Wintec Network

For my final blog in this series of class blogs, I’m am going to have one hell of bitch session.

Wintec…ah Wintec. Yes, it has it’s many wonders and benefits, its practical, the tutors are friendly and we all know its better than Uni, but there is one huge problem that is ruining everything! The bloody computer network. If it’s not down, its slow, if its not slow you can’t get onto the net, if you can’t get on the net, you can’t open your files and if you can’t open your files they wiped your home drive. Yes that’s right, wiped your home drive.

In the holidays while the computer system was being updated, or cleaned up or whatever was going on they managed to make life very difficult for some students. A few lost access to there files, a few lost access to application and myself, I lost my entire home drive. So it really didn’t matter that I had backed up my files, no, even they wouldn’t work as all the little information that no one ever thinks to save e.g. fonts and random cookies were wiped also. So I had nothing to work with, nothing at all and I couldn’t save anything onto it nor could I use my Wintec email. I was o for awesome! So naturally I went to the student help desk, but as per usual there was nothing they could do…maybe the IT guys should be down here, that might help right?! So they tried and tried and nothing, all was lost.

That was almost two weeks ago, I am slowly getting bits a pieces back and can use my emails again, but still nothing substantial. The other students still are in the same position too. So I must ask, how on earth do you *%#$ up that badly? Not only that, but then not be able to fix if for weeks then say “oh well at least you can get an extension” …that was very patronising! I mean don’t get me wrong, th student help desk did all they could, which I’m grateful for, but how do you get to that point in they first place? These are trained professionals! And one or two stuff ups you can imagine. But four from the same class and “quite a few more” throughout the school is unacceptable! Not to mention the constant troubles we have with the network normally.

Not only that we have the issue of the Macs being on the PC network, it just doesn’t work, its too slow and not designed for what Macs do. Not being a computer techie, I can’t offer any advice on how to fix all of these problems, but this was the final straw for me and it really needs to be dealt with ASAP.

THE RECESSION IS OVER!!!!!!...did anyone notice it?

That’s right people, that glooming dooming, fear inspiring R-word is over. The crash started in 2007, with little acknowledgement from myself, 2008 went off without a hitch, then all of a sudden 2009 was the year of redundancy, high unemployment, mortgage foreclosures, business’s going under and so many other thing barely worth mentioning.

According to a story on Stuff: “The recession ended in the June quarter, with the economy growing by the barest of margins, up just 0.1 per cent, according to official figures” Yes the dreaded recession that was meant to be worse than the great depression, that was supposed to keep all of us from getting jobs when entering the workforce, has ended after a mere 5 quarters...I believe a depression has to last 5 years, not quarters! So…did anyone actually notice it?


Ok so I am obviously coming at this from the angle of a student…that’s because I am a student, so no one can really blame me for my angle of opinion. Personally, I think this whole thing was a case of scare mongering. It was a psychologically driven “recession”. Basically some high up economist started telling the world that we were in recession because there was a dip in the economy, we were all doomed and banks started going under everywhere. Obviously there had to be some truth to the dip in the economy, however I don’t really see the necessity in calling it recession. This caused the world to jump into a panic! People stopped spending, shops went under, people started killing themselves and everyone loomed in an uncertain haze wondering what would happen next.

However, it made a dam good political argument! How convenient, a recession, right before the elections. Everything else got thrown out of the window and all we cared about was ‘how will the government handle the’ “economic crisis”? Not to mention stores, the ones who ‘survived’, had a great bargain line: the “RECESIONBUSTER” deal. So I have to ask what the hell happened? Was there actually a recession or did we just trick ourselves into believe there was a problem because the government and the media told us too? Tell you the truth, I think yes. They told us there was no money, so we all stopped spending, thus harming the economy. We started to get a little confidence back and stared spending, and the economy started expanding again…who’d have guessed it? (please note the sarcasm in that)

I take my own situation as an example. My workload hasn’t changed in the last two years, actually got a pay rise which, because of my student allowance, meant I had to work less hours but I was still getting the same amount of pay each week. This tricked me into thinking I was getting less and for some bazaar reason I blamed the recession. At work, because of the ‘recession’ they laid off people at work, which meant there weren’t enough people to do the job, so the rest of us were given more hours, thus earning more money. Somehow the ‘recession’ actually had me better off than before. However, because I kept hearing left, right and centre that we all needed to tighten our belts. So I did, thus saving more than before. Of course my situation, as a student with no family to support or a mortgage, contributes to this opinion, I’m interested in what you think, did the recession really effect you???? And for a bit of light relief about the recession, check out the south park episode Margaritaville. Its pretty bang on!...and funny!

Keep on keeping on...Part 2!

Last week it was all about the comic relief, this week its all about the underlying feel good message. Yes that’s right, I’ve been that socialised by American movie ideals that I have decided to put in a feel good hidden meaning blog to follow up all that comic relief…Seth Rogen eat your heart out! However instead of just getting it off some website that gives us the top 10 motivational tips, this is all coming from me, customised to suit the Web Media students, who are all in a similar boats, riding the same wave!

This has all sparked form my first point of rather being asleep that in class. However the more I think about it the more all of these tips apply to every point I made. So this is my advice on how get up, stay awake, get over the hump, live through the boring hazy lectures and get that work done. Now I’m not a genie I can’t make this all happen, you have to do it!

First things first: drink some coffee! Or better DON’T! The thing about coffee is that although it may give you that initial boost, but you are more likely to crash and feel worse than you did before…same with energy drinks and chocolate unfortunately. It triggers your sugar releases and sends you flying then BAM straight back down. So it will get you up but won’t help in the staying awake department. Swap that coffee for an apple, it will give the same energy kick that coffee does, but without the nasty crash. This quote, from an American university website helps back up that argument “According to the MythBusters Web site, a healthy alternative to drinking coffee is eating a full apple every morning. The caffeine in the coffee will wear off quickly compared to the lasting effects of the natural sugars and positive aspects of eating an apple.” Another thing to try is Green tea, yes it has caffeine but its not riddled with chemicals and works better with your body as it contains antioxidants! This is exactly what your body will need on those painful Friday mornings after a big night out!

On from that note, eat some bloody breakfast!!!…Tui Benau I’m looking at you! Sorry to be so firm, but how can you really expect to stay awake is classes with nothing in your system to keep you going?! Grab yourself something Low GI, even if it’s just a small bit of wholegrain muesli and some fruit, your energy levels will be higher and you’ll be able to STAY AWAKE! In case you’re not sure what I mean by Low GI, click the link to a website that will tell you everything you need to know about Low GI without me saturating this blog. To prove this fact to myself I did an experiment. I normally eat breakfast every morning, so I changed my ways and stopped eating breakfast for a few days, even on day one I felt awful, buy 10 O’clock I felt like I was going to fall asleep, I couldn’t concentrate and was craving boost foods like chocolate and coffee. When it finally got to lunch time, I just pigged out on foods that weren’t going to do me any favours. I though that after a few days my body would get used to it…NOPE! By the forth day, I could barely get out of bed without coffee as the not eating breaky threw my whole body’s eating habits out of whack. I gave up after that!

Now if the flip side of that point for you is you’re worried about putting on weight and skipping a meal sounds like a good way to avoid it…WRONG! Skipping a meal actually puts your body into starvation mode and makes you store fat! The more frequently you eat the faster your body learns to metabolise! Also as I did, you’re more likely to pig out on bad foods later if you skip meals. With that in mind do a bit of exercise. Eating first thing in the morning will not only give you the energy to stay awake in class, and the energy to do some exercise. As the push play ads keep telling us, even just 30minutes a day will do it. This will increase your energy levels, making it easier to stay awake in class, get out of bed in the mornings and speed up your metabolism too! Seriously, most classes start at 9, it doesn’t take much to get up and go for a walk. If you check out the website, it details a whole range of fun and exciting ways to stay active.

Try getting outside, the sun produces Vitamin D with not only helps you grow (for all you short arses out there) but also makes you happy and reduces your stress levels! On that same note, make sure you are getting enough sleep! I’m an insomniac myself so I understand the pressure to sleep sometimes can be tremendous, but sleeping produces melatonin and serotonin which are chemicals in the brain that make you happy and help intelligence levels!

So, if you take my advice, you’ll be feeling a lot more energised and ready to take on the normal Wintec day. Not only that, but you’ll look and feel healthier and happier in your normal day to day life, not just at Wintec.