By: Gabriela McCall Delgado
This week was one of downtime. I just relaxed and tried to explore Washington a bit. A few days I slept until noon. Continuing on last week’s food theme, I ate at a really good Chinese place, and it is around in the neighborhood. The sesame chicken was really fresh and their sauce was perfect, not too thick and the fried rice left me wanting more. Washington, DC really has a wealth of riches in the food department, much more diverse than what I am used to on campus. But this is not a food column, so I will leave my culinary views with that.
So everyone is probably wondering what about the museums, the parks, the monuments, who goes to Washington, D.C. and sleeps late and hangs out in a dorm or around the surrounding campus community? Well, I will say I have seen most of the monuments and museums before and I am still learning getting around the city by foot and subway, although I will be visiting some of them soon.
I bet everyone is wondering did she do anything related to the internship or professional? Absolutely, I have AAPD weekly reports to fill out. I can’t write that I watched lots of great movies on the form. I learned the metro route. I tried taking the route at different hours, it is definitely more fun to take the metro at a non-rush hour time. You can actually get a seat. I walked Union Station and Capitol Hill. Not everything on my list got done. I was hoping to find opportunities to network and use those AAPD business cards, but that didn’t happen this week.
The highlight of my week was reconnecting with my mentor, Stacy Cervenka. We had lunch, and she was nice enough to pay for it. She gave me lots of great advice, the do’s and the don’ts sort of stuff that I had never thought of. I appreciate her taking time from her busy schedule to see me. That was my second Washington Week. I am looking forward to starting my internship on Monday.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Work and The Mall
This was my first week of work at the US Access Board and my supervisors are Susan Little and Charles Washington. This week they had me assist in fixing a loop system in their new conference room on the 8th floor. I was looking for a break in the copper wiring under carpet so that we could patch it and get the loop system working properly so that they could continue with the installation of the tables and A/V equipment. Charles has me reading Symantec Backup Exec so that I can learn how to do server backups. I’m getting my own office on Monday, which is exciting for me because I’m use to not having an office at all so this is a big change of pace.
Went to the outlet mall and went exploring outside of D.C with roommate Justin and my friend Emily. The mall was fun but the outskirts of Washington D.C. but I just enjoy driving around because that is my therapy, because I race and work on cars so not being able to race kind of a disappointment but what are you going to do, if anybody knows of any race tracks let me know. The trip was a success but I spent too much money, which sucked, but it was well worth it because I’ve already got some compliment on my new dress shirts.
Went to the outlet mall and went exploring outside of D.C with roommate Justin and my friend Emily. The mall was fun but the outskirts of Washington D.C. but I just enjoy driving around because that is my therapy, because I race and work on cars so not being able to race kind of a disappointment but what are you going to do, if anybody knows of any race tracks let me know. The trip was a success but I spent too much money, which sucked, but it was well worth it because I’ve already got some compliment on my new dress shirts.
Week One - The First Adventure
You might wonder if "Adventure," is my favorite word? I love adventure, It means to take risks and try new exciting things. My first Adventure begins on Sunday, I walked four hours from 12:00pm to 4:00 pm. I walked North from my dorm all the way to the West End. I traveled to Chinatown, then to Downtown. I can only wish if there's anyone who would enjoy walking with me for four more hours.
I started work on Tuesday, I was introduced to several people at work. My Boss, my Secretary, and my coworkers. All I can say that I am very lucky to have a good work environment with all of the wonderful people.
So how's work? Unfortunately, I did not get to risk my life on the computer but I still had an Adventure. I did not have any major projects at the moment. I was working on a webpage to improve usability so webmasters can upload files and pictures. Working for the USDA with the .NET programmers was a learning experience. My main job is to assist Application Development branch with daily activities ranging from .NET programming to records management application development.
Besides work, let's talk about food. At the USDA there's a Cafeteria for me to choose several types of food. I think I should bring my own lunch, the food there is pricy. There's a food section where people pay by the weight. It's not good for people who eat a lot, like me. The best time of the day to eat was dinner. I ate at Mehran restaurant for the whole week. They serve Indian-Pakistani food. That's what I usually eat at home.
Friday, I had my picture taken with the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture at the Farmers Market. I am thankful to be part of it. I hope you enjoyed reading my Adventure.
I will end this blog with a quote.
"Disappointment is the greatest adventure of all!" "It is?" - The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
I started work on Tuesday, I was introduced to several people at work. My Boss, my Secretary, and my coworkers. All I can say that I am very lucky to have a good work environment with all of the wonderful people.
So how's work? Unfortunately, I did not get to risk my life on the computer but I still had an Adventure. I did not have any major projects at the moment. I was working on a webpage to improve usability so webmasters can upload files and pictures. Working for the USDA with the .NET programmers was a learning experience. My main job is to assist Application Development branch with daily activities ranging from .NET programming to records management application development.
Besides work, let's talk about food. At the USDA there's a Cafeteria for me to choose several types of food. I think I should bring my own lunch, the food there is pricy. There's a food section where people pay by the weight. It's not good for people who eat a lot, like me. The best time of the day to eat was dinner. I ate at Mehran restaurant for the whole week. They serve Indian-Pakistani food. That's what I usually eat at home.
Friday, I had my picture taken with the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture at the Farmers Market. I am thankful to be part of it. I hope you enjoyed reading my Adventure.
I will end this blog with a quote.
"Disappointment is the greatest adventure of all!" "It is?" - The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
Revved up!
I have not started my internship yet but I am highly anticipating it. Even though I haven't started work per say, I have been keeping quite busy. This past week I met my supervisor, who is a very nice and accepting and person, and reviewed what I will be doing during my time at the Department of Commerce. He advised me of some things that I can do to start preparing myself. One thing in particular that I started working on is getting acquainted with the Ruby programming language. I am also did some refreshing of my web development skills. In addition to that, I am also taking two summer classes through Penn State World Campus, so they have also been keeping me busy. I look forward to this coming week and starting my internship.
I have also started collaborating with other IT interns on developing a website for Michael Castillo's DC Wakeboarding business; for those that don't remember, he spoke at orientation. Currently we are in the planning stages of the SDLC or Software Development Life Cycle. We are working to determine what the website needs and also buildilding a skills matrix to determine who will be doing what.
All in all my week has gone pretty well.
-Benjamin Tshudy
-Benjamin Tshudy
Week 10
Its week 2 here in DC and I haven't yet started work, however the stories I hear are amazing. My roommates Justin and William come home tired with crazy stories and tell me how lucky I am to be working. However I would much rather be working than sitting at home... not.
This week has not been completely wasted. I did some good programming and pr for a couple of my websites that i'm hoping will take off. I also got to explore DC on my own and even had a meeting with my roommates to work on a website for their mentor. My roommates are pretty great and we get along well, I'd say I got pretty lucky.
The only thing I'm missing in dc is a bike, and I'm having mine sent to me soon. I love, love, love, love my bike. It's a fixed gear with bright yellow rims and has about 2400 miles on it. I use to ride it to high school every day no matter what the weather. Here is my favorite picture I took of it on a particularly overcast day in a cemetery in Chicago. I can't wait for it to join me in DC.
Overall it's been a pretty great week, but I can't wait to start work!
This week has not been completely wasted. I did some good programming and pr for a couple of my websites that i'm hoping will take off. I also got to explore DC on my own and even had a meeting with my roommates to work on a website for their mentor. My roommates are pretty great and we get along well, I'd say I got pretty lucky.
The only thing I'm missing in dc is a bike, and I'm having mine sent to me soon. I love, love, love, love my bike. It's a fixed gear with bright yellow rims and has about 2400 miles on it. I use to ride it to high school every day no matter what the weather. Here is my favorite picture I took of it on a particularly overcast day in a cemetery in Chicago. I can't wait for it to join me in DC.
Overall it's been a pretty great week, but I can't wait to start work!
Learning web development, step by step
One of the questions I often get when I tell people I’m a web developer is “Hey, I want to make a website! How can I learn to make websites?” Being a programmer isn’t for everyone, but basic web development isn’t hard & can be a very worthwhile skill to have.
Web developers use a bunch of programming languages, layered on top of each other, to present the dynamic websites that are popular today. I am going to lay out the languages I feel are essential for making web sites. As web languages often build upon and interface with one another, the order here is important.
The core: HTML
This was the internet back when I made my first web site. HTML, or its modern equivalent XHTML, is the core language for the World Wide Web. Every item you see on the page is either contained or referenced in the HTML for the page.
The look: CSS
CSS is responsible for how things contained in the HTML are displayed in your browser. Font, size, color, placement & more should all be controlled using CSS.
Interactivity: JavaScript
Not to be confused with Java, JavaScript is used to make web pages move and change. More recently it has been used to dynamically load content within a page, so that new content can be displayed within a page without reloading it. Another good option for interactive web site is flash, but recent compatibility issues with flash combined with advances in JavaScript and HTML have made JavaScript a much better option for development.
These are the three basic languages needed to start making web sites. If you want to learn, I recommend using the great free guides on http://w3schools.com. They are quick, easy to understand, and cover not only these but other important web programming languages as well. In a future article I’ll go a bit deeper into the languages & tools I use to go beyond the basics and start using server side storage and scripting.
Second Week
Week Two:
I have not start my internship with US Coast Guard because I do not have to start till June 7, 2010, but I already have my US Coast Guard Identify. I went home to Dover, Delaware for some family visit but since I was in Dover, Delaware, I was thinking about my internship with Internship with US Coast Guard and I also met some of the people to able to network with because I can build my reputation for my future job search.
I already had been in touch with my mentor, Angela Kuhn, we talked for a little bit through an email, she is very funny and we will have a lunch meeting when I get all settled down with my internship and balance my schedule for the internship. Then I will have a lunch with my mentor and discuss about my goals for the internship, I am looking forward to meet her and start my internship on June 7, 2010.
In conclusion, I am looking forward to my internship, meeting people in DC to build more regarding to my personal identify and have a lunch with my mentor, plus talk with other internship about the tours in Washington DC.
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