Showing posts with label Other. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Other. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Month of Thanksgiving 2018, Day 13

Today Mr. Sean is thankful for


His Desk(s)

I've spent much time at desks as a student and at home. Writing for many classes, solving many math problems, and sometimes using its flat surface for other pursuits such as origami and cross-stitching. The desk is where I can say I got things done and some goals accomplished. Though it'd always be nice to have a large enough desk for all the things I'd like to accomplish, but I make do with what I have.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Month of Thanksgiving 2018, Day 10

Believe it or not, today Mr. Sean is thankful for


Maryland

Way back in 2004, when my family moved away from Colorful Colorado, I was so used to living in a beautiful state with breathtaking views of the mountains from my house and going to a school where the year started for most students right after the Fourth of July (Lucky B track, of the four tracks at Mission Viejo Elementary School, got to start school at the end of July instead) that moving to a new state was very hard on me. I'll admit it, nine year old me cried a lot during fourth grade trying to adjust to a new place and for a while, I did not like Maryland at all. Thankfully I got used to living in Maryland and fifth grade me cried a lot less than fourth grade me, though I still looked forward to living elsewhere. I got used to living in Maryland throughout middle school and high school, but no love for the state just yet. Everything changed when I went to Millersville University in Pennsylvania and being out of Maryland but making friends from other parts of Maryland made me realize how much I actually like living in Maryland. It'll be hard to move out of Maryland, though hopefully as an adult I'll be able to handle moving better if I do move out. There are a few people in particular I have to thank for making me realize that I like Maryland. Renee Duff, Elizabeth Siebold, and Noah Stitley are a few of my Millersville friends that helped me realize how much I grew to like Maryland. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Month of Thanksgiving 2018, Day 6

Today Mr. Sean is thankful for


The right to vote

Since I am not in a position of political power, it's challenging to get my voice heard in government. Being able to vote and partaking in voting helps with getting my voice heard. If you haven't gone out and voted today, you still have a couple of hours left. Local elections matter too!

Friday, July 27, 2018

Podcasts? Mr. Sean Listens to them? Really?


My Walkman mp3 Player that allows me to listen to podcasts

Recently I've gotten into listening to podcasts. My interest in podcasts came up suddenly this week although I've listened to a few before. I figured that I could stay connected to things that interest me and learn more by listening to podcasts. Here are some of the podcasts I listen/have listened to.

The Art of Manliness

The Art of Manliness podcast is an extension of the website The Art of Manliness (artofmanliness.com). Hosted by Brett McKay, episodes are released weekly and in each episode Brett along with a guest explore various topics related to the idea of manliness such as proper etiquette, exercise advice, and ways to approach challenges in life. This podcast does post weekly as of the writing of this post.

The Food Chain

The Food Chain (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p028z2z0) is a podcast courtesy of the BBC World Service. This podcast is a good way of feeding my hunger for knowledge. Also, for those who know me well, food! I've listened to two episodes so far. One focused on the culinary innovations of Chinatowns worldwide while the other focused on McDonald's in Asia. This podcast does post weekly at the time this post was written.

Mostly Weather

Mostly Weather (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/mostly-weather) is a podcast courtesy of the Met Office in the United Kingdom. Twenty-six episodes so far where a group of Met Office meteorologists discuss anything related to weather. I learned that the first use of the word "forecast" was in 1861 by Admiral Robert FitzRoy of the Royal Navy. At time of writing, Mostly Weather does not have a regular uploading schedule but the newest episode is from June 2018.  

NHK World Radio Japan

NHK World Radio Japan (https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/radio/about/  this URL links to a landing page where one can listen to Radio Japan live, on demand, or via podcast) is available in English, French, Arabic, and other languages. Daily uploads give the listener short updates on news from Japan, the greater Asia-Pacific region, and the world. I picked NHK World Radio Japan as I like watching NHK World Newsline on TV and on their website.

WeatherBrains

WeatherBrains (http://weatherbrains.com/) is a weekly podcast by the well known and legendary (at least to his fans and viewers) James Spann. Available on YouTube and via podcasting programs, each episode features Spann and a bunch of meteorologists that discuss all things meteorology, similarly to MostlyWeather from across the pond, except that James Spann also has his job as chief meteorologist at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, AL to keep him busy separately from the WeatherBrains podcast. With 653 episodes and counting, I may not be able to catch up on all the episodes.

WittyClothes Productions

The final podcast mentioned in this blog is responsible for my interest in podcasts despite the fact that I first watched them before I got deep into podcasts. WittyClothes Productions (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX7m3CpZz5YU257wM9G8gDw) was my first introduction to podcasts in general, though I watched rather than purely listened to this podcast. The dynamic duo of my friend Cailin Clothier and her friend Dara Wittman have produced podcasts that focus on reacting to and commentary on various shows such as the Legend of Korra and Orphan Black. Thank you very much Cailin and Dara for getting me into listening to podcasts.

Anyways, if you have any suggestions for podcasts that you think I would like, please post them in the comments section. Thank you!

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

What has Mr. Sean been up to recently?


Francis Ow sure had some cool ideas for Origami models.

Sorry for the silence on my blog in the past two months. I just have not been inspired to write a blog post until now. I figured that at least a few people would appreciate knowing what I'm up to anymore. I figured I'd try to leave out the more boring parts of my summer as they would bore me even more. Anyways I can say that my goal of reading the entire Bible in 2018 is going along quite nicely, even though I did have to catch up because I was not diligent enough some days or there were exams to worry about earlier. The hard part is seeing that I'm making progress in terms of days the Bible was read while seeing how few books I have read so far. I've also been writing daily Haiku except these are only haiku in syllabic form, that is the first and last line comprising of five syllables and the middle line seven. Some of my Facebook friends with memories as good as or better than mine will remember that I tried to accomplish these goals in 2017 but failed after a few months. This year I decided I'll be less of a failure to myself.  I've also been sporadically active in origami, more so in re-creating modular models than anything else. I may write up a few posts on origami I've folded previously under the guise of Throwback Thursday. Though my ultimate goal for the year is to fold 1000 tiny swans and 1000 tiny cranes. Each crane and swan will be folded from paper that is 3 centimeters by 3 centimeters. In the world of math, I probably should not be working on Khan Academy math, but I figured it would be good for me to refresh some of the older skills I have learned, though I should focus more on reviewing calculus as it is very relevant to meteorology. I've also recently been working on solving problems from Project Euler. Project Euler is a website that has hundreds of math problems that people are encouraged to write computer programs to solve. I'll admit that I've only solved 11 problems so far out of the nearly 630. So far I've been using Python to good results in under a minute.

Anyways, I'll try to set for myself more deadlines for writing up posts and try to be less boring than I currently am at the moment. If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to hear from me, let me know!

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Trying New Things and Continuing Things that Work

So, throughout my life, I've been given advice, most of it good, some of it not so good. One piece of advice that stands out though comes from my father, though he usually gave it in order to convince me to eat new things: Try new things, you don't know if you like it until you try it. I can say that I will try new things if I think they'll be good or can make me a better person. In this photo, I've a bowl from Silantra in downtown Lancaster, PA and the mix of rice, grilled veggies, seaweed salad, shrimp, and yellow curry sauce was delicious. Although I've had food similar to this before, the restaurant I ate at was a new experience for me (though if my dad reads this, he'll probably bring up Chipotle's burrito bowl being a similar concept). Also pictured is my bullet journal, which I can only try to describe it as a mashup of whatever you want it to be with bulleted lists playing a central role. My bullet journal tends to be my daily planner and to-do list, with a page dedicated to tracking headaches, and other pages full of information that is relevant to me. I started it right after school let out in May and so far it's been working pretty well for me, so I'll keep writing in it.


My Bullet Journal and a recent dinner


Thursday, October 5, 2017

River Views



One of the things I like about the hills and mountains of the east coast are the spectacular river valley views and being able to see so much below me. For example, here is a photo from Chickies Rock in Lancaster county, PA with a panoramic view of the Susquehanna River Valley below.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

The Four Seasons as I see them

The Four Seasons as photographed by me

Seasons come and go and come and go year in and year out, a seeming constant in my life. Over the years I've come to make some connections between seasons and life.

Spring to me represents birth and rebirth. The trees and the flowers bloom, animals wake up and come to life, and weather starts to get more exciting with thunderstorms and tornadoes.

Summer represents maturity. The leaves on the trees are at their peak green, the weather has settled down compared to spring.

Fall represents old age. Leaves start to turn pretty shades of yellow, orange, and red. Animals start to prepare for winter. We as people tend to harbor nostalgia all the time, but there's something about fall that makes the nostalgia stronger as we reflect on our past.

Winter represents death. The leaves have fallen off the trees, there is not much activity abuzz outside, the sky is often gray and temperatures frigid.

Personally I try to see the good in all the seasons, even though I'm biased towards spring as I was born in spring. I like the spring for its nice warmth and anticipation of things to come, summer for the sunny days and the many possibilities for action, fall for the crisp, cool air and the beginning of soup season, and winter for beautiful swaths of snow and Christmas.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Workstations


My workstation back home


I probably place too much currency on the humble desk, as it is essentially a table, but the desk is a place where much progress can be made and can reflect an individual personality. I like to keep my desk as uncluttered as I can, as any mess will distract me from my work. Sometimes I wish I had a bigger desk so I can comfortably do more work, but the size limitations of the desks I use force me to better plan and use the minimum amount of space to do the maximum amount of work.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Why have I posted recently

I saw that a friend had her own Blogger and it gave me a bit of inspiration to try my hand at it.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

What I'd like to do

Personally, I'd like to be able to organize myself so well that I know exactly how to operate a blog on Blogger.