As far as I can tell, ConTrak Systems is ready to be run at the convention. I will detail some interesting facts and challenges that have stood in my way thus far:
Worst Thing I Can't Do Anything About
Badge Printing We are using a detailed graphic this year for the badges. Unfortunately, PhotoShop prints the badge better than the web browser. I have tried modifying ConTrak's code for high-quality graphics, but it prints fuzzy badges every time. As a last-ditch effort, I modified the code so it would not touch the badge graphic and would just print the attendee's name with a paragraph mark, backwards indented over the badge graphic. Basically, I did not touch the graphic at all for this one. Bad News: It still printed fuzzy, so the web browser cannot print as detailed a graphic as PhotoShop. It's understandable, though.
Worst Mistake
Dealer's Room I forgot I was waiting for feedback from one person and I did not complete my testing of the dealer module. Oops. I fixed it / completed it, but that was a bit too late for one frenzied dealer manager.
Oddest Test Run Problem
D-Link Repeater/Card Preference For last year's convention, I bought some cheap repeaters to use in the wireless network (D-Link brand). I have a D-Link B and Linksys A&G wireless cards. I can easily get on the network with the D-Link card, but not the Linksys one. I think I will switch channels and disable the D-Link-specific bandwidth compression and try again. I still do not understand why only the D-Link card will connect reliably to the network. It's not like I have a good environment to test in...
Learning Experience
I've learned so much more about programming with ASP .Net and the resulting ConTrak Systems software architecture scheme that I can easily see the difference from when I started (July 2004?) to where I am now (March 2005). The difference is painful indeed. I plan to rework a good amount of ConTrak Systems after the convention in order to make it more manageable. I also hope to come up with a slightly more pleasing user interface. Times like this make me wish I could also do graphic design as well as I can do web dev and programming. Ah, well; it just gives me something for which to aim.
Miscellany
I was asked at work about my career goals. My career goals are to keep in a job I enjoy doing and do it even better each year. I want to wake up each day excited to go to work. To accomplish this later on, I aim to try to infuse variability in any job--work on different things and not the same thing over and over.
My final career goal is purposefully a paradox. I will work to the goal of being satisfied with my knowledge and abilities. It is a paradox because I am determined not to be happy with where I am now. Why? Self improvement. I am such that if I am satisfied with something I will leave it alone. If I am comfortable now, I will never have the motivation to challenge and push my abilities further. I believe maintaining a high level of motivation over an extended period (many years) is difficult to do; I am trying to do just that.
Why else would PhoenixPo.com's slogan be "Rising to the Challenge"?
