test day! March 30, 2004

is tomorrow. i’m taking the Microsoft Office Specialist exam for Word 2003 tomorrow at the compusa in tukwila. i can’t believe i have test anxiety… i finished the step by step elearning for Word 2003 and took the post assessment – good news – i am improving. Assessment results -Core Training for Microsoft Office Word 2003 Post Assessment.htm looks like charts and graphs are my weak area. the other question i answered incorrectly had to do with making modifications to an existing template. just a dumb goof on my part. at any rate – i should know tomorrow if i have what it takes to be a Microsoft Office Specialist in Word. stay tuned….

b.

so not a specialist. March 26, 2004

i took a practice exam for word 2003 knowledge. this is what i discovered. i stink at word. check it out. Assessment results -Core Training for Microsoft Office Word 2003 Pre-Assessment.htm

needless to say i’ve worked through about half of the lessons in the step by step book, and learned quite a few things. i’m compiling a list of the top 11 things that are cool in word 2003. why 11? because 11 is better than 10.

b.

eating your own dogfood. March 25, 2004

if you follow microsoft lore at all you probably know that this is a common phrase used around the company. the concept is simple: if we are going to ask our customers to use our products, we better make sure we are too! in fact much of what sits on my desktop at the moment is still in beta so that i can help the developers work around issues and suggestions as they move towards a public release.

in that spirit it is time for me to eat my own chow and become a Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor! this is no small feat mind you, it requires i become certified in all the Office applications, as well as validate my ability to teach/instruct. my first certification goal is to pass the new Microsoft Office Specialist Word 2003 exam, and i’ve been using a few tools to prepare including Office Online, a Microsoft Word 2003 Step by Step book and some online training from the Microsoft eLearning Library.

in terms of how i think becoming a Microsoft Office Specialist will help me on the job, i’m curious to see if taking the time to get trained, and then validating that training with certification will show in the documents i create. to that end i may even post some before and after documents for all to see.

finally earlier this week i had a great conversation with Margie Semilof over at Tech Target.com who has posted a write up of the Microsoft Office Specialist certification. pay attention to the Robert Half information – it’s pretty cool what they are doing with Microsoft Office Specialist.

b.

12 minute run. March 8, 2004

remember the presidential test for physical fitness? if you were in middle school during the 80’s i’m guessing you do. of the various activities that we were tested on, there were two that haunted me – were my nemesi (if there is such a word) year in and year out. they were the bar hang and the 12 minute run. without going into too much detail i’ll share this much:

1. i never “hung” for more than .5 second
2. i never ran for 12 minutes

so to find myself on a relatively quiet sunday afternoon running almost a mile in 12 minutes at 32 years of age and still 29lbs away from my goal weight – well let’s just say right along with freddie mercury and the gang i was feeling very much the champion. short term goal is to see if i can run for 14 minutes straight. weeeeeeee. and i’ll just keep eyeballing the bar we have installed in the doorway to the laundry room….

b.