A Change of Heart

I think I need to go in a new direction with this blog.  Since I started, I've pretty much written about political and social issues, but to be honest, I'm not super interested in writing about that stuff all the time anymore.  I'm not getting the paper while I'm at home (and probably won't next year, since I'm going to a branch campus) and I'm not watching political shows, either.

I think what I need to do is get back to the heart of this blog - why I started it in the first place.  The blog is supposed to be all about how writing things out is the best kind of therapy.  So maybe it's time to make this blog more personal and write about my actual life!

I guess I could start somewhere a bit obvious.  If you've read this blog before, you may have noticed that it originally stated on the homepage that I was an aspiring therapist.  That is now gone because I've changed directions and am going back to school next year to get a degree in computer technology!  I know, it's a big change.  I had been so sure about wanting to be a therapist for a really long time, but I had a change of heart this past year.  The thing is, I'm really not that great with talking to people.  It seems like an odd career choice for someone who has felt socially awkward her whole life, right?  Well, the thing is that when I got into the one-on-one counselling situation, everything changed for me.  I just relaxed, got down to business, listened, and let those wheels in my brain spin.  

I have to admit, counseling was very fun for me when I was at Johnson.  Once I got to Kent, however, it was like reality striking.  I was ready to go to grad school for 5-7 years to get a fancy doctorate for a while.  Then I realized that was a huge waste and was going to get my master's in counseling.  The problem is, counselors don't make much!  However, I am willing to do what I love for less money.  I think the most important thing is that you love what you do.  The thing is, I lost my enthusiasm for psychology and counseling!  Somewhere along the way, reality struck me hard and I realized this job was going to be taxing, emotionally draining, stressful, rarely fruitful, and I decided it wasn't worth it.  I can't imagine going in every day to try to help broken people and not feeling broken myself!

So, I was searching for other options and came across this computer program at Kent Ashtabula.  The concentration is Internet and Multimedia and I'm hoping now to become a web developer/ web designer.  It's a way different field than psychology, I know.  I'm a little scared that I won't fit into the field, besides already knowing the psych field so well!  But the thing is, I have always been interested in creating web pages.  When I was younger, I spent hours and hours planning and working on web pages.  And, as you can see, I'm obviously still into it, since I have two blogs!

I think this job will fit me better.  I think it's going to be a good mix of problem-solving, technical work, and creativity.  I love that I'm going to be able to (hopefully!) be creative in my job every day.  In my spare time, I'm always painting, drawing, writing, crocheting, and just expressing my creativity.  And I love love love solving puzzles!  I've recently found a great site with a bunch of matrix puzzles:  www.puzzlersparadise.com.  Plus, I love doing cross-words, hidden object games, sudoku, word puzzles, and more.  As far as the technical side, I've had a web design course before, and I kind of like the coding.  The other elements are more fun, of course, but I wouldn't mind doing that every day.  Another plus for this job is that I can possibly work from home in the future.  We'll have to see if that would be a good or bad thing!

Well, I think this post is already pretty long.  I'm going to try to write on here more often and write about my life more.  I'm thinking most of my life is a little boring to blog about, but I'll try to find interesting things to talk about!  Hopefully I still have some readers or maybe people who stumble on this site will find it interesting.  I'm thinking a mix of personal posts and issues posts will work out best.  Oh!  I almost forgot.  I'm writing this post on my new laptop and it is fantastic!!  Yeah, I'm pretty sure I made a great decision!  Love love love it!!

Thanks for reading!

Christen <3

It's on the Way!

I found out yesterday that my new laptop has already shipped.  It's actually coming in from Shanghai, so hopefully it won't be stuck in customs for a long time.  The estimated ship date is June 2nd - next Thursday.  Needless to say, I'm really excited about it.  Unfortunately for my boyfriend James, I had been complaining about it quite a bit since I ordered it last week.  I can't help it; three weeks is a long time to wait!  Luckily, though, I only have to wait about four more days!!

Other than that, we went to Geneva on the Lake today.  I wrote a little about on the Design Destination blog.  We mostly walked around and looked inside all of the cool shops.  They had some pretty amazing stuff there.  We also got some amazingly good cherry maple smoked turkey jerky and Dairy Queen.  YUM!

I'll let you know when my computer gets here!  Here's looking forward to my first post on the new laptop!!

Computer Update

I ordered my new laptop last Wednesday!  It should be built by June 3, and then I have about another week until I get it.  I seriously cannot wait!  I've been checking on it pretty much every day...  Anyway, I'll let you know which one I chose... *drumroll*

Sooo... I got the quad!  Yes, I'm very excited about it.  I did A LOT of research before I made my decision, and I finally decided after consulting a computer genius friend.  I had actually given up on the mac and was trying to decide between the quad and a similar dual core model, but in the end the quad was a better deal.

Well, you've already got the specs, except I did decide on the better graphics card and the larger-capacity battery.  I wasn't able to get the LightScribe feature, however, but the good news is that I was able to get it in steel grey instead of dark umber (brown is not exactly what I imagined for my new computer).  So anywho, I really just want to post the picture of it online for you to see in the new color.  I'm so excited!

Oh, it's so beautiful!  And I almost forgot, if you are in the market for a new computer, I learned something VERY handy.  Search google for coupons before you order your computer.  I actually saved 30% on my laptop!

Other than that, please please please check out my new blog Design Destination.  I'm going to post a link for it on this blog soon.  I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts:  it's going to be all about design ideas and will maybe include some clothing, accessories, and other fabulous things like that.  My latest blog post was about Lady Sanctuaries - man caves for ladies.  Please check it out!!

Technical Dilemma

So I recently found out I'm going to be able to buy a laptop soon, but I don't know which one I want!  I think I've narrowed it down to two, but I'm open to other options.  I've looked at some Toshibas, but I don't like their style and I can get more for my money with an HP vs. a Dell.  So it's down to an HP or a MacBook Pro.  I want a laptop I can use for a little bit of gaming (online games, the Sims 3, downloadable games) as well as web design stuff for the program I'll be starting this fall.  I also like watching movies, listening to music, general web-surfing, photo-editing, possible video-editing, and general school-related stuff like powerpoint and word documents.  So I'm looking at high-performance laptops, and I will not be dissuaded from this (unless there is a very good argument otherwise).  I want something with a really good graphics card (although I'll admit I don't know much about them), something super fast, and if possible more portable.  I've been looking at 15 inch models, which I think will be fine, but I'm also willing to go with a 13 inch for more portability.  I really don't want anything bulky, so I don't want to go over 15.  Anyway, on with the pros and cons lists!

HP Pavillion dv6t quad edition

Specs:

• 2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/ Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
• 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6490M Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• FREE upgrade to Norton Internet Security(TM) 2011 - 15 month subscription
• 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard size) - up to 5.5 hours of battery life
• 15.6" High Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366x768)
• FREE blu-ray upgrade, plus Lightscribe SuperMulti DVD burner
• webcam, mic, and fingerprint reader
• weighs about 5.8 lbs

So I really like this computer.  It has a quad core processor for crying out loud.  I'm willing to upgrade the processor, though, if that will make a big enough difference in performance.  The problem is, that's a lot of money and I want to make sure I'm getting my money's worth.  The battery life is really not fantastic and I've heard about problems with the keyboard and touchpad, although I have no problem with using a mouse.  This is such a hard decision!

MacBook Pro 13 inch

Specs:

• 2.3GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
• 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM 2x2GB
• 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
• Backlit keyboard
• Intel HD Graphics 3000
• built-in battery (7 hours)
• mic and camera
• bluetooth included
• weighs about 4.5 lbs

The specs on the mac are nowhere near the level of the HP, but there are other important factors involved here:  I already know that the keyboard and touch pad are comfortable and easy to use.  Actually, the touch pad is pretty much amazing.  I also know that macs in general have less problems with crashing and get less viruses.  So, is it worth sacrificing that much power for more stability?  I have experience using this model, too; in fact, I'm using it to type this post!  So I already know I really like it.  It multi-tasks pretty well, it plays movies excellently, but I've yet to see if it handles the highest specs on my Sims 3 game.

The other problem here is that there are several other HP models that could probably work.  For example, there are other dv6t models, such as the base (which comes in other colors) and the special edition.  There are also some ultra-portable options such as the dm3t, dv5t, and dm4x (an entertainment pc).  The first and third of those have a 7.75 and 8.0 battery life respectively on the 6-cell.  (All of the HPs can also come with over-sized 9-cell batteries).  The bigger, performance computers run about 5.75 hours on the 6-cell.

So there are a lot of different factors here.  I really have no idea where to start in this decision.  Please help!