Chugging Along...

Well, I have (almost) finished encoding two issues of the newsletter, and I am finding that it comes with experience, and it comes easily to me. I have had a few questions regarding coding certain things. , ..but it seems to be maybe I have a knack for this type of stuff (who knows). Although, in my first experience with coding in Information Architecture for the Web class, I really didn't like encoding, since I really didn't like the guy who taught the class. (mainly because he doesn't teach well)..but that is another topic for another day.

But I am really enjoying this internship gig..and hopefully, it will give me a leg up when it comes to applying for jobs.

Tonight, I bought a Wii..mainly only to play the Wii Fit. That should be fun.

Getting Settled...

Well, Duke Basketball lost against Carolina last week (101-87), so that was my fun event of the week..watching the game and cheering on my dear Blue Devils.

I also saw Abigail Washburn (w/ the Sparrow Quartet) play for the final time down in Louisville, KY at the University of Louisville. (which was awesome!!, and they are certainly a professional bunch of musicians..who know how to crack a joke on occason )..I also want to thank Google for providing me with inaccurate directions and getting me to the concert 15 minutes late. :/. (Note...the School of Music is NOT located on the Medical Campus at UL).

Back to Coding and all things XML, ..I have done the tutorials with success for the most part, although I know there are things I that *could* do better, but I don't know *how* to do them. But that is part of the learning process of working with coding and figuring things out the best method to do things in Web Programming. My internship advisor, M.D., revised some Encoding Guidelines for the internship project and said I could also start encoding the newsletter tomorrow afternoon. Whee!! we'll see how it goes(but I am hoping it will go well).

A Week Into the Tutorials...

I definitely know how to tag the ubiquitous "p" tag and its lovely friend, the "q" (quotation) into XML, as I have been doing the last week. Now off to something a bit more challenging (and interesting??) for this week of tutorials with dealing in books, poems, and verse (oh my!). Maybe, start coding the newsletter for the law school?

Warm weather has appeared...and I hope spring is on the horizon.

XML Reading and Getting my Feet Wet...

On the recommendation of a friend who took a digital libraries class last semester, I picked up a book about XML they recommended. While I was at Disney World over the Christmas break (ahh!!!...80 degree weather--compared to the 10 degree weather here, presently), I read bits and pieces of the XML book, so I would have *some* idea what I was getting thrown into during the course of the spring semester of the internship in coding of the IU newsletter.

...Fast Forward to the start of the spring semester, I was given a list of readings as a tutorial about XML by the internship supervisor, M.D., and so far they have actually been helpful in explaining about the theory of XML coding and how to code a document into the XML format.

So I have been reading about XML for the past couple of weeks and I have just started a tutorial where I am coding an article that is similar to the format of the newsletter that I will be XML coding in the near future. So I am getting my feet wet in the actual process of coding...we'll see how it goes. There are some things I need to figure out, but I have a good start, so far.

Another point....I am not a fan of waiting for the A bus for 45 minutes in 10 degree weather...that was cold (BRRR!) and I also left my favourite scarf at home this morning.

Hello, World!

Welcome to my new blog!

For the time being, I am keeping a blog to update my comings and goings of my internship, where I am working in a digital library in Indiana. I may post other things concerning my time in graduate school on this blog..so stay tuned.

Speaking of other things I enjoy besides digital libraries, I enjoy the band "Over the Rhine" www.overtherhine.com, and I have seen them perform at least 15 times. The title of this blog is taken from their CD "Drunkard's Prayer", and in particular the song "Born".

Here are the lyrics to "Born":

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

Pour me a glass of wine
Talk deep into the night
Who knows what we'll find

Intuition, deja vu
The Holy Ghost haunting you
Whatever you got
I don't mind

Put your elbows on the table
I'll listen long as I am able
There's nowhere I'd rather be

Secret fears, the supernatural
Thank God for this new laughter
Thank God the joke's on me

We've seen the landfill rainbow
We've seen the junkyard of love
Baby it's no place for you and me

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear