digifoo

Site Upgrade Coming

Jessica — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:26:04 +0000

I recently did a career switch and now spend most of my time writing in Java instead of HTML or ColdFusion. I’ve started my Master’s degree so even freelancing web development and design has lessened due to time constraints.

There is much to share about Java and all the other things in my life, so I’m considering changing the direction of this site. I’m thinking of changing it to be more a reflection of what’s really in my notebook. I can make different RSS files for the different categories so that those interested in design can just look at that and those just interested in programming can just look at that. Should be good. And maybe then this place will get updated more often.

While I’m planning for this upgrade, please check out an organization I just joined. If you have been looking for a way to work on leadership skills, socializing skills and saving the world skills, please check out Jaycees.

* The logo was generated by a Web 2.0 generator cause I’m feeling ~~lazy~~ efficient.

PNG - What Color Consistency?

Jessica — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:18:58 +0000

Speaking to you about the importance of testing is like preaching to the choir. What browsers do you test on? If you develop on a PC, do you also check on the Mac? I basically ignore IE on Mac because that has the most quirks and the fewest users according to various logs I check. Safari on Mac, however, I rarely have problems with. If it works in Firefox, it usually renders the same in Safari. Surprise. Originally I had images on my site saved as PNG because it was a smaller file size with higher quality. I didn’t do transparencies with it since IE 6 has issues with that. But it seems PNG renders a little differently, color-wise, on Safari than the other browsers. What a “Gotcha.” I had to convert the graphics to .gif and now there should be no odd color differences between page edge and page background. And this is not a new problem:

In older versions of Opera and in pre-Tiger Safari, PNG colors don’t match CSS colors when there is no color space information stored in the PNG files. Also some old Mac versions of Mozilla and Netscape 6 applied a gamma change to unlabeled PNGs. - The Sad Story of PNG Gamma “Correction”

Lesson learned: When color consistency is necessary, beware the PNG.

Top 10 Life Updates

Jessica — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:27:13 +0000

What is it that they say about mechanics’ cars? Well, I spend most of my free time working on other people’s projects and not my own neglected space on the web. Last post in July? Wow… so much has changed.

Updates, in no particular order:

We have a teenager! And she’s been successfully integrated into the web world. Another recruit. Muhahaha.
Cooking lots. I missed cooking. I have zero time but have been finding it anyway to make up menus. Partly spurred on by the above update.
I’m brushing up my Java skills and eyeballing a Master’s degree in CS. I just need to finish the Java class and pick a place to apply. Satellite campus of Virginia Tech? ODU? William & Mary? Something I can do without quitting my job and moving. No University of Phoenix please. Thanks.
Wordpress as CMS finally accomplished. More on this later. Of course, another version of Wordpress is coming out….
This semester, I am also taking Desktop Publishing Part Dos. InDesign is a sexy application. We’re working on our first project now and I’ll post a brief walk-through after class critique.
Still doing freelance here and there. Even updated my gallery a bit with some web and design projects.
Not been playing as much WoW even though there’s an expansion. See the above for reasons why. Yes, even though the druid fly form is more tempting than a cup of cocoa on a cold day.
Williamsburg Adobe User Group (previously known as Williamsburg Macromedia User Group) is gearing up for activity again. I’m taking over the book review program since I’m such a bibliophile.
I started making a Flash cartoon for last semester’s videography class. That was fun. That was hard. I was learning animation as I went so the later animation is better than the beginning. With enough bribery, I might post it including my “ZOMG! If only I had known that in the beginning….” thoughts.
Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away recently. Fortunately, I have my hands on some of her photographs. I want to scan in a bunch of them and print out copies for the family. By the way, if you know or have children in the Hampton Roads area that have lost a loved one, I highly suggest Kidz-n-Grief.

The Girl’s Guide to Being a Boss

Jessica — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 02:49:18 +0000

Picked this up at the library recently: The Girl’s Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being a Bitch) by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio.

I like the real-world feel of it. The stories range from short little “oops” ones to interview style. The points are all full of good humor and life lessons.

For example, in the chapter “Playing Goddess,” the authors talk about reviewing. How useful are reviews? Really? Is it the only time you get feedback? Is that the only time you hear that you missed too many deadlines? And it’s now in your permanent record and affecting your chance at a raise! Frustrating, right? So, their company, YC Media, has a review process they call Begin, End, Save, Track (BEST). They also do this not just once a year, but twice. One for the money and one for the feedback.

Begin

Three actions. What should the employee do now? Later? What makes the boss type happy? Hopefully this isn’t “fetch me coffee in the morning” but more like “give more web training sessions.”

End

Three actions. What should the employee stop? Stop it or get out type stuff. This is where the employee is given a chance to shape up. Things that would fit here are “coming in after 10:00 a.m. every day” but not “stop eating broccoli at work.”

Save

Three actions. What’s the employee doing right? These things you don’t want to stop. They say, “… we have hopefully been pointing out good work on a weekly if not daily basis.” Yes. But in case the supervisor forgets we like to hear random acts of praise (when we deserve it) this reminds them at least twice a year. Hopefully by doing these things, the employee gets some reward. One might say a save is “performs well under pressure” or “puts up with my crap.” Ok, maybe not the latter.

Track

Quantify what the employee has for “Begin.” For example, if the supervisor wants the employee to give more web tutorials to the general staff in “Begin,” then in “Track” the action might be to give two web tutorials to the staff. That way, the employee can say “done.”

They then go into some mistakes supervisors make when doing evaluations.

I liked this book so much that I added their other book to my “to read” list: The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business.

Occupational Stress and your lightbulb

Jessica — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:15:45 +0000

I’m taking a Stress Management class through the college. I figured if I need a class then that’s the one. The interesting thing is that I’m having problems coming up with stuff for the stress journals. Life is good right now. Every so often there is an “OH GOSH!” moment but I’ve learned, overall, how to deal with them.

The latest lesson was on Occupational Stress. Ah, lovely beast how we love thee!

Role Problems as a Cause for Occupational Stress

Role Overload: Job demands are so great that the worker feels in inability to cope
Role Insufficiency: Workers lack the training to do it
Role Ambiguity: Aspects of the job and workplace are unclear. Workers should know the criteria for career advancement and what is expected of them
Role Conflict: Two supervisors each expect something different. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

My Lightbulb is Getting Dim! (How burnout develops)

Stage one (the honeymoon): Worker is satisfied and remains enthusiastic. As this stage continues, the tasks become unenjoyable and the worker loses energy.
Stage two (fuel shortage): Fatigue sets in. Difficulty sleeping is a symptom.
Stage three (chronic symptoms): Overwork leads to physical effects that include constant exhaustion and susceptibility to disease and psychological effects that include acute anger and feelings of depression.
Stage four (crisis): Actual illness can develop that results in the worker not being able to attend the job.
Stage five (hitting the wall): Severe enough to cause illness that is life threatening. Worker now has so many problems at work that his or her career is actually threatened.

They have a nice quiz in there about how to tell if you have brownout/burnout. But what’s most important is the list of what to do about it! I love when they not only show you how to recognize the symptoms but to help deal with it. Gives me a warm fuzzy.

Get a New Lightbulb!

“What do I work for?” - Make a list of what your motivations are. Money? The people? The time away from the house?
“I really want to do that.” - What activities do you like? What do you like most? Least? When was the last time you did that?
“Create a support group.” - Gather the masses. Vent. Bond. Bring cookies.
“Start a physical self-care program.” Get thee to a gym! Fuel your body with the good stuff. They list “elimination of destructive habits such as smoking.” I like that. “destructive habits.” We have many of those, don’t we?
“Do something silly every day.” - Guess it’s time to be the clown at the party! Or at least come out of one’s shell enough to open oneself up to making a fool of oneself. Oh noes!

Need More Input!

Job Stress Network: The purpose of this site is to bring together, for public dissemination, information about and related to Job Strain and Work Stress.
OSH: Work Stress: What’s work stress with examples and how to deal with it.