My First Blog adventure, Part 2

Here it is, a Monday evening and I'm doing the unthinkable, homework! Although my system is in shock, I will force my way through this and attempt to be productive. OK, I'm just kidding, it's actually not as bad as all of that. However, things were bad on Saturday as I attempted to post my second blog entry. My adventures, or maybe misadventures would be more appropriate, had me practically pulling my hair out and that experience will be the subject of this post. And yes, I am fully aware that this blog entry is not required for the class, or even necessary. It's just that since I had such a great time with this on Saturday, I just couldn't keep it to myself. Anyway, with that said, here we go...

Things went well as I used Microsoft Word to write everything down. Once I had finished writing and making corrections, I was set to post, and that's when the fun started. But before I get to all the fun I have to go back to the first night of class to set the scene. On Thursday, I set up my blog account with the help of my professor, of course. Once it was functional, I logged out and then logged back in several times in an attempt to build my confidence and to get used to it. Satisfied that I could get in and out with no problem, I went home. Saturday morning arrived and I was able to make my first post with no problem. However, I did notice a small problem when I was prompted to send myself an e-mail for verification. I did this but couldn't find that e-mail. But hey, I was able to make a post so I figured it was no big deal. When I had completed my assignment I logged out and then did not log back in until my next class the following Thursday. Almost as if a harbinger of things to come, the blog site gave me a neat little message when I attempted to log back in. I was told that my blog looked like spam so I had to go through a few steps to get things taken care of. I did all of that and then when Saturday arrived I started my homework.

As I stated earlier, I used Microsoft Word to write my piece and then I would just cut and paste it into the blog. As I tried to log in, of course I was denied access. I was told that I had to go through that pesky verification process. So, I sent myself an e-mail to my account as instructed. After going to my inbox, I couldn't find it. Already slightly frustrated, I decided to send myself an e-mail from my personal Yahoo account. After I had sent it, I went to my e-mail account to look for it only to come up empty again. Looking at my inbox, I noticed that the oldest e-mails were at the top and the latest, dated February 25 were at the bottom. I thought something had to be wrong with my e-mail account since the last time I recieved an e-mail was almost a month ago. By now I was a little upset so I called the NOVA Help Desk to complain that my e-mail wasn't functioning properly. Of course he asked for my EMPLID which I didn't remember and didn't have with me. So, I had to hang up and go find it. Searching for it was a blast but finally I was able to find it and then call back only to be placed on hold. What else is new, right? Anyway, when my call was answered I was told that there was nothing wrong with my account and that I should just try deleting old e-mails to free up space as that may clog up the account and cause it to freeze. Upon deleting a bunch of old e-mails, I noticed e-mails from after 25 February just showing up out of nowhere. I had noticed that the old e-mails were on top but it didn't click, well, now it was clicking. For some reason, unlike my other e-mail accounts, the old e-mails are on the top of the page and the newer ones are on the bottom and extend to the next page. It never dawned on me to try going to the next page....

As I got rid of the unecessary e-mails I was able to find the one I was looking for, three of them to be exact. Following the instructions I opened the e-mail and attempted to click on the URL provided. Doing so would verify my identity and get me up and running. Should be simple, right? WRONG! Clicking on the URL got me that nice little message that states the page that I was looking for cannot be found. NICE!!! I tried all three and got the same result. In the event of this happening, the instructions told me to cut and paste it into a new window and try again. So, I copied and pasted the URL into a Word document. My result? No luck. Next I forwarded the e-mail to my Yahoo acount and tried again, this time I hit the jackpot and it worked. Elated I tried to paste my essay into my blog but when I tried to open up Microsoft Word it wouldn't let me. I somehow managed to save it wrong and had to open it up using Word Perfect. Now I was back down in the dumps. After a short period of time, I figured this out I was able to paste it and call it a day. I had had enough. Which brings me to today...

My next post will be geared towards my topic. Just as I have learned about blogging during these first three posts, I hope to learn more about Tibet and gain a deeper understanding of the events happening there.