A morning without coffee is like sleep

I'm blogging about the first thing that came to mind: beloved coffee. It's probably appropriate though, as I'm sitting in the Dav, watching tired students come in and tank up on caffeine.

If you ever get sick of simply watching AU students go about their daily business, there are a ton of great coffee shops in D.C.

According to About.com, the Top 3 coffee shops are:

1. Chinatown Coffee Co.
2. Ebenezers Coffeehouse
3. Java Green Cafe

And here are some other random ones with much cooler names:

• Sparky's Espresso Cafe (closed)
• St. Elmo's Coffee Pub
• Quartermaine Coffee Roasters

So I asked the guy sitting next to me to pick a number (except four) between one and six. He chose three. So here's a map of how to get to the Java Green Cafe, listed as the number three best coffee shop according to this blog (with a cool YouTube video embedded about aesthetic coffee art for your viewing pleasure!) --------->

View Java Green Cafe in a larger map

And now for a random pie chart concerning trees, bushes, beaches and deserts...

Google Maps

That's right. A map of AU, including a promotional video (click anywhere within the blue shape), with a handy-dandy line leading to my humble abode.


View Chris' map in a larger map

This Boring Headline Was Copied From The New York Times

Before you read any further about Search Engine Optimization, skim over this article from The New York Times.

If you've already decided not to click, here's the lede:

JOURNALISTS over the years have assumed they were writing their headlines and articles for two audiences — fickle readers and nitpicking editors. Today, there is a third important arbiter of their work: the software programs that scour the Web, analyzing and ranking online news articles on behalf of Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.

I did a Google Adwords Keyword Tool search on which words I should include in this blog entry's title by copying the URL into the Tool's search function, here are the results:

• "search engine optimization,"
• "seo search engine optimization,"
• "search engine optimization software,"
• "search engine optimization tips."

(But obviously I went with the NYT's catchier title, as I'm a sucker at heart for quirky print headlines.)

It should be mentioned that these were the only search terms that exceeded 10,000 in the Global Monthly Search Volume.

The NYT said it best. No longer can journalists writing for the Web formulate headlines with only their generally above-average educated readers in mind.

Oh, and by the way (forgive the shameless self-promotion), if you're reading this - friend me on Twitter!

CSS: An untamable beast

If class today taught us anything, it's that everyone makes mistakes and CSS is a beast that can never be fully tamed.

(Professor Hatch, if you're reading this, please know that no apologies were necessary. In fact, it was relieving (or extremely disheartening) to know that CSS can still be problematic even when you know it inside out.)

Sarah Parnass and I spoke after class about what could've gone wrong, and she astutely mentioned that it was likely the tool bar wasn't an embedded CSS because it's the same on all of american.edu's various sections.

From what I could gather, this means the code would be located in one of those style sheets rather than in the page's source code.

Beginning with the basics

As in any field of study, you need a fundamental understanding of basic material in order to have a solid foundation upon which you can build. It's like learning a language - if you don't know grammar or spelling you might be able to speak, but you're going to struggle with writing and reading.

And equating Generation-Yers with native speakers of a foreign language might not be that far off. We've grown up with the Internet - we can chat, surf, blog, facebook, e-mail, do research, skype - you name it. But how many of us really know what 'http' stands for?

For me at least, these first few chapters have been a bombardment of information that sounds familiar and I half understand, but if forced to explain it in any detail to another person I'd be lost. That said, I'm beginning to realize the importance of knowing, for example, how to create a personal Web site. (And I'm not talking about just any blog, but actually building a Web site from scratch.)

I figure it's like getting your master's and then going to work for a newspaper. Sure, a bachelor's would've been sufficient, but it would've taken you years to get where you are now. If you enter the job market with a considerable knowledge of all things online, you're going to be way ahead of the next guy.

And while this stuff can only be learned by doing, getting acquainted with the grammar and spelling of online journalism first might just put us ahead of some native speakers one day...

What I hope to learn in Multimedia production...

In this portion of our course on multimedia production skills, I hope to gain a sufficient familiarity with web layout and design. As many employers expect an aspiring journalist to already have the ability to publish articles to a Web site or work with relevant Web-publishing programs, I hope to gain at least a superficial knowledge of what these programs can do and which ones I should learn before graduating. That is not to say I expect us to busy ourselves with these programs during class time, for I know the library offers Lynda.com tutorials.
I hope to learn how to write basic HTML code and dabble in CSS. I realize only brief introductions will be possible, as our time together is limited, but I'm sure we'll be able to touch as many bases as possible and delve deeper into the most important topics.

Upcoming assignments

What I hope class will accomplish.

E-mail him by Monday, a blog that I would like to critique and analyze.

Send him the link to THIS blog.

Always re-send an e-mail if you don't get a near-immediate reply. He always responds, confirming that he's received the e-mail within an hour.