Filtered Judgment

My view of this class is, as already mentioned, very posative. We have just finished our final unit on virtual reality, mainly Second Life. Ironically, I did not do as well in this unit on the whole with my individual assignments. I usually do very well on our assignments. What did me in? This blog, I hope, is read with a certain amount of pleasure by some people, not just people hunting for an easy comment. I think that I write about things that are really interesting. I guess this is obvious from the energy thrown into the posts themselves. I was surprised as I read my Second Life posts to be kind of dry. Let me try to spice it up a bit...

Second Life and I never hit it off, but were not enemies. Quite frankly, the most fun I had in SL was fooling around with my classmates. Nothing was more entertaining than the "who can make the biggest robot" contest, right down to the floating Transformers and South Park characters. I wish SL had a video mash-up tool (echemm! Google Metaverse, are you listening?) so I could make a highlight reel of all the fun times I had. I don't think the same enjoyment would have been derived from solitary exploration.

As with so many projects we have done in this class, the dynamic of my classmates defined the pleasure of the activity. Remember the Social Network for Calvin and Hobbes? The Celebrity Jeopardy of the future? Your first RSS Feed?

Awww yeah.... Good times man, good times!

According to my not so reliable memory, All of the greatest moments of this class are attributable to the students, not the curriculum. We put out some really interesting and entertaining work projects.

Speaking of projects, I would like to give a shout out to Team Wintermute...

You guys are great. Thank you for all of the great moments, discussions, and cooperation. What each of you has added to the group dynamic is greatly appreciated.

To Matt, you're the man. There is no other way to describe it. You never drop the ball. I have never been more comfortable divvying up work in a group setting, and 90% of that is thanks to you. You always have an option, or an idea, or an answer. Best of luck pursuing your dreams. I hope our paths cross again.

To Eric, the most friendly, I have learned a lot from you. Yes, I'm serious. You always have the laugh, and are so interesting. I will always remember how chill that first lunch at Chik-fil-a was with you. You were my first connection to this team. Just because I can't get away with calling everybody "Son" like you can, doesn't mean that the sentiment is not shared. Best of luck in your future!

I saved the best for last.. Martha, (oohhh Martha) We are both very stubborn, obstinate, argumentative free thinkers. But our group would be nothing without you. even though we were sometimes at odds, the discussions that grew from the argument always enriched the project we were working on. You kept my head screwed on straight. I learned a lot from you, things that have nothing to do about technology or class, but about life. I wish you luck in your quest to return to Israel, and I hope that what awaits you outside of PSU is everything you hoped it to be.

Without all of you, I would not have enjoyed this class half as much as I did. thanks again!!

" People have that effect on life. What good is a universe with no one to share it with? "

- Stephen Schwartz