Marcella's Blog

Hello! I am in Melbourne now, pronounced with a soft r sound so more like Mel-ben. Anyways Yesterday we were in Canberra (Kan-Bra), the state capital, It was really interesting. A guy from Chicago, Mr Griffen, won a contest to design the city and he did it on a triangle basis. We saw parliment and their two houses of senate and representatives. Then we drove around all the embassies and found the of couse the US had the biggest one! The second largest was the chinese...go figure Later that afternoon we went to the smallest airport ever to fly from Canberra to Melbourne. It was only an hour long flight. Amanda allmost threw up in my lap but its all good! Then we unpacked in our HUGE hotel room and headed out for a night on the town. We figured that a sat. night would be hopping but we were sooo tired we made it to one bar and then went to bed. (Mom i finally wore my scarf!) Today A and I ran for a bit in a sketchy part of town and then we went on a day long visit to the Yarra river va...

Hello again Yesterday we went to the Blue Mountains! It was awesome we saw kangrooos! we were like 3 feet from them! then we ate lunch at a lounge and then we saw the mountains from the cliffs! we went on a old mining trip and then we saw the olympic site! we had a funny tour guide Les, who has done everything and seen everything in Aus. We went out last night so some bars it was really different but also fun. They had a live rock band playing greenday and semisonic!!! Today is our free day so we went to Paddy's Market and bought cheap stuff and then we went to the Tower. the 2nd highest point in the southern hemisphere. we had chinese for lunch and then we are heading out to walk across the Harbor Bridge! The Aussies abbreviate everything so sometimes it is hard to understandwhat they are explaining but it is nice to hear their accents! Tomorrow we are going to Canberra, the capital, for the day then flying to Melborne tomorrow night! Hope everyone is doing well! G'day Mate!

Hello from Down Under! The flight from LAX to Sydney was liek 14 hours. We actually slept like 6 hours straight so that was nice. we got two meals a dinner two hours into the flight and a breakfast two hours before we landed. The plane had two floors but only the business class could use the lounge upstairs. Also we got free alcohol while on the plane. Customs was odd I was freaking out but amanda told me that i would be ok..i checked yes in the box because i had prepackaged food like pretzels and stuff they just looked at it and told me i was gonig to be ok haha. then we went on our first bus tour to our hotel and then we went on a lunch cruise of the harbor it was fantasitc. we all took some great pictures. I would not mind living here but its like 10-30 million dollars a house. Then we took a bus tour of all the suburbs which was cool to see the different areas. One area has a legal heroine injection store. how odddd! then we were on our own for dinner. the whole crew decided to go...

Hey people! I am in LA and I am heading to Sydney tonight. Friday we went around Simi Valley and I saw someone famous but I dont know who it was. Then we went to Malibu - Gladstones for dinner it was totaly yummy and on the beach!!! Yesterday Amanda and I went to Beverly Hills and walked around Rodeo Drive. My Cousin Consuelo works with the stars and has clients like jennifer aniston and justin timberlake ...she took us to lunch and we got FAMOUS CUPCAKES!! its a place calledSprinkles and they are famous for selling 3$ cupcakes its awesome.. Ok we are going to citywalk today for dinner see y ou in sydney

Hey people! I am in LA and I am heading to Sydney tonight. Friday we went around Simi Valley and I saw someone famous but I dont know who it was. Then we went to Malibu - Gladstones for dinner it was totaly yummy and on the beach!!! Yesterday Amanda and I went to Beverly Hills and walked around Rodeo Drive. My Cousin Consuelo works with the stars and has clients like jennifer aniston and justin timberlake ...she took us to lunch and we got FAMOUS CUPCAKES!! its a place calledSprinkles and they are famous for selling 3$ cupcakes its awesome.. Ok we are going to citywalk today for dinner see y ou in sydney

Call me crazy but I think that I want a pet rat. I have had pets growing up and I think it would be fun to have a pet at my house. I never had a caged animal, but rats are just so cute! My cousin and friend both have rats and I have even housesat for a rat. They seem like very even tempered and quiet but playful animals. I have been reading up on them and learning more about the rat society. I don't really know when I would get one, but it seams to me that the safest way to purchase one is through a rat breeder not a pet store. I guess in their early life they need special care and throwing them in a bin at the pet store is not wise. Any thoughts on the whole pet rat thing?

Well I am excited to see that my blog still exisits. Yes I know that they don't go away but I remembered my username and password so to me it still exists in my brain. I had to create a blog for an internet class I took in school last semester, hence the poorly written blogs, however, I would like to be re-introduced to blogs on my own time this year. I enjoyed the idea of a blog but being forced to write responses to articles that did not interest me took the fun out of the creation of a blog. I am looking forward to this new internet frenzy! Here it goes...

After searching the internet for a few minutes on the new search engines we received in class, I found a well written web site that discusses how to verify information on a specific web page. The web site I would recommend is “Can you trust what you find on the WWW?” www.d239.org/vja/staff/www/verify.org . I would recommend this site because it gives a vivid description of the different questions that need to be asked when verifying a web site. The specific components which make a web site trustworthy are listed and then fully explained on subsequent pages of the web site. The site took me through each of the components in a question format and answered them by looking at a specific web page. They also had exercises to try and a summary printout.

The article titled “Database Fights Diploma Mills,” www.wired.com/news/culture/0/html discusses the idea of a searchable online database that includes all the schools recognized by the federal government. This was the first time I have read or heard about anything relating to false diplomas. The internet seems like a good place for this type of industry to grow because a lot of people trust websites that look nice and put together, however in reality they are used to scam people. I would hope that the general public would not chose to entertain the idea of a false diploma because in the long run I think one would get caught and end up in jail.

After reading the article titled “Adults better Web surfers than teens, study shows,” www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10787236.htm , I think that the article shows that adults are better surfers when wanting a specific topic. I think that teens use the internet for a more entertainment and personal purposes and could probably find sports stats, or fashion trends more quickly than adults. Also, I agree with the article in that teens prefer illustrations and pictures to small text. I prefer to see a neat website with only the necessary text and lots of graphics and pictures, but then again I am usually searching for personal purposes.

After reading the report titled "Pew Internet & American Life Project: Search Engine Users," www.pewinternet.org/PFF/r/146/report_display.asp , I agree with the claim that most people are positive with the experiences they have had with search engines. For the most part, when talking with people about finding stuff on the web it takes them less than a few minutes to find exactly what they are searching for. I know that for me if at first I don not receive what I am looking for it is usually because I have typed something in without the correct Boolean form or I have incorrectly phrased something.

After reading several articles about censorship and free speech on the internet and the several laws that have been created to help with theses issues, I still feel as though the internet is a grounds of free speech that should not have to contain limits to what people think. The internet is like a huge diary and yes if it gets into the wrong hands then it can be hurtful, but if people know that there is all kinds of information out there, then they should be aware of how they are surfing the net. I also think that even though the internet websites should not be monitored, I feel as though pop-ups should be limited, because from personal experience when looking at an educational site pop-ups will appear without warning about items for sale and pornography.

I have searched for myself and others when I have been bored or had a few minute of downtime just for fun. Even though I knew that to expect I searched again just to see if things had changed. The only thing that was different was that my blog posts have come up early in the search list. When I searched my name most of the results were the times from my cross country races as well as academic achievements in high school. I found it interesting that my times for races were both from highs cool and college in no particular order. I thought I would find things that came up with my same name but not really me, but that was not the case.

This is my second computer science class at Mary Washington. I took Computer Science last year because I thought it would be good to learn what was going on inside the computer and how the parts form together to make a program. I learned a lot and was interested but just not enough to continue on with the studies. Some of my friends had recommended this class and again I wanted to understand just how the internet worked "behind the scenes." So far it has been interesting since I have never heard of blogs until the first day of class. I can see now why it is a growing trend! Are there any other computer science classes that you recommend?

Hello all! I'm Marcella and a sophmore at UMW. I live in a quad on campus and although at times it can feel a bit crowded, I have grown to love it. At school I run Cross Country and Track and I am a Geography major. I have lived my whole life in Fairfax, Va and have enjoyed every minute of it regardless of what others think of the "NOVA" area. Some of my favorites include the color orange, Legally Blonde and Paris Hilton. I have only taken one other computer science class and I thought this class sounded interesting.