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Blog

Oct. 9th 2010
Today was my first day of being a Shodor apprentice. This was the day designated for orientation. I learned different signs and symbols in the terminal. I also got reaquainted with Mac computers. I ended up introducing myself at least three times with the same information but in different ways. I set up my email and IM as well. Since I have a Windows computer at home I found out how to get the terminal information so I could work on things at home. I recieved my first project as well which was to introduce myself to my mentor.
Oct. 16 2010
Today we had the opportunity to have a class iChat with Dr. Robert Panoff. He showed us all the different types of websites that Shodor has made as well as their rankings among other websites. Shodor was number one in almost every search engine dealing with math and science help. Once we finished up with him. We did an exercise that had to deal with teamwork that went well at first but then didn't go as well. There were small groups at first then as time went on they were increased. Each person in the group had to grab the hand of someone who wasn't beside them and then the group was to untangle itself without letting go. When we finished that, we broke into groups to work on a project of remaking the apprentice website. I learned that for a team to succeed many compromises have to be made as well as not everyone has the same mindset when it comes to tasks.
Oct. 23rd 2010
Today the class was run by Mr. Ron Broadnax. He taught us about proper business ethics. He taught us in a way that I felt was very creative. He came in very poorly dressed wearing a rope around his neck, dirty sneakers, a cap with a waste industry logo, basketball shorts pulled over top of his shirt, and much more. He also exemplified that you must be on time for events and be focused on the task at hand. I learned about the proper types of conduct that must be used with people. Some things can be appropriate for some that for others is not. This day was very helpful because it didn't just focus on ethics, it focused on teamwork.
Nov. 6th 2010
Today the class was taught by Ms. Patricia Jacobs. She taught us about Agent Sheets. This is a form of modeling. The system used if/then statements to work. We were to find out what the agents were then say what behaviors we wanted it to do. Once I got a hang of it, using Agent Sheets was pretty easy. To create the agents was basically like using the paint application on a Windows computer. The behavior was a little bit harder than creating the agent but was still self-explanatory (at least the commands we had to use). The project that we made with her was about what happened when two particles collided with each other. The second project, which we worked on with a partner, was a reproduction model.
Nov. 13th 2010
Today was another day of being taught by Ms. Patricia Jacobs. We continued to work with Agent Sheets. This time instead of just learning about it and following along, she gave us a challenge to be done with a partner. The challenge was named the Rabbits and Wolves Model. The first phase was just to start from scratch and make the grass grow. I was able to get the agents created but the behavior messed me up some. I had thought that this project was going to be very simple but it turns out that it wasn't. Right when I thought I had everything right, something else turned out being wrong. I ended up making the agents separately when it would have just been much easier to create them as one. Some of the terms on the paper were saying one thing but then the actual program called it a completely different thing. Once I got the terms figured out and matched up, I then had to consider the order in which I attached them. After it all, the grass was able to grow correctly.
Nov. 20th 2010
Today we worked on Vensim. This dealt with a flu model. The whole program was set up using boxes and arrows. There were many more formulas and equtions. The boxes that we used were "Healthy", "Sick", and "Immune". When we broke off into groups, the next box that was added was named "Death". The arrows that connected the boxes were the rates. When all the boxes and arrows were drawn, thats when it was necessary we made a graph of the information. The agent sheeets were much easier to work with since I could see how the agent sheet models run.
Dec. 4th 2010
Today Jeff helped us with Excel modeling. This was the same topic as the "flu" vensim model. In excel, it was much more laid out and many more equations and numbers had to be used.
Dec. 11th 2010
Today Ernie gave us the project choices of a Cops and Robbers with Agent Sheets or Water cycle.
Feb. 5th 2011
Today we worked with Jeff in terminal and learned the parts of a computer stystem. Also he used an onion to represent the layers that deal with the computer and its parts. It took me a while before I could finally memorize them. He also did a competition to prove that Terminal was faster than Finder but it turned out that in one of the competitions Finder was quicker.
Feb. 12th 2011
Today Joel helped us with terminal and python.
Feb. 19th 2011
Today we worked on Terminal with Neal and cryptography with Trey. The cryptography and cyphers weren't as hard as the Terminal work and Python. The cryptography was basically codes to make up instead of using letters to convey a message. To make the codes even more confusing a person can insert null letters which are random letters that just fill in the spaces and cause the hacker to be more confused.
March. 5th 2011
Today we worked on graphics with Heather. The first part of class we used Inkscape. It is almost like Paint for Windows. There are more options to use and it is one of the programs that can be used to make a banner on a website. The other program that we had used was Gimp. We used Inkscape to touch up pictures as well.
March. 12th 2011
Today is a day where we are reviewing HTML and then working more on our personal websites. This will be our second phase of the HTML process.
March. 19th 2011
I was unable to come to Shodor today because I had dance pictures to attend. I heard that the class had worked with Steven this class. I think it may have been graphics but I'm not completely sure. At the dance pictures we had to come in make up lighter than would in the recital but came in our costumes. I had three dances I had to take pictures for and for two of the dances it ended up being back to back. On one of my other dances one person came late, which caused us to have to retake the pictures and hold up the picture taking process for other people. This messed me up as well since the next dance after that was mine too. I had to do a super quick change from one costume to the next one.
April. 2 2011
Today our original teacher was sick so Ernie had to fill in for them. We were scheduled to work on databases, which isn't one of Ernie's strongest points so there were a few mix-ups in the instructions and diagrams. During and a little after lunch Ernie had some complications with his computer which he didn't really understand. He decided to go ahead and let us work on our website some more while he kept working on his own computer. A large majority of the class was missing as well. They probably wont be missing much since we might have to add on another Saturday to the session to make up for today. The databases remind me a lot of Excel since they have rows and columns in the tables. Next time we will be able to learn even more about the databases when Joel gets better.
April. 9 2011
Jennifer taught the class today. She had us work on web development. The main part of today's class was PHP or Hypertext Preprocessor. By the way it sounded I thought it was going to be hard but it was easy in a way. We learned about variables, arrays and looping. There are three types of arrays, numeric, associative, and multidimensional. Numeric is a basic array, associating is more specific like naming, and the multidimensional is when there are many types of a variable.
April. 12 2011
I came into Shodor today around 1:15 since all my classes ended at 12:50. The main thing I came in to work on was this website and updating it in accordance to the spring guidelines and standards. It took a while to actually make my logo once I was able to make it the right size. AT first my logo was huge and took up almost half the page. Once I was able to slim it down so that it could fit, I just changed the logo completely. The next issue I had to tackle was putting a picture up but thanks to Google it wasn't that hard. The worst part was adding on the project. At first it would work but today the link ended up not even taking me anywhere. With some help I finally was able to get everything working.
June. 20 2011
Today was day one of Block one for the appreticeship summer program. There are many diffferent types of projects that need to be done before the week is even over.Since I came to Shodor early for a few weeks a couple of the projects I have already done. What I spent my time on today was working on the project my mentor had given me earlier It consisted of making a new HTML page incorporating in PHP. Also I did some minor editing for the website. Since there are many pages I probably will be doing the same thing tomorrow.
June. 21 2011
Today I was unable to come into work today because I was in Chapel Hill with my mom and would not have been able to get here since we had to be there at 8:45. That means tomorrow I have very many tutorials that must be worked on.
June. 22 2011
Today was day three of Block one for the appreticeship summer program. I worked on more of the tutorials instead of doing the other project I had on Monday. I was able to finish very many of the tutorials I was working on. However, when I was working on the Vensim tutorial, it kept freezing so I was only able to complete part of the whole two part project. Other than that I finished basically all of the tutorials. The tutorials on the w3 schools website I went through when I came to Shodor earlier in the month. There are only like one or two that I haven't gone through or need some type of refresher.
June. 23 2011
Today I worked on finishing up the Beneath Our Feet project (the one that Ms. Patricia asked me to help with). I updated pictures as well as added some more text to the overall website. It has been a good learning experience for me. I have learned more about photoshop, php, and web development. I have also been able to work more with my mentor as well. Tomorrow I will probably work more on finishing up my apprenticeship projects. I only have a couple more to go and I may just try and work on them at home.The final things I have to do are to make one more blog for Friday, do a weekly reflection, and do the last part of the Vensim tutorial. If I finish with the project I am currently working on I will see if the computers on the intern row are better with Vensim than in the apprentice lab.
June. 24 2011
Today I brought my laptop to Shodor so that I would be able to do the Vensim model. It took a very long time when I was on the Shodor computers plus it ended up freezing numerous times. When I first came in I had to bring my laptop to Jim and fill out a sheet saying that my computer was going to be using the Shodor internet. Yesterday Ernie had told me that on a Windows computer Vensim would work faster. Since I didnt want to work on it at home I felt it would just be easier to bring it into Shodor with me. After downloading Vensim onto my laptop I was able to get my old Vensim model transfered over. Since I am writing this post right now I am officially done with everything that has been required for my first week at Shodor during the summer. I started working on the cops and robbers model earlier today. I was able to create all of the people and the background as well as make the robbers rob the bank and the police take the money back and put it in the bank. The people get paid but that is about it I have them get paid after every ten seconds. After working on this some I switched over to more editing. As far as the summer program so far so good.
June. 27 2011
Today I didn't accompish as much as I did last week. I tried to worl on the agentsheets for the cops and robbers project but all I did was the basic things that a person could see. I was unable to get the graph to work. Since there really wasn't much to do with Agentsheets after that I switched over to doing Vensim. At first it started working pretty well. I got all the box variables in there and a few of the auxilary variables. Since it is Vensim it had to freeze only this time it just completely shut down. I hope that I had a majority of my information saved. Now my computer is going very slow so I will see what I can do with my last two hours.
June. 28 2011
Today after many hours I was finally able to do something with my agentsheets model. I was able to keep track of the citizen and the robber money.I hope it will get better soon.
June. 29 2011
Today I focused on creating my newdev website. The logo was a bit troublesome so I may have to work some more on it. Also I have to put all the projects on the portfolio page as well.
June. 30 2011
Today I had to leave early so didn't work on too much. WHen I got home I worked a lot with my Vensim model.
July. 1 2011
Today I actually was able to finish my Vensim model of Cops and Robbers! It has been quite the work to actually do it all. Yesterday I did stuff with Vensim so that helped a lot. Then today I was able to get enough help from Sam that I was able to finish it all.

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