CHD Grab Bag of Fall CALL y’All!

CHD Grab Bag
of Fall CALL y’All!
November 2022 … ALREADY???

November …  already? WOW …. and deserving of … ALL CAPS! NOVEMBER … ALREADY? This semester has gone both fast and slow … at the same time! And that sums up the entire year too! 

This post will mostly be a summary with a few teasers about what might be coming up soon in CALL and elsewhere. It has been a very busy semester and quite the varied usage in CALL too! CALL has been around since September of 1989.  That is NOT a typo – since 1989! And so many new and different uses just in this semester alone! And a bit of a list below in very rough chronological order! And the photos will be in a gallery at the end of this post.

  • American Sign Language (ASL) Orientation to start the year!  Very successful on many accounts – they meet their Instructors (Nigel & Tim!), they find CALL so that they know WHERE their quizzes, midterms and Final exams will be and discover it is a drop-in location for them too! Thanks Sandra! Good luck to all the students with their studies! ASL is so much fun and is THE hardest class to get into at UVic with huge waiting lists!
  • CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist IIComputer Help Desk Staff Training! Only the 2nd IN PERSON training since returning to UVic! And of course, a new version of CHD Jeopardy: Greg’s Playlist II! And lots of prizes were won – see my last post here.
  • PAAS Korean Chat Cafe is back in full force too! What a perfect blend of location, technology and amazing Instructors! Students get to chat with real live Koreans during their scheduled class time! Thanks Jaerang!
  • All kinds of Linguistics quizzes and mid-terms and later on this semester, ANOTHER Linguistics Poster Session as well! Last year, that event was the genesis of the idea to have dual monitors in CALL! Thanks for the idea, Sandra! Fortunately, I was able to reuse some older tech destined for recycling – dongles, monitors and cables from Heather at HSD and with Tomoyo’s help, setup ALL the computers in CALL with DUAL MONITORS for literally ZERO COST (just my ‘CALL Time’) and avoid shredding this older tech! Check out my PAGE about UVic recycling HERE! And for any students returning to CALL in September, the ‘new’ dual monitors were a huge new and WELCOME update! YAY!  ALL my Bog Blog pages are always to the side of each and every post! YAY PAGES!
  • A Global Community Workshop, 2 sessions over 2 weeks helped international Business students navigate hiring and improving their resumes.
  • Italian quizzes and exams! YAY ESTELLE!
  • Hispanic & Italian Studies Annual Colloquium including a Spanish Lansdowne Lecture – a FIRST for The CALL Facility! And a Spanish Writing Workshop too! Quite the combination of new events hosted in CALL! You can find ALL UVic Public Lectures here.
  • Hosted a group of international students from Pearson College of the Pacific at the end of their weeklong ‘shadowing’ of Spanish courses at UVic! They met in CALL to watch a Spanish YouTube video and workshop the week that was! Thanks Silvia and Adriana!
  • I continued to participate in the Annual Great BC Shakeout! I take cover under my desk and …. I am usually the only one who DOES participate! UVic has a great Emergency Planning site too! And the Earthquake & Tsunami site is here! Check it out!
  • All sorts of Computer Help Desk Pop-Up Tents for Orientation and most recently, Phishing Awareness. AND in the very near future, this November, CALL will be used for Phishing Awareness Training! The OAC Phish Bowl is here! Thanks Kelly!
  • Spanish SIELE exam is scheduled in CALL later in November! It has been about 3 years (pre-Covid) since CALL hosted this prestigious exam! Looking forward to it! Thanks Silvia and Pablo!
  • A very special Spanish class with Gabriela will feature a Peruvian Rapper via a Zoom call for her students later in November! This is ANOTHER new and exciting event in CALL for her Spanish students! Thanks Gabriela and Chrissie!
  • Spanish Oral exams will be conducted in CALL as well, another first! Thanks Pablo!
  •          CSI CALL Halloween

    Halloween Decorations in CALL! Yeah, yet another chalk outline using old Mac Mini cables. Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him! And amazingly it was gone the next day … without even needing a FAMIS request! They are SO GOOD!

  • And, of course, I am working on the NEXT CHD Jeopardy: A Mixed Bag! Tentatively sometime in January 2023, I want to add more prizes, INSTANT prizes using the new CHD Wheel of Prizes and have all new jokes, puns and puzzles to this next edition! Thanks to everyone at CHD for … putting up with me and my crazy imagination!

I am fairly certain I have forgotten a few events, so I reserve the right to … add them later on! In CALL, every day is different, every student is different and every joke and pun I think of … might not be different so I reserve the right to use them over and over and over again! And now, for some photos of the events above!

Thanks to EVERYONE at CHD for participating and your support too! I can’t make The CALL Facility or Jeopardy ‘CAN’T MISS EVENTS‘ without all of you! Thank you!

TTFN!

CHD Jeopardy All Staff Training September 2022

CHD Jeopardy
ALL STAFF  TRAINING
September 2022

YAY!
ALL STAFF  TRAINING
WAS BACK ON THE WEEKEND! 

CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist II
    CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II

Only the second time since Covid started in March of 2020 (for UVIC remote) that we were able to host an in-person training session, complete with CHD Supers, Coops and Consultants and … CHD JEOPARDY! CART2D2 was even there! Brand new questions, answers, puns, jokes and PRIZES TOO in …

Jeopardy XI Greg's Playlist
     Jeopardy XI Greg’s Playlist I

Greg’s Playlist II! And don’t forget about Greg’s Playlist I either! 

Come for the training, stay for the Jeopardy … & the food!

Many more Toblerone Challenges  too! SEVEN Toblerone challenges throughout training, beginning with the very first slide that had FOUR Toblerone bars up for grabs!

The four answers are: Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill (Sage),  Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved (Chris), Tina Turner and Bryan  Adams – It’s Only  Love (Chris again!) and Ed Sheeran – Thinking  Out Loud (Sage again!)

Multiple winners ARE ALLOWED!

Rem for Worf from ST:TNG with Worf proclaiming that prune juice is a Warrior’s drink!

 

Zoe for solving the anagram of ‘The Computer Help Desk Rocks”! 

 

Alexandra for correctly identifying a favourite old TV series of mine “Get Smart” with Agent 86 – Maxwell Smart! Was it the shoe phone that gave it away? LOL!

And there definitely  were even “Early Bird Winners” of Sarah, Alexandra and Tom – yes, multiple MULTIPLE winners!  I can’t fool them!

For the next Jeopardy in .. January 2023, I am tinkering with ideas ranging from a Scavenger Hunt (digital!), Wheel of Doom (from CHD), more Puzzles to solve and even A category of “Dad Jokes” too! Be afraid … be VERY afraid!

What DID backfire on me was my Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW)  question! It was the first ever POLL within Jeopardy so EVERYBODY had a chance to win some chocolate bars! But I was upended by … NOBODY believing ST:SNW was the …  BEST STAR TREK SERIES EVER! LOL! I was all set to throw chocolate bars at anyone  who agreed with me … and not a single arm went up! HAHA! The chocolate bars will be in the Staff Kitchen soon, along with lots of chocolate based goodies for everyone who did attend and participate! THANK YOU ALL! 

A couple of LIVE snapshots of CHD Jeopardy LIVE from the weekend and also CART2D2 are below  .. scroll  down to see them!

AND, as a BONUS feature, I turned the PowerPoint of CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II into a video and have posted it at YouTube! So you can  slowly go through, WATCHING Jeopardy! You can scroll down below or click HERE to go directly to it! YAY JEOPARDY!

I have kept the thumbnails (down below) from a previous post about “A Brief History of Time, Space & … JEOPARDY At The Computer Help Desk” but you can always go back a few posts and read more!

I …. encourage that!
& reading ALL previous
CALL Me Bog posts TOO!


 

 

CHD Workshop
                   CHD Workshop

 

CALL Jeopardy I
                     CALL Jeopardy I

 

CALL ++ Jeopardy
                  CALL ++ Jeopardy

 

Jeopardy III Knee-d-Full Things
       Jeopardy III Knee-d-Full Things

 

Jeopardy IV Endgame
               Jeopardy IV Endgame

 

Jeopardy V Pop Culture
             Jeopardy V Pop Culture
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeopardy VI Reboot Version
            Jeopardy VI Reboot Version
Jeopardy VI Dual re-Boot
             Jeopardy VI Dual re-Boot
Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
         Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Bo
Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
          Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
Jeopardy IX Memes "R" Us
                                                   Jeopardy IX Memes “R” Us
CHD Jeopardy Generation CHD
                                                       CHD Jeopardy Generation CHD

 

 

 

 

          

Jeopardy XI Greg's Playlist
                                                    Jeopardy XI Greg’s Playlist

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist II
                                           CHD Jeopardy XII Greg’s Playlist II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to EVERYONE at CHD for participating and your support too! I can’t make Jeopardy without all of you! Thank you!

TTFN!

WELCOME BACK TO UVIC September 2022!

! WELCOME BACK !
! to UVIC !
! September 2022 !
! … and The CALL Facility too !

A full week has  passed since classes started at UVIC! That would cover every day that has classes! It has been extremely busy on campus, especially outdoors with so many orientations, booths, tents and activities like Thunderfest for all students, especially new students! WELCOME TO UVIC!

The  Computer Help Desk had tents up at Thunderfest as well as the day before classes started last week. CHD had a brand new PRIZE WHEEL to give away prizes! YAY CHD!

A couple of photos of the tents for all the activities and staffed by ALL kinds of CHD staff from new Coops to Consultants to Supers to Full Time Staff to our Associate Director too! GREAT TEAM EFFORT FROM EVERYONE! Those tents DO require team effort to setup and take down! YAY CHD!

All sorts of exciting stuff will be happening throughout September
& all upcoming semesters!

Did you know you can reserve Student Study Spaces, including the desks at the back of The CALL Facility? There are Project Rooms in BEC, Group Study Tables in Clearihue (CALL), Virtual Reality (VR) Studio in BEC and a Digital Media Studio in HSD! ALL from THIS WEBSITE! Photos below!

A few more Dual Monitors

CALL now has DUAL MONITORS ON ALL COMPUTER WORKSTATIONS! And that is on all the Macs and WIN computers! I was able  to re-purpose a bunch of monitors heading towards recycling and they now have a new lease on life in CALL! And it did not cost a penny! I used all available cables,  monitors, dongles and power bars! BONUS FOR BEING A GREEN CALL FACILITY! Here are many UVIC Green Recycling Sites to check out too! These and the best of my Pages are always at the right hand side of each of my Bog Blog Posts

I am always tinkering with my CALL Facility orientation, starting as a PowerPoint and with the goal to be under 5 minutes TOTAL as a presentation! I have tweaked my BETA version  and now have what I think  I will use as my file! And as a YouTube video as well!

CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist II
                     CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II

AND I have the next CHD All Staff Training Jeopardy readyGreg’s Playlist II and all new questions, answers, prizes and lyrics and CHD questions to try and answer! I even have NEW TYPES OF QUESTIONS TOO! But you will have to wait and .. also be staff at CHD to get the invite to the training! Come for the training … but stay for the food … and CHD JEOPARDY!

And huge HUGE NEWS THATI can’t really tell you about …  but WILL! There are new computers coming! Wait, they are ALREADY HERE! But wait, they are not yet ready to deploy! YES NEW  COMPUTERS! CHD staff unpacked them and we have to store them for now, as classes have started, so maybe  by Reading Break I will  let everyone know where they will be deployed! YAY NEW COMPUTERS! Stay glued to my Bog Blog for that and any other breaking Computer Help Desk news!

And how about a new feature every so often – a Throwback Link to topics … somewhat close to this one! LOL! And even some parting advice at the end of this blog, if you read that far!  I sure hope you do!

The best feature of the CALL layout (thanks to rolling desks!) is distancing to make sure everyone has enough room, should they want it. There are lots of open workstations for students and of course, all new computers from last August 2021 too.

CALL has  hosted many mid-terms, Finals and special workshops including a Chat Café with Korea! Really! So come on down and see what you  have been missing out on as a study space for yourself and fellow students!

Thanks to EVERYONE for all your help and support over the past 2+ Covid years. Without my colleagues support and friendship, I have no idea how I would have fared! THANK YOU ALL! And hey, to quote one of my favourite  TV shows of all time …. Hill Street Blues ….. and I have to mention St. Elsewhere too. AWESOME SHOWS! ENJOY!

CALL Towering Tech Arrivals

CALL Computer Refresh Deja Vu .. All Over Again

The Recycling of CALL … and HSD!

Early Computer Help Desks!

TTFN!

Doctor Jeopardy and the UVic Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange Jeopardy
and the
UVic Multiverse of Madness

Jeopardy XI Greg's Playlist
                              Jeopardy XI Greg’s Playlist

The Computer Help Desk had our first ALL STAFF In-Person Training session recently and I was able to present CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist for  the FIRST TIME SINCE COVID STARTED! And I introduced brand new fun CHD Jeopardy questions, including Fill in the BlanksMultiple Choice and TOBLERONE PRIZES for  solving puzzles and scavenger hunts! Thanks to everyone who participated and WON!

CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist II
                       CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II

AND I am almost done my September CALL Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II! I like to have it all ready WELL in advance of the next training session! And there will  be more new Jeopardy questions, MORE Toblerone prizes and NEW ways to win NEW PRIZES TOO! And maybe even …. Spoiler Alert …. A GROUP JEOPARDY QUESTION TOO WHERE EVERYONE CAN WIN SOMETHING!!!

I try to do one or two new different participatory slides each time and the next Jeopardy will be BIGGER AND BETTER WITH  MORE CHANCES TO  WIN PRIZES! Listen closely …. do you want to know what …. and how to win Jeopardy prizes  …….

SSssshhhh ….. can you keep a secret? Well …. so can I! LOL!

And, Spoiler Alert … I am also working on a brand new CALL Orientation PowerPoint for September

ST: Strange New Worlds
                                                                           ST: Strange New Worlds

And you never know … there might even be a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Jeopardy question too! ANYTHING can happen in the UVIC Multiverse of Madness! (And subtle joke … notice how I tied Marvel AND Star Trek, into  the title of this Bog Blog post ….. a chocolate bar to the first CHD Staff person who reads this far AND tells me the connection! (WAY easier than you think to solve!)

ST:Strange New Worlds HIT IT!
                                                                  ST: Strange New Worlds HIT IT!

I have kept the thumbnails (below) from my previous post about “A Brief History of Time, Space & … JEOPARDY At The Computer Help Desk” but you can always go back one post and read more!

I …. encourage that!
& reading ALL previous
CALL Me Bog posts TOO!

CHD Workshop
                   CHD Workshop

 

CALL Jeopardy I
                     CALL Jeopardy I

 

CALL ++ Jeopardy
                  CALL ++ Jeopardy

 

Jeopardy III Knee-d-Full Things
       Jeopardy III Knee-d-Full Things

 

Jeopardy IV Endgame
               Jeopardy IV Endgame

 

Jeopardy V Pop Culture
             Jeopardy V Pop Culture
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeopardy VI Reboot Version
            Jeopardy VI Reboot Version
Jeopardy VI Dual re-Boot
             Jeopardy VI Dual re-Boot
Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
         Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Bo
Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
          Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
Jeopardy IX Memes "R" Us
                                                   Jeopardy IX Memes “R” Us
CHD Jeopardy Generation CHD
                                                       CHD Jeopardy Generation CHD

 

 

 

 

          

Jeopardy XI Greg's Playlist
                                                    Jeopardy XI Greg’s Playlist

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist II
                                           CHD Jeopardy XII Greg’s Playlist II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to EVERYONE at CHD for participating and your support too! I can’t make Jeopardy without all of you! Thank you!

TTFN!

A Brief History of Time and Space and … Jeopardy at The Computer Help Desk

A Brief  History of Time, Space & …
JEOPARDY
At The Computer Help Desk

                  The CALL Facility

The Computer Help Desk had our first ALL STAFF In-Person Training session this past Saturday in The CALL Facility! Around 2.5 YEARS since our last one,  probably around February in 2020 before … well … you know what happened after that!

               The CALL Facility

CHD has still had training sessions throughout working  remotely, but used other collaborative software applications such as Blackboard, Zoom, Skype and now TEAMS to offer training for all our new Coops and returning Consultants! SPOILER ALERT – I prefer TEAMS to all of the alternatives! YAY TEAMS!

This post will be a brief recap of ALL the CHD ‘Jeopardy’ training sessions and how it has changed from the very first workshop I presented at .. and it was not even Jeopardy back then!

CHD Workshop
                   CHD Workshop

The very FIRST Saturday CHD Workshop presentation was a general introduction to The CALL Facility and WICKET! WICKET was essentially an attendance program, custom written for CALL to keep track of student ‘attendance’ in CALL. Many Departments, including Spanish, Italian, German, French, Linguistics and more, required a lab component to their classes for students, typically an hour a week, with at least one visit. WICKET would identify the student and class(es) they were taking and staff would assign a location for them. When they left, they would ‘sign out’ at the front counter and their time and visit would be logged!

CALL Jeopardy I
                     CALL Jeopardy I

Next was the first ever CALL version  of Jeopardy! And I take NO CREDIT for the template that was used! Sherri originated the template for a Systems social event, so ….  I just acquired the template! And it truly was a CALL Version. But over the years,  I have mostly titled them ‘CALL Jeopardy’, but they really are just ‘Jeopardy’ or ‘CHD Jeopardy’ now! It was bare bones, no Trivia, and just pick a number under a category. But it was a start for Jeopardy!

CALL ++ Jeopardy
                  CALL ++ Jeopardy

Then I started to get a bit more … imaginative … and introduced Jeopardy II CALL ++ Version! I started playing around with themes, backgrounds, puns, jokes and … TRIVIA under each category! Yeah, you are probably saying .. what took you so long! I even put in a ‘Daily Double’ but only for cosmetic reasons! Why not! And the side benefit was … I was learning about more features of PowerPoint! Many of my CALL orientations were using Keynote slides – which have awesome special effects! But PowerPoint has been a mainstay of Jeopardy from the beginning!

Jeopardy III Knee-d-Full Things
       Jeopardy III Knee-d-Full Things

And then even more adventurous with the next rendition of Jeopardy III – Knee-d-Full-Things! At the time I was having knee surgery, and I think Stranger Things was just taking off too! AND a Star Wars movie was out too so .. the theme basically wrote itself! I even started to use some graphics within the trivia part of the categories too. But that has fallen a bit to the side! Trivia was barely an option back then!

Jeopardy IV Endgame
               Jeopardy IV Endgame

Then came the truly first ‘themed’ version of Jeopardy ENDGAME! Most of us at CHD are huge fans of Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Pokémon … OR ALL OF THEM! So this version full  blown Trivia was in force as each question required knowing where each Marvel movie ‘quote’ came from, either the movie or the character! And of course, Endgame had just come out too! So … Spoiler Alert: there WERE SPOILERS in Jeopardy! 

Jeopardy V Pop Culture
             Jeopardy V Pop Culture

Next up would  be Jeopardy V Pop Culture! This was fun because I started to put a few more GIFs in each slide and … it was becoming quite challenging to come up with new and fun questions for all the new Coops, and Consultants to try and figure out! Each new Jeopardy I add a new layer of … something … to make it better and more interesting for everyone, especially myself! Pop Culture let me pick SO MANY NEW Trivia questions too! This was one of my favourite Jeopardy sessions!

Jeopardy VI Reboot Version
            Jeopardy VI Reboot Version

Then came a series of remote training sessions, based on the idea that we were all really trying to ‘reboot’ ourselves into a new world of remote computing and nobody, NOBODY, had any idea how much our work at the CHD would be affected by being home for so long. Jeopardy VI Reboot Version was the first attempt at using Blackboard, I think, and it was a bit disastrous! I ran out of time, the AV was a bit wonky too. I had been in Teams and perhaps Zoom just PRIOR and I was in the wrong Blackboard channel and the problems just continue to mount with a weird double-echo in my headset. So I basically abandoned this one mid-training! LOL! But this was a learning moment for  me too! What NOT to do .. before Jeopardy!

Jeopardy VI Dual re-Boot
             Jeopardy VI Dual re-Boot

And of course, the obvious title  for the next session would be Jeopardy VII Dual re-Boot! That was also a pun on all the CALL computers … which were Dual Boot MAC/WIN at the time! There is always a slightly skewed reason for all the titles, question, trivia and answers! Spoiler Alert: That won’t change anytime soon! 🙂 And, I also ran out of time with this version of Jeopardy! But the silver lining to having incomplete Jeopardy, is that CHD Review was introduced and given about 5 minutes at the conclusion of each CHD (Super) Review, there was time to finish of any Jeopardy questions! YAY! Jeopardy was no longer … in Jeopardy! 🙂

Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
         Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot

And then came the first ‘Triple Header’ called Jeopardy TRIPLE re-BOOT! This was not the first use of actual video links in Jeopardy, but I included a link to a brief orientation of CALL for everyone, and also

Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot
          Jeopardy VIII Triple re-Boot

for when I would be away for my major knee surgery – I am either part Borg or part Terminator with my new left knee! THAT was 6 months away from work, so there was a gap in training session participation for me! And I seem to have a version of Triple re-Boot Jeopardy with a different start screen! Ah, I need a RAM upgrade soon as I am forgetting my own Jeopardy sessions! 🙂

Jeopardy IX Memes "R" Us
           Jeopardy IX Memes “R” Us

Then came a ‘ground breaking’ version of Jeopardy IX MEMEs ‘R’ Us! I discovered a site that EASILY made a custom meme with whatever you wanted to put on it! Every slide had a unique CHD Meme on it, usually poking fun at the question, CHD, staff and even myself! This was a fantastic new addition, for me, as it opened up all kinds of possibilities! And if I could not find a ‘blank’ existing meme/gif then I was able to create one with Handbrake as a brief video from a source video, slice out a few second, then turn that video, complete with my own text, into the EXACT meme I wanted, at ezgif.com!

CHD Jeopardy Poll
                   CHD Jeopardy Poll

And then a new approach to be inclusive of all our CHD staff! I wanted to ask THEM what kind of Trivia questions they would like to answer, prior to the actual CHD style question! CHD was mastering Teams and I created a Poll to ask what Trivia and … the winner was … DISNEY! 

Jeopardy X Generation CHD
         Jeopardy X Generation CHD

But the runners up were all Disney too – so that narrowed it down considerably … but also made it more challenging too, to find more recent as well as classic quotes from … DISNEY!  LOL! And the CHD crew were up to task and it was another favourite training session that was Jeopardy Generation CHD

Jeopardy XI Greg's Playlist
                     Jeopardy XI Greg’s Playlist

And the most recent one, last Saturday was Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist and is also my most favourite Jeopardy of All Time! This version had everything – GIFs, Trivia, Emoji Hints, Animation, Puns, Jokes, Links on almost every page … and the best part … LIVE AND IN PERSON FROM THE CALL FACILITY! Yeah, I had fun and I sure hope everyone else did too! And also for the first time, JEOPARDY RECORDED! I should go and look, but would probably just … not sure what! LOL!

And the next Jeopardy will be a continuation or … arguably … a sequel to Greg’s Playlist … Greg’s Playlist II! And I have already started to work on it … AND … I am asking Consultants when they are in CALL, what is THEIR #1 song on THEIR OWN PLAYLIST! So that way I can make it even more inclusive and involve more people from CHD! And I will  still  have some of my own songs too – Maybe including ‘Hotel CALL-ifornia‘ from The Eagles! LOL! You can check out … but you can never leave … CALL!

The entire roster of Jeopardy PowerPoint slides is here, or click on the BOG BLOG PAGES to the left and then on CALL Jeopardy Opus. And each of the individual slides above, if you click on each one, takes you DIRECTLY to that particular version of Jeopardy in pdf format! They don’t have all the animations, GIFs, etc. So if you want to see those, let me know and I can send you the PowerPoint file through Teams.

Thanks to EVERYONE at CHD for participating and your support too! I can’t make Jeopardy without all of you! Thank you!

TTFN!

My Favourite ‘Favourites’ at OAC!

! MY Favourite ‘Favourites’!
! AT OAC !

It occurs to me that …  I really like blogging here at OAC! I published a daily blog in the initial months of remote computing and all of a sudden, I had published almost 230 Posts! And a handful of Pages too. What is the difference between a BogPost‘ and a ‘BogPage‘, welPages and Postsl, I wrote a Post about that called Pages and Posts … What Gives?

And of course, that led me to think about which ones were my … favourites amongst them all! Yeah, not fair, but … I make the rules here! So I will now attempt to list, in no particular order, my “Top 10 Favourite Posts

I will  have one ‘filter’ though … the Post had to have the word “favourite” in  it somewhere – preferably the title! So that will sub sort it quite a bit! So,  HERE GOES!

TOP 10 FAVOURITE POSTS
AT MY BOG BLOG

  1. Think Different or . . . Apple Commercials Through the Years” would be a favourite at anytime, simply because of the sheer imagination of Apple Commercials. A long ago summer project was to learn how to create a DVD and what better source than … Apple commercials! And I think my favourite Apple commercial is for an iPad … “Your Verse Apple iPad Commercial – What Will Your Verse Be?” Watch it and try to disagree with me!
  2. I’m Sorry Dave or . . . My Favourite Computer AI Voices in Movies and TVeasily makes my Top 10. A gimme if ever  there was one as we reference many phrases and moments almost DAILY at CHD! In other  words, Make it So,  Bogman!
  3. 1, 2, 3, . . . . or My Favourite Language Lesson of All Time!” and to this day, it is STILL my favourite language lesson of ALL TIME! My first ever TEACHING job was in Calgary,  teaching  basic computing  skills. Including BASIC as a programming language! Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code! Literally … BASIC!
  4. Open Book Exams . . . . or . . . . My Favourite Textbooks“. How can anyone LIKE a textbook much less make it a Favourite? Well, I did! I have kept many of my favourite textbooks throughout the years! Why not! They helped me get through many a tough course and … that I enjoyed them was a side bonus!
  5. CART2D2 – There is no try! Do or Do Not Young Skywalker!THIS is a favourite because CART2D2 is a favourite! We are still playing around with this to find some great uses and the next big use will be at our first IN PERSON  CHD TRAINING SESSION on May 28th! YAY! There is no try … Do or Do Not!
  6. Comparing Apples and Oranges but not actually ….. Oranges!” Recycling is HUGE at UVic and I try to recycle as much as I possibly can. And when CHD had quite literally a MOUNTAIN OF TECH show up last summer, CALL was used as a staging area for so much tech! And with so much PACKING AND CARDBOARD TOO! So any chance I get to promote recycling, I take it! And we are in the beginning  stages of a new refresh so … warm up your Blue Bins, UVic!
  7. Throwback Thursday . . . or . . . Language Quotes! (and a bit of nostalgia!)” Who doesn’t enjoy a quick quote as a comeback or as a poster in their office! I probably only have a few stored in my long term PRAM that could be ZAPPED at any moment! So quotes about computers, life and especially Languages, is right up my alley in CALL!
  8. Bold Italics Comic Sans . . . or Word Processors Through the Years” One of my first ever Computer  Science assignments, on punched cards no less, was to write a program to replace 3 words (that my Instructor had set in a paragraph (read from a mainframe!) with 3 other words. THAT WAS VERY HARD! But now, Gmail docs, Office, Pages … all have keyboard SHORTCUTS for Find and Replace! And none of them use punched cards as source code! Only shows that I correctly guessed that my future career … was NOT to be a Programmer!
  9. I Excel at PowerPoint . . . or Computer Puns and Jokes” What would any Top 10 List be without including a post about my favourite jokes and puns! I never let an opportunity to ‘pun’ go unpunished! And I am usually RESTRAINING myself too!
  10. CALL CHD JEOPARDY OPUS“. How could I create a Top 10 and NOT include Jeopardy! Okay, a bit of a cheat here as this is actually a PAGE that can be accessed anytime from any of my Posts. AND is always updated to the most recent version of JEOPARDY! In fact, the first IN PERSON CHD Training will be on Saturday, May 28th and I will have a brand new Jeopardy – Greg’s Playlist! And it will have new elements such as Fill-in-the-Blanks, Multiple Choice and even some Scavenger Hunts for prizes!

So many Posts/Pages … so little time! I am not writing at the same pace, but reserve my Posts/Pages for my remote day, unless something comes up.

It might take awhile, here’s to my next 230+ Posts and Pages and Randomness at UVic! YAY!

TTFN!

New CHD Staff Training
Coming UP
… and a new Jeopardy too!

Video Playlists at OAC – COOL!

! VIDEO PLAYLISTS!
! AT OAC !

I discovered a feature of WordPress here at OAC that can create Video Playlists in a post! I have used Photo Gallery quite a bit, once I learned how to use them, and published some of my favourite photographs I have taken at this post, Photography Gallery.

This feature allows you to build a .. Video Playlist .. as the name indicates. Very much like a YouTube Playlist, but for OAC purposes, based on media you have at your own OAC Media Library.

The Online Academic Community has some great Tutorials on Organizing Content and the using The Dashboard too!

All you have to do is have some video media (MP4/M4V work best) uploaded to your Media Library. Then in your new or already existing Post/Page, click on the “Add Media” button. Under “Actions“, click “Create video playlist“.  All the videos that are in your Media library will now appear. Click on the ones you want to be in your playlist and a Blue Checkmark will appear on each one.

Then in the bottom right hand corner, click on “Create a new video playlist“. Then click “Insert video playlist” …
et voilàyour video playlist is inserted into your Post!

You can change the order if you want by editing the Video playlist quite easily, if you want to change the order from how you  uploaded them.

If the OAC Media Library does not want to upload your video, use Handbrake to convert to either MP4 or M4V. Free software for both Mac and WIN and works like a charm for converting SO MANY FORMATS! 

A few more helpful links for creating a Video Playlist at OAC. Not all the features mentioned  will work at OAC but there are many hints and images at these sites to help create your Video Playlists at OAC. ENJOY!

  1. Tutorial: How to create a WordPress video gallery
  2. Insert an Audio or Video Playlist
  3. How to Create a Video Gallery in WordPress (Step by Step)
  4. How To Make A Playlist On YouTube (2022)

TTFN!

New CHD Staff Training
Coming UP
… and a new Jeopardy too!

CALL Dual Monitors

! CALL DUAL MONITORS !
! NOW INSTALLED !

CALL Instructor Stations #37 & #38
                            CALL Instructor Stations #37 & #38

The CALL Facility now has dual monitors on each workstation! Well, not all of them. The Instructors stations (#37 & #38) are connected to the VDP and can project to the entire room. And room is needed for laptops and materials at each station. 

The idea to install them came from a Poster Session for Linguistics, described in an earlier post! It was so successful that the monitors at HSD (in storage) that were headed to be recycled, a box of HDMI-DVI dongles and some DVI cables were found …. DUAL  MONITORS! And at absolutely no cost at all! I joke that I found a penny under a station, so my budget not only came in UNDER budget .. but showed a profit!!!!

There are combinations of Portrait and/or Landscape and relatively easy to switch around. I will survey students throughout the summer to see what combination might be preferable. 

Most students are away for the summer and fewer classes are actually scheduled so it will still look like ‘new’ equipment for September!

Thanks to colleagues T, H and G for helping me set them up! Those cable trays are heavy, awkward and filled with .. cables! LOL! And a very green mini-project, saving tech from a landfill too!

Some previous posts on recycling are “The Recycling of CALL and HSD!“,  “CALL Computer Refresh Deja Vu ….. All Over Again” and “UVIC Recycling Links“.

TTFN!

BE READY!!!!

READY!

ON VACATION! Back on AUGUST 30!!

I AM NOW ON VACATION!

What an exhausting and long year since last August – my last full vacation!

And exhausting … for ALL OF  US! I am so fortunate to have been able to  work with such amazing and incredible colleagues at The Computer Help Desk over the past … 500+ DAYS! Yes, it has been that long since we started working remotely, late in March of 2020!

Without ALL of their support, humour, leadership, imagination, guidance  and every single possible ‘intangible‘ that each and every single one of them, ALL BRING to our Teams meetings, emails, texts, GIFs, Emojis, Jeopardy, Quote Contests, it would have been impossible to accomplish a fraction of what WE ALL DID AS A TEAM!

THANK YOU ALL!

A few key UVic and BC websites for returning to campus in September for everyone!

  1. Return-to-Campus Guidelines now available
  2. Return to campus info for students
  3. Communicable Disease Plan now available
  4. UVic News
  5. Update on getting your COVID-19 vaccine
  6. Remote work arrangements announced for the fall
  7. Working remotely
  8. Post-secondary studies during COVID-19
  9. NEW COMPUTERS IN CALL! YAY!
  10. NEW FURNITURE IN CALL! YAY!

Not to worry . . .

August 30th to prep for
. . . Septem . . . PURR !!!!

 

Pandemic


I will bring Empire Donuts when I return to UVic!

~~Bogman~~

 

Passwords and Passphrases – Security

Passwords
&
Passphrases
!! SECURITY !!

My password is ... 'password'
                My password is … ‘password’

Almost every single day, there is news of a new security breach somewhere, and that includes Canada too. And just one aspect of computer security is using a VERY difficult to guess password or passphrase. 

What is the difference? To make a long passphrase short … IS a password! Passphrases are longer and are often REQUIRED to be longer than the passwords that we have become familiar with. 

In fact, coming soon to a UVic keyboard near you, will be new password/passphrase requirements!

      • Increasing passphrase length from 8-30 to 12-128
      • Allowing all 95 ASCII characters (including spaces) to be used in passphrases
      • Checking all new passphrases through Have I Been Pwned’s password API
      • Send automatic emails upon passphrase change to preferred email

All of the above AND MORE
are explained at
Nav’s CISOVlog

CISOVlog
                                                                                    CISO Vlog

And in addition, something called MFA, Multi-Factor Authentication. Basically TWO things you need to know or provide, in order to proceed securely to a UVic or other important site. Think of it as an extra lock on your way into your home, each lock needing a unique key. If you don’t have the first key, you are stopped. And if you don’t have the SECOND key, you are also stopped!

This is  great news and will  provide ADDITIONAL and IMPROVED security for all of UVic and that means for ALL OF US! Check out, of all places, Wikipedia for a ‘Wikipedia’ explanation of (MFA) Multi-Factor Authentication.

So, the next client might not be swearing at you … they might be providing you with their PASSWORD! WHICH THEY SHOULDN’T DO! 

Some fun and interesting links below about famous movie hacks and security!

Stay safe, healthy & SECURE!

Movie Hacks and Security

  1. The Ultimate Hacker Movies List for December 2020
  2. The Complete List Of Hacker And Cybersecurity Movies
  3.  10 Hacker Movies You Should Watch: What Hollywood Gets Right
  4. 9 top hacker movies and TV shows of all time
  5. Hacker Keren Elazari rates 12 hacking scenes in movies and TV for realism
  6. 7 Great Cybersecurity Scenes from Movies
  7. 12 famous passwords used through the ages
  8. Top 10 best hacking films of all time
  9. 20 times Hollywood got hacking right (and oh so wrong)
  10. Best Hacker Cyber Security Movies – Docs & Series of all times

Hacker Breaks Down 26 Hacking Scenes From Movies & TV | WIRED

Best Hacking Scenes In Movies

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Pandemic