Blogging has become my latest passion, and I am engrossed in it for hours without taking a break. As a result, it has become somewhat of an obsession for me.
I am passionate about yoga stretches that help alleviate my cranky tech neck. It is one of the passions I have pursued and studied. I am a certified yoga teacher with two Yoga Teacher Training Certificates, although I don’t currently teach yoga. As an enthusiastic yogi, I regularly practice yoga to maintain my physical and mental well-being.
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I believe that if he can do it, anyone else can too. Additionally, it’s amusing to note that “dog” spelled backward is “god,” although I’m not religious, I find it intriguing.
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As you can see, this guy is quite advanced in his yoga practice. It’s impressive. By the way, I don’t think I mentioned earlier that I am passionate about animals.
Have you ever heard the saying Ohana means family?
My native hometown is Hilo, Hawaii, but I have lived in New York City since 1995.
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One of my favorite things to do is skate; something New Yorkers and locals from Hawaii have in common is that we are very active. In my experience, there’s no better place to skate than in Hawaii or New York.
Click play button on video below.
Click play button on video above to see a video about my passion.
As you can see in my reel, my nieces and fiance, Greg, love to skate too.
I created a reel of my family skating in various locations, indoors and outdoors, in Pennsylvania and New York. The process was relatively easy, and I created three versions from various digital formats.
This iMovie was created using multiple recordings taken from my iPhone and clips texted to me by my younger sister.
I dragged and dropped all the videos onto my desktop. From there, I dragged the .MOV file into iMovie editing software which is pre-installed on every Mac computer (not sure about iPads).
Once the clips were lined up 1 through 5, I dragged and dropped an MP3 of Tina Turner’s “Rolling on the River” below the 5 video clips.
To export from iMovie, I selected >file>share>file
Following these steps, I now have a video with music to accompany my movie.
I thought it would be interesting to show the same .MOV in three styles and two different formats to inspire our class to try various methods of gifs and movies when blogging.
*Tip
During the export process from iMovie, select “quality medium” and “resolution 720 p” in your options panel, or your file won’t fit in WordPress or the giphy.com editor tool, and you can’t play with the editor tool to shorten the length of the gif in giphy.
The gif above was created using a .MOV, a recording from an iPhone.
*Tips:
- Best practice when recording a video is to hold your phone horizontally. If you record holding a phone vertically, you will get an effect like the one seen above. The entire screen isn’t utilized, and there is negative black space, wasting what could have been a great scene on both sides of your recording. It’s an eyesore.
- When creating a gif in Giphy, convert your movie to a lower “resolution” and choose medium or low “quality” when exporting. If not, giphy will not accept your MP4 in the built-in editor tool, and you won’t be able to use all the cool editing features that giphy offers.
- Using giphy is as easy as drag and drop once you have selected lower resolution and medium quality, you are free to create your gif using various font types and colorful text.
- Regarding both Giphy Upload and Giphy Create: After export, select “quality medium” and “resolution 720 p” in your options panel, or it won’t fit in the giphy.com editor tool, and you can’t play with the editor tool to shorten the length of the gif in giphy.
Although Giphy Upload is an excellent tool for creating memes with your message, I will describe below why Giphy Create may be a better choice.
Welcome to “bad TV.”
Uploading your MP4, JPG, PNG, MOV, or WebM in Giphy Create is a different experience than just using the “upload” button in Giphy. In Giphy Create, numerous options are available, including filters, which provide a wide range of choices. For example, the MP4 above was produced utilizing a “bad TV” filter in Giphy. This filter was particularly appealing since it gave my gif a unique nostalgic appearance.
This could be due to my fondness for nostalgic visuals. I have memories of watching bad TV in the 80s, and it was not necessarily a marker of one’s socioeconomic status. Poor graphics were present across all socioeconomic groups since the technology we are lucky enough to possess today had not yet been developed. But In the ’80s, everyone had a bad TV.
Today, we have numerous reasons for the exceptional graphics seen in technology and on the Internet.
Watch the YouTube video below for some historical content on the evolution of the Internet.
For more information on the Internet and how it came to be, click the YouTube video above.
Back to More Passions,
click hashtag on image for link to image on imgur.com
Cooking is a passion of mine, particularly when it comes to creating dishes from Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Growing up in an adoptive (not legally) Taiwanese family, I acquired many Eastern practices, particularly self-care-related ones. In addition, my Taiwanese family was well-versed in various healing arts, such as cupping, massage therapy, acupuncture, and herbology, which are considered standard practices. As a result, I was introduced to Eastern modalities at a young age and was quite receptive to them.
I learned about these techniques in my early twenties at The Swedish Institute in New York. Although I had grown up using it to heal and treat aches and pains, I didn’t fully understand the clinical side of why we used these procedures. Learning about the science behind Eastern methods sparked my passion for a healthier lifestyle. Since graduating from SI in 2001, I have incorporated these effective alternatives into my life.
Initially, my interest in a college major was the functions of the mind which led me to consider studying neuroscience. However, when I explored a Columbia University program, I realized it was heavily focused on mathematics. Unfortunately, I don’t possess the math aptitude required for neuroscience or computer science, which was my second choice of major.
Instead, I opted for graphic design, which aligns better with my creative right side of the brain. In addition, the courses offered at BMCC for the Multimedia Programming and Design degree have allowed me to utilize a wide range of excellent technology tools.
We all have different backgrounds, but we all possess the potential to create new neural pathways and learn anything we are passionate about. It just takes practice.
I am incredibly passionate about learning new tools and tricks with AI. In a recent MMP 200 course at BMCC, my professor taught us a new command to use with ChatGPT. He suggested we preface our commands with a specific tone or profession to generate results tailored to a more professional voice. The outcome was truly remarkable. I highly recommend giving it a try. For instance, you could type in the query, “In the manner of a medical professional, what is the best way to describe (insert ailment here).”
I am passionate about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, commonly known as RBG. RBG exemplified the core values of feminism. Her steadfast commitment to gender equality was unwavering, even in the face of significant adversity. Despite standing at a mere 5′ tall, RBG refused to let anyone silence her and fought tirelessly, leaving an indelible mark on history.
Click here for a recent article describing the legacy of RBG in the New York Times.
RBG’s example and unwavering dedication to women’s reproductive rights have empowered millions of women to control their destinies. RBG firmly believed in women supporting and uplifting one another, and her actions and beliefs continue to shape the lives of countless women.
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
Hey Jour, missed you in class today.
Where do you blog? Do you have your personal blog somewhere?
We have Yoga in common, one of my long-term goals is to become a Yoga instructor for my family.
I would love for them to get into it as much as I am. The benefits of Yoga are nourishing, even your dog sees it haha, not your dog doing yoga too!!!!
Born In Hawaii! first person I’ve met to be born there, Ohana means family (learned it from Lilo & stitch) Loved the video you incorporated with the rolling music; goes well with the theme of the video, which is Rolling skating, I haven’t been rolling skating since I was in fifth grade, definitely adding it to my things to do in the summer. You are so talented; your curiosity has opened your path to having knowledge in many departments. Looking forward to reading more from you. Congratulations on such a informative post.
HiIlvea,
Thank you. I caught a cold and may not make it this week, either. I had to stream my other class too.
Blogging is new to me. The post on the Academic Commons is the first I’ve ever made. But I do enjoy expressing myself in blogs. Blogging inspires my interest in taking a Coding Boot Camp while in College. I lack the digital and technical skills most employers seek in today’s competitive market. CT 101 prepares me to look at things from a digital landscape. Welcome to the future Jour 🙂
I feel it is necessary for me even to be considered for an entry-level job in technology to gain more of these skills. What do you think? Are you feeling the same way?
My mission or drive is to gain as many digital skills as possible in College for my resume and take any entry-level simulation exams that are required these days in the workforce. In addition, I am focused on learning about Git and GitHub repositories.
What are your ambitions and career goals?? I love your post, as I am big on meditation and yoga. It’s transformative. I don’t think I could have returned to College in my mid-forties had it not been for yoga and meditation.
Another epic post!
Wow, Thank you!
I am so excited and happy to know that you have found love in blogging! I agree, it is all consuming, and the tech neck activator! Yoga that tech-neck away! Great GIFs!
“Yoga-Dogs” wow! – love the fun!
Mahalo!
I knew that you were from Hawaii from our previous class!
(been there twice, Hawaii is soo dreamy and awesome!)
Great video of the skating fun! Love to see the new skills applied here, and the detailed tutorial on “how” you made it! Love the “Tips” section, and application of Giphy in there to push it further!
Great work!
Love the ChatGPT reference – Version 4 just came out yesterday!
Wonderful work here, thank you so much for the epic continuum of posts and skills displayed!
Thanks, Professor. This means a lot to me. I am trying to balance both MMP 200 Figma UI/UX projects alongside the blogs in CT 101. It wasn’t until yesterday’s course that I realized both classes complement each other. Professor Kawasaki gives the class an overview of what is new in tech for the week, and it is expanding my knowledge extensively. On the other hand, your course is where I practice those digital skills the most, which I believe to be the essential part of my college experience: creating and doing work.
Last week, I attended a workshop York College had on a summer program for students to gain tech skills. Unfortunately, you must already have many of these skills to get into the program. So I was disappointed, but I still applied, and I am now aware that most employers will ask a potential employee to prove they can code, etc., with a simulation-style exam. This was profound information for me, and I am now laser-focused on gaining those digital skills. So this class means a lot to me in that respect, and I may (I haven’t yet decided) challenge myself to complete a “web assignment” in the DS106 Assignment Bank challenge. Yikes!
I am fighting a nasty cold and may have to stream this week from home.
Thank you, Jour!
First and foremost, rest and get better! Go slow and recover. Yes, there has been a terrible bug going around for the last few weeks, I had it, and so many of my students have had it or have it now 🙁
Great to learn that prof. Kawasaki shares weekly tech overviews, there is so much happening and accelerating, its both exciting and scary.
I am proud of you that applied for the summer program even though you feel you may not have all of the needed tech skills, your desire to learn and do the work is stronger than the “submission guidelines” and that is EVERYTHING. Keep going forward!
Take your time with the DS106 assignment prompts, it is a 2 week assignment for sure, looking forward to the outcomes!