Catching Up

I just realized it has been over a month since my last post.  Sorry about that, but things have been really crazy.  With that said, let's catch up.

A terrible thing happened recently, which scared the heck out of me.  I was having some pain in my stomach, so I went to the emergency room.  They knew it was my appendix right away.  I figured it was no big deal since this sort of thing happens all the time.  However, after my surgery, I found out just how lucky I was.  It turns out my appendix was entirely gangrene, and a great deal of poison had been released into my body as a result of this.  I remained in the hospital for five days.  Since my release, I have still been quite ill, but I am getting better.  I wish I could say the same for school.  Since this happened in the middle of the term, I was unable to skip the term and come back strong next term.  I was forced to be removed from one of my classes, and was asked to catch up three weeks' work in the other.  As I am just now getting back to normal, this is not likely.  Therefore, I will have to retake both classes next term.  A small price to pay because I am just glad to be alive.

Some great things have happened as well though.  I was appointed Vice President of the Iota Sigma Tau honor society recently.  Though this is a great deal of work, it is worth it to be able to give back.  The honor society has gone downhill since its inception, but I am working closely with the entire Executive Board in the hopes of making it stronger and better than ever.  I have complete faith that the other board members and I will succeed beyond anybody's expectations.

In addition, I have been able to begin working with the Ambassadors & Leaders Program again.  We are working to create our own online blog at BlogTalk Radio.  I have joined the subcommittee of five members in charge of getting this project off the ground.  We have a great group of committee members that are working well together to make this happen.  I cannot wait to see how this works out.

That is all for now.  I will do my best to ensure another month does not pass before I am able to return.

Have a great day,
David L. Greer, Jr.

NSCS Scholar of the Week

Hello everybody,

I just received an email stating I am the NSCS Scholar of the Week for the week of May 10, 2010.  It is always a great feeling to receive recognition for such hard work.  I am humbled by this distinction, but am very proud at the same time, if that makes any sense. 

Have a great day,
David L. Greer, Jr.

Another Term Complete

Good day everybody,

I have recently completed yet another term at Kaplan.  I took Introduction to Multimedia Using Adobe Flash and Technology Infrastructure.  I am happy to report that I successfully completed both courses, and I have maintained my 4.0 GPA.  I will admit I was a bit concerned about the Technology Infrastructure course.  This is simply because I am a Web Development student, and the course was essentially a course in Networking, but from a business user's perspective.  However, I did rather well in the course, achieving a 95% for the year.  The Flash course was a little less nerve-wracking for me, but there were some points in which I felt my inability to create as an artist held me back.  However, I finished the course with a 98%, so I am very happy with that grade.  I am glad to know that my hard work through this third year has paid off by allowing me to maintain a 4.0.  This is not an easy task, especially with the intensity of the courses this far into my degree plan.

The next term begins on May 12.  I take courses throughout the summer in order to graduate early.  I have always done this, and would not know what to do with a summer off.  The courses I will be taking this next term are Web Programming Development, which deals with learning server-side scripting for Web applications, and Interactive Scripting for Web Pages, which deals with learning JavaScript.  These courses will be especially helpful, as they will allow me to move toward my goal of becoming a Web Developer, rather than just a Web Designer.  I can hardly wait.

Have a great day,
David L. Greer, Jr.

Narrative Update

Good morning everybody,

I finally have a minute, so I figured I would update you on the digital Flash narrative.  This week, I added the third section, added some navigation, and applied appropriate background music to the individual sections.  I am extremely happy with the effect the sound has on the overall effectiveness of the narrative.  However, I am unhappy with the navigation, and will be working to correct this over the next few days.  Initially, I had placed buttons that appear at the end of each section to either move forward or back to the beginning of the narrative.  Now, I am considering using a slightly transparent bar with buttons to move forward one section, back to the beginning of a section, and then back to the beginning.  I am considering creating a motion tween in which the bar slides in from the right with the buttons already attached.  This will occur at the end of each section, and should give the narrative a more professional feel.  Three more weeks and it will be complete.  However, if you would like to see what I have done so far, you may visit http://kaplandgreer.webs.com/bio.html and scroll down to the bottom of the page.  As a side note, once the title screen section comes to an end, there is an invisible button that covers the entire screen to move forward.  This was not my choice, but one of the requirements of an earlier project and the overall final project.  You will notice the arrow turn to the hand when the button becomes available.  Just click anywhere and it will begin the first section.  Feel free to provide feedback!!!

Have a great day,
David L. Greer, Jr.

Working with Flash and ActionScript

Good evening everybody,

I am now in my seventh week of learning Flash.  I must say I am pleasantly surprised with the versatility and power of Flash.  This week, I am learning about using audio and video in Flash.  I knew you could use video with Flash, but I had no idea the tools used for audio and video were so robust.  Up to this point, I worked strictly with animations and creating the digital narrative.  Now I get the chance to add other aspects to my narrative; aspects that serve to significantly increase the effectiveness of any project.

In addition, I have been working a little with ActionScript.  I have come to discover this is an extremely powerful and complex scripting language.  I consider ActionScript with Flash as analogous to an engine with a car.  ActionScript serves to make Flash work even better.  Whether you are using ActionScript to activate a button, or using it to control physics-based animations, the possibilities are endless.  While I am currently focusing on learning the various aspects of Flash, I am scheduled to take both Intermediate and Advanced ActionScript courses toward the end of the year.  This will be after working to learn server-side scripting with VBScript and learning client-side scripting with JavaScript.  This will give me a great foundation for working with ActionScript, as I am told ActionScript is much like JavaScript.  Once I complete these courses, I will be well prepared to work with Flash and ActionScript for extremely complex projects, and with have the scripting knowledge necessary to become a legitimate Web Developer.  This will just add another facet to my career.

Have a great day,
David L. Greer, Jr.

Midterms This Week!!!!

Hello everybody,

I have midterms this week, so I will not be posting a great deal.  This week, I am redesigning the Title Page for my Flash Narrative, lengthening the first section, and creating the second section.  The second section is going to involve quite a few shape tweens, as well as a rather cool concept in my opinion.  I am going to have an image of me (the same image used in section 1 to keep file size to a minimum) with water moving in waves using shape tweens at my feet.  As this section has to deal with the rush of emotions felt when one hears they are disabled, I am going to use formatted text that appears from a shape using shape tweens.  As each word morphs onto the Stage, the water will rise higher.  This is what it feels like at first, so this is what I have decided to do.  Though a relatively simple concept, it has powerful meaning that I feel others will understand.  As always, remember you can see the published version of my narrative up to the point on which I am working by visiting my Website and venturing to the bio page.  http://kaplandgreer.webs.com/bio.html.

Aside from this, I will be writing a paper on the history of graphic file formats and Flash, as well as a paper on the differences between a hub, bridge, switch and router, and the basic functions of a network server.

This is quite a bit of work to complete in a week, so I better get to it.

Take care everybody,
David L. Greer, Jr.

Successful Seminar

Good day everybody.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  I have been working very hard this week on school, Alpha Beta Kappa, and Ambassadors and Leaders.  Last night, ABK was present at a seminar from Betsy Richards concerning ePortfolios.  I feel it was a successful seminar, though I wish more members had made themselves present.  Even so, it was successful, and we will likely be offering another seminar concerning resumes, as there were a great many questions concerning this topic.  Betsy Richards was great, and she seemed very prepared.  I look forward to working with her in the future.

Well, it is back to work,
David L. Greer, Jr.