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Thursday, November 30, 2006

Week 10 – Unfinished symphony . . .

Howdy all – I have been having problems with Word – yes, Microsoft strikes again – I get to about the 2nd paragraph and it just crashes – gone and everything that I have typed is gone with it as well – so I gave up after several attempts last night – hence my blog is late – its usually up by the wee hours of Saturday morning – whereas here we are early Sat evening and this is me just giving it another go. This time I intend to back it up as I go along – so I am going to stop right here and copy it into notepad before continuing . . . So far so good.

My photos for this week

1st Music theme:
a) pipe band – belting out the Queen classic – ‘We will rock you’ Sauchiehall street – last Sat
b) 1 tenor – Buchanan street (there were another couple of tenors – but when I went past it was solo
c) a Brass band – just down the road from the tenor
d) queues to see the new Bond movie – Casino Royale – this was its 2nd week of release
e) Judi autumn colours – taken on banks of river Leven, Dumbarton
f) kiddies fun rides in Sauchiehall street - last Sat



Ooops! - OK this is as far as I could get with Word - I'm a little nervous as this is what I am going to have to use for my assignment for Friday (this is a new one for Enterprise Architecture) . . . so now I have moved across to Google Docs - this is an online document . . . so lets see how this works (the above was copied 'n pasted from notepad . . .except I had grown complacent and carried on a lot further and then it crashed in word - so it seems as if it is corrupt . . . I may have to reinstall it ... I suppose a virus scan might be a good idea as well - just to make sure . . you never know . .

OK Sunday Judi came across and I showed her around Dumbarton (Don't sneeze - I told her) and then Helensburgh and surrounds -'twas lovely she says. Went to Tesco on the way home and of course I wanted the beers (Peroni) that were on the top shelf right at the back - they were just out of reach - that's life isn't it - anyway Judi said "lift me up - I'll get them" - well it must have looked like something out of the local amateur version of Swan Lake - except this swan came down to earth with a couple of beers. . . . the girl that works at Tesco was in hysterics . . . when we asked where the sausage rolls where she took us to the aisle and rack and then hung around - they were on the bottom shelf - she said she wanted to see whether we were going to lie down and take them off the shelf . . . she also said something about they'd better the camera on the two of us . . .


Monday was all about Information Retrieval(IR) - and my assignment 'never look a gift horse in the mouth' described last week. Well the research turned out to be all about relevance i.e. do the search results mean anything to me are they relevant for what I was searching for?? Well guess what Friday IR lecture was all about - you got it 'Relevance' - except I hadn't based it on or used any of the theoretical framework that Monica mentioned - so my mind was going into overdrive - thinking she'll just put a red line through it all . . . Quite a few late nights and or early mornings and I handed my assignment in on Thursday morning.

Tuesday morning saw Lesley our IT in Business lecturer going to great pains to put the subject into context - why we are doing - how we are to be assessed on the course - how we are getting on - she was giving a long talk explanation about how you have to put yourself out there to find an entrepreneur and then finished it off by saying "don't you Andrew" - and of course I nearly choked as I didn't know what she was saying - but then cottoned on and gave my tuppence input - not long after it was my turn again when she was explaining that it might be in peoples interest to attend the Connect meetings as some people had met entrepreneurs there - "isn't that right Andrew" . . . by this stage I was beginning to feel like (not to mention look like) the planted crowd participant . . . you know the person who is selected by chance and randomly . . . . Then it was Internet programming - we have finished our syllabus and Richard is going a little bit further by illustrating and discussing issues that are sort of cutting edge in this field at the moment . . . - this was followed by a lab but I was having none of it and went straight home to work on my assignment. I informed Richard that there was just no way that I could even consider attempting the PHP blog we are supposed to build at the moment as I have to many other deadlines (there were a lot of murmurs of approval at this) - he said it was fine - but I can't help but feeling it would be better if I had done some more work in this direction (priorities I know) - what may happen is that I find myself struggling over Christmas with no one to ask - plenty of time but if you can't get things to work who do you approach??



Wednesday morning was Java lab and the Manager class is coming on nicely. Had a chat with Colin first thing and he pointed me in the right direction - this is the Pizza company I described last week - I was thinking I could create a single list shared between Company & Managers as there would be great deal of repetition between the two if we wanted to create a list of employees as opposed to who would be in a Managers team??? According to me its almost the same thing . . Anyway seems for the time-being at least he is quite happy even if we do have some repetition . . . so I knuckled down and attempted to complete the Manager class . . . need to be more or less finished by Wednesday next week - is it going to happen - the preliminary part of it yes! I will make it happen. Whilst in the lab an email came through to say that Reuben was off sick and that the lab was cancelled - which it wasn't - I had a sense then that we were not going to see Reuben for the rest of the term . . .it turned out that I was right as the day progressed it became clear that Reuben would not be returning for the rest of the semester . . . Colin has now jumped in and on Thursday we had some new material / and a lecture . . . there is very little time left so its perhaps a case of too little too late but we will see how it goes (more about this in the staff meeting).

I helped David our lab lecturer / assistant in Internet Programming, with some research he is conducting at the moment - all about email and he has developed email with photographs linked to each sender - because we dealt with faculty members -everyone is supposed to have a photograph of themselves . . . so I found some of this quite interesting - sort of a graphical email interface - rather than just text based - easier to search I think . . . .

Then another Internet Programming lecture looking at some of the current Internet tools . . . more about web sites and a sense of how they could work . . . interesting

Thursday - 1st thing Java - Colin was there to lecture us - including samples of code so you could see whether you understood or not . . . plus he handled exception handling and how it works and we have a programme which he sent us to play around with and change and see what affect it has on it etc., - I can only but wonder what it might have been like had we had Colin from the beginning all the way through. We actually had a lab with Monica but I had made an appointment with Bellsmyre Monica a while back and never knew about the IR lab - it turns out it was only hading out old / past exams and being told this is worse case scenario - exam in January 16 - will never be as difficult as the mock one handed out. When I arrived in Bellsmyre - Monica phoned me to say she was at the office but no one was there and it was pouring - just happeend to be passing at that moment and drove up and at least I could offer her a dry space - well Brian arrived shortly thereafter and when then moved to his car and a large part of our discussion was held with Monica whilst sitting in the car - a short while later Tony & Mick arrived and we then went inside the project offices.

Minor hiccup in the morning (Thursday)- my assignment was 65+ pages - I was worried about paper in the lab - bottom-line I got in before everyone else (survival of the fittest) . . .and on top of that a word document was corrupt the same problem or the forerunner of yesterday and today's problem . . .?? Anyway - no problem I had it on my flash drive - but I had also emailed it to myself as well. Lo & behold what do you think ??? Yes, it too was corrupt . . . what did I do - I just printed off what I had and handed it in . . this of course threw the contents page out some last minute re-jigging.

Friday always starts with Monica our IR lecturer - the uni then decided to have an actual fire drill - so quickly down the stairs and waste some time outside the buildings - all 'n all 1/2 hour was needed for the whole exercise - before we were given the all clear and trooped back in.

Came across this whilst browsing:
BBC video nation

This was our last Enterprise Architecture Lecture - I liked Steven our lecturer . . . and I do believe this is a field which shows a lot of promise . . . I ain't exactly a hotshot programmer so looking at how everything fits together - I think this and IR at the moment are the two which appeal to me most - I could see myself going further with IR . . most people seem not to like it - what can I say I am not most people - I am looking forward to seeing what our electives are for next semester

Then it was our first Student Rep & faculty staff members meeting - Paul Hunter; George Weir & IM Director - not sure what her name is . . Idong; Catherine; And & myself - we had quite a lengthy agenda and it did seem to drag on but it was a very constructive meeting - interesting to watch it unfold as we (Andy & myself CIT - Computer & Internet Technologies) were up last - so it was quite some time before we had our chance and I had to lead with Java - I ended up pouring water into a cup just as I started to launch myself into the subject - took my eye off the cup and the next thing the water was all over the desk . . . anyway it was quite awkward as I didn't want to assassinate Reuben but needed to stress just how dire the whole situation was . . . I managed to convey our sentiment and that we hadn't done much in the way of lectures or covering much material . . . lets leave it at that - it is too late now and my main concern was what will the knock-on / long term consequences of this be?? We don't know - I don't know how many of the courses in next semester might assume a certain knowledge which might now not be there . . .We finished off our discussions by moving it onto a social level -a number of initiatives were discussed including us forming a society which will allow us to access funds from the student council . . . so lots of homework to be done and if we are going to organise a graduation ball - we'll need to get a committee in place and start with that as well.

The week that was - It started and ended with Judi as she decided to catch a movie with me Friday night and I managed to get her safely on the last train out of Glasgow - which she tells me was perhaps not a good idea as everyone was in a very boisterous and loud mood . . .


More adventures with mwa next week :-)
Andrew . . . .

Saturday, November 25, 2006

'never look a gift horse in the mouth'

Oops now that I have some new readers . . . lol – perhaps I’ll have to change my content and style . . .then again maybe not . . .

Photo’s – all taken through in Edinburgh – whilst visiting Judi last weekend. Prince's street; Judi; Theatre Royal Bar; what I referred to as the lighthouse . . although I'm assured it is not one . .Actual names of buildings etc., Hmm you got me there _ I’ll try to find out and then add them as we go along.

So what happened last week – let’s see . . . ah yes – well it started off with a rather special weekend; a day off – then back into loads of work so here goes

Special weekend - well visited Judi in Edinburgh and have to say we had a lovely time – seem to be getting on really well . . . – now you may be thinking Edinburgh - Dumbarton, how practical is this etc., - Let me just say I’ve never really been a practical person . . . and don’t let minor details stand in my way! I made it here from South Africa remember . . .

So Monday was a free day – worked on my Information Retrieval assignment and have come up with the idea of testing a whole lot of online search engines – Google; Ask.com; Alta Vista; Live Search etc., with an idiom – Monica, our lecturer had offered to look over our assignments if we handed them or a draft in at least 1 week before it was due. So I immediately thought ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ and got to wondering what the actual meaning and origins of this idiom was. So that has become the essence of my assignment – typing this in on various search engines and seeing where it takes us – drawing up some fancy tables and then quantifying the results etc., I sent in a draft and Monica gave some suggestions and we are rolling.

Tuesday always kicks off with IT in business – we had an entrepreneur who shared his business model with us – which on face value seems to work very well – based on an analogy of a helicopter and goes something like this - well the blades are what lifts the helicopter of the ground; but it needs a motor to turn them and then the fuselage to keep everything together – kinda like the components of the business; blades – customer acquisition; motor – execution (running of the business); lastly fuselage – Admin. Very clear, and concise way of looking at a business – and analysing whether an idea is viable. Guy has obviously had some run in’s with labour issues kept referring to labour as one of the most expensive components of any business and how they will sue you at the drop of a hat and steal your stock as well as not working when they are supposed to . . .lol – def. some employee issues in the past.

Then it was Internet programming which is PHP – with which I am lost and way out at sea at the moment – priority-wise just absolutely no time to look at it – our web site we have to work on is only due in on January 15 or somewhere round there and there are just so many other priorities at the moment – so have to leave it on a back-burner – we do have a blog we are supposed to complete but I am sorry to say it just ain’t going to happen at the moment.

Java on Wednesday was a one of the most useful classes I have had in a long time. Had my 3 classes (part of project) completed and everything seemed to be working fine – managed to grab Colin (our tutor) and we discussed the next class Manager – we went through it together and he left me trying to implement an iterator. Something new and it works like this – I have a team of employees and businesses being what they are at some stage you’ll have to remove someone from a team – a resignation or moving to another team etc., - In real life you will look person up in spreadsheet and delete them - I needed to write a programme which performs the search and deletes the person – also then rearranges the remaining team. Managed to more or less work it out – with a little help from 1 or 2 people – Wolfman & Murvin . . .just as we were leaving Colin asked how I had got on – we sat down and looked at it and with 1 or 2 minor adjustments we had it sorted – he claims if I can do that I can do the rest of the project. So I was really feeling chuffed . . .I did put in hours the night before on some theory . .

Went to see the Bond on Wed evening – it was a great movie – I think that Daniel Craig will stay in the role for quite a while . . . great opening sequence – I recommend it. Arran was upset with the fact that they never asked him where he wanted to sit – I got him a seat next to me but as he sat down the guy opposite said it is reserved seating – well that was it Arran was off – took my keys to get in and he was off . . .

Ok Thursday was predominantly Java again but this time theory with Reuben – still not going too well there – spent most of the period speaking about implementing things – which suggests to me there is a hint there with regards to the project – all n all it was a waste of time – I could have stayed at home and worked on the project – we still have to do a test which should have been written on 13 Nov – but we’re still not sure when we will write it – probably week 12

Friday is Information Retrieval – Monica – shame she has recently migrated to PC – PowerPoint instead of transparencies – (must be some deal with Apple all lecturing staff seem to have apple notebook – high on my wish list now but that depends on funds – if your listening Santa) and she was struggling with the data projector – now between you and me – I’ve dealt with a few stroppy data projectors in my time @ Communities Scotland I was the heavy (nothing to do with my weight) to sort out many a data projector . . .so anyway I stepped up and – voila! Pressed a single key (it was flashing no video detected) i.e. set it on to RGB and we had slides . . .should be worth a few extra marks in my assignment or exam (you think??) . . .lol

We ended off the academic side of things with Enterprise Architecture – really getting into what it is – another assignment due in 2 weeks – TOGAF; Perks & Bevridge – just really a whole structure and outline of how a company should plan things – follows business principles to a large extent – map where you are – where you want to be – do a gap analysis – and then a migration plan – put some governance into place and go for it . . .well in simple terms really that is what its all about . . .but of course there are books and chapters dealing with each component . . .

Ended off with a student reps meeting – And & myself for CIT (Computer & Internet Technologies) Idong IM (Information Management) and Catherine ILS (Information Library Services) – this is so we can forward a agenda for meeting with the directors Friday next week 1 December . . . Dec already . . . frightening. Somebody had spoken to me about graduation ball and that we should go away in to the Highlands for a weekend . . .this is for Nov next year . . .I suppose its not really all that far away . . . .lol

Oops and locked myself out the flat on Thursday when I went to Blue Chip computer club . . now where was my mind . . .lol

That’s all folks . . .

What is coming up next week – no doubt more Java adventures; PHP dilemma; Info Retrieval assignment to be handed in; 1st Students Rep meeting – some thorny issues / some suggestions / some improvements / some unhappy students . . .but hey that’s all in next week’s episode . . also Arran's imminent departure


Saturday, November 18, 2006

Romeo, Romeo & my entrepenuer

No photo's - all slides from presentation . . self explanatory.

Well that’s 2 months into the new bohemian lifestyle . . . well I never – didn’t realise quite how much work it would be – or how fast the time would go by but I digress this is how the week went . . .

Monday was free this week – well I say free but most of the time was taken up by Bellsmyre Digital Community as we had advertised for a Project Officer – and we conducted interviews on Monday morning – we had three candidates and completed our 1 on 1’s by 13h00 – adjourned for lunch and discussed the appointment – only made a final decision, after clearing something up, on Tuesday evening @ 19h05. Monday evening is my Braidfield drop-in class, which is a pleasure as I have been conducting this for about 3 years now – no everyone on and even although I am paid for this it is more like the Bellsmyre Blue Chip computer club. . .its just a get together and a blether (local word for skinner).

Went to IT in business - and our group, Matthias, Nicolette, Ratna & myself - presented our Romeo & Juliet themed slides – was by far the most original and was good fun – received some encouraging feedback. Basically we used the Montague’s & the Capulet’s – to emphasise the two sides to our debate – started it all off by saying it’s not about Romeo & Juliet but rather Andrew & Nicolette etc., just an original approach. I skipped Internet Programming as I attended Jean’s funeral – which was a nice service – very short and to the point – much like Jean – and could identify with some of the anecdotal stories the minister shared with us about Jean.

Wednesday – always starts with Java – we are all working on our project – so that is ticking along nicely. We were supposed to have an extra class with Columbo (Reuben) but he never turned up. Then it was more PHP with Richard and it seems they have just slipped in another task of building a PHP blog – no idea when it is to be handed in and haven’t even had a look at it yet. . Still trying to get some JavaScript validation to work . . .the joys. Wednesday evening was student rep training - just an introduction - I waas amazed how many people when asked why they were there turned round and said it will look good on their CV . . . well at least they were honest. Went for a quick beer afterwards with Andy & Idong - met Christine from ILS group - she represents about 50 students . Andy & myself only have about 25 between us.

Thursday another Java class – we were sitting waiting when one of the secretaries came in to say Reuben’s car had broken down and that instead of 10h00 he would be in @ 11h00 – so I wrote a big message on the blackboard and then went off to the lab to work on some other stuff. Came back at about 11h00 – no sign of him and then as I was about to leave he came in – about 11h20 well if I should say he stumbled in – I’m not jumping to conclusions but there appear to be a problem – I’m not sure what it is. I am torn between not wanting to cause trouble and a genuine concern that maybe he needs help. (I’ll keep you posted on what I decide.)

Thursday evening – was doubled booked – Post grad welcome evening & Connect seminar. Worked out Connect started @ 18h00 & post grad event 17h30 so was able to go to post grad event then rush across to the Connect seminar. So just grabbed a drink and some food then left for Connect, where the presentation was a bit dry – investments company talking about how they go about there business – included venture capital etc., - David, in my class, asked a question as to how he could £10m for a project he was working on – I nearly died as he was sitting next to me and I thought it was inappropriate. . anyway each to their own. The one big plus factor was meeting Sabrina – who has agreed to let me interview her as part of my project for IT in Business. She is an entrepreneur and is starting up her own business as we speak – it is in the travel industry. I’ll let you know how that progresses and I should have a photo as I will be taking my camera to the interview, still all to be set up. Before the seminar did not know whom I would interview and it had been suggested that this may be a good opportunity to try and network – did not really expect to find someone straight away.

That brings us to Friday – always enjoy both Information Retrieval where we had a workshop, with the same visiting professor from Finland that presented the seminar last week Wednesday. Then rushed across to Enterprise Architecture – can’t help wondering what is going on in Lecturer’s personal life as on a few occasions he has had a niggle at people – control issues – keep reading the Metro but remember I mark your essay – talk whilst other group are presenting – something similar etc., - He is, make no mistake, a good lecturer – sometimes I wonder at the level of the material though – it is to give us a high level overview – but so much so that we can’t see the ground – I’m probably being over-critical. Let’s see how critical he is of our essays ….lol.

Whilst sufring the net came across this site - it is a women that has taken two or three photos of herself every day for the last 3 years and has now morphed all of them together which gives quite an amazing effect . . . have a look for yourself Ahree Lee . . .


Things seem to be proceeding nicely – hard work – a great bunch and wow the time just flies, till next week.

Friday, November 10, 2006

IT in Business – Ontology:


Photo's - amazing fiddler in Sauchiehall street; Jazz band in Sauchiehall street; Sam & I on her birthday Ice Bar; my new chair;

Well week 7 has come and gone – what happened this week – IT in Business kicked off; endorsed as class rep; Java project handed out & test delayed; Ontology seminar; started PHP; EA continues to interest . . .. well if you haven’t yet fallen asleep here goes . . . my chair arrives.

Well I lashed out and spent all of £30 for a chair - I spend hours in front of the PC and reading etc., - util this week I have been sitting on a plastic chair - garden furniture. I decided enough is enough I deserve, nay I need something better, so thanks to an email from Mr Oliver on the Friday and a deadline of midnight that night - managed to get the chair for £24.99 then VAT and postage and all the rest - am I satisfied - well impressed - thanks Tony.

Well we started a new subject on our course – IT in Business and I liked it from word go – quite different to all our other classes as it is probably less technical – but it raises all sorts of issues that we as in the IT industry need to be made aware of. Most of the class have not had
much exposure to work and industry so when we entered into class discussions – yours truly was making a lot of noise – well to be honest I usually make a noise anyway – but this time more so as when our lecturer Leslie asked for examples, illustrations – I was coming up
with them right left and centre . . .am I blowing my open trumpet too much here . . . .Anyway straight after the lecture I had ½ a dozen class mates around complaining and whinging that that wasn’t right – they don’t know the answers and how are they supposed to know these
things – she should teach it first then ask questions . . .I think half of it was linked to the workload – as

we kicked off with a group presentation for next week – an assignment and an interview with an entrepreneur which we have to undertake by early next year. But talk about moan – I told them now they know how I feel with programming when we get shown 2 lines of code and then just get given an exercise which we have to programme – we do not
get taught first it is down a road of discovery and that is what the
course is all about.


Internet Programming has started the PHP programming – this is what does all the work on a remote server i.e. you request something from a web page and before your request is dealt with a certain amount of processing (things) happen before the answer is returned to you. Looks interesting and starting to get a feel for the different languages - as confusing as it is there are similarities. This is all for our project – the restaurant guide for Glasgow. I have given it some thought and have a conceptual design in mind. As it is only due in January sometime it has a lower priority than Java at the moment.


I love Java – and I am going to keep telling myself this – I do really enjoy it – just gets too damn frustrating at times – Reuben told us – if you haven’t solved it in the last 20
minutes chances are your not going to solve it in the next 10 minutes – get some help – more or less mirrors what I was saying last week. We received our Java project – this will be what we work on for the next 5 weeks. It is a computer programme for a Pizza store – has some
employees, bakers & salespeople – some earn commission and then there are managers with their respective teams – etc., so need to look at how I am going to model the whole thing.
At the end of the day it is the real world that you are mirroring – so with any problem need to understand in plain English what the spec is and how things are meant / supposed to work. Really looking forward to the challenge and a relief that our test for Monday was pushed back so some of us have yet another chance of catching up, yep – that’s me.

We had a visit ing Prof from Finland – who came to lecture us on ontology – or the whole question of indexing reports / papers and in fact everything and anything and how this is to be done against a backdrop of ever increasing volumes of data being put on the web. Not just text anymore – now includes all types of media.

A brief Information Retrieval lab on Thursday after Java where we discussied our project again.

Friday always kicks off with Information Retrieval – and lo and behold what had the Metro had on its front page this morning – headlines read
Doctors encouraged to Google patients symptoms I kid you not . . . lol – read the article
yourself. Now this is really what IR is all about – so I couldn’t wait for Monica to arrive and when she was in place and about to start the class – I held up my Metro – she smiled and held up a copy as well – so she had seen it as well and shared it with the class. Then it was chocolates for the best group work that was handed in last week – which was my group – and guess who dropped his chocolate on the floor – let me tell you you do not want to eat something that has fallen on the university floor . . . - so I lost out.

Enterprise architecture was all about data storage – what a field it is becoming – Barclays 80 000 tapes as backup of their data and guess what we done a simple survey of who backs up their data – and I am guilty – don’t do it at all really . . .need to look into that . . .the group
that presented today on the whole were very nervous – felt a bit sorry
for them.

I presented my concept of our presentation for IT in Business for next week – Ratna, Matthias & Nicolette were very enthusiastic . . . . the Monatgue’s and the Capulet’s – but more about this next week – this will be 1st thing Tuesday morning.

In closing I would just like to bid a sad farewell to Jean McCallum – who passed away suddenly on Thursday morning – we all touch each others lives and I was very shocked and saddened to hear of her passing. Jean was never one to hold her tongue – but you always knew exactly where you stood with her – there was no hidden agenda – a down to earth person.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Digging deep . . . 1st Assignment . . .


Cheating but all photo's mine - taken in Brugge, Belguim - earlier this year.

I am breaking with tradition here - but I need to just comment - or I feel I do, on Saddam's death sentence - I can't believe it - I know what he done - but is this how we show people how we deal with someone who has killed other people - we kill him??? Come on, that just does not make sense to me - we'll show you the errors of your ways by doing exactly what you done . . .am I missing something here???? Just a little too convenient / nicely timed for the US elections - methinkest . . . I'll leave it at that!

OK a really difficult end of last week – beginning of this week . . .glad to say it’s over and what a lovely surprise towards the end of the week.

“What’s it all about Andrew?” sung to the tune of What’s it all about Alfie - quite simple really what happened was that I was struggling with Java – and then I started putting some more time into it – except that the more time I put into it the more frustrated I became because I just wasn’t hacking it – I would spend 2 hours in the lab – working out what the hell the exercise was actually asking me to do – in fairness it was a step up from previous examples as this was the first time we had had 2 classes – so I wasn’t sure – but instead of getting some help (with the Java – not counselling . . .lol – well not yet) – I just soldiered on and it just kept making more and more frustrated and in the background there was the assignment still to do . . . I even started asking “Am I on the right course?” – “can I actually cope with this?” – I think you know what I mean – you just start to really doubt things and a wee bit of low self esteem and before you know where you are its “Oh woe is me!” . . . .well it took me a few days but I just decided – “That’s it “ – stop this nonsense – No 1 priority is to get my assignment finished – Java will just have to wait . . .and I’ll sit down with it as soon as I have finished my assignment and tackle it and if I get stuck – tough – I’ll go to one of our tutors or someone who can just look at my code and say – here is where you are going wrong . . . and it has transformed the way I look at things – I feel back on top of the world and even volunteered as the class representative – to represent our class in meetings with faculty etc., can I afford the time – will I be able to cope with Java – I believe so – have I sorted out my Java problem? DO I now know what is going on? Simple answer = No! But I have a plan of action and boy what a difference that makes.

So what else transpired this week. Well week kicks off with Richard Glassey – Internet Programming – we are looking at databases at moment. This subject we will have a project – a restaurant guide for Glasgow – haven’t seen the database yet – but basically person must be able to give their preference or be able to search (on a web page) what is available – in a certain genre or maybe location or price range ???? It’s another programming language really – being able to create and query, amend etc., Then a Java lab – which I devoted to going over previous – to ensure that I understood it . . .We sandwiched in an extra class as Reuben was off ill last week – looked at some new theory – covered inheritance and started polymorphism – which we completed on Thursday. Reuben was in fine form on Thursday morning – had us quite interested with his introduction to the subject – I like him – he is different – he tries to instil a sense of what we are doing in programming is modelling the real world in one or the other – which we lose sight of I think – he does have a very unorthodox approach – and he is very old school. I was a bit disappointed that he took his material straight form the Headfirst book as I have that and like an additional approach – but it was like having copies of his slides really.


After Java it was a case of everyone making straight for the computer labs – to work on their assignments – I’ve rarely seen everyone pulling together the way we all did on Thursday – most of us worked from about 12h00 till past 18h00 – trying to complete it – there was quite a sense of community – people were running around having a quick look asking other people about things if they weren’t sure etc., - and quite a lot of things were cleared up there and then – word count; whether it had to be submitted electronically; etc., we’d get someone to go away and check – other people had emails they had received in reply to queries . . .I just hope it was the right story – someone spread story your word count could be 20% over or below limit – which personally I have my doubts about as we were told no less than 2500 & no more than 3000 – anyway I hope for everyone’s sake that the 20% is correct as quite a few people are weighing in at 3500 or thereabouts. Anyway I finished my assignment @ about 18h00 and printed it off – now this is a first for me – I usually work and make changes and footer around with it – read something else, include it etc – for all the available time and only hand in on the dot or close to the time. But I just decide that’s it no further . . . and I promised myself I wouldn’t read it again that night – I couldn’t actually hand it in but I had it ready. Went home relaxed watched the football had a whisky and just chilled . . .OK – I did pull it out later – spotted a few things and was up @ 06h00 the next morning and down @ the station at 07h03 only to see the train just leave Dumbarton Central station and had to wait half an hour for the next train – made it into Uni for 08h00 still and had my essay printed and ready by 08h45 – one or two little cosmetic changes again . . .am I happy with the finished product – that is a difficult call – I think it could have been better – it’s a little bit superficial . . .maybe too many quotes – Oh for goodness sake – you see why I just decided enough is enough – I can be a real fuss-pot at times . . . . the usual suspects (classmates) were in the lab again early morning.


The week ends with Information Retrieval with Monica – it can be such a dry subject – she was off last week as well – and we had had an assignment to hand in for her for Monday – I can assure you I would not have had much time for this – if we still had to but – because she had been away at a conference then sick it meant that we had not had classes for a while . . . thank goodness it was postponed . . .now Antonio sat in front of me and he was making little (Blade Runner) origami figures and then paper airplanes and throwing them out the window – then we would all jump up to see their flight path – we are on the 4th floor McCance building –we were doing a group exercise . . . Monica tries her best to instil enthusiasm and I thought her examples of Pizzas was excellent - it helped to illustrate her point very well – the only problem being I had skipped breakfast to get to Uni – so after all this talk I was starting to feel really famished. We had Steven Buchanan straight afterwards and he does not take kindly to us coming late – anyway Stephen (my class mate & I decided to get something to eat in between the two classes and still make it to class more or less in the same time as everyone else – as I say he was not pleased but we weren’t really any later than any of the others . . . After classes a few of us went for a couple of beers – we let our hair down after assignment stress etc.,

I’m actually very happy the way things unfolded – I’ve got to know myself just a wee bit better and it’s helped me to grow, as a person. As I said I volunteered to be the class representative – although I did say I would be happier if people chose me – but it seems after having asked for a class rep on a number of occasions nothing has happened – I told a couple of people and Rory said I have his vote and he mentioned most of the others in our Grid group and said I had been duly elected . . .lol. Oh and a surprise mail from Judi – which was most welcome – made my week . . . .looking forward to next week.

Ciao

PS – it is freezing here in Scotland tonight

Subject: Coursework Submission: CS.501 - Enterprise Architecture
From: "Coursework Submission" <******@cis.strath.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, November 3, 2006 9:19 am
To: *****@cis.strath.ac.uk
Priority: Normal




Coursework Submission Receipt

Course: MSc Computer & Internet Technologies
Module: CS.501 - Enterprise Architecture
Assignment Number: 1
Recorded Submission Date/Time: 20061103 (09.19.19)
Late Submission? no