When November Ends

I cannot believe that November is only half an hour from being over!

(Why haven't I gotten more accomplished, this month? #epicfail)

Birthday

I turned 29 today. I am feeling older and older.

An Etsy Experience

This is my first time using Etsy. After suffering some major setbacks these past few weeks (actually, off-and-on throughout this entire semester, overall!!), I am attempting to get these tasks completed.

As this is Mother's Day, I am placing an item that my mom made, for me to sell, on Etsy.

This is a coral bead necklace, with matching earings.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/47231517/coral-bead-necklace


Note (5/16/2010): Due to very-unfortunate circumstances (many of my own making/exacerbating, though others beyond my immediate control), I have not placed this item up, until now (one week after this blog entry was saved - and when I first signed up, for Etsy). #fail #epicfail!!

Art Fair - Old State Capitol square

via DntnSpfldIL: Day 2 of the Old Capitol Art Fair. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T http://bit.ly/cGXK9f

(I work on the Old State Capitol square now.)

Mega-Messiness

This has been another ultra-difficult week. (That's an understatement, though it's difficult, at the moment, to come up with more-accurate diction/copy.)

On and off, I've been faced with health issues (both physical and otherwise), intense anxiety, and all sorts of other stuff. I'm not going to go into any detail (at least not in this space!), but I do expect (through prayer, changes on my end, and changes in my situation) things to turn around, before long.



I have like a million things taking place (things were already busy, before starting a [surprise!] full-time job this week), and I seem to continually be low on energy (Starbucks & Red Bull aside) - But I still believe I will get things done, for this course, and otherwise.

Expect some posts, very-soon, with updates on these course assignments!

I am on campus, once again, and in Brookens Library... I wish I could work on the pending coursework right now, but it has been such a rough day week, and I'm feeling nasty, even more so this evening. (Am saving this entry as a Draft, as I'm feeling too sick-like to even compose good prose.... Okay well, now it seems decent enough to publish.)

Will see you again soon! (I hope to be feeling better, very fast... I mean, VERY, very fast!!)

Where in the Midwest WAS Aakash?

Please see my last entry (which I just NOW published! #fail #epicfail!!)...

Those Midwest trips that I've been to (and which I got some video and photos) are:

The MOCR 2010 Convention in Springfield, Missouri, the weekend before last (April 9-10th).

Here is a Twitter-'log' of sorts... The marked Tweets are pertinent to this class, because video/media from them was taken (or they were @ the instructor! :-):

http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11898163611
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11898412174
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11898922352 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11899002604 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11899338706
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11900543212
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11904252352
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11910400941
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11918507184
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11918610039
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11922313667
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11924179082
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11924383151
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11929625240
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11942898553
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11943062337
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11944807669 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11944953092
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11947839396
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11948058587 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11948058587
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11949284313
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11951105603
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11962223209
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11964445056
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/11967556874


The ICRF 2010 Convention, in Chicago, Illinois, this past weekend (April 16-17th).

Although: On Friday night, I got to see Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (a future presidential candidate!) in Lake County, IL. [There is an interesting story about this; Maybe later ;-]


The Lake County GOP Gala, with MN Governor Tim Pawlenty, and the ICRF 2010 Convention (in Chicago):


http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12279421830
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12297573559
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12301651169
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12301935636
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12302067351 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12318243589 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12318840052 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12319745691
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12323682695
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12323682695
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12328367279
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12329441359
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12329567573 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12329777139 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12331017803
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12331813555
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12357923922 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12358769769 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12360502163 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12361494417 -
http://twitter.com/AakashRaut/status/12361522120 -



Note: Sorry if this seems pointless - It's in large part to help me, as well!!


As we are having a work period in this class right now (it's our April class meeting this evening!), I need to (now that I've gotten the blog up-to-date, though clearly have a LOT of progress to make, insofar as the assignments!) figure out this iPhoto & iMovie, etc... stuff!!

Where in the Midwest is Aakash?

Put my plan here...

Note: While I saved this draft post (planning to outline this plan :-) weeks ago, I am typing and publishing this entry, while in our April class meeting... Right now, it is Wednesday, April 21, 2010.

In the last class meeting, for this course, we watched the famous "Where the h*** is Matt?" viral video.

The instructor went over iPhoto and iMovie, and explained how to use these, to "create a stop-motion video" (Assignment #7). [Note: Looking at that assignment now however, I see that we're to do this, "...from still images"!]

I am planning to travel, throughout the CRNC Midwest Caucus states, for my current position, and my potential candidacy, this summer. I thought therefore, that I'd do a scaled-down (MUCH, much, much, much... scaled-down!! :-) version of that "Matt" video, with clips from my Midwest travels.

Events I'm scheduled to be at include:

MOCR 2010 Convention (Springfield, Missouri)
Friday, April 9 - Saturday, April 10
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=372168568239

ICRF 2010 Convention (Chicago, IL)
Friday, April 16 - Saturday, April 17
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=265848353595

WICR 2010 Convention (Madison, WI)
Friday, April 23 - Saturday, April 24
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=336089036058



At this point (as mentioned above), I've already been to 2 of these 3 events, plus an additional tangential one, this past weekend, while up in northern Illinois. I'll be posting a new entry now, with those updates (and link to some pertinent Tweets!).

Before it's over...

TODAY is the Ides of March!

BEWARE!!!

Retaking the Test!

Perhaps, considering that this new weblog is for a college course, the title isn't the best! ;-)

This "TEST" however (and this is only a TEST! ;-) concerns Twitter. [See the prior entry.]

While it appears that that test failed to generate a Twitter stream, within a blog entry, I think that's because I was using the earlier Twitter "Badge" feature - They've now renamed it a "Widget" (which it was before, as well! ;-), but also it's been redone, with javascript.

In my Blogger Dashboard (in the "Edit Post" panel, which lists the blog entries), after I've implemented this new Twitter-provided Widget, the entry simply lists some javascript code, beginning with: new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2... yada, yada, yada

I was very-suprised (pleasantly! :-) therefore, that it actually did work, when I published it, in a new entry on the UIS GOP blog. (I visited that blog, and saw that it did load properly; I immediately deleted that entry there, of course, since it's my personal Tweet stream; we've never even implemented the organization's one.)

I then published it (that Twitter "version 2" Profile Widget), into a new entry at my main blog - which has been my goal, as I explained in that last entry here... But as I neglected to explain, I have a long-standing policy of [almost] never visiting my main blog, as I don't want my own visits to up the hit count. (Yes, I know that's somewhat OCD-like, but oh well...) Since it did work, when I visited the UISGOP blog, I hope it's loaded properly, at my main blog as well.

I just realized however, that the UISGOP blog uses post pages, while my main blog still uses anchor permalinks (I actually prefer the latter - and I hope to find a way to implement that [older but better!] feature here; unfortunately, this newer template doesn't even allow that, as an option). The only real reason I switched the UISGOP blog to post pages, is because the permalinks there, from the maystar designs template which I downloaded for it, never worked. (Many Blogger blogs had permalinks that failed, but I'm glad to say that my main blog never had that problem... Well, I won't say never, but that was more an archive-page issue, which was resolved, as soon as Google purchased Blogger, from Pyra Labs.)

I hope that that fact (that my main blog uses anchor permalinks, instead of post pages) doesn't interfere with that newfangled Twitter Widget loading right. [Even if it does, I'm staying with permalinks there, as long as it's allowed!]

You can let me know if that Twitter Widget works at my main blog, by checking it out yourself!

=================================================

This is only a TEST (but a Twitter Test! ;-)

This is a TEST. This is the TEST, to see if it's possible to embed a Twitter stream (as is easy to do, on a web page, or blog sidebar) into an actual Blogger blog entry.

(Unfortunately, even if it works here, that's no guarantee it'll work on my main blog - which is what I'm actually most concerned about, since I hardly get to update that weblog anymore, but do get time to Tweet... and though I do have my Twitter stream in the sidebar there, I'd like it as the top entry! That's because my main blog uses a "classic" Blogger template, unlike here - and I am one who does not like change! cc: Chris Arndt ;-)

Still, this is a test. This is a late-night test, within my "Web 2.0" world (which I'm glad you've stumbled upon! :-).

This is only a test.

Twitter Updates

follow me on Twitter

INTERESTING day!

I only have a few minutes to type this (as I have to go back to where I came... :-), but it's been a very-unique day!

I was up quite LATE, last night/this morning, and was afraid that it may turn into another one of those days (like happened this past weekend, and has unfortunately all-too-often been the case) in which I get little or no sleep, and then feel horrid the following day (which used to be no big deal; this is yet another sign that I'm getting old!).

Incidentally, I was up this morning (earlier than I expected), and I wasn't even feeling that bad. I got either 20 minutes, or 1 hour & 20 minutes (will have to check the TNT TV schedule for today, to see which it was; it's a moot point, at this point, though! ;-) of actual sleep, this afternoon!

I then did a little (wish it could've been more, but am still having those eyestrain, etc... problems) work for this course (which I know is quite overdue - See the prior entries here!).

I knew things were going to be tight today, because (and this is one reason why I stayed up so late - though, as usually ends up the case, in these situations, it ended up being a lose-lose, as I got no tasks completed [for either school, nor work], and could've been asleep, during that time!) there is the big County Convention today [in all 102 counties throughout our state, and for both major parties].

One point of relief that I found out yesterday afternoon (thanks to our friends Kurt Kojzarek and Joe Aiello, for their prompt and personal responses, to my inquiries!) is that I don't need to worry about voting, since only the elected Precinct Committeemen (from the 2010 primary, a month ago) get to vote.

Nonetheless, I thought it would be best to stop in, at the K.C. North hall (in the Devereux Heights subdivision, which is almost in Sherman!), at around 5 PM, then rush to my class (here, in Brookens Library, where I still am!), and then go back, to the Convention (where things will likely be over). I knew that this was going to be risky though, as this 'juggling' scenario (which occurs often, in my line of work!) can often be quite tricky!!

I wish I'd arrived at the K.C. North hall a little earlier (it was around 5:25 PM or so, by the time I got there - which was still before most, but I could've been there at 5PM, and gotten the things figured out, which needed doing), or perhaps left from there (for here - campus) a little sooner. (It was only about 5 till 6PM, when this class was to start, before I took off from there... I did though - as may be appropriate, for this course's theme! ;-) - Tweet the instructor, as I was taking off. And yes, I did pull over to the side of that northend Springfield road, in order to do so... No Tweeting-while-driving! :-)

Now, class has been over (which happened around 8:30 PM, about when things should be wrapping up, at the County Convention - at least the Sangamon GOP one... (though it should be interesting, for the GOPs in other counties [like Kane], and perhaps, for the Dem side as well).

I still thought it would be best to type this blog entry, before hitting the road again. After all, I've been way behind, in getting this weblog started, this semester (and of all people, one would think I would've been on top of this assignment! :-)... and it would be fitting, coming from the actual site of the course.

(I even took the time to insert some pertinent embedded hyperlinks; though more of that, and some revisions, will likely have to be done, later tonight - or maybe tomorrow, at the rate things have been going! ;-)

I also think I may need a new template; This one seems to be too bland. Well, plainness can be good sometimes, but in this case, the center column (where the entries' content goes) seems too narrow. It could just be these ultra-widescreen Macintosh computers however, that we use in this Brookens lab.

One more thing: I find it frustrating, with all these widgets (or "gadgets," as Blogger calls them now), and "Layout" and new Templates, etc... The thing is, I know that Blogger implemented this, to make things easier, for those without as many technical skills (I remember having to show someone, in Spring 2005, how to edit his Blogger template, so as to added sidebar links). I know that the option still exists, for those of us who want to edit the source code... But with all the fancy stuff now available, it's like I should feel bad, about not using those features; Then again, this is just a personal hang-up, on my end (I've got a lot of those ;-).

Well, off to the Northend!

Blackboard entry follow-up: Course plans

This is the second part of the aforementioned Blackboard thread, for this course.

Insofar as b) and c), for the "Week 2" discussion posting:

Assignment #1 is a no-brainer (insofar as the subject matter, that is :-)!! For the UIS student organization that I used to lead, there are SO MANY events (from all over the country) to which I've led major student delegations; the same is true for the many events in this area, which I've helped host, or participated in.

One thing that has been SO frustrating, for awhile now, is that those photos, videos, recaps, etc... have not really been organized. There are so many services to help with that type of thing now, and Flickr is the one that I'd earlier decide to use; I only ended up getting a few photos uploaded though. This assignment is a great opportunity to FINALLY get this accomplished! (Thank you so much!! ;-)

I haven't yet thought much about Assignments #2 and #3... As for #4, I've started that blog now (see my earlier posts in this thread, and one that I posted last night, at another discussion section here) - As soon as those drafts are published (and this post, and the one above, will be among the entries posted there!), I will post the url.

I also plan to spruce up my blog, perhaps with social bookmarking devices, some "widgets" (as they're now called!) - and definitely, with Adsense! (We could all use any extra a$$istance, during these tough times! ;-) I don't plan to add many fancy design elements to the weblog however (as that is not part of this assignment); I may attempt those later however, if time permits. I also plan to use the aforementioned (see my last post, above) promotion web services, when I post entries, to get them additional readership and web traffic.

I look forward to completing the other Assignments as well.

I am a little nervous however, about the Assignments that involve web services that I'm not familiar with, and especially the ones involving creating more-complex projects, such as the video assignment, and perhaps iWeb (though I hope I find that to be a workable program), and maybe the PGP and etsy.com (though I'm much less-concerned about those latter two).

Assignment #5 could be tricky, but since I have many connections and contacts, it will hopefully go smoothly! (I'm not sure though, which person I should choose, for my online partner - Preferably, someone with a great deal of experience, in this field! I'm also not sure how to implement each of our environments, within the collaborative art piece.)

Overall though, I am excited about these Assignments, and the opportunity to express myself - and also get some great things created and accomplished!

Blackboard entry: My Introduction

This is my first major post (though it was preceded by several late-night notes!) at the Blackboard site for this course. It provides an overview of my background, insofar as it pertains, to this exciting educational experience.

(As mentioned in my Tweets & Facebook Status Updates last night... actually, this morning! ;-)... I finished up my work (and other stuff) in Brookens Library, right before the midnight closing.

I also saved a draft entry at my new blog (and just did so again, for tonight; they will both be published, ASAP). I am SO GLAD to be in a collegiate course, in which blogging (which has become so prominent, in such a short amount of time!!) is a part of the curriculum!!

-------

I am 28-years-old, and a I graduated from Springfield High School (SHS, here in the state capital) in 1999, from Lincoln Land Community College (LLCC, also here!) in 2002, and with a Bachelor's from UIS in 2005.

My B.S. degree is in Political Studies (now called "Political Science" :-), but I have been involved with computers, the information superhighway, social media, and technology, for quite some time now.

It was in high school that I started on web design; SHS was the first school in the Springfield area to (among other "benchmarks") integrate the newest internet-based technology in the educational environment.

In college was where I got really into web design - For effeciencies sake, I used a "WYSIWYG" program, Adobe PageMill 3.0... That has now become so old, that Windows Vista doesn't even support it; I am now taking a class in Adobe Dreamweaver ("Intermediate Web Design") this semester... It's about time I learned that!

It was in my first semester living on the UIS campus (Fall 2002) that I started my first blog. I chose to name it "University Blog" and gave it the url "uis.blogspot.com"! :-)

My blog dealt with some personal topics, but became mostly known for political commentary (especially with the Iraq War looming).

As mentioned a few years ago (when more UIS people were getting into the Blogosphere):
When I started my first blog, I thought I was the only student blogger here at UIS. I later found out, after a cool conversation with this guy, that I wasn't even the first!!

From September, up through the present (though my contract has now ended), I've been working for the Braynard Group, Inc., a political consulting & web design company, based in the Washington, D.C. area. For this position, I did website maintenance and website data analysis (for a couple of our clients), and for others, content promotion; for the latter task, I had to implement the latest "social bookmarking" and social networking ("Web 2.0") services. I had already become proficient in (and known for implementing!!) Facebook and Twitter, and discussion forums, and editing Wikipedia (and of course, the Blogosphere!), and now I had to use Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and the others.

[Next part of Blackboard thread, in following entry.]