Them That Can't...

We start with a picture of Patty, since she has become somewhat the star of our household in the last few weeks. And it also gives an upbeat visual for a post filled with sarcasm and criticism.

I had the most awful class today. I am retaking Flash, both basic (two days) and advanced (two days) Today, I took the first class. The gentleman teaching, who will remain unnamed because I am a gentleman, was probably the most horrible, boorish, insensitive and unknowledgeable instructor I have ever had. I left in the afternoon shaking my head and feeling a little pissed off. I am seriously thinking of canceling the rest of the repeat, just on the chance that he will be teaching the classes.

On color theory: "When they make a TV that uses CMYK instead of RGB, that will be it, because print has such vibrant colors." Where do I begin to point out the monumental ignorance displayed by that one statement? CMYK is subtractive color, RGB is additive; you can't mix CMYK using transmitted light, only reflective. RGB colors are far more brilliant than CMYK colors, since they are generated with transmitted light. I hope he doesn't teach Photoshop.

He showed us some of his Web sites and they were completely devoid of design knowledge or creativity; turns out he has high school students do the layouts, then he adds the interactivity.

He showed us all-Flash Web sites that were generated by expert teams of 20 to 150 designers, telling the students in front of him that it would take them a decade to learn Flash, and that they would never master it because it keeps getting more complicated. As you might guess, the overall effect on the students was rather demoralizing.

He wrapped up the class by telling this roomful of unemployed people who are retraining for a new career that the job market is flooded with Flash designers, and that they will never find a good job because everybody's using high school and college kids who will take $12 an hour because they live in their parents' basement.

The fact that this guy came off as a addle-brained blowhard loser who most likely is living in his parents basement didn't help. And what little knowledge he did impart during the six hours of class was fairly inconsequential.

Beware of any instructor who says the main point of the class is to have fun. I thought it was to learn the program and some of the theory behind it.

Okay. Enough character assassination for one entry.

Look! A kitty watching fish! How cute! (Actually, she is the first cat to show any interest in the fish at all.)

On some other fronts:

Hag Harbor is no more. The house that was the Moms' home for so many years sold last week, for cash, no less. This after being on the market for only about two weeks. What this means for me is a cash infusion right about the time my first extension on unemployment is expiring. I believe I'm elibigle for a second, but it will be nice to have a little monetary breathing room after almost a year of unemployment for me and underemployment for Steve (he still only works three days a week).

The refrigerator is 20 years old and rattles vehemently when it runs (which is most of the time), so that finally can get replaced. I need a new computer if I'm going to be designing Web sites with any consistency. The huge programs I have to run are starting to crash my current machine on a fairly regular basis.

And both of us need a vacation, very badly. It's been over two years since we had one together, so we're planning on a week up in Eureka in the old-growth redwood forests, since that's where I'm pitching as our retirement location.

And the IRA accounts could use a good infusion of contributions, since none have been made since I was laid off and Steve's work was cut back.

But, most of all, it means there's enough of a buffer that I don't have to feel desperate about getting employment immediately. I really want to make this next career move one in a positive direction, and not simply employment for the sake of a paycheck.

Still another side note: I broke down and purchased Adobe's "Classroom in a Book" for all four of the programs I'm going to get certified in (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash). My instructor Ron (who's not the one described above) said if you have those texts under your belt you'll pass the certifications with flying colors, since they are what the exams are based on.

They certainly promise to be more comprehensive than the how-to oriented (and rather thin) texts they supply at New Horizons. Still, it's a really good school. If you're considering taking computer classes, it's a good choice.

The books should be here on Wednesday, so I will dive in and endeavor to memorize all of them. Luckily, a lot of the information is already stuffed neatly into my head, so it will just be clarifying areas that I'm missing on the Cert Blaster quizzes.

That's about it. We're due for some rain this Wednesday and Thursday, but not much, says the weatherman. Then another storm should blow through the Tuesday after that, also not a biggie. But it is nice to be getting precipitation so late into the beginning of the year. Other than that, it's been in the upper-70s, mid-80s and looks to stay that way.

After all, it's Southern California.