Dyslexic Lisp (say it 5 times fast)

"It is, in fact, nothing short a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom"

Albert Einstein

This article gives a fantastic explanation of my experience with education. Remember when I mentioned, "I'm almost incapable of simply memorizing a thing. I made a terrible student in America's school system"? This article sheds some light that.

Now, I don't have kids, and I hardly noticed the injustice of my own education as a child. It wasn't until college that I realized how futile my efforts in conventional learning were. 

Make me take a test- see how little I know about a topic. Make me write a paper- see how much I know about the very same topic. 

I couldn't can't just simply memorize a thing, I have to digest and relate the information. I have to take information, turn it up-side-down, in-side-out, compare it to everything else I've ever known, unfold it, refold it, play with it,  spin it around, talk about it, examine the ripples the piece of information creates, wring it out, shake it out, taste it, smell it, and if it interests me- hang it up to dry.

Thankfully, I learned this about myself in college and was able to talk most of my professors into letting me write papers for extra credit. And, it did me well.  3.75 ain't too shabby for working full-time through full-time school?

My co-worker has 3 sons. Each if which has been labeled (by the American school system) as having a "learning disability". They are each "severely dyslexic" dyslexic, like lisp, is a mean word. She has done an unbelievable job at getting her boys the help they need in school and at encouraging each of them. Above their dinner table, they have a huge framed poster of, none other than, Albert Einstein with his quote:

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend it's whole life believing it is stupid." 

I feel sorry for kids- standardized testing, one dimensional teaching, the stunting of curiosity and the innate ability to make sense of things. It's no wonder children grow up to be so dependent on thoughtless approaches to life- ehem-Apple. jokes. 

Bobbing For Apples

Phone contracts suck. After 7 years of being with Alltel, they get bought out by Verizon. In the 7 years that Alltel provided my service, I never didn't have service. I could have gone spelunking and still had service (that might be a hyperbole, but you get the point). You'd think our service would get even better, merging all those towers. But, it wasn't until early this summer, when the conversion took place, that we started having shoddy service. This was very disappointing. We figured, our contract is up at the end of June, so would wait until then to do anything about it. Well, it's the end of June... and we don't know what to do!

My cute-little-green-phone died on me mid-may. My kind husband digressed to an old brick so I could have his phone... Now his brick is showing the same signs of near death that my cute-little-green-phone was showing... we have to do something quick! In a world without home-phones, as much as I beg, my husband insists that we cannot go without cell phones.

So, for what we are paying now, we can switch to AT&T and get the same family plan+unlimited data. Unlimited data!? Do you know what this means?! This means more blogging and gmail!!! This means never forgetting what I was going to google when I got home! This means expanding my vocabulary with thesaurus.com! This means never getting lost again! ... SO. MANY. GOOD. THINGS. ... Why couldn't I sign the contract with AT&T last night?!

Image via CrunchBase

I have a ridiculous aversion towards trends! And the cheapest phone ($99) that makes all of these things practical is the iPhone! And I'm being a punk about getting one. My husband would prefer a Blackberry. But we'd be paying almost twice as much for it. So, he feels like his hands are tied. I wish I liked the way the Blackberry worked, so I could try to cost-justify... but I don't. I know that the most practical use of our money in this situation is the iPhone. Especially because we don't have a dependable computer... and we'd be getting way more bang for the same buck we've been spending on our phones... and we'd save 5 bucks a month on our wireless Internet at home (because it is also AT&T)... I just don't like the announcement that is made when someone pulls out an iPhone. The iPhone is so ostentatious. It screams, "Apple makes me complete". I'm just being transparent- I hate trends... and I know I need to get over it. But these are just the thoughts that flood my head when I see things like apple stickers... and BMWs...or crocks...haha. No really. It's just weird for my logic to tell me that this is the best deal... and that it is trendy... that's usually not the case. Just think about how damn expensive Uggs are... aaaaggggggghhhhhhhh.

We don't know what to do...

Retort

I had a friend retort me. Thought I'd share.

P.S. This is the friend who gave me the itouch.

However...

In discovering how to use "i"tunes for my "i"pod, "i" had two revelations...

One- I finally figured out why all of my IT colleagues had the mantra, "Macs were created for dumb people". No, I'm not kidding, this was a common phrase tossed carelessly about our offices. Granted, this made me feel even dumber, because every time I hopped on a Mac it was as though I had never touched anything electronic in my life. I just could not figure them out.

Enter "i"tunes. I finally download it, set up my "i"pod, and attempt to upload some music. This is where my first revelation happened. In all my searching through the menu items and right clicking, I could not tell this program what to do?! There was no process to be found?! Naturally, I Google what to do. What do I find? I just drag stuff everywhere?! What?! That's it?! I just point as if I'm Elizabeth Montgomery wiggling my nose?!

This program robbed me of my ability to think!! I resent that!

Light bulbs went off all over my brain as I related the program to the entirety of OS X. Macs were not just created to alleviate the pressure of thinking on the human race; Macs are now subsequently creating a crippled race of impatient people who can't think and have no regard for reason! Which lead my little mind right down the road to my second revelation.

Two- "i"tunes? "i"pod? "i"mac? "i"phone? It's no wonder we are such egocentric creatures! "i" "i" "i" "i" "i" "i" "i"! How about an "i"brain people?! Sheesh. It all makes sense to me now...

Trivial Pursuit

Returning from vacation is hard enough as it is. Returning three hours later than your initial E.T.A. to find that your luggage didn't even make it on the plane is even harder. But having a new toy waiting for you at home makes the blow so much softer.

For those of you who know me well, you know that I'm not a spender and stay away from things I deem frivolous. A month or two ago, when a friend told me he wanted to give me an ipod because I didn't have one not too much excitement was sparked. I'd never had an ipod before. I slowly learned of the little conveniences it could add to my life and came to anticipate tax-free weekend (the ipod touch was coming free with his computer). It wasn't until vacation that the opportunities this ipod had to offer me seduced me even more. My friend, Chris, had his ipod chock-full of podcasts, commentaries, lectures- all sorts of things that could keep my mind from rotting away! I have never looked more forward to figuring out a Mac product!

another quickie

I am officially learning to use a Mac... I am not enjoying it one bit. In all my IT years all I've ever done on a Mac is show people how to connect to a network, how to print, and restart them. I am so confused. This must be how "old" people feel when they put down the pen to type their first email. Sigh. My empathy grows. Any Mac advise?

This post is short because I am working. I love working here.

PS- My love for Google gets bigger every day. Gmail, Picasa, Google Reader, Blogger, Google Calendar... where would I be without?