Famous Last Words...

Here we are again, another installment that just proves my sanity is a limited quantity, and I'm about to go out of stock.

I've submitted my final proposal for the project and I've set some pretty lofty goals for myself. Look....

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION TASKS:

1. Using Photoshop, clean up existing pictures of balloon art and balloon decorations to be added to the new site. If needed, recreate some of the balloon art and retake the pictures. Some of them are very low quality, and will need to be redone.

2. Fine-tune and complete a CSS page to be used site wide.

3. Write up, and implement a new slide show type feature for the pictures.

4. Visit vendors sites and get pictures of the party themes to be used on the site, complete with credit for the pictures. If need be, scan pictures of the themes from vendor catalogs.

5. Write up and deploy the new site, with full working links.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE:

1. Photoshopping balloon art: Estimated completion date – October 1, 2011.

2. CSS page: Estimated completion date – October 31, 2011.

3. Slide show: Estimated completion date – November 15, 2011.

4. Vendor pictures of products: Estimated completion date – November 22, 2011.

5. Initial site deployment – December 1, 2011.

I fully expect the initial deployment to not be perfect, and will probably continue to fine-tune and tweak the site the entire time I work at Party Palace, but my goal is to have a new working version up before the end of the semester.

Seems like some lofty goals, I know. I went light on myself for the month of October, as this is the busy season for Party Palace, what with Halloween fast approaching, but even still, looking at the dates laid out, it feels doable. (Famous Last Words... Hey Billy-Bob, WATCH THIS!!!)

*SIGH*

In other news, I've started fixing the balloon art pictures. I ran into a snag this week when I discovered that the software on the computer at work was Adobe Design CS4.... and Photoshop is Adobe Photoshop CS. No number after the CS. I opened one of the pictures in it, clicked on the magic wand tool, clicked on the photo, and the entire application crashed. Not good. So I'll be fixing the pictures partially at school, but mostly at home. Hopefully once I get those all finished, I'll be able to do more writing for the CSS at work and school, but we'll see how that lines up. I haven't gotten to speak to Lori yet, she just left on a short vacation, so next time she calls the store I'll let her know about the Photoshop. I actually plan on getting a copy of CS5 for my laptop once the dividend comes out, but I still have a couple weeks to wait on that, so.... yeah. Home it is.

Tune in next week for another episode of "Angel's going insane!"

Biography of a Balloonatic

Here we are again for another rousing entry in the Party Palace Facelift blog. This would be infinitely more interesting if I was any good at blogging, but we'll just have to muddle through together.

I've always been interested in gadgets, from the time my dad brought home an Atari, complete with this FASCINATING game called Centipede. A few years later, he brought home our first PC. A lovely IBM named Hal. I snuck every minute on it I could, and before long I was hooked. For Christmas when I was 11, my parents gave me an Apple IIe... with a color screen. *GASP* Over the years, new gadgets, new computers, I'm an addict. I haven't found a 12 step program developed for the likes of me yet, but I'm sure eventually they'll think of one. I probably won't go though, cuz no one likes a quitter.

For years I kind of bumbled along, trying to find a job doing things I liked. The problem was, I always ended up finding jobs that just let me do things I was good at, not necessarily things I really enjoyed doing. I did radio, which I loved, but eventually the corporate nonsense of it kind of killed it for me. Computers still hold an immense attraction for me, though. When the opportunity to go back to school arose, I chose to go in that direction, rather than back in the direction I was heading with radio. So far, so good. I like what I'm studying, and it's going well. My goal for when I finish this degree is to try and get a job working on Ft Wainwright in one of the IT divisions, utilizing what I've learned, and actually trying to have a career, rather than just a job that I put up with, as I did for so very long. I'll actually be sad to leave Party Palace when the time comes, it's been the first job I've had in a very long time that I look forward to going to work.

As far as IT goes, I really prefer the web design side of it. I like the creativity that's involved, making something new. While I'm still learning, and I'm not the best there is yet, I look forward to learning more and more every day.

The dawn of an age.... or a semester =)

So, through providence, or luck, or a smattering of both, this summer I came to work at our local party store here in Fairbanks, Party Palace. It's really our only party store here in town, in a place that really needs it. We sell balloons, regular and balloon animal, specializing in balloon bouquets for nearly any occasion you can think of. We also have a fantastic selection of party supplies, costumes, and more accessories than you could shake a VERY large stick at.

So one day, I decided to look at the website, as I'd heard a customer mention they'd looked for something on the web site and couldn't find it. Being an IT major, with an emphasis in Web Design and Administration, I figured I'd check it out and see if I could help them out.

This is what I found.

I went and found the owner/manager and asked her if she would have any problem with me giving the site a much needed overhaul, and her response was "I've been waiting for someone to ask me that!" With her blessing, I spoke to my adviser at UAF, Keith Swarner, and we figured out that not only could I help Party Palace out, but I can use it as my Independent Project for my degree. A win/win you might say.

So there you have it. Expect to see a lot more posts as this project gets going for real, and I start making some real progress. I'll be posting most of what I do to my own website so I can tweak it all before we add it to the live Party Palace site, and I'll add links to it here, so you can peek in on my progress.

Angelesa Ward