Year: 2006

School

Some Things are Not Blog Worthy…

Post author By lesbecker
Post date October 28, 2006
2 Comments on Some Things are Not Blog Worthy…

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Okay, I’ve neglected the blog.

It’s not that I’ve been too busy (although I’ve been busier the last two weeks than I’ve been in a long time). And it’s not that I’ve been cleaning my house, either, which my kid is sure to start a brand new blog about soon, if I don’t do something around here in short order.

There really isn’t anything to blog about other than school, and I didn’t want to bore you all, because really, unless you’re into it, HTML and CSS are boring as… well, insert some expletive that you feel comfortable with.

But I did finally get some marks back, so I thought I’d post the urls that I had to turn in for assignments.

HTML Lesson 1: Grade: 100%
HTML Lesson 2: Grade: 85% probably because, although the layout works fine in IE, it goes to hell in Firefox.
HTML Lesson 3: Grade: 95%

My overall average when quiz results are thrown in is 93.3%. I’m writing the exam (which terrifies me) on Monday.

Web Design 1 Lesson 1 (user profile building, and site mapping, so it’s not online): Grade: 95%
Web Design 1 Lesson 2.1: and
Web Design 1 Lesson 2.2: Grade: 85%

My overall average is 95%, and I’m currently swearing over Lesson 3, which is the beginning of building the site I profiled and mapped in Lesson 1.

The Business Correspondence course is pissing me off, because I’m done 3/4 of it, and I just now realized that they ordered up Level 1, instead of Level 2, which is the course that was paid for, and I’m sure would not bore me to tears the way this one does… Now I have to bring that up to the director on Monday, and I’m not sure if it can be fixed easily.

As an aside, the “duplicate” javascript listing in my course list was supposed to be CSS, which I’m trying to get live once I put the HTML Basics course to bed.

But, I’m enjoying school anyway, and I have a job waiting for me when I’m done, with Louie, my old Day Job Boss. Isn’t it amazing how the wheel turns?

School

Day Two C’est Fini…

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I’m not enrolled in French, so I don’t care if that title is correct or not… but I got through Day Two in better fashion than yesterday. Once I left the school yesterday, the assistant to the Director called me at home to tell me everything got set up, so I logged in from my laptop to see how off I was on the web pages I was supposed to build for Lessons 1 and 2. And they were way off.

Lesson 1 called for me to build an online menu for an Italian restaurant. Lesson 1 doesn’t teach enough HTML to make a decent online restaurant menu if you just use what was taught in the lesson, so I cheated and made it with tables, which aren’t taught until Lesson 2, but I mean, Gawd! I can’t turn in crap, can I? I will let you all know if my teacher wanted crap once he marks it….

Lesson 2 is also complete and sent in. I had to “revamp” a clothing store’s entry page to one of its departments. I chose Mens’ clothing, because I live with a Serious Clothes-Horse and know more about mens’ clothing than women’s clothing. Hell, I wear more mens’ clothing than women’s clothing!

The Clothes-Horse made me shut School off before I could finish Lesson 3, which is FOUR different pages within the same Imaginary Travel Agency’s site. This is the final lesson before whatever freaky-deaky exam they have for such a short course (I really don’t consider this little blip in my week to be a whole course.), so I had been aiming at finishing and uploading the files tonight, and do the exam tomorrow, but then I was reminded that there are no more courses for me until the orders go through for them, so this way, I’ll have something to do tomorrow.

I checked the course deadline out today – they expect me to finish this by January. Ahem.

School

It’s Never What You Expect, Is It?

Post author By lesbecker
Post date October 16, 2006
2 Comments on It’s Never What You Expect, Is It?

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Well, this was an odd day, to say the least…

It was to be my first day of school, and I was up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to be ready to make my appearance at 9:30. My “normal” school day will be from 9 am to 2 pm or so, but today I was slated for “Orientation”, which entailed signing the final contract, having my courses activated online, and learning how to log-in to the system.

I was there early, having had a nice “short” walk to somewhere for a change. Unfortunately, the director of the school was not there, my contract could not be found, and my courses could not be activated. I can’t log-in and do assignments, either, but I wasn’t expecting to be doing any actual work today, anyway.

I stayed for just under two hours before Jeff, the IT Guy, decided I might just as well go home and wait for a phone call. I did manage to get the outline for my first course, which is HTML Basics, and it’s about as basic as a course can get, I think. Three “lessons”, practical lectures, and web pages to create for each lesson’s assignment. I’ve gone through all the lessons, and done the practical lessons and web pages for Lesson 1. I can’t finish it, because there is an online quiz to do once I log-in.

I still have yet to receive a call from the director, but will go to school for 9 am tomorrow, whether I hear from her or not. I must say, this is the first time I showed up for school and a teacher was off playing hookey…

So I’ve decided to be what my peers in high school would have called a “Browner” (short for “Brown-Noser”; ewwww.) and work ahead in all the practicals and web page assignments, and see what happens from there. I’d say wish me luck, but this first course is embarrassingly “basic”, so I just want to get through it and go on to something interesting.

My course outline until August 31, 2007, when I will have all my certifications, is:

HTML Basics
Fundamentals of JavaScript
Dreamweaver Lvl 1
Dreamweaver Lvl 2
Flash Basics
Flash Experience
Adobe Illustrator
Fundamentals of JavaScript (yes, I know this is here twice, and I don’t know why either,
but they are two different course lengths)
Web Design Lvl 1
Project Management Fundamentals
Marketing and Sales
Business Economics
Business Correspondence Lvl 2
Business Essentials
Business in the Electronic Age
Business Financial Management
Business Planning
Human Resource Management

This made-to-order conglomeration that we put together is called the Web/Graphics/Communication Mediums course. I’m not certain what we’ll call me when all is said and done, but I’m happy with the curriculum.

I’m really looking forward to the business and marketing courses, which are waiting for textbooks to ship, apparently, so it may be a few weeks before I can get to any of those.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play with code…

Photography Real Life School

The Pressure is Off…

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Well, some of it, anyway. I had my interview with the Biggest Wig in the complicated trail of paper to apply to get these courses I want. It was a long and freaky-deaky time for me, waiting to find out if they would allow me to do this, because I wanted two different sets of courses, and I had to convince them that there was a correlation between the two that would make me a better candidate for entry level positions in the new career choice I’ve made.

My concern, and my advisor shared this with me, as did the registrar of the school I was vying for, was not that I would be flat-out turned down, but informed that I would have to choose one set or the other. And I couldn’t for the life of me decide which way to go. I wanted them both. And it was a loooooong wait for that phone call that would schedule the final interview.

I spent my time watching my kid play.

Space: The Latest Frontier

Kyla fell into her imagination again. It’s very cool when this happens. She drew the screen of a spacecraft on her chalkboard, and set up a control center with an old computer keyboard, bike parts, and a pilfered mic stand.

Check out the actually “shiftable” gear shift…

She went to some pretty neato places.

I got the chance to spend some decent time hanging out with her, too. We managed a few Walk-Abouts around town, and trips to visit Gramma and Grampa.

A “Back Lane” Walk About…

We decided to take my old familiar path to work, and got some nice views of the fall foliage.

My old “Day Job” route…

A favourite spot.

I have a winter picture of this exact spot somewhere. I shall have to do something creative with the two when I find the time to find it…

Ky and I also had a Walk-About down Queen Street, to kick through the leaves.

Surprise!!

We both grew down a little bit for an hour or so…

I LOVE this photo! It was blind dumb luck that I got it at all, and I was NOT impressed that those rude people in the background did not have the sense to stay out of my frame.

So I disappeared them.

There are still blooming things in October…

Purple Flowers

I don’t know what they are, but they are still blooming, in spite of our decidedly Autumnal weather conditions…

I want a whole yard full of these some day…

I also spent much quality time getting to know the newest member of the family…

Meet “Scamp”.
He’s a brown rat. I call him “Fatso Ratso”, which Ky doesn’t like, but I notice she sometimes calls him that, too.

Hide & Seek

He likes to hang out at, on and in the couch. I allow this, because he has begun to bring up long lost treasures, like camera cables, and debit cards, although, I do have to fight him for them.

And then I got my call. The final step. Nice lady on the phone gives me the date and time for my interview. Another week away.

Arrggghhhh!

So, to make a long story a little shorter, I did all of the above all over again, with a couple of feeble attempts at doing laundry, dishes and general housework, and couple of “sickly” days thrown in to spice up the week…

And I start school Monday.

I win, I win, I win, I win, I win!!

I have such a cool list of courses, too, which I will elaborate on in the next few posts… But, right now, I’m going to sit down and gloat, and smile a lot.

It Helps If the Whole Family Is Crazy Little Bits of Stupid Video...

The Shake Down…

I caught my sister smoking today. If the money doesn’t come through, I’m gonna tell on her, for serious.

Tags caught smoking, rivalry, shakedown, siblings, video

Video... Wasted Time...

On Having Too Much Time on One’s Hands…

Post author By lesbecker
Post date September 14, 2006
4 Comments on On Having Too Much Time on One’s Hands…

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Okay, so I’m all for neat tricks and all, but really…. Why?!

Note: This video has been replaced, since the original link is now broken. Times mentioned in the comments now make no sense. Sorry…

Real Life School Wasted Time...

Aaaack! Aaaack! Aaaack! Aaaack! Aaaack!

Post author By lesbecker
Post date August 30, 2006
5 Comments on Aaaack! Aaaack! Aaaack! Aaaack! Aaaack!

Yes, that’s me screaming.

I’ve lost all capability of scheduling my time. At the worst possible time, too.

I have several articles started; some being flashes of absolute brilliance that I was bright enough to jot down into notepad while still blinded by the brilliance. Of course, on second, sober, daylight read-through, I realize that my “brilliant flashes” closely resemble a drunken rant. I could deal with that if I had been drunk.

Oh, yeah. And it looks like I’m going back to school. I have a meeting about that this afternoon, and I can’t even seem to schedule a shower in before leaving.

I need a PA for my personal life, never mind this sitcom production. I don’t suppose there is a bored, independently wealthy (’cuz I can’t pay you), non-dangerous wack-job out there that would like to become my right arm and day-planner? Anybody?

Buskerfest 2006 CANADA Sault Ste. Marie Ontario The Blogelation - 2006 Vicarious Tourism Video...

The BuskerFest Blogelation – Update

Post author By lesbecker
Post date August 14, 2006
No Comments on The BuskerFest Blogelation – Update

Well, it’s all over except for the rendering… LOL! I’ve had an incredibly wonderful weekend, and the only disappointment has been that it’s all over. . . Except for the hard part. I have gotten behind (what else is new?), but this time, at least, it’s not entirely my fault. I can blame it all on my dentist. ‘Nuff said, about that for the time being.

I’m currently working on ’shopping the pics and trying to find workable low-light-level video from the BuskerFest Cabaret (which was an unreal experience, let me tell you), and then it will be on to the Day 3 pics. If you believe at all in a Supreme Being, please pray for me. If you don’t have that kind faith, at least have a beer for me. If I start drinking now, I’ll just fall asleep, and that would be a pitiful waste of booze.

Meantime, I’ve thrown together a quick little vid of HBPTVNews-on-the-Fly “Plugs” that I begged from all the buskers (except Ivan, who had to blow town early for another gig – and I’m really sorry I didn’t catch him before he hightailed it). They were very generous with their time and I hope you’ll check it out.

Buskerfest 2006 CANADA Photography Sault Ste. Marie Ontario The Blogelation - 2006 Vicarious Tourism

Blogelation – Buskerfest 2006 – Day 2

Post author By lesbecker
Post date August 12, 2006
1 Comment on Blogelation – Buskerfest 2006 – Day 2

Kids by the droves today! I couldn’t get them all to stand still enough to get good shots. These ones were both patient and happy. Usually, where kids are concerned, those two things don’t necessarily go together.

She tried real hard not to let me take her picture, but I managed. She agreed to let me post it when I told her it’s not like it’s going to be on national tv or anything. Once I got the okay, I told it would go online – for the whole planet to see. So somebody from across the world better comment, now…

The Coralies, from Montreal, put on a spectacular, hilarious show. I got some great video of their bicycle balancing act, which will hopefully come later in the Buskerfest Extravaganza. Stayed tuned – but stay patient. It probably won’t be until at least Monday, as I have several more buskers left to video.

**A little help from the strongest man they could find…**

**Although, I’d bet dollars to donuts the girls are stronger…**

So, I’m busy blogelating away when I hear: “Les! Les! Auntie Les!” I turn to see a nephew-ish type personage bearing down on me with hugs and kisses. He had hitchhiked home for Buskerfest from BC! To all ye non-Canuckians that’s British Columbia – clear across the country (Yes, mothers, I gave him what-for for that one…)

**“L’il Dirk” is not so little any more…**

**Doesn’t it just feel like a party, now?**

And party, we shall – at the Caberet at Loplops this eve, for even more entertainment, and a lot of schmoozing. The boozing will be low-key, natch – I don’t want to drown the borrowed camera in beer, after all…

Come on out and say hi! The party starts at 11 pm-ish and is guaranteed to be a blast, so show up and show off! Don’t forget to stop me and tell me what a good job I’m doing (I’ll be the one with the weird hat on my head and the camera in your face.).

Buskerfest 2006 CANADA Photography Sault Ste. Marie Ontario The Blogelation - 2006 Vicarious Tourism

Blogelation – Buskerfest 2006 – Day 1

Post author By lesbecker
Post date August 11, 2006
No Comments on Blogelation – Buskerfest 2006 – Day 1

I’m cheating. “Today” is “Tomorrow”. Cujo will know exactly what I mean. I had a back and forth email conversation with a friend the other day about how time gets away from us, and, you know, I wish I had a way to just pause things for the rest of you so I could get everything done when I want to. Ah, well….

BuskerFest 2006!!
It’s The Blogelation’s second event!

I didn’t get to see as many of the buskers as I would have liked. The card on my borrowed camera filled up waaaay too fast to suit me… I’ve fixed that for tomorrow, though… I’ve gone into hock (again) with the purchase of another card. Either, my friend will get an extra card as “rent” for the camera, or my replacement will be the same model. I think I’m going to go for the same model (sorry, pal).

This year’s coordinator, Donna Hopper, was difficult to find in the melee before the show started. I finally discovered her hiding out back of LopLops, “slack”ing off.

Craig West, always cool as a cucumber, helped Slackhopper deal with all the what-ifs…

Craig West: What-If Dealer... — **Craig West: What-If Dealer…**

Let’s get the show on the road!

The crowd really seemed to be enjoying themselves. I wish I could have got a lot more crowd shots, but I really needed to save the room for the buskers themselves.

**One way to keep track of your family…**

“Trulee Odd” was exactly that: Odd. Fire-eating, balancing acts, mini-motorcycling…. he was a real crowd pleaser.

**Trulee needed a little help to get on his bike…**

**And, as promised, he didn’t kill anybody. Today.**

Jeff Hill, a Toronto Magician, was the next act to take to the streets.

Jeff did a great “Houdini-ish” straight-jacket, bound-in-chains escape trick. He actually fell to the ground right at my feet, writhing around – it was so cool. It’s been a long time since I had a good looking guy bound in chains, rolling around mere feet from me… and that time, I wasn’t wishing for my camera… I was just hoping the cops didn’t bust down my door.

Carol Martin was there with her jealousy-inspiring way cool camera equipment… I love to run into Carol, because she never runs away from my camera…

That was it for me today, unfortunately, but if I ever manage to get down to tomorrow’s show, at least I have that extra card…

Arrggghhhh!

I win, I win, I win, I win, I win!!

BuskerFest 2006!! It’s The Blogelation’s second event!

BuskerFest 2006!!
It’s The Blogelation’s second event!