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The Gilmore Project: "The Deer Hunters" (Topic 1 of 2)

The Project: The Gilmore Project is an experiment in composition form. As a huge fan of the show Gilmore Girls, I have watched and rewatched the episodes several times over. During my last full viewing in early 2018, I noticed myself watching the show differently than I had in the past and realized that there was a lot of personal reflection being stimulated by the events of the show as well as the music and cultural references. As a result, I decided to start a journey in blog form...exploring each episode and how it resonated with me personally.  Disclaimer: If you have not watched Gilmore Girls but plan to, you'll want to watch each episode before reading these posts. There will 100% of the time be spoilers. I'd be doing this wrong if there weren't. That's the nature of the beast. As is the nature of an experiment, sometimes you have to change your approach along the way. I've altered the format for this episode's post to see if I like it a little bit better. This may or may not result in a method that sticks. I have a feeling there will be a few more evolutions of structure as I go along. The Episode: "The Deer Hunters" Lane: "You hit a deer?"Rory: "No, I got hit BY a deer." Rory gets a disappointing grade on an English paper. As a result, she panics and studies incredibly hard for her upcoming Shakespeare exam. After oversleeping following a late night cramming session, Rory is hit by a deer on her way to school. She winds up arriving late and is not allowed to sit for the exam, which is to count for 20% of her final grade in the course. There were two primary topics that I noted during this episode. Because I tend to get a little wordy, I'll be breaking this episode into two separate posts, each addressing one of the two topics. Topic #1: Rory Gets a D Lorelai: “I hate when I’m an idiot and I don’t know it. I like to be aware of my idiocy, to really revel in it, take pictures. I feel we missed a prime Christmas card opportunity.”Rory: “I’m sorry.”Lorelai: “You should have told me.”Rory: “I couldn’t.”Lorelai: “You couldn’t tell me? You tell me everything.”Rory: “It was too humiliating.”Lorelai: “Oh, honey. You once told me that you loved Saved By the Bell. What could be more humiliating than that?” Rory is used to being a stellar student. Learning seems to come fairly easy to her and she's always been a bright girl. But Chilton poses new challenges. When she receives a "D" on her English paper (her first D ever), she is understandably concerned and disappointed.  This situation is one that I can so easily understand. I was a pretty good student in high school and--though I did study and it did take me some effort--I graduated with a 4.0. I expected that college would be more difficult, but I expected that my academic success would continue to a relative degree and had not really prepared myself for the possibility of low grades. That lack of mental preparation slapped me square in the face in the middle of the first semester of my sophomore year.  Physics 2. Ouch. I had excelled at physics in high school and did fairly well in my first semester of physics in freshman year. I knew it would be a bit of a challenge, but the subject suddenly (apparently) went well above my head. I landed a couple of D's on tests and squeaked my way out of that class with a C. It felt like I was such an amazing disappointment. For a student used to getting A's and maybe the occasional B, a D resulted in such an overwhelming feeling of utter failure. Like Rory, I went through a period of panic following the initial red marked exam. I was frequently reminded by others that "C's get degrees", but that mantra wasn't one that made me feel any better. I just felt stupid. This led to a spiral of feeling overwhelmed by a complete inability to learn the materials that needed to be mastered. Though I did get out of the class with a passing C, I think the panic resulted in a certain feeling of defeat that followed me throughout the semester. I somewhat gave up. Perhaps I could have actually learned the materials better and gotten myself a B, but there was a spiral of misery that led to the idea that physics...well...it just wouldn't be for me. You'd think that I would have learned from that experience, but apparently...for me...it's never easy accepting anything less than a B. In dental school, I struggled with more than one subject and being away from home and my family compounded the feeling of despair that resulted from the challenge. I frequently called home in tears - to which my dad responded by consistently handing the phone to my mom..."She wants to talk to you."  I've never been one to deal with stress gracefully. Some breakdowns were worse than others. My mother will often regale others with the story of how I phoned one night so completely inconsolable that she nearly purchased a very expensive airline ticket to come see me the next day. Yet, when she spoke with me on the phone a mere 24 hours later, I had bounced back from my meltdown and was doing just fine. She emphatically asserts that she would have strangled me if she had indeed spent the money just to find me fully recovered. Lorelai's concern over Rory's panic and frustration results in a discussion over whether Rory is going to Chilton and striving for Harvard admission for herself or for Lorelai's benefit. I absolutely understand this concern as well. Though I didn't really stop to consider it very well along the way, I can now look back and find a good source for debating within myself whether my approach to education and a career were really because they were what I wanted or because I felt that I had something to prove to others. I still can't really give a firm assertion one way or the other, but I am inclined to think that my narrow focus wasn't really based on what I felt would make me happy. As a result, I'm more inclined to encourage Darian (and likely will do the same for Brecken and his soon-to-arrive brother) to explore his options and really try different courses out. I've been pretty persistent with letting him know that he doesn't have to know what he wants to do in life yet. He's a teenager. He still has time to figure it out. I fully support the idea of taking general grad courses for the first year (and maybe even the second year) of college. It's much better to have to stretch yourself to a fifth year in order to get a degree in something you love than to try and hurry to finish just to be stuck with a career you don't enjoy. Life is short; do what you love...love what you do. That's not to say that it will all come easy or that there won't be moments of feeling like a failure, but it shouldn't be that way the majority of the time. Oh...and yes, there are professions that provide a bit of a better lifestyle than others. But, when it really comes down to it, money isn't everything and sometimes being comfortable and happy isn't dictated by your financial status. The Gilmore Project continues...This post originally appeared on Erratic Project Junkie and is copyrighted by Elle. Find EPJ on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

22 Things Every Woman Should Do Before Turning 22

New blog post! Don't ask me how it happened, but I somehow had my 22cd birthday yesterday! If someone would've told me that, at 22 years old, I would be living in Mankato, Minnesota and teaching a college class, I would've been shocked. As surprising as the last year has been, though, I've had my share of adventures. So, to celebrate on the blog, I thought I'd do something a little different this year: share a "birthday bucket list," per se, with some of my favorite moments from 22 years of lovin' and livin'.

Whether you're over 22, about to have your 22cd birthday or just want some fun ways to have a more epic life, here are 22 things you should do before you turn 22!

1. Spend at least one weekend without Internet access.

As a blogger, it can be especially challenging to unplug. Once you do it, though, you'll be amazed at how refreshed you feel...and how much more motivated you are to type up another post!

2. Have one dish that you can make without even looking at the recipe.

For me, this dish is definitely my homemade gluten free and vegan granola! I make a big batch every week, and I usually just throw whatever goodies I have on hand into the mix. It always comes out equally delicious!

3. Figure out how to read for fun on the regular.

I get it. When I was in undergrad, I rarely ever read books for fun. As a writing major, I already felt like I was reading and writing a ton! Now, as a grad student getting an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, I still feel like words rule my day...recently, though, I've become addicted to audiobooks. Now, I can enjoy my psychological thrillers without having to have time to sit still and actually read. The moral of the story? Keep experimenting with book genres and formats until you find the right mix that works for you!

4. Make a big mistake...and move past it.

So, maybe making a big mistake shouldn't be an actual goal of yours. But, in your early 20s (heck - any age, really), making mistakes is guaranteed to happen. So accept the situation, forgive yourself and learn how to move on. This is one skill you'll use time and time again.

5. Take a long walk with a good friend.

If you're struggling to balance all the demands of a well-rounded life, try combining your social life and your workout schedule. You'll be surprised how refreshing a good walk with a good friend can be - physically and emotionally.

6. Say "yes" to a work opportunity that scares the heck out of you.

Remember those pre teen growing pains? The sad part is that you don't really grow out of them. When I worked my first full-time job, I was given the chance to travel to Los Angeles and teach a class to the other Entity interns. It was a long, stressful and chaotic day...but it also showed me that I could roll with the punches a lot better than I thought!

7. Do something that makes you feel like a kid again.

Go to Disneyland. Dress up in the most ridiculous Halloween costumes you can think of and go Trick-or-Treating. Ride a seesaw while rocking a homecoming gown (been there, happily done that). The options are endless.

8. Go on at least one memorable girl's night.

My 21st birthday will always be particularly special thanks to the celebratory girl's night out my roomies and I enjoyed a month later. True Foods Kitchen + my first taste of alcohol (which is not really my thing, it turns out) + a random late-night visit to CVS. Lots of good food and even more good laughs!

9. Call a loved one who you don't talk to enough.

I'm definitely guilty of not talking to my extended family as much as I probably should...but those fifteen minutes spent catching up with grandma are always so worth it.

10. Take a short trip to Vegas!

Cliche? Yes. Still worth doing? Also yes.

11. Try a new workout with no expectations of how well you'll do it or how much you'll enjoy it.

No, I'm not saying you should sign up for a marathon and YOLO it, even if you've only run a 5K. However, there's something super rewarding about experimenting with a new workout routine without any preset beliefs at how "awesome" you'll be at it. Case in point: trying rock climbing with my dad turned out to be one of the major highlights of my summer. You'll never know what you're missing out on until you try!

12. Eat a huge, delicious, arguably unhealthy meal - and have zero guilt whatsoever.

I like eating healthy. I like how good healthy eating can make me feel. But, sometimes, a girl just needs a big, juicy burger (or whatever other comfort food is calling your name). Eat it, enjoy it and keep kicking life's booty!

13. Purchase at least one "power" outfit. 

Whether it's a tailored suit, a sweet pair of tight jeans or just your favorite comfy sweater, find an outfit that makes you feel like superwoman. Consider the day majorly slayed!

14. Watch the sunset...and I mean, really watch it.

You could say that going to college at PLNU desensitized me to sunsets. When you're used to seeing glorious colors of pink and blue and gold paint the sky every night, it can be easy to take that beauty for granted. But those nights that I sat out on the cliffs with friends, doing nothing but talking and watching the sun sink into the ocean, are some of my fondest memories.

15. Go to a social event that scares you and promise to stay at least 20 minutes.

I'm not a natural extrovert. When I'm with people I know well, I'm goofy, sassy and a little bit smart-assy (as my best friend puts it). Meeting new people, though, is challenging. So, I try to tell myself that if I go to an event and am just not feeling it, I can leave after 20 minutes. A lot of the time, though, I end up enjoying myself so much, I stay for a few hours.

16. Don't wear any makeup for at least a week.

From the time I graduated college in December of 2016 to when I started grad school on July 31, 2017, I wore makeup for two days during my college graduation in January. Sure, my self esteem gets a little boost when I cover spots or tired eyes with a swipe of foundation. But learning to accept - if not love - my own skin is even more rewarding.

17. Take yourself out on a date.

Who says you need to have a significant other to go on a date? Treat yourself to an epic me-date by going to your favorite restaurant, enjoying a long walk on a gorgeous day or even just spending the whole day relaxing with Netflix!

18. Find a way to volunteer that you actually enjoy.

It's easy to say that you don't have time to volunteer. My last semester of college, though, I spent a few Saturdays a month visiting a local assisted living home. While every visit wasn't great, there were a few conversations that still stick out in my mind. I'm going to try volunteering at an assisted living home in Mankato, this time with a writing workshop. I start two days after this post goes live, so we'll see what happens!

Like this post? Then tweet me some love by clicking here: "This #celiac is celebrating her #glutenfree b-day by sharing 22 things you should do before age 22! @collegeceliackc http://bit.ly/2eMEBsn"

19. Go on an epic road trip. 

If you've never traveled across the United States (or even just visited a few new states) in a car stuffed with a few of your favorite people, fix that error ASAP! Road trips can definitely be challenging and it's easy to get a little stir-crazy. But is there really a more "classically American" way to see the U.S. than through a car window?

20. Pay a little extra to buy that exotic food you've always wanted to try.

I'll admit it - dragonfruit actually isn't that flavorful. However, you do also eat with your eyes...and it's one cool looking fruit.

21. Stay up way too late doing, well, nothing!

Some of the other college memories that stick out the most in my mind? The nights where I went to bed waaaaay too late because I spent too much time talking about random things with my friends. The sleep deprivation was 100% worth it!

22. Dare to say "yes" to opportunities that scare you - even if you never imagined ending up where they lead.

Since I grew up as a marine brat, I'm used to not knowing where I'd be living a few years in the future. Yet, I still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, disoriented and wondering, "How the heck did I end up living in Mankato, Minnesota?!?" And - to be brutally honest - the first month of living on my own in an entirely new state hasn't been easy.

But as I celebrate another year of adventures, surprises and delicious food, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the chance to grow, not only as a writer and teacher, but also as a person. I'm proud of the walls I've already run into and scaled. Even more importantly, I'm excited to see what 22 years old has in store for me. Let the next chapter of Casey's adventure begin! via Blogger http://ift.tt/2xcAqB9

93% off #Amazon Alexa Development: From Beginner to Intermediate – $10

Learn how to create and publish Alexa Skills, understand voice UI, and be comfortable with AWS and Alexa Skills Kit

All Levels,  – 2.5 hours,  52 lectures 

Average rating 4.4/5 (4.4 (28 ratings) Instead of using a simple lifetime average, Udemy calculates a course’s star rating by considering a number of different factors such as the number of ratings, the age of ratings, and the likelihood of fraudulent ratings.)

Course requirements:

Preliminary or zero understanding of java-script. You will need either a Mac or PC. You will need an Amazon Echo or use the site Echosim.io for Alexa Testing

Course description:

Update: Join over 6,000 students in the Techustler Course Series. You don’t want to miss this learning opportunity. 

Have you ever wondered how Alexa Apps are made?

Why is Amazon and Google investing in voice technology?

A better question is why haven’t you built an Alexa App yet.

If you ever wanted to understand the space of Voice Apps or build them yourself, then take my course “Amazon Alexa Development: From Beginner to Intermediate”. I designed it in a practical way so that when you finish the content you can immediately put it into use with your Amazon Echo or online counterpart.

Now, why should you build Alexa Skills?

The biggest industries in technology are surrounded by AI, Bots, and Voice technology. Voice technology I believe will be the new 21st user interface that will not only understand basic commands, but will be so smart to understand anything you tell it. This is why Amazon is making a big bet with Alexa which it plans to generate close to $11 billion dollars by 2020. They know something about Amazon Echo which is why now is the best time to learn these skills before the mainstream starts developing applications. We all know the story about apps for the smartphones, this is the same thing. 

This course contains over 50 lectures and 1.5 hrs of content. It’s designed for beginners to play with new platforms in the voice space. You’ll learn the tools needed to build the Alexa Skills, how Alexa Skills work, and publish a skill to Amazon’s Alexa store. 

Course Structure

The course follows a familiar structure where in each video I will teach the concepts followed by a challenge or practice question. If your goal is to become a better developer, you should understand node.js, server side development and how to access certain APIs to build better Alexa Skills. The course does not go deep into understanding Node.js but you will understand the architecture and ability to publish apps for Alexa.

Environment Setup

This course aims to simulate a live in-person course as much as possible. After you finish each lecture, you should practice and try the solution on your own. You learn the best by practicing and doing. 

Projects

At the end of each section, you will be asked to complete the Alexa skill which you can then share with your network or on the Udemy network. 

Testimonials from other Techustler Courses and the Instructor

“Great set of videos Nick! I really liked the format of the videos with you in the corner of the screen showing us how to use the website. Cool songs you use at the beginning of each video. It really gives off the vibe that your course is hip and up-to-date with modern times. You do a great job of keeping of with the times. Stay modern, but classy at the same time Nick!” – Penelope

“Nicholas, very good course on bots! I especially enjoyed that you provided us the opportunity to build bots in a hands-on fashion. Your course sections are very organized and I didn’t have to guess to know what I was getting myself into. It is clear you are very knowledgeable as an instructor and have a real connection to your course material. I look forward to taking another course with you!” – Rahul

“I love the natural progression in this course. You start with the basics and end with building a Facebook Chat Bot. Awesome! Thanks Nick!” – Doug

“Thank you so much Nicholas! The bot course was very informative and helpful for my learning. Keep up the good work!” – Christine

“It was a highly positive experience working alongside Nick at DigaBlue and with the work ethic he has, I am certain that he will produce great results in his future endeavors.” – Saif

“Nick is an aspiring tech entrepreneur with what I would consider a strong passion and desire to learn more and excel in the evolving digital age. He is an experienced programmer with a track record of creating both his own website and various mechanical devices.” – Elliot

“This is a really good intro course to

Reviews:

“The bumper audio at the beginning and end of every single video is extremely annoying.” (Christopher Ray)

“quality is good. I’d like a bit more information density.” (Phil Peterman)

“The course as a whole was really fun. I did all the projects and watched all the videos and had a blast doing it. However, my main concern with this course is he didn’t really cover the basics as well as I would like. I am not new to node, nor am I an expert, but at the same time I would have liked to have had a longer “Hello World” lecture that went over each and every line so I could get a feel for why Alexa needs these functions, structures, etc. to be the way they are simply because that’s how I like to learn. For instance, I still don’t really know what Alexa’s request is to my lambda functions or how they work together, it’s something I can figure out or look up, but still I’d like it to be in this course with the other content I’m taking. I think by adding just one more video that’s maybe 10minutes long going through the Hello World’s lambda function code line by line could tremendously help viewers and students understand the code better and be more confident in going into this area. Because of the lack of foundation, which maybe I am just too new to node and others won’t experience this, I got lost in some of the videos as to why certain things were structured certain ways, like callbacks are always weird for me, how index.js and other files (like the twitter trends app) work together. Or things like function parameters (which you probably can piece together pretty quick, but still I’d liked to have it explained clearly). To me it looks like Alexa lambda functions need to have a very strict and certain layout, and having that explained would’ve helped me. The Twitter Trends app broke for me, granted I didn’t spend much time debugging it, but the instructor forgot to mention where to get the APP_ID for the code, or at least I couldn’t find where he mentioned it, that APP_ID is on the Alexa skill set. Also, the mic during that segment was reeeeallly quite so I had to turn the volume way up, but your intro/exit song is suuuuuper loud, superficial complaint but still… those intros/exits were incredibly loud. Overall this course will get you familiar with the process of getting an AWS account up, creating a lambda function, getting an amazon developer account and hooking Alexa skills into lambda, but what it doesn’t really cover is how the functions work in lambda which is arguably the hardest part because those functions have to match the format of the interaction model and request model that Alexa makes to your function. After taking the course, I feel extremely well prepared to go watch another tutorial about how these functions work in-depth, but I don’t feel prepared to jump right in and make my own. Good course though, and I’d recommend it for the earliest of beginners! :)” (Zayne Sprague)

  About Instructor:

Nicholas “Techustler” Ivanecky

Update: Join over 5,900 students in the Techustler Course Series. You don’t want to miss this opportunity in learning practical knowledge in Tech. I’m a product manager with 3 years of experience in both web and mobile products. I have worked on professional assistant mobile applications to local business advertising solutions on the web. Until recently, I led the product team for WeBeam, a professional networking tool focused on enhancing attendees’s experiences at events. In this role, I managed the development of WeBeam from idea to live product. I created user flow diagrams and PRDs, collaborated with marketing to develop the user-interface and worked alongside engineers during development, QA, and user testing. Successes included growing pre-launch signups 5% WoW, getting featured in 13 press articles like Product Hunt and LinkedIn Pulse, and driving traffic through AEO, Twitter Scripts, and Email Lists. Previous experience includes being a marketing associate at Digablue where I researched market needs, created messaging for the company’s website, and developed HTML email campaigns. Outside of work, I enjoy developing iOS mobile applications with 4 currently in the App Store. I help my fellow product managers through my open source Open Product Management Repo that helps technical people learn the skills to become better PMs. More recently, I starting teaching frameworks I learned at my startup through the Techustler Brand on Udemy. Topics include growth hacking, building bots, creating communities, and marketing on Twitter and Instagram. Specialties: Customer Development, Pitching, Prioritizing, KPIs, Agile Development, PRDs, QA, User Testing, Product Management Xcode, GitHub, BitBucket, HTML, CSS, Mobile iOS Development, watchOS, Swift, JSON, Firebase, Sketch, InvisionApp, Prototyping, A/B Testing, Usability Tests, Mixpanel, Google Analytics, Balsamiq

Instructor Other Courses:

Building a Pre-Launch Campaign for Marketers Nicholas “Techustler” Ivanecky, Product at WeBeam Inc. (3) $10 $120 How to Build a Social Network Without Coding How to Build Chat Bots: From Beginner to Intermediate …………………………………………………………… Nicholas “Techustler” Ivanecky coupons Development course coupon Udemy Development course coupon Web Development course coupon Udemy Web Development course coupon Amazon Alexa Development: From Beginner to Intermediate Amazon Alexa Development: From Beginner to Intermediate course coupon Amazon Alexa Development: From Beginner to Intermediate coupon coupons

The post 93% off #Amazon Alexa Development: From Beginner to Intermediate – $10 appeared first on Udemy Cupón/ Udemy Coupon/.

from Udemy Cupón/ Udemy Coupon/ http://coursetag.com/udemy/coupon/93-off-amazon-alexa-development-from-beginner-to-intermediate-10/ from Course Tag https://coursetagcom.tumblr.com/post/155983195803