I registered for Spring semester courses over the Thanksgiving holiday via Early Online Registration.

• C# Programming
• Adv. Visual Basic 2008
• System Analysis & Design
• Server Administration
• Hardware Support(mini term II)

It's conceivable that I could graduate under CS Programming option by taking Adv. C# this summer though I am currently still majoring in Network Administration. Under the Network option I will graduate Fall of '09 after completing Network Security. Either way I still need to take the WorkKeys again prior to filing for graduation. I ordered 3 books that I believe will help me along this next semester from BAMM yesterday and they should be here within the week.

Over half way through the semester

School has been going rather well lately. I finished my Intro to Networking assignments for this semester and don't really have to attend the lectures since I've already completed the work. I will continue to attend the lectures though as I do like the hands-on experience. I feel like I've learned a great deal in that class. My ending average is a 97 too which I feel is really well. I've been doing lots better in Visual Basic. I was having trouble catching on as the book we use doesn't use industry standard naming. At first it was a bit difficult distinguishing between what the book said and how the teacher said we needed to complete the task. It's gotten better and we are building some neat little programs. The textbook Online Learning Center is located at http://www.mhhe.com/vb2008/ I'm also feeling better about Database Management since actually "getting" MySQL. It won't be long until the class schedule for the Spring Semester is available. I am not sure what I will be taking this Spring.

MySQL, Visual Basic 2008 and Networking

I'm chugging along...slowly but surely with my classes. I'm caught up on them but have projects due just about every week. It really was a slow start being out the week that the Evacuees were housed at Wallace State College but I'm feeling better after having met for two more classes. At first I was having a hard time navigating in Visual Basic. I've finally caught on to where the files are for what and now my biggest problem is clutter from keeping multiple copies of my projects. I really need to do something about that. I am really enjoying the Database Design class. We are using the MySQL for querying and I've really enjoyed all that though I must say at first the typing was making me nuts until I learned to type in Notepad and then cut and paste it into MySQL to test. Saves alot of time typing and grief. Networking class has been fun even though its an 8am class. I'd like to work on getting far enough ahead to not worry much about it.

Database/Networking/Programming Sites

Database Design Articles

• 10 Database Design Mistakes
• Database Design Guide
• GeekGirls: Database Tutorials

Classes cancelled due to Storm Evacuees being housed at WSCC

Looking forward to getting back to my CS classes on Wednesday & Thur. We have missed one class meeting in each of my Computer Science classes because the Evacuees fleeing Gustav were being housed at WSCC. I did get some work for the classes done however I really could have used the class studying time. I've got a MTH 112 Test to take this next week. Parabolas anyone?

Fall Classes

Fall Classes have been meeting for just over a week now. I am really enjoying the classes. This semester is a bit more challenging but that's a good thing. I really enjoy the Visual Basic and I love the thought process of Database Mgt. I feel like I'm struggling a bit learning the vocabulary in Networking. Yes...you can't call everything a thingy.

Early Online Registration for Fall Semester Classes

I've registered for 4 classes for the Fall Semester--3 Hybrid classes & one online.

• CIS 212-Visual Basic(hybrid)
• CIS 222-Data Base Management(hybrid)
• CIS 273-Intro to Network Communications(hybrid)
• MTH 112-Precalculus Algebra(online)

Looks promising and I should be able to work some genealogy researching time into my on campus time. It's going to take longer than I had planned to finish this degree but I'm taking steps forward so it's all good.

School's out for summer

I finished my Spring semester classes and got 5 A's which put me on President's list.

• CIS 110 Computer Logic & Prog
• CIS 203 Internet
• CIS 207 Web Design
• CIS 249 Operating Systems
• CIS 268 Software Support

I'm off for the summer and need to look into what I'm taking in the fall. Brittany gets out for summer on Friday of this week.

Motherboard:
Diamond Media Systems Inc 80300035-001 686
Micronics AMI BIOS AGP set
Graphics AGP2X

Processor: Intel Celeron 09250167-SL376 366/66

RAM: SDR SDRAM 3 banks
PC 100
2 sticks of 128MB SDR DIMM
1 stick of 64MB SDR DIMM

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar 13.6 GB WD136AA
Enhanced IDE Hard Drive

Video Card
Real 3D Video Card PCB Model # 43-0014100

Sound Card
SoundBlaster PCI 128 Model CT4700

Optical Drive
Cendyne CD-RW Drive
S/N: 210215007903
Model LTR-40124S

Keyboard still locked...software support class

Interesting day in Software Support class this morning. We walked thru installing Windows XP Pro on a hard drive. We also discussed why this is a last resort(ie time consuming etc.) It was interesting and I feel I did at least learn that I don't want to dedicate too much of my time to doing that.(unpaid anyway) Still no luck with the Turtle PC. I think I'm going to pop out the CMOS and wait a week or so and see what happens. I've tried a great deal of things. 1. Pressing Numlock key as PC is going thru post 2. Holding the RIGHT SHIFT key down for 8 seconds 3. Tried USB Keyboard 4. Tried jumpers on keylock

I've been trying to decided what to do with my old computer. My daughter refers to it as the Turtle computer. This was my desktop until Nov of this past year when I bought my Dell PC and at which time I set it up for my daughter. We bought her a new PC in February. I decided to get her a Windows Vista so that she and I both could become familiar with it. So...now I've decided if I can boot the Turtle again I want to put Linux on it just because. I spent two days cleaning the dust out of it. Yes it was THAT bad. The motherboard is jumperless and now I'm not sure how to unlock the keyboard to reset it. Obviously pressing F1 F2 or Delete is not going to help until I can unlock it. If anyone has ideas please let me know. I've googled for solutions but so far nothing that specifically says..."Do this"

I submitted my minilab 1 for CIS 110 today. Also took my CIS268 test. I made an A on the first one in CIS 268 but I'm still waiting for a correction on 3 that I got correct which were counted as incorrect. This second test was extremely stressful in that there were 15 printed pages of test questions to study over. I did well all things considered. I made an 85 and once the instructor manually goes over the test(some fill in the blank answers get counted wrong by computer) I should have a 91.

Spring Semester Courses

I started on a second AAS in Computer Science Networking Technology in January of this year, having finished my Business Mgmt Supervision degree. I really have been enjoying the classes. Two of the classes are online and the other three are hybrids which means they are partly online and part on campus meetings.

• CIS 110 Computer Logic & Prog
• CIS 203 Internet
• CIS 207 Web Design
• CIS 249 Operating Systems
• CIS 268 Software Support

I finished my first mini lab for CIS 110. It's a simple program but it does what its supposed to do. I am working on the last chapter in CIS 207 course and it will be just a matter of waiting for tests to open. I'm more than half way through CIS 249 and will be waiting for tests in that class as well.

I think the classes that I'm learning the most in(as in over all new material) are CIS 110 & CIS 268. I had never really bothered to learn the innards of a computer and really haven't done any programming since the Commodore 64 was a hot and happening computer(don't laugh). Our instructor has us write programs for the CIS 110 class in Qbasic which really isn't too different from what I learned in school many moons ago. The software support class(CIS 268) is not at all what I thought it would be like. To me it seems more hardware related but that doesn't mean I'm disappointed. I'm learning a lot in that class. It does, however make me wonder what the Hardware Support class will be like.

Admittedly I really don't know THAT much about computers...which is why I'm going to school. I've been around computers for many years however I was more of a using the software kind of person and focused mainly on web design rather than the inner workings of the PC. That's changing.