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I am combining what I learn in class with the knowledge I gain on my own to create, maintain, and update (as time allows) this website. Some of what you will find here may be experimental (such as the fluid width of the pages and content that changes as you resize your browser window) and may not display properly in certain browsers. If this is the case for your browser, I invite you to try Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari as I have found that these browsers (among others) display my pages quite nicely so far. Just follow the links to a free download of either web browser.
Above you will find links to pages for classes. These pages contain links to assignments and projects for classes. So far, I have content on the Web Dev II, Web Design, and About Me pages. Flash also has a little bit and might be updated soon... don't hold your breath though.
(UPDATE: this website used to be hosted on Fox Valley Technical College's servers, and has now been moved here. this may or may not explain any strange references to FVTC or students or faculty, etc. on these pages.)
Enjoy.
News
4/13/08 -- "ships, Scholar-, Intern- and Member-"
As you can see the title of this little news clip is in the form of a movie title. Basically this semester seems unreal!
I feel blessed and honored to receive both the FVTC Faculty Association Student Achievement Award scholarship and the Computer Information Tehcnology Team scholarship. My truest thanks goes to the donors of these two awards: Robert Day and Doug Waterman, respectively.
Plus, I've been learning so much through the internship/job I've had this semester. The environment I've been exposed to is so open. If I want to try implementing something on the website, I learn how and do it! I'm kind of afraid I may be getting spoiled with this, however. I received an email about scheduling a phone interview for an internship at Thrivent Financial, and, after that, received another email inviting me to the Super Friday event. You could say I'm just a little bit nervous. Also, this environment might be totally different from what I've been used to.
To top all of this off, my achievement of high grade point average has now given me the oportunity to become a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for 2-year colleges. Actually, I've been sent the invitation about three or four times in the last three or so years (counting the year I went to FVTC for EET program), but I just never had the $70 to fork over. This time it felt worth it.
So, I have a PTK induction, a Super Friday, and a Scholarship Awards Program to attend. This month just got a whole lot busier!
1/11/08 -- Practice, Practice, Practice
It's very easy to lose what we learn by not putting it into regular practice. However, it also seems hard to practice on the same ol' thing and feel like we are moving forward.
So I decided to switch gears and put my basics (HTML, CSS) to the test on my MySpace profile page. Though it may not be the most professional example, or anything I would really show to clients, it was still a great opportunity to see what I could do with a page that already has things in place.
Plus, not only did I get a change of scenery, so do the other MySpacers who visit my page.
1/7/08 -- Internship, Instructors, Information and Inspection
Tomorrow morning I am going to the Tech to chat with a few instructors about the internship opportunity that I have. I'm pretty excited about it, but I just want some outside input on it. It was great getting to know some of my instructors last semester. If you're a student and have not yet done so yourself ... do it. Trust me; you'll thank yourself later.
In other news... in December I sold my books to the FVTC book store. The beauty of this transaction is that I had purchased all my books for the fall semester on Half.com. The bookstore put up a sign towards the end of the semester that stated they would buy back books whether you have a receipt or not. So I stood in line for about an hour or more, sold them my books (plus some from the previous semester), came home with more than enough cash to repeat the first step of online purchase of books for winter 2008. Awesome! Granted, I'm not taking near as many credits this semester as I did last which means fewer books, but still, I think I calculated a loss of about 30 - 50 bucks from buy to sell. You know, of course, that's pretty good as far as college textbooks are concerned. I'm pleased anyway.
I've since received all of the aforementioned new-ish books and have cracked open my Economics and Systems Analysis books. Interesting stuff. I'd start with my Flash book, except I don't have the software. I would really be itching to start on some tutorials if I opened that one.
(update: this site used to be hosted on FVTC's servers, hence the following paragraph...) Finally, I pointed my browser to this very url the other day only to find assurance of the new year. Or new semester anyway. The page read something like "Unable to list contents..." The IT team at FVTC must wipe out all contents of student directories on the deptcis2 server as the same thing happened over the summer. Luckily the root directory was left intact and I was able to re-upload my entire site. This was not the case after the summer.
The new semester is arriving soon. Hope you all are ready!
1/3/08 -- Site Updates and Happy New Year
I've added final grades to the Web Dev II and Web Design pages on the left column! I'm happy to be done with my 16 credit fall semester (and happy for the straight A finish)! I'm going to miss tutoring my students if I don't have a chance to this semster. Carol and Lisa, you both helped me learn so much, and I had such a great time in classes with you. Thank you for the inspiration!
Also, updated the Credits this Semester to the left. Can't wait to get back into classes. Plus, I'm currently searching for an internship to start getting my feet wet with all of this! I think I may spend a few of these new 2008 days experimenting with some Javascript and database stuff. Fun fun! Happy New Year!