Blog, Blog, Blog, Super Blog!

Well, here I am with another complaint from my twisted life! ^-^

I don't know if I'm really supposed to do this. This is a computer blog, and we're supposed to update every other day. The thing is, sometimes we don't learn something new so I just talk about something completely different. I guess it's alright, but a few of my classmates told me that it was stupid for me to talk about something else.

Call me stupid if you want, because sometimes I really feel that way. Especially in my Geography class. I've been receiving some low marks in that course. I think the teacher's a bit hard on us, and even if I try my best sometimes she's just asking for a bit more. Yeah yeah, those kind of teachers are the really good ones because they push you so hard to your limits, but sometimes, I just wish she'd be a bit more lenient.

I don't know what else to talk about. I sort of screwed up a question in my Geography test. Next week, I have a French UT, a math quiz and a science UT. The week after that, I'm going to have an art test, and at the meantime I have a Geography research project. I like projects. I do well on them. I'm not sure about this one though, considering how hard a marker my teacher is.

Well there you go. Another one of my complaints. Hey, maybe I should start weekly posts of my complaints. Yeah, that's sound good. I'll call it... well, I'm not sure what to call it yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

More and More and More Microsoft!

Today we started a new unit. We began with a lesson of Microsoft Word, a short session on its history, and Mr. Case showed us a few things that he thought we might not know. Like:

Docking: Dragging toolbars to the
Making your own toolbar: Tools, Customize, New Menu, Drag icons
Deleting Arrows: Tools, Customize, Options, delete check mark from recently used commands first

Then, we were assigned to explore MS Word further and to type up ten things that we didn't know before. Here are the things that I found out. A couple of them, I couldn't tell you how to get there because I just clicked randomly and by the time I got the description done, I completely forgot how I got it. I tried getting it back, but then I couldn't find it.

Envelopes: You can create an envelope label by going to Tools and Envelop and Labels, and typing your address in.

Summarize: This allows you to have your jot notes picked out from a whole bunch of paragraphs automatically, or summarize the paragraphs. [Tools -) Auto Summarize -) Select your choice of summary]

Split: This allows you to split your page into two pages. but whatever you place on the first one, it shows on the other one as well. I don't really know what this is used for just yet, because the results on both pages are the same. I'll try and find out. [Window -) Split]

Text Direction: This allows you to have your text sideways, upside down, or whichever you like. [Format -) Text direction -) Select which one you like]

Header and footer: This allows you to have notes on the top of your page (mostly dates, authors, when last visited. etc.) and foot notes at the bottom. [View -) Header and Footer -) Select what you need to have on the notes]

Background: This is one way that you can put on a background that already has a special theme. [Format -) Theme -) Select your desired theme.]

Comment: This is one way to edit somebody else's work without having to print out their written piece. [Insert -) Comment -) Type up your comment on the place that you want it on.]

Sort: This allows you to group your work according to paragraphs, date, etc. [Table -) Sort -) Choose which format you like it in]

Symbol: This allows you to insert symbols such as the copyright trademark. [Insert -) Symbol -) Choose your symbol]

Paragraph Marks: This allows you to have markers on the start and end of your paragraphs. It makes things more confusing, so it's more likely that I'm not going to use it.

PODCASTS! They're All Over!!

Animation Podcast: http://www.podcast.net/show/29694

This is a podcast that is hosted by an actual animator who had experiences with Disney. He had done animation, storylines, drawings, etc., and he loved animation. His name is Burny Mattinson and he talked about the things he had done while working with animation. He also mentioned the people who he used to work with. He told his expriences about how he got in animation, how his time went, how animation essentially works. He also told about the top ten animated movies ever made:

10) Finding Nemo
9) 101 Dalmatians, Little Mermaid, Lion King
8) Spirited Away
7) Toy Story
6) Pinochio
5) Monster's Inc.
4) Aladdin
3) Jungle Book
2) The Iron Giant
1) The Incredibles

Anime Reviews: http://podcasts.yahoo.com/series?s=b19a12cca928d9041bfd71b12052185c

In this podcast, they basically critique animes. In this episode, they talked about the anime and manga called Hellsing. They mentioned the way the characters were drawn. Most of them were all bloody all throughout the series. If a character didn’t fit the regular ‘look’ of the others, most people would be confused. Another thing that they talked about that this anime had a lot of ‘blood’ and violence. They also talked about some of the characters like the ‘leader’ of the army of vampires is called the ‘major’ and that he’s always freaky and always trying to turn the whole world into a battle field. They also basically just told what happened in the whole series which was a big spoiler for those who may want to read or see the anime.

Pod Save The Queen: http://www.podshow.com/programguide/?channel_id=9#_top_

This podcast that I found is about a random girl who talked about her life and the music she likes. It’s called Pod Save The Queen and her name is Christina curry. One of the things that she talked about the caught my attention was the America’s Next Top Model show. She said that when they were auditioning the girls, one said that she doesn’t like black and gay people. I thought that that was the most offensive and stupidest thing that anybody could say in front of the camera and the judges. Two of the judges are black and gay so why should she say something so horrible? I just thought that she had wasted her time. Well, other things that Christina mentioned was her trip to London and how the bus that was supposed to take her home forgot about her and two other people. She also played some music in between topics, and I just thought that that was a cool way of getting people not to get bored.

Comic Review Weekly: http://podcasts.yahoo.com/search?p=books+review&c=s

This podcast talks about books, gives a quick sypnosis about them and then critique them. The first book that they mentioned was called 'Tag'. This story is about a character (John) that got 'tagged' with a sort of disease that decays your body very slowly as if you were dead. This disease was like a curse that you pass on to people so you can get rid off it yourself. He said that in this story he felt as if the relationship (the breakup to be exact) between the two main characters wasn't really explored and that he wished that the authors should have explained it more. He said that he hoped the next issues were to explore that more. He also liked the way that the book was written. The dialogue, he said, built up suspense and made him ask questions about what's going to happen or why it was happening. He said that overall he gives it 3 and a half out of 5 stars. They talked about more books like Nightwing Year 1 and Star Man. I don't think that these are real books that we usually see in stores, but they are more of the books that have 'issues' in them like Issue 1 is an introduction, Issue 2 explores more of the plot, etc. So I guess that these books are more like comics.

Have No Fear!

Well, we got new podcast project. We have to listen to at leat four different podcasts and write about them here. Anyway, that' s a big problem for me because none of the podcasts work on my computer. I think for most podcasts, you need Quicktime, and I don't have that. My other choice is to download the podcast but I'm not on HI-Speed Internet so that will take four hours. Hopefully, the four podcasts aren't due on Monday. (I'll cross my fingers.)

My other main concern right now is my Geography test on Tuesday. I have been receiving some terrible marks in Geography and I think this test would be my only chance of pulling my grades up. I don't know why I get such low marks. That isn't usually me. I think my teacher marks a bit too hard. Oh, let me re-phrase that. I think she marks way too hard.

Well I need to study a LOT. I don't know if I'd have time at all to do my podcasts, so again I hope it's not due right away.

The projects

Well, all of the projects had been presented now. I liked most of them, but there are some that weren't really interesting, I guess just because I wasn't interested in their topic. Anyway, we were also supposed to show our podcast. Most people worked, but for over half of the people who got theirs from podcast. net, their podcasts weren't working. Fortunately, mine did. I also got it from the website, but it just kept repeating over and over because it didn't load properly. I wanted everyone to hear the song, but at least my teachers know that it was actually working.

I feel really sorry for those people whose podcasts didn't work. I think it would be really embarrassing if you were to stand in front of the class without saying anything, expecting your presentation to work, but it wouldn't.

Funny Funny Funny Podcasts

http://www.podcast.net/show/46276

This website is a hilarious podcast website! When I realized that the project wasn't due today, I was sort of relieved but I felt bad at the same time that I wasted 5 hours yesterday just to listen to a 24 minute podcast about a life of a random girl. Anyway, I'm glad that the presentation isn't today so that I'd have a bit more time to prepare myself. I don't think that it would be that significant, but I still want to work hard for it.

Casting the Pod with a new Project

We got a new project on Friday. We had to download a podcast and present it infront of the class.

You don't know how hard it was for me to find and download a podcast. It was a five hour process for me, and if I tell you what happened, it would take me five hours to do so. Well, the good thing is that I already downloaded one.

Anyway, yesterday I went to see Happy Feet. It was a good movie. That's all I can say so that I won't slip and tell some spoilers for those who still want to see it.

Podding the Cast!

Podcast is a mixed word that comes from broadcast and iPod. It's a free (usually) 'audio broadcasting' in the Internet. It is also a way to publish materials in the internet. Basically, a podcast is way for people to get or receive files (mainly audio but can be video as well) through the internet regularly. It first became popular in 2004. Here are the websites that I used to write this information. If anyone else has a better definition, please tell me.

http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/203/what-is-a-podcast/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/podcasting.htm

The Test Is Not Today!

Well, just like the title says, the test had been posponed. The bad stuff is that there is more work to do in Mr. Case's blog. Oh well, I'm off to do that now! The websites he gave us to look at are:

http://www.123ppt.com/powerpoint-tutorials/index.asp

and

http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,2146,00.asp

What now?

There's really not much that happened or that is happening right now. All I have for homework is art, that's all. The Remembrance Day Assembly went pretty well. People told me that I did a good job of reading. I'm glad. I have to admit though that I wasn't really nervous, because I didn't really want to read in the first place. However, I thought that it would be nice if I participated, so I just did.

Just Here

Well, there's really not much to tell again. Now we have to update every Monday's and Wednesday's because a lot of people aren't updating regularly. I think that it isn't fair for those people who are because we are doing are job already.

Anyway, we are having a Powepoint Test on Monday. I'm not sure what questions are going to be there. Today we got to mark other people's interactive presentation. I think most people did well, but there were some who just did two to three slides.

I'm going to be reading on the Remembrance Day Programme. I only got the part on Monday, and I thought that the assembly was next week. When my friend told me that it was on Friday I sort of freaked out. I'm not really a crowds person and I get nervous usually when I have to go up in front of people and deliver a presentation so good luck to me.

The Two Projects Done!

Finally, I can lie back. I'm done both of my projects. However, I think I'm going to change my background for My Links, because I don't want people looking at my picture.

I asked Mrs. Jacobs if I could read at the Remembrance Day Programme. She gave me about three paragraphs to read, and I didn't even know that the assembly is on this Friday. Oh well, I don't have to memorize it anyway.

For several weeks before report cards, I'm finding these past couple of weeks fairly easy. The middle week of October was brutal, but the projects and assignments I'm currently getting compares nothing to what I had then. Thank goodness!

Working On Those Two Projects

There's nothing worse than to be woken up from sleep by loud noises made by the TV. Ugh, can't people turn down the volume?

Anyway, I'm finished the Interactive Presentation project. It consisted of twenty slides and my theme is about Christmas. I'm not sure if that's the one I'll hand in. I mean, if I can do a shole presentation within two days, I can definitely make a better one in an extra day or so. However, if we're not given a lot of time on these two projects, I'm glad to know that I've already done something.

That's mostly what I did over the weekends.

I also studied for Geography. Ms. Demian told us that we were going to have a test on Tuesday, but she won't be there on Monday. So I figured that I'd study already so that if she isn't there on Monday, at least I'll be ready for the test on Tuesday.

Two New Projects

We're getting two new projects for my computer class. I don't know if I should say I'm glad, but the last couple of days had been so boring, so at least I have something to do. They're fun projects though.

The first one is that we have to make our own interactive presentation from Powerpoint. I just had the feeling that they were going to do that. I don't know what I want to do it on yet. Maybe a story, or something about Christmas, but I'm still deciding.

The other project is to create a web page of links. All we have to do there is to put the websites that we usually go to and place them all in one page and make it a website. It sort of works the same way as My Favourites, but this one has more visuals to it. I don't really know what I'm going to put on it. The only websites that I usually go to is my e-mail, and other websites that I don't even bother going to unless we have a project. Yeah, I'm not much of an internet-surfing person.

Well, I have to get going now so that I can start on both of them.

Take Your Kids to Work Day

Today, I went to the store where my mom works, and I had a very interesting day.

My Mom and I left our house at 11:45 am and we got there by 12:30. The first thing I did was to help one of her co-workers stack up the Christmas cookie cans. They were still in the boxes so I had to get them out, unwrap them, and then seperate them. By this I mean is to open up the cans, get the smaller cans out of them, then open up the smaller cans to take out the even smaller ones out of them. When the racks were all full, I was asked to just clean up around the Christmas area. I had to pull up a lot of things from the floor and put them back to where they were supposed to be.

After that, I was asked to fill up some more racks with other materials such as pompoms, Christmas confetti, Christmas ribbons, and other Christmas related things.

What I really enjoyed though was when my mother had a break, we went to McDonald's and ate a value meal. Hehehe. I wish I could have worked in other areas like the stationery or the kitchen or the toys or the beauty and health, but working with the Christmas area was good enough.

I only got to work four hours because that was the only time I was allowed to by the employer. Anyway, that's all I really have to say. I did have fun, and I was especially glad to have a day off from school.