Work Journal for Monday, July 2nd 2013

Work went a bit better on the second half today.

I had started a post early this morning, trying to sort out what I should do with the first module of the MMTM class. I finally started to sort out the "plot" when my browser locked up, resulting in the post being tossed in the bit bucket where deleted files and previously allocated memory go. Thankfully, I was able to copy everything down to the summary slide of the module. This made me wonder if I should always start with the summary slide of the module, instead of starting from the first slide. 

I finally wrote that roles and responsibilities slide that had been sitting in my buildups deck for the last two weeks. It turned out okay, although it probably would have been more attractive if I had used basic PowerPoint animations, or if I had put it in Captivate. 

After relinquishing yet another page of my paper journal to sketches for work, I hit upon a simple way to present the two ways that transaction data is captured. This took two separate slides I never quite liked and collapsed them down to a single diagram that was both informative and attractive. Once I had composed the graphic, Pashy and I went out to lunch. I had been looking forward to Thai food for the better part of a week, and I finally got my fix. It took longer than I liked, but I felt I was making progress for a change, so I tried to set my concerns aside and simply work later. 

Following lunch, we stopped at IAC so I could finish the remainder of my work day. I wrote the interaction for the diagram I created earlier, fighting to pare down the words to the absolute minimum. The particular template I was using can only accept so many words before either scrolling the text area, or shrinking the graphic. Many would probably not see the point, but I hate requiring the student to scroll in my interactions. It's needless, and takes away from the overall polish of the class. In the end, I needed to both pare down the words and shrink the graphic to avoid the scrollbar. 

After moving around and deleting a slide I eventually can't feel bothered to write, I finally had a polished second and third lesson. That just left the first one. 

Yesterday I wrote that I should consider redoing the highway example as a Captivate interaction. This would be a bit higher quality, and allow me to expand upon the example by adding stand-ins for applications. It's still a good idea, but I still have a hard time seeing if it'd be worth the effort. It's also very easy to say that at this point in my workday. The desire to just say the hell with it all and work on writing quizzes and publish polish tomorrow is inordinately strong. I may see that differently tomorrow. 

I really wish I understood why this class has been so difficult to write. Maybe it's not the class at all but me. The stress level at home has been extraordinarily high as of late, although there seems signs it is abating in small ways. 

I better post this before I decide to delete it.