Now I'm done with school, I've only got the rest of my life left

I graduate today. And then I'm not in school. Nothing much has changed to my plan, still going to come back and continue my internship, still looking forward to a life free of looming deadlines. But that's not really what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is the expectation of walking that stage.

It's a pretty big dream, growing up. Walking up those stairs to look at a multitude of important people. You walk, one foot in front of the other, and the biggest cognition filling your mind is "God I hope I don't trip,". because really, that's what we all fear most. People talk in hushed whispers about the guy a friend saw at another guy's graduation who fell on his face in front of everyone. I don't want to be him. So I'm going to concentrate so much on not tripping on my own feet that I imagine it's going to resemble a duck.

Then of course you have to run the gamut of choreographed handshakes, handoffs, and more handshakes. It's the Dean. stop, pose for the pic shaking his hand while simultaneously taking your diploma (cover), but crisscross, because he wants to shake your right hand, and hand it off to your left. Then you've got to whisk by him, pay give a quick hello to Lynda, and then be on your way down the stairs. Only then, with that less fear fading, do I think it's going to seem real.

And why is the Dean the one who is going to give me my diploma (cover)? It seems to me that Lynda should be giving me that $60,000 diploma (cover), sense I've interacted with her on nearly a daily basis. What has the Dean ever done for me? I don't remember him teaching any classes, or showing me anything in a lab. Ever. Still, I suppose traditions are around for a reason, even if we don't know them.

I'll have to be disappointed about my fans, too. Half of my family decided not to show up. Oh, the immediate family is here, but the supposedly tight knight side of my father's family were suddenly too busy to come to Missouri. I should still have an impressive cheering section though. Look for the giant crowd of people. That's them.

Well, that's about it. I'm off now to finish a few things. Time stops for no man. If you're at the graduation ceremony, look for me. I'm the one in the cap and gown.

The project that never ended

I was hoping that after the big presentation, this capstone project would just suddenly stop happening. I was wrong. It limps on, in a noble fashion, thought it knows it's finished. There's a proposal meeting on Monday, which I'm not sure the format of. I don't know if we'll be standing giving a formal presentation, or if we're just going to have a dialogue with professors. Also, Kathryn Reed is looking for us. I understand she wants some sort of private session where she can pick our brains and see how much we might have to offer the Missourian in terms mobile journalism. It just seems to me like I can't ever be done with this.

The brown bag went well, though. 5 minutes late, a decent amount of people turned up and we started in on our presentation. I did the worst of everyone, getting flustered and nervous. I would be doing fine, and the look at Clyde Bentley or Kent Collins and see their faces and just start having minor freakouts, because they looked so bored. It helped to then look at Keith Pollite, who maintained a smile on his face for the entire presentation.

Anyhow, I'll be glad to wash my hands of this and just be over. I'll admit that the last bit of this class has been interesting, translating the work into useful information and giving it to others. It's much more up my alley than the first bit was (well, except maybe for the writing parts). I'm a bit upset I suppose over the fact that we (as a team) feel like we didn't necessarily receive all that much help from Will, and yet he's the one with the name in bold across the top of the page, with the notoriety in the journalism circles. Our work has become "Will's project", when we felt all along like it was definitely our project. In fact, our names are so small and out of the way that it takes a couple minutes to find it anywhere.

But, it's not worth worrying about.

Ending leads to Beginning

My student career is coming to a close. The end of an era, in some ways. I can't remember a time when I wasn't in school. Maybe it will be like the matrix, when Neo wakes up. I'll pull a big cord out of my gastrointestinal system, get flushed down a huge pipe, be caught up in a blockbuster, graphically groundbreaking movie. Or, maybe none of that will happen.

Barring allusions to an early 2000s runaway hit movie, my plan is actually not to go anywhere. I'm simply going to transition from school, work and internship to internship and work. No school. Although maybe I'll pop in here and there to help out around the place. It's just become so evident to me how much I don't want to be a journalist. Photographer yes, journalist no. I don't want to rely on some person to give a note to their boss saying I need to talk to them. I can't live my life that way.

But that's alright, because I've got a good thing going with Study Abroad. I've got my internship set up, and John, and there is een the possibility (though unlikely) that I could get paid minimum wage. I'm going to get a job, pay for my own groceries, gas, rent and utilities, and generally be self-sufficient. Another first in my lifetime.

Either way, I'm choosing not to see that stage as a gallows. I'm going to walk across it. I'm going to shake the Dean's hand. I'm going to receive a case that does not contain a diploma, but is instead a symbol that I'll be getting one in the near future. Then I'm going to walk down the stairs at the other end, right into the the rabbit hole. And I'm going to see how far it goes.

Month of Mobile Journalism pt. 4

The Juice Bar Solar Charger holds a ton of power, holds it for a long time, and gives it out quickly. However, for all the good that it does, there are some negatives that go along with this particular charger that make me wary to suggest it to anyone.

Like several other external batteries we’ve tested, the Juice Bar charges via USB cord. It’s not a quick charge, but it’s not entirely too slow. Just don’t expect to have a full battery in an hour or two. You’ll need probably 4 hours of solid charging to get every bit out of this thing, which can be a long time to drain your computer, if that’s what you’re connecting to for charging purposes. It also has a solar panel on the top of the device. Like every other solar charger, it’s slow. However, it’s another way to charge, and it does make the power you put into your mobile device last longer, if you’re using your phone in sunlight.

Once it’s fully charged, however, the battery will keep filling up your phone for well over two hours of use. When I used it, my phone sat idle for only a few minutes, and it still took my iPhone from 20% battery to full.

Now we get into the drawbacks. Like many other devices we’ve tested, this is an external battery that has to be toted along with the mobile device. It’s attached via cable, giving you a little more leeway, but your phone is still tethered to the Juice Bar. Luckily, it’s slim and lightweight, otherwise this would be a serious issue. However, this isn’t my biggest problem with the Juice Bar. This battery, when it’s being used, gets hot. I’m not talking like, put it in your gloves in the winter to keep your hands warm hot, I’m talking painful to keep your skin on it hot. Which means you’ve got to be careful where you put it while using it. You can’t leave it on something vulnerable to heat, and you definitely don’t want to have it in your pocket where you might accidentally put your hand only to get a little bit of a shock. Trust me on that one.

In all, this battery isn’t bad. If you can figure out a way to insulate the battery so you don’t burn yourself and also a way to charge while still being able to effectively use your phone (because of the connection), then this battery is great. Having a solar panel to accentuate your charging capabilities and expand the category of areas where you can use this device is also a bonus. But I feel like there are better choices for you to purchase.

Month of Mobile Journalism pt. 3

The SmartLens 2 in 1 lens is a fun little gimmick of a device. It probably works better with a 4G or droid, where the curve of the phone doesn’t interfere with the camera. On a 3G, though, it actually worked surprisingly well for me.

The only real negative to using this lens is that you’re going to have to apply a magnetic ring to the back of your phone using the adhesive already on the ring. I haven’t attempted to take it off, yet, because I don’t know that the glue is sticky enough to put it back on, and the lens only comes with one ring. Moral of the story is, attach it to something you want to use long-term.

After that, you don’t have to worry about the lens NOT working, which is maybe not a great way to look at it. I didn’t notice a huge improvement in quality by using it, but at the same time, it didn’t hurt. It doesn’t bend the picture like the wider angle on the Bubo does, and the macro lens is decent. Sometimes it won’t work, and it’ll just be fuzzy, but if you can get close enough (often nearly touching) then you might be able to get some cool details.

The best part is, this thing is incredibly easy to put on and take off. So, attach the magnetic ring, put the lens in your pocket, and head out.

Month of Mobile Journalism pt. 2

Hipstamatic is my personal least favorite application, which is odd because as far as features for photography (NOT editing) go, versatile barely describes it. Part of the reason I’m so negative is because it takes a lot of getting used to, you really can’t jump into it and go. Also, it comes with a pretty bare shelf of features for the money you invested in the application’s purchase. How do I get more features, you ask? A dollar at a time, I say.

Open the app and it may take you a moment to orient yourself. You can click the flash to activate the camera’s “flash”, and it will make the charging noise and take a moment to get set (you can shoot while it charges, the charge is just for aesthetic appearance). The slat on the left will tell you what film you’re using, and you can view your pictures buy tapping on the bottom left.

To get into the meat of this thing, hit the arrow in the bottom right corner. If you’re a photographer, it’ll take you a moment to realize you’re in familiar territory. If you’re not, make sure you play with this application for several minutes to figure it out. You can select different films, and by tapping the film you can see the effect it will have. Same for flashes, and then for lenses. Want more choices? Go buy them, cause they don’t come free. On this screen, you can also change the quality of your pictures by adjusting the lever in the center of the main screen. Once you’ve mixed and matched to take the desired style of picture (good luck if you don’t have any training, here), go back to the camera taking screen and get after it.

Hipstamatic looks the best. It does. It’s got this old timey, film and dark room feel to it, and in theory having the ability to choose all the aspects of your picture taking process would be awesome. And if you know what you’re doing and have experience with these tools, then I would imagine it’s intriguing. But it’s just too complicated for a lot of journalists to take this into the field without any experience using it. You’re not going to get an image you can use for news, most likely, because all the “equipment” it comes with will cause all different tints. And even though it’s only a dollar each, to spend the money to figure out what does and does not work costs too much cash and time.

There are two details about this program I DID really like. Your photos can be grouped into “stacks” for easy organization. Not a big deal, but it’s often overlooked in photo programs, and it’s something that makes life easier. Second, Hipstamatic hosts contests, and you can submit your photos to these contests. Not something you would normally do while out in the field, but I’m sure photographers would enjoy the ability to submit their work. I can see this particular feature carrying this application, especially if photographers and Synthetic Corp. (makers of Hipstamatic) take it seriously.

Simply put, Hipstamatic is a cool idea, and has a lot to offer to the feature writers and artists of this world who know how to work a camera. If you don’t fit that criteria, steer clear.

Month of Mobile Journalism pt. 1

CameraBag is an extremely easy to use photo application for the iPhone. It uses the built-in camera on the phone to take pictures, so you don’t need any extra equipment (although lenses and flashes wouldn’t hurt), and it’s pretty cheap to buy.

The specialty of this application is to put filters on the pictures you take. There are several different ones, although some, like color cross, I can’t see anybody using for professional reasons, and others look very much the same. But there are enough different, useful filters that this application deserves a download and a look.

CameraBag doesn’t require that you use the application to take the pictures, and in fact the application works better if you just take the pictures and put them on your camera roll. If you have it open when you’re shooting, each picture will open on the camera, and before you take another, you will have to click on the phone to open our camera back up. Instead, you can go out and take your pictures, then upload them to CameraBag.

Either way, once you have your picture, it’s a simple process of flicking the screen from side to side to see which filter works best for what you’re using. Helga has ended up being my favorite, but really the story would warrant the filter, if you use one at all. Once you’ve chosen, you just have to tap the save button and your picture will be saved to your camera roll, so that you can text, email or upload it like any other picture you take.

In all, the application is a pretty neat little deal. It’s certainly something you wouldn’t use every time you go into the field, but if you were working on a story that was a bit more featurey than normal, I could certainly see it coming in handy. If you do use it, it’s simple and quick, and getting the pictures off your phone is virtually effortless.