On Campus Photo Shoot

ON CAMPUS
PHOTO SHOOT!

(mostly!)

I have actually been working on campus, every Tuesday, since September. I alternate sharing an office with three incredible colleagues, strictly following our Safe Return to Work plans, set out specifically for our return to work.

My anxiety level has lessened but is still there, even though I take ALL the precautions necessary. But it was nice to be back ON CAMPUS for the first time since late last March. And with the Fall session, it looks like we might all be back on campus, Full Time. So, why not celebrate a bit with some great spots ON CAMPUS to check out .. and a few … slightly OFF campus!

One of the best parts of working at UVic is biking up to work. I have been biking every day, for 22 years! Well, not 2020/2021 due to Covid, and not most of 2018 (knee replacement) but I was fully back in the saddle by 2019! And the best part of biking … SUNRISE! SPOILER – I actually took this last week, while … GASP … driving to UVic, but I did bike last Tuesday to campus and will each day from now on … barring horrible weather! Mea culpa!

Click on the title below the photo for a much larger image.

And I really like using a Gallery too! And I will include some video for some soothing UVic fountain moments for everyone too! Okay, some aren’t QUITE from campus, but they were taken on the WAY to campus!

Mystic Vale Sunrise Bike Ride to CHD

Who doesn’t miss the fountain and the sound of water?

Just sit back and enjoy the sound of moving water!

UVic Cool Sites … Just for fun … when you need them!

Campus Virtual Tour (Until we can go back!)
Finnerty Gardens (Ducks and Flowers!)
Munchie Bar(Great coffee!)
Cinecenta (Best popcorn in town!)
Mystic Market (Food galore!)
David Petch Fountain (WordPress site)
Mystic Vale (OAC WordPress site!)
Legend Pole
Cadboro Bay & Gyro Park (10 minute walk from Campus … TO THE OCEAN!)
TOFINO & Pacific Rim National Park! (Technically … not UVic, but a favourite place of mine!)
Restored Legend Pole in centre of campus rededicated and blessed
Indigenous Art on Campus Tour
The Raven Soaring Pole (Replica of a Gitxsan Memorial Pole by Kweenu)
S’YEWE Legend Pole rededicated(I actually helped out back then, but not in photo!)

ENJOY!

Territory Acknowledgement
University of Victoria

UVic Impact Day

UVic United Way Campaign

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Social Media at UVic or … LIKES and FOLLOWS

SOCIAL MEDIA AT UVIC
or
LIKES & FOLLOWS!

“Social Media” – absolutely …. everywhere! And that includes UVic!

SPOILER ALERT #1 – I personally am not that much into “Social Media“. Go ahead and use Google to search for me, but .. not much there! Besides this post is about UVic social media!

… AND THERE ARE
MORE UVIC SITES
THAN I IMAGINED!

OAC Online Academic Community

OAC or Online Academic Community (WordPress) is the most visible and most used by yours truly, so it is #1 on my list of UVic social media!

If you are reading this … YOU ARE AT OAC! Valid UVic NetLink credentials gives you not just a free site, but FREE SITES PLURAL! Make one for courses, for photos, for recipes or for … anything you want! In fact, some courses might even allow for it to be a project or an actual assignment!

And of course, Facebook. EVERYONE has a Facebook account! Spoiler Alert #2 – I DO have a Facebook account … but good luck finding it!

One of the BEST UVic OAC sites is My UVic Life! Written by and for students at UVic always has a timely, informative and FUN perspective on life at UVic!

My UVic Life - OAC — **My UVic Life – OAC**

And The Computer Help Desk (shameless plug, yet again!) has a Twitter account to let the UVic community know about any issues affecting them!

When I went to find a list OF all the social media at UVIC, I found the following site of all the Official UVic Accounts … to the right …

A great list of sites! But then ….. right at the bottom, there is a line that says ‘See the full list: uvic.ca/socialmedia‘ and it takes you to THIS BELOW! The treasure chest of ALL UVic social media sites! WOW AND WOW!

It is truly amazing how many Departments, Programs, Services, Galleries and … YOU NAME IT … have a social media account of some kind! Everything from “Academic Communication, Centre for (CAC)” to “Youth and Society, Centre for” … JUST shy of a ‘Z’ category … and missing ‘X’ too!

And I wonder what is at UVic Ecogastronomy! Click and find out!

Enough UVic social media sites to surf to .. Hawaii!

UVic Social Media Sites to Surf Towards …..

ENJOY!

This is UVic (YouTube)

UVic 2021
What You Need to Know

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

OS Emulators on WIN and macOS

Did You Know …
You might be able to experience . . .
macOS on a WIN computer?
. . . OR other neat EMULATORS too?

You can actually try legacy operating systems … on a browser! And it does not matter if you have WIN or macOS either! There are websites that … almost … let you Time Travel to see what earlier version of (then) current Operating Systems were like! They are not intended to be functional, only descriptive and .. kinda fun, most of them! And no implied guarantee of success here! Just some emulator sites I found out there!

And a HUGE distinction between an emulator of an OS, running on a browser and … actually remote access TO a real computer on campus. That is through a real service at: remotelab.uvic.ca and is EVEN COOLER! The screen grab below is of my old MacBook Pro, accessing a WIN computer in Clearihue! A rather existential question arises … is this Windows IN a Mac, or Windows ON a Mac! 🙂 This will be a future post, just to whet your whistle!

Emulators! According to Wikipedia an emulator is:

In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the host) to behave like another computer system (called the guest).

There are many, many, MANY browser based emulators out there! So I will show a few of them, and then put a list below to try out.

Let’s try Mac emulators first!

Quite a few of these sites have both operating systems listed, so … a Treasure Trove of Emulators!

7 classic versions of Windows and Mac OS you can run in a browser lets you try Mac System 7! This is even before the Cats took over the Mac! Fun Fact – I still own a functioning Mac SE, bought way back in … 1989!!! Such a cool computer!

And what is regarded as the single greatest Macintosh game of all time is … DARK CASTLE! And you can try it out at the same Mac System 7 site! A bit more on games later ….

Inevitable updates to all operating systems are … inevitable! And one of the next ones was Mac OS 8.6: The classic Mac OS nears the end of its life and this was a HUGE upgrade from System 7 – the number alone is … 1+! You can go directly there from here or click the Mac desktop to the left.

And one final Macintosh emulator OS X 10.2: The classic Mac OS is retired …ah, good times, good times …. A HUGE selection of MANY emulators is at VirtualDesktop.org, including OS X 10.2.

And now WINDOWS

The one that started them all .. well, at least in 1995 .. WINDOWS 95! And again, these are all from VirtualDesktop.org, amongst many others! Considering The CALL Facility started out with DOS based machines, running McMaster French, more closely resembling a text adventure game … WINDOWS 95 WAS CONSIDERED SLICED BREAD at the time!

And a final pairing of WINDOWS ME and WINDOWS NT! Microsoft sure like using lots of letters of the alphabet! But, to be fair … Apple liked using cats before Roman Numerals and then portable devices started to show up and now all kinds of … flavours … just like an ice cream shop!

For more Virtual Experiences, I will list a few sites below, but the best to see the most, is at VirtualDesktop.org. Not all there, but .. enough to do a decent days work of Time Travel and see how Operating Systems have changed considerably over the years!

And one last emulator, from my first ever computer that I bought … COMMODORE – C64 Online Emulator! The drawback here is that you need to upload some kind of file FROM an original C64, then it works. So, not much to try here. But I am going to find out HOW to do it though! And even more Online Emulators from the same place too!

I mentioned games earlier, but will have another post in the future about games. Spoile – I am NOT a Gamer!

Emulator Sites to Surf Towards …..

ENJOY!

How to Play Commodore 64 Games on PC!
Commodore 64 emulator! Vice Emulator Setup!

Kim Justice’s Top 50 Commodore 64 Games
of All-Time (YouTube)

Pawn Stars:
A Working Commodore 64
(Season 14) | History

Did you know UVic has a YouTube Channel?

Did You Know …
UVic ...
has a
YouTube Channel?

You probably thought, yes, I … suspected that UVic has a YouTube Channel, but have you BEEN THERE? Probably not! But it is worth your while! So, if a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video apparently worth 1.8 MILLION WORDS!!

UVic’s YouTube channel has some amazing videos for learning about UVic, Departments, Airiel views by Drone, National and International stories about UVic and many Hints, How-To’s and just plain FUN VIDEOS!

In no particular order, sort of, are some of my Favourite UVic YouTube videos. There are so many …. and I am sure you will find many of them fun, useful and informative! And many student bloggers are posting about their experiences at UVic throughout the semester at another OAC site, My UVic Life (another shameless promotion of UVic here at Bog Blog!)

And you can also find my video, from a PowerPoint at YouTube too! Just go to my Page, “The CALL Facility … and other Mysteries of UVIC” or just find the link to ALL my Pages, on the right-hand side of each post.

You can click on the text link, or the thumbnail of the UVic video below to go to a new tab with that video.

ENJOY!

University of Victoria aerial highlights

UVic Campus Tour

Humanities at UVic

UVic Channels

UVic ranked as a global leader in climate action

ZOHO – CALL Bookmarks – UPDATES

ZOHO …
CALL Facility Bookmarks
UPDATES
Cosmetic & Functional

NOTE: Unfortunately, I recently discovered that ZOHO is no longer free, at least for the purposes that The CALL Facility used it for. I still have access as an Admin, but I am researching how I might be able to continue to provide the same resources in perhaps a slightly different format. Options such as a website, pdf, Word, Excel or other kind of document, but so far, they are not as easy to use, create, support and maintain. But I am hopeful and optimistic!

MANY THANKS to everyone who supported The CALL Facility (& me!) in offering this very unique resource over the past many years, probably dating back about 15 years or more! ZOHO came about as a response to needing a quick way to access Language bookmarks in CALL! Way back when, and this is BEFORE GOOGLE, I would email an attached bookmark file for specific browsers such as Explorer (Mac!), Safari and even Netscape Navigator! Good times, good times!

ALL the bookmarks are still ‘at’ ZOHO, and I can access them, and export them into a simple .pdf document if anyone wants them. I can subsort, or include them all in one document. Please let me know! But for now, I won’t be updating ZOHO on a regular basis while I research other, if any, similar resources for Instructors and students.

In the meantime, probably the best strategy, for Instructors, would be to Copy/Paste website inks directly into Brightspace for students. Yeah, cludgy and inelegant, but … sometimes old school works! The first shift I had in the CALL Facility – was bulk erasing and then making copies of Spanish lessons .. on cassette tapes! Good times, good times!

AND, if you DO CLICK HERE or on the icon of a PDF to the left, then you can view and download a .PDF version of ALL of The CALL Facility ZOHO Bookmarks in alphabetical order. Yeah, not ideal, but … at least they are all in one document.

And many thanks to Mark vH who helped me set it up so very long ago!

Zoho CALL Facility Bookmarks, is an on-line database of over 1100+ useful Language sites as well as utilities, orientations, copyright information, digital media access and world news sites. Yes, you could look some things up at Google, but … I (& many others too!) have done that already and you might just find some very interesting sites and information, based on what students and Instructors think is helpful. In fact, most of the links have been suggested by students and Instructors and might not show up high on a Google search! Diamonds in the rough!

But there have been some changes to ZOHO over the holidays. Their default template seems to have changed from what once looked like below:

To what it now looks like today:

NEW ZOHO Spanish — **ZOHO CALL Facility Bookmarks – New Interface**

So I will point out some important features that still work, but are now in different locations or use a different button or icon. You can still search, sort and resize columns, all of which are very handy at any time.

First, resizing columns. ZOHO will sometimes minimize the width of a column such as KEYWORDS. To widen any column, just position the cursor to the RIGHT of the Name of the narrow column (KEYWORDS) and your cursor will change into a small I-beam with left<-> right arrows. Click, hold and drag to the right to widen, or to the left to narrow the column too. Just like adjusting the size in a spreadsheet like Excel! The two images below show what a narrow column looks like and where to widenit with your mouse.

And Searching AND Sorting a category, is now just one-click away! Just position your cursor over the category you want to SorUnder LANGUAGE, CATEGORY, KEYWORDS and CLICK BELOW is built into each Topic. Just click on the title above each Column and you will get a drop-down menu to choose how you want to sort. Below are LANGUAGE and CATEGORY. If you look closely, there is a small inverted triangle, a visual clue that there is a feature there. You do not have to click ON the triangle, just anywhere in the name of the column and you get the drop down menu that includes Search, Sort by Ascending, Sort by Descending and other options.

ZOHO Language Sort — **NEW ZOHO LANGUAGE Sort**

NEW ZOHO Category Sort — **NEW ZOHO CATEGORY Sort**

When you select Search from the drop down menu, another menu box will open on the right hand side where you can set the criteria to search for, even if it is not in the LANGUAGE column! One stop searching is just one-click away! And if you ever need to close any popup window or menu, there is usually an ‘X’ in the top right-hand corner, to close that menu. You can also just click into an ’empty’ spot somewhere else in the ZOHO screen.

AND BONUS! There are more ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ menu options as well. On the far right hand side, are 3 small icons. The first is a magnifying glass which will bring up the Search box. The second looks like a … coffee filter to me and .. that is what it is! You can filter multiple searches through this option, such as “Spanish Utilities Copyright” or other combinations. ZOHO will find them and present the filter criteria as well, and you can close them anytime. The final choice of 3 horizontal bars changes the view of ZOHO, with some additional functions, but nothing permanent and can be re-selected at anytime, and the original ZOHO link will always work too.

And you might ask …. why does ZOHO default to Spanish with this link? Two reasons! First .. I am still learning how to set up Reports, Views and default and/or customizable access in ZOHO since their … update over the holidays!

And secondly … SPANISH Instructors have been enthusiastic supporters of ZOHO as a resource for their students for YEARS now! And so, yeah, it is … who you know! 🙂 Thanks to RS for your support and patience!

I do want to learn how to set up specific Reports, Views and other customizable aspects of ZOHO to make it even better than ever!

I have also updated my OAC ZOHO CALL Facility Bookmarks Page as well, with the most recent interface and a few more hints. It is always available on the right hand side of any Post, under Bog Blog Pages.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and support of The CALL Facility! And I can hardly wait to get back to being on campus …. but nobody knows when just yet!

SSShhhh . . . Clearihue’s Hidden Secrets . . . & GEMS

. . . . SSShhh . . .
. . . or . . .
Clearihue’s Hidden Secrets
. . . or . . .
CLEARIHUE’S HIDDEN GEMS!!!!

Clearihue has … SECRETS? Well, maybe not … secrets …. exactly! More like HIDDEN GEMS that many students might not know about! So I will list a few of what I consider to be Clearihue’s Hidden Gems! And … Spoiler Alert … the VERY BEST ONE IS AT THE END! [Double Spoiler – shameless product placement on my part!]

The Computer Help Desk! What, how can CHD be a Hidden Gem? Well, why not ask someone … how to get there! We are located in the A-Wing of the BASEMENT of Clearihue! Simple enough, but only 2 stairwells with twists and turns, or ONLY ONE elevator with MORE twists and turns … will get you to the front counter of The Computer Help Desk!

And did you also know there are TWO MORE satellite CHD locations in Clearihue? At the entrance to all the Computing Classrooms in A-wing, first floor and …. in The CALL Facility too! I’ll bet you didn’t know that!

Computing Classrooms! The actual computing classrooms, 1st Floor of A-Wing … AND in the Lower Floor of A-Wing too!. Many students do not know that there are 4 classrooms (3 WIN / 1 MAC) and a Multi-Media (WIN & MAC) alcove for drop-in use upstairs! AND that there are 3 MORE classrooms and Multimedia computers in the basement! Rooms ARE booked for scheduled classroom use, but are fully drop-in outside of those posted times. And when Covid is over, hopefully we can go back to just dropping into the computer labs!

And during Covid, you can BOOK A WORKSTATION in CLE A102 (WIN), A103 (MAC) and A108 (WIN).

During Covid, all other rooms in all other buildings are unavailable. We strictly adhere to UVIC Covid guidelines in ALL our Computing Facilities and The Computer Help Desk in Clearihue.

And if you have not been to our newest upgrade classroom in Clearihue A030 in the basement of Clearihue, just down the hallway from The Computer Help Desk CLEA037. It is a really SPIFF CLASSROOM!

And it gets even BETTER! Ever want to book a room for a study session or a group project and nothing is available at the Library? Well, check out BEC and their Rooms that you can book! AND THAT INCLUDES A ROOM DEDICATED TO VR TECHNOLOGY! Okay, so technically, not in Clearihue, but let’s call it a HIDDEN HIDDEN GEM, eh! Bet you didn’t know THAT!

And there are a few other locations in Clearihue that might warrant a bit of a scavenger hunt on your part ……

Clearihue Corner (CLE B001b)
And this is a highly guarded, super secret, need to know basis location ….. NOT! But it is just as hard to get to as The Computer Help Desk! Either from the pictured elevator in B-Wing, or the stairwells at the groundlevel corners of B-Wing. Spacious, quiet, comfy sofas and plugins too! There are even recycle bins to put your organics, plastics, refuse and paper! BE GREEN! There are classrooms, office space and meeting rooms, so just remember to be quiet and polite in this section of Clearihue please.

Clearihue Inner Courtyard

What a great hidden gem .. hidden in plain site! Quiet, accessible from literally every corner, with sun and shade for all! Even some steps to sit on for a group lunch! Hidden in plain site! the photo below is actually available as a Virtual Background for Zoom! Oh, and … remember … no smoking anywhere inside Ring Road!

The CALL Facility

And, I saved the BEST for the last! And no apologies for .. WORKING IN THE CALL FACILITY! Shameless promotion! CALL has been around since the Fall of 1989 … and so have I! I have given countless demos, orientations, workshops, projects and assistance to countless students, staff, faculty and guests. And I am amazed each year how many people DO NOT KNOW WE EXIST! I have done many CALL OAC posts and I have a PAGE that is always available no matter what Post you are reading, listing all the Pages too. It is only current to January of 2020 … because … well … Covid. As soon as we are back, I will update absolutely EVERYTHING!

What is VERY exciting is that just after everyone started to work from home .. NEW FURNITURE ARRIVED IN THE CALL FACILITY! I wrote a post about it here and a few of the photos are below! Click here to see all the new furniture!

And could it get BETTER? YES, OF COURSE!

At the back of CALL are 2 new large screen monitors and desk space for 6 people at each one! Want to preview your group project in PowerPoint? Want to watch a movie for class? Want to see your Word document SUPER SIZED? Then use this area!

And CALL has USB headsets, optical media, Dual-Boot computers, study space and … The Computer Help Desk BUILT IN TOO! The CALL Facility is the LARGEST COMPUTING CLASSROOM ON CAMPUS!! And yeah, I have been working there since 1989 and it is SO MUCH FUN! Great learning environment and best of all … GREAT UVic STUDENTS AND FANTASTIC COLLEAGUES AT THE HELP DESK!

True story – a student wandered into CALL one day, asking if she could find a computer to charge her iPhone. I said sure, she could use one of the iMacs for either WIN or MAC or just to charge! She asked what ‘this place‘ was. I then asked her what her degree/major was. She replied ‘Linguistics and Italian’. I told her that CALL was HER lab to use, not only for her courses, but at any time she wanted!

And then she said that she was ABOUT TO GRADUATE AND HER PROFS HAD NEVER TOLD HER ABOUT THE CALL FACILITY!

That definitely qualifes The CALL Facility as a Hidden Gem!

I hope you investigate and look for all these Hidden Gems in Clearihue!

The Computer Help Desk – 3 locations in Clearihue
Computing Classrooms – Upstairs and Down
Clearihue Corner – So quiet
Inner Courtyard – Hiding in Plain Sight
The CALL Facility – You can check out, but you can never leave

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Pandemic

OAC WordPress Tutorials . . . UPDATED

OAC WordPress Tutorials
… ARE BUILT IN FOR YOU!

🔥 UPDATED POST! 🔥

(Original Post is here)

So, you are about to create a strange new thing – A BLOG! But not just ANY blog – your very own Online Academic Community OAC UVic FREE BLOG!

If you have UVic Netlink ID credentials … then you can have a WordPress blog hosted by UVic! It is that simple … mostly! It really IS that simple!

And this will be a very short post … just to get started on what to simply WATCH FIRST before you do anything, other than … create your blog name first. And you CAN create multiple blogs too, one to test and one to actually post on. Totally up to you!

So, if you are THIS far, then you have already created a blog name for yourself. If not, then go to Online Academic Community OAC and create one for yourself with your credentials.

The WordPress Tutorials, as originally posted and directly from your Dashboard, do not seem to be available right now. BUT there are new videos at Tutorials: The Dashboard, as shown below! The link is also here, and you can also click on the image below to go directly there. The categories below are all clickable too!

That is it! You are basically reading the recipe book, before picking out what dish to make first! And as you go through, in any order, go back to a previous one as it might just be a ‘light bulb’ moment of connecting various tutorials, techniques, features and ideas!

Post photos, quotes, YouTube links, UVic sites, recipes, essays, thoughts, poetry, art, jokes, and anything you want to share! Release your inner artist! See what happens!

I still go here and will continue to check out the tutorials to discover new things to try! All you need to get going is all waiting inside OAC for you!

ENJOY!

Pandemic

Happy Holidays and . . . Goodbye 2020 … Hello 2021 !!!

Goodbye 2020 . . . .
. . . and even BETTER . . .
HELLO 2021 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

After today (18th) I am on holidays until January 4th, 2021! YAY! And they can’t come soon enough! This has been a very challenging year ….. to say the least. And I think we can all agree on one thing ………………

2020 – DON’T EVER COME BACK AGAIN!
AND I MEAN EVER!!!!

I am SO grateful to be working with such amazing, talented and imaginative colleagues at The Computer Help Desk! They are more than friends, and they all feel like family to me, especially during this year! They have made it fun to ‘come to work’ each and every day … at the West End of my Dining Room Table! I am pretty sure I would have been fired from any other job … for all my jokes and puns!

The Computer Help Desk is my ‘Team OF Teams‘ for 2020!!!

I will be back in 2021 with more Posts and Pages! I am even thinking of creating one just for my photography! Just photos I have taken over the years and share them. I must admit that my preferred photograpic media has always been … SLIDE PHOTOGRAPHY! Good old Kodachrome! And to be even more specific, Ektachrome! Visions of Paul Simon and my summers of ’77-78 working at the Banff Camera Shop! Except, I had a Canon A-1 camera!

But digital photography is amazing – darn cheap too! I like to think of my iPhone, not as a phone that has a camera … but as a camera that has a phone!

And of course, all kinds of computer hints, tips, stories and just miscellaneous ramblings of someone who is still amazed that his vintage Commodore SX-64 ……is still working! It was the first computer I bought!

And technology is still … MAGICAL … to me!

Everyone have a safe and healthy holiday season!

The best is yet to come in 2021!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!
See you all in 2021!!!

Pandemic

OAC WordPress Tips . . . at least . . . for ME

OAC WordPress Tips . . . .
. . . or . . .
How to Avoid <html>
. . . and . . .
TAG! You’re . . . IT !

I had been doing a daily OAC post here since everyone started working from home, late last March. I paused daily posts, after my August holidays as I knew the Fall session would be crazy busy … and it has been. But I was surprised when I looked at my Posts ‘roster’ and …. 182 posts? And this one would make 183? They sure do add up! And that doesn’t include Pages, but only 4 there, so far.

So, along the way, I have figured out a few very basic shortcuts that help me actually concentrate on the content, not the tools, buttons or menus that are literally .. EVERYWHERE .. on our OAC Dashboard! So I thought I would list my Top 5(-ish) OAC WordPress tips and/or hints … as a start! I might even turn them into a Page as well!

FIRST, create your blog!
OAC is free for the UVic community! Create a new site by going directly to The Online Academic Community (Instructions here too!)and clicking on “Create a Site”. You will be asked for your NetLink credentials and then you will be given a form to create your own blog! You can have MANY blogs – practice ones, photos, documents, diaries, public, private, shared, collaborative, etc. Just blog responsibly!

Your first post could be just that … a message that it is your first post! For many details of creating your first post, I highly, HIGHLY recommend viewing all the training videos that are available within your Dashboard!

Now, you have your own blog, have watched the videos – they are short and easy to undertand …. now some hints!

Keep it Simple … especially your First Post … and … SAVE OFTEN!
That is my first and probably most important hint – SAVE OFTEN!!!!!

Just make your first post … your first post! You can say who you are, what you hope to accomplish and keep it simple, straightforward and just text! Use the ‘Preview‘ button to see what it looks like, use the ‘Save Draft‘ button to save every so often (first and best hint EVER!) and then click ‘Publish‘ and .. you just made your first Post! You can email a colleague or UVic community member and they can now see your first Post!

Here are a few more basic and simple hints, with just a brief explanation why … and I can see you nodding your head too!

Use ‘CTRL Z’ to undo anything you … just did! It works for quite a few potential ‘Undos’, so if you go TOO far, just use ‘SHIFT CTRL Z‘ to .. yes, Undo your Undos…. but the one caveat is ….. if you SAVE, then you can’t go back and do any Undo’s. But if you Save enough times, there are earler versions called ‘Revisions‘ which appear at the VERY bottom of each Dashboard Post you are working on. And not good with the keyboard? It is part of the menu above each Post – hilited with a purple box below.
Create a new Post … but only as a notepad for ideas! Yes, your SECOND Post will never, ever be published! I use this as my Ideas Post and constantly add thoughts, ideas, websites, notes or anything that I might use LATER, and it just stays as an unpublshed Post! What could be better than all your ideas and potential future Posts, waiting there for you in your OAC blog! Do it! And I do the same in a draft Pages document too. Earlier I ‘posted’ about the differences between Pages and Posts … here! (Shameless self promotion!)

Spacing between paragraphs. That drove me nuts at the beginning! Then, much like Word, there is a secret ‘handshake’ … which really isn’t so secret. I stick with the default spacing for each paragraph. Then I hit ‘Enter’ and it will automatically insert a DOUBLE SPACE between paragraphs. Sometimes, you don’t want that. So … just use ‘SHIFT ENTER’ and you get spacing tight between paragraphs! You are thinking .. why would I want this? Well, you will know when … at least for me, once you start inserting images, or perhaps wanting to space short, one line paragraphs (say poetry) in close proximity to one another. Try it … you will like it! Very handy!

Preview before Posting …. but always a safe route out … or back! Always a good idea to Preview your post ahead of time. Just click ‘Preview’ and a new tab will open with a … preview of your Post! Nothing written in stone, and what I do is read down my own Post, and as I see a mistake or something that needs editing, I close THAT tab, I immediately return to my Post to fix it and then Preview again! Only takes a few seconds to Preview, find the mistake, close the Preview, and fix it. Then Preview again until done! It will be frustrating to notice quite a few mistakes, mostly cosmetic or typos most likely, but FORGET one of them if you just Preview your Post once.

Best Closing Hint is THE most dangerous one …. GO AHEAD AND MAKE MISTAKES! You can edit, add, revise, remove, modify, enhance, return to Draft, and even make Private, any of your Posts and Pages! If you aren’t making mistakes … you aren’t learning … or at least, you aren’t Blogging! This ain’t rocket science … unless of course, your Blog is about …. Rocket Science!

And, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks … I was always unhappy with my scribbly pen drawing feature. Today, figured out how to draw a nice regular shaped hilite box around a part of an image! And that might be a more detailed hint, as it involves screen grabs, editing the screen grab, exporting to .png format, then adding to my Media Library, but saving my blog before inserting the new media image …. yeah…sounds hard, but isn’t! A future hint!

Some FUTURE Favourite OAC WordPress tips and hints and tips

- Copying a Post
- Your Media library
- Inserting media and resizing them – they never really fit perfectly!!
- Best WP sites for hints and help (UVic is AWESOME!)
- YouTube video(s) in your Blog (Releasse … The Kraken!)
- Screen grabs and modifying them before adding to your Media Library

And the links below area ALL here at UVic! They will be your absolutely BEST resource of ALL for OAC! Have fun! And I would describe them all as …
🔥 HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNERS 🔥

And just to be different, a TED Talk about .. early Blogging! Mena Trott is hilarious and there are many entertaining and close to home (for me!) events that made her an early blogger! Enjoy, I certainly did!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Pandemic

Stress Relief or How I Learned to Love Writing Exams …. Mostly ….

Stress Relief . . .
. . . or . . .
How I Learned How to Love Writing Exams
. . . mostly . . .

Been there. Done that. What could go wrong?

Well, sometimes nothing, sometimes everything and sometimes … a bit of both.

I have written my fair share of exams. I can barely remember a handful of ACTUALLY writing them, and few still of how I did. But, I could find my U of Calgary transcripts … or maybe my B.Ed. degree … to prove I survived.

There are no hard and fast strategies that always work to reduce exam stress. You really have to find what works for you. And no guarantee it works every single time.

For me, simple meditation works. At least, it works now …. but not always. That is why they call it a ‘practice’ of meditation.

Unfortunately, I did not have that as a strategy when I was an undergrad. One of those…. “if I only knew then, what I know now“!

Back then, I relied on the oldest strategy known to every student in the world – blind luck! I simply HAD to wear my lucky Edmonton Oilers jersey AND I had to bring the ball from my most recent raquetball game … that I won! Simple!

Multiple-choice, short answer, math/stats type exams were fairly straight forward for me. The most imaginative study trick came from a Stats Instructor. We could bring in a 4×6 recipe card with ANYTHING WE WANTED ON IT! What a great idea! Forced us to study what we were uncertain of, by writing it down and bringing it with us to the test. And I barely referenced it … because I had studied what I was unsure of! And I got an A in the course! WOOT!

I did hate open book exams. They were simply THE hardest to write because you would THINK they would be easy … but you wasted time looking up answers that you SHOULD have known. Oh well, not too many like that.

But the worst exams for me were LONG ANSWER or ESSAY EXAMS! Dates, people, documents, history, facts …. SO many blank pages, so little grey matter!

I basically would get the answer booklet, then turn to the last page and purge every fact, date, document reference, etc. IMMEDIATELY. I did not even LOOK at the questions. Then, I would look at the first question and .. I had just written my own cheat sheet! Other info would pop into my head and I was able to complete these horrific long answer/essay exams.

And I have been on the ‘Other Side’ of exams … crafting them so that the exam would truly reflect the knowledge base of each student. The last thing you want is to have an exam where either achievement is random or that it does not discriminate between students who DO KNOW the material and those who do not.

And although it is not available right now, Walking the Labyrinth by Candlelight at the UVic Multifaith Centre has been incredibly beneficial to me. Once, I was the ONLY PERSON IN THE ENTIRE CHAPEL WALKING THE LABYRINTH! Best meditation experience I have ever had! I came out to a pitch black night, stars twinkling brighter than ever and totally refreshed!

Bottom line is there will be something that can help you study, minimize anxiety and improve your test scores. Maybe not all the time, but most of the time, hopefully.

The links below are ALL UVic sites! Well, the very last one, #10, is the only non-UVic site I listed. To be fair, there are hundreds of sites out there, and I thought I would concentrate on the UVic sites I could find and … just one more. And a nice little pause at #9 … to just take a moment and relax ‘MIDST my links!

Everyone stay safe and healthy, whether working at UVic or at home.

Meditation at UVic – Multifaith Centre (Works for me!)
Walking the Labyrinth (Unfortunately, not available, but …. AMAZING!)
Zoom On-line Morning Meditation with Henri
How to Beat Exam Stress – OAC My UVic Life (Shameless OAC Placement!) 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥
Tips for Exam Season (UVic … and advice still timely and relevant!)
Coping with Exams and Exam Anxiety (UVic!)
Anxiety and stress (UVic! Sensing a trend…..)
UVic Student Mental Health Blog 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥
(left blank on purpose …. a stress free resource!)
How to Beat Exam Stress: 25 Tips Backed by Research (The ONLY non-UVic site!)
Workplace Wellness (An OAC UVic site!) 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥
Resilience Resources (A subsite of Workplace Wellness!) 🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS WINNER🔥

University of Victoria Labyrinth Multifaith Chapel

And, well, just don’t write an exam like Mr. Bean!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Pandemic

ON CAMPUS PHOTO SHOOT!

Click on the title below the photo for a much larger image.

Mystic Vale Sunrise Bike Ride to CHD

Who doesn’t miss the fountain and the sound of water?

Just sit back and enjoy the sound of moving water!

UVic Cool Sites … Just for fun … when you need them!

ENJOY!

Territory Acknowledgement University of Victoria

UVic Impact Day

UVic United Way Campaign

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Share this:

SOCIAL MEDIA AT UVIC or LIKES & FOLLOWS!

… AND THERE ARE MORE UVIC SITES THAN I IMAGINED!

UVic Social Media Sites to Surf Towards …..

ENJOY!

This is UVic (YouTube)

UVic 2021 What You Need to Know

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Share this:

Did You Know … You might be able to experience . . . macOS on a WIN computer? . . . OR other neat EMULATORS too?

Let’s try Mac emulators first!

And now WINDOWS

Emulator Sites to Surf Towards …..

ENJOY!

How to Play Commodore 64 Games on PC! Commodore 64 emulator! Vice Emulator Setup!

Kim Justice’s Top 50 Commodore 64 Games of All-Time (YouTube)

Pawn Stars: A Working Commodore 64 (Season 14) | History

Share this:

Did You Know … UVic ... has a YouTube Channel?

ENJOY!

Share this:

ZOHO … CALL Facility Bookmarks UPDATES Cosmetic & Functional

Share this:

. . . . SSShhh . . . . . . or . . . Clearihue’s Hidden Secrets . . . or . . . CLEARIHUE’S HIDDEN GEMS!!!!

And then she said that she was ABOUT TO GRADUATE AND HER PROFS HAD NEVER TOLD HER ABOUT THE CALL FACILITY!

That definitely qualifes The CALL Facility as a Hidden Gem!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Share this:

OAC WordPress Tutorials … ARE BUILT IN FOR YOU!

🔥 UPDATED POST! 🔥

ENJOY!

Share this:

Goodbye 2020 . . . . . . . and even BETTER . . . HELLO 2021 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

2020 – DON’T EVER COME BACK AGAIN! AND I MEAN EVER!!!!

BE SAFE EVERYONE! See you all in 2021!!!

Share this:

OAC WordPress Tips . . . . . . . or . . . How to Avoid <html> . . . and . . . TAG! You’re . . . IT !

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Share this:

Stress Relief . . . . . . or . . . How I Learned How to Love Writing Exams . . . mostly . . .

Been there. Done that. What could go wrong?

University of Victoria Labyrinth Multifaith Chapel

And, well, just don’t write an exam like Mr. Bean!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

Share this:

ON CAMPUS
PHOTO SHOOT!

Territory Acknowledgement
University of Victoria

SOCIAL MEDIA AT UVIC
or
LIKES & FOLLOWS!

… AND THERE ARE
MORE UVIC SITES
THAN I IMAGINED!

UVic 2021
What You Need to Know

Did You Know …
You might be able to experience . . .
macOS on a WIN computer?
. . . OR other neat EMULATORS too?

How to Play Commodore 64 Games on PC!
Commodore 64 emulator! Vice Emulator Setup!

Kim Justice’s Top 50 Commodore 64 Games
of All-Time (YouTube)

Pawn Stars:
A Working Commodore 64
(Season 14) | History

Did You Know …
UVic ...
has a
YouTube Channel?

ZOHO …
CALL Facility Bookmarks
UPDATES
Cosmetic & Functional

. . . . SSShhh . . .
. . . or . . .
Clearihue’s Hidden Secrets
. . . or . . .
CLEARIHUE’S HIDDEN GEMS!!!!

OAC WordPress Tutorials
… ARE BUILT IN FOR YOU!

Goodbye 2020 . . . .
. . . and even BETTER . . .
HELLO 2021 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

2020 – DON’T EVER COME BACK AGAIN!
AND I MEAN EVER!!!!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!
See you all in 2021!!!

OAC WordPress Tips . . . .
. . . or . . .
How to Avoid <html>
. . . and . . .
TAG! You’re . . . IT !

Stress Relief . . .
. . . or . . .
How I Learned How to Love Writing Exams
. . . mostly . . .