The World of Excel

When Ms. Belisle told us we were going to use Excel, I was definitely not excited. Soon, however, I realized that Excel is not as evil as it is thought to be. So far, I have learned how to do conditional formating, format cells, and enter in formulas I had no idea existed. Although Excel can be tricky at first when you are learning how to use the program, things can get a little confusing. However, once you get the hang of things, Excel is pretty fun. I am glad that learning Excel will help me becoming more organized with my grades at school. As for real life, knowledge of Excel is a great thing to have because not a lot of people know how to use it properly.

The Truth about Copyright

Last class, I learned so much from Jason Hardin's lecture. A U.S. copyright on a work becomes effective right as the work is in a fixed, tangible medium and lasts the time of the author's life plus 70 years. I found it interesting to know what exactly constitutes as copyright infringement.  I learned that it is a felony and is copyright infringement when someone makes more than 10 copies and a value of more than $2500. Fortunately, The Higher Education Opportunity Act has 3 provisions that provide students to file share legally.
Previously, I did not really understand the issue of campus-based file sharing such as Limewire and Bit Torrent. Now I know peer-to-peer file sharing allows people to share music by copying a song from one source without paying for it. Some think this is fine to do, with supporters saying that the artist still gets money from other resources and receives more credit on a wide-spread basis, while critics say that the artist gets no credit for his or her artistic talent. I think file sharing is not the best idea; it is risky because these sites are always monitored. If you get caught, be ready to pay, file sharing is illegal!

The Truth About Copyright by Laura Sandling is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

My Trinity Network Diagram

Last Thursday, the class took a trip to the server room located in Halsell. Jared Pack gave us a tour of the room and explained to us how the TU network worked in general. The tour was enlightening and I learned a lot. For instance, did you know that Trinity records all work saved in your Y-drive? So if something terrible happens and you lose a paper, the guys from information technology services can recover it for you! I am glad the class had a chance to take the tour, I now feel more "connected" to the school :). Here is my diagram of the TU network. Enjoy!

A Trinity Mystery!

I chose this location because it should fairly recognizable to a lot of Trinity Sophomores, because chances are, the building is important to them or one of their friends. I took the original picture and uploaded it to Picnik where I re-sized it, lightened the photo, and applied the HDR-ish effect. I also used the doodle option to draw the wig and the extra man. I added the flower from the romance sticker section. Then I saved the edited photo and uploaded it to my blog. Where is this location? Can you guess?

Tech Tips with Mr. Hatch

When Joe Hatch stepped into class on Tuesday, I thought I knew what to expect. I imagined he would just explain to us what a virus was and how "awesome" Cisco Clean Access and how it was "not annoying" to log in every time you turned on your computer. However, I was wrong. Mr. Hatch did cover viruses and what Clean Access is, but he also went into so much more. I learned so much about the Y drive, how wireless internet really works, and how to protect myself better on the Web. For instance, as a PC user, I am used to hearing about the  amazing Mac. But in Mr. Hatch's lecture, he enlightened the class that EVERY computer is susceptible to viruses and talked about different ways to get rid of "junk". My favorite tip by far was CCleaner. It's free AND cleans up your computer from possible vulnerabilities? I will definitely be using the cleaner in the near future! I greatly enjoyed Mr. Hatch's lecture and am now more alert and educated on how to protect myself on the Web.