I am pleased to report that today I finally made some progress on the piece of text that will one day grow into a big strong dissertation. Woo yay for progress.

Unfortunately, to say I was motivated or inspired would still constitute libel, but five pages is better than nothing, and tomorrow is the day that fear, panic and all those other motivational tools kick in.

I've been having a look at blog upgrading too. All this fascination with web standards has got me thinking about all those little creases I never ironed out of blog mk1.0, and so am playing around with TextPattern. So far so good, but I still should be concentrating on other more important things. More important things like that presentation on Friday, like collecting the Yankee dollar, like French Cricket, like Space Cadets and having a night out... oh hang on...

Well it simply wouldn't be fair to put all this pressure on me then not be able to enjoy the last night out with friends, so the aim is to be finished by tomorrow evening in time for some partying, and damn will I be grateful.

I've been doing web design for over five years now, graphic design for a year more and even dabbled in some software and video stuff two, yet I've been discovering over the past few months that I am barely scratching the surface of certain things I need to truly know - or at least about the really 'geeky'/valuable stuff that makes the web tick. One of the benefits of keeping my finger on the pulse is that it's now easier to predict what comes next; what your clients will expect from you, what the web will require of you and, most importantly, what the web will allow you to do in the future. I'm not talking about holographic 3D projections out of your screen or being able to 'smell' web pages, instead I'm talking about things that would bore the letters out of an encyclopaedia, but ultimately make the web better from the ground up.

I'm not going to go all in-depth-technical but a few phrases like XHTML Strict, Web 2.0, CSS 3.0, are things that I've only really just encountered began to want to understand, and I'm annoyed with myself I wasn't entirely crystal on it all much earlier.

Some of the things that I'm reading and finding really interesting are linked to below. If you are a self-taught webdesigner who has never encountered a really big revelation during the learning process and have a weak heart then looking at this might be a bad idea. It's not that I never knew or had never heard of these technologies, it's just I never really looked or tried to understand them hard enough. Some have appeared in my work, and others are brilliant nuggets of newly discovered information I now forever treasure (or at least are planning on giving a test run on upcoming projects).

Malarkey's Stuff and Nonsense

Mark Boulton's Journal

Andy Budd's Blogography

These aren't the only places I'm checking out, infact it's not even a 10th, these are just the ones I have become most fond of - the whole thing is linked up to mega amounts of resources and I'm still going to be a busy boy for some while yet.

Also today I submitted some photos to a new national student magazine in the hope of some exposure. Until yesterday I had never even heard of the publication, but after a good look through decided it was my type of magazine (especially since Label has been crap so far this year) and since they were looking for contributions I couldn't help but help.

Space Cadets was once again brilliant. Tonight was the first night I felt genuinely sorry for the Cadets - I think if I was on the end of the thing I probably wouldn't take the let down that well. It's unfortunately still funny at this end though.

Occasionally I will come across something on the net that it is a bit surprising. Mostly it's funny things, occasionally it is something that is shocking, and other times it just something seems ethically wrong. What I found today was another 'Rate My' site, and despite the immediate thought of something unsavoury, this probably isn't what you were thinking of. How about RateMyTeachers.co.uk?

The thing about rating your mates on HotOrNot (still in there at 7.6) is that it's a joke and generally no harm intended, however I doubt the benefits of anyone just rocking up to a site like RateMyTeachers, (where the information is open the the public without signing up for an account) and they can view and add to a rated dissection of the staff for any given school in the UK. Surely this is just a chance for widescale victimisation of teachers; basically just a kid's popularity contest exposed for anyone to see? It's not even internal. There are teachers in schools who can't even use the internet who won't even know this is going on. Whoever thought that this would be a useful tool for 'Students and Parents', or provide 'Essential, Honest Critique' is clearly disillusional. Do we really need the very people who educate us being rated in league tables (especially ones where they have no say in whether they appear or not, or have any right of appeal or personal protection) for the world to see? Some of the most unpopular teachers give some the best education, 'popularity' is not the coefficient of 'getting the point across' - unrepresentative figures mislead, and this rubbish will lead to people forming stupid and baseless opinions - encouraging prejudice.

Of course no sane school would ever employ based on information like this, but a couple of net-using, bandwagon-hopping parents could easily kick up a fuss with the school that little Billy is being taught by Mr X who 'isn't very popular' according to the other voters (who are probably mostly kids - not the suggested parental aspect) and therefore deserves to be struck off, or at least demand little Billy be moved out of his class for fear of failure.

I'm not saying that monitoring teachers isn't a good idea, I'm just saying that allowing a load of 13 year old kids mark their own teachers with little smiley/not so smiley faces and display it for the world to see is a little irresponsible. It's probably even more irresponsible to 'Wall of Shame' the schools that have 'blocked' the site, then linked to a site explaining how to beat the filtering system because it's an infringement of your human rights! For f**ks sake.

[ - Rant Over - ]

Apart from brewing up with annoyance over the way certain sites speak before they think, today has been spent scouring the useful part of the interweb for dissertation related items. I've written a little bit, but it's no War and Peace yet, and with only four days left, I've got some pengrinding to do.

My client based work is really starting to make me itch. With all the uninspiring coursework going on at the moment my soul yearns for something I might enjoy doing e.g. some site or logo design. Roll on Christmas. Even if I do have enough time to do the client stuff over the yule break, I have to consider what is on the other side of it; the exams. Today was the day the timetable got it's first look at the sunlight and I discovered that although well spaced apart by a week, one falls the day after a major handin, which isn't the best news I've heard all year. It just means I've got to be Mr. Organised and get on with stuff early, which will be no problem (provided I can teach myself self-motivation for modules that get less thrilling by the minute as my interest in other things increases inversely).

Space Cadets was once again good fun. I'm so pleased they have got this far. Let's see some more.

Swan also told me to mention that he has won fifteen quid. Lucky Swan.

A lazy morning meant I wasn't up and about until about lunchtime, and despite making plans to do some serious graft during the afternoon, very little came of my good intentions.

I'm not too sure what I got up to after that. I know I answered a phone call from Richbrown regarding his fancy dress costume for a Vegas themed office party, and in usual Brown form, he had not opted for the obvious Elvis impersonation or showgirl thing, but instead will be attempting to illuminate himself as a wedding chapel. I also watched another episode of OC and made a refusal on a big client brief (which annoys me, but I simply have too much else to do; that is, when I get around to doing it).

Yesterday Nick and Scott came over to talk through a few things. Partially we needed to sort out some money, partially a consignment of printed shirts and partially getting me thinking about going onto contract (my phone), which I still can't fathom why I haven't do before. I also received an invite to Scott's birthday meal at Mr. Chan's (Sunday Buffet). The meal was tonight and I made the most of the ever flowing food. People present included Nadine (who I've not seen in ages) and one or two other familiar faces who I'd not been introduced to before.

An hour or so before I was due at the restaurant I got a text from Tim Emmott, who had just come up for the weekend (he's on a placement) and he invited me for a drink at JC's. So a crafty pint before the meal allowed us to catch up and discuss all things creative.

Once back home after all the socialising, I sat down for some more Space Cadets to the unfortunate clash of housemates in the rooms above - Girl issues; I'm not even going there.

I bloody hate coursework, including interim submissions. Especially interim submissions.

One week on from the last night I managed to get out of the house for a night of fun, I made my way over to Paul and Sam's flat for her 21st birthday celebrations. I arrived spot on time at quarter to six to find that the only other person about was Sam's sister. There was quite a lot of snacking and champagne drinking for an hour or so until the other guests arrived and at this point we made our way over to the Custard Bar for a meal.

Apart from the people already mentioned, others present included three of Sam's girlfriends, her best friend from EHS, James (who is Paul's best friend from halls), Anthony (another friend) and Paul's brother Chris, who was in the same house as me at OSH.

The first mishap of the night involved climbing over the railings at the edge of the flat complex - only 4ft high this shouldn't have posed an issue, except that I was wearing my longcoat and as I jumped the back got pierced onto the steel spike behind me and I dangled there momentarily until I unhooked it. I think I need a new coat - well it's done me well until now.

Culsh was working behind the bar at the restaurant, and despite the premise he was 'working' when I went downstairs to use the toilet I found him leaning on the bar watching matches burn. I did busy up a bit later to be fair, so he wasn't being entirely employed to do nothing. He did also sort me out with a free drink when my food arrived a couple of minutes late, and also a plaster to sort out the ridiculous blister I had developed on the back of my foot from the new shoes. Why does this always happen? The last two pairs of smart shoes are fine in the shop, but then get them anywhere near anything that actually needs walking on and they start to bite.

After a good size turkey dinner and a wide selection of alcohol, we moved onto VisaVersa. It wasn't busy at all really, and we got straight in. There were a number of Vodbulls before we moved on over to the final venue of the night, Rain.

This was my first night at the venue; an ex-bar called Alcazar, the place is like a large hall with a central bar, plenty of jazzy bubbly water panels, laser lighting and a huge disco ball, and all carried out quite tastefully. Entry was extortionate (including the cloak room) but the night only proceeded to get better and better (I had already been having a good evening). There were quite a large number of course people out, both from my year and the year above including Sammi, Robbie (who also was celebrating his 21st), Jim, Si and Alex (both of whom had come up just for the night) and Ross. Nick and Scott also were out, and I bumped into Big Al a couple of times (it was his party - theme; Alice in Wonderland).

Everyone seemed to have a good laugh, and despite a tactical chunder early on (I still cannot work out why I got a extra-extra large sambuca when Sammi and Jen got normal sized) I never actually got totally incapacitated and like a coward switched to water later on in the evening when I realised I'd reached my peak happy level.

Even after the night had ended there was quite a lot of playing in the street until we got back to the house and I made my way back home. The walk did me good (as did the random shower at 3am this morning) and I woke up hangover-free this morning. Brilliant; what more could you ask for.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself today. I know there is work to be done, but it's just the kick start I need to get going. Hmm.

Yesterday finished in a bit of an anticlimax. Although the day had been pretty full of Good Things, I found myself waiting for a meeting that was delayed then never happened, which unfortunately upset the balance of my evening and I failed to get any work done as I couldn't get a long enough run up to get on with it. Annoying.

However, this said, my iPod still appears to be functioning over 24hrs after it's little underwater adventure, I got back my RSA mark, I managed to fit in a meeting, a webspace and domain purchasing session and have a nice round cheque delivered to me.

The RSA mark was slightly disappointing for me, which appears extremely stupid even in my own logic. I scored 66 for a project I launched my heart and soul into in the hope of redeeming at least some of the enthusiasm I used to have for product design (oh so many moons ago). 66 is a 2:1, a high 2:1 if you work out the averages, which isn't bad, and after all, that is what I am aiming for. But better than 66 is 68, or even 70 (the elusive 1st). I have since discovered that other people in my peer group suffered more than me, and I shouldn't really complain; in fact there is only one person from the 3rd year who I know who got a higher mark. This doesn't really console me as the first 4th year who I spoke to (also in my year, but had been on a placement) got a nice fat 82, which you can't shake a stick at.

I think the main reason I can't kick myself over the whole thing is that I actually knew while I was doing the work that my concept generation had been limited; the whole project resting on a single Eureka moment idea, which although inspired, is not jumping through one of those loops the department expect you to jump through. Also my boards were too dark. I knew this after the first printing session - I'd not expected them to be so dark, and despite corrective techniques and using up a quantity of black ink that would rival the size of the Dead Sea, I still ended up having my work mounted on a display board 20cm off the floor on a side wall in a particularly dark cubicle around the back of the presentation stands. That's just pure bad luck.

On other work front I'm getting a bit antzy about MDP1 and dissertation. MDP1; well I'm inspired, just not enough to pick up a pritt-stick and do anything about the three or four reams of paper I've printed out in the past week and a half. All it will take is a bit of annotation and some slapdash highlighter and I'll be done - however there is an emotional barrier (or some bastard object in the way) that I've got to leapfrog in order to actually get on with it. More worryingly, I've got a dissertation first draft to be done; to be done by Friday next week [Gulp]. This is no mean feat, especially when your pen has not had so much even read the definition of dissertation in the dictionary, let alone actually hit the paper with the pointy, inky end. 9000 words, an unsuitable title and not a clue where to start. This is going to be my academic persuasions versus the library doors and last time that happened the library doors won. Overwhelmingly.

One thing that is keeping a smile on my face is that one of my newest clients is being incredibly efficient. I like this. Although I've not had to do much yet allowed myself to do much yet, the webspace is bought, the holding page is up and I've got the whole thing mapped out in my mind, provisionally at least. I've also already been paid for the stuff I've done - all within 24hrs.

Another Good Thing of the past two nights is the brilliant and inspired Space Cadets on Channel 4. Shed the ridiculously long and drawn out exploration of the 'making of', and this is a fantastic opportunity to watch gullible morons do what they do best. I hope this runs it's full length.

If anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about, Space Cadets is what Channel 4 is billing as the "greatest ever televised practical joke". Very basically, they have taken twelve people who auditioned for a mystery show and told them they are going to become the UK's first space tourists. This description misses two vital pieces of information however; firstly these are not normal people, they have been picked for their ability to be influenced and mislead (a.ka. morons) and secondly; they are never going anywhere near space. In fact, they are not going anywhere outside of Ipswitch, despite the premise that they have been flown to a launch site in Russia. The military base is a remote US Air Force station in Suffolk, but by flying their plane in loops over East Anglia for three hours at night, the subjects now truly believe that they are on Russian soil. What a fantastically brilliant idea. Presented by Johnny "The BB was my best gig, but at least this is better than my other recent engagements" Vaughan, it's Big Brother meets Punk'd. If you haven't seen it, you are missing out.

Tomorrow is submission day for my Flash assignment. I'm also going to hand in my Website assignment a week early to ensure I stop tinkering with it when it clearly is finished. More free time means more time to worry about that damn dissertation...

I have to admit this this probably the most stupid thing I have done in a long while. I am still questioning how possibly I could have let an event like this occur, but it happened and so I'm trying to deal with consequences. At this very moment my iPod is happily sunbathing by the radiator to try and clear up those fuzzy eyes it got when I decided to give it unsanitary swimming lessons at about 8.55am this morning.

The concoction of toilet water, bleach and bloo tablet clearly went straight to pod jr.'s head and the screen started to fade quite quickly. I am no microelectronics expert, but my estimation was that this is probably not a Good Thing.

Due to lectures I had to abandon my soppy MP3 player for a couple of hours, but on my return it was still looking decidedly shocked and a bit dopey. I therefore decided the only way to solve this problem would be to void all warranties and open the thing up for some low-tec surgery. Using a hair dryer at 2ft and on the lowest setting I went about trying to evaporate the lake that had appeared inside the casing and after 20 minutes satisfactorily had the thing back up and running. Only problem now is the condensation on the screen which I'm now trying to coax out with a few hours of gentle heating. According to various internet sites (from this search on Google), the microwave is surprisingly not a good solution. Infact I should have tried an internet search before opening the iPod itself, as there are many other muppets not dissimilar from me who found that a WC-friendly pod can be treated without taking off any of it's clothes. I hope this doesn't have any long term social, psychological and certainly economic implications, because I'll be well annoyed if it packs up after the 30-day guarantee expires.

Aside from portable music issues, I had quite a good lecture this morning about lingerie/bras, which strangely is not a particularly regular occurrence, possibly producing some of the best quotes of the week,

"...everybody likes it when it sucks better..."
(Guest lecturer on vacuum cleaners)

Lecturer to Guest Lecturer: "You weren't a bra expert before were you?"
Guest Lecturer: "No, but you can find it all on the internet"

Student "How big are your... err... How do you handle your... err... logistics?"