Don vs. Technology (0-1)

I arrived at De Anza for our tutorial at 7:55 AM, which was not that early, but still pretty good. I believe in myself that one day I will master the art of arriving 15 minutes early to events. Today was obviously not the day yet, but I’m getting there. This was a fairly decent start.

What did not have a decent beginning was our tutorial. Right off the bat we ran into computer problems. There were way more computers than people in the room, but by the end of the tutorial, we almost had to try every single computer because most of us had had to change computers at least once since something wouldn’t be working right – be it failure to log in, no internet connection, etc. But not only were our computers not working, Don’s computer was not either, and it was a struggle getting things to work.

Eventually, we began the tutorial anyway and Don introduced us to Good Don, Evil Don, and Guantanamo Don – a very nice family – though the only one I will probably ever want to see is Good Don.

Then, we also talked about phone calls and phone call etiquette, which I believe I may have broken a few times. It’s very true, though, that it is much easier to communicate when there’s back and forth feedback immediately. We also went over formatting and how to write our blogs. We practiced on Don’s Practice Blog, and I wrote (ranted) some nonsense about Kong: Skull Island.

I could tell when all of us got more comfortable with each other. When we first began in the morning, it was mostly quiet. Gradually, there was more chatting across the room, and it was clear we were getting to know each other better and having fun. We called Lindsay out for typing “Red Vines” as one word on her practice blog, though in her defense and my opinion, Redvines did look aesthetically better as one word. I still don’t understand why people like that stuff, though. Raqueeb said he ate it because he was hungry, but how does colored pieces of rubber disguised as candy fill one’s belly? I stuck with my chocolate chip cookies, which, to be fair, were just as likely to give some Type II diabetes.

After practicing how to write our blogs, we moved on to the next topic: cameras! Don talked about cameras for a little bit, then he set us loose for a short break where we had to take pictures outside.

A chain of cameras...a coincidence!? (It's not.)

Bianche and I shared a camera. I have no photography skill to speak of, so I spent the time we were supposed to be taking pictures awkwardly snapping photos of anything and everything. Often, I just let BIanche take the pictures. Otherwise, I took spontaneous photos of my fellow ILCers – who, I might add, are photogenic, every single one of them. It is really not fair how people can look good in pictures without trying (some of you may recall the last time I met with my cohort and how well my pictures turned out).

I can tell that I have no idea what I’m actually doing while I was being the photographer, though, because the whole time, I felt like a tourist at a zoo taking pictures, which is, I would imagine, not how you are supposed to feel while you take pictures of people. I apologize to my fellow ILCers. They did not deserve this. Fortunately, some of the pictures I took did turn out surprisingly okay. 

Break over, back to work

We headed back inside after break. Don had us play around with Mediafire for a while, learning about naming files and how to upload. We spent a bit of time on this. Then, Don discussed the items we need for our trips and what to expect. I have never lived through a summer that is rainy, so I guess that will be a first for me. Apparently, the Chicago dorms are pretty awesome. Yay! 

We learned about laptop security cables and tried putting it on a laptop; we also had to put the cable back into the red pouch, and all of us got to talk and socialize with each other a bit more while we were waiting for our turns, so that was pretty cool. 

After that, the tutorial was over. I helped out with demobilizing, and I took down the banner with the help of Raqueeb and Zunarah. I got to be the one who cut the zip ties, so I was very happy (even though I had to stand on a chair to reach the top ones).  

We learned a lot of important, useful information today at tutorial. However, for me, the time I spent bonding with my new friends (beyond just my cohort) was just as – and perhaps even more so – valuable and priceless.