I'm not sick, I'm just sick sick

This past weekend I was finally getting some recovery time from the cold I began to catch after our snow/ice  day here in Texas. I had to attend school any way because of the tests I had during the week and the monstrous amount of make-up work I would have to complete because the end of the six weeks is coming near. Finally, reaching the end of the week was a major relief and I was able to sleep in and relax at home after a long, stressful week. During my time indoors I came across a You Tube video of a man who was placed in quarantine for a short time after contracting an illness on vacation. In the video the man raps about he isn't sick, as in "that trick was sick", but that he is really sick sick. Being stuck inside for only two days I could only somewhat understand his situation and luckily I started feeling well again.  Even better is the fact that the next two school weeks are only four days each due to the four day weekend we have between the two. Hopefully this weekend I can due more than rest in bed and actually go outside to enjoy the warmer weather.

-jag13

16th Reflection

During the week we worked on starting chapter five in Python, going over if, else, and if else statements. The logic behind the labs was simple enough, but one mistake I made was not using the pre-made Python files, and instead created my own new without knowing any better. The big difference was that the pre-made code already had the main function and required you only to fill in missing pieces of code. The problem I had run into in my own program was that I had not been properly assigning the value input into the program to the variable used in the function. That was because I had asked the user to input a number, but had not assigned that value to the variable, like this x = input("Enter a number:"). Hopefully I can remember to use the Python files given so that I don't make things more difficult than they actually are.

-jag13

Suberbowl Sunday

This year the Superbowl was to be played between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers in Cowboys Stadium in North Texas. The game would be a classic match up, a strong high scoring Packer offense and a hardened and experienced Steeler defense. The Packers pulled off the victory in stunning fashion by enduring the loss of three key starters, including pro bowler Charles Woodson. They did by stepping up on defense, where they created three turnovers that turned into 21 points. Their offense was brilliant too though. Or most accurately, Aaron Rodgers was. The games MVP passed for over 300 yards and three touchdowns, but they would've have been much higher if his receivers had not dropped five passes, one which could have gone for another touchdown, Overall, the game was exciting and explosive and the better, more complete team came out with the Lombardi Trophy.

-jag13

15th Reflection

This week we began to start getting deeper into Python and doing exercises along with the chapters of the book. The exercises are not overly complicated or difficult, but they did cause confusion. I believe this was because of the format the exercises were given to use in. Instead of the previous style with Java, Alice, Jeroo, and Scratch, we were simply given a task or question to complete and very little description on the procedures to be used. The previous formatting was more explicit and helpful in clarifying the reason and purpose for the labs.

-jag13

Breaking Point

This past week I had a soccer tournament for the JVA team at school, the planning of which was horrible. The JVA team had a district game scheduled for Wednesday night, a tournament game on Thursday, two more games on Friday, and then two games in the morning Saturday. Six games in a span of only four days. To deal with the situation Coach Martinez was forced to split the JVA into two teams, one to play in the tournament, and the other to play in the district games we had scheduled. I was placed on the tournament team, but due to the team being split we only had 14 players (except for the games Friday when we only had 13 because one player was sick). Because of the shortage of players I played every minute of every game. A total of over 4 hours of constant playing in only three days. At that point I was exhausted, took an ice bath, and slept and rested as much as I could. The work is begging to pay off though. At the tournament Coach Martinez talked to me and let me know how close I was to making varsity. Actually I could be on Varsity, but I would be riding the bench, unlike on JV where I play the majority of the time.

-jag13

14th Reflection

Finally, no more putting up with the strict and stress inducing syntax that JCreator and Java demand. Python is here and has done away with some of the most stressful things in JCreator. The most noticeable difference is the changes in syntax. Instead of having to write System.out.print(); to print stuff in java, you can just type print(), no System.out and no semicolons. The language has made things much more convenient and simple meaning the main challenge with Python will be the logic behind it. Most things seem the same, but once it gets down to specifics things will differ and might cause some problems. However, once I get used to using it I don't think I'll have any major problems with it.

-jag13