Grenville Dodge - Java & uni conclude - dance/pub crawl

Photos: well Judi & I at dance (photo courtesy of Isabell & John) - My Java project layout; Mike at concert - bands name Grenville Dodge; Edinburgh side street

Ok folks - sorry a tad late with blog - so where are we - Sunday 17 Decemeber the year 2006 - what does that mean I wonder - probably depends on your belief system - to me its an arbitrary reference - something that allows you and other people to refer to a time and date different to any other - I know the Chinese have a different New Year - and in Sauchiehall Street / Rose Street (for some) they seem to be celebrating a New Year every Friday & Saturday night so at the end of the day you have to ask yourself what your own value system is and this is usually the time of year that it comes to the fore - what is mine - well I think that may take another unique blog, to give it the attention that it deserves - in short though - I identify with the notion of peace on earth and goodwill amongst all people - and I am happy with that - also believe in tolerance for everyone and their beliefs and expect the same . . . . enough said.

So presented my Java project - handed in the documentation for project and then IT in Business assignment . . . started week calmly and ended it frantically - BDC community project night out + uni pub crawl in West End . . . uni broke up for Christmas recess . . .

Arran got away OK - and when he booked in for his Manchester - Cape Town leg of the journey - had to pay £90 for excess baggage . . . not the last of Arran's problems as he left here with a very bad chest infection - he had hardly arrived back in South Africa than he had to go to the Doctor / clinic and ended up with medicine and antibiotics and was eventually rushed to hospital because his nose wouldn't stop bleeding - what did they eventually give him to stop the bleeding - like any good hospital cocaine done the trick - told him he would have been better of buying that on the street corner - rather than the local emergency ward rates . . . lol.

Well needless to say I was quite stressed - what with the Java project looming - made some decision and spent my weekend relaxing with Judi more than working on project - but did it with Java in the back of my mind - no regrets - was a conscious decision I made . . . had a lovely weekend - was well rested and re-focussed on work at hand.

A very interesting lecture in IT in Business - Cisco in Scotland - discussing the way the Internet is going web 2.0 - video / TV across the web - improved / increased connectivity across the UK and world - how it makes people more productive and how they can work even whilst sitting on the train etc., . . .

Worked on Java - Sunday and most of Monday - probably the longest sustained period I have thus far put into Java - I actually surprised myself with some of the code that I came up with - didn't know I had it in me - managed to chat to Matthias online - and although he had a completely different methodology we were able to talk through the one part of the code that was bothering me and I actually worked it out - it was bothering me and then after chatting to Judi on phone - it fell into place - the oracle - No, but it's funny sometime you don't think about something and it can just fall into place as opposed to sitting there and wracking your brains andnothing happens . . . well Monday night I was still having a couple of hiccups and then I thought who better to go and visit and have a chat with - Colin our lecturer - taken over from Reuben - asked if he could spare me 1/2 hour and he managed to fit me in - we went through the code and discussed a couple of areas and I'm pleased to say I was able to sort out my problems. Went home that night sorted out Supervisor and Exception classes and that was me - went in the next day and Colin had a look and he was quite happy -wasn't 100% but I had effectively managed to complete and have the company working as it more or less should . . . . As for the documentation - well discovered that BlueJ actually generates its own API for the entire project - this really lists and details everything that you have used - entire project - all classes - how they work what variables are defined and used - the methods (sub-routines) etc., so what more could I say - I wrote about 3 pages giving a general overview and described in detail what one of the more involved methods was doing and how it was doing it . . .

Even travelled to Edinburgh Wednesday knowing I had test the next day (went to see Mike - Judi's son who plays in a band called Grenville Dodge - see photo's - and was playing that evening at a local club in Edinburgh) also first time I met Judi's boys face to face - pleased to say it went really well (so I thought anyway - haven't seen my report card yet) they seem like a nice bunch of guys. Also just so happened that my gas was turned off for that evening - not planned but that was how it turned out and I was sleeping out anyway . . . OK - so there was serious flooding everywhere on Wednesday afternoon - when I went through Drumchapel station the water was gushing off the platform as if it were a waterfall - when I looked down I couldn't see the ground as there was so much water flowing around . . .this was on my way home - rushing back for the gas works - as they had said they wanted to connect the gas for my neighbours above me Ian and the one above him . . .this turned out to be a standard phrase over the week . . .anyway they had connected me on Monday but were unable to sort out the upstairs flats as there was no one home . . . so they had asked me to be home Tuesday to sort them out - I said I couldn't but would try to get home earlier - they had said fine - but for some or other reason they were not able to do so - Wednesday when I did get home they were on about me getting home earlier on Thursday - but with the test and me sleeping out - I had told them I had an exam (the Java test) - so wrote my test and rushed home after Colin gave us an overview on Swing an a graphical user interface (GUI) - I was genuinely surprised and touched as to how many of gas work employees asked me how the exam had gone . . .??? just shows you . . . I had mentioned it to one and the next thing everyone knew and somehow it wasn't just an excuse that someone had used - they had obviously believed me. . . within an hour or two they had restored the gas to the upstairs flats . . .I have to say they made one hell of a mess in my cupboard - put a new pipe in and they should / could have used the old pipe . . .but they didn't ended up drilling a new whole through from upstairs - almost solid concrete 30 cm / 12 inches - but everything is working fine now. I actually started this story with the flooding and that idea seems to have been washed away - lol - well set off for Edinburgh and train conductor on train said to me - your a brave man trying to get to Edinburgh on a night like tonight - 1 line between Dumbarton and Glasgow had already been closed and it was touchand go - I explained to the conductor how important it was for me . . . and that flooding and wild horses would not keep me away . . . lol.

Thursday night saw me working on IT in Business assignment - another almost all nighter up till about 4am again . . .and in the end what did I think of my assignment . . . .I thought it was bollocks . . . I actually went to sleep about 04h30 but set the alarm for 06h45 . . .needless to say I slept in and only woke up at 08h10 - which was probably a more reasonable time . .but it forced me to take my car in as IT in business had to be handed in by 09h30 . . . did I make it No - got to uni in time but decided to print off both Java (which I had been handed an extension for) and IT in business - so they were both in for 10h00 . . . well no use crying over spilt milk - we'll just have to wait and see what marks we get . . . which reminds me - our electives are out for next semeseter our choices are:

• Enterprise Networking


• Distributed Information Management


• Computer Security


• Designing Usable Systems


• Mobile Software & Applications


• Special Topics 2

(that is the order I have selected / chosen them - so hope I am early enough - we have been told that we will need to share these topics with 5th year students - seems the uni now offers a 5 year Masters programme - so we will be joining some of them - not sure what there numbers are i.e. how many but it as suggested that we might not get our 1st choice in everything as positions are limited.

SO Friday started off badly but it got worse as the day progressed - what was it lack of sleep - received a phone call problems down at the project office - went through there and ended up down at the bank trying to sort things - then Robert had managed to somehow get his car stuck in the mud . . . tried to get that out - this was about 14h30 . . .remember I slept in well - after handing in assignments had to run to IR lecture then get Internet access sorted for my macbook and then off to the library get some books out for 2 weeks for PHP & Javascript etc., then to the project and then Roberts car - well I had not even, at this stage, had a chance to have breakfast, let alone lunch - then Judi sent a message to say she was on her way - so took Robert down to Marshall's garage for a tow truck to come and rescue him - actually haven't even heard how he got on . . . . oops had better give him a ring. SO mad it into Queen street with about 10 minutes to spare - just enough time for the first time that day to catch my breath, a cup of coffee and a quick toasted sandwich . . . which was like a feast for me . . .Judi arrived - whisked her off and managed to have a complete rest before the dance @ 07h30 that evening - turned out quite well - poor turn out from project - Brain; Margaret; Isabell - Robert had paid but did not attend . . . Nan; Agnes & a few from Blue Chip were there - and Graeme ex project employee had come along - so all n all not a big crown - but hey - I think most people enjoyed themselves in the end Judi & I did - stayed on the dance floor most of the time - hence I am a tad hot in the photo . . . some red eye but generally a lovely glowing photo of Judi. Irene would have been there but it was the one night that she couldn't make . . .

Just to make the week more interesting was finalising arrangements for my Mum's 80th in January - phoning aunt's that I haven't seen in 14 / 15 years . . finishing off the design and just generally keeping myself busy - went down to photo Ecosse - and they don't do cards only post cards (like a photograph) only print on one side - so had to redesign everything on the fly - no problem for resillient me . . . not! - just had to quickly / mentally rejig it - went down to see proof on Tuesday and made a few changes - Judi gave some valuable inputs - then when I went to pick it up on Wednesday - they hadn't done it - and needed the original photo's again . . . Aargh! - but picked it up on Thursday afternoon and was very happy with the finished product . . .

Now on to the much awaited pub crawl - nearly the whole semester in the planning - well not really - I thought Ashton Lane was ideal - I went to sleep over at my Mum's place after telling Judi I couldn't come through to her as I had basically organised the whole thing - I mean how would that look - and she was quite understanding about that - As it costs too much to get home to Dumbarton - the night bus has been discontinued - so £20+ for taxi that was why I had decided to sleep at my Mum's - set off caught a bus - then a tube and was in Ashton lane for about 19h35 - made my way to Brel - the designated meeting place - just in the door when I spied Andy - the other student rep and that was - wait for it - the entire turnout - the two of us . . . .????? Well we had a few beers there made it across to the Ubiquitous chip - Wee pub and later Oran a Mor - so technically the pub crawl still happened - caught the last tube home 23h35 and was in my Mum's flat by about 00h15 - so much for the big night out - maybe just as well what with late nights two nights in a row - I'm not sure how I would have coped with a full on heavy drinking evening - with Andy & myself it was fairly relaxed - we just had a good blether and a laugh and got to know each other a little bit better . . . .

Well uni has broken up until 2nd week in January - I will attempt to maintain blog on weekly basis . . .might not manage but hey! we'll see what transpires - in actual fact I will still be working over this period - Internet Programming; Entrepeneur Interview & an exam coming up . . . cheers - Andrew

TOGAF, MODAF & DoDAF + Arran departs

Well all the photo's are taken in Perthshire - Ducks; Loch scenes are all Loch Tay; hills with sunlight is 'sma glen on way to Loch - smaller river is in Crieff and larger one is in Killin - the Falls of Docherty - there are several photo's (including tree; bridge etc.) which are all Killin.

Well here we are week 11 has passed and there is only 1 week left in the term - unbelievable - its going to be a challenging week - my Java project has to be handed in on Wednesday and I believe it will be a long haul . . . but that is next week's story - back to the present.

TOGAF etc., - you'll be wondering what the hell is that all about - well it stands for The Open Group Architecture Framework . . . once again your probably thinking OK, but what the hell is that all about - its really all about using an analogy from architecture in general and using that in computer architecture - i.e. how should you go about arranging your companies IT infrastructure in such a way that it best supports how your company does business - taking into account where your company wants to be in 5 years time and how your going to migrate from the now 'as is' to the future 'to be' scenario . . . sort of standard management type principles . . . well this is what took up most of the week and particularly Monday - worked on assignment all day - apart from my Monday evening Braidfield computer drop-in class. I had to make a costly (in terms of time) trip into Glasgow on Monday as I had a group presentation to give on Tuesday morning and as we had had the Information Retrieval 'never look a gift horse in the mouth' assignment last week - nobody had had time to get together - well we had planned to meet Friday afternoon but my Student rep meeting had dragged on as well so they had left as I was at least 45 minutes late. Anyway Nicole, Matt & myself met (yes the Capulet’s & the Montague’s do occasionally speak) - Ratna had to work . . . so we quickly got together and within 45 minutes had hammered together the outline of our presentation on Open Source - now that might not seem like much time - however, add on my travel time and you are easily looking at about a 3 hour round trip - how I could have done with that 3 hours later in the week (more about that later). Coupled to that of course is the getting home and then working on the presentation. Also just had time to get in and settled and then leave for Braidfield. What made it all more frustrating was the fact that it was not for marks, whereas, my Enterprise Architecture assignment - counted towards 50% of my credits for this subject - so a slight mismatch with regards to how much time and effort I should be putting into it as opposed to the nuisance of having to prepare and round off etc.,

Anyway - presented the next morning - Ratna ran wild as I had only emailed him his slides at about 22h30 - he went and prepared a speech to go with the slides which I think was longer than the rest of us put together (if only my foot could have reached him - he would have felt a sharp jolt back into reality) - it went well - good feedback and interaction from the class. Despite my yearning to depart early I attend the follow-up class on Internet Programming - but skipped the lab - all at a price as I will have to spend a significant part of the Christmas break doing Internet programming . . . anyway rushed home to work on my assignment - priorties 'n all.

Wednesday was Java and I had hoped to be in a better position with regards to my project - if you remember we are writing a programme for a pizza company which I have now named 'Gizza Pizza' which is glasgie parliamo for 'give me a pizza' - anyway bottom line here is that I still have a long way to go and have my doubts about being finished by next week Wednesday - I will, however, give it my best shot - there have been serious problems with the Java instruction - Columbo / Reuben etc., but Colin has now jumped into the gap. Just to make matters interesting - we are now writing a Java test next week as well - Thursday to be precise - not really something you can study for - we were given a mock test so we could have a look at it and return on Thursday with questions. This was handed out after the lab and we went over exception handling i.e. what your programme is supposed to do if something unexpected happens (or expected - depending on how you look at it . . lol) - I think I need to write mine the other way round i.e. my exception handling will be for anything that works . . . lol - No, I am being too hard on myself . . . . I have loads working - and just a few things still have to be solved (he says nevously) - that's all.

Well Thursday was Java theory - we'd been told to prepare any questions about the test and our project - which I thought was really a good opportunity - so looked through test & wanted clarity on the documentation that has to accompany our project etc., - in prep for the class so we would address this. 'Slaan my dood' Afrikaans for 'blow me over' would we not launch into about 80 slides - brand new topics and just go like a bat out of hell - sometimes skipping 3 or 4 slides at a time (like my Asian lady who took at least a photo everyday then played them all back - sort of morphing 1 over the other (couple of weeks ago)) - it was horrendous - just felt myself falling asleep - pointless - wondered whether it was because I had told Colin in the lift on Friday how little we had actually covered with Reuben also he had put my name forward to speak to one of the lecturer's who will be presenting to us next semester - Software Engineering, which includes Java - I am to have a talk with him and tell him what we have covered thus far (not much . . . lol - although Colin seemed hell bent on changing that [in one day]) - anyway about 2 minutes before the end of the class - he stops and asks are there any questions? - I was flabbergasted - I mean what had happened about all the questions?? I managed to put all three of these questions to him - are we expected to be finished for Wednesday with project? Does he expect project documentation from us on Thursday? Are we still having the test on Thursday? To which he simply answered Yes, Yes & Yes - so everything is crystal clear . . . . NOT!

Thursday evening was all about Enterprise Architecture - I knew I was in trouble but it didn't stop me from going to the computer club on Thurs evening from 19h00 to 21h00 - went as I wanted to print off my Mum's birthday party celebration invitations for 20 Jan - it was OK - but the one cartridge was leaking so it came out looking all cheap and tatty - went into Photo Ecosse - in Dumbarton main Road and I think they have a solution for me . . . need to redesign and print something off - Judi has given me some ideas . . . (more later) - SO back to my Thurs evening - cut a long story short worked to 4am - still wasn't finished - up early was at uni before 9 am working on assignment - had to skip IR class with Monica - no idea who sorted out the data projector as this is usually my job . . . worked right through - remember deadline 12h00 - I missed it by 15m & 28 sec . . .supposed to be an automatic 5% deduction if you hand in late - receptionist said that it was up to the lecturer so we will just have to hold thumbs - THIS is where that 3 hours travel time plus working on presentation time would have come in handy for my assignment - don't you think?

Friday afternoon Judi came through - she, I and Arran went to Dumbuck hotel for the last supper - a lovely evening and early to bed after some shiatsu therapy from Judi. We had to get Arran to the airport by 6am as his flight was for 7am - well we took Judi's car and shortly after pulling away from my place (I drove as I am more familiar with the roads lcoally) I had to ask Judi "em Judi did your car have a right hand mirror" to which she answered "Yes it does" - to which I had to reply "erm not anymore it doesn't" - it had been vandalised outside my place Friday night / Saturday morning . . . Anyway we got Arran to airport and safely booked in etc., And that is Arran off home to South Africa - how do I feel - do I miss him - am I coping - well its easy to say yes, thus far - I will miss him especially wrt the football and generally hanging out together at the movies / eating out etc., - we'll take it one day at a time and see how it goes.

Went round to my Mum's place and having Judi along allowed us to slip much more easily into the photo mode as I said James (my brother) had asked me to scan a photo in and email it to him (so the combination James & Judi wanting to see them and being there) - when in actual fact I needed it for the birthday invitation as it is supposed to be a surprise can't really say what the photo's are for - anyway left with a pile of photos and hope to finalise layout / design with photo Ecosse tomorrow - probably means some work tonight - poem - wording etc., layout - but need to get them out ASAP - will also need to make some phone calls aunts etc., to get some addresses etc., Popped round to my aunt Agnes (interesting to find my cousin there) who has given me most of the peoples addresses - so need to roll on this ASAP . . .

Well that was the week that was - lack of sleep - a bit frustrated - a loss and a gain . . . roll on next week Java project; Java test & IT in Business assignment . . . and then vac - Yippee! Although will not all be rest and play as plenty to either hand in or prepare for when we come back 1st week in January - but hey! That is next year’s story.