Ryan Schmidt

Response to a classmate

2007-10-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

In response to a classmates post about "becoming social": http://meghanohare124blog.blogspot.com/2007/10/social-networking-specifically-my-sapce.html

"Once clicking on her site, I realized that her site was private and you could only view it if you were invited. This lead to old feelings of social bias and exclusion, things that I thought that I had passed over since leaving high school."

I totally agree with this statement! I think everyone back in high school felt excluded at some point. While we thought we were all matured and over those feelings, feeling rejected once again because we WERE NOT INVITED, can bring back some bad memories. Although, I'm sure a simple e-mail would fix this, and your old friend would invite you (but that'd seem stalker-esque, and that's not cool!)

"So you can find old classmates, that you weren’t very close to anyways otherwise you would have stayed in touch, and tell them about how great your life is and how many friends you now have."

This is also very true... People tend to look for old classmates who they were never really friends with to begin with; possibly in an attempt to feel more popular? I think these social networks should only be a device to keep in touch with "real" friends (real meaning people who actually care about what you have to say and think), rather than a popularity contest online. I thought this was done after I graduated? NOPE! :)

"I just think that MySpace is a waste of time and energy and is built around a mentality of one-up-manship, which I prefer not to take part in."

Yes! MySpace is pretty pointless, and it's built around the whole "friends" system... more specifically, "top friends"... You'd think that people would seem really fake towards others just to get on the top of their friends list. Kinda pathetic....

Becoming Social

2007-10-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

There are many benefits to being social online. You can keep in contact with friends, get help with school, stay in touch with family, etc. But along with the pros, there are also many cons. Identity theft, malicious software, among other threats.

Before I chase you away from the wonders of becoming social, let me first explain why it is a good thing. As I have already stated; joining a social network online can be a very informative and valuable tool for your every day life. Today, with students being so busy with work and school, it is sometimes very difficult to keep up with friends and know what's going on. This is where blogging comes in. If something important or profound happened in your life, write about it, and let your friends know! It's very convenient. Social networking is also a good way to read news, and also post your comments and be heard.

Although there are many good things that go along with social networking, there is an equal amount of undesirable results from being social online. One of the biggest things would probably be "personal attacks"... This is where someone may attack your looks, beliefs, thoughts and feelings. Another hot topic these days is identity theft... Someone may go around posing as you, getting YOU in trouble, and also ruining your possible "good reputation". Not good....

I've only touched the surface of "becoming social" there is so much more to know and learn from this technology. I can only suggest searching everyone's favorite search engine "Google" and learning more for yourself!

-Ryan

Ready? Of course!

2006-11-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

We're ready for our two shows this weekend, and we're ready to see all of you there enjoying yourselves listening to some awesome music. Why? Because you've had a hard week, and it's time to unwind in a mosh pit of epic proportions!

New Song: Grip of Fate

2006-11-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

Our demo album is just about done with the completion of recording for "Grip of Fate".

We'd love for you to listen to it! It's on our MySpace profile, or you can check it out on the music page of our website. It's suggested that you listen to the song with a subwoofer for reasons which will be apparent if you take our advice. :)

Shows: November 10th & 11th

2006-11-07T07:05:00.000-08:00

We have two shows coming up this weekend!

Friday
Where: Studio Academy
When: Doors open at 6:30pm
Who: Bands include A Short Story Long, RAWFLCOPTER, and Static Empire
Cost: $5 at the door

We will be selling demo CDs for $5, and t-shirts for $10!

Saturday: battle of the bands, although we aren't allowed to compete... :(

Where: Relay Station (Mantorville, MN)
When: Starts at 5:00pm
Who: Static Empire, Runway 36, and a bunch of other competing bands
Cost: $5 in advance (ask one of the SE band members for tickets), or $7 at the door

We will be selling demos and t-shirts at the Relay Station as well.

First Post

2006-11-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

So I decided to create a blog to help keep everyone up to date with the latest happenings within the band.

If you don't know who we are; We are a metal band "born and raised" in Rochester, Minnesota. You can check out our music and pics at our MySpace site, or *real* website! :)

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