I am working on five projects over winter break. In no particular order, they are: knitting a scarf, learning Java and writing a weight loss tracking program with it, learning C# and writing a goal setting program with it, learning German with Rosetta Stone, and of course, completing and releasing my CD.
The first four I have been making good progress on; however, my CD is a bit delayed as my dad came down with a nasty bug and now I seem to be getting it. I’ll wait until we are all done coughing to try to do any recording. So, those of you excited about my first CD will have to wait a bit longer than I anticipated. I still plan to finish it and release it before the end of winter break. Only 6-8 more songs to record!
Learning German has been a goal of mine for some time now. I wanted to take a class in it last year, but got too busy in my other classes to continue. I started taking it again this year, and the same thing happened. So, I finally just went ahead and got a Rosetta Stone course in it so I could learn at my own pace. I am very impressed with the interface and have learned to say many things in German. I am in the middle of unit 3 of level 1. There are five level of German, with 4 units per level. I can talk about people (Frau, Mann, Kinder, Famalie, Schwester, Bruder, Madchen, Younge, etc.), occupations (Lerner, Artz, etc), food (Apfel) and more. I try to study at least 3 times a week for a couple hours to keep increasing my vocabulary and grammar skills.
I am on chapter 7 of my Java book, and have found it to be very similar to C++, which is nice. It is actually easier to use than C++. I am glad my school taught us the harder of the two and left the easier one for us to learn on our own. Yeah for garbage collection! The weight loss program will have a GUI and take in weights and display a table and graphs, and have weight loss goals and rewards you can set. I’ve yet to plan it out fully, but I plan to make a UML in Visual Paradigm soon.
I am on chapter 4 of my C# book, and have also found it to be similar to C++, kind of a cross between Visual Basic and C++. Making a GUI program in Visual C# is like a gazillion times easier than making one in C++ with wxWidgets on Unix. I just need to familiarize myself with some of the library calls, get some experience, and I should be good. I also plan to make a UML for the goal setting program once I get closer to making it.
My scarf is coming along nicely! I try to do a few rows a day. It is a nice pretty green. I’m going to need some more yarn soon… Another trip to Michaels! I love knitting now that I know how. It is just so fun to be making something with my hands.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate all the nice comments.