New skills

Yesterday I cooked Indian food (chicken and rice) and invited my friends from India, Sunita and Siva. Siva, who graduated from SIUE in May from Computer Science helped me fix my official SIUE web page ( I am still working on it) using Dreamweaver.
At UA I used the FrontPage, uploading all my files using the Secure Shell. At that time it was so easy and I really enjoyed learning how to fix my course web page. Then I moved to SIUE where I could not use directly Front Page but I need to transfer it all using FTP
Siva and Sunita were explaining me the real basics, and since they did not have too much time Siva just started the mainframe of template for my web page. Then showed me how to use the link feature between the pages. Sunita learned the basics about Dreamweaver from Siva but then she became better than her master since she was the webmaster for the College of Engineering. Very smart young lady :-)

After they left I told myself is better to try just a page to make sure I got all correctly and not forget till in the morning what Siva showed me.

It's interesting that all of us when we become masters in a domain we forget how really hard was to learn that stuff, and when we teach others we kind of skip some real basic steps, that seem to us (the experts) self explanatory, but for the novice they are essential steps to know.
Also those of us who learn a skill that becomes "old" once we use it, we have a hard time in learning new stuff when the old interferes with the new (this is called proactive interference).

So, I first messed up all that Siva worked, just because I really forgot in like 30 minutes after they left. Then since I really wanted to KNOW it I Googled it and learned and tried it out till I messed up all of it and started it all from scratch!
At 2:30AM I just gave up. But continued in the morning till... Hooray! I got it, I know the basics, and I am now able to fix my official SIUE site.

Sunita was just smiling, remembering how frustrated she was in the beginning, but technology, like any drug :-) gets one hooked.
I am glad I learned another cool skill!

Cool tech

This weekend a friend on mine from U of A, helped me fix a computer problem. The coolest thing was that Michael is in Tucson, AZ, and I am here in Edwardsville, IL... and we worked on the same computer. LogMeIn helped us in our work.


Till the computer was doing some clean up we could chat using Word Pad, at times we were fighting for power, wanting to write in the same time and the computer was being confused :-)
But just chatting online, writing only seemed to not be enough, since I wanted to see his little dog Dalai, and we switched to Breeze. I could see and hear them . Unfortunately I still have my little camera on the bookshelf behind my computer and not installed. I did regret that it was not functioning since if it would have been we could have the girls "talk" to each other, especially that Dalai is baby sitting a hamster. Taylor would kill the little thing, but Dalai being a Tibetan not a "killer dog" she is pretty good.
I'll have the camera ready on next time and we can have a live chat-bark :-)

It is so cool! Technology is the best invention ever. I wish I could be alive in another 200 years to see what is new and how people communicate.
But I'll just have to imagine that.

To smile or cry?

I don't know what to do when Taylor diggs for the moles in our backyard... I spend money on seeding, treating, and watering the spare grass. Now it gets nicer since I seeded 5 times in the last year! But moles go around and Taylor knows is something in there. So, she starts digging... And she makes bigger dammage than the mole itself. But Taylor knows this is her job, to get the underground quarry :-)

She gets so excicted, she diggs and chewes on grass, and makes the hole with feet and mouth, and teeth. She is ferocious in getting that somebody down there.
Should I be mad, or cry that she ruins my work, and money?... Better I acknowledge her breeed features and am happy for her, and just laugh and take pictures :-)

My friend Michael wrote a haiku on his little pup on his blog :

black dog dirt digging
thunder in the distant clouds
she looks up just once

Just a short "translation" to our neck of the woods :-)

White dog dirt digging
No rain in the distant clouds
She keeps digging in the grass

Missouri Earth Dogs JRTCA trial

Saturday and Sunday Taylor had lots of fun. She found the rat in the go-to-ground, run after the lure, she did not found the rat in the barn but remembered the go-to-ground place and run from the barn back to the tunnel. She is smart :-) She loved chasing the squirrels tail and jumping over the hurdles.
She did a pretty good job staying in her x-pen the entire time I volunteered at the conformation show.
It was really hot and humid... Two days after that Taylor did nothing else but sleep. I thought she is sick or something. She was just so tired of all that excitement.

I love seeing her so happy. She recognizes already the place and of course knows her cousins' barking and she gets very excited.
They had this Fun place with a Lure Challenge really neat built, like an agility course with a lure going through the obstacles and the dog needs to chase it. Taylor loved that the most!

I hope another fun day will be soon and I will be able to take her to enjoy the crowd again.

My "fun" this week were the 30x3 paper assignments to grade by tomorrow.
I just finished grading and posting the grades on Blackboard. Tomorrow is the last day of this section. Monday I move to 1PM section. It's pretty intense and I don't have too much time for my projects, which I really hate!
I can't wait to see how the results from my two projects look like. I will see them soon since my deadline for submissions is July 1st... I predict more white nights :-)