Facing Reality

Today in class we used Excel to see the contrasts between our own family's income and expenses by creating Family budgets. A budget is a financial plan for saving and spending money. Excel is a great program to create these budgets in because it allows you to see and adjust your budgets to fit specific needs (i.e. monthly payments, savings, expense limits etc.)

Income: Money coming into the household
- Job
- Second Job
- Investments
- Alimony
- Pension

After figuring out the income and subtracting taxes, we calculate the expenses.

Expenses: Purchases being made from the income
- Rent/mortgage
- Insurance
- Electricity
- Cable
- Internet
- Food
- Phones (Cell phones)
- Transportation (Car, TTC...)
- Clothing
- Medical
- Education
- Entertainment: video games, music, movies, sports etc.
- Savings

When both the Expenses and the income has been calculated, you compare the totals. If the total expense amount is under the total income the budget is doing well if not the budget is in debt.

From doing this exercise in Excel I've learned that earning money, and making expense decisions can be really tough. It makes you realize just how hard your parents work to bring daily needs into the household, and for that I'm truly grateful to all my they have given me.

End of Race

Well, we just finished writing our test on Microsoft Excel. Even though my answers are already slowly starting to evaporate from my mind I'm pretty sure that I did all right on the test[even though I know I could have done better...> >]. I guess I'll just have to cover for this test with other assignments in the future. My head is spinning with cells, columns, rows and brackets. Nonetheless I'm glad we were tested on Microsoft Excel and that we were given a chance to familiarize ourselves with the program as it is sure to help us be more efficient and productive in our future lives.

Now I wonder...what exactly is it that we'll be put up against next?!

Running In Cells and Columns

Today I've come to know about yet another test. This time it's on Microsoft Excel. So this blog entry is to help me get my thoughts sorted out and see what I know about Excel. Hopefully I've absorbed enough knowledge and can apply it well!

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that is much more efficient than a manual spreadsheet that someone would fill out using a pencil and paper. Microsoft Excel makes it so that you have the following tools right at your fingertips:

-Charts and Graphs (You can input your data into Excel and create a Chart or Graph with it using only a few clicks. This saves you the time of having to draw one out yourself.)

-Calculations ( Excel can make calculations for you as long as you input a forumla following "=" into a cell. *Note: All formulas are relative to their location, cells must be named to avoid relative cells.)

-Polishing Tools (Excel also allows you to control the look and feel of your final product. You can use borders and colours to enhance your data visually.)

Those are some of the advantages of Microsoft Excel...now to move on to how it actually functions!

Microsoft Excel is set up using rows and columns of individual "cells" that you can input data into. It is up to you what you put into those cells and which functions of Excel you use! Microsoft Excel is a very flexible product and can be used for anything! You can even include your spreadsheets in other files such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Powerpoint.

All Systems Ready! Let's Go!

Continuing with our journey to conquer Excel, today we went deep into charts, diagrams, and graphs. To learn this better we went back in time all the way back to Grade 2, when we used to make surveys about favourite topics amongst the class.

While, doing this on Excel is quite simple, taking the extra effort of customizing your charts can do, you...[and your Grades!] wonders! All you have to do to insert a chart is 1) Select your data and 2) Go to Insert> Chart...then you could just press next, next, next, Finish...HOWEVER, if you customize your chart it will end up impressing others a lot better and get you those bonus marks as well~ [ Of course Mr.Case won't fall this...but other teachers for sure!]

So to practise this skill I made a chart on Excel for myself and discovered all that Excel had to offer with Charts. I played around with a lot of options and created a Pie Graph for a fictional cake favourites in a classroom. Here's what I came up with:



I'm really glad Mr.Case talked about charts with us in Excel and I look forward to what we're doing next! But also...I can't wait to use my newly adapted chart-making skills on a project!

Microsoft is EXCELent you have my word!

Overview:
For the past few classes, we have been learning all about Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Excel is a computerized spread sheet that came out in the 1990's. Microsoft Excel has become an Industrial Standard, meaning most people have this program and use it. Before Excel and programs like Excel, creating spreadsheets was truly a hassle. Excel consists of many lettered columns and numbered rows. Like an LCD Monitor, Excel works much like a game of Battleship. These numbers and letters are used to locate cells on the spreadsheet. Each cell has million of tiny calculators, allowing the user to put in individual commands towards certain cells. Microsoft Excels functions are much like other Microsoft programs, making the user feel more comfortable toward Microsoft programs.

Advantages:
- Calculations errors? Not a problem excel deals with those very conveniently
- Least amount of work involved as possible

More Facts:
There are 3 types of information that can be put into a cell.
-Text- Words
-Value- Numbers
-Formula - a mathematical phrase that tells the cell what to calculate.

Formulas known so far:

=SUM(number1, number2,...) - Totals the numbers given
=AVERAGE(number1, number2,...) - Gets an average for the numbers given
=MAX - Gives the largest amount as an answer
=MIN - Determines smallest amount in a given group of numbers
=COUNT - (Counts how many cells have number amounts given)
=COUNTA - (Counts both NUMBERS and TEXT)
=IF (condition, value-if-true, value-if-false) - Returns an answer to an 'IF' question
=PMT(rate, NPER, PV, FV, type) - PMT Function (The periodic payment for an income)
[(rate) interest rate per period, (NPER) number of payments until repaid, (PV) present value of the loan; the amount we're borrowing, (FV) future value of the money; for saving or investing, (type) enter 0 or 1 to indicate when payments are due.]

That's all I've got so far on our journey to conquer EXCEL!

I'll report on what I find next in future posts!

Be the Star of Your Own Podcast!

The newest assignment: Create your own Podcast about a topic that has something to do with Woodbine.

Though we have just started on this project, we're all very curious and excited about it. To complete this assignment we'll be using the program "Audacity." Once you download this program from sourceforge.net, you'll have a fully functional recording studio right at your fingertips! This sounded like a lot of fun so I downloaded Audacity this weekend.

I spent sometime experimenting with Audacity. I experimented with different songs and effects. I tried speeding up and slowing the song down, fading, and adding an echo. These are just a few basic features available with Audacity but there is truly a lot more that you can do.

Madiha and I are going to a Podcast called: The Woodbine Scrapbook. In this Podcast we'll be interviewing both Teachers and students on fun topics. This will be a good way to learn more about your fellow classmates, but get to know your teachers a a whole lot better! I can't wait to get started~

--Amna

Closed Source Vs. Open Source

Today in class we learned the differences between open sources, and closed sources. Closed source software (i.e. Microsoft Windows and Office) is made by a single person or a company. The final program that you run on your computer is all that is available. The actual source code for making the software is kept a hidden and unchangeable. Open source software on the other hand, is basically the complete opposite, it's usually free to use and the source code is open to the users to alter to their liking and even re-sell it!

Calling all Espers, Aliens and Time Travelers to tune in to Anime Tv!

Our new assignment was to find a Podcast about something we're interested in, listen to it and then talk about it to the class. Well I spent a lot of time browsing through many different Podcasts. I looked for Podcasts on many things, until I decided that I would like to listen to a Podcast about Anime.I found a wide variety of Podcasts about this topic using iTunes but it was a while before I decided on the one I want to use. Finally I chose a simple podcast that reviewed the new dub release of 'The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya' in America.

It was an episode part of ''AnimeTv''. I chose this Anime Podcast over the other ones I saw, for several reasons. Firstly, AnimeTv is the first Video Podcast dedicated only to anime. It's hosted by Jhonny Yong Bosch, a famous voice actor, who has done several voices in dub versions of anime like, the voices of Ichigo Kurasaki from Bleach, Vash the Stampede from Trigun, and Itsuki Koizumi just to name a few. The show has a group of anime fanatics [just like me ~], who talk about the anime they're reviewing in the episode. No formalities. Just straight forward opinions towards the anime. Then the viewers get to send in their feedback about how they liked the anime, and in the end the Anime is given a final rating.

The great part of this show is that it's good for both, people new to anime, and Otakus. It's a good way to see how others enjoyed something as much as you did, as well as find a new anime to watch. 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya' was given a final rating of 8.2, which I think is reasonable when looked upon their reflections. However, I think the voice acting in the dub of Haruhi Suzumiya didn't do justice to Aya hirano and the rest of the cast in the original, opposed to what AnimeTv had said, but that's the best part of the Podcast, the viewers opinion matters most in the end. So I'll be sharing my results with the rest of the class whenever we present!

**AnimeTv can be found on iTunes, or at www.goanimetv.com

Good things come in small pods

Podcast: A multimedia file that can be downloaded automatically to your computer using RSS and Atom feeds. An internet broadcast in a periodical format.

A Podcast is basically a method of making users aware of new content. If the technical terms are left out a Podcast is a very good method of sharing and spreading information. This is an elaborated summary of how podcast works and why it is useful.

A podcast is a multimedia file that functions using syndication feeds. For podcasts web syndication feeds are used. This term basically means that part of site (such as updates etc.) is made available to the subscriber of the feed itself. Podcast differs from downloading or streaming because it can be downloaded automatically as long a software that can read RSS or Atom feeds is present. RSS and Atom feeds are both XML(Extensible Markup Language) languages. RSS and Atom feeds are the core of the system that make podcasting possible.

Podcast is very convenient as it brings you the information you want directly to you. The host of the information will set up different feed channels and you just have to select the feed that is most suited to your needs. The file will be pulled from the internet and downloaded to your system. It allows you to find a Podcast on whatever your interests may be and is available to you whenever you want!

Podcasts have many uses. They were originally created so that individuals could have their own raido shows but now they are used as a basis of communication in many other ways. They can alert people about meetings, provide updates, act as tours or tutorials and even work as school lessons.

More information about podcast can be found here. This is also where I acquired my information.