Christine DeRienzo

CECS 5300
Week 14/15 Activity
 

Thirty Minutes for Me

            I rarely get time to do anything just for me.  Between work, family, and school there is very little “me” time.  So when I had the chance to take a thirty minute break, I took advantage of it.  I had no choice, it was my assignment.

            I decided to spend this thirty minutes doing something I really enjoy and that was sitting on the back porch reading a book.  Not a book on a Kindle or I-Pad, but a good old fashioned paperback.  I chose to sit out in early evening, late enough that it wasn’t so hot, but early enough that the mosquitos hadn’t come out yet.  I took my dog out with me and told my family I had to do my homework so I could not be disturbed. 

            I also took the time to watch the wildlife in the back yard while I read.  The family of ducks was swimming across the pond.  Mommy duck and her eight ducklings were majestic in the water.  I couldn’t help noticing the alligator swimming down the center of the pond.  Only his nose and tale were visible, but he was so graceful as he swam past. 

            I sat on the porch for way more than thirty minutes.  The book was so good.  I am still reading it and am looking forward to the second book in the series.  I also can never get tired of watching nature in my yard.  I wish I had many more thirty minute for me times, but alas, reality was back.

Christine DeRienzo

CECS 5300

Activity week 12-13

 

Wont’ you please…..?

            I spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of odd thing I would try to get someone to do.  I decided to try this activity with my husband.  I tried to come up with something that he would look at me like I had three heads.  I finally came up with trying to convince him that I wanted to turn our garage into a wood-working shop.  We need a head-board for the bed in our spare bedroom.  We haven’t been able to find one, so I told him I would make it.  He laughed, of course.  I explained to him that it would save a lot of money, not only on the head board, but on any future wood items we may need.  I told him we could leave the cars outside and put the tools I needed in the garage. I told him I have been doing a lot of reading online about wood-working and it seems pretty easy.  He kind of looked at me strange.  I then told him I have been watching a lot of shows on HGTV on building and I could definitely do it.  That way we could have exactly what we want.  We could even start selling the products to make some extra money.  He really didn’t know what to say to me.  He wanted to know when the last time I did anything in a wood shop was.  I told him it was in 7^th grade, but that was ok.  He really was pondering the idea, but I could not keep a straight face anymore.  He told me he knew I was kidding all along, but I don’t think so.

            The second situation I decided to try was to convince my 13 year old that he should make breakfast for the family in the morning before school.  I told him that we had taken care of him for 13 years and now it was his turn to take care of us.  He told me he hopes we like cereal.  Obviously, I’m still making breakfast

I Am Trying to Believe

Christine DeRienzo

CECS 5300

Spring 2012

Investigative Activity #5

I am Trying to Believe

            At first glance, I was not exactly sure what this website was all about.  The problem is trying to interpret what the site is trying to say.  The words are all blurry and the screen is jumbled.  In researching a bit further, I found that this was a record promotion for the band Nine Inch Nails.  They hid the message “I am trying to believe” on t-shirts and promotions for their 2007 album.  The site itself is showing what will happen if you were to ingest “Parepin”.  Although Parepin itself is not real, or at least I don’t believe it is, the message that the band was trying to portray was a political message of how unsuspecting we would be if the government, or terrorists, were trying to infiltrate our water supply. 

            If you really think about the message, it is a very scary one.  How easy would it be for something like Parepin to be put into our water supply without us even knowing it?  In order to read the words on the screen, you need to highlight them and then they all become clear.  As soon as highlighting is clicked off, the words jumble again.    I interpreted this to be what the site would look like to someone who had taken Parepin (words jumbled) and someone who had not (words not jumbled). 

            For people who are fans of the band Nine Inch Nails, they know there are a lot of hidden messages in their music.  This website just took that a bit further by providing a visual of what they were trying to portray.  I found it very interesting and a bit un-nerving at the same time.

No use of the letter "n"

Christine DeRienzo

Investigative Activity #4

Ten minutes without the letter “n”

            When I read this as one of the choices for this activity, I thought that it would not be that difficult.  Wow, was I wrong.  Having a conversation, or two, without the letter “n” is an extremely annoying and aggravating experience.  I did not realize how difficult it would be to just eliminate one letter from the conversation.

            I decided to have the first conversation with my husband.  I let him read the assignment first so he didn’t think I had gone mad.  He got a smirk on his face, so I knew I probably would have been better off to not let him read it and just try the activity.  Oh well, too late now.  We were discussing what we were going to do over Spring Break with my son.  I had to stop and think about every word I said before it came out of my mouth.  Of course, he was happy to ask me things that almost guaranteed I had to include an “n” in my answer.  What an aggravating experience that was.  We managed to get through the conversation, but it was not easy.

            The second conversation I had was with my son.  I decided this time to not tell him before hand what I was doing.  He was playing on his X-Box, so I sat down and thought I would ask him about the game he was playing.  Of course, it was Batman.  I could not call it by its’ name, so I referred to it as the bat game.  He kind of looked at me strange, but shrugged his shoulders and kept on playing.  I was trying to ask him questions about the different rooms he was going in or the villains he was fighting.  It took me so long to ask him anything because, just as with my husband, I had to spend so much time thinking about what I was going to say that it was not natural conversation.  He was getting really annoyed at me and kept telling me to just get to the point.  When the experiment was finally over, thankfully, I told him why I was talking that way.  He was relieved that I was not going to be like that all of the time.

            I must say that this was a much harder task than I ever imagined.  Thinking about everything that is going to be said and not using natural conversation was not easy.  I was very happy when it was over and I could use all 26 letters again.

The Ruins of Detroit

Christine DeRienzo

Activity #3

The Ruins of Detroit

            The images of the city of Detroit made me sad.  I grew up in the mid-west near Youngstown, Ohio and I have observed similar images in my hometown.  It is just amazing that a beautiful place that was once thriving could end up in such a state.  I made so many correlations between Detroit and Youngstown when I was observing the pictures.  The way cities can just almost become ghost towns is actually quite terrifying.  No-one knows what the future of current thriving cities holds.

            The beautiful architecture of the buildings in Detroit is still visible behind the destruction.  The fact that there were still bits and pieces of lives that were lived in those buildings made me very sad.  Books, desks, and many other items make it look like a scene from a movie where all of the people died and only the material things survived.  If the inanimate objects could talk, what would they say?  What a shame that the beauty of cities like Detroit will only be remembered by those who lived during those times or in books and movies. 

            The ruins of Detroit tell a story about what happened to a lot of once booming mid-western cities.  It forces us to really take a look at what once was and never will be again in some of these places.  This presentation is one that should be observed and learned from so that we are not filled with a nation of Detroits.

Distracted Driving

Christine DeRienzo                                                                 Investigative Activity #2

Distracted Driving

            I chose to try the distracted driving activity for my second investigation.  Texting and driving is something I do not do.  I don’t even like making phone calls while I am driving because that also takes your attention from the task at hand, which is driving the car.  I found the simulator to be quite frustrating.  Typing on a phone keyboard is quite a bit different than clicking the mouse on the letters to answer the questions.  I think a better way to design it would have been if the user had the ability to type in the answers on the keyboard, not pushing the keys with the mouse.  Once I got the hang of clicking the letters with the mouse, I found it took me way, way too long to just read the questions that I had to respond to.  I had missed two gates before I had even read the question.

            My results were extremely terrible in this simulator.  They were even worse than the averages that were shown.  I knew that I was not doing well, but what a surprise.  I didn’t think it was as bad as it was.  I can’t imagine any good time to text and drive.  If something is that important, pull over and then send your text message. 

            It is very scary to me when I am driving to work in the morning and see many people texting while they are driving.  This is on the freeway going 70 miles per hour.  At that speed, by the time a person reacts to something, it would be too late.  The distraction could be a box in the road, an animal, or even a child.  The consequences could be devastating for the driver and anyone else who may be the innocent victim of a person who texts and drives.  I’ve also witnessed many people typing into their GPS while they are driving.  I just shake my head and wonder what they are thinking.

             According to an article published by CBS News in 2009, nearly 5,500 people died and half a million were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver, according to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Statistics like these make you wonder why anyone would even consider texting, or doing anything else that would distract you, while driving. 

Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/05/travel/main20115923.shtml

My Coffee Shop Activity

Christine DeRienzo

Coffee Shop Activity

            I decided to choose the coffee shop activity for this assignment.  I shared my choice with my husband who questioned why on earth I would choose this for the assignment, but I was intrigued to see what would happen. 

            I decided to go to Panera and have a muffin and some coffee.  I chose a seat where I could easily see all around the restaurant.  I took my school bag with me with some papers to grade.  Once I sat down, I put my papers on the table and my pen in my hand.  I chose to focus on a woman who looked to be about my age.  I noticed that she was eating a bread bowl soup and some kind of sandwich.  I was not directly behind her, but kind of off to the side.  It was a bit weird to just sit there and stare at someone eating their lunch.  It made me feel kind of uncomfortable. 

            The woman I was looking at did not notice that I was watching her for quite a long time.  She was eating with someone else, and it was the other person who called her attention to me.  Her companion kind of pointed in my direction and I could see her asking the woman if she knew me.  The woman turned in my direction and then back to her friend and must have told her she didn’t know me.

            Of course, I continued to stare at her, which after I knew she knew I was watching, made me even more uncomfortable.  Her friend again said something to her about me watching her and the woman once again looked over at me.  This time I put my pen to my temple like I was thinking and kind of looked around.  I did not like the feeling at all.

            But, I decided to give it one more try.  I again began staring at her.  This time, when I saw her friend watching me, I started looking at the papers I had on the table from school.  I could no longer stand the weird, creepy feeling I had.  I felt like I was doing something wrong by staring at this woman.

            I felt okay doing this experiment until I knew I was making the lady and her friend uncomfortable.  The woman’s friend looked like she was getting rather annoyed with me staring and I did not want to have a problem.  This experiment provided me with a lot of strange emotions that I had never really experienced.  This is not something I will be trying again any time soon.