Hideaway Central

Long Time

2009-02-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

I've been really busy lately. They have me working on so many thing that I'm not even sure I can still manage college and work at the same time. Between one thing and another, I loose my focus every ten minutes or so. I guess it doesn't hurt to keep trying. I need a shower... I think I might go home early and take one and play some video games. Its a shame I have a ton of homework due tonight. I guess I should do that first. Too much to think about. Oh well.
JGD

Chaos again

2008-09-10T19:00:00.001-07:00

I have an intense migrane. I want to go to bed. I wish I could put up something useful. But all I got for you is this. I'll post more later. This is just to let you know I'm not dead.
JGD

Calm center

2008-07-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

I hope this isn't similar to a storm, because that would mean the worst is yet to come. I took my medicine again, the kind that keeps your from going insane while people arn't paying attention. I feel a little less angry today, and that is probably why. I have bills I still need to pay, so I'll have to get on top of that. There is so much that I want to do, and need to do that I just don't have time to do. I guess we are going to have to stay up really late from now on. But I'm glad someone is here...I slept though my alarm clock this morning. So maybe its a good thing I'm not all alone.
JGD

Total Letdown

2008-07-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm getting a little sick of people backing out on me after saying they will do something. First my to be roommate says, "Oh, I don't think I want to live off campus this semester. I'll just stay." the day BEFORE I go to sign the lease for the apartment we decided on. So I scramble, and now live in a crappy ass small apartment with a dog, cat, and boyfriend. Very annoying. And now this! I go hunting for a sewing machine to meet a deadline at work because, well, they are just to cheap to have one, besides they have soldering irons out the wazoo but no sewing machine for airframe jackets of any kind. So I find one, its the girlfriend of a guy I had classes with, and also a guy who works in the same building with me. Cool, I know her, she knows me, she knows I take good care of my crap. WRONG! She sends me a message on FACEBOOK to let me know that she wants to back out since she doesn't feel safe letting her poor sewing machine settle into the hands of a seamstress's daughter. So...now I'm royally messed, because I already sent the email out to the rest of my team letting them know that I had found one and would be able to meet our deadline no problem. Now I get to scramble around my boyfriends mothers place all 4th of July weekend when I should be relaxing hutting for a sewing machine just so I have something to work with to put together an airframe jacket. Damn, all I needed was a few stitches down the side and along the bottom. Tada, airframe jacket! People piss me off when they back out. I'm really beginning to get tired of it. I'm about to go psycho on people just to let them know that if they say they are going to do something, they better freakin' KEEP TO IT! No more of this backing out last minute nonsense. It really pisses me off...and I'm gonna let people know about it, so be forewarned. Don't tell me one thing, then come to me last minute and say you won't do it, you will be royally bitched out. I honestly don't care if you think I'm a bitch for it, I just don't feel like putting up with that kind of shit anymore. If you say your gonna do it, do it.

Nature

2008-06-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

Things flow easily through time with the simplicity and serenity of a gentle breeze. However, the road you must travel to follow this flow of time isn't smooth and simple. There are many bumps and pitfalls along the way. I can't tell if I've messed up and fallen down, or if I'm just barely scratched and ready to sprint after the goal at the end of this rocky road. Things are so confusing. "Knowledge is the journey, truth is the destination." That is what we are so determinant to find. The question is this though, will we ever find that truth and how will we know if we reached it?

I just want to bury myself in the clam of nature. Its ever changing, peaceful ways that make my heart stop aching for the problems of the world. My anxiety ridden life seems to wash away with that peace that comes to mind when spending a moment in Nature.

Anxiety

2008-06-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

There are alot of things wrong with me. A lot of them have to do with my poor health. Beyond having miserable cartilage on the left side of my body, I have RLS due to lack of physical exercise after years of Basketball, Volleyball, and Cross Country. I have also developed allergies to something up here in Morehead. On top of all of this, I'm dyslexic, so if I type things backwards and don't catch it, I'm sorry. But included in this I have a high anxiety disorder that causes moments of random depression. Currently I'm in that slump.

With this new job, has come a lot of pressure. And through that pressure and interaction with other people, I've become very anxious seeing as I'm currently the only female, and the youngest in our team. I don't really have the experience that everyone else has so I'm having to pick up everything from the beginning, and am thus being criticized for not knowing what it is that I need to do. Its very frustrating. I don't feel comfortable around everyone. Sometimes I wish I could just go hide in a corner and cry my eyes out for hours at a time. Its makes it nearly impossible to associate with anyone. I just don't feel like I belong in the technical aspect of it all. Well, I must get back to work. Till another time. JGD

KYSat Advanced

2008-06-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

Well, now that I'm out of training and have a chance to type more, I'll say a bit more about what KYSat is all about. We are building KY's first satellite. As a team of 10-12 college graduate and undergraduate students ranging in areas from physics to computer science, we collaborate across the state of KY to put together and monitor CubeSats. They are 10cm x 10cm x 10cm cubes that function as working satellites. However, we have to design and develop all the processes and functions as well as come up with all the orbit information and, well, we keep the darn thing running. We are currently proposing to launch our KYSat-1 with an OCO mission with NASA. We just did the proposal the other day and are awaiting the final selection process. The satellite should be launched early 09. ANYWAY- I made the team as of last week, and have been rushed into all this information head long. I'm not specifically certain of what my job will be, I just know that it will be rather difficult to understand everything right away. I'm really excited.

On another note, my poor boyfriend has been attacked by my cat during his sleeping the other night. I'm currently out of town, and he is staying at the apartment. I'm afraid that he will have that problem constantly. Unfortunately, my cat is also eating my plants *grrrr* so we may have to come up with another way to keeping her away from them and discouraging her from eating them. Any suggestions are welcome. I also need to get her some cat grass, which might help her in her quest for vegetation to chew on. Anyway, I'm off to see what other kind of trouble I can get into. Until another time.
JGD

KYSat

2008-06-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm working on my base training for working with KYSat/ KYSpace. Hopefully though this program I can be jumpstarted into working with bigger and better things, but working with this project will be great. I'll go into more detail later when I have more time. But for now, I'm excited, and you should be too.

UPDATE 2008

2008-05-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is coming way late in the year, but I guess its appropriate.

Two days ago, I turned 20 years old. I'm moving out of my mother's house and into my own apartment with my boyfriend of almost 2 years. He and I are happy together and are looking forward to the years we have left as college students. I have a new job with the Morehead State University Space Science Center working on the KYSat 3 Team. I'll be spending a week at UK's campus then a week at the NASA site in California. That should be an interesting trip. My cat has been moved and will be living in the apartment with my boyfriend while I am away. Hopefully she won't eat him alive. We have alot of stuff to work out and many different things to organize. I'm in the middle of a budgeting nightmare, but am enjoing every minute of it.

Things that have happened since the new year:
My cell phone was stolen while I was at work. Had to buy a new one. Two months later I am told they are canceling my service, so I had to buy a GoPhone with AT&T. Last week, my boyfriend got the same notice. So he's getting a GoPhone,too.
My car broke down over spring break while I was at my dad's in Mississippi. So, I got it back three weeks ago, and so far, its running better than ever. Praise 30MPG!
My computer broke down, but thankfully, my boyfriend had a spare, and now I just got back my old one. Its working, but doesn't seem to like the schools wireless, so it may be a while before I get it hooked up to the internet for all its updates and fun stuff.
I'm working on a satilte program this summer so I will be in and out of the loop off and on, so don't expect to reach me. (Not that anyone realizes that I post stuff here anyway.)

I'm currently working for the math department as a grunt worker. Not the most glamorous job in the world, but it pays the bills. I pick up my cat from the vet tomorrow, and start moving in to the apartment tomorrow afternoon. I hope everything works itself out! Which I'm sure it will, I shouldn't even worry. Till another time.
JGD

Web Design

2007-11-27T11:42:00.001-08:00

I've done web design before, I just wish that I still had some of them to draw from. Its been such a long time since I've worked on web pages, so its going to be entertaining to figure all of this stuff out again. Either way, I can't do ANYTHING till I start to feel better. Being sick doesn't help out at all.
JD

Critique day, Nov 20

2007-11-20T12:03:00.000-08:00

Well, the printer in the computer lab has crapped out on us all. I guess no one is gonna be able to print anything today. And on top of that, I've forgotten how to print and save my artwork. Either way, I got the work done today and am very excited about it!

Critique Day for Flash

2007-11-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

Okay...Serious difficult run ins with flash have caused a serious delay in my progress. With a migraine and two projects due on one day, time was against me and I lacked the abilities to get all my work done. I'm now two days behind in not only my Art class but also my C++ Data Structures and my Honor's class. I apologize for the rant, but I needed to vent it somewhere. I'll get back to working on my projects and quit annoying you all now.
JGD

Extra Time

2007-10-18T14:19:00.001-07:00

With Extra time, I might not panic about this project. Although I've had some serious difficulties with this project as it is. Maybe I'll have something to show come Thursday.

Flash and Realism

2007-10-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

Flash and realism do not go together. I have trouble as it is drawing people. This has made me rethink the music I am using and eventually choose a new song. I hope its just as good as what I envisioned to begin with.

Digital Music Art

2007-10-04T12:23:00.001-07:00

Haha! I like music. Okay, something I'm gonna have fun doing. I spent a little while sketching out what images I'd imagine to be in the song. I think this program is going to be difficult to get under control with all the different functions it can do. It gets frustrating some times when you want to do something but you never figure out how to do it till two days or one day before the project is due.

Critique day, Oct 2

2007-10-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

It was a critique day.

I know, me editing this thing on a regular basis is kinda hard to keep up with. Anyway, I was suprised how critique day turned out. People had alot more comments on my work than I expected. I wasn't really expecting it to turn out as well as it did. I guess thats just me being down on my own work. The more you look at something, the more you are able to pick out its flaws. But oh well, whatever works.

Progress

2007-09-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

We are making progress.

I'm wrapping two extra days into one. So this would include the the entire next week up to critique day.

Pre-critique:
So, this project was a lot of stress, yes? Spending endless hours sketching out different sections and trying to add elements can drive you up the wall. Especially if you have intricate designs you wish to have finished by due day. It wasn't easy, thats for sure.

Shadows

2007-09-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

I learned something interesting the other day about adding depth to Illustrator images. Searching for shadows on your original images may be difficult, but its the best way to add depth to a drawing from a photo. The shadows help you to create what you are looking for by the way of shapes. However, control over the pen/pencil tools with a mouse must be a skill that takes a lot of time to master.

Two in One Day

2007-09-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

We've started on the project for digital drawing that is meant to be a self portrait. However, you are not to worry too much about the realism of the art piece, but thats where I discover issues. I'm so used to drawing on paper with a pencil or pen, and I try my hardest to keep with the realism. This is pushing my boundaries.

Also I am curious about this "shared elements" criteria to the artwork, because I'm not sure how thats suppose to work. I think I understand, but I'm not quite sure... Thats difficult to explain. I guess I'll learn more today after the class today, and maybe I'll be more confident with what I'm doing in Illustrator.

Fear of Failure.

September 11

2007-09-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Late Again

Not much to say besides I don't like self portraits. I hope this convinces me that I like myself a little better.

Thats about it, I can't wait to work with Illustrator. I've never used it before.

Critique 1

2007-09-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is late.

The critique in class was different than the past critiques I've had where as we went around to each station of the person presenting. I was expecting to just pull the image up on the overhead and view it that way. But I guess this worked.

I got a few interesting comments on my artwork, and no one seemed to notice the fact that one image was missing...and I only had 5...not 6.... Oh well, I had created two pieces by that time anyway, so I had worked well enough I guess. It went over well and people seemed to get the same kind of message I was trying to portray. There were also plenty of other interesting subjects in other people's artwork. One in particular had a stop, look, listen theme that was very interesting to look at and follow. There were also many, many more that seemed to be just as entertaining, but at this point, I don't quite remember, nor do I have the patience to sit and think of them all. Anyway, it was a good critique and it went over really well.

Photoshop

2007-09-04T13:55:00.001-07:00

Photoshop is a very entertaining program. I wish I knew more about it. Through all the stretching and editing of just photographs, I kind of wish that I had used some non-photographic pieces in my artwork. I also find it amazing that I was able to do one piece and then turn around with similar photos and create a whole new one. The program is fairly easy to understand, but takes a steady hand and no snap-tos to do. After working on flat stuff for yearbook and just using it to edit and touchup images, using Photoshop seems like an adventure. Not that I would want to sit there every day and use it, but once or twice a week would be nice to improve my skill and get better at using it.

Six Image Story

2007-08-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

This has been an interesting project to work on and I'm glad that I got an early start on it. By taking what little knowledge I had about photoshop and adding it to what I'm learning I'm hoping to create something to a higher quality than what I've done before. I'm hoping to get more photos next Tuesday to add to the collection I already have and to improve the quality of the image that I have. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has come up with for this project.

Empty Seats

2007-08-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Something about empty seats appeals to me. I keep thinking about all the people that have lived in or around them. There is some artistic appeal there, some sort of narrative to attract me to them. The shadows of what has past and the lives that are soon going to take place there. I don't know, maybe I'm weird.

First Week of Class

2007-08-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, learning how to use a Mac computer is probably the most difficult thing to ever learn at this stage in Computer Science. First of, there are so many short cuts you have to learn, and there is no right click button. Second, the way programs come up and disappear on the desktop is kind of creepy. I loose my program so quickly that way. I should probably consider getting a Mac computer or laptop for myself so I can learn the interface system for myself. Who knows, I may like it enough to actually start using Mac's more than IBM/Windows based computers.

How do you write a program for that type of computer? Is it all 0's and 1's still? Or does the language change? I'd love to see the code for the OS on a Mac computer. It would be so cool to look at.

MSU Art 109 Computers

2007-08-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

I am a Computer Science Major with a minor in Visual Art. I look forward to taking this class because I am very interested in learning how to use new computer systems and it has been a very long time since I've worked with a MAC computer.

I'm just a typical college student doing the whole Honors things with classes and clubs just like the next person. I'm not outspoken unless I feel really comfortable with the environment. If I'm comfortable, then I will be excited and probably be hard to shut up. Either way, I try to be as nice a person as possible because offending people really upsets me. Anyway, thats me.