( Sunset approaches on this windy, warm evening...as autumn is setting up for a possibly hard winter...if you believe the Farmers Almanac...)

Long weekend past. Mostly working on homework and some computer projects. I finished filming all the shots for my first video project for electronic media production, and only have voiceover work to do before final editing and first rough cut of the finished project. In media practicum, I have knocked out my first two audio mixing projects, and have the efx for the third one done, putting me about 2 weeks ahead of schedule there.

Got the ok to create a website for the Central Wyoming College radio station, and have quite a few of the graphics done, except for the masterpiece I am going to create in 3d rendering for the main page. The station's name is "The Stargate", and it was named BEFORE the movie of the same name came out. It's a light jazz, new agey format station, and is mostly computerized. SO, the station logo/artwork is going to be somewhat etheric, yet earthy....think the movie Armageddon's logo, but without the flames and impending doom, yet lots more stars and galaxies.

The web geek club I am chartering is going forward. I finished the by-laws, and turned in the list of members already interested, and that should be turned around and we should be able to go live next week. Have the website laid out and halfway done now, and it is going to be a fun project.

Got to sit down with Steve F. today, the college's webmaster/programmer. Spent two hours configuring removable drives to use in the business computer lab that I am a tech in for part of the week, and successfully set up on the system MACROMEDIA Studio MX, Apache Webserver, PHP 4, and mysql. All configured and ready to start doing the writing, editing, programming, and updates to get the college site moving forward and lightning speed. AND I am getting paid in REAL money for this work, PLUS will be getting independent study college credit towards my degree for this work.

Lastly, the radio station project I am going to be cranking on in my own time is figuring out how to stream a radio station that is NOT already on the internet, within the confines of the college's bandwidth limites for ANYTHING streaming, and the hardware and cost I am going to have to work with. Basically going to be doing it from scratch...should be quite an experiment, but a perfect opportunity to learn how to do it myself when I get to the point of my very OWN radio station.

In other words...this really is the time of my life...

Will post again soon....

Richard

( Nice weekend, sunny and warm. Now, a front approaches from the upper northwest, and Isabel comes from the east 1800 miles away...someone's gonna get wet)...

Missed posting Monday...sorry. Thought about it, when I wasn't near a computer.

In my classes, got my first video script done along with a shot list, the grand tour of the college TV station ( homebase for ALL Wyoming Public Television stations), the audio production room, and the video production room.....an UNGODLY amount of electronic toys for a geek such as myself to play with, much less earn a college degree with. MY mind is racing with all the infinite possibilities.

Playing with Photoshop 7 in Multimedia...steep learning curve. Used to using Paint Shop Pro, V.7. Similar power, completely different interfaces...

The CWC WebDev Club is a go. Got the forms, have almost all the signatures and first members lined up, doing a table at the college INFO FAIR tomorrow, between classes, and the club by-laws and first pages of the website pretty much done. This, I think, is going to be a BIG event for me in this turn thru the rigors of college. Not often someone gets to charter a NEW club on a campus, from scratch.

Will be putting the first pages together on my site, at this URL...

http://cwcwebdevclub.survivalring.org

...if you get a hankering to check it out.

Gonna run now...getting dark and I have a long way to walk home across campus...almost 400 yards back to the dorm!!!

Cya tomorrow.

Richard

( Rain...Rain...and more Rain. Finally. This area has been in drought conditions for several years now, hope we get plenty ).

No school today...just work study. Lab teching in the computer lab all day, helping other folks out, and keeping things working.

Spent some time doing some Google searches...several big jackpots today on info finds, and I *do* know how to dig them out...will be sharing what I find soon.

Also, got the ok from Steve...the club is a go....I am going to start a WebDev club on campus, and will be sharing my skills and learning from my peers at and around college the next couple of years.

Shall I try for student senate as well? Interested, but not sure... Got the weekend to decide...

Til then,

Richard

(Beautiful, sunny evening...a few tiny cloud puffs down the center of the sky. Rise of the Harvest Moon tonight over the Owl Mountain range should be beautiful tonight)

Wierd day today. Three classes, but only one of full length ( XP Op Sys ). The second class ( Media production ) simply covered all our schedules ( who will be working on what, where and when in the tv and radio studios ) and a few ideas of the coming weeks work. Finally, my last class was cancelled, due to teacher illness. Seems all the teachers that I know so far in the computer curriculum have come down with a nasty virus, and have missed a couple of days this week. Wonder if SoBig.f has migrated to humans now?

Wife got fed up with her classes she is taking over the internet for credit. We have 56k dialup at our dorm, and it is averaging 35 to 40k in speed most of the time. She keeps waiting for class files to download, gets kicked offline, etc. and has threatened to simply nuke the computer that is causing her pain. She has DEMANDED that we get DSL service!

"Aww, honey....do we HAVE to?"

After a swift kick to the head, I decided I would see what I could do. Most of the campus has high speed access already...al the classroom computers, all the main dorms, etc. But the apartment complex WE live in does not. So, I started by calling the Housing Manager, and got the OK to get it installed IF it didn't mean having to have the college invest a dime in any infrastructure improvements.

Next, called our phone provider, Qwest, and while they do have DSL service in town, they don't have it on THIS side of town, where you'd think they would have it (being the college end of town, ya know).

Finally, called our dialup service (Wyoming.com), knowing they had DSL service, but not knowing if they reached our apartment area with it. After gathering info, the lady would do a line check to see if the connection could be made.

An hour later, the answer was yes....at $49.95 a month, plus $75 installation fee and a one year contract. So, since we have a limited income now, I am going to be posting an auction on ebay tonight for my fairly rare Uniden Bearcat BCT-12 scanner, which I have been watching some auctions of ( to see what kind of value they're going for ), and use the funds for the installation and first few months payment of DSL.

I've tasted DSL...now I can't live without it either...and sure miss it.

Now, gonna run on home since class was cancelled, and get my website newsletter finished before I go to bed.

More tomorrow.

Richard

(The rain continues...a drizzling, coolish mist)

Short set of classes today...only two, Electronic Media Production, and Electronic Media Writing.

For production, my team and I are going to be shooting a video on setting up a portable computer system for field production and use, for such needs as digital photography, video editing, audio recording, events recording and replay, business needs like claims adjusters...you get the picture. All three of my media classes are the same professor and are interelated, meaning video, editing, writing, and final production is accomplished between all three classes.

This is my FIRST foray into production and this project lays ground work for a long time project of mine, of creating a portable computer system for preparedness, survival, wilderness, and extreme off road needs, when such a system just might have the data needed for the unexpected.

Very interesting work, and I think I am really going to enjoy learning this aspect of computer usage.

After my second class, dropped by the school's webmaster's office ( finally caught him after three days...he was home sick with a virus ...maybe SoBig.F?). His name is Steve, and my last few hours needed for work study will be used working with him on the completion of the recent update of the college site mentioned below. He has my latest class schedule to see what I might be able to apply my hours to his projects.

Wife and daughter made a trip to Lander this afternoon to get her braces off...only the bottom ones came off...the top braces may need to stay for a few more months to reconfigure the upper molars for that shiny, fresh smile she's been working on for so long.

Finally got to watch the movie, THE CORE, that hit the video stores yesterday. Not quite up to the expectations I had hoped for, but the effects were adequate and the story at least passable.

Now, this afternoon, sitting in the Business Computer Lab as Lab Tech, assisting the sparse mix of students coming in today...3 in 3 hours. Should be getting out of here shortly and trudging across campus back to the dorm, to work the rest of the evening on my next newsletter issue, now pushing 22 printed pages, and still aways to go. Plan is to have it finished, spellchecked, online, and announced by 6pm tomorrow evening, unless something big happens on the second anniversary of 9/11.

Enough for now...more tomorrow afternoon....

Richard

( A sound is heard in the darkness of the living room. Bathed only in the glow of the 3 year old HP Pavilion 17" monitor, the author stares at the twinkling pixels...midnight looms nye. The smell of rain drifts in the window, as the weather channel announces snow for the nearby mountains...tonight. The sound? A cracking of the knuckles as he prepares his first posting on his new BLOG!!!! )


Hi, Ya'll!

This first post will be a shorty...tomorrow (Wed.) are my early classes. Big plans for the near and distant future. College again....after 17 years since my LAST classes (69 hours of credit the first time round).

Having spent the last few years being a very hardcore web geek, I have decided to become a registered, DEGREED, web geek. Have dropped out of the rat race of full time employment, have two part time jobs on campus ( lab technician for the business computer lab, and [sometime this week] junior assistant webmaster for the college website ( http://www.cwc.edu ).

Taking 17 hours of courses, having had one class cancelled that would have bumped it up to 22 (Dreamweaver/Flash web design). I found out today in my media practicum classes that I'll be putting in another 11 hours of work a week in (totalling 17 in class, 19 in work study, 8 in the radio station on the air, and three in the video editing room working on my video projects), so I still have a little time for sleep, pizza, and family time. Good news is that 4 of my five family members (including me) are all taking classes on this campus this semester. My wife and daughter share a 2 bedroom dorm with me. My oldest son has a room mate in another dorm wing. My youngest son, is still a junior in high school, and is staying with friends in the next town over.

So, looks like it's going to be an interesting fall season this year.

This blog is intended to be my online diary of my school goings-on, my accomplishments, my goals and dreams, and as many hits and misses as I can find the time to do.

You might find it interesting, as I intend to make most of my output over the next two years here, be usable in my website, a very content specific portal called SurvivalRing, which is averaging 3.3 million hits a year.

It really should be fun, and I think you might actually learn something along with me, if you tag along once in a while.

OK, timer just went off. My 15 minutes of fame for today is up. I'll try to post something, anything, everyday. Hope you like it...feedback is welcome.

Til the next post,

Richard