I went up to the school this morning to register for my 6th form courses, and was shown just how out-of-date things are.
I was given three sheets of paper - one containing my option choices, and how they related to the blocks available. The second had my timetable, which was for me to keep. The third was a yellow form, on which I was to fill out my option choices, my GCSE results, my personal details, and my timetable.
They already have my GCSE results on a separate slip in school, they have my timetable on file as they have given me a printed copy, they have my option choices as they gave those to me, and they have my details on their computer as we have to give them in every so often.
So this yellow form was completely pointless. We had to tell them what they already knew, because they couldn't be bothered to get software to pull in the data from the various sources. Or was it because their data was in multiple formats? That is probably where the problem lies. They would make life far much easier for themselves by storing all their data in a central XML database and using forms applications (or InfoPath forms) to manae it - and then having a set of applications to deal with all the data.
We then had to sign our names next to our subjects on a wall - once we had managed to find the subjects (which had been handwritten on A1 flipchart sheets - so "Maths: Pure and Further Pure" was down as "Double Maths", as *almost* everyone doing it is doing double maths. If they had just used a DTP app linked to their option or timetable database, they could have had these automatically printed, with the right subject names. And they could have just had name lists preprinted (as it is quite a challenge to write legibly on a wall) and we could have "ticked" the boxes to confirm our choices.
I realise that we had to have the forms to confirm (yet again) that we aren't changing our options - but they could have left space on a preprinted form for that kind of thing.
The main problem here seems to be money - it would cost money to hire a programmer to design a suite of software apps and an XML database, and it would be too much effort to create an in-house solution (like they did with the electronic reporting)
Ah well. Maybe I'll be able to offer them a discount when I've acquired enough skills to take on the challenge.
:rolleyes:

The Default Text Box add-in is now available in the Add-ins section, and a more detailed tutorial instructing on its installation and use is available at Brian's site <link removed, site no longer active>. It allows you to save default settings for text boxes in Publisher 2002 and 2003, and allows these defaults to be saved to the registry

Sorry I didn't tell anyone about this before I went, but I just (well, yesterday) got back from a two-week holiday in France. Which was nice. Weather was good, scenery nice, etc.

The reason I couldn't post to say I was going is lack of time. I had a party on the day before I left. I had planned to post around saying where I was when I got back, but the party went on longer than expected, and I was forced into bed as soon as I got in. And at 2:00am the next morning we left. Which is why I am explaining this now.

:rolleyes:

I just noticed that I hadn't updated this for over two weeks, so I thought I'd better make an entry...
Well, almost two weeks ago the exams ended. Since then my life has pretty much entirely consisted of relaxation, daytime TV, a couple of parties, working on a new Publisher add-in, and that migraine that I had yesterday (Which prevented me from eating my weight in pizza!! Which also means that I haven't eaten for about 21 hours!!)

I'm hoping to go and see The Matrix Reloaded some time this week - as well as fitting in collecting my copy of the Yearbook this afternoon (it's been available since the end of last week - and I still haven't seen it :S). Apparently the dust jacket didn't fit properly, which has annoyed me significantly...

I had a birthday on Tuesday. My sixteenth, to be precise - but who's counting. It was technicallyot a birthday, as I was not born. It was the sixteenth anniversary of my birth...

16 seems to be a big thing legally - I can now:
- Buy alcohol with a meal
- Buy lottery tickets
- Learn to drive a motorbike on the road
- Smoke (like I'd want to do that)
- Compete in some cash-prize competitions/sweepstakes

But more surprising is the list of things I can't do, including:
- Enter Blue Peter competitions
- Enter various other competitions

Hmm

Chemistry on Monday was hard - which was unexpected after the relatively easy Biology paper we had :|
They asked a 5-mark question on detection and identification of ions - and the compounds all contained sulphate ions (so you had to detect it by the cat ion). And they were hardly easy tests to remember.
Plus they asked a load of questions on esterification, the details of which are not covered in the revision book (Normally this would be excusable, but the fact that the book states categorically that "This book tells you everyhting you need to know for the exan, and nothing else" pisses me off)

History and Welsh revision today. I cannot express my joy at the fact that I have a Welsh exam tomorrow. Words cannot tell the joy that I am feeling. Put in the [sarcasm] tags if you feel them necessary. But looking on the bright side, after tomorrow I can forget every word of Welsh I ever learned. I've already started to do that with English (English 2 was on Monday too!!)

Thankfully, the History 1 exam (which they had to go and put on my birthday, didn't they) wasn't too bad - the questions were pretty fair. Which probably means that the USA paper is going to be a stinker. Hmm :S

Last week I attended the Microsoft UK MVP Open Day at the Microsoft Campus in Reading. It was absolutely brilliant! There was a really great atmosphere there - everyone was so friendly. Plus, I got loads of free gifts :D - of which a USB light, MVP rucksack, MVP shirt, USB keyring memory stick and Microsoft radio being just the start. It was really great, but in some ways rather strange to meet some of the people I've gotten to know online over the past couple of years in the flesh for the first time. Another interesting point was to see how broad the range of MVPs is - ages, regions, ethic backgrounds, etc. Overall, a very positive experience

Biology GCSE was yesterday - that was OK - I managed to answer all the questions (always a good sign) but they didn't ask a single question about the heart, which I'd learned off by hard (no pun intended). Maths AS module P1 is today - done a past paper this morning so I'm geared up. I'm just going to read over APs and GPs before I go (i'm not certain on the proof for the sum of a GP).

Good luck to anyone doing any exams at the moment (you probably won't need it - unlike me!)

:)

Well, it seems to be a holiday this week. Well, not really. Just a week more to revise before the next burst of exams
Sorry again for the lack of activity...
Yearbook is nearing completion now, should be finished by the end of the day
Trying to attach names to all the photos we've been given by Finesse Photography has been enlightening - I enver knew there were so many people that I never knew...

Sorry about the lack of updates - revision and other things have gotten the better of me (yes, I know that isn't standard English)

I did some music revision today, and have now realised that the exam boards are killing the subject. They either pick some of the best music ever written, and ask completely inappropriate questions about it, or just pick really bad music to give you 1.5 hours of torture in the form of a music exam.

If anyone's looking for Amiga components, look no further than eBay. I'm auctioning three components there at the moment, and more will be trickling out as I get round to adding them.

And one more thing:
USE THE FORA!!! The nav link is there, and there is a new easy-to-remember URL (mvps.org/the_nerd/fora) so there's no excuse!!