she's
actual
size

The design for the new site is coming right along. There are still some details for me to take care of, but I'm rather happy with what I've got now.

The reason why it has taken so long is because I'm using style sheets, which I didn't know at all as of two weeks ago. I'm only trying to do simple things, but even simple is hard when you don't know what you're doing.

I decided that if I was going to use style sheets, I was going to use style sheets, for everything. That conviction lasted for all of three hours, when I got fed up with trying to position elements on the page, and decided to use tables for layout and style sheets for everything else.

I love learning new things. I differentiate this from learning about new things, which I also enjoy, but not as much. For example, I love learning about historical periods that I'm interested in, such as the 10th and 11th century in England, or ancient civilizations like the Egyptians or Babylonians. But as much fun as that is, I'd much prefer to learn how to actually do something, like writing style sheets.

I jumped into HTML with both feet, once I figured out what the hell HTML was. I did the same with the Pascal class I took in college. Why I never changed my major to Computer Science is beyond me; I think I thought I was too far along to bother changing majors.

I'm fairly good at nit-picky stuff like programming. I totally immerse myself in it, to the point of losing track of what is going on around me. When I was taking Pascal, I had to use the library's VAX terminals. It wasn't until they turned out the lights each night that I realized how long I'd been in there, pegging away at some assignment.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty terribly at teaching myself stuff. HTML came rather easy once I learned it was basically Turn Tag On/Turn Tag Off. Once it gets more complicated than that, I get confused and lose my motivation. I gradually taught myself tables, and I'm glad I did - but it took a long time. If I have a teacher, I learn much more quickly than trying to muddle through on my own.

The payoff is when you get whatever you're working on to work right. When it does everything it's supposed to, I get a great sense of accomplishment. I don't get that same feeling from learning all about Egyptian gods. It's interesting, but it's not engrossing.

All this tells me I should have changed majors. sigh Oh well... Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.