It has been awhile since I posted a few on-campus photos. And since I am biking to work every day (well, not necessarily on rainy or snow days) I thought I would put a few more photos up. I will keep the old ones there too and add to the photos I take.
One of the best parts of working at UVic is biking up to work. I have been biking every day, for 24 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! Many of the photos below are taken while biking to work and/or driving to work. I have even had a few published in the Oak Bay newspaper too! That is always fun!
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!
Duckies!
More Duckies!
Even MORE Duckies!
Legend Pole
Legend Pole
Oak Bay Sunrise
Oak Bay Sunrise II
Legend Pole
Sunrise Surf Dragon
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!
I will bet you didn’t know that The Computer Help Desk had a YouTube channel with TONS of useful, timely and current hints and tips for using computers, phones, pads and even more! Subscribe for even more! The latest is ‘How to Setup Duo Mobile on your phone‘.
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OAC WordPress Tips . . . . . . . or . . . CopyCatPost!
TIME for more OAC WordPress Hints and Tips! I have a previous post about OAC WordPress Tips here so this will be some new, brief ones that might save you some time or make your publishing a bit easier and more satisfying!
Copy Post
10)Copy a Post! If you have a previously published Post that is very similar to what you want to create in a NEW Post, then .. just Copy it, and edit out what you don’t want, keep what you want and start creating! That is what I did for THIS post, from my earlier post! Just click on Posts/All Posts, find the Post you want to ‘Copy’ and .. click on Copy! Rename it and you are off to the races!
Add Media to Library
9) Media Library Images – Simply dragany .GIF, .JPG, .PNG, .PDF into the .. Media Library! That is it! I have found that if you want to put a new image INTO your post, then SAVE your draft post FIRST. Then drag the new image resource(s) into the Media Library, then you can add them. If you drag them into the Media Library first, then try to place them in your post, they will not be visible .. until you update your new post.
Snipping Tool (WIN)Mac Screen Grab Keystrokes
8) Screen Capture to Media Library! Ah, if only a simple screen grab (Mac or WIN) could be simply .. taken and pasted into an OAC post. Nope! It must be saved as an accepted format (.jpg or .png) and then put into the Media Library. So Mac is (Command-Shift-4) and WIN (WIN-Shift-S) will give you a crosshair to capture a portion of your screen. Mac instantly makes it a file on the desktop (BONUS!) ready to put into your Media Library. WIN – I use the built in ‘Snipping Tool’ application, then I can edit it in Paint 3d, save it as a .png and then drag into my Media Library. A couple of extra steps, but still quite easy!
7) Small .GIFS are BETTER! I ran into a problem creating some .GIFs in a previous post. Turned out … the ORIGINAL .GIF files were simply TOO LARGE for OAC to animate! So I used ezgif.com to shrink them down to about 25% of original size and they worked fine after that!
Media Library Add NewInsert as URL
6) YouTube videos! Although I have tried to resize them, I can’t figure out how. So, you can insert them with the original URL copy/pasted where you want the video to be IN your Post, or copy/paste and Insert them through the Media Library/Insert from URL section. Both work! Neither can be resized! The trick to resize them is to do a screen grab of a frame. Then put that screen grab in the Media Library, then link it to the actual YouTube Video. Cludgy, but it works, such as at my Post about UVic’s YouTube Channel!
Captions Here NOW!Edit Image
5) Captions for Images! Once I discovered how to put a Caption BENEATH each image, I was off to the races! Adds a nice little touch to each image. AND you can also make it a clickable link to open in a new Tab to a site or even a larger image. It is basically anchored text to the image!
Adding the Caption can be done when you add a new image to the library or on the fly, by clicking on the inserted image, then on the Edit icon and then update the Caption field. It is THAT easy! I do NOT want to go back and edit EACH image, to include a Caption. So when I place one, and it does NOT have a caption, I update it .. and it is there for all the subsequent uses. It does not update older placed images, as far as I know.
Search my Media Library for ‘Capybara‘
4) Search your Media Library! I have … many … images in my Media Library! I should have been including Captions, ALT-Text and Descriptions initially but … did not know! About as simple a search as possible! Will find your criteria in any of the categories associated with your images (Alternative Text, Title, Caption, Description etc.) and even including the file name if you edit it BEFORE adding it to your Media Library. The image above is when I searched my own library for ‘Capybara‘.
shift-return (enter)
3) SINGLE SPACING! This is simple. Sometimes you want to separate a paragraph, image, text by a single line, not the default double when you hit Enter. Just hit SHIFT-ENTER (or RETURN) and … single space. Works especially well for formatting … poetry!
Paragraphs
2) Paragraph/Section Titles! You can use Paragraph and Headings throughout your Post! I use them for titles to YouTube videos and seemingly … out of the blue too!
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!
Duckies!
More Duckies!
Even MORE Duckies!
Legend Pole
Legend Pole
Oak Bay Sunrise
Oak Bay Sunrise II
Legend Pole
Sunrise Surf Dragon
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!
“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!
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 SITESPLURAL! 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!
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” … JUSTshy of a ‘Z’ category … and missing ‘X’ too!
Did YouKnow … You might be able to experience . . . macOS on a WINcomputer? . . . 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!
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.
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!
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.
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 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:
ZOHO CALL Facility Bookmarks – Old Interface
To what it now looks like today:
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.
ZOHO Narrow Column ZOHO Wider Column
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, Sortby Ascending, Sort by Descending and other options.
NEW ZOHO LANGUAGE SortNEW 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.
NEW ZOHO Search
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.
NEW ZOHO Menu
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 … SPANISHInstructors 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!
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!
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!
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.
Clearihue A102Clearihue A030 (Click photo for more pictures)
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!
BEC Bookable Rooms
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 HIDDENGEM, 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.
CLE B001bCLE B001b
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!
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!
The CALL Facility CLE A025
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!
New CALL FurnitureNew CALL 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!
CALL Facility Large ScreensCALL Facility Large Screens
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
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!
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!
This is UVic
The one that started them all .. well, at least in 1995 .. 
Did 
but have you BEEN THERE? Probably not! But it is worth your while! So, 
ZOHO …
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!
