Almost Done

For the past few weeks I have been working on a website for a Sport Management class on Facilities & Planning. Today is the day of the event, and the conclusion of it will bring relief to many people including me. The primary focus of the class is to plan a charity banquet. The charity is Charlie Batch's Best of the Batch program which benefits youth in disadvantaged communities in Pittsburgh and the US. Even though I am not in the class, I was responsible for the event website http://www.banquentintheburgh.com/. I was honored when they asked me to make it, and will be forever grateful to the members of the class.

I learned a lot from making this website. It is the first time I used Lightbox and IPTC data embedded into photos in the wild. PHP handled generating the code which Lightbox requires quite well. The content of the gallery page is being entirely generated from the folder hierarchy which means adding to the page is as simple as putting a folder in a specific location. Through making it, I ran into the curious caption bug of Lightbox for which there is no perfect fix. You can check the source for my fix.

This is the first time the end of the semester feels no different from the rest of the semester. It is quite strange to be so close to graduation and yet feel like things will be no different a month from now even when I know they will. First of all, I will no longer be a student. Second, and closely related to the first, I will lose my part time job working for the university. Third, I will be living in my own house. In the past, all this real world stuff seemed like it was such a big deal. However, now it doesn't seem that way anymore.

Oh, and when my work from the video game programming class is ready for release it definitely will show up here.

Autumn in Slippery Rock

Dang, I sure messed up that more posts thing.

I wasn't quite prepared for how much work school was going to be. This year I have an apartment with one other person. I don't really want to talk about the situation, it's a sore subject. Anyway, I advise anybody looking for a place to live in Slippery Rock to stay away from The Ivy. I strongly doubt their ability to count above three.

This is my first time ever taking a photography class. Results have been mixed. The first critique resulted in my photo being related to dying dreams and the death of Santa Claus. The next one consisted of two photos, one which was basically perfect and the other somewhat mediocre. Since I am not in the beginner's class I feel like I'm doing just fine. The true test will be when I must use film. I began photography when I bought my first digital camera and have never used film. While I'm curious about it, the thought of photos being related to my grade scares me. This isn't the first art class I've taken, but it is the first that I began learning outside of class. One of my photos is used by a website/blog on average once a week, which to me is a testament to my ability. (Flickr also lists me as one of the featured photographers of Slippery Rock) Hopefully I don't end up hating photography because I'm taking a class as has happened with every other hobby I took a class for.

There are lots of topics which I thought about putting in here, but I didn't write them down and I can't remember them. I typically use Evernote for this type of thing. Speaking of Evernote one use I have found for it is making a playlist for my school radio show. Whenever I hear a song which fits into my show I add it to the list to look-up in the station's library.

Summer is Calling

Bad news first
The year is coming to a close and what should be an exciting time is not going to be. I should have graduated at the conclusion of the semester. Originally I was to be a student for 4.5 years. But last summer I jumbled classes so that I could graduate in  May this year. It looked like everything was going well until this semester when I was just overworked and could not give enough time to all of my classes. I have to go back to the plan of graduating after 4.5 years. I was rather disappointed when I realized I had to go back to that plan. I can still be happy for my friends though. My best friends are moving on to the real world and while I wish I was joining them I can still give them an encouraging send off.


Just below Slippery Rock Falls

Earlier today I went to Slippery Rock Falls for the first time ever. It was just to help somebody whose car would not start, but I had the opportunity to spend some time at the falls. The water was freezing cold since it is only the start of warm weather here. After 5 seconds of my feet in the water it was painful. I am told that the water levels are lower in august so that people can walk out into the middle of the creek and swim in the warmer water. I almost fell into the creek twice from (of all things) slipping on a rock. At least now I can claim that I slipped on a rock while at Slippery Rock. Anyway, we finally were able to start the car and return to campus.

This is likely my last post of the school year. Feel free to leave any questions or comments anytime though.

Almost There

This semester is going by faster than any other.



A lot has happened since my last post. This semester really did take me by surprise. I had to take some time off from posting while I got things under control. Hopefully it will stay that way.

The biggest interuption was the Mathematical Contest in Modeling. It is an international contest which takes place anually. The premise is that each 3 person team has 120 hours to solve a problem and write a paper about it. Last year, I competed for the first time and my team placed in the top 13% worldwide. The problem was to come up with a way to gerate sudoku boards. This year, the problem was to come up with a system wich can determine the best traffic flow control within a traffic circle. I won't find out my place this year until after the end of the semester (and hopefully graduation). Even with all of the prestige which comes with the competition I doubt that I will ever do it again. Both times I was left stressed because I was missing out on everything else happening while I was stuck working on this math problem.

House council has been a very big part of my life this year. That should be expected as I am the president of the Watson Hall house council. But it wasn't until now that I felt as though I was actually getting anything accomplished. We have some big plans for house council for the remainder of the year.

Midterm recess is approaching quickly (next week). Most people call it spring break, but I don't as it is not yet spring. Normally I just take a week off, go home, and relax. This year I am going on a care break. For anyone that doesn't know, a care break is a trip to another city in order to do community service. Slippery Rock University has a long history of participating in care breaks. I am going on the care break to San Fransisco. While there we will be doing landscaping at the Presidio. This trip has been the best thing to look forward to all year so I am looking forward to it more than anything else.

Next time you hear from me I will be back from California.

Spring Semester should actually be called Winter Semester

There has been snow on the ground since the start of the semester.



It is so cold that for the first time ever I witnessed pond hockey in Slippery Rock. This weather is not condusive to learning. Classes were getting cancelled for pure fact that the wind chill was 20 below. This does make for a lot of fun outside of class though. The ski hill is getting a ton of use along with the ski lodge. Sometimes there is even free hot chocolate in the ski lodge for everyone to enjoy. The hot chocolate really hits the spot when it is this cold out.

Classes this semster really took me by surprise. They started so suddenly and with so much work. This just makes me want to graduate even more just to get it over with. Luckily there are only 3 months left.Then I won't have to worry about classes anymore. After that I'll just have to worry about the real world. Some my friends who graduated last year are still surviving out in the real world so I figure it can't be so bad.

Just as a reminder feel free to leave questions/comments here and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Almost There

The end of the semester is within sight. Most of my classes have final projects and papers due next week. I wish it was all over. I wish I didn't have to do it at all.

In my last post I said that nothing went awry with regard to my scheduling. Just after that something almost did. One of the classes I signed up for was under-enrolled. When that happens the class is most often canceled. The last time this happened it was a class which included a trip to London that was canceled. This time it is the very last class I need for graduation. Luckily it is the same for everyone else in the class as well. The provost has graciously allowed the class to continue with only 5 people.

The weather here still has not made up its mind as to what season it is. One day it is closer to summer the next it is back to winter. The past few it has been snowing so I think that it might be winter to stay pretty soon.

I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. It's my second favorite holiday, the first being St. Valentine's Day. I have not been home since fall break at the beginning of October and am looking forward to seeing my family again. This is actually the longest I've been away from home. Before, I went home monthly for various reasons. Now I simply don't need to and haven't been going. It's definitely going to be nice to go home.

Tonight is Slippery Rock's Light Up Night. It starts about an hour from now, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go. Even though it is beautiful outside, I have a ton of work to complete. Most of it due Monday. And I know I'm not going to have time this weekend to do it. On Friday night I am participating in a fund raiser for St. Jude Hospital called Up 'til 2 For St. Jude. On Saturday I will be celebrating a friend's birthday (not all day so I will have some time). Also, sometime this weekend an old friend will be visiting. Then finally on Sunday is the Gym Class Heroes concert. I just bought my ticket yesterday, and was surprised that they haven't sold out already. I also have a meeting Sunday immediately after the concert which will take up the last moments of my weekend.

First Snow

Last week was the first snow of the season here in Slippery Rock.



Two years ago when it snowed in the spring semester the snow didn't melt for two months. If you don't know, there are only three seasons here in Slippery Rock. One is summer. It doesn't last very long. The second is winter. This lasts considerably longer than the others. The third is actually just a transition between the two. Also the weather seems to jump between the seasons whenever it wants to. Last week it was snowing, this week it's almost 70, and next week it is supposed to snow again.

This week also marks the beginning of scheduling for the spring semester. I scheduled myself earlier yesterday. Just on a side note, scheduling has never gone smoothly for me. Something has always gone wrong. Most often it is a course that is filled by the time I register. This time nothing has gone wrong. It's about time.

Animated

I'm beginning to settle down here.

Today I finished my animation. Well, technically I finished yesterday and it rendered overnight. When I started taking this class I was not expecting to make anything 3D. But when he said we could do something in 3D for our projects I couldn't pass it up. I spent about the first week of class getting acclimated to the program I was using (Strata 3D CX). The following two weeks I spent creating this animation. By the end my professor said that for the time in which I worked on it I have learned a lot about working in 3D.

This also marks the end of my first class this summer. My next one is Intro to Chemistry and it starts on Monday. I haven't taken any chemistry classes since the one in high school just over 4 years ago. However I did get one of the highest grades in the class so I'm not too worried about it.

Just after my last post I opened up Wii Fit. The first thing it wanted to do was measure my BMI. Luckily it said that I am in the normal range. When you start off it asks you whether you want a male or female trainer. In video games I like to explore all the options, so I tried both. The guy just seems really weird. Afterward I went through the rest of the activities readily available as some need to be unlocked. It really seems like a lot of fun.

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Comings and Goings

So it finally feels like summer here in Slippery Rock.

It feels just like a continuation of last summer. My class then was in the same room with the same professor. The difference now is that my course number is 214 instead of 114. My animation is coming along nicely. Watch for it here soon. It's nothing really impressive, mostly just me exploring what is possible with 3d animation.

I was supposed to celebrate four birthdays this weekend but only ended up celebrating two of them. We went shopping on the south side of Pittsburgh to kick things off. The first thing that we all did together was go to the Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon laser show at the Carnegie Science Center. Some of my friends went about two years ago and really loved it. I didn't get quite as much of an experience as they did, but I still liked it. My favorite song, by far, was Money. The next day one of the birthday girls had to go to work at the mall so we decided to go visit her. Since it's the mall we also went shopping. Most of my clothes are very simplistic and cheap, but for some reason I felt I needed to buy an outfit that is out of my ordinary. (I've been feeling I need a change for a while.) High end clothes are not really my thing, so when I bought an outfit at Hollister I surprised even myself. All I need now is people to see me.

I also figured out why I need a change. For the past 3 years I've attended SRU. The last time I attended any school for more than 2 years was elementary school. I guess I'm just not used to staying in one place for such a long time.

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First Post

I recently started summer classes at Slippery Rock University. The nice thing about it is I might be able to graduate with only 1 extra semester under my belt. The bad is that there is nobody else around. The town is primarily made up of students who go home for summer. There is pretty much nobody left here. there are about 20 students living on campus with me. Needless to say I am really bored.

My class is an art class, Art Synthesis Digital Media. It lasts for 2.5 weeks. I am already a few days into it. I don’t have any homework because the programs we use are very expensive. Most students in the class are using Photoshop and Illustrator. I, on the other hand, decided to do some 3d animation for the class. The only 3d modeling program they have is Strata 3D CX, which runs for about $700. There is no way to assign homework if it is highly unlikely that I don’t have the necessary programs.

Later on in the summer some of my friends will also be living here in Slippery Rock. They are orientation ambassadors to new students and their families. I expect that when they get here things will be a little more lively here.

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