The Future and Virtual Worlds by Ariella

One of my side hobbies is being a tech geek and keeping up to date with the new technology that will change our world. I create movies for virtual worlds clients, so I'm constantly exposed to everyone's theories on what we should brace ourselves for. One of the hot topics of today is augmented reality, where virtual reality and real life combine. So for example, you can wear 3D goggles and see the world around you much differently, where a little inscription on a building, in virtual view can be an entire encyclopedia book that pops out and interacts with you to give you information. It provides new ways of learning, but also new ways of doing things. So, through computerized ways we can "toggle" something, which will cause it to react in real life, or vice versa (of course this being the easier way- react in real life causes a reaction in virtual). Now the challenge is reacting in virtual, causing it to react in real life. Is it possible, do you think? An example- an architect can construct a building in virtual, making it construct in real time in REALITY. Is that crazy or WHAT? Possibilities would be endless. And if you don't believe it, virtual reality and reality interchangeability is really happening as I type this. See for yourself:



Amazing, isn't it? It's like the kind of stuff that's presented in Epcot in Disney World in that big globe thing. You see the potential future and learn about it. When I went on those rides, the future seemed so far away, but it's really happening!

You guys can check out my affiliation with virtual worlds at my website: http://www.alm-productions.net I do virtual worlds filmmaking, with virtual actors and virtual sets.

So overall, as long as we don't forget how important human to human interaction is, rising technology can really help us in the fields of education, health, architecture, art, etc.

Ariella's Weekend 4/2009

So this weekend I did my spring cleaning! I hadn't planned to this weekend in particular, but it happened because I was greeted with a large box on my porch- my new 24" imac! The thing was HUGE. I was soo excited, I even brushed off the first impulse I had which was, "WHY WOULD THE DELIVERY MAN JUST LEAVE THAT ON MY PORCH??" Expensive computers should require signatures!

So I spent about an hour just trying to drag it up the stairs to my room and trying to open it. It was a big box in another big box. So I had to flip it different ways till I could slide off the first big box. Anyway, I finally managed to get it on my desk and my first thought was, "They sent me the wrong size!" The thing was absolutely huge. I actually called Apple Support to make sure it wasn't a mistake. Nope, it wasn't! It wouldn't even fit in the little cove in my desk specially made for computers. Man, the thing is a beauty regardless of its massive size.

So anyway, with this huge computer on my desk- my room looked like a pig stock! I spent 3 hours on Friday cleaning, then went out to a bar to meet some friends. Then finished up on Saturday during the day, another 4 hours at least. Let's put it this way, by the time I was finished I had 5 HUGE trash bags outside my room. 3 of which are all trash, 2 which are old clothes and books I'm giving away to Planet Aid.

Anyway, I don't think anyone can beat my spring cleaning! It makes me feel really good to well, be able to actually breath! I couldn't believe all that stuff fit in my little room. I think I got rid of 75% of my stuff.

Saturday night I congratulated myself by going over my friend's house with some other friends. What is the result of being amongst a group of high-maintenance (and spoiled I should mention.. but I didn't say that, hehe) people? Everyone wants their own dinner. We ended up going to 4 places for dinner- NO JOKE. Thankfully just for takeout- but taking one car- it took us ages to get our food. One person got Chinese, another got sushi, another got wawa, and another got McDonalds. So anyway, once we got back we watched Slumdog Millionaire. It was the first viewing for all of us. Let me just say- it was BRILLIANT!! You all must see it! One of the best movies I've ever seen, hand's down!

Sunday I had went to the city to meet a friend for smoothies and frisbee. However, I'm pretty confident I'm cursed because she got rear-ended. She was ok, thank goodness! But her car had to be towed. Anyway, this relates to my infamous streak of my friends getting into car accidents when they come to see me. That was the third time something similar happened in less than a year. Anyone know some curing bad luck remedies? I really don't want my friends to get hurt anymore! I'll tell them to take Septa next time, but then they'll just be late or canceled all the time, haha.

So weekend rating overall? 4 out of 5. I wouldn't mind having another one of these. Productive and fun! Hope everyone else's weekend was just as good as mine!

Henry's Weekend 4/2009

This weekend wuz just awful, mrow! They put me, King Henry, all alone on the porch with no one to nurture me. My family left on vacation, my co-workers went home to their lives, hiss. I can't even has cheeseburger, for you lolcats out there. Well I was far from an lolcat! I was more like a *cries*cat (some internet jargon for you geeks out there).

It started Saturday. The wind was whipping across the barely covered porch windows, threatening to tear them into shreds. Then the rain came sweeping down like an avalanche. Whimper! I leaped across the floors, slipping and sliding in all my clumsy glory to take cover. There were wastebaskets being turned over, stuff rattling on the shelves! "MRUUUUUUU," I howled loudly.

Chunks of rain began spurting in through the windows; all I could do was duck my head and press my paws to my face in cover. I felt like no one loved me!

After all the rattle, the rain began to subtly die down. I felt safe enough to peek out from under the couch. In the distance I saw a figure- I was saved! Pat was here to check in on me! "Help me Pat! It was awful!! Everything was falling! No one was here to save me!" She held me until I stopped shivering. Phew!

Monday morning came and thankfully the terror had passed. I could see my co-workers come in. They scooped me up and put me in my rightful place on Ariella's desk, as assistant editor and Employee of the Month (but between you and me, it's employee of every month). I spent the day editing away as the girls cuddled and paid so much attention to me. That's how things should be!

So anyway, my family should come home tomorrow and I don't want them to think I've forgotten about their abandoning me. I'll give them a nasty glance, to let them know to prepare the cleaning supplies, because I'll be leaving a few of my passive-aggressive surprises all around. They'll know that next time they go to Disney World, they better bring me along! I'm man enough to go on all the big rides too!

All about our office cat...Henry

All about Henry

There is a cat that hangs out with us in the office named Henry. He is really furry and gray and white. He loves everyone but Jon! He usually sleeps on a blanket near my desk (for some reason, he only feels safe specifically on my desk). He twitches a lot in his sleep, and we always wonder about what he's dreaming of. We call him my "assistant editor." However, he doesn't really hold up to that role because the only contribution he makes is getting cat hair all over my clothes! Oh, and not to mention when he tries to be friendly- he ends up sticking his nose in your ear so you'd pet him, and then you spend the afternoon finding random cat hairs in your eyelashes. What a weird cat!

Sometimes Henry can be pretty cool to have around, but only the negative is coming to mind right now. Like this one time, we were all having a meeting and all of a sudden we heard a noise, and when we turned around he was about to start puking all over the place. Gross! This other time no one was in the office and he left a nice surprise for me on the carpet. Either I had to deal with the smell till the others came back or I had to suck it up and clean- guess what I ended up doing?

Anyways-- Henry is pretty cool though, underneath the harsh exterior. He's friendly and always lifts everyone's moods! Here he is:

Ariella's Winter Getaway

Hey all! Ariella here! I work at Well Spun and do a lot of the customer service, dvd authoring, some editing, touch ups, and web drafts. This is me and my friends on the ship(I am all the way to the right:)

Last week I took off a week and went on a cruise to a couple warm destinations: Haiti, Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico. I actually went on the cruise sick as a dog. I felt sick and had just loss my voice a couple days before. The first two days of the cruise were cold since we left from New Jersey. I think by the end of the first or second day, I was non-stop coughing and taking meds to help me, certainly not happy with their side effects. By the third or fourth day, I completely forgot I stepped on the boat ill at all. The sun at Haiti cured me. It's amazing what a little Vitamin D could do! I wish they'd package sunlight and seawater up in a bottle and you'd get to enjoy it for an hour or so with each dose. How amazing would that be? There is no cure like the natural cure!


Anyways, with my cold gone, the rest of the cruise was amazing. In Haiti I learned to bargain, in Dominican Republic I ate their native meals (without getting food poisoning!), and at St. Thomas I swam in an ocean where no matter how far I went out, I could see my feet. Of course, I got to experience what everyone always rants about- fish nibbling on my feet! That was weird-- I didn't know whether to be scared, and I kept getting self-conscious that I would hurt them when I swam.My favorite destination was Puerto Rico. It was so cultured and developed. I wasn't sure what to expect when I stepped off the dock. I loved learning its history and walking through this old, still-standing fortress. I got some of my best photos there. I want to go back because we didn't have a lot of time to explore there. One of my favorite things I witnessed was poetry pasted all throughout the street. I'm not sure if it was some hipsters posting it for some cause or whether they were just trying to make people smile. It just seemed like on every major landmark, you can find a piece of poetry- just on some plain white paper. I really hope it's still there!


Well- that's it! I'm signing off :)

-A

Brianna's Wedding

I guess I will be the guinea pig for the start of this blog too!!

So here I am on my wedding day, November 1st, 2008....

My sweatshirt says "Soon To Be Mrs. Beall". I wore this everywhere the weeks leading up to my wedding, and always met someone who had a nice comment!! I loved this sweatsuit, and do still wear it, but only around the house. It was one of my favorite things I got for the wedding!

Ok so here I am now, all dressed to get married!! I loved my veil, which was actually my mom's from 1975 :) I did the something old(the diamond in my engagement ring was from my maternal grandmother who was married in 1949), something new(my wedding gown), something borrowed(my paternal grandmothers rosary beads and my necklace and earrings from my sister-in-law), and something blue(my grandmothers rosary beads also.) I am very traditional in that sense and made sure we had an item for each category!
So now to my bridesmaids.... I had seven bridesmaids, seven groomsmen, two flower girls, and four ring bearers(even though 2 couldn't walk down the aisle because they were only 10 days old!) And I know that I had a HUGE wedding party, but each and everyone of them are so important to us and we just had to have them all a part of our big day!
I couldn't decide on what color dress to choose, so I choose two, and because there were so many of them, I think it worked! The flower girls dresses were just mini versions of my wedding gown too, how cute!! We had a total fall themed wedding. From my place cards being pinned to mini-pumpkins, to the pine cones in my centerpieces, and we really did up the colors too!

The new Mr. & Mrs. Beall!!! :)

It already feels like it happened so long ago..........