Monthly Archives: March 2009

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

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I don’t pretend to know everything about user interface design. Really, I don’t. I may have read a paragraph of the assigned reading from the ginormous UID textbook when I took that Final Project course for my AS. Still, I am a user, so I have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t.

Changing things over and over again, people, does not work.

It took me longer than normal to get used to Facebook. Things were organized in a strange way and I didn’t understand why I had to create a Page instead of just starting another account for different things. Once I got used to it, though, I liked it. I pushed for us to use it at my morning job. I became accustomed to the differences between my profile, my Pages, and my Groups.

And then they changed Pages.

I had to learn how to use them all over again, and quick, because not only do I use Pages for my Letters of Love, but I also use them for my morning job’s company. Still, they were easier to use and I liked being able to update their statuses.

And then they changed the home page’s UI. Completely. I didn’t know how to access my Pages or my Groups. I could only see my friend’s updates. I had to use the toolbar — which I rarely use and think they could just do away with — to go to my Pages.

My Pages whose UI’s were changed, again.

Not majorly, mind you, but just enough that it threw me off a little. The status update seems to have copulated with the Wall. They’re now the same thing. I don’t see what the point is, because now when you write on your Page’s Wall, your status changes. I don’t want my status to say hi back to so-and-so.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know that UI’s are going to change. Usually, though, a design/development team makes those changes because the old UI wasn’t working. It needed to be better. It needed to be more comprehensive. I think the old UI could have been a little better, but they didn’t have to change it completely. They could have organized things a bit better instead.

Anyway, they had better be careful. If they keep changing things around like this, they are going to alienate their users. People are creatures of familiarity; if things keep changing too much, Facebook may lose a big chunk of their users because they got fed up with having to relearn how to use the site over and over again.

I’ve already had to learn twice. I’d hate to know how many times older users have had to relearn it.

I'm ready for the good times

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Drum roll, please…

First let me say that I’m sorry my updates have been so blah and uninformative lately. There’s been a lot going on that I didn’t want to write about for several reasons until I knew for sure what was going on. (There are still some things I can’t write about, but I promise I will when I can.)

The meeting with the local freelancing agency last week went very well. I filled out tax forms, so now it’s just a matter of waiting for them to find me some work. Someone I listed as a reference spoke to them and told me that they said they were very impressed with me and that they said they will definitely be using me.

Still, things were looking pretty dismal. I couldn’t get anymore hours at my current job because they’re under some financial stress, so going to school or saving up for things I needed was getting to be really tough. My aunt found an ad in the paper for a full-time gig as a web designer, at a local web design and print company. I figured it was worth a shot, so I emailed them my resume and tried not to get my hopes up.

The owner of the company emailed me back the very next day, asking me to call him at a certain time. He asked me to come in the next day (yesterday) for an interview. The interview went pretty well. I was fairly confident that I would get it, but he mentioned that he was interviewing two other people this week so I tried not to get my hopes up. So when he called me this afternoon and asked me to come right away, I was ecstatic. I changed out of my sweats into something presentable and professional in five minutes flat, then headed for their offices.

Fortunately, I was right! I got the job. It’s part-time for the moment, but it will be full-time in May when they move their office to the new location. This means I can continue to work at both jobs, but don’t have to fear layoffs at my current job (there’s been rumor of more layoffs lately). I can save a lot more money, and can go back to school part-time in the fall!

It got even better when I got home; my diploma came in the mail! It’s really nice. It felt good to hold in my hands. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m proud of it. I’m proud of myself and all of the hard work I did to get that piece of paper. It’s proof of how hard I worked, and it means a lot to me.

I’m feeling pretty good right now, despite my gloomy mood earlier.

PS: I made some changes to the content in the sidebar. I deleted all archives before 2008, since those can be found on my LiveJournal anyway. I cleaned up and organized all of the categories and tags, and I also got rid of the blogroll. I used to use the blogroll just so I could read everyone’s blogs really quickly, but now that I’ve got Google Reader I don’t need it anymore. I also cleaned up a few tags. In general things should be nice and tidy around here! Who knows, maybe someday I’ll even get to redesigning it!

I love you, now get lost

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and a couple of other posts this week really got me going.

I’m tired of being everyone’s shoulder to cry on. I’m tired of being taken for granted. I’m tired of giving my all and getting nothing in return.

I have tried, several times during the last few weeks, to reach out to more than one friend because I needed someone to talk to or an escape. None of these people could give me the time of day, when I’ve been there for them on more than several occasions. They couldn’t be bothered when I’ve dropped everything time and again to give them a hand.

I kept holding on to the hope that these people would wake up and start treating me like a person again. I’ve been that teddy bear that a preteen drags out only when they need it and no one is looking.

No more.

I’m taking my soft, fuzzy self to the nearest Build-A-Bear shop and I’m getting my bleeding heart replaced with some balls of steel. And while I’m at it, I’m going to pick up some Watchmen action figures.

I don't have anything witty to put here, so let's title it "Religion"

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I’m singing the Spice Girls right now and my cat has probably OD’d on Lithium, she’s so happy.

Tonight is going to rock, despite all of the shoot-me-now my life has been lately. I’m going to see Watchmen with Mike, and it’s going to be awesome. I’ve never read the graphic novel, but the trailer just looks so cool I think I’m going to be obsessed. In fact, there is a discount book store in my city that just opened, so I think Mike and I are going to check that out today. Maybe they’ll have the book and I won’t have to feel guilty about spending any money because everything in there is (supposedly) 40% off regular seller prices.

Last night was the season finale of Burn Notice. The new season starts in June. I’m going to die between now and then. Speaking of TV, I’m behind on Dollhouse and probably going to miss tonight’s episode. Whoever decided to put it on a Friday night is a moron. No one is home Friday night. I hope they count the number of views the episodes on the Fox website get, because I doubt the TV ratings are very high.

We also watched Religulous last night. I agreed with a lot of what Bill Maher said. My mom is Protestant and my dad is Catholic, though neither of them are hardcore about it. I was baptized Protestant and raised with a little bit of both. Mom always made us go to church on Sundays with her mother, while Dad stayed at home and watched Nascar. (I never got why it was okay for him to stay home but I had to endure two hours of either Sunday school or the pastor droning on and on. My favorite part about church was the Italian bread and grape juice. Oh, that and going home and playing with my toys afterward.)

I can’t remember exactly when I stopped going, but eventually my mom gave up on dragging me out of bed to go somewhere I didn’t want to be. Religion just never made sense for me. I listened to the stories and teachings, but I had a hard time believing in something I couldn’t see or feel. I tried exploring other religions for a while. I practiced Wicca and read about Druidism. I studied the Muslim religion in eighth grade. As interesting as it all was, I didn’t take any of it seriously.

I don’t believe in any kind of higher power. I am a firm believer of living my own life the way I want to, and treating others the way I want to be treated. I practice being happy and being a good person. I’ve been called a Satanist, and I’ve had people stop talking to me just because I don’t believe in any kind of god. (For the record, I don’t believe in any kind of devil, either. I think people have the freedom to be good or evil.) I once got fired from a job for no real reason, and I still believe to this day that it was because I don’t have a religion. (My boss and coworkers were all religious in some way.)

Religion is a touchy subject for most people. Don’t get me wrong. I am fascinated by other people’s beliefs. It’s interesting to me, but I take as much stock in it as I take in the spaghetti monster in the sky. (I did that just for you, Mike. I know you’re reading this, even though you never comment. Lazy ass.) I won’t not talk to someone just because of their religion. As weird as some practices may seem to me — like Scientology — I won’t dispute that it’s something people believe in. You believe what you wanna believe. I’ll leave you alone, as long as you leave me alone. Don’t interrogate me or tell me what I need to believe. Don’t try to force me into praying, or I’ll sick the vicious kitty on you:

Squirt

Squirt

I don't even know her name, but she is my hero

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I called the Bursar’s Office (translation: business office) at Southern earlier this afternoon. The lady I talked to was really helpful. She said they were going to drop me today unless I either paid in full or set up a payment plan. I told her there was no way I could afford the first payment at the moment, so she told me to drop the class and call her back right away so she could credit the $75 I already put down back onto my credit card.

So I have to wait until the fall (as long as I get financial aid) to start, but at least I get my money back.

I’m just amazed at how little time they give students to pay. I mean, it’s only March and the class doesn’t start until June 1st!

I’m a little disappointed that I can’t start as soon as I wanted to, but this is the least of my problems right now. I’m just relieved I’m not beat out of $75.