Mark DuBois Weblog

As we begin the spring, 2010 semester, I wanted to share a few thoughts with students taking my classes in the web curriculum.

First – welcome to class. I am here to help you better understand the material and apply it to real life situations. If you ever have a question about the material, contact me and I will do my best to help. I have a number of tools which I can employ to help you better understand the concepts and tools we will be using.

Second – you are responsible for your future. Since you are taking these classes, I make the assumption you aspire to be a web professional. You are encouraged to develop and enhance your professionalism as part of these classes. For example, do the absolute best you can on each assignment. Do not settle for second best. You may someday wish to include some of these as part of a portfolio of your work. Also, take responsibility for your actions. If you know you will miss a deadline, notify me in advance. As a general rule, I will provide you with extra time. However, if you do not notify me beforehand, you will receive a grade of “unsatisfactory” or a 0 for that assignment.

Third – take time to enjoy the class experience. You have the opportunity to interact with your peers. In some courses, we will be working on group projects. In others,  you will be working alone, but will still need to interact with others via the discussion forum. Everyone bring a different and unique experience to class. Learn from what others have to offer.

I hope you are looking forward to this semester as much as I am. For those who are in the East Peoria area, we do have an optional open lab for all CMWEB students on Wednesday and Thursday nights (from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. in TC 210 – ICC East Peoria campus). If you are able to make it – great. for those outside of the area (or who can not make it on the above nights, I also offer an online office hour (Tuesday from 6 – 6:50 p.m. Central Time zone). I use the ConnectPro software to allow us to share desktop applications.

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Shortly after Christmas, 2009, we took a day trip to the area around Helena, MT. It is about a 2 hour drive from home. Keep in mind that most of the photos in this Flickr set were taken within 15 to 20 miles of the state capital. We spent a fair amount of time traveling along the back roads near York, MT. Didn’t find any peppermint patties (ok, sometimes I can’t help myself). Hope you enjoy these photos. There is some very beautiful country in Montana (as long as you don’t mind severe cold in the winter).

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These are some photos that I took in the area near where I visited. It was a great Christmas holiday. Thanks to Ben and Lindsay for their hospitality. So much fun to spend time with the grandkids as well. I had a wonderful time.

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These are some of the photos showing how cold it was on some days. Note the amount of frost and fog that has frozen on various structures. In many cases it was roughly 1/2 inch thick.

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These are some of the photos that I took as I traveled from Billings to Great Falls, Montana by car since Northwest Airlines dropped me off in Billings instead of where I paid for and took forever to actually arrange for transportation since the airport was closed in Great Falls due to fog and ice.As mentioned in a previous post, a group of us decided to split the cost of a rental car and gas. Since Chris did the driving, these are some of the photos I took.

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Spending time with family this holiday season. Having a wonderful time. Thanks to Lindsay for sending me this information via email. Helps put the cold in NW Montana into perspective. Here are a few thoughts she forwarded. Yep, it is cold here at times.

65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Montana plant gardens.
60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Montana sunbathe.
50 above zero:
Italian & English cars won’t start.
People in Montana drive with the windows down.
40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Montana throw on a flannel shirt.
35 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Montana have the last cookout before it gets cold.
20 above Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Montanans close the windows.
Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico .
People in Montana get out their winter coats.
10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Montana are selling cookies door to door.
20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Montana let the dogs sleep indoors.
30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Montanas get upset because they can’t start the Snow-mobile.
40 below zero:
Atomic motion stops.
People in Montana start saying…’Cold enough fer ya?’
50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Montana public schools will open 2 hours late

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I wanted to take a few moments and acknowledge the kindness of my new friends from Montana. Chris, Jeff, Don, and Dwayne helped me get to the Great Falls area this week. Essentially Delta/ Northwest Airlines diverted our plane to Billings instead of Great Falls. Lots of ice on the runway at Great Falls (and the airport has now been closed for quite some time).Although the airlines did put us up in a hotel for the night, it took what seemed forever for them to arrange transportation to Great Falls from Billings. Given that another storm was moving into the area and we did not see the point in waiting longer, we agreed to split the cost of a rental car and gas and drove to Great Falls (roughly a 4 hour drive). It was a grand adventure. Thanks especially to Chris for doing all of the driving. I took a photo at the end of our trip as we stopped to fill the gas tank just as we entered Great Falls. Thanks again for the help and resolve everyone took to get to our destinations for the holidays. It will make for quite the holiday story for years to come.

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