Date

Description of learning activity. Comments. Time spent/Total

Mar.7, 2003

As everyone knows, we in InfoTech12 class has to do something called FieldWork, where we apply our computer skills to help better the school/community/workplace/Death Star/whatnot. For me, I couldn’t find anyone who could use my help, so I have been assigned whatever needs done in the classroom. Lo and behold, I have been assigned to sit around and make up Biology tests! Well, fair enough, since this isn’t too hard using ExamView Pro, a software specifically designed to make tests (read: make students miserable). Anyhow, this isn’t like some very complicated work, but there sure is a lot of it. Very sneaky too, as you got to watch out for all the input fields like local objective and topic and whatnot, which changes every few questions. Took me a darned long time to do one exam (of four).

1.5h (39.5h)

Mar.9, 2003

So back home, I have just recently finished the single-player campaign to Neverwinter Nights (NWN). For those unfamiliar with this title, it is a role playing game which utilizes the famed AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) system of rules (all the fantasy geeks should know). The single-player experience is fine, albeit a little too linear. However, the real meat and potato is in the online multiplayer feature. This is the first time any RPG allows players to band together on the net and "create their own adventure". How this is done, is by one player volunteering to be a Dungeon Master (DM) whose role is to oversee the whole game. He dictates the whole flow of the game and decides what happens at what time. In other words, he plays god. The rest of the players just resume their own characters and play to their roles. Very involving after a while, especially when all the players co-operate to make the game world seem real. Check out http://nwn.bioware.com for a whole community of players worldwide! (Gosh I sound like an advertisement.)

3h (42.5h)

Mar.12, 2003

Yeah, just today I got a webcam at a good deal. It sells for what, $30-$40 dollars? Something like that. Anyway, it’s small enough that I can hide the whole thing in my hand, and it also acts as a stand alone camera. Of course, the quality is questionable (on either functions, because the webcam feature is choppy as hell and the camera feature takes "okay" pictures.) but hey, it’s small, it works, and the price is a steal. Right, so the product in question is StyleCam Blink from SiPix (http://www.sipixdigital.com/cameras/styleblink/) and it even comes packed with a bunch of software. Trés bien! I spent quite some time just messing with this little gadget, video-chatting and all. Cool.

1.5h (44h)

Mar.14, 2003

But hey, aren’t we supposed to have several entries in this journal just detailing our Fieldwork progress and whatnot? Well, the thing with me is, there really isn’t much to talk about since I’m just doing the same things over and over again. Oh, and they have all been completed now anyway. How cool is that? Yay. But seriously though, I spent so much time doing this stuff it’s not even funny. Big round of applause for me, most definitely.

2.5h (46.5h)

Mar.19, 2003

Not really anything special, but I like to call it this because I’m supposed to be laying elsewhere around the house chilling, not typing up a journal entry in Microsoft Word! Since I’m already here though, let me fill in as to exactly what’s happening lately: nothing. And that’s the problem, ladies and gentlemen! Two term projects due very soon and I’m on the verge of screaming. For the Flash video, I simply ran out of ideas. And for the video project, I don’t even have a video camera! Oh, what am I to do? On top of that, there’s still yet another website project! This is going to be harsh. Fortunately I am aware of this approaching doom, so I’m trying to fix it right now. Spent 4 hours today (with breaks in between, of course) just sitting around trying to think up something for the Flash. The result? At least I got a little bit more done!

3h (49.5h)

Mar.25, 2003

Allow me to talk about the topic of the day: JavaScript. Well, so today we were given these assignment sheets on this subject, to be completed and handed in the next day. Of course, me, being the hardworking guru me (well, this is arguable…), completed it during class. My thoughts? This is a pretty simple language (for now, anyway) and it didn’t exactly pose a threat to me. But then again, I have had programming experience before so that may be why (programming experience as in several classes of REALBasic and the first 10 or so pages of Visual C++ For Dummies.). Anyway, I’m confident that I can take care of this unit (my only frets now are the projects. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!)

2h (51.5h)