Eric Saar’s Blog

Creating a website can be a daunting task. One of the easiest principles to follow is keep everything short and sweet. No extra bells and whistles. Why use twenty words when five will do?

The problem with all the new technologies is that people forget about content and making it easy to read. In the information age where there are more than 1 trillion URLs is your webpage isn’t easy to use and functional people will just go somewhere else.

The Bad

Clutter is an online readers worst enemy. For example take a look at the website www.havenworks.com It has actually been rated one of the worst websites of 2008 by webpagesthatsuck.com. Not surprising it has a lot of content but there is no clear way to navigate or use the website.

The Good

When you compare it with a website like www.you2gov.com that has similar content yet a streamlined look its easy to see how clutter make or break a website. This website is functional and easy to navigate which would you rather get information from?

I’ve been studying at BCIT for over a month now and still haven’t received my student loan. I have gotten two fee deferrals and been reassessed twice. Part of the problem is that my course started in April and goes for a full year. Since the Alberta student loans is used to giving most of their grants for September they say that my program has to be broken up into two. I will have to apply for a second student loan in October to pay for the second half of my program. I haven’t even received my first one yet and it’s just about June.

The Second Check

When I got my second check for the money I was supposed to receive. I went straight to the post office and expressed the envelope to Mississauga, Ontario. Which was 25 dollars for one envelope. My first fee deferral expired today. So yesterday I called to see where the hell my money was. Talking with an operator at the National Student Loan office I was told that there was a hold on my payment because I was assessed the wrong amount.

A History of Reassessment

This isn’t the first time I had heard this a couple of weeks ago after I had done everything asked of me I was told that the check I received was too much money and would have to be reassessed.  So I sent the check back and waited for the reassessment to come. Two and half weeks ago I got a check in the mail with the theoretical new amount. It was reduced from the last check so I thought nothing of it. Filled out all the paper work and sent it on its merry way. Now the check is being held because it needs to be reassessed.

The Run Around

I call the National Student Loan office in Ontario to try and straighten things out they tell me that its being sent back to Alberta for a reassessment. I call Alberta Student Loans and after being disconnected twice I am put on hold on the third call. Then after three quarters of an hour I am finally put through. After talking with the adviser she tells me that she doesn’t know anything until next week and to call back. Frustrated I smash my phone on the ground. The way things are looking I am going to be finished my program before I ever even see my student loan. Bullocks!!! But I won’t let them win I will get my loan oh yes I will. They have broken my cell phone but not my spirit.

Summer time is only a few days away and everyone around the BCIT campus is gearing up for it. Well that is except for the New Media and Web Development kids. We will get to watch the summer pass us by through the window. Work on our tans via Macbook Pro.

Some Relief with a Break

There is a break in July for a week that will help to get rid of the some of the energy that always comes with the summer time. But then we will start into term 2. According to the people in the program last year is killer. Is this some cruel joke? Going to really be using those time management techniques to try and squeeze all the sunlight and fun out of summer. I’ve never been to summer school and am not looking forward to this one.

Keeping Busy

What’s a person to do the program is worth every penny and if one summer has to be sacrificed to the learning gods then so be it. I am hopeful that even though I’m stuck behind a computer screen I can still salvage some of the summer time. There will still be ball hockey on weekends to get the stress of week out. Nothing like sports to relax the mind. There is something tranquil about smashing a puck into the net.

New Media and Web Development is the program name. It can be taken all over Canada but one of the best schools to take it at is BCIT. The program is a year straight of schooling, so sorry beach bums you might have to work on your tan the year after.

The Program and Memory

The program at first is a little overwhelming you get seven different classes and seven different teachers. Which is a little tricky because most of us (me in particular) tend to procrastinate till the night before to do our homework so the lessons become a little fuzzy. When you’ve been through six different classes all week it can be challenging to remember what you learned the week before. Plus in the first week it seems like the only connection between the different classes is the room where you receive your lectures. Which is the same room every time.

The Initial Hump

However if you can get past the first couple of weeks you can see the sunshine through the clouds. Things brighten up things start to overlap. You can start using lessons in other classes and apply them to projects in others.

The Power of the Student

The tables have turned. Now it’s the teachers who are struggling trying not to step on each other’s toes. Well except for one that could care less about the direction from other classes. Which is funny because one teacher tells you to use Netstorage to get your files then the other one asks why the hell everyone is using crappy Netstorage. To his credit Netstorage is garbage compared to some of the free programs available online. So moral of the story stick in the programs its only going to get better the more you learn. At least I hope anyway.