Peter Wooley’s Blog

Well, I am still in between classes, but my homework is complete! I just turned in my last paper for the week and I am feeling quite good. All I have to do now is wait for my next class to finish and its off I go from the Pearl District – until next Monday, of course.I wasn’t up as late last night and am feeling quite excited to do some interesting projects tonight. I need to finish up peterschristmastlist.com and start making it ready for multiple users. For anyone that is interest, I will be trying porting the code I’m using for multiple users and will be seeing if I can create a clean, easy-to-use Personal Listing Sytem (on a different domain name, of course). If you are at all interested in this, let me know and I may get it done even faster. I’d also like to work on my own personal site, but that’s an undertaking for more than a weekend, plus I’d really like to see my Fiance (which I will!)!

Microsoft Office users rejoice! PC Magazine is running a story, complete with screenshots, of the new Office 12 Beta 1 release. From the looks of it, Microsoft if finally putting some much-needed effort into PowerPoint as well as the entire Office User Interface.

To start, PowerPoint looks, from the screenshots, to have been rethought. In the article, it is mentioned that the way you duplicate slides has also changed – now it’s easy as copy and paste without the hassles of PowerPoint’s current copy and paste issues. Text effects have also been changed to, I am guessing from the screenshots, actually render smoothly! Also handy will be the ability to save custom layouts (honestly, this should have been implemented in Office XP, if not sooner – in my humble opinion). Now you won’t have to copy and paste out of other files or attempt to duplicate slides to get that exact look you want.

While this is all well and good, and I have not yet tried it out myself, I am still more fond of Apple’s Keynote presentation software. The more I use it, the more I realize how simple and effective it is. Sometimes, simplicity can get in the way, but in the case of presentations, it is exactly what I need. There are some customizable options I could use, and some I may not know about, but if I am in need of simply creating a well-rendered, well-layed out, smooth presentation, it’s Keynote for me. With that being said, I am still happy to say that PowerPoint is looking sharp.

The new layout for Office is looking pretty nice as well. Although, if you take a look at it, you may notice it has a brushed metal sort of feel. You may also notice that a certain other company has been using that for quite a while. While I am not opposed to both sides using it and I am glad that Office is getting its much-deserved facelift (the blue in Office 2003 doesn’t count), it seems to me that Microsoft should consider chasing after some new, innovative styles. But, maybe there aren’t any left!I’ll have more news when I hear more about it. Enjoy!

I didn’t get to bed just as quickly as I suspected I would. I was unexpectedly invited to slay the outdoor raid boss known as Kazzak. He roams in the Tainted Scar of the Blasted Lands.He’s a weenie. With a 35-man raid, we took him down in less than three minutes. That’s fast. Apparently, if he stays alive for longer than three minutes, he blows up or blows you up or something to that effect. So, it’s a good thing he was a weenie. Unfortunately for me, I received none of the loot, except for 3 gold 45 silver. It was still fun, but he definitely is a weenie.

I finished my homework as best I could for my class in the morning. I must say it is not my best work. It is a marketing class and I chose a product to analyze and market by the name of Firefox. While a great and mighty product, the fact that it is open source and free has made it really, really difficult. Any time we discuss price or cost, my mind gets confused, as Firefox is mostly free, save for the download time and install. I just have to get through the class.

This is certainly not me giving up, but if given the chance, I’d take a “pass” if I could just duck out. Not even that. If I could just go and learn without having to do the homework, that’d be great! Alas, life is not so sweet and I must be up in a few hours.

Alas! My PowerBook was just stuck in the arms of a formidable opponent! Rather, it was surrounded by the arms of a girl who quietly stole my Lab Computer. I needed to run down to my car (in the garage below), so I left up a browser as well as my PowerBook on the desk in front of the keyboard. Who would be so unwise as to take that, assuming it was an open computer? I waited for several minutes and quietly sat near the laptop and the thief. It was a grueling 6 minutes past that and it was free! Oh, sweet freedom. Thankfully, the PowerBook is safe and in my custody once again. What an adventure.

I’m sitting in my comfy chair in my comfy fleece in my comfy room. Here it is that I lay down my first permanent post to this so-called blog. I’m not a huge fan of that word, as I am sure you know (or will find out), but I must face the truth – they are here to stay.

Today was a good day. I had the pleasure of spending 7 hours at work, most of which was spent working on an ongoing project I am attempting to wrap up. I had a delightful time doing it. I learned a few things and thought through a lot more. Not to mention, I put some of the finishing touches on the back-end of this site, so I could sit comfortably here and write this out. I have to admit it is nice knowing I have somewhere I can write and give other people the ability to see what’s going on in my head or life.I am currently on the brink of Homework Valley. If I’m lucky, I’ll fall slowly and gently to the bottom, but I have a feeling it will be more of a thud. On that note, I should probably say farewell and get to work. So, Farewell!