So the project I had been working on for the past month or so is finally finished. It's an online id card
submittal form. It's relatively simple in it's interface, but does a little bit of work behind the scenes.
Since our University doesn't have a physical campus, it makes sense that we cannot feasibly take pictures of our students with which to create identification cards. It seems that having the students submit their own pictures must be the only feasible course of action then. This is probably so. However, barring the obvious potential for obscene and explicit pictures, it is not really a good idea, in my opinion. After seeing the first couple dozen or so pictures enter the database, I feel quite validated in my opinion. The pictures the student's have been submitting are most often of dubious quality and content. There are frequently other people in the background of the picture, date stamps emblazoned across the pictures, as well as fuzziness, lack of lighting, and red eye. *sigh* What can you do, though? Hopefully the company that is making the cards has some
Photoshop licenses...
Now I know what you're all thinking: Why does an online university need picture identification cards? Why, because we make our students take proctored exams of course! Yeah, I know, a little weird, huh? Kinda takes away from the whole 'online' aspect, doesn't it? I suppose that's part of what makes this university unique.
Yeesh, it's been almost a month! Hopefully I haven't lost all my readers...
Last weekend Thea and I went to visit Teppei. He's living in Las Vegas currently and, as such, was only six hours away. So, it was a little far to drive BUT, being from Michigan as we are, the drive was absolutely gorgeous. There were always mountains visible, sometimes we drove through the mountains, and it was our fist time to ever see a desert, too! For the small bit our journey took us through Arizona (SLC to Vegas is a straight shot down I-15), the highway followed a river that had carved it's way through the mountains. That was a wonderfully winding way, let me tell you. Check out this shot (I swear the road wasn't THAT steep...)
Vegas was nice, too! We went to the top of the Stratosphere Casino and took some pictures.
There are rides on top of the observation deck we were on, but we chose not to ride them (it was a bit too chilly for that). Perhaps someday, though - they had a roller coaster (sorta) that dangles off the top, a spinning octopus-type ride that angles 70 degrees off the top, and a poser tower type ride sticking out the very top. Very neat.
Oh! I almost forgot! We ran into Patrick Stewart!! Yeah, and he wanted me to give him a kiss. He's kinda weird like that but, being the obliging fan of his I am, I decided to indulge him.
Thea happened upon George Burns, too! My has he ever aged gracefully...
Happy February! Yeah.
Well, I wonder if anything looks new, blogger's out of beta now (has been for awhile) and they made me switch over today. So, if stuff sucks then I'm sorry. If, however, stuff is grand now, well, then, I'm sure that's because of something I did and, therefore, you're welcome. ;p
Did you guys notice I got my first blog comment
spam? Pretty cool, huh? Now you can come to my blog to get the hookup on cialis. What can I say, I aim to please. Seriously though, if I get more then I may have to implement some spam protection. It won't be too painful though, so don't you fret none, ya hear?
Yesterday Thea and I celebrated our eight year anniversary. After July we'll have to start our anniversarys over at zero. Humph! Anyway, we went to the
Bayou restaurant for some cajun food and jazz. Very nice. Very. We had some of their
Alligator Cheesecake - cheesecake with alligator sausage in it. It was savory, not sweet. It was good, though a little spicy thanks to the roasted red pepper coulis.
As a special treat, and because Thea really wanted me to (so she could show some people), I have taken some pictures of the inversion that "occassionally" occurs (read: occurs all winter long) here in lovely SLC. It is a condition in which hot air above the valley creates a sort of forcefield that traps the cold air and, much worse, the pollution below it. Inversions can theorhetically happen anywhere, but are much worse in valleys ('cause the mountains help form walls for the heat forcefield). This trapped pollution (namely particulate matter here in SLC or, in other words, tiny particles of burned wood) creates a sort of orange (if seen from high enough, white otherwise) haze that blocks out the normally omnipresent mountains. So we're left hoping for some strong winds or a nice snow storm to blow that wacky hot air outta here. It's crazy - check it out!
Oh yeah, these pictures were taken from my office. Not a bad view (of the inversion in this case), eh? You should see it when the mountains are actually there. lol
