Another Super Busy Day! Website Focus...
Henry Update: I'm still keeping a close eye on Henry (and HIS eye). He follows me around a lot right now, which actually makes it easier to watch out for him. He has been scratching a bit, but usually it's with his right leg (not left) -- and he only scratches below his chin line (and not his face). But I'm aware he'll get more itchy as the eye continues to heal, so I'm still watching carefully, just in case... He had the eye open a lot today, and that inner eye seems better, too, I swear. (But what do I know? I'm not a vet.) I guess we'll know more on Saturday when we go back to the vet again.
I worked some more on the formation map for GFP (for Marilyn) today. It's really come along nicely, I think! She needs to play with it a bit now -- and of course I can tweak it even more, if need be. But I'm pretty happy with how it's looking, so far.
That's very slow work, by the way, because of the way the graphics software deals with layers. At least it doesn't limit the layers! That's a real issue with Apps on my iPad. You can only have so many layers in any one image. I'd be screwed if that was the case for this map. I just checked to see how many layers it has and the current total is 118! Even I didn't realize it was that many! Hahaha.
Christine and I finally did the Volunteer page at the festival website today. It contains a form -- and I don't really think of forms as all that difficult to work with. However (surprise!), WordPress has a very different way of handling forms. I'm going to need to learn to understand it at some point, I guess. I didn't have time to get to that today -- but I might try and work on it tomorrow...
Anyway, the page is corrected for 2016! So that's another major update checked off our list.
And I caught up a bunch of random items in the queue. I actually believe we can do these TOO QUICKLY. Here's my reasoning: Unless there's an 'emergency' item (and we do get these sometimes), then normal updates should go into the queue and be addressed as time permits. None of us working on the website have that as our ONLY job, after all. And we need to prioritize accordingly! If we start doing each item the minute (day) we get them, all it does is raise expectations! I know this from years of experience with our website -- the more you do and the faster you do it, the more people expect you to do.
I don't mind trying to keep on top of things, of course. But this is only one part of my workload. So I need to keep it in balance! I'm forcing the entire team to check items by me before doing them right now. If I have something in MY queue, then I don't want to waste time on it if somebody else is already doing the work. Usually by now I do most of the changes, unless I specifically ask Christine to do them...
I'm also really trying to keep other staff out of the mix on the website. I'd prefer to have them turn over their stuff for us to do. As it is, I was CORRECTING various things again today from work that wasn't done according to our website policies...
Marilyn worked until past 8:00 p.m. tonight. She had a SUPER BUSY day, that included meetings and TWO speaking engagements! (Her last two for this year.) She said both went well, which is great news. She really stretched herself, adding Living History and so many speaking engagements to her already hugely busy schedule. I admire her for taking it on!!!
My eyes were starting to bother me by the time I quit working tonight. And my left hand was acting up, too. That's odd, because I use the mouse with my RIGHT hand, so normally it's the one that will bother me. But who knows???
We had cheese sandwiches for dinner. And I made brownies and homemade popcorn, so it was (again) 'like a party' for us. (smile) We watched some episodes of "Leave it to Beaver" while enjoying this bounty of food goodies.
Weird weather today! Sunny early on. Then oddly humid later in the day. I guess we're expecting a weather change again (with rain). It was 84' in the house at one point!
June and Jim are both going to drive for the Junior Parade. Actually, they might put them together in one truck and have one of them drive (I'm not sure why). It kind of depends on what's happening with our Grand Marshal (I can't share who this is quite yet). If the GM needs a driver, then they'll both be driving... I guess we'll see how that goes! Anyway, that's a fun parade. I don't get to go to it myself anymore (and we're usually REALLY BUSY back at the office on that day). But I used to love it in the days when I worked Junior...
I never talked to sister Sue today! I thought about it at one point, but then I totally forgot. Just so busy.
Both Henry and Colin were all over me today. And Henry was howling for attention at some points (when I was on the phone with work, for example).
Donn will be setting up IT for CityFair tomorrow.
I'm reading a FASCINATING book right now: "The Lost Painting," by Jonathan Harr (Kindle version). It's the story of the artist Caravaggio's LOST painting, The Taking of Christ -- and how it was found. Caravaggio was quite the 'bad boy' of his time, drinking and brawling and eventually murdering someone (and dying young). Google him if you want to see photos of some of his work, which is pretty amazing stuff. This book reads like a novel, even though it's based on real events. I'm currently about half way through the book and really enjoying it. (The descriptions of art restoration are FASCINATING, by the way!)
Well, time for bed! Sweet dreams!
I worked some more on the formation map for GFP (for Marilyn) today. It's really come along nicely, I think! She needs to play with it a bit now -- and of course I can tweak it even more, if need be. But I'm pretty happy with how it's looking, so far.
That's very slow work, by the way, because of the way the graphics software deals with layers. At least it doesn't limit the layers! That's a real issue with Apps on my iPad. You can only have so many layers in any one image. I'd be screwed if that was the case for this map. I just checked to see how many layers it has and the current total is 118! Even I didn't realize it was that many! Hahaha.
Christine and I finally did the Volunteer page at the festival website today. It contains a form -- and I don't really think of forms as all that difficult to work with. However (surprise!), WordPress has a very different way of handling forms. I'm going to need to learn to understand it at some point, I guess. I didn't have time to get to that today -- but I might try and work on it tomorrow...
Anyway, the page is corrected for 2016! So that's another major update checked off our list.
And I caught up a bunch of random items in the queue. I actually believe we can do these TOO QUICKLY. Here's my reasoning: Unless there's an 'emergency' item (and we do get these sometimes), then normal updates should go into the queue and be addressed as time permits. None of us working on the website have that as our ONLY job, after all. And we need to prioritize accordingly! If we start doing each item the minute (day) we get them, all it does is raise expectations! I know this from years of experience with our website -- the more you do and the faster you do it, the more people expect you to do.
I don't mind trying to keep on top of things, of course. But this is only one part of my workload. So I need to keep it in balance! I'm forcing the entire team to check items by me before doing them right now. If I have something in MY queue, then I don't want to waste time on it if somebody else is already doing the work. Usually by now I do most of the changes, unless I specifically ask Christine to do them...
I'm also really trying to keep other staff out of the mix on the website. I'd prefer to have them turn over their stuff for us to do. As it is, I was CORRECTING various things again today from work that wasn't done according to our website policies...
Marilyn worked until past 8:00 p.m. tonight. She had a SUPER BUSY day, that included meetings and TWO speaking engagements! (Her last two for this year.) She said both went well, which is great news. She really stretched herself, adding Living History and so many speaking engagements to her already hugely busy schedule. I admire her for taking it on!!!
My eyes were starting to bother me by the time I quit working tonight. And my left hand was acting up, too. That's odd, because I use the mouse with my RIGHT hand, so normally it's the one that will bother me. But who knows???
We had cheese sandwiches for dinner. And I made brownies and homemade popcorn, so it was (again) 'like a party' for us. (smile) We watched some episodes of "Leave it to Beaver" while enjoying this bounty of food goodies.
Weird weather today! Sunny early on. Then oddly humid later in the day. I guess we're expecting a weather change again (with rain). It was 84' in the house at one point!
June and Jim are both going to drive for the Junior Parade. Actually, they might put them together in one truck and have one of them drive (I'm not sure why). It kind of depends on what's happening with our Grand Marshal (I can't share who this is quite yet). If the GM needs a driver, then they'll both be driving... I guess we'll see how that goes! Anyway, that's a fun parade. I don't get to go to it myself anymore (and we're usually REALLY BUSY back at the office on that day). But I used to love it in the days when I worked Junior...
I never talked to sister Sue today! I thought about it at one point, but then I totally forgot. Just so busy.
Both Henry and Colin were all over me today. And Henry was howling for attention at some points (when I was on the phone with work, for example).
Donn will be setting up IT for CityFair tomorrow.
I'm reading a FASCINATING book right now: "The Lost Painting," by Jonathan Harr (Kindle version). It's the story of the artist Caravaggio's LOST painting, The Taking of Christ -- and how it was found. Caravaggio was quite the 'bad boy' of his time, drinking and brawling and eventually murdering someone (and dying young). Google him if you want to see photos of some of his work, which is pretty amazing stuff. This book reads like a novel, even though it's based on real events. I'm currently about half way through the book and really enjoying it. (The descriptions of art restoration are FASCINATING, by the way!)
Well, time for bed! Sweet dreams!