Set project.status=done

[exatron]

The final presentation for my project was today, and it went well.

I'll have a bit of downtime while the contract for the next phase (refining some of the criteria a bit more, creating a release plan, and building the production version) is negotiated, but my company definitely wants to leverage my knowledge. In the meantime, I'm going to try improving my web development skills a bit more. The prototype I built was hand-coded because I don't trust most of the editors out there to produce standards-compliant code, and I need to work a bit more with dynamically generated code.

This also means I have time to turn to other creative activities since I won't be driving an hour each way for work. Now that I think about it, I may have to move closer to the client if the project is scheduled to last for a while.

Comments

[invisiblewolf.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! Congrats on getting your project done! :-)

-Spiritwolf.

[exatron.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and I hope the work you're doing for your class is going well.

[invisiblewolf.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- actually, I'm not doing quite as well as I thought. Mucho work required over the next seven days or so.

-Spiritwolf.

[exatron.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that. Your problems with MS Word and OO.o probably haven't helped. Hope things get better for you.

[invisiblewolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah...the stresses seem to be accumulating!

Thanks, though.

-Spiritwolf.

[kylet.livejournal.com]

Set.cheer=w00t! Downtime good ;-)

:::Blink::: Moving just for a project? Yikes. o.0

[exatron.livejournal.com]

Downtime very good, and I wish I could give you a piece of it since you need it too.

If it lasts a while, and I think the entire thing could go on for a couple of years, I may have to. I don't think I can take the drive for much longer, especially not with gas prices being what they are. I want to have a little bit of time to do stuff like drawing. Plus, I know it would be better for me to get away from here.

[kylet.livejournal.com]

Heh. We sometimes joke here about "selling" each other vacation time, since the different departments here have somewhat different busy cycles.

A COUPLE years?? The concept of being in a job where you're basically subcontracted out for that length is just crazy to me x.x
But yeah...moving out would be good...

[exatron.livejournal.com]

I need to use my day off more often. The trouble is finding other people to do stuff with. Going places alone just isn't as much fun.

I know it sounds crazy, but my company suggested some major changes to the site that have to be released gradually to avoid scaring the users with too much change.

It would definitely be good. I swear my parents are the worst influences on me. I eat better when they aren't around, I don't feel like I have to hide things, I can get my peace and quiet, and I don't have to wait for them to get out of my way. Plus, it would be easier to have guests. (If, for some reason, you ever visited the area, I'd feel bad if you had to stay in a hotel.)

[nekura-ca.livejournal.com]

Congrats, it's good that they liked your work so much that they want you back.

Having a job that has definite starts and finishes to projects, rather then just continually editing, and maintaining the code must be really nice. Downtime's always good.

I never trust HTML editor programs. When it produces files that are six times as long ones I enter manually. When a single line has three lines of intro font information, and three more lines of trailing font info, it's a bit excessive, I don't want to know how they'd bloat real scripting code.

Creativity time's good, I really need to find more of it myself. Have fun.

Speaking of creativity, I was wondering if you could recommend some good/free imaging software. I've got an idea I want to try animating. I usually make a bunch of .BMP's, and then cram them into a .GIF, but that gets tedious at times. Plus the program I use to make the .GIF's is a demo, so it randomly puts water marks in. Thanks.

[exatron.livejournal.com]

Thanks. They also want me back because I was the only developer for the prototype and it's pointless to reinvent the wheel for a lot of this stuff.

In a way, that's an advantage to being a contractor. I'm scheduled to be on a project for a certain amount of time and then I move on.

That's exactly what I hate about most HTML editors, along with they way a lot of them don't produce valid HTML.

It should be fun once I spend a day or two just letting the stress drain out of me.

I use the GIMP for animating. It requires a bit of extra setup on Windows, but it's pretty nice. I also use Inkscape, a vector graphics program, for making stuff like most of my icons.