Always Remember It’s Always Darkest Before The Dawn

Feb 25, 2010

Last night was probably one of the crappiest nights of my life. I’m currently taking Fundamentals in Programming Using Algorithms and Logic and I’m not doing that great. Currently I have a C+ which for those who know me, is crap in my eyes. This class though, has been the hardest class I’ve had to take and as a result this is the second time I am taking it. Anyway, last night I was completing the homework assignment that was due (a peer review) when I happened to re-read the syllabus and realized that the assignment I turned in last Sunday, I had turned in incorrectly. I was supposed to post it in my individual forum as an attachment, however for some reason I goofed and posted it as post. This is a 90 point assignment. I resubmitted the assignment as an attachment last night; however if the instructor chooses to dock me on points (which I would understand if he did) the assignment would be 3 days late and I have no idea what points I would be entitled. If that is the case, it will drop my grade significantly, which means I will have to earn as many points if not all the points on my upcoming assignments to pass the class.

My biggest concern is the final, as it is worth 250 points. I’m afraid I’m going to fuck up royally on that and as a result fail the course and have to dish out $1,035 to retake it. I had a break down after the fact, went into the bedroom and cried. Robby sought me out and consoled me and we talked about a lot of things. One of which was that we were going to sit down on Saturday and work through my final, second of which is to get more serious about blogging and freelance writing so I can bring in a bit more money for us and eventually, hopefully start doing some product reviews like Jenn. I found out today that we are no longer allowed to jump (work when they’re busy and need extra people) so my decision to cut my hours to 20 hours to avoid having to work until 8:00pm, has backfired and as a result, the only way I can make up the hours is by picking up shifts. There are a few people who are willing to let me do this, however I’m not sure how long that will last once they see their paychecks. It’s frustrating and as a result I am frantically looking for a job that will work, given our situation. For the most part I have given up on the at home jobs as it seems the pay isn’t substantial enough to sacrifice a commute for (at least not until Robby starts making more money). In addition my working in town would mean that Robby and I can carpool which means it won’t take him as long to get to work or as long to get home– though that in itself is a problem. We only have one vehicle so I am limited to jobs around where he works, that are based around the same hours. It’s frustrating to say the least but I’m not giving up!

I have also decided to get more serious about web and graphic design. Years ago it was my passion. Now? I’m lucky if I open Photoshop within the month. I am determined though to see this through. I’m currently relearning CSS with the help of Whitters, who has been so kind to elaborate and explain what I do not understand. I am actually surprised at how quickly I’m grasping it; though that’s all in theory. We’ll see how it goes when I’m actually coding a WordPress theme by hand without referencing other site’s coding as examples.

Next on my list is PHP. I bought a book before we moved out here because I wanted to learn but have only picked it up once or twice, if that. I know it’s bad but I get so easily discouraged as I am so used to picking up on things rather easily that when I am not able to do so within a few tries, I give up. It’s a bad philosophy which I am attempting to change and given my new found attitude I think I will be successful. So my list of things to do and hopefully I will have accomplished some or at least started some by the next time I blog:

• Relearn CSS
• Design and code a WordPress theme freehand
• Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator- use them, damnit!
• Learn PHP

And most importantly… pass my fucking class. *facepalm*

As If I Didn’t Have Enough Things On My To Do List; What’s One More?

Jan 13, 2010

One of my resolutions this year (as you all know) is to try and pay off our credit card bills. We aren’t swimming in them up to our eyeballs but it’s still something I think that if we did not have would be a huge relief for us, while also ensuring that the money we are spending each month towards those bills goes into our savings. I’ve been pretty resistant to using my personal blog as a means to earn income because I know some people have problems with that, but then I got to thinking, why should I care? It’s my blog after all. My readers, the few that I have, I hope would understand and respect that, especially if I happen to have a clear indication that it is in fact a paid blog post by the categories I use. I suppose in some ways I’ve just been scared that the little viewership I have will be depleted completely if I started to use my site as a means to earn some income which I do not understand why people are so opposed to, especially if the reviews are truthful. I know it’s silly all things considered, but I don’t want to lose my viewership despite the fact that the extra income could go a long way. What are your thoughts on paid blogging? Would you be opposed to coming to my blog if I started to use it occasionally for paid blogging despite the fact that I would have the post categorized in a means that it is easy to identify? Why or why not?

On an unrelated, though partially related note, my new Dell Studio 9000 XPS arrived yesterday, however funnily enough according to Dell support, has not yet been shipped and is still in production. See for yourself:

I know, it’s pretty freaking ridiculous and I bet if I were to call right now, I would be told that the item is either waiting to be shipped out (I was told this twice, prior to my order arriving) or still in production (also told this twice). If I wanted I could probably get away with having them send me another, however I’m paranoid and don’t want to get stuck paying for two XPSes if I do happen to get caught. In any event I’m still in the process of trying to get everything moved over and configured and I’m also waiting on the ram that we purchased from Best Buy and will be ordering a better power supply on Friday so I can stick in the other drive I have, as my current power supply only supports 3 SATA hard drives, which is BEYOND frustrating, but it’s okay, minor delay and easily fixed– well mostly.

/end geek spiel (mostly )

After thinking about it and talking to Jenn about it, I decided that rather then let WishfulDrinking.org expire, I’m going to instead convert it another blog I can use to earn some income off of. I’m pretty excited about it because I think I’m also going to maintain it by posting yummy recipes that touch on liqueurs both in dessert treats and plain old fashioned yummy drinks. Let’s add that to the bizillion other projects I still have yet to sort out and complete and my life just became doubly complicated if even more so. I’m pretty content about my decision though because I think it will be fun to both try out new recipes, while also posting them for those of you who enjoy using alcohol in a fun and yummy way to try as well.

Well, I’m going to start sorting through all the crap I have and get my files moved on to this computer which is going to be a daunting and tiresome task; though I’m sure once I’m done I’ll be thrilled, but still it’s not on my top list of things to be doing right now, but as Jenn from Jenn.nu says, work before play!