Procrastination

Perhaps if I gave up sleep... I'd have enough time to blog.  (Just a thought.)

Spring Term - Part III: The Print of It

As I mentioned a few months ago, I had applied and gotten the position as Associate Copy Editor for my school newspaper (The Clackamas Print).  Because of this, my days were filled with yet another obligation, this one not counting towards my degree unfortunately.

It took me a while to accumulate, to observe and see where I fit, but I think it happened.  I am truly part of the dysfunctional family that is The Print.

I started out by buying an AP Styleguide, this was a necessity given that all of my previous writing training was in MLA format, and while the differences were subtle, they weren't obvious and were often important.

My time was served editing a couple articles a week (some easier than others) and then combing each page (along with several others) over and over again on production day, ensuring as close to perfection as possible on production day.

My big contribution didn't come until the second to last issue of the term.  I wrote an article on green beans, wrote two food reviews (Mazatlan and Toki) for a special food insert, took a photo for each and designed six ads.  I was also part of the production staff that created the food insert.  That was a BUSY week I tell ya. 

Towards the end of the term, it was time for editor applications, so of course I applied for the position I had been training for all term, Copy Editor.  Guess what?  I am now Web Editor.  I suppose my stregnths showed through and I am where I should be.

I also found a way to use this opportunity as Cooperative Work Experience over the summer, redesigning and reorganizing the website, getting it up to par so it will hopefully only be in need of the typical regular maintenance that comes with updates.  I took a baby step in the right direction, taking the reigns of The Print's Twitter account and giving it a facelift.

All and all, I've got my work cut out for me.  Step one, learn Joomla.  Yay.

Spring Term - Part II: The Thick of It

Web Application Designs - Spring 2011

Even with all of the time I spent on campus, it was the online classes that kicked me in the backside this term.  Business Strategies for Computer Consultants, and Web Application Development.

Business was probably the easier of the two, but required a lot of reading, research, and relying on the advisory of a third party to get the work done.  On the plus side, there were some aspects that I was ahead of the game on, such as business licensing.  Having been through the process of completing and filing a business license application (which by the way it turns out I didn't need since I am outside of city limits), as well as actually being in the process of starting my own business, came in very handy within the realm of this class.

I learned a lot of valuable information that will likely be put into play in my own business, and I am glad I took this class.  However, what I didn't like was I always felt rushed and stressed when it came to the assignments.  I turned things in the day they were due, instead of ever being able to get ahead, which is what I prefer.  I tip-toed through that class uncertain, which is strange given that I aced it and received nothing but positive feedback.

Web Application Development was a class that somewhere deep down, was determined to bring me to tears.  During the last 12 weeks, I delved further into the world of JavaScript and began my introduction to ASP, PHP, SQL, and MySQL.  Can I buy a vowel? 

With JavaScript, everything was familiar and I got through it with minimal frustration, however when ASP came along, the hair pulling began.  Once I finally got a slight understanding of ASP, PHP came along, and it's just similar enough to almost understand, yet different enough that minor differences are no where near as minor as you would think.  Access databases are straight forward enough, it's just the syntax to use it that causes steam to emit from my ears.  The combination of PHP and MySQL drove me batty, because I didn't have access to the database in the first place.  I had to figure out how to create a record before I could edit or delete it.  Ugh!

Some how, after many nights dreaming of roaming semi-colons and sinister radio buttons, I passed, with flying colors no less.  I even managed to get 100% on the debugging part of the final (blink-blink, huh?).

Books on all of these topics are residing as we speak within the safety of my Amazon shopping cart.  With a couple classes down the line being extensions of these topics, I plan on being thoroughly prepared, even if it means keeping a spare box of tissues around, just in case.