This week is going to be short and sweet. A lot of us on the East Coast are preparing for Hurricane Sandy, and that includes my rescue squad here in Fredericksburg! So if you’re looking for me after this post, I will most likely be on an ambulance from tomorrow until Wednesday morning! So let’s get cracking!!

This week was Web Week. We were asked to go onto websites and add our own touch to them…touch? I MEAN TAKE THEM OVER!!! And our bestfriend/partner in crime to help us do that was Hackasaurus. They provided X-Ray Goggles which allowed us to edit web pages as we saw fit. Honestly, I think this is the coolest tool I have used in this class so far. I wish I would have had more time this week to edit the web page in every aspect, but I did do a fair amount to the pages that I did edit.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself…RADIO SHOWS WENT LIVE THIS WEEK!!! Radio WRTZ aired LIVE on Monday night, but you can re-listen here. I think we had the highest amount of listeners, 27, but I forgot to post my screenshot somewhere, so you’ll just have to trust me! After all the shows had aired, we were asked to evaluate another group’s show and our own as well. My evaluation for The Brick House Panel Show can be found here, and that page also has a link to their show. I’m going to evaluate our WRTZ show right here, right now:

Quality of Sound: The volume was appropriate, but depending on the scene, we were further away from the microphone, which lowered the audio, but also made it sound like we were across the room moving items…which we were!

Quality of Audio Editing: Gotta hand it to @dzim. The man spent many hours working on making the audio flow as well as adding sound effects. Use of a time bumper was a great idea, and hopefully listeners understood what was going on.

Use of Sound Effects: The team really came together on this one. We made our own, we picked certain ones for the show, and we all did different things in our bumpers and commercials that all worked well.

Use of Music: There was some music during the show, but it was more of us telling a story about what was going on through the “eyes” of each character.

Show Structure: We had a script, but that was only to keep us to a general idea. The rest of the show we basically played who we thought we would be during a real zombie apocalypse. It’s easy to be yourself and even better when you have a group of talented and non-judgmental individuals…everyone builds off of each others ideas and come up with something great.

Does it tell a story? HELL YES. It may need a little narration, but if you get the basics of what is going on, we tell a story about how we ended up in the radio station, what we did before, and what we did when….well just listen to the show!

I rate 4/5 stars for the WRTZ Radio Show.

For our assignments this week, we were to alter web pages and tell stories within them, here is what I came up with:

Main Assignment: This was to create a story within a website. I chose to write about free mountain lions. Why? Because 1. The Internet is obsessed with cats, and 2. College kids should always surf the Craiglist Free page for cool stuff…we ARE broke ya know?
Web Assignment #1: This was a 1-star assignment asking to show us a translation fail. Luckily for me, I was in the midst of studying for Spanish and had this little fail land right in my lap! Check it out, I think it was pretty funny
Web Assignment #2: Breaking new grounds with a 4-pointer here! This assignment asked to find an object and make it unique. I chose to auction a cool lamp that sits in our living room and looks like you would pick it up from a yard sale. On the auction site, you’ll have to pretend that you’re in the future and that this was a rare masterpiece created by yours truly and would bring in a nice sum of cash!

Last up, daily creates! We’re also supposed to tie them together to tell a story, so I’m going to see what I can do!

TDC289: Asked to show a picture of rocks…SO I DID!

This is a picture from May 2010, My ex-girlfriend and I made a trip to Fred because we were both looking into going to UMW. We were driving down the road next to the river and I couldn’t help but snap a couple pictures!
TDC292: Asked to show a picture of how the Egyptian Pyramids were powerful:
I found this image of a Japanese Pyramid Watermelon on Google. I thought the fact that there were camels in the picture added to the photo’s Egyptian-ness.
TDC293: The Last TDC was to show a picture of something you are proud of, and I am proud of volunteering at the Fredericksburg Rescue Squad
I’m proud of what I do, I’m proud to work with the folks that I do, and love to help the community. Hence, after I’m done typing this summary, I’m going to bed so I can get up early and work during the bad weather that Hurricane Sandy brings our way! I’ve grown a lot over the past 2 years that I have been at the squad and it shows by the leadership position I hold. I’m 20 years old but I have a major voice in an organization that has been around since 1940. I’m proud to bring a young new face leading others in the streets of Fredericksburg for the greater good.

And as for my story, I’m going to keep it short…and maybe a little mean/graphic. Here we go: My ex-girlfriend and I were having a picnic in the park down by the Rappahannock eating pyramid-shaped watermelon. We were discussing our plans to go to school together and live happily ever after. But soon, she told me she wanted to go to a different school in Maryland. Boy, did that make me mad! So I acted calm, but we went on a walk by the river. We came across this giant rock near some rapids. Here, she thought would be the perfect time to break up with me. She proceeded to tell me how if she went to Maryland and I stayed in Fredericksburg, it would never work. I ABSOLUTELY LOST IT. I pushed her off the rock and into the river. Afterwards, I remember she couldn’t swim, so I called 9-1-1 and the Rescue Squad showed up and saved her life! Unfortunately, the police came as well and I was put in jail for 2 years…and here I am telling this story, been out of jail for 6 months now! And she was right, it never worked!

Okay, I think that’s a pretty cool story…better than how we actually broke up! Well that’s it for this week, hope you enjoy! I’m off to play in the rain and stomp out disease!