Media Image

I was not able to get the picture posted that I found but I'll do my best to describe it. It is a picture taken September 17,2008 in Yemen which is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. That day the U.S. embassy in Yemen was attacked by terrorists. According to Time Magazine "in a coordinated attack, militants assaulted the front gate of the embassy with machine gun fire, rocket propelled grenades and two suicide car bombs, killing 17 people, including one American. A U.S. state department spokesman said the assault had "all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda attack;" the next day, security officials in Yemen arrested 25 people suspected of having links to the terrorist network."

This photo depicted a tall building with a huge cloud of dark smoke hanging over it and around it. As you looked at the ground below you see cars driving and civilians walking around like nothing had happened. I don't know exactly when the picture was taken. It could've been many hours after the attack. But to me, it appears the smoke is still very think and it seems that the people of Yemen are used to this kind of activity. If this sort of thing happened in the U.S, I couldn't imagine any civilian let anywhere near the site of the attack. In the U.S. the smokey building would be surrounded by uniformed and armed military. It's scary to think that anywhere in the world there are places that this is normal.

Media Medium

I thought about this and I had a little trouble trying to think of "the medium that has changed my life the most". I'm not a very high-tech girl. I still listen to the radio and CD's in my car while most people my age have ipods for every aspect of their life; one for the car, one for the gym, one for work. And while everyone else is buying the newest blackberry I'm trying to find the phone that I can drop the most without destroying it. So after returning from a long day of school and work I engaged in my normal routine of sitting down in front of the T.V. and immediately, before even looking to see what time it was and what was on at that moment, I hit the "0" button.
And that's when I realized it. The medium that has changed my life the most is Comcast On Demand. This button takes me to a seemingly endless library of movies, TV series, new casts, documentaries, and music. And it was at this moment that I realized it's not only a love I have for this medium, it's a bit of an addiction.
On my day off, especially if I've been out late the night before and I slip into vegetation mode, I can sit with my handy dandy TV clicker and jump from watching the newest movies that just came out on DVD to my favorite episodes of Entourage and Sex and the City (back to back) to watching Food Network's Tyler Florence teach me how to make the ultimate lamb chops .
I could go on and on about all On Demand has to offer but what needs to be said is how it's changed my life . What's it's done that's amazing is to help me step outside of my normal comfort zone of likes and dislikes and I've realized there's thing's I'm interested in that I didn't even know I would be. For example, I never would've guessed I would enjoy Discovery Channels documentaries on glaciers and volcanoes. But once I watched, I wanted to learn more, and so I did. It even prompted me to search the internet to find additional information, I'd say the only downfall is that sometimes I find myself in my pajamas all day on the couch feeling nothing but blissful relaxation. But really is that bad? Everyone deserves some down time!