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A Charlie Brown Christmas, Unemployment, Laptop, & Microsoft

In December, my mom usually plays the same Christmas albums from years past, including:

• A collection of holiday songs from Johnny Mathis, Burl Ives, and Mariah Carey.
• The album Soulful Sounds of Christmas featuring various soul musicians.
• The soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas.

They’re all my favorite, and during the holidays, I still listen to the albums at home, work, and on my Zune HD when I’m out and about. But the one that stands out the most is the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, because it reminds me of Christmas in 2001.

In December 2001, I was just wrapping up my first quarter at Bellevue Community College (now Bellevue College). My parents were both unemployed—through no fault of their own—and staying afloat with strategic use of unemployment checks and, I presume, credit cards. I didn’t have much insight into the whole situation, because I was rarely at home; my college classes extended into the late evening and I worked on weekends.

In Christmas of that year, my sister and I woke up pretty late. It must’ve been at least 10:00 AM because I remember seeing daylight coming through the living room. We opened up our presents, which I’m positive included some kind of underwear from the dog (a common theme since when we were younger) and a couple other clothing items. Then, I opened up a gift and was confused at what I saw: It was a neoprene laptop case. I asked my mom, “Um, what’s this for?” and she responded, “Oh, they were just giving them away at Circuit City, so I got one for you and your sister.” Hm, weird.

After we finished opening our gifts, my mom walked into the family room and came back with two big boxes: one for me and one for my sister. I vividly remember that moment. I unwrapped the present and wondered what could be in the box with computer printing on it. Sure enough, I had gotten my first computer: a Compaq Presario laptop running Windows XP. The feeling was almost like when we first got the Internet (Prodigy or AOL, anyone?); I instinctively knew how to use it, but it felt really good to treat it like something totally foreign.

I remember hearing my mom talk about it with my sister that she had gone to Circuit City and found the laptops on sale. Hoping to get a deal, she found out that they were offering 10 percent off if she was willing to sign up for a Circuit City card, which is good because laptops were still a pretty new concept for typical consumers back in 2001. And although my parents both found jobs after the holiday season, I can’t fathom how long it took for them to pay off the two computers.

I took my laptop with me to school almost every day, wrote tons of papers on it, and watched movies during the long breaks in between classes. No longer would I be regulated to sleeping in the library to pass the time. However, procrastination in school projects was still an issue, but that’s another story.

The laptop also formally introduced me to the Microsoft brand. I’d known about Microsoft before, from using desktop computers running Windows 95 and Windows 98, but having my own computer let me explore how it worked and made me solve my own misunderstandings in how computers operate. It sparked my interest in technology and introduced me to new concepts like developing websites and mobile applications, blogging, finding resources online, and generally shaping my computer skills. I’ve taken advantage of these skills to develop myself academically, professionally, and personally. It’s because of this early exposure that I’m fiercely loyal to Microsoft products.

And now, whenever I listen to the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” soundtrack, I can’t help but think about that Christmas in 2001: The costs my parents endured to provide me with a tool to improve my education, my first laptop, and my introduction to Microsoft.

Thank you to my parents for buying me my first laptop for Christmas in 2001; it helped transform the way I learn and began my immersion into the world of technology, which is something that I take advantage of every day. I hope you understand how much that investment continues to pay off.

Love you, Mom & Dad!

Longtime No See, Eh?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I haven’t blogged for awhile. This has been a pretty interesting year, but I should have some time in the near future to start blogging again.

Who knows, maybe this time, I’ll actually focus on something?

Uber-Quick Update – Welcome, 2010!

I got in a car accident on January 1; someone ran a red light and destroyed my car. I’m still feeling pretty banged up—my left wrist, lower back, chest, and lower abdomen are still bruised almost two weeks later. My left wrist hurts the most, so that’s why I haven’t been making any posts and have been trying to avoid typing in general. Shoot, even washing my hands hurts.

That said, I hope the beginning of 2010 treated you a little more gently!

How Aladdin Channel/2channel in Densha Otoko and Twitter Relate and Differ

Nearly four years ago, I started watching the Japanese drama Densha Otoko (translated as Train Man) to better understand Japanese language and culture. I made it through the first four episodes of the drama series, which was based-on-a-true-story, and then put it on hold to concentrate on finding an English-teaching job in Japan. Lately, I’ve made more time for things other than maintaining websites, analyzing websites statistics, constantly being on top of various social media accounts, and my day job.

When I first watched the drama series, I watched it for what it was: A guy who is dedicated to his hobby, can’t find a girlfriend because of his status as a nerd, and seeks advice on a message board for single men. Recently, though, I watched the final seven episodes of the drama series and found that Aladdin Channel—based on 2channel, a real message board in Japan—is similar to a service that really caught on in 2009: Twitter. As I skimmed the 2channel message board where the true story of Densha Otoko took place, I noticed that, other than random pictures that people created from text, most of the messages were really short, similar to how Twitter has a 140 character limit. The picture on the left is a screenshot of both 2channel and Twitter.

Whereas Aladdin Channel looks like people can only access it while on a computer with a fully functional Web browser, Twitter is accessible in multiple ways; on mobile devices, on laptop and desktop computers, through third-party applications, and through third-party websites. With immediate, anywhere access to a community and a variety of ways to communicate with friends, the networking experience is much more useful. For example, if Train Man had access to Twitter on his cell phone while on a dinner date, he could’ve gone into the men’s bathroom, hid in a stall, and asked for advice on what he should do next. I don’t think a scenario like that is farfetched; I’m sure there’s been a lot of people who have asked for advice through Facebook or Twitter, hoping for real-time support while on the spot. Having to wait until I get home to search for answers and get advice when I’m out and about seems archaic.

Twitter’s platform makes the communication experience more interactive; people can visualize who they are talking to by see profile pictures, pictures and videos uploaded to third-party websites, and where people are currently located, among other things. In the Densha Otoko series, nobody knows what each other looks like because the message board is primarily text only, with some hyperlinks sprinkled in. The most noticeable difference between Aladdin Channel/2channnel and Twitter is the level of personality that people can apply to themselves through profiles.

It’s hard to argue that by making content available on multiple devices and through various third-party applications, building a trusting, reliable community is much easier than being restricted to a desktop or even laptop computer. However, as shown in episode 10 of the Densha Otoko series—where people find out who Train Man is—I don’t think people understand the risks and vulnerability they submit themselves to with open networks. With the various sharing that happens on Twitter—pictures, videos, hyperlinks, name-dropping, divulging peoples’ locations, and sensitive personal or business content, among other things—people should be prepared for their information to fall into the wrong hands. On the plus side, the subjects people talk about could also fall into the right hands, as evidenced by people who have found jobs by using Twitter.