CSC-253: Advanced C# Programming

“This course is a continuation of CSC 153 using the C# programming language with object-oriented programming principles. Emphasis is placed on event-driven programming methods, including creating and manipulating objects, classes, and using object-oriented tools such as the class debugger. Upon completion, students should be able to design, code, test, debug, and implement objects using the appropriate environment.”

I was recently informed that the Advanced C# course I have been wanting to take (it or Advanced C++, and well, lets face it, isn’t likely any time soon) is available as an online course. I originally avoided registering for the section because it was only offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and I don’t want to drive into Charlotte at night (would be different if I was already there) and it conflicts with Digital Photography. I have not had any opportunity to take a course that is at the advanced level for any language I currently know/use. I don’t often get to use courses I have taken as pre-requisites to things, so I savor these opportunities, as well as any opportunity to build on what I already know without having to dive into something totally new.

This semester should be really interesting. I have 2 courses in a field that I am a little rusty in that are at a school that I am very new to; I have 3 courses at a familiar institution that should be similar to things I’ve had before, except the Digital Photography studio, which should be a refreshing guided study, and then there is CSC-253, a continuation of something I’ve done before. Nice little mix of things this semester.

New Favorite Recipe

I have found a new favorite recipe, this is for something really simple though, white bread!

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,194,157185-234194,00.html

I substituted sugar for the honey and I amended the directions to include baking at 350 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes.

My first try with this recipe today came out as two soft, delicious loaves of bread. Gave me a chance to use my new electric knife as well to cut it.

Dell Color Laser 3100cn Problems and Solutions

My Dell Color Laser 3100cn, commonly referred to here as “the Tank”, has been having issues printing full page color pictures lately. Today when I had family around and they were waiting for prints of pictures it was decided (by Chris) that it was time to fix it.

The two issues occurring most were a paper jam and then also a “void” in the image at varying spots (resembling UFOs in landscapes). The paper jam started happening shortly after cleaning the head on the printer with those cleaning sheet things (cleaned the rollers too good maybe). The UFOs started happening… well I don’t remember, but they started, and technically aren’t voids, since they are not where toner wasn’t placed, they are where toner has fallen off.

For the paper jam, Chris ran about 200 blank sheets through the printer (getting the fuser hot as well as stirring the dust and exercising the demons). It seems to have done the trick, well, that and adjusting the paper settings for thickness. Apparently “PLAIN 1” is designed for really cheap office paper (20#), not my professional papers (28# to 72#). “PLAIN 2” works for all of my normal papers.

On the void issue, it is just the paper causing it, apparently my “Business Glossy” is a “Coated Paper” and therefore requires a special setting of the laser for temperature at fusing. “COATED 2” was selected for that, a heavy weight, coated paper, so the rollers pick it up properly and the fuser doesn’t try to melt my paper.

It is interesting to watch the printer do its job on the “COATED 2” setting. Whereas I usually feel like the paper is being launched at me and is so hot that it curls (not good for reports), this setting is slower and sends a more crisp image out on the page, as well as brings a flat page out to rest in the tray. I may consider using the COATED setting for academic papers and such, just to keep the bend down and maybe make them more clean looking.

 

Since I myself had very little to do with getting my 3100CN back to a good functional state, I am hoping that Chris will write his own detailed entry of what was done and his logic/approach to the problem so that perhaps other frustrated 3100CN users can fix this problem on their printers using a method that DOES NOT involve shaving a few millimeters off of the imaging head assembly. Interesting thing to note though, my beta 3100CN did not develop the problem, but the production 3100CN has (although,  seems to be much better after today).

Ideal Food Temperatures

One of my new gadgets this year is an infrared surface-read thermometer. I am presently trying to find a guide book or other resource that indicates the ideal external serving temperature for common foods. I don’t want to know internal temps so much as I want to know surface temps, but I can probably figure out some sort of density formula to convert if I need to. Does anyone have a clue about this topic?

Gold CDs

ICDDCDRS80HU

After calming down from the excitement of receiving my adapter step-up ring for my D60 I decided to take a look at the Adorama catalog that came with the package. I ran across something kind of interesting in it (at least interesting to me), gold CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. Apparently they write very slow, but have a scratch-resistant and oxidation-resistant coating to allow the CDs to last 300 years and the DVDs to last 100 years. I am seriously considering obtaining some (in the more modest 10 pack, not the $200 spindle) as a way to back up my academic work as well as other projects I have worked on, including GITI.

Academic Directions

As promised in my previous blog entry, I am going to comment on my academic life in this entry.
First of all, I am a lifetime learning student. Degrees are not my primary means of organizing academics. I am not in it for the credit hours, I am in it for the experience of different fields. If I one day get bored I may surrender academics, but I do not presently feel close to that at all.
Next, I have been continually enrolled in an institution of higher learning since August 2003, and have attended with at least half time standing in every semester with the exception of Summer 2006. I regret letting that semester get away. Summer is the best semester for leisure learning.
Finally, Once I have a full time job, I will move academics to the back burner and have it as only a hobby (half time status most likely). I enjoy learning and want to keep at it. My logic and reasoning skills are quite sharp as a result of being so active academically.
What is going on now in my academic life is quite exciting. Without being entirely conscious of it, I have applied and been accepted at Fayetteville State University. It was originally my intention to attend only as a visiting student, but since my acceptance I have declared my major as Psychology, and I intend to pursue that degree until its completion. If I like the content of the courses as much as I think I will, I may continue to finish off the next higher degrees until I have obtained a PhD in Clinical Psychology. That is some time off at this point, but it is a goal I have for myself. It was a mistake to have ever changed my major away from Psychology. Mental process and the human mind have always interested me. Had I stayed with my original program ideas for the spring semester I would be taking a lot of art classes, but I do not feel ready for those yet because I feel I need to understand the function of the mind better first. I always find links between my courses and for Spring I am hoping to find links between Cognitive Psychology and Digital Photography Studio.
I have a habit of taking courses in ironic ways without noticing it. I am taking Art History Survey 1, as very old and standard course, as an online course, but I am taking Digital Photo Studio as an in-person course.
At present my long-term career goal is to become an academic instructor. As much as people have tried to discourage me from it, it seems right to me.
Here is a psychological mystery for today… it is 2am… why am I still awake?

GITI Status: January 3, 2009

Getting It Together Interface… I never get tired of typing it out like that. In the past two days I have been working on GITI, primarily in the education module. I have made almost no progress towards the mobile version, but at the same time, there is no immediate need for it.
At this time, I am grasping a very strange notion that has just occured to me… the Education module is essentially finished. All of the functions I had hoped to include in it are in place and everything works now. There are a few buggies to tweak here and there, but nothing major, no huge goals to accomplish, everything is in. Last time I felt like this, I threw out a few sample interfaces for GITI v2… I don’t see v3 coming out of this or anything, but I do need to spend some time assessing GITI’s other functions that do not rely on me having an academic career to keep attention to, although, that isn’t likely to be an issue (more on that later). The most neglected things on my roster right now are things derived from the Notes system in GITI. This includes KeyChain (software license key manager), Item Journal (personal and per-item journaling), To Do (to do list, needs a good whacking) and Doc (think like Word, except allows HTML formatting and no damn paper-clip). KeyChain does what it needs to do, but nothing else. It won’t even edit keys once they are added. Item Journal is nearly non-existent in its stand-alone form. It needs work in that form, as well as in Blog Integration. To Do, is it version 3 or 4 now? To Do is a lost cause in all of its present states. It doesn’t do anything unique from Schedule (which has been delegated to another developer at this time). I have some ideas, but they will require a lot of baking before they become a good GITI module. Doc is a healthy component. It has its standalone functions, as well as its integrated functionality. All of it works, sometime really well, but I think I need to document it a little more before I can let it be truly “complete”. It relies on the user having the ability to read and write in HTML, something which works great for me, but might be a little excessive for some people.
In general, GITI is healthy and functioning well. Even with one module complete, there are still plenty more that call to me (especially Health and Fitness for some reason).

My Personal New Year

I don’t really get into the whole “January 1” renewal thing. I don’t get why people make resolutions still, or why any of those traditions still hold. In general, when “New Year” traditions were started, the individual person was less important, and people actually kept their resolutions. I personally do not really celebrate the New Year the way others do. I typically spend the New Year’s week working on GITI and her components, but that has nothing to do with anything, except all of the real holidays are over and it is my last chance to work on GITI during her “down time”. Typically that work goes on during the first week of January and the last week of July, when the academic module is least likely to be corrupted.
My personal new year happens on my birthday, March 4th, each year. I take that week to look over ‘my’ previous year and see what has occurred. In some ways I suppose I treat January 1 as a warning signal to begin making progress towards goals and things, and to wrap up anything goaled for that year. Also, it gives me a chance while everyone else if scrambling to get their own goals together to be meticulous in assembling my ideals for the coming year of ‘me’.
Just my personal rant, if I look back to last January, I’m sure I will find a similar entry.

Happiness in a Ring

I don’t know that any shipment that has arrived for me recently has made me as excited as a little envelope I received today from Adorama. I received a neat little device called a “52mm to 55mm Step-Up Adapter Ring”.

Such a tiny and inexpensive piece of happy. This little guy will let me use all of my current filters and special adaptation lenses on my new Nikon D60.