I am immersed against my will in the nasty, swirling pit of horror that is Macromedia Dreamweaver 8. If you value your sanity, do not follow me down. Don’t worry - I brought a rope and a lunch (and a note from my mom reminding me how much better I will feel when this is all over with.).
Random Song for the Day: “Kingston Town” - Harry Belefonte
The Flash Basics course is finally finished with. I got really great marks throughout, but the time it ate up leaves me in serious trouble for the rest of my schedule - and there’s the advanced course to worry about yet, too. I have less than 8 weeks left… and 8 courses to get through. God help me, because I can’t do this on my own anymore.
I will be pulling another (or maybe I mean “continuing this one”) disappearing act while I finish dispersing of the last of the past five years - which I should have been doing in February, but it was so much easier to close the door and not think about it. Now, though, my “other” apartment has been rented, and I have until the 15th to clear it out, clean it up, patch, paint, and make shiny all the neglected walls, windows and doorknobs. I’m lucky in that I don’t have to do this all by my lonesome, but until it’s empty, nothing else can be done. Meanwhile, my kid has lost her “playroom”, and my “this” apartment is back to being stacked to the rafters with unmarked boxes that threaten to squash the already-retarded cat.
But before I disappear again, I wanted to show off my final flash assignment (sound and everything!). My instructor gave me a glowing report - called me a “born animator”, and said I have “a great sense of timing and creativity”. No kidding, he did. Wonder if he’ll give me a job…? All I can see anymore, when I watch the animation, is the mistakes jumping out of the monitor at me. I’d fix ‘em, but I’m having way too much fun with my new Business and Financial Management course. Barf.
Anyway - I got a 96% for a final grade on the last Flash assignment, and a 95% on the online exam. Then I went and crapped out on the in-class exam for a lousy 89. There goes my “honours” certificate.
…just keep swimming… …just keep swimming… …just keep swimming…
I’m enjoying school again - when I’m there. I’ve been having trouble getting there, but I’m happy to report that I AM working fairly steadily at home.
The course I’m currently working on is Flash Basics which, truthfully, hasn’t really taught me anything I didn’t already know; I’ve been working with Flash for a few years now. This makes for rather simplistic assignments - they’re still really time-consuming, though. What feels like 15 minutes turns into 4 hours later, most days.
But, I’m having fun, which makes all the difference. I’m almost through this course, and then will try to speed through the rest of my business courses before going on with the next Flash set. After that it’s pretty much just Dreamweaver - two of them, I think, and then Holy Ol’ Joe! I’ll be done!
I got a really good mark on the most fun Flash assignment so far - 99%. Wanna see it?
School, that is… my learning curve is close to non-existent, now, I think. It takes me forever to get the hang of things, and then, all of a sudden, it all comes clear. Hopefully, I can retain it, though, because I got a job offer. Fingers crossed, and all that.
I got The Web Design Assignment from Hell back - 95%. I want to be happy about it, but truthfully, I’m just tired, depressed, and wishing I was doing anything but this. Oops. Probably just jinxed myself.
Not just this space, although I suppose it never looks like I’m doing much here, when I pull it all down again minutes later….
I’m working with CSS in school lately, rebuilding “old” html code. The worst part has been having to take html pages that have been written using caps - you know:
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Your web page title here</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
</BODY>
</HTML>
…and lowering the case.
Of course, the “soon-to-be” standard is working out badly for those of us who are used to coding in caps, of which I am one, having always done so because it’s easier to navigate when I’m troubleshooting. I’ve been trying to write in lowercase but it’s hard to get out of that habit.
So this latest assignment has me reworking an old “HTML” page and rewriting it using CSS. The only really buggery part to all that has been the stupid caps.
Notepad doesn’t have a blanket “lower the case” function that I can find… Word adds nasty bits in that can (sometimes) be removed later with Dreamweaver… sort of.
So I Googled (gasp! No way!) and I found a new text editor and I’m very impressed with it. There’s a ton of features that I won’t even begin to get into here, because the best for me is that I can change case in seconds, no matter how big the file is, so it really doesn’t matter any more if I slip up and start coding in caps at all. Makes some things a lot less frustrating now.
It’s called EditPad Pro and if anybody wants to give it a go, you can get it here. There’s an eval download if you just want to try it, too, at the bottom of the page.
I’ll post the link in the sidebar under “Tools” as well.
Schools aren’t closed, but the busses are cancelled, which leaves me at home with a very happy child. It looks as if the recycling truck has been cancelled as well, although that remains to be seen.
You notice those holes in the snowbank, though? That’s where the City Guys actually dug around and pulled out the trash bags that the plow buried. Talk about deserving an “Above & Beyond” award!
So, I’m having a Snow Day, today, too. I get to sit at home (where it’s warm) and work on the Web Design Assignment from Hell. This one is SO crap that I took a break and did the next assignment and even have it back (95%!), and still haven’t got the crap one ready for marking. Yet.
I have, however, discovered an innate talent for cartooning. This is a sample from one of the page mock-ups from said Web Design Assignment from Hell:
So, that’s going to be my day. Well, that or continue to sit with a lapful of large, warm cat. It’s winter in Canuckia, after all…
Unless otherwise stated,
all media displayed
Where the Walls are Soft
is © Les Becker, 2004-2008.
Vote for Me at the
2008 Blogger's Choice Awards!
JustSayHi - Rate Your Blog
