June 28

Thursday June 28, 2007 4:50 am Lethbridge

It is +13 C with a high forecast of +32 C. Sunrise 5:26 Sunset 21:43 Hours of daylight: 16:23

A. Morning Musings

4:50 am

I am still reverberating from the success late yesterday at finally developing a working web page for this site that utilizes XHTML and CSS and which uses this approach for designing a web page that incorporates a nested approach to including a notebook display within the overall design for a daily Learning journal.

This overall approach, which conforms to the W3C standard for XHTML, is much more powerful and personal than the current interest in blogging. I also have doubts about many blogs. Although their main feature is ease of use, this comes at a price of limited features. In a similar vein, a blog focuses on the writer's opinion, whereas a Web site is much more amenable to the presentation of content.

There are 3 days left in this week. Here is the planning chart that I developed last Sunday for this week:

June 24-30	Description	Start	End
	Sorted by Start Date
Technology	Read & make notes for chaps. 7 - 13 "Teach Yourself XML in 21 Days"	Jun 18	Jun 26
Technology	Recode journal pages using CSS	Jun 22	Jun 27
Science	Read & make notes for "The Canon" by Natalie Angier	Jun 22
Technology	Read & make notes for chaps. 2 - 3 of "CSS- The Designer's Edge"	Jun 23	Jun 26
Literature	Read "By a Frozen River" by Norman Levine	Jun 23
Mathematics	Continue reading "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete" by Frederick Goodman (complete section 1.4)	Jun 23

I have completed one activity (which took much of my available time over the last 4 days). But the level of satisfaction that accompanies this is huge. I have deleted two activities related to this topic as no longer being necessary or appropriate. That leaves 3 activities: Science, Literature, and Mathematics. I still expect to complete the Levine book of short stories by the end of the week. The science book is excellent, but I doubt that I will finish it this week. I will be satisfied if I pass the half-way mark. That leaves Mathematics. I have yet to begin this activity.

B. Plan

Immediate	Description	Time
Literature	Continue reading "By a Frozen River" by Norman Levine	1 hr
Science	Read & make notes for chaps 4 - 5 of "The Canon"	1 hr
Mathematics	Review sections 1 - 3 of "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete"	1 hr

C. Actual Learning Activities

7:10 am

I have done a search on my two favorite book web sites (chapters.ca and amazon.ca) for books on XHTML and CSS. There are a number of interesting titles. Now to visit the local Chapters store and browse the computer shelves to see what they have. This book looked particularly interesting: Essential XHTML Fast : Creating Dynamic Web Sites with XHTML and Javascript (Paperback) by John Cowell.

I have just finished reading chapter 5 of "The Canon". I am rapidly becoming a fan of Angier. Her wit and language is sparkling. Even better, she captures the essential underlying ideas of physics and chemistry. I am looking forward to her two chapters on biology - her specialty.

8:40 am

I continue to learn little things. I have now fixed up the two W3C logos (bottom of left margin) so they also act as links to the W3C validation site where the current files can be re-validated. This allows the viewer to verify that the page (or the CSS file) does in fact satisfy the W3C standards. Cool.