Attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching?
A friend said to me the other day, “People cannot lead a positive life with a negative mind.” It really got me to thinking about attitude and life. People who walk around complaining about everything, always upset about things and having such a negative attitude just seem to get stuck like that. They get so focused on all the negative, they can’t just take a minute and be happy and thankful for the things that do go right. The same kind of goes for people who keep up a positive attitude. They see the good in all things and delight in the happiness of life. And even if things get a little rocky sometimes, they don’t let it drag them down and they know how to handle it in a positive way.
Attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching? Really stop and think about how true that is. Attitudes are almost as infectious as the flu. Sometimes if you are having a rough day it only takes a smile from a stranger or a kind word to help brighten things up. It’s those people with the positive attitudes that helped put some positive back in your day! So if we all start working harder on our attitudes and make sure they are something someone else would want to catch, this world could be a lot nicer place. And that is how we could conquer world peace!! Ok, maybe not quite, but it would be a good start!
Add a comment February 1, 2011
Communication
I think communication is a very important part of any relationship, whether it be work or personal. How would we know what we are supposed to do, or how we are supposed to do it if we didn’t have good communication?
In business good communication is crucial to make things run smoothly and have success. All of the employees need to be able to know what is going on and be able to talk to one another about projects and deadlines. If nobody talked to anybody else nobody would know what was going on and the whole place would just be a big package of chaos.
These days there is no excuse not to be able to communicate with everyone. Of course there is the old fashion types like talking in person and sending mail on actual paper. But now we have email, phone, text, fax….well you get the picture! So, for a business not to run smooth due to lack of communication is just no excuse! Maybe if this is how your company is, you should find some new people to replace those cavemen you have working in the basement.
If you really think about it, communication is the whole reason the world wide web was created in the first place. In the 1980′s Tim Berners-Lee’s concept was to connect researchers and allow them to share and update information. It’s just amazing how a “simple” proposal less than 30 years ago has grown to what it is now!
Add a comment December 16, 2010
Photoshop Assignment Sheet
I just finished my Photoshop Assignment Sheet project. I was a little nervous, I will admit. All of the other Photoshop projects I have completed have been very well instructed, whereas this one was very basic. It was a lot of figure the details out on your own kind of work. I enjoyed it a lot though, because it really made me challenge myself and think about the things that I have been learning. When I really have to think about how and why, without just being told what to do, it makes it sink in and stick with me even more. Even though the project I chose may look kind of basic, there was a lot of small details that I had to pay attention to. I think that is what really made this pop, was the small details that I would not have thought to have much importance, but then I realized it was what made it great. I took the basic design and added a little bit of personal touch to it with different fonts and sizing of things. I really enjoyed this project and can’t wait to learn even more, and create more projects from my own brainstorming.
The only real challenge I ran into was trying to get the bottom shadow how I wanted it. I tried the drop shadow style, but it just wasn’t quite what I had pictured. Then I tried the smudge tool, as suggested in the tutorial. That was closer, but I just couldn’t get it to look right. Finally, with a lot of adjusting, erasing and redoing, and a helpful suggestion from a classmate, I got it how I was picturing it.
Check out my final project!
http://inetstudent1.francistuttle.com/rh0886044/photoshop/as1/tabs.jpg
Add a comment November 15, 2010
Teamwork
“Individually we are one drop. Together we are an ocean.” ~Ryunosuke Satoro~
How true that is! It’s easy to get consumed in projects and think we have to do them all by ourselves and nobody can do them as well as we can ourselves. Then there are those that just want to be able to take all the glory by themselves. But just think if we are great by ourselves and can get great things accomplished on our own, what wonderful possibilities there could be if we all work together. Who cares if you have to share the spotlight with others? Chances are if you worked long enough with your teammates, you have formed some great respect and friendships along the way. So, why not share the glory with the people who were at your side the whole time.
There is no way the great Egyptian pyramids would have been built without teamwork, in fact the poor guy would probably still be working on them, one block at a time if he didn’t have such a great team helping him out. And what about the railroads or the skyscrapers or any other great engineering feat throughout history, they would not have even been thought of without a great collaboration of people.
So come on people, lets put our heads together and change the world!
Add a comment November 1, 2010
The Short History of JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language that enables the user to be interactive with the site. So when the user tells the page to do something, JavaScript steps in to make sure it does what it is supposed to when it is supposed to. And JavaScript allows the page to respond immediately without having to reload the page each time a task is performed.
JavaScript has really only been around for about 15 years. It was a concept created by Brendan Eich of Netscape, with the original name of Mocha. It was then renamed LiveScript when it was released for the Netscape Navigator 2.0 in September 1995. In December of 1995, Netscape joined with Sun Microsystems, in a co-marketing deal that came to the now well know JavaScript. The change of name from LiveScript to JavaScript roughly coincided with Netscape adding support for Java technology into its web browser.
Many may get confused and think that JavaScript and Java are one in the same. Though the two have some similar scripting language names and naming conventions, that is all the two have in common. Both programming languages are very different from the other and have entirely different semantics.
So even though JavaScript is still in it’s “teens”, so to say, it has quickly become one of the most popular scripting languages on the web. And with the coalition of Ajax, JavaScript has grown even more in use and capabilities.
Add a comment September 30, 2010
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness is defined by Wikipedia as , “a moral value considered to be a virtue. A trustworthy person is someone in whom you can place your trust and rest assured that the trust will not be betrayed.”
It is sad to say, but it seems like this “virtue” of trustworthiness is something that gets harder to find each day. It’s as if people don’t care anymore. Back in the old days, everyone trusted everyone else, until you gave them a reason not to. These days, it’s as if it’s just the opposite, nobody trusts anybody until they give you a reason to.
So, I’m thinking, if a person can establish the reputation of being trustworthy, especially in the workplace it can really get them ahead in the game. The more a boss or co-worker feels they can trust you the more responsibility and important projects you will establish. Which will then in turn mean step by step you are making it up the ladder of success. And to make it all better you will know that you did it the right way. You won’t have to be looking over your shoulder like some of these guys who lied their way to the top only to end up in prison.
Add a comment September 29, 2010
Should I, or shouldn’t I?
Choices are something we all deal with, no matter what. It’s just a part of life. Some of the choices are small non-essential choices. Do I want eggs or oatmeal for breakfast? Do I wear the green shirt or the blue one? More than likely these small choices are not going to change your life. Then there are the choices that will change your life. Do I want to buy this house right now? Should I take this job offer or wait for the one I really am wanting? These choices would definitely change your life. Not that picking one option will make your life bad and the other one make your life like a movie star. I just mean, two different options mean two different out comes.
Personally, I am very proud of a choice I made a few months ago. I enrolled in the Francis Tuttle Web Design and Development course. This choice was made as I was tired of regretting not furthering my education after high school. I always felt like I could do more with my life, I just wasn’t sure how. Now since I have made this professional choice, all I have to do is keep up the hard work and continue to make wise decisions. I also have to make what I would call professional personal choices. (Not that I have this problem, my life is pretty boring!) Sometimes people don’t think that what they do in their personal life will affect their professional life. Well, that is absolutely not true. These days a lot of employers and potential clients like to search employees on networks like Facebook and Twitter. So in order to have a successful professional life you must make sure you have a successful personal life.
Choices never go away. Once I land a great job or client it will be my choices that determine my future. It’s making the choice to work hard and listen that will make people want to work with me. Chosing to keep up with this ever-changing industry will keep me sharp and on top of the game. All of these choices will be what will make me successful!!
Add a comment August 31, 2010
Honesty & Integrity….
Honesty and integrity should be two of the most important qualities people should strive for. You should apply these to every area of your life. It makes people feel like they can trust you and come to you for anything. It’s a big factor in being a good person.
In the professional area, sometimes it could be the difference in making it big or not. If a boss had to choose between two people with equal education and experience for a very important project what could be the deciding factor? Think about it, the one guy, we’ll call him “Bob” is a great guy. He has strong morals, never causes problems, and is always honest. He even notified payroll when they made a $300 error, in his favor. Also up for the project is “Tim”. Tim has been known to blame coworkers for thing to get himself out of trouble, cheat the time clock, and only worry about himself. Both of these men could do very well on this project, but the boss chooses Bob because he feels he can trust him and he will have the honesty and integrity to complete the project for the good of the company and not just for his own personal gain. What Tim doesn’t realize is that sometimes being dishonest and manipulating can cause you miss out on some great things in life.
So let’s all try a little to harder to be the Bob’s in life, cause who knows what opportunities will pass us up by being Tim….
1 comment April 25, 2010
Taking Charge
So, today I started out my research, not really sure where to go. I started out with TypeKit.com first. I loved TypeKit! It is a great site that has developed a consistent web-only font linking license with tons of fonts available. Some are free, but if you want a little larger variety, you can pay a yearly subscription to be able to use their copy written fonts.
My most exciting find of the day was Google Wave. This is absolutely amazing! Two brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen have developed this amazing online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. “A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and more.”
I watched a developer preview video that showed all of the different things the Google Wave is capable of. Anything from a simple email type, to instant messaging format is just a start. You can add photos to your wave, and anyone you add to your wave can not only see the photos, but they can actually edit the photos. You can also create a blog wave with “Bloggy”. The community editing is great. As I mentioned above anyone can edit the photos, but documents are also editable. So say you are taking notes in a meeting, others in the meeting (or not at the meeting) can join the wave and add info, ask questions, or just have discussions with others within the wave. There is even “Rosey” which is a language translator that can recognize up to 40 languages. I have just barely skimmed the surface of the capabilities of the Google Wave. It is amazing because it takes all of the tools we use everyday and integrates it all into one location that is so simple to use.
I got so excited after watching this video, I honestly cannot wait to discover what other amazing things are out there to help make my WDD career take off!
Add a comment April 8, 2010
Technology Research-Ruby on Rails
What in the world is Ruby on Rails? That’s exactly what I thought at first! Well, according to Wikipedia it is “An open-source web application framework that’s optimized for programmer happiness and sustainable productivity. It let’s you write beautiful code by favoring convention over configuration. “ So, in other words, it’s a programming software that helps you develop web applications ten times faster than with a typical Java framework.
Ruby on Rails in intended to emphasize the convention over configuration concept, which means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of the application. It decrease the number of decisions that the developer needs to make, gaining simplicity, but not necessarily losing flexibility. So overall it means less code and less repetition.
A Danish programmer, David Heinemeier Hansson created Ruby on Rails in 2003. It was released in July, 2004. In 2006 Apple announced it would include the software with the Mac OS X v10.5 “Leopard”. RubyGems is the package manager and MySQL is the database server typically used by Ruby on Rails.
There are many popular websites that use the Ruby on Rails system. Twitter, Yellowpages, Whitepages, XING, and Shopify are just a few. Rub on Rails is comparable to other technologies such as PhP, Java, Phyhon, and Perl.
The ease of use and the time it saves to use the Ruby on Rails seems to secure the continuation of popularity among programmers. I found only one certification for the Ruby on Rails program. It is simply called Ruby on Rails certification test. You can find it at http://www.expertrating.com/certifications/ruby-on-rails.test.asp.
“Ruby on Rails is a breakthrough in lowering the barriers of entry to programming.
Powerful web applications that formerly might have taken weeks or months
to develop can be produced in a matter of days.”
-Tim O’Reilly, Founder of O’Reilly Media
Add a comment April 1, 2010
