Problems Problems Problems! [September 30, 2010]

I CAN'T GET MY HTML VALIDATED. EVEN THE ONES THAT HAVE BEEN VALIDATED BEFORE ARE INVALID NOW. I FEEL SO FRUSTRATED.
  I'll write more tomorrow. :D
Alright! My actual blog posting now. September 30.2010. The last day of the first month of school! When I look back at all the new experiences, I can tell that the IB program is only going to get tougher and tougher. Today, we took down some definitions. This would be the start of our new Basic Computer Glossary. Mr. Arkin made it such that even I could understand exactly what each word meant!
  For homework, we were supposed to write our daily blog, and make a validated page for our new terms. That was when I ran into some trouble. I finished making my page and tried to validate it, but it wouldn't. I then tried to validate my other pages, and for some strange reason, they didn't work either! I emailed Mr. Arkin about this, so I hope we can fix it tomorrow!

-Cindy

Extremely Short Post Ahead! [September 29, 2010]

September 29, 2010. Picture day tomorrow! For homework, we are to finish the glossary, uploaded and everything, but the filezilla password won't work. Still, I think it's safer to be done than not done, so I'm going to finish it tonight. In class, Mr. Arkin showed us the HTML: basic steps page, which is really handy for people who don't know how to code properly, namely, me. We got to work on our glossaries for the rest of the class. Again, I apologize for the short post.

-Cindy

Glossary? Or Index? [September 28, 2010]

September 28,2010. Late start day! Man, I feel refreshed! I finally caught up on all the sleep I missed. Well, sort of. Anyways, today in class, we got the whole period to continue working on our Glossary lists. I finished half of my list of 27, so I think I'm making good progress. I'm thinking of re-doing my index page, but I think I'll save that for the weekend (just wanted to write that). Besides that, classes are running great, and I realize my posts are getting shorter. Oh well. D:
  Tonight, I plan to finish the glossary list, finish my english homework and modify my science lab. This is probably the lightest load I've gotten in a long time, so I'm totally enjoying my time!

-Cindy

Monday! A New Start? [September 27, 2010]

September 27, 2010. With the Super-Power Assignment out of the way, it's time to flip open a new chapter! Today in class, Mr. Arkin showed us the different types of lists; ordered, unordered and definition. He also showed us how to write proper references. I found out that we were going to need all that he taught us as he explained the next assignment, we were supposed to make a Glossary of all the words we studied so far. Mr. Arkin told us to pair off and start working on informal definitions of all our terms. When we finished, we would look for the proper (or at least the most understandable) definition on the internet.
  It sounds easy? Well, there's a catch. We have to use at least 5 different sources and take a even number of definitions from each site. In class, I only got enough time to start on the web searching part.
  For homework, we have to write our daily blog, make a validated glossary skeleton, and download and sign up for dropbox. Which is like an electronic USB key!

-Cindy

We've come so far! [September 24, 2010]

September 24, 2010. Today, at 10:00p.m, our super-power autobiographies are due. Ah, now that I look back on the pain-staking three weeks, I can really say, with tears in my eyes, that I've come a long way. Back then, I saw the source code only as a bunch of random letters that pro people used to make websites. Now, I see those bunch of letters from a completely different point of view. I realized that even newbies like me can make a web page. Right now, at 8:07p.m, I'm putting on the final tweaks for my web page and harassing several of my classmates for a peer review. Anyways, tonight's blog entry isn't going to be a long one and I'm sorry for the really short on yesterday. I promise to write more on Monday! This weekend, I've just got a lab to design and a few worksheets to finish. Oh, not to mention a news paper article to write. Not too much right? ;D

-Cindy

Last day! [September 23, 2010]

September 23,2010. Finally. The day has arrived. It's the last day to work on the super-powers assignment. Today in class, we got the whole period to work on our pages and I got pretty far. I added internal links and margins to my paragraphs. I also tried to validate my HTML, but I couldn't as I had typed my autobiography in Microsoft word and it had invisible character entities. So now, I have to retype it (which is what I'm currently doing). Tonight, I hope to finish all major HTML and CSS codings and tomorrow I will validate it and BOOM I'm done! :D

-Cindy

Happy Moon Festival! [September 22, 2010]

September 22, 2010. Today's such a beautiful day! No doubt one of the last we'll get. Yesterday, we had our grade 9 day in the afternoon. All the grade nine's got free lunch and an afternoon of fun and games! It was both fun and tiring and I was glad there wasn't any homework yesterday. Today in class, we reviewed the hiearchical file structure and Mr. Arkin when over how to link to images and pages within (and outside) of directories. Mr. Arkin also extended the deadline for the super-powers assignment to Friday at 10:00pm. Phew! That practically made my day. :)
  In class, we continued to work on our HTML and CSS for our web pages. I finally started on the HTML for the actual super-powers page. I decided to use a different stylesheet than my index page because the stylesheet of my homepage is themed and won't fit with my super-power. Today, I have to finish my art portfolio (which also got an extension) so I may not have too much time to work on my computer science homework. Ah well, I'll work extra hard tomorrow! :D
  Overall, I think I'm doing pretty good. I'm very close to finishing and I can almost taste the victory (cheesy eh?)!

-Cindy

Knee high in homework! [September 20, 2010]

September 20, 2010. Today, Mr. Arkin set the due date for our Super-powers Assignment. And it is much much closer than I thought. Three days from today, Thursday! Okay. It is now that time when I have to assess the situation with a clear mind. Let's see... Index page. Check! Super-powers Content. Nope. Super-powers HTML and CSS? Not even close.  ...  Remember that time when I said I wasn't going to panic? Well, now's a good time to do that.
  In class today, we learned about client and servers as well as the HTTP and the FTP and how they all relate to each other. We also changed our Mirror directory name to the Development directory. For the rest of the period, we worked on our websites. I added a banner to my webpage and used it instead of header 1. I also finished typing and editing it. Tonight, I'm going to start on the HTML and tomorrow, the CSS and working to get it validated. Then all I have to do is input it and boom. All done.
  If only it were that simple... It would be... if I didn't have this huge art project due on Wednesday and the fact that I'm only half-way done that. I do hope I survive at least the first month of IB.

-Cindy

Really? It's Music? [September 18, 2010]

September 18, 2010. Finally! It's Friday again! I feel so tired of school already! So much homework, the same classes, and of course, the overwhelming confusion of making my own website. I think I need some pancakes. =/
In class, which was last period on a Friday, felt a whole lot longer than the 70min that I had expected. Mr. Arkin showed us the character entities and how to enable them in HTML. Since the tags and codes use character entities, there must be a special way to tell the difference. A character entity begins with an ampersand (&) and ends with a semi-color (;). With this, I can now use quotation marks, less than or greater than signs and proper hyphens! Ain't that great? :D
  After the little mini-lesson, Mr. Arkin told us that every Friday, lab 218 was known as Studio 218 and we play music during that time. Every week, there's a different DJ and today, it was Mr. Arkin! His music taste was unique, to be honest. (I'm not gonna lie to you, Mr. Arkin! ;D ) But it was a very enjoyable period. I made a header picture for my homepage and I think it's okay. Of course, there's always room for improvement, but I've got to be satisfied for now.  I really need to start on my super powers page.
  As it is a Friday, tomorrow is Saturday! I plan to finish up my super-power assignment and a few other projects, like my art portfolio! Now I know that's going to take me forever. D:
  So, I'll start now. See you on Monday!

-Cindy

  

Eighth Day an' Counting! [September 16, 2010]

September 16, 2010. First of all, I want to let all of you out there that I'm still keepin' track of my dates! :D  We're well into the second week of school... okay, well, the end of the second week of school, and I'm totally swamped with homework! I have english questions to answer, science lab reports to write and of course, computer sciences homework to do. Of course, I guess it's what I should've expected, going into pre-IB. 
  In class today, Mr. Arkin showed us most of the common shortcuts using a keyboard, and stressed that the mouse wasn't efficient. I think the message got through to me. I'm going to try to stop using the mouse. Anyways, we learned about the modifier keys, which was new to me. I had never bothered to learn their official names. They were just 'shift' and 'control' and common names like that. We also learned about the application menu and how to use the shortcuts in there. Afterwards, Mr. Arkin let us work on our webpages some more.
  I wanted to work on my autobiography instead, so that's what I did. By the end of today's class, I had finished the origins section of my super-powers information page. For homework, we were supposed to read the typography page, which I did. It was actually pretty useful too, giving tips and advice on what to and not to do on your webpage. We also had to write our daily blog.
  Today, I plan to start on my super-power page's html. I had thought a lot about the design of the page and had decided that it's CSS was to be different than my homepage's, simply because it's contents are so different.
  Overall, I think today was a very informative day, teaching more about using the computers in general than the actual construction of webpages, but hey! I'm not complaining. :D

-Cindy

Va-li-da-ted! My HTML and CSS are valid! [September 15, 2010]

September 15, 2010. Eight days after we started working on webpages, I've finally got a valid index page! This little "event" could almost make me forget about the whole new webpage for my autobiography. But really, that's something for me to worry about on the weekend.
  Anyways, Mr. Arkin really helped us in class today. When we entered, he had a note on the board that we copied down. It was a troubleshooting checklist, for those who had errors coming up when they validated their webpages. He also answered any questions we had accumulated over the past 2 days. After that, he had those who hadn't validated their webpages yet stay at the desks and used the partner method to help them. Luckily, I was done, if only by a day, so I spent the better half of the period editing my index page.
  I found out how the padding in CSS worked today and used that to my advantage. Now, instead of using <br>, which we weren't supposed to use, I could add extra spaces in my paragraphs. Tonight, I hope to finish my autobiography and start on the HTML tomorrow.
  For homework today, we had to do our daily blog and make "progress" on our super-power assignment. Now, my only question is why the image alignment appears different on the school computer and my computer. Well, I'm going to attempt to figure things out and finish the rest of my homework.

-Cindy

I see a Pattern! [September 14, 2010]

September 14, 2010. Finally! The day has come. I've settled into my schedule and classes at last. I can find my way to my locker fairly quickly now and I rarely get lost to the front foyer. :]
  Yes, big accomplishments for me. Today was a Day 1, the start of a new cycle in Victoria Park's timetable. This meant that I had computer sciences first. It was a late start day today, so I managed to catch a few extra hours of sleep.  I walked into class completely awake and ready to learn. A guest teacher greeted us and that was expected... to a certain extent. I had some questions about my CSS formatting that I had wanted to ask Mr. Arkin in person and I was a bit disappointed to see that he wasn't there. Still, I knew that he had something important to attend to so I worked on the actual content of my webpage.
  For my super power, I've got the purpose, use, and the origins in a nutshell. I still have to elaborate, but I think I'm getting along fine. On top of that, I had helped a few of my classmates trying to get their HTML to work. It was sorta successful... but I've got to say, I learned a few things from that too. For the last two periods, we were working to get our index pages live on the web. I had done this, but I do feel my webpage to be a bit plain. I'll have to tweek it a bit more. =/
  Overall, I think I've had a productive work period today. I learned a few new things, fixed a few old things and best of all, my head doesn't feel like it's going to explode! :D

-Cindy

First Day of the Second Week! [September 13, 2010]

  September 13, 2010. After the weekend, I felt fresh and renewed with energy to start on the first ever full week here at Victoria Park. Some thoughts about my classes so far... Well, I can tell it's going to be a long time till Christmas. Maybe I'm just not used to having the same four classes every single day. Anyways, I can pretty much find my way to each of my classes for this semester, though I'm still having some trouble finding my locker.  =/
  Today, Mr. Arkin came back from celebrating his New Years and we jumped right back into HTML and CSS. He went through using FileZilla with us, showing us the different panels and what they do. He also taught us how to use the HTML and CSS validator, which is this cool website that picks out any problems with HTML or CSS.
  Our homework today is to upload our "index.html" onto the website host, bravehost. To upload, all we had to do was connect to the server, and drag our production file from the lower left panel to the lower right panel. Easy right?
  I'm also chugging along on my Super-Powers Assignment. I've got my power decided and am currently half-way through writing the story. I've also got the design of my webpages down and ready to go, so I think I'm doing pretty well.
  I guess that pretty much sums it up. I'll be back tomorrow, so until then, don't die on me! ;D

-Cindy

It's Friday-- [September 10, 2010]

  September 10, 2010. Yay! It's Friday! The first Friday of the new school year. I could almost sense the change in mood as everyone prepared to enjoy their weekend. It was a day 3 so I had computers before lunch. I think I know when I'm at my worst now... right before lunch. I swear I could hear my stomach protesting as I tried to understand CSS.
  Today, I was working on getting images to align properly with the text. It took me a while and I had to play around with both the HTML and the CSS codes, but finally, I got it to look somewhat presentable. I also found out, with great surprise, that the Super-Powers Assignment is due next Tuesday. Really, that's way too soon, but I will need confirmation from Mr. Arkin before I further my panic-attack.
  As for progress I made on the actual content of my webpage... well, it's at a nice juicy 0% right now. I have yet to think of an interesting super power, but I guess that's the least of my worries.
  I don't really get the Mirror and the uploading, but I'll ask Mr. Arkin on Monday. :]
  WOW. It feels really good to type out all worries, concerns and comments. Now I feel all light-headed. @.@
Well, Mr. Blog (yes, I decided that it was a boy), I guess I'll be writing on Monday. I hope you enjoy your weekend.

-Cindy

PS; That did not just happen. Was I talking to a web page? o.o

That's not good... I wonder if there are any asylums nearby... :P

Third day! [September 9, 2010]

September 9, 2010.
  Okay. The creative titles aren't coming to me. But putting that aside, I am now here to write about my third day at Vic. Park. Overall, I've got most of the classroom locations down, so I'm not worried about being late for class. Since it was a day 2 today, computer class was after lunch. I totally felt rejuvenated and ready to learn!
  Since Mr. Akrin was away today, we had a guest teacher, Ms. Ecker. She told us that today's class was dedicated to working, or rather, experimenting, with CSS and HTML codes. I played around with the codes, colors and alignments and now I have a vague on how my webpage will look.
  Not much else happened in class today, but I do need to work on the Super-Power Assignment soon.
 Gee. My posts are getting shorter and shorter. Ah, well. See you tomorrow, page.

-Cindy

Second Day? [September 8, 2010]

September 8, 2010.
Okay. First off, I want to say, I need to think of better headings. Eventually, I know I'm going to lose track of the day number. Alright. Now that I have that out of the way, time to talk about my day.
Well. Today was a day one, the same as yesterday, which means that the order of my classes are the same as yesterday's.
In computer sciences, Mr. Arkin flooded our brains with information. I took almost two pages of notes and I still have questions. We learned about HTML and CSS, the difference between the two, how they affect a webpage and we started a glossary. As for homework, we were told to play around with the coding of webpages and get it all 'out of our system.' But, I'm still trying to figure this out.
I got some homework from other classes, but all in all, it's the whole "make a webpage" thing that interests me the most.

So there. My blabbing has ended for another 24 hours.

-Cindy

First Day of High School? [September 7, 2010]

   September 7, 2010. The start of a completely new "page" of my life. High school. 
Even though school lasted for 2 hours, more or less, we still went through our entire Day 1 schedule; which pretty much sumed up the courses in the first semester. First, I went Computer Sciences. I was totally looking forward to this one, since it dealt with all things computerized and I liked all things computerized. :]  
  When I first went in, Mr. Arkin (our homeroom teacher) pointed me to a sheet with locker numbers on it. I glanced at it, and remembered my locker number, or at least what I thought was my locker number. When I got to my seat, I repeated my locker number... and then thought it didn't look right. But I swallowed my doubt for the remainder of the class.
  Mr. Arkin did a few intros and jumped right into the course material. He assigned us our homework:
Show parents/guardians the class website: touque.ca/EC/ICS2O/
Create Wikispaces account.
Preview Super Power Assignment.
Create Blogger account and blog.
  So yeah. That's why I'm here... writing. But anyways, after we asked a few questions, the bell rang and that was when my earlier doubt came to resurface. Right, so I asked Mr. Arkin for another look and he let me. Turns out my gut was right. I did get the numbers backwards. Whoops. Well, now that I knew where my locker was, I went to my next class.
  Victoria Park CI is a huge school. It took me a while to get to my next class, but, the teachers were nice about it on the first day, so no big deal. Let's just hope I can find it tomorrow. The rest of the 2 hours went by and before I knew it, I was back on the bus. :D


Gosh. I feel like I'm writing a diary journal...
Anyways. I guess that's about it. Uneventful first day huh? Well, maybe on the second day, it'll be better. So, see you till then.

-Cindy