New years resolution

With Christmas passed I can now think ahead to the New Year and what it brings for me.
First thing is to return to college and finish were I left off. That means, keep up the good attendance, pass assessments and return in September for the HNC in either software or Web development.

So my new years resolution is to be on a HNC course this time next year.

Anyway Happy New Year when I comes!!!

Christmas day wonder

Taking a walk after Christmas lunch yesterday.

A nice view ahead

Somewhere to hide

What’s in the distance?

The long dirt track ahead

The day draws to a close judging by the sunset

Christmas

As Christmas is here I would like to wish all my blog readers a merry Christmas.

College round up

Well I have reached the Christmas holiday and all has gone well with college so far, web development assessments have been submitted to the tutor and software development write ups have been completed. Completing all my assessments to date gives me a huge sense of relief, knowing I will find the last three weeks of block one a whole lot easier.

So my task for the next two weeks is revising for assessments after Christmas.

Good blogging

The use of Microsoft Word is very common when I write my blog entry as it is equipped with a spell checker, meaning I can pretty much guarantee my blog is at its best. I try to vary my subjects in order to make my blog more appealing to the whole blogging community, and not to just a small area.

Below is a run down of how I blog and the process I taking in doing it.

Input

Sitting back and thinking of ideas of what I can blog about.

Going out with my camera and taking photos of the landscape and things I feel people may find interesting. Then taking my experiences home and blog about them, so the readers can see how my college went the day the post was published.


Processing

Finding sources of interesting information so I can keep my blog up to date in order to pass the practical assessment.

Output

Arriving home and writing about my college day, for example my assessments, how my classes went, did I learn anything new?

Writing about college tasks.

For example:

• Oliver Cromwell
  
• Interview with George Stephenson

Publishing and writing about images I have taken with either my mobile or digital camera.

Feedback

Often I revisit my blog entries to see whether they can be expanded further, do they inspire me to blog about something similar? For example the North East of Scotland water stream entry helped me write the Fast flowing river entry.

My conclusion is to have a blog that is:

fit for the purpose

show entries of information people enjoy reading

And most of all pass the assessment.

Edinburgh castle

Think these pictures speak for themselves

Edinburgh castle as seen from Princes Street Gardens

Robert The Bruce statue, situated at the castle entrance

The stained glass in the great hall

Edinburgh castle with nor loch in foreground, around 1780

Computer hardware and Spreadsheets return

In the computer hardware class today I removed and installed a floppy drive, although floppy drives is something not important, you need to know about floppy drives. Next was to remove and install the CD Rom drive, next was to check they both worked correctly. Then went down to the college IT centre and wrote up some of the tasks I have completed since starting college, things like the operating system, ram, printers. After computer hardware was the spreadsheets assessment, different to what I first thought it would be. Had to create a spreadsheet design in Microsoft word, then transfer the information wrote in word to excel. Then fill in the necessary data we needed to create a spreadsheet with the correct formulas, all went well though.

College and landscape

End of the weekend and back to college the morning, Last college week of 2007!! My first task will be to write up my practical tasks in computer hardware. Then move onto spreadsheets and complete the two parts assessment, the assessment is combined with the databases. So will involve things like IF function, embedded IF function, absolute cell reference and database stuff. Databases have come very easy now, so shouldn’t have any bother with the assessment. The remainder of the day involves assessments too, first of the afternoon will be the Internet and general pc stuff like email and peripherals of computing. Last is the communications listening assessment.

Other than college I have a few more photos.

Photo of Aberdeen taken from the 6th floor of college.

On the odd Sunday morning you here the tractors or cattle from the farm.

Countryside is so peaceful and relaxing.

Submitted Assessment

Have now submitted the Aberdeen College assessment to my web development tutor with the 700 hundred word report on how I designed the page, and what inspired me to use the relevant techniques to action my design? For example I used lists, photographic pictures, not forgetting the Meta tags so when it goes on the web you can locate is easier.

The beauty therapy assessment is going to plan and nearing completion for the deadline next week. Have to get pictures in the picture gallery, then it will look more like a website with all the pages functioning correctly with links.

Other than the design I cant wait to see it live, then I will get a good sense of achievement and one step closer to next years HNC.

The fate of some college students

The task was to take a trip round the college and take pictures of interesting things.


The air didn’t smell right, I had a bad feeling in my stomach about this one.



Soon as we stepped out of the class room the camera jumped into life and created a photo of the corridor.






As we walked down the corridor we started to see strange things like this writing on the wall.

What was our fate going to be?

Walking a little further we heard a sound, as we turned me were faced with a lift.

Not sure what to do at this point, we figured we walk a little further towards the stairs, feeling the stairs would be a safer way down.

As we started to walk down the stairs I still had the small feeling in my stomach, as if somebody was following us down the stairs.

Making it down the stairs, we went through the door.

I heard a sound, so I looked left.

Then right!!

The fate of the others lay in these links

Steve Dean Darren Amber

The Beatles part 1

The Beatles were one of the great English bands from Liverpool, with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Below I have listed just a few of the many songs John Lennon and Paul McCarty wrote.

Some of there hits included:

Love me do

Please Please me

From me to you

She loves you

I want to hold your hand

Can’t buy me love

The Beatles is one the greatest legendary bands of the 1960s.

Fast flowing river

Last week I wanted to post a couple of photos of the river Deveron, but as it was late afternoon they were too dark. So I went back this afternoon and took these two below.

The river flows towards the bridge at speed.

The river flows under the bridge.

Coal mines

The late 18th century was the start of deep coal mining in the UK, with rapid expansion across the Uk. Northumberland and Durham were the biggest coal producers with their pits being a huge 300 ft deep.

Small groups of miners were working part time using shovels and other equipment to remove the coal, before the 1800s coal was left around the pillars to support the mine. This meant a huge amount of coal was left to prevent cave ins. Wood props were introduced to support the roof, the most important part of safety was the control of fresh air and explosive gases.

Broadband and web development

Finally back up and running, broadband went on strike this weekend. Resulted in no Internet access, other than the small problem my weekend has been mostly studying and working on my web development assessment. Looking impressive, Html is easy enough when you get used to it.

College times

Thursday has come and I have just finished college for the day as there was no guidance, web development was filled with working on the health and beauty assessment. Have nearly completed the second page, now planning the third.

Positive I’m going to pass the assessment with flying colours and move onto block 2 with my head up high.

In the blogs class I was working away at the assessment sheets on reviewing blogs.

So now I am in the process of finishing the write ups for my software development programs, only have 2 to do. Means it will be a quick and easy job, as now I understand the documenting of programs.

Other than this I had another quick look at the Google analytics to see who has been visiting, fairy chuffed with the number of people who have taken interest.

Aberdeen

While walking to the car I decided to have another bash with the mobile phone camera, really interested to see how my pictures looked when it was dark.

There is a lot of potential in Aberdeen at night, especially at its nearly Christmas and the lights are on. So I came up with these too photos. The first one is a little blurred, but well, aren’t bad for using a mobile in the cold and wind.



This first one was taken beside the bridge on Union Street, Aberdeen.



Taken on Belmont Street, Aberdeen

Learning new things

With the Christmas holidays nearly approaching all the assessments are too. With one next week and one the week after, the course seems to be going very quickly. Found myself flying through the course book in the spreadsheets class today, mastered the IF function. Easy when you get the hang of it. One day closer to the HNC I say.

Some new things I know of which I would like to point out

• Absolute cell reference
  
  
  
• IF functions (Normal and nested)
  
  
  
• Database relationships
  
  
  
• HTML (Web development)
  
  
  
• Creating small programs using Borland Delphi 7
  
  
  
• Have to say I am enjoying the course and learning new things in each class.
  

One unique fact

Anzac Biscuit

Anzac biscuits were named after the Gallipoi landings. The biscuits were first called ‘soldier biscuits’ before being renamed Anzac, (Anzac biscuit, Australian and New Zealand army corps) Anzac biscuits were made because of the concerns about the nutritional value in the food being supplied to the soldiers. The biscuit were sent by ship but most naval ships had no refrigeration. A small amount of women came up with the idea to create a biscuit with a long shelf life based on Scottish oats.

The basic ingredients were

Rolled oats
Sugar
Plain flour
Coconut
Butter
Golden syrup
Bi carbonate of soda
Boiling water

(Picture from the Gallipoli Landing)

The Anzac biscuit

(picture courtsy of aussie-info.com)