Lessons from Class

As you know, we have been taking language lessons since October to help prepare us for the move next month. We have been learning speaking, writing and reading. It is so hard because the Japanese language does not translate word for word. In fact, not even close. And the grammar is different, as is the alphabet.

Today in class I learned how to type on a computer in Japanese. I am not sure how much I will need to do this, however it still is pretty cool to learn. I also learned how to write each of our names.

Here is some of what I learned today in my class.

おはようございます。Good morning!

はじめまして。How do you do?
アレキスです。My name is Alexis.
どうぞよろしくお願いします。Please to meet you

Here is my first Japanese letter.

直美様 Dear Naomi:

こんにちは。お元気ですか。Good afternoon. Are you fine?

ミーティングは９じから１２時までです。The meeting is from 9 until 12.

ではまた。さようなら。See you later. Good bye.

アレキス Alexis

And the names of everyone in my family. Again, some of our names have to be reworked to make them fit within the Japanese language.

アレキス Alexis

エミリー Emily
クリス Chris
サミ Sami
マット Matt

ジェイコブ　Jacobs

Computer Memory

I was watching a show not too long ago all about computers and how they have evolved over time. Technology amazes me.

How do you know if you need to upgrade your computer memory? How do you know which memory to buy? For those needing IBM memory or other PC memory there are many sites online that will actually run a check through cyberspace and tell you what memory you need and how much it will cost you. Pretty neat huh? Who would have thought 15 years ago that our world would be pretty much run by computers? Not me.

My name is Alexis...

And I am a Mac addict. Okay I admit it. I hate PCs. I find them user unfriendly, inflexible and just not very convenient. Plus they don't look as pretty sitting on a desk. Maybe it was because I learned on an Apple IIc back in the 80s. You know, the ones with the big floppy disk that were connected to a dot matrix printer that allowed you to play Pong.

Five years ago if you asked how many Mac users I knew I could only name a few. Now, it seem like almost everyone I talk to is a Mac convert, is planning on converting soon (especially with the new Intel processors and coming loaded with Windows XP) or is thinking of converting. Even Matt who always complained about my Apple loyalty has been caught drooling over the newly released Macs.

Last night at Emily's gymnastics practice the owner came running up to me as I sat and surfed the net. (I love going to a gym with wireless) He had just bought a new Mac, yes the one fully loaded with all the Intel and XP bells and whistles (lucky man) and was excited to see someone else with a Mac. I wonder what my chances are of getting to tinker on that machine.

So in honor of all my fellow Mac lovers (and I know several read this blog) I am posting one of my favorite Mac commercials. Even those not on a Mac will get a good chuckle out of it. Enjoy!!

New Look

So yeah... my blog has a new look. Note the sarcasm in my words. I somehow accidentally erased my whole blog this morning. Luckily the entries were saved within the Blogger system, but everything else was lost.

Now let me explain something to you. I took computer programming for two classes in college. I still remember my TA. Some long haired guy who kept toss his head like he was the next Cindy Crawford and would have been better suited in California instead of Ohio. Anyways, I am digressing. So I took these two classes. In fact I got A's in both. But somehow I have no memory of how to do HTML coding. No matter what I did this morning I kept messing up my sidebar and other parts of my blog. It was a mess. A frustrating mess. The computer almost went through the window.

So please bear with me. There will be some learning curves over the next few days. Until then, enjoy!