This week I created 3 maps, but I did each of them several times.  I have chosen to include two versions of the second map here as a reminder that sometimes starting over due to technical issues ( couldn't access my data after completing the map and saving a jpeg, message says it was created with an earlier version, and second time realizing I was half in one drive and half in another).  The blue background was the initial map.  I still don't know why or how I got it to have a blue background, or why the second one doesn't.  I think sometimes you just have to go with it.  As I worked through the lab for the second time I realized that I was getting faster.  I accessed the ArcCatalog as a stand alone feature and as a window within ArcMap.  Reviewed the views of the table of contents:1) List by Drawing being the most comfortable for me, probably since this is the view I have been using so far. 2) List by Source was interesting to see where my data was coming from 3)List by visibility helped to answer summary question (count of selected features) 4)List by Selection not sure how to utilize this yet.  Used select by attribute to build a SQL queering to create a new shapefile. I practiced labeling features both all of the labels for a layer and later limited the labels by population.  Updated Map Document Properties under the file tab, to utilize dynamic text for author and date.  Recognized I don't like messy maps, maps with too many fields.  The one that I have included has rivers, roads, railways and some cities.  It was very difficult to try to find a place for the labels for the cities in all the roads and rivers.  Changing the labels to attributes and saving to the map allowed me to move them around but even then I could only look for the least interruptions as the rivers and road are everywhere.  Worked with raster data for the first time.  It looks different from the vector data we have been using.  It seems to come as a whole unit.  Vector data has attributes that can be limited, labeled, and symbolized.  Raster doesn't appear to be as malleable.  Classified symbology of the raster data provided clear lines of distinction to the data.  The stretch symbology gave a more natural feel of fading from one level to the next.  Challenging week, but the challenge provided the opportunity to do the maps again and again.  Learning more and becoming more comfortable each time.