I just recently went to the mall to accompany my family to buy some clothes and stuff.  It’s been a long time since going to the mall, or any store has been an exciting time.

Granted it might be that I’m getting older, and more practical and pragmatic, when I was younger I used to go hang out at the mall all the time.  Back then things were more promising, the future was bright and exciting.

And now we are in the future that we used to dream about.  I’ve got more stuff than I ever thought I would, and that stuff is just amazing.  I can watch movies, listen to music, read almost any book I want right on my computer tablet.

There is a sense of immediate gratification… well, let’s change that – it all is immediate gratification.

So, when I was walking around the mall there were fewer amazing things for sale.  Maybe it’s because I’m jaded over technology… nothing seems to impress anymore, it’s like when a new whiz bang thing comes out (which in my opinion never really happens these days), I don’t look at it and say “Wow that’s really cool, how did they do that” – what I tend to do these days is “Gosh, they should have done this sooner, why have they been slow getting around to this?”

So, it’s either me, or the mall has really become boring?  Is it because I have more responsibilities now?  Or is it because I have about the same amount of spending money that I did when I was 16 or 17 (but I make much more money, it’s all ear-tagged though)?

I’m not quite sure, but maybe one day I’ll have an epiphany…

What would your life be like without facebook?  I recently tried not going on face book for a month, and I wound up in the hospital… Really, I nearly died.  You can read more about it on http://diabetesbites.com.  I didn’t mention that I had stopped using face book, but I did.  And then After I went into the hospital I had to succumb to posting again on face book to make sure people knew I was alright.  And then after that I continued to go onto face book.

So, what can we take away from that story?  That stopping using face book can be hazardous to your health, that’s what I got out of it.

Honestly though the content that is on face book is really just a string of annoying and semi-cute meems.  Nothing is really said that is really totally life changing (except posts that I get from my wife!) or earth shattering.

I thought about what I used to do on the Internet prior to face book, I would go on lots of Internet based BBS, or Bulletin Board Systems… in face pre-Internet I used to operate a pretty popular BBS on my computer in my bedroom.  It had two phone lines that people could dial in on, and I had over 1000 users, which at the time was pretty good for a local San Diego based BBS.  I also used to go to the news sites, such as CNN and MSNBC.  But now articles are posted up on face book and we get some of our news, however iffy, from face book.

I would get all of my social interaction from email and IMing…  Now all that is available on face book, and more and more people are getting on and using the facebook platform for messaging, chatting, and sharing your most interesting (well, at least you think so) pictures and adventures.

I recently have been trimming up my face book account, I’ve been getting tired of seeing loads of pictures of dogs that need to be adopted, or they will be put down today!!!! (and every day it seems).  I’ve got 4 animals that were rescues… and I have no room for any more.  Nor do I know anyone who has a need or a place for a rescue pet.  So I hid from my news feed those people who are literally barraging me with “Save this pet, and if you can’t forward it to someone else”. What an important thing, but I feel like I’m being dragged into participating in spam.

I think that life would be a lot less drama filled, and we would be much better off spending more time away from our computers and spend more time with our fellow humans.  I’m thinking of switching off facebook again, but am I ready to head to the hospital again?  That is the big question.

Last night my wife and I and daughter were watching the Grammys and the Bafta awards and we were asaulted visually and verbally by a commercial promoting a site where you bid for first dates.

My wife’s first comment was that it comes down to promoting prostitution.  Nothing wrong with one of the oldest professions, but when you’re a dating site and you promote people paying to go on a date, it does just come down to prostitution.

Well, there is no guarantee that you will get lucky (and have sex)  if you win the bid and pay someone to date you.  No, it isn’t a requirement.  However it is a shallow and crappy site.  I’m sorry I have to be honest here.  It offends!  And I know I’m just giving it free press, but let’s get real here… and start some conversation about it!

I see this as a real problem, and possibly a cottage industry… getting paid to go on dates because you are (as the web site puts it) an attractive person.  Think about it, men and or women will pay to date you.  If they feel that this is a type of screening, meaning that if you have money you must not be all that bad… creeps and creepers have jobs and have money too.

I seriously hope that this site doesn’t take off and gets taken off of the web.  Bad Form Indeed!

Today I had the honor of helping a friend of our family out with her programing class.  She had been working on the assignment all week and was having a hard time really understanding the language.  This is fairly typical for most programing students it seems. The language was Java… which is like programing in C++, or like pretty much any of the modern languages used in computer programing these days.

I don’t want to debate which language is best for using or learning.  Honestly if you know how to program in one, you can take those skills and translate them to the language you are using.  But there is a problem with teaching these languages… My friend had to add code to a existing program (adding functionality via the code as well).  She told me that they were just up to chapter 2 in the book they are using (which I have never seen, the book that is..) and she was lost.  After a few minutes of explaining how it all works she now has a much better understanding of the language and programing in general (remember the fact that you can transfer or translate the skills to other languages)…  She should have had better instruction from her instructor.

This happened alot in my High School years and in Junior college as well.  I had lots of experience when I was in high school and junior college and picked the stuff up very easily.  Must be because I truly was and still am a nerd.  I found that I wound up knowing more than most of my instructors and was willing to dive into much more complex coding and projects, which my instructors had a hard time helping me with.

Programing is hard if you don’t have the proper instruction, or if it isn’t explained in a way that makes sense to someone new to programing.  Also it’s bad if the instructor has poor coding habits… they pass those right along to those who are working on learning it.

In all reality programing isn’t that hard at all!  It’s just detail oriented and you have to break down the steps that you need to take or happen in the smallest pieces.  And the computer is very literal when it comes to code… it will do exactly what you tell it to do – as long as you have your syntax correct.

So now I am my friends digital mentor.  I will help her out when I can with programing, giving her the insight she is not getting from her instructor.  And I don’t know if her instructor is bad, or lacking the ability to get a concept across, but based on my friends situation that just might be the case… She picked up the concepts quickly and is now much more aware of what is needed and what is going on.  I believe she is going to do a great job!!

And for those of you learning programing in college; Good luck!