A Shattered Phone Screen's New Perspective

May 17, 2018 by Sara Woznicki

A few weeks ago, I went to a friends birthday dinner. My friend and I grabbed cupcakes and showed up too early (neither of us thought to check the invite before driving over), so we grabbed a bottle of Prosecco and sat down with the two other people who were there. We were chatting it up and having a fantastic time. I made the rounds around the table to everyone I used to work with, chatting and catching up on their lives: children who are now walking, jobs that are being adjusted to, hobbies that are changing and upcoming travel plans.

"You seem really happy," my friend said. It was perhaps the half a bottle of Proessco I just drank, or it might be that I am actually happy. I smiled and said, "I am doing really well," and continued to talk about everything in my life that's going well (this blog and Richmond Brunch Weekend being successful really does help me feel happy).

See Spot Dial: Dad Gets a Smartphone

March 07, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor

Over the holidays, my brother got an iPhone 6S. Naturally, this meant I upgraded my iPhone, too. Conveniently, my dad needed a new phone so my old iPhone 5c did not go to waste.

Now my dad has had a flip phone for the last four years. Before that, he had a non-flip phone. Yes, one of those early 2000s, miniature bricks. He got a flip phone when flip phones were already on their way out.

CAPS LOCK ON, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

July 14, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's

If you have a Smartphone, then you know your phone has a nasty habit of remembering what you've texted in the past. It's always auto-suggesting how to spell a word, and no, I don't "ducking" hate her. But beside "impetget" spelling memory (that would be, "imperfect"), it also automatically capitalizes certain words if you ever - even once - spelled them in all caps. (Y U DO THAT?!)

Over the last month, I've cataloged some of the words my phone believes deserve all caps. Here they are:

The Read Receipt: Read This

March 02, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Dating, Humor, Life In Your 20's

Two days ago my friend texted me complaining that the guy she's talking to hasn't turned off his read receipts. Read receipts, for those of you not in possession of a Smartphone, is the phenomenon where you send a text and can then see that your friend/crush/enemy/dad read the text at 6:38 PM.

Nifty, right?

Wrong. Because why aren't they replying? Okay, they're probably making dinner . . . now eating dessert . . . now watching TV, maybe cleaning the dishes . . . checking Facebook . . . showering . . . WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO RESPOND?

Stop the Thought Crimes: Use Words, Not Emojis

February 20, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Sara's Column, Social Media, Tweets and Mascara

**Originally posted on WriteHere**

George Orwell’s novel 1984 is becoming a reality, but it's not the government deeming self-expression a thought crime. We’re doing it to ourselves. For those of you who haven’t read 1984 (or for those who were supposed to read it in high school and never did), the basic premise of the book is that the government is working to control people’s thoughts through Newspeak, where they eliminate words so that people cannot rebel.

When the government takes away words, it lessens people’s ability to object to their totalitarian ways, and hinders people from being able to give a deeper context to their thoughts. Without words, people lose their ability to think on their own accord because they can't articulate anything other than what the government wishes. It’s mind control.

This land is my land

September 07, 2014 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara

One thing I don't hide about myself is how much I love where I live, which is the beautiful River City of Richmond, Virginia. To pay homage to my new(ish) homeland, here are some of my favorite #RVA landscape pictures. All pictures are from my Instagram and shot using my trusty iPhone 5.

Over-Synched

February 04, 2014 by Sara Woznicki in Humor, Leisure, Life In Your 20's, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara, Young Professionalism

Five years ago, I decided that I needed a Mac over a PC because it "fit better with my major." Then when it was (finally) time for me to get a smartphone, I considered nothing other than the iPhone. When my grandparents offered to get me an iPad, I jumped at the offer. So by the time I made it back to Virginia to start my job, I had three Apple products, and loved them all. Then it got a little bit more excessive when I started my new job, where they gave me a laptop PC (he doesn't fit in, but I allow him to be in the family anyway), a work iPad and a work iPhone. So that brings up my Apple count to 5. A little bit crazy, but it gets a bit worse.

My mother, who sometimes turns out to be strangely advanced with technology, nagged me WEEKS ON END (hi, mom) to upgrade my Mac Book. My normal response was, "yeah, whatever," "I don't even use it anymore," and basically any other way of succinctly suggesting that I was too busy (but more like too lazy). Then one day the nagging happened when my computer was open, so I gave in.

Then, on Christmas, my gift from my parents was an Apple TV, which is why my computer needed to be updated. I wired it all together and then hooked up my personal Apple products to the TV. That's only three, so it's not weird or anything (ok, fine, it's excessive).

Anyways, now that we've got an inventory of my wares, let's move on. It's been nice having the Apple TV (and a borrowed Netflix password), but things got a little hectic lately. I decided to watch some Netflix, but also wanted to do a bit of research, as I am trying to find a way to travel abroad cheaply without having to sell myself out.

I got my Jeffrey Dahmer documentary going on my tv and a few pages up on my computer. Then I thought, why in god's name did I put on this serial killer's documentary?? And went to go turn it off with the little remote that comes with the Apple TV.

That's when it all got hairy. I would click the center button and side buttons to search for tv shows on Netflix and my computer would turn the music on and off. Songs were switching back and forth like it forgot to take its ADD meds.

All my signals were getting crossed because I may have gone overboard on my synching. Now everything in my room talks to each other, except for my poor little work PC, bless its heart. I can't even begin to tell you how crazy it makes me trying to navigate through all the episodes of How I Met Your Mother available with songs switching on and off, the volume going up and down, and it pausing and playing all the time.

Such a total #FirstWorldProblem I can't even handle it.