boogaj

Ah, long abandoned blog...

Not knitting a whole lot these days, but if you want to follow along as I make a video game, I've got a tumblr you can follow. Our first post is up!

 

I've been working on getting my new business set up.

I've been busy getting my new business off the ground, which means I've been working on my new website -- juliemanderson.com. 

If anyone still reads this little blog, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the site!

School - Year 1

Well, I'm finishing up my first year of school at Northwestern and since my final class isn't offered this Summer, it looks like I'll be back in the Fall.  This year we did a little front-end programming, but the focus was mainly on UX/UI (User experience and User Interface) and Information Architecture.

I did a paper on Instagram this semester and as an avid Instagram user I was interested to find out so much about their history and changes they've made throughout the years. If you want to check it out, my paper is on Medium.

Making Things

I've decided to make 2016 about making stuff and being creative. Last year was, well, not the greatest for me. We had some big changes in our lives and working through it, finding a new normal, was tough, but rewarding. 

Now I'm coming out the other side (fingers crossed) and I'm ready to get back to all the things I love -- learning, making, creating. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my drawings from Lisa Congdon's daily drawing challenge. It hasn't even been two weeks and I'm already feeling more confident in my drawing abilities. The practice of drawing daily is almost like meditation and I hope to keep it going after January, and the challenge, have ended.

Maddie & I finally made some of these tied fleece blankets over the weekend. After a mild and damp start to the winter, we are starting to get some seriously cold weather, making these a timely timely crafting project. While cutting the strips in the edge of the blankets, Maddie & I spent a few hours together chatting, making this a nice mother/daughter bonding project. In case you were wondering, this is my blanket. Maddie's chose a MY Little Pony fleece for hers.

I even finished up a knitting project this January! Here - finally - is Drachenfels. 

I even blocked it. Maybe 2016 is my year.

Serious Changes

So... I'm going back to school. 

Way back in 1992, I graduated from University of Illinois with a degree in English Literature. Not the most useful degree, I suppose, but IBM was looking for liberal arts majors from U of I apparently (there were a bunch of us hired within 2-3 years) and I fell into finance. I guess I was good at my job, because they kept promoting me, but I was never really happy in the field. IBM had some pretty great benefits, including free tuition for those pursuing an MBA, so I briefly went back to school in the mid 90's with an MBA in mind.

Then I got promoted. This new job had me traveling full time and there was no way to keep attending school and I didn't really want an MBA anyway. Then I got engaged, got sick of travel, and decided to pursue the career that I had wanted since I was 10 years old -- I wanted to be a computer programmer.

I taught myself C (and html) and applied (again) to graduate school. I got in to DePaul (again) and in 1998 I quit my job, started working at a finance company that was within walking distance from my (new) house, and started taking computer science courses. While at DePaul I learned C++ and loved it. I eventually quit my "real" job, started working the morning shift as a barista and went back to school full time.

Then life happened -- marriage, death, moving, pregnancy, illness -- all the major life events and all at once. I forged ahead, but in 2002 something had to give, and that thing was school.

I started some businesses, founded a charity with family and friends and decided to homeschool my daughter. Meanwhile, I never stopped programming. I learned more about HTML, CSS and Javascript, then when Maddie got a little older and I had more time, I learned Python -- which I then taught to her. This ignited that passion once again and I started looking into web development. 

Last winter, Maddie decided that she wanted to give high school a try and I encouraged it. While homeschooling had been very fulfilling for us, we were having a difficult time finding teen groups and Maddie wanted to pursue more activities where she would be with other kids.

So, about 6 months ago I moved up my life plan. I thought I was going to be teaching Maddie for 4 more years, but that was no longer the case. I looked into programs and started learning on my own. I dove into web development -- Javascript, JQuery, MySQL, Ruby, Ruby on Rails.

Jump to today -- I'm getting prepared to start school tomorrow at Northwestern University where I am pursuing a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Web Development. Yes, I'm 45. Yes, I'm nervous to be going back to school, but I've got to say that I'm excited too. I've always loved learning and I'm thrilled to be attending a great school to learn something I've always loved.

Wish me luck!

Thank god for coffee

So, this morning I woke up at 4am from a nightmare. I'm a pretty good sleeper, but if I wake up after about 3am I can rarely get back to sleep -- especially when my back is bothering me, which it is.

I lay in bed, trying desperately to think calming thoughts so I could get in another hour or two of sleep, but all I kept picturing was my dream. In it we were at a pool -- probably on vacation. It was me, Pete, Maddie and another younger child which was mine (Maddie is my only child in real life). At some point, I look at the pool and the youngest child is gone. I freak out and start screaming for help, only to see the child on the bottom of the pool. At that moment, I awoke.

Scary, right? 

I Googled the dream and supposedly the death of a child in a dream means that your inner child might be dying (I don't think so), or that you feel your child is growing up and doesn't need you anymore (possibly -- Maddie is 14), or that part of your potential is dying (hmmmm), or that you are getting old and transitioning from middle aged to old age (I certainly hope not!).

Whatever the meaning of this nightmare is, I am loving coffee today... and Advil. Bad sleep never improves a bad back.

Making a List

Holidays make me crazy. I'm very much a creature of habit and I'm very happy when I'm on a regular schedule. So in order to cope, I've taken to writing lists before any holiday or other event that might mess with my calm. After taking this photo, I realized that my initial holiday list was populated entirely with food concerns -- what to have for Christmas dinner, our family progressive dinner, Christmas morning and other various holiday goodies.

In other holiday news, the tree is up and decorated. Of course there was a last minute problem with the lights that resulted in Pete & I running all over town looking for replacements. I'm sure this doesn't happen every year, but it sure feels like it does. I'm happy with the new lights and they have a 2 year warranty, so I suppose next year the light situation won't be a problem.