, they were usually all the same brand and type. The good thing is that I already have a spare headphones bought in December of last year just in case my headphones broke during my trip in Hawaii during that month. I hope to replicate or increase the duration of how long my next pair of headphones last. I won’t make a new post about the results of the next headphones but will update this current post when the time comes.

This is my first blog written entirely on my iPod touch. There may be some errors due to this. Editing (such as adding pictures, videos, links) will be done later when I’m on my laptop.

This semester went by so quicky, that I can’t believe that it is the end of the fall 09 term. In terms of classes it was similar in workload and social quality as my first semester freshmen year. I did see some friends around but I would only see them ranging from every week to once a month.

The major diference that I could write about is the effects of the budget cuts on the college level. From the start it was a struggle to find classes I needed to take because of the lack of money to have professors teach, let alone just to be a full time student. My financial aid is dependent on me being a full time student, that’s at least 12 units or 4 to 5 classes. I was able to take 3 classes that are a part of the GE (General Education) requirement that all students need to take care of before focusing on their major. To get into the classes that I wasn’t in, I had to walk into those classes I wanted during the beginning of the semester. Every class I tried had other students trying to add as well, but the teacher was only accepting a few priority students (juniors and seniors, students whose major is related to the class). Many students could not get classes and ended up becoming part time students or not a student at all. There was a lot of stress involved especially if your financial aid depended on it. I had to take 2 other classes that I didn’t need that were just for keeping my FA valid. The stress of the economy weighed heavily on staff and students, many not getting classes they needed/wanted and the teachers having to take mandatory furlough days to ease some of the financial burden. Eventually all this frustration turned into action as many mini protests broke out across campuses in California, most here in the bay area. Some were a bit more noticible, such as the one in Berkeley where students took over a building to get the message out about being against the rising fees of ecollege education. A similar protest was held on SFSU campus a week before finals started. I was there to document this time in my generation’s history, taking as many pictures and video as my digital camera could hold. (Look up coolmikeol on youtube for sfsu budget cuts video) Even though these are hard times, it’s kind of amazing to relize that the present will become the history that will be looked into in the future.

The classes themselves were not that bad, though I had to take a couple that didn’t count for anything except for the units. Two of the classes, choir and Globalization, were very easy and light. For choir all I needed to do was show up every class for an A and one unit.
Globalization was an online class for two units, and it was for credit/no credit. To pass the class you had to get at least a 60% on all three quizes and participate in five forums of weekly question.

The other three classes, english 214, basic piano 120, and psychology 200, was the bulk of my workload. English had a bit reading and some papers but was a easier than my freshmen college English class. Piano class was something I really wanted to do, but I almost didn’t get into the class due to the lack of money for classes. I had to walk into the class and beg the teacher to get in. Fortunely she added me in and for that I was greatful. It’s was not all that easy, but I wanted to learn to
play. Through practice and determination I aced all the practical exams and did well in the book exams. I’m proud to know that if I’m passionate about something I can really accomplish what I want. General Psychology was my typical lecture class, but was the biggest class I took (in terms of the amount of people). There was strict rules againt cell phones and misuse of labtops because the professor said that if you’re here then you are here to learn. In the beginning of the semester there was so many extra people trying to add that
those rules went into effect to send a message to the students who were actually enrolled in he class. The message being like “If you are in the class then take the chance you have and do well in the class, because if you don’t then there are plenty of others than can take your place and take advantage of the oppertunity.” I did OK in the class but could of done way better.

Overall the semester was short, a bit easy and hard, light in workload and social life, and greatly affected by the budget cuts to the university. I hope that it gets easier for us students economically but that’s nearly impossible. We need a miracal in these times to make college education less stressful.

What I forgot to mention was the fact that my cousin started college this year so I would see her every so often. She stayed with relitives near by campus so that she didn’t have to pay for dorms.

Ever since my first Ipod (which was a second generation blue nano), I’ve always needed headphones to listen to the music on it (obviously). I would buy the cheap but good Sony brand MDR-E818 for about $10-$15 each pair.

My usual headphones

Unfortunately every one of the headphones I buy would break over time, usually within a few months. What would happen is that the sound from one of the sides of the headphone would be cut, as if someone cut the wire inside to that side. The affected area  of the wire was always at the part where the wire and the connector jack meet. I thought at first it was because they were cheap headphones, but the same thing happened to my $50 Skull Candy Headphones. With the failure rates and amount of time it takes to fail, I believe that some major factors play a role in when it breaks, such as the environment, treatment of the headphone, using high volume on the headphone, etc.

So what I’m going to do is this; buy another Sony headphone and be as careful with it as possible. What I usually do with headphones that I think is a factor to my headphone failing is pulling on the cord too much. Yeah I know that I’m stupid for doing that and that is obviously causing it to fail, but I usually try to think of it lasting a bit longer. The most recent pair of MDR-E818 headphones I got still works, but I did something to it as well… only a few days after buying it. I was talking with friends, with the headphone buds in my hands. I had the fuzzy things on it (I don’t know what they are called) and twisting them while on the headphone. As I was going to class, I put on the headphones and started some music on my Ipod and low and behold, the side that I was twisting the fuzzy thing on had bassless sound! I’m not really sure how me twisting that fuzzy thing affected the bass on my headphone, but by opening one of my previous headphones (which was the same kind), I could see a bit of how the headphones work. Inside the bud of the headphone, contains a magnet and a chamber of air that has a small plastic bag like chamber attached. I saw that the more the air chamber was inflated, the better the bass. The bud that had bassless sound had its air chamber decreased. That’s all I know about headphones and a bit of why they fail.

The next headphones I buy I will experiment with. I’ve already broken many headphones, most are the MDR-E818 model from Sony probably because of the way I’ve treated them. I will try to not pull them, subject them to extreme environmental conditions, use less volume, and use the case given to store them rather than just putting them in my pocket tangled up. Will update when I get my new headphones for this experiment.

UPDATE: Got the same headphones as the first picture shows on 11/27/09. Will blog about the results of this experiement in the future.

This post is orginally from my previous blogging site, xanga.com/coolmikeolgx, posted on Monday, 09 November 2009

If you have been following my blog and Facebook, you have seen that I post some pictures that I take where ever I go. I didn’t want to clog Facebook with my photos as I wanted more freedom with them. So I looked up one of the biggest photo sharing websites that was actually part of main websites I visit everyday, Flickr from Yahoo! I remember a couple of months ago I was thinking about using a photo sharing site, but stayed away because I remember visiting photobucket once and finding it was really slow. That gave me the impression that all photo sharing sites were like that, but I was wrong.

I have to admit, Flickr is a godsend for me and I wish I had found it earlier. I have been taking pictures almost everyday for a couple of years and I wanted a way to show them to the world, because to me, my pictures and my camera help others see my world and the beauty/uniqueness of it. I always imagine someone on the other side of the globe that happens to find my pictures and wonder about life here.

These are just a few of the many pictures I take. A lot of them is scenery, but I take pictures that are unique and some pictures I take are just of everyday life that others don’t see as worth taking a picture of.

This stop sign for example is a real photo I took. It is still as is. The location is mapped on my Flickr if you want to know where you can find this stop sign. This sign is suppose to be “Stop all-way” but the y has been replaced to make “Stop all-war”

The only downside to Flickr for me is the 100MB limit per month. Its inconvenient for me as I have plenty of pictures but has allowed me to search for only my best pictures from my archives due to the limit of space. Also the only reason I have currently 89% full for this month’s photo upload is because I was looking at photos from two years back and uploading them. That means that I’m trying to look for all of my best photos over a two year period. Once I have all my past photos on, I shouldn’t have much of a problem with space.

I know I tend to take more pictures than I need, and I usually have pictures of the same thing because I’m looking for no blurriness and the right timing when it comes to pressing the shutter button, but I believe that the moment I capture, and all the emotion and sensation and feeling I feel when taking that photo, will be with me for as long as the picture exists.

So what about you? Are you a non-stop picture taker like me? Or do you cherish the moment and keep a picture in your memories?

This post is originally from my previous site, xanga.com/coolmikeolgx, created Thursday, 29 October 2009

I just found out today from dannychoo.com about the new upcoming DS LL from Nintendo. It seems kind of soon for it to come out right after the DSi came out.

It has a larger screen about one inch bigger and so far that’s the only improvement I know of so far from the DSi. It comes out in Japan on 11/21/09 and in North America in 2010. I already own a DS Lite so I have no need for a DS with camera, wii like settings, and apps. Here is what I said on Dannychoo.com about this:

“Wow. This is why I wait for time to do its work. I am planning to buy an Ipod Touch in the near and distant future but they keep on having better products come out every several months. (I was expecting a camera with the new Ipod Touch Gen but none…yet) I have a DS Lite and I’m not buying another newer one, because I have one already and I know there will always be something better in the future so I’m trying to do the best with the stuff I have already. Just imagine what new technologies we will have in 2010; it seems like forever in tech time but in reality, it won’t be long until we get there.”

A Laptop and a Iphone, just two of the many gateways to the information of the world.

What I said above I believe is true, about how time seems to go so fast. Here is an example, about 30 years ago, technology wasn’t as advanced as it was today (obviously). The internet hasn’t had its boom yet, so information and communication at the speed of light wasn’t readily set yet. Any major changes that happened at the time had its effect over time. Now when any thing happens in the world, it is immediately known around the world and actions are taken in the blink of an eye. Think of it like this; If you are in the 1980′s and go away from civilization for about a couple of years, you may not miss much, besides your family. In this day and age, being away for a month can have the same effect as being away from everything for a year’s worth in the 80′s. This may not be accurate but a rough idea of how technology speeds up out lives, and how being away from it can make us lose a connection with the world. Before Iphones, modern laptops, etc., we were all independent of the world and the events that occur on the other side of the planet. We didn’t think much of people that were too far to see or write to, as unlike now where we can text and twitter our current status for all to see.

That’s all I have to say for now. You should know what I’m talking about if you are reading this. 

This post was orginally from my previous blogging site, xanga.com/coolmikeolgx, posted on Wednesday, 28 October 2009

On Sunday the 25th at the Serramonte Spirit Halloween Store

 

Came with my mom and siblings for costumes and found it completely messed up from the time I came here a month ago. Costumes and props were littered all around the floor, opened packaging of costumes, and busloads of people were present.

I would also post a picture of the store a month ago but don’t have my HDD with me currently. So are you going to dress up for Haloween? For trick or treating or for a party? I have a costume in mind but I’m using whatever I have at home. You will see my costume by Halloween time.

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