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Met my first "love" when I was 18. Along with him came this crazy ass guy from Florida with a Latin twist who I could never get sick of, also known as his best friend, Stefan. I used to pick him up from his mom's house and we would troll #alpharetta and smoke blunts and talk for hours. Last time me and Stefan spoke he told me that I was his @amyschumer. That I looked like her, that she sounded like me to him because of how weird and inappropriate I am 😂😂. She made him laugh, like I used to. We talked about how things have changed and rejoiced about the beauty of new life (his daughter, my nephew). My mom asked me how I feel. I'm sad. I'm genuinely, heart-wrenchingly sad. Hug the ones you love, no matter how far away they are (miles or years!!!). I wish I could hug Stef one more time. #restinparadise #finallyatpeace #dayonelove #freetrevvy #heartbroken #anotheronegonetoosoon #stefanopresa

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Soooo yesterday my sweet mama turned 60!! Her best friend made this posted (it’s way bigger than it looks, standing at 4 1/2 ft tall) and put it out at the front of our neighborhood so she would see it on the way to work. She told me she was on the phone with one of her sister’s and just about choked on her coffee out of pure shock. No one is more deserving to have nice things like this done for her. She is not technology savvy so I know she will never see this post... with that being said... I can’t wait for her to see her next surprise. In a few days, I will be flying in all of her sisters and having her closest friends and family to our home for a giant surprise party. She is totally clueless and it’s amazing that my big mouth family has been able to keep it a secret since August!!! I can barely sleep from excitement and my never-ending-to-do-list!! Now just to kick this sinus infection and pretend I didn’t break my finger chasing the cat around with the vacuum... I regret nothing. Happy Birthday Mama!!! 

#motherknowsbest #60andkillingit #longlivethequuen  

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It’s hard to explain how good this very strong coffee tastes after a long morning game ride on the heels of a very looooong flight from New York. More impressive is the efficiency with which it’s all stacked, transported and assembled in the middle of nowhere. Almost everything is locally sourced to boot. - @pilar_guzman at #AndBeyond #serengetiundercanvas #tanzania (at Serengeti Under Canvas)

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#cats cats cats #ilovecats #snapchat

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When in doubt… Be a pineapple 😍😍

#feelgood #feelgreat or #beapineapple

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A Discussion From Class

In addition to the Abacus post... I wanted to add this as well. Never too much information on the awesome women of the world out there!! #whorunstheworld? #GIRLS 

Alli McQueen

CSCI 1000

Women’s Evolution in Computers

Sept 3, 2015

 Even though the evolution of computers is well-documented, women are not nearly as noted. While there isn’t a lot of older information, women definitely participated and influenced the history of computers. Since the days of Charles Babbage and the Difference Engines, women like Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace and Grace Murray Hopper have been involved in original work that resulted in technical developments or helped generate new methods of computing and computer science. Grace Murray Hopper became influential around the same time as the ENIAC programmers. A necessity of war, encryption, the need for computing or “computers” as they began to be called, decoding and the like became an important tool to have. While the ENIAC women were specifically balancing ballistic trajectories by hand, Hopper was similarly forging her way with the use of the United States Navy to do research, something that became her life’s work. After inventing an operational compiler and popularizing the idea of machine-independent programming, she continued through her life to be a technical consultant, a consistent innovator and a military diamond in the rough, continuing into the 1970’s advocating for centralized computer systems.

While women in the technology field today are experiencing much different break throughs, one thing definitely hasn’t changed. These fierce women, who are few and far between these days, are nothing short of brilliant. With a constant yearning for knowledge and continual self-educating, these women are unstoppable. After doing some research, it was harder to find than I thought it would be, to find women in technology on a large scale who weren’t CEO’s or COO’s of companies like Oracle or Facebook. One woman I did find interesting is Yoky Matsuoka. After helping develop the Nest Thermostat, she became the Vice President of Technology and Analytics at Twitter. She also is a groundbreaking research scientist developing a robotic hand. She is a good role model in technology because of the constant research and good influence she is putting on the industry, participating in everything from thermostats to social media to medical technology. Another woman I found very interesting was Nancy Levson, a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. She is known as one of the top American female experts when it comes to software safety. She has truly made an effort through science and research to make software and the whole interweb safe for everyday users. She has published hundreds of research papers and even a few books about software safety and promotion of responsible system engineering practices. While these two women might not be the most famous or most influential, they serve purpose to every female who has put effort into the evolution of computers. Role models, who are brilliant and innovating, are needed now more than ever!

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All...mmooss...ttt.... Ffii..nnii...ssshh..edddDDD!!

This semester has kicked my ass. Although I haven’t had the toughest school schedule, outside life has really just managed to get in there and kick my ass. My Computer Science did not turn out to be anything like what I thought it would be. While I learned a lot, it was just different. We did everything through an online website, without any lectures or notes from the teacher. That is very new to me, especially since there was an intense lack of instruction. But you know what? It was good for me. It forced me to think outside of the box and educate myself, to teach myself or not learn. This method of teaching forces the student to not just skim by. You HAVE to do the work or you FAIL. END OF STORY. While there were definitely times that I wanted to throw my computer out of the window because I thought an assignment was over only to realize there was not ONE but TWO more parts... It felt good to finish and accomplish every single assignment over the course of the semester, even if I stayed up until 11:50pm on Sunday night doing them. Yes, the assignments were due at 11:59pm on Sundays. Don’t judge. This is based on completion and understanding of the material rather than when it gets done! I definitely don’t think I would ever have a career in Computer Science but I would take another computer class because technology is constantly changing! Even with this whole semester’s knowledge under my belt, I still know about 1% of all there is to know about computers. 

One of the most important things that doesn’t have to do with actual computer functions, was about ELECTRONIC WASTE. I truly believe everyone should be taught about this and be aware of what is happening with our waste. We only have one Earth and when it’s destroyed, that’s it. We haven’t found a way to replenish our Earth so we need to find a way to save it and dispose of things in an appropriate matter. It is also absolutely NOT a complete separate nation’s responsibility to take on our garbage. Do the selfish money hungry Americans participating in these horrible practices not realize these people have enough problems, like I don’t know, not having running water, homes, food or health care? OPEN YOUR EYES PEOPLE. #rantover 

Back to the class, again, I learned a lot and although I was forced into this class as a graduation requirement, I am happy I took it and would definitely take it over again, forced or not. 

NOW WINTER BREAK!!! WOOHOOOOOOO!!!! 

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My Experience Programming... or something like that.

I have always seen coding and programming as this totally foreign language that I myself would NEVER be able to understand!! Well, that is only partially true, as I have learned through these programming and coding tutorials! Yes, it is a foreign language. But no, it is not impossible to learn! Interestingly enough, I was finishing up all of my school assignments and putting the final touches on all my school work during Thanksgiving break. My cousin, an aspiring coder, found all of our tutorials and websites very interesting! He taught me some stuff he already knew that wasn’t included and I was able to share with him some simple basics that helped him take it back to step one and build more solid foundation for his coding. While our needs were different (he’s building a photography website, I’m doing it for school), we were able to speak to each other in a language no one else in our family understood: CODE! 

How funny, you never know how things will pop up in your life. Just like the Abacus I found in my Mom’s basement, months after learning about it in class- here it is. The game was fun although I wish I had been able to make an Angry Birds, Zombies, or Ice Age game...which didn’t have the option to create your own code and/or share a coded game through a link. The Frozen game was fine, I coded it imagining what I coded would be almost like a figure skater’s beautiful routine through the ice, but as seen from above so when the skater would be finished, a bird’s eye view would allow the viewer to see the beautiful snowflake patterns. 

#CSCI @artofthefirebird #almostdone #codeforbeginners #coredotorg #frozenisliterallyeverywhere #evenincodetutorials #itwillneverstop 

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These are the screen shots of the code I wrote to direct the Frozen character create her skating routine/ snowflake designs after doing the Code.org tutorial. I also have it in Microsoft Word should @artofthefirebird need further proof of 100% completion!! #CSCI #codeforbeginners 

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Another picture to show my teacher that I have completed the hour of code! I actually did this in class. We were told to choose from four different tutorials because they would have code creator links at the end... Yeah, mine with the Angry Birds, Zombies & Ice Age characters definitely did not. Neither did the Frozen one that I did afterwards sooooo I wasn’t about to do it three times because of someone else’s mistake. Here is the Code Completion Certificate and coded game to follow!! 

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This photo is to show my teacher @artofthefirebird that I have completed the course on HTML and CSS on CodeAcademy.com! 

#code #codeacademy #htmlforbeginners 

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I am obsessed with this surrealist picture. An ocean meets a village in a non-threatening way. I love it. 

#surrealism #whatif 

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Saw this on #BuzzFeed! Who else is SO EXCITED for #Season6 #GameOfThrones ?? Is Jon Snow alive? This poster sure seems to indicate that the answer is YES!!!! 

#LongLiveJonSnow #BastardTakeOver 

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Something fun after all the school related posts!! 

At my cousin’s wedding! 

From Left: Me, my cousin Chris, my Mom, my cousin Wesley (GROOM) and my little sister! 

#Weddings #Alabama #McQueens #WeHaveTooMuchFun #HomeIsWhereTheHeartIs 

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As another part of my Computer Science Tumblr blog assignment, we were instructed to post a previous discussion activity. This Abacus lesson was one of the first assignment’s we did. This is a Chinese Abacus, historically used for counting. The top picture was the computer generated Abacus along with me and my partner’s response. The bottom picture is of the Abacus I found while cleaning out my Mom’s basement a week ago. Who would have thought three months later I would find this thing in my house!?! Had I found this prior to taking this CSCI class, I definitely would not have known anything about it or even possibly what it was! 

#abacus #CSCI1100 

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This jpeg image was created in Paint. I made one in Microsoft Word too in an assignment that demonstrated the different tools each program had. Here was my comparison.... 

Compare/Contrast

1.The file sizes, as listed below, vary based on type and program. I think because of the program and the fact that it doesn’t have as much fill color, Word is smaller. The bitmap image is more than double, more than triple because of the detail. The bitmap image is a higher quality which can be used in the computer. Jpeg images are still of good quality but not as much as the bitmap image. The jpeg file type allows for the image to be shared through email, etc. The types of effects seem to have an effect as well. Word has less artistic options and more text options while Paint is made for the more creative computer generated art project.

Word: 78.9 KB

Bmp: 1.64 MB

Jpeg: 174 KB

2. For the most part, the images turned out a lot more similarly than I thought they would. I wanted to use shapes to create and fill negative space while having some text in the picture. I wanted to use the text creatively so I inserted various shapes to create the letters. Filling the background, because of the varying tools, turned out to be the most different. In Microsoft Paint, I used a paint brush for the various shades of blue and used a plain fill for the orange background. In Microsoft Word, there isn’t a background fill or specific paint brush option so I used shapes (clouds, triangles) to fill the blue and orange space. Having round edges in the blue and hard edges for the orange gave the same contrast but in a different way as the image from Microsoft Paint.

3. Both programs achieved the desired effect in two different, but still mirrored images. In a perfect computer drawing world, having both of the programs merge so you can have ALL the tools instead of having a separate set of tools, would be nice. Both of the programs were fairly easy to operate and gave information about all of the different tools. I like the creativeness in Paint and the edginess in Word, all in all making this the best assignment so far.

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Sometimes you have to go after what you want in life, even if you have to create it yourself!! 😘 #LOVEthis #create #inspire #love #happiness #feedyoursoul #itsnotover #soDONOTgiveup