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.