Hey all,

Long time no type. First of all, how is everyone? I hope that everyone is having a fun holiday. I know I am. I am currently in Newcastle visiting a long-standing friend. Until Saturday 14th June I had not seen him for going on 4 years. So you could imagine my surprise when I see him all grown up. He definitely isn't the little scrawny kid that I used to pick on constantly when I was younger.

\He's taller than me now damn it!!///

Ah well, genetics can not be helped. I bet I could still kick his ass (or not). He's currently studying Tae Kwon Do so I have no doubt that if he wanted to he could easily destroy me. I don't like admitting that but it's the truth.

-sigh-

I hate being beaten. But I suppose I must give over my crown at times. No fun at all for me. Anyways moving on. When I got here I was extremely surprised to see him waiting for me. I expected him to be the same height as me however he has almost an inch or two on me. Damn I hate being short!!!! Ah well.

Now I bet you are wondering why the condom face has shown up again. I can tell you why right now! See, you all know about the many, many condoms that my friend and I 'acquired'. I decided that I needed to give Tony a look at them. He was both surprised and amused, and has now taken to showing all of his friends the big bag of condoms. Mind you alot of them have tried to confiscate my condoms, but I won't let them! I will need them at some point...maybe...sorta...kinda not really. CRY

We haven't really done all that much since I have been here but I am really enjoying not having to do anything. It has been really good to be able to just sit back and relax. Although I have gone to see relatives since I have been here so that has been good. I went to dinner with my Auntie Olga and it was so good. Some kind of Asian dish, it was really nice with plenty of flavor. NUMNUMNUM!

Anyways I should probably sign off for now, I should be doing something but I can't quite remember what it is. Sigh! Oh well. I will write more later, have fun everyone!

<3

Tracey Hunter

Year Rep

CSU Anime Club

Finale Post

What can I say that I have learnt about?

I have learnt so much in the last semester it is unbelievable! I have learnt how to use Del.icio.us, and I was able to become reacquainted with HTML. I was able to play around with Blogging again, and I learnt a lot about XML. This semester I was very enthused with MPI104. It was one of my favorite classes because it explored things that I already knew about, however it went it a lot of depth. Now I know a lot about different aspects of the internet and HOW THEY WORK. I didn’t know any of this before, and I feel that I have taken away something from this class. I would have to say that playing around with Templates in Blogger would have to have been my favorite part of this class, just because of the simple fact that there were so many different options.

For a long time I played around with the classic template creator for Blogger so that I could create different looking websites, however I finally settled on the template I have now which was created using XML/XHTML. What I would have liked to have known more about was RSS, but that is one of the few things that just goes straight over the top of my head no matter how much people try to explain it to me. I suppose it is because I don’t really have a use for RSS feeds in what I do. However, I am sure that they are a handy thing to have or other people.

I learnt a lot about CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and Web 2.0, both of these I found very interesting and I wanted to find out so much more about them. I have found myself looking for more information about the different aspects that Damien addresses during class. I think that is the biggest thing that I have learnt from this class, that thirsting for knowledge is one of the most important keys in learning. I would like to thank Damien for all of his support this semester, and being able to put up with my group without swearing. Well done!!

I hope to have him again for one of my classes, and no I’m not trying to be a teacher’s pet. I actually do enjoy MPI104.

Again, Thank You.

WTF?! COUNTERS AND RSS?!

What Are Counters??

Counters are these little HTML links that people put on their websites so that they are able to tell how many people have accessed their web page by looking at the number. Pretty simple, right? Counters are used so that the owner of the site is able to determine whether or not his/her website is increasing in popularity or not. It is a good way to be able to gauge the viewers interest in a page without actually needing feedback. What are some other Web Analytics Tools?

• Clicky is a clean, all-encompassing analytics package. The service is tailored for small websites and blogs. It's easy to implement and contains advanced features such as real-time visitor tracking and in-depth content analysis.
• Enquisite is focused specifically on incoming search engine and PPC traffic. It provides in-depth statistics including page position, landing pages, and specific geographic data.
• CrazyEgg provides the ability to track, evaluate, and optimize your site based on where your visitors click. Heatmaps and overlays quickly provide perspective into user behavior and habits.

What is RSS???

"RSS is a way of delivering and retrieving information from web sites which is structured in specialized XML formats without HTML or other markup."

Basically what this means is that RSS is a way to gather information from a website without using HTML or other markup languages. Pretty much just a copy and paste job. RSS Feeds are feeds which are constantly updated, such as a blog or a news website. Having an RSS feed available means that you are kept regularly up to date on that feed with a simple click of a button. I have never really used RSS feeds before so I am still a little inexperienced in this field. Bah! I will get better I am sure. "RSS is a file format that allows anyone with a website — from large media companies to individual commentators — to easily "syndicate" their content, similar to how comic strips and popular columns are syndicated by their owners to hundreds of newspapers. Except that on the Web, the RSS syndication is usually free, and the content that is syndicated is often not the full entry, but excerpts and links back to the originating website. Technorati uses RSS to track updates to millions of blogs."-Technorati

Techno-Smarti

Technorati

What is Technorati exactly you ask? From what I can understand Technorati is a website that archives web blogs and enables users to view these blogs as well as favorite them and create comments. It is very much so like and extension of Blogger. I have been a member of Technorati for a while now but I have never really used it before. However, it reminds me alot of flickr in the sense that it allows other members to be able to have a look at your blog/s. I think this is a good idea because it is another way to be able to explore other peoples readily available likes and dislikes, etc. This is what Technorati has to say about itself: Technorati is the leading monitor of the world of weblogs. Technorati is a real-time search engine that is the largest source of fresh information about the global and local conversations going on all across the Web. Technorati allows you to find out what people are saying about you, your company, your products, your competitors, your politics and, other areas of interest, on the Internet in real time. The Technorati Authority number refers to your progress up or down the search engine ladder. It reflects on the amount of people that are linked to your blog. The more people there are the better your authority, and also the smaller the number of your rank gets.