**My Blog-- Week 6**

Hey y’all! ((What! Why are you looking at me like that!)) Ok I might not perfect the southern accent ((nor does it fit me)) but I thought I might pretend like the southerns are just rubbing off on me already. Six weeks are long enough for anyone to start picking up new lifestyles, let alone an accent! But Anyway, I am back for my week six blog. I know you cannot wait so let us begin.

        Monday was a bright new ((and a bit humid)) day. I woke up early ….. you know the drift. Same morning rituals and routines ((and NO I am not all that boring, but don't you have one? OK THEN!)) So I got to work a little earlier than 9 a.m. and started my day by reviewing all plans for week six trying to figure out where to start. Working on our interface design for the Dance Tool is where I started. First there was the previous interface design analysis, and then were the color scheme and the content breakdown. Followed was the analysis of the design's analogy; what is easier for the user to understand and follow to achieve the goals intended. Some tweaks needed to be made for the design to be more sufficient. So yes, only when you think designing an interface isn't all that hard! ((Reality check!)) IT IS! So before lunch I looked at the old sketch designed by Evie ((You all know Evie already right? Umm.. the PhD student I work with? Yeah! Her! The smart one!)) and critiqued them. I went out to lunch to change the moods and come back refreshed to right up a critique document of what all I thought was either good or needed changed on the old design. Click here to check it out. After coming back from lunch, Jasamine, Evie and I all sat and talked about the Dance Tool's interface Design. Mostly, Jasamine and Evie both agreed on the little tweaks I wanted changed on the old design to make it more sufficient. Jasamine and I explained that to Dr. Barnes when she walked in after that and she had some good pointers critiquing our critiques! ((Don't Laugh! Not funny!)) After the sessions of long discussions were over, I looked online to find some helpful MAYA tutorials and started to do that for the rest of the day. I went home that day and relaxed. I even watched ((well.. caught up on)) some shows I have missed on TV. ((Heros, do you watch it on NBC? Awesome isn't it? =P)) then went to sleep.

         Tuesday was a fun day. We had a fun activity to go to! The Low Ropes challenge activity was from 9 a.m. to noon. I dressed casually for this outside event. We met Karen Bean ((Oh by the way Karen is our program activity coordinator)) outside door of Woodward Hall that faces the large bird sculpture ((I will add a picture of that in my gallery)) around 8:45 and walked to meet the Ventures staff at the Toby Creek parking lot at 9 a.m. It was so much fun and a lot of physical activity. At noon, we went out to lunch and went home to shower so not much was left of the day. Since the following day was Presentations day, I had to prepare. Oh did I not tell you?

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Well see this week presentations were Wednesday. It was not our weekly progress report, it was our accomplishments of the week. What we have done and where we stand. Jasamine and I combined the efforts since we are both working together, and we created our PowerPoint slides. Click here to check those. I went home that day and rested for a little then my friend Lauren asked if I was interested in going to Wal-Mart with her and Jasamine. So off we went to grocery shop. Then came home and put things away and watched some more Heros then called it a night.

         On Wednesday I woke up and headed to school early. I dropped my stuff off and walked to the post office. YAY I got mail! Well a package actually. I love shopping online for one simple fact that you get it delivered in a package. I love opening packages =P. I picked up package my and went right back to work and started my day. Once Jasamine was ready we looked over our PowerPoint slides. I set up the projector and we practiced, then we went outside and practiced without the slides. By then, we were on it! We were ready! I had lunch with Lauren and Cherisse that day then headed out to the College of Health and Human Services where we were going to present in front of DMP and REU students, the mentors, and our PhD supervisors as well. Ofcourse and as usually who jumped up wanting to go first?! (( ME! =D )). Jasamine and I went first and we gave a good one. After we were done we were asked some questions and that was it! ((Not too bad!)) We sat there until 3 p.m. and watched everyone else present their material. It is good to watch people present their work because you also learn from the professors pointers to them. At 4 p.m. that day I met with Dr. Moutaz Khouja, Chair of the Department of Business Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I had considered a doctorate in MIS so he was more than willing to talk to me. He was very nice and very helpful. It was a bit after 5 p.m. when I left the business school and headed home. I went to the movies with friends that night and watched Wall-E! that movie was SO cute! I want one! A Wall-E! I just hope the world does not really become what it was in the movie. That would be sad. After the movie I went home and went to bed thinking how cute Wall-E was. I still want one lol!

        The sun shone upon us Thursday and the birds were singing and boy was it a nice day! I jumped out of bed and got ready and headed out to school. It's the last day of the week! (( Friday is a holiday)) I had to get most of the interface design done. I started working with Adobe Photoshop. Jasamine, Evie and I all agreed to adopt the same previous color scheme. It seemed lively and young! So I started to manipulate buttons and fonts and import them to NetBeans where I was creating the layout. It was a bit of a hassle trying to carbon copy the same layout in NetBeans. So I worked as much I could that day. By the end of the day I had most of it done. It wasn't the greatest but it is definitely up for tweaking and updating. Here is a quick snap of the last update. Click here.

        It is officially Friday. Yes! The fourth of July! I am not going to lie, It feels weird not being home celebrating with family right about now but it's alright. When I went to Wal-Mart last, I bought myself from macaroni salad, potato salad and coleslaw ((thinking that if I ate that, I would feel better lol )) but there is nothing like being home eating that with the rest of the family. I went out to the mall that day and shopped. Nothing cheers a girl up more than shopping and spending money! Then later that day we had plans to going downtown and seeing the fireworks! Although it sounded like a good idea, I didn't want to go. I stayed home and called family and washed clothes. I heard it was crazy downtown and a lot of people got arrested. Again, good thing I didn't go!
My weekend's plans consist of shopping and eating chocolate ((and no I am not depressed!)). Saturday, Dr. Youngblood invited everyone over to his house. I heard not only does he have a huge house, but he owns a big boat! Sounds like fun to me don't you think? Sunday will probably be relaxing day for me!

Now that you know everything about my week, I will let you go and go home. Lots of fun and good times this weekend I hope! Keep peaking in and you might find some more updates on the site. Here from the Queen City, Charlotte, I will leave you until next time. ;)