Life in the Sicilian

Work time fun time

2008-09-04T23:05:00.001-07:00

Whoa. Working at EA is way different than working at CanAssist last term. The only thing I can really say is similar is that the hours are fairly flexible, though I can't be in later than 10 or out earlier than 4. CanAssist gave me about a few hours of training and told me to get to it and figure things out myself. EA's a little bit more organized with their training (two days of orientation and I spend the next little while learning how to do my specific job). I'm sure there'll be days where I'll need to stay late or work weekends, but not yet. There's a lot more software to work with, too.

The commute's been good to me so far. I've been overestimating traffic lately so I've always been there really early for stuff, but it's still a long way down, I've got no radio yet, and gas isn't cheap (65 bucks for 7/8ths of a tank when I filled up last Tuesday). I'll be fine, though.

Oh, yeah, my family got a car. I'd say I got a car since I'll be its primary driver (and maintainer) for the first four months, but it's not actually mine. We sold the minivan a while ago since we got a new one, but we wanted something cheap and efficient to replace it. It's a '92 Jetta, it was two thousand bucks and it runs really well, despite some starter problems, which isn't too bad and should be fixed sometime soon. I like it. It's pretty fun to drive, repairs are cheap because my dad sells the parts for it, and it works really well. As I've said, there's no radio (yet), but that'll also get fixed soon.

Anyway, work. Then there's the perks. Oh, the perks. Aside from being in a really nice building, if you didn't have to work, it would be a gamer's paradise. They have a full size soccer field, streetball court, indoor basketball court, beach volleyball court, and a really nice gym, if you want to stay in shape (it is EA Sports, after all). They have tons of arcade and pinball machines on free play (no DDR or ITG as far as I've seen, though), including various fighting games I like and NFL Blitz (oh, man, I haven't played that in forever). You can buy anything EA develops for 20 bucks, and over the course of my work term, I get three free games. And then there's the IRC. Imagine a small library. Except this library not only stocks books, but also movies and games and sometimes consoles (!) as well. And you can borrow this stuff for a week. For free.

Some of it's done for research, but you can also take things out for personal use as well. You can't find very much from this generation unless it's more than a few months old, and they don't have anything really historic back there (nothing N64/PSX gen or older), but if you're looking for something on the PS2, XBox or Cube, and it was released in North America (heck, there's a few import titles as well), they have it, regardless of how hard it is to find these days. I saw so much stuff there that I've always wanted to play but I had given up on because my only hope of finding it would be resorting to EBay or something. Well, I think I've found another way out. :D

There's some other cool stuff in there as well. I don't think you can borrow it, but they do have some stuff hooked up to some TVs there, too. There's some obvious stuff, like an N64 and a SNES, but there's some stuff that I was kinda (but not really) surprised to see, like a Dreamcast, a Sega Saturn (!), a Sega CD (!!), heck, even a 3D0 (!!!).

That being said, I'm sure the work won't be easy otherwise there wouldn't be a reason to give all this stuff to us. But so far, things look pretty nifty.

Oh, and I can't tell you what I'm working on, unfortunately. NDA and all that. You'd think that if EA makes the same sports games every year I'd be working on something that I actually knew was going to come out in about a year's time (if I was working on NHL10 or NBA10 or something, I would be allowed to tell). But no, I've gotta wait for the official announcement. Oh, well.

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Current music:

Alive and well

2008-08-20T22:42:00.001-07:00

I moved back home last Saturday, which is nice considering I haven't been back for more than two weeks since last summer. Marks are starting to come back, and by the look of things, I'll be fine (A- in CSC 225, which is what I was most worried about). In the mean time, I'm just killing time until I have to start work. I think it'll be an interesting work term coming up.

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Current music:

Just a few more days and I'll find my way home

2008-08-12T22:47:00.001-07:00

I just woke up before 8am this morning for the last time this term. Yay! I wrote my CSC 225 final, and I think it went well. The exam was straightforward, I guess. No surprising questions, it's either you know it or you don't. I think it went well in the end, but we'll see. This was the one course that's been bugging me all the time, but at least it's over now.

Anyway, afterwards, I stopped by the Rogers Video near the house. See, we're planning on getting an Xbox 360 in the next few days as an end-of-term gift to myself and my brother, so I was browsing around and picking up stuff for it in advance. (Don't worry, I'm not touching it till after I'm all done... :P). Anyway, I got my manliness questioned by a Rogers employee. :P I go to buy Eternal Sonata (I've heard good things about it and the story seemed interesting), and the lady at the store took one look at the cover and asked me "You're not buying this for yourself, are you?", to which after feeling just a little embarrassed (not because of what I was buying, it's not as kiddie as it looked, just the fact that I was even being asked the question), replied yes. Sure, it felt like a slap in the face, but it was funny.

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Current music:

2-second experience I never want to experience again.

2008-08-09T14:09:00.001-07:00

Walking into a spider web that's at your face level. Really sucks.

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Current music: None right now, but I recently discovered kawaii-radio and have been listening to that a lot lately - hope I don't use up too much bandwidth doing it (funny how this is much longer than the actual post)

Exam time

2008-08-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

And it's hitting quite hard. I've never had six exams in one term before, but thankfully some of them aren't as bad as others.

I wrote my elec final today. In all honesty, it went better than I expected, especially considering one question from our assignments that I didn't understand came back to haunt me. Thankfully, this time I was able to figure it out (thank goodness that the rest of the exam wasn't too bad), I think.

Two more this week (Wednesday and Thursday) and three next week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday), then I can finally come home. It's been a while since I've been home for more than a few days. Should be fun.

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Current music:

Camping!

2008-07-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

I got to experience the great outdoors firsthand last weekend. For the most part, it went well. The part that didn't? Well, things worked out in the end, I guess.

Anyway, we went up to Mystic Beach, which is right on the coast, to the point where on a clear day, you can actually see the States on the other side of the water. Friday night was the 4th of July and we actually got to see some very miniature fireworks go off on the other side of the border. It was really cool.

You know what else is really cool? Air. Especially early in the morning. Here's the scoop: I don't own a sleeping bag. I asked around to see if anyone else had one and I was unsuccessful, but someone was nice enough to lend me some warm blankets. When we got to the parking lot, we got ready for the 2k hike ahead of us, and I swear I saw someone take them out of the trunk. Unfortunately, they went back in the trunk, as I found out later that evening, after hiking the hilly 2k trail. So I had to bundle up as best I could in the night inside the tent (at least I had a pillow, or else I wouldn't know what to do), but anything below the waist felt really cold. As a result, I'm currently under the weather.

Other than that little mishap, it turned out great. The beach is really pretty, I got to hang out with a bunch of cool people, and I got a bunch of exercise, too. I'll put the pictures up on Facebook when I get the chance.

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Current music:

Surviving, I guess

2008-07-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

I'm still here. I just don't post much anymore. I don't know who reads this anymore now that Facebook lets everyone else keep up to date, but I still post here occasionally.

Classes are doing fine, I guess. I'm doing well in most of them, and one could use a bit of work. I few weeks ago, I got a really bad midterm returned to me. I'd rather not reveal the mark, but I will say that I passed, and I don't like where this class is taking me mark-wise. To put it in an analogy that you may or may not understand, it's like being down 20 points on the last race of a Mario Kart GP. You can do as well as you want in the last race, but you're not going to get the first place trophy at the end. Well, I think I've all but scrapped my chances of A+ing the class, but I'll still do what I can to at least save my mark so it won't kill my GPA.

Other than that, classes are pretty good. I'm not doing horribly in anything, so that's a good thing, I guess. Last week was incredibly busy though, with assignments in everything and two midterms on top of that, but I think I got out alright. I just had my reading break (which was great, save for the last bus ride home; I'd explain, but it's easier to mention that it's Canada Day today, and the bus I was riding was eventually going downtown after I got off) and now I'm just getting ready to take on the world again. Stuff, here I come!

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Current music:

Secured!

2008-06-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

After a few days of nervous pacing on my part, I finally got an email about a job offer from EA. Yay! This means I'll be living in Abbotsford for four months.

Now to worry about all the assignments and midterms and stuff coming up before reading break...
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Current music:

Shortlist! Again! w00t!

2008-06-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

I made it to the second interview process for EA, where I get interviewed on the technical stuff I know. No idea which of the three places I applied is the one I get hired at, but we'll see what happens with it.

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Current music:

Test time!

2008-06-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

I wrote my first of three midterms this week today. It was my math one (discrete math, fun), and for the most part, it went well. A few definitions I might have screwed up on, but whatever. The last question was great. It was a combinatorial proof (basically, they give you an expression, say, the cumulative sum of k=0 to n of nCk = 2^n, and you have to prove it by saying that both the left and right sides count the same thing), and the expression in the parentheses was our bonus question. Normally we have to give the boring old definition that it's just a way to count subsets, but determined not to get bored in class and wanting to let some creative energy out, I thought I'd have some fun. Basically, I wrote about the number of ways you can throw pies at n clowns where each clown can only be hit by one pie maximum. It worked out in the end, let's hope the marker finds it as funny as I did. The answer is correct, I'm just spicing up the marker's life a little bit.

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Current music:

Shortlist! w00t!

2008-06-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

I have an interview with EA. Not bad considering it's the only one I've applied to so far. We'll see where it goes.

One of the nice things is that it's a phone interview, so I don't have to dress up or anything. I like where this is going.

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Current music:

Best. Projects. Ever.

2008-06-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, despite being busy with a ton of stuff (a grand total of SIX assignments due the upcoming week o_O), I'm actually having a lot of fun with some of the stuff I'm doing right now. SENG 271, a software design course, focuses on test-driven development (aka running small tests as you go to make sure your code works right) but the project is going to be awesome, as it involves working with Wiimotes somehow. I'm getting excited about that one already. Second best part of the class is the lab section. 20 people signed up for the Tuesday lab session. One signed up for the Thursday lab session. Tuesday I'm busy with Sunago stuff. Now, since that was announced, the Thursday lab session attendance has doubled, but it's still really awesome.

Also, I've got the best project ever for SENG 310, a user interface design class. We're allowed to pick a project and prototype it. We don't have to actually design it, but we do have to make a prototype somehow of the interface. It doesn't necessarily have to be implementable, neither by us nor at all, but we need some idea of the interface. With that being said, our group has the best project ever. We've decided that we're going to design the interface for a theoretical time machine. Again, no one said it had to be implementable, or possible for that matter. And yes, we've already got the topic approved, so we're in the clear for that. We're doing user studies right now, but all I can say is that the end result is going to be awesome.

The rest of the classes feel like normal school fare. I've got a class on algorithms and data structures (mostly theory, not much programming), an economics course (think high school math with interest and stuff, it's pretty much that except a bit harder), a course in discrete math (more proofs! yay!) and a course in digital signal processing (which would be a lot better if the prof were easier to understand, the only reason I'm getting by is because it's based off a course I'm already taking). Some of it's hard, some of it's not, and a lot of it really makes you think. It's hard, but in a way, it's kinda fun, I guess.
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Current music:

Completely and utterly overwhelmed.

2008-05-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I can't remember ever having so much work to do in such a short amount of time. I have five assignments to do this week, one was due on Monday, the others are due in the next three days. At least one of them I know to be not easy. I had four last week. Next week there will be at least four. It keeps piling and piling on, and it doesn't seem like there's gonna be an end in sight. This is the fourth week of classes. When is it going to stop piling up?

If you hadn't noticed, I'm just a little bit frustrated right now. Even in past terms, I don't think I've ever had a barrage of work this constant, and while it's not impossible, I just need to be on task more of the time if I want to get everything done. I just hope I can get through this term unscathed. I'll survive, but now the question is, at what cost?

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Current music:

Job hunt starts again

2008-05-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

So, I thought now would be a good time to update my resume for the next work term and I decide to take a look at the jobs that are available. Most of them are the usual kinds of stuff (and I'm sure more would pop up), but two of them caught my eye. I've said before that I'd like to get a co-op job in the games industry. Not a career, just a co-op job. It sounds like it would be fun and I'd still learn a lot about developing commercial software. One of them was Blue Castle Games, something I've been looking at in the past but now I feel really qualified for it given past experience and the courses I'm taking. The other really interested me. EA is looking for people. EA bought BioWare sometime ago, and they're a company I hold great respect towards, being one of the top employers in Canada (not just for gaming), and continuously making really good games (they're making a Sonic RPG right now! I might be working on that!). They're hiring co-op students. Granted, it's in Edmonton, but I'd go for that any day. And besides, EA also has offices in Burnaby (the people that work on the NHL games and stuff), right next to where my dad works, so that's an option as well.

Actually there was one more that interested me, but I don't have the qualifications for it, yet. Next Level Games was also looking for people. They're also in Vancouver, and they're also considered one of the best Canadian employers, they made Super Mario Strikers (the one on the Cube and the Wii), which I have played and very much enjoyed. Unfortunately, they want three years and two work terms, so not yet. But definitely something to look out for.

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Current music:

A special Mother's Day request

2008-05-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

This is also going in Facebook note form, since I don't know who reads this thing anymore. Doesn't hurt, though.

I've got a small prayer request coming up. It's kinda interesting that it happens the day after Mother's Day, though. See, my mom's going in for surgery on Monday. It's nothing huge, just a gallstone, but it's been plaguing her for a while and she's finally getting it taken care of tomorrow. Even though it's nothing major, she still has to miss work for the next two weeks, and we were kinda hoping it could have been done in the summer (she's a TA for the Abby school district), but thanks to our wonderful medicare system, it's gotta be done now. Pray for a quick and speedy recovery, so she can get back on her feet. I just hope things turn out okay.

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Current music:

Out of the frying pan... no fire yet

2008-05-09T12:40:00.001-07:00

I just got my laptop back. It seems to be working okay right now. I think just a simple reinstall of the OS would have done it, because that's what the guy did and he couldn't get it to freeze. The guy suggested that I get more RAM, since I'm on the bare minimum running Leopard on this thing, and I kinda agree, though things seem to be okay right now (other than the downright slowness typing into this thing, but may updating Firefox might help). I'm getting the 256MB card I added in when I got the thing upgraded to a 512, but I gotta wait till it comes in since it's such an old computer. All in all, though, at least for the repair job, I think it was just money I didn't need to spend. Repair job was 25 bucks, RAM was 50.

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Current music:

Tying loose ends

2008-05-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

Alright, due to the fact that I'm gonna be around campus a lot more and I'd like my own computer to work off of, Tingle's now (finally) in the shop after what happened last January. I can't say I'm new to this sort of thing, but it's still kinda frustrating.

You may be wondering why I didn't do this sooner, or why I'm finally doing it now instead of waiting more. Well, before this, I could get away with not having a laptop and while I had the money to fix it, I had better things to spend it on. As for why I'm finally doing it now, there's the reason in the first paragraph, as well as the fact that I was going to take this out of my textbook fund as a "school supply" deduction, which is even more justified by the fact that I already bought two of the textbooks I needed last September, and the price that this'll probably take to repair will probably be less than the price I paid for the textbooks themselves, so I have a bit of extra cash.

Don't worry, I still have my nice iMac at home, but I just want something a little more mobile right now.

Oh, and classes have been okay so far. I'm not liking the huge between class breaks (8:30 to 10:30 today, then 4:30 to 6:00. Usually there's a tutorial in the middle of that, but it's the first week of classes, so not this time). They're not all that bad, but some of them are just very long.

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Current music:

Back in Victoria! (complete with rant!)

2008-05-05T00:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been getting ready for classes coming up in the next while. I just got back in Victoria tonight, and the onslaught begins tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, I now loathe the Victoria bus system. They cancel the express to UVic for the summer, despite it being the last day before classes start, due to a lack of people using it. I personally don't take it all the way myself, but it does stop awfully close to my place. Couldn't they bring it back just for one day? It's probably a fairly busy one. That being said, I guess the people taking the summer semester probably wouldn't be on campus this time. Second, I've been away for two weeks, from the end of April to the start of May. Guess what? My bus pass expires on April 30 and there's no way to renew it until I get to UVic. To top that off, I didn't have the foresight to have cash on me and once I'm off the boat, I'm in a rush to pull a 20 out of the ATM (complete with ding), change it, and pay for the bus that way. I don't like how it takes well over an hour to get home when it takes less than half an hour to go straight to the terminal (though that's liveable, I guess), and that because there was a headlight out on the bus and how it had to make stops just a bit more often, I miss my transfer by about five minutes. I don't like how sometimes there can be two stops within about a hundred meters of each other because apparently it's way too far to walk across the street, and there are people that have to get off at both of them. A little exercise is good for you, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm done ranting. It's actually not that bad, and at its best, it's a decent form of transportation, and it's a lot cheaper than a car. At least it's better than the Abbotsford bus system, but then again, there's probably a reason why I've never seen a full bus riding it, despite the general lack of buses that go from point A to point B. Less buses means more people per bus, right? Right?

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Current music:

Holy crap.

2008-04-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Starfield's so awesome that churches can't hold them. Especially the floors.

I'm not sure what's scariest, the fact that that's my church, the fact that I have a few friends that went (though no one I know was hurt, thankfully), or the fact that if I had come back to Abbotsford sooner, I would have gone myself. Pray for the people who actually were hurt and their families, and for the church, that the repairs will go quickly and smoothly. Scary stuff.

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Current music:

Now the power is at your fingertips.

2008-04-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

I've been writing my work term report over the past week (gosh, Matt, doing work well before it's due! It's unheard of!) and I've discovered a very handy new tool when it comes to writing technical reports and stuff. It's called LaTeX, and it's amazing. Never again will you have to fiddle around with Word to make a document look exactly the way you want it to, especially if you have a template already made.

Basically, what it boils down to is an HTML-esque language (though I use that reference very loosely) to format a document just the way you want. Say you want to insert a picture in your document, put a caption under it, and label it so that not only when you refer to it somewhere else in the document, the name would be consistent (say, Figure 3 if it's the third image in the document), but if that name were to change for any reason, all of the references would update themselves so you don't have to search through the entire document to make sure you get everything. Everything formats properly as well - you don't have to keep readjusting your picture everytime you have to change the text around it. Do you want your document to auto-generate a table of contents? You can do that if you have a template for it or you're willing to code it yourself. I personally have the former, which makes it super-easy. Do you want to write fancy math equations like they do in the books and on tests and stuff? Done! (Sure, Word does this too, but this is more fun :P)

The best part about it is that when you're done, it can look really professional and very clean. I thought it was pretty cool to use, though there's a bit of a learning curve. It's great for reports and stuff, but authors also use it for books (fiction or not) so the publisher can do all the fancy typesetting stuff for them. It's so cool.

Um, and yeah. I'm coming home tomorrow night and I'll be back for the week until classes start again on May 5th. Hope to see some of you soon!

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Current music:

[/work]

2008-04-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm almost at the end of the work term. There's two weeks left of work to do (9 work days as of this post, for those keeping score), and after my last day on the 25th, I've got the last week of April off. I'll be home in Abby for that time, which should be a good thing, and if anyone wants something to do, just give me a ring when I get back. Sure, there's still a report to do about what I've been working on, but that can't be too bad, can it?

I'm not sure how much about work I can actually talk about (darn those NDAs) but I will say that I've definitely learned a lot over the past three and a half months, especially when it comes to more professional programming and working with large projects. I now know more about C++, which is really useful if I ever start some kind of a coding project (yeah, I keep saying that, one day!) and overall, it's just been a really good experience. I also learn the fun (said with only a pinch of sarcasm) of living out in the wild and having to do things like cook for yourself. It's been a great time so far, and in a few weeks I get to experience what it's like to take classes without living on campus, which I'm hoping would make me more productive in the middle of the day so I have to do less late at night. Should be good fun.

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Current music:

2008-04-11T00:35:00.000-07:00

I was having mouse troubles a while ago (my scroll ball on my Mighty Mouse wouldn't scroll down anymore due to obsessive use, and I used it a lot), so I splurged a little bit and bought a new mouse. After realizing that the old mouse didn't work perfectly after only 8 months, I set out to try to find something different. After over an hour of browsing a Future Shop and a Staples trying to find just the right fit for me (if I'm splurging on a mouse, I had better pick a good one for my hand) and I finally came up with something I liked.

I bought a Logitech MX 400. I've never really used a mouse that has more than three useful buttons before, so I thought it would be interesting to try. From what I was looking at, this mouse gave me the best balance of a good fit on my hand and a decent price (believe me, there was a really nice gaming mouse for about $90 that felt great on my hand, but I just can't justify spending that much on a freaking mouse). I really like the feel of it. It's so comfortable on my hand compared to the Apple one I had and it's a lot easier to click with as well, especially since you don't go accidentally tapping the middle button. It's got two buttons on the side (currently mapped to Back and Forward on the web browser, but there may be better uses), and the scroll wheel also tilts left and right (I'm using it for Spaces right now to go left and right between them, and it's pretty useful), and the middle click is on Exposé, and while it's a bit tricky to middle click without the wheel going left or right, I can get used to it eventually, I think.

My only regret? Logitech's website sells it for fifty bucks. I got it for sixty, but the fifty may not include shipping.

Anyway, it's a great mouse. If you ever feel like splurging on a piece of tech that most people use every day, I'd recommend this. It's not too expensive if you want something more than just a simple three button mouse.

And yes, I'm completely aware that I wrote an entire post about a mouse. I know that gives plenty of nerd points, but hey, might as well go for a high score or something. :P
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2008-03-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

I went to a Super Smash Bros. tournament today at SFU. For those that think I'm really good, I was thinking the same thing about most of the people that were playing today. That's how good some of these people are. Justin came with me, and we got eliminated pretty quickly on whatever we entered. We teamed for Melee 2v2s, and most of the time, we got beat pretty bad, though we lost 2-1 in a best of 3 to some guys I play with in Victoria, and only because I picked a crazy stage for round 2 (Poke Floats, for those who care), and made it last a bit longer. We also lost pretty quick in Smash 64 doubles, but I was getting used to a 64 controller as I went, and I just sucked during pretty much all of it. I got destroyed pretty quickly in Melee singles (though the match that had me eliminated I only lost by one stock, and I was down three stocks to one for a part of it). By the end of it, I was too tired to do too much and I just lost quickly in the Brawl singles division, even though I had a bit of a chance.

Overall, I think I did okay. I didn't win as much as I had hoped to in friendly matches, and I didn't get as many games as I had wanted to for someone that was there for a long time. I'm mostly disappointed with the way I was playing, but I think I can do better next time. I personally like Melee a bit more than Brawl, but I think it's just because I've been playing it for longer. I'll get better in time. Right now I'm happy I drove all the way there and back.

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2008-03-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, something's up when you have to register for courses and you find out you're not allowed to take one of the courses that's required for your major. My course registration thingy was today, and I've got a math class that I can't sign up for because I'm not in the right major (it's mostly for the math and comp sci co-ops), and they conveniently forgot about the software engineers. I went to go talk to the math department, and it sounds like it should get taken care of soon, and I don't think it'll be a problem in the end, but we'll see.

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Current music:

Weird geometry

2008-03-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

How to turn a sphere inside out without poking a hole in it, creasing it, tearing it (however, it uses a special sphere which can pass through itself):

Link

I'd say it's a nerd thing to be able to understand it, but it gets explained so well that I'd say anyone can look at it and make some sense out of it. It's a really cool idea, though its practicality is (currently) questioned.

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2008-03-20T01:45:00.001-07:00

Oh, yeah, long weekend coming up. I'll be home sometime on Thursday night, and I'll be staying till Monday (don't know when on Monday, but we'll see). Just thought I'd put the heads up.

Oh, and for pretty much all of the weekend, it'll just be my dad and I at home (and either Friday or Saturday, just me), so give me something to do! I could use the company. :)

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Oh, and happy pi day!

2008-03-14T02:15:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again. I (accidentally) got to celebrate it at the proper time this year, too (1:59).

We need more nerd holidays.
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Does anyone know what time it is?

2008-03-14T02:07:00.000-07:00

It's time for Matt's Cooking Epiphanies again! For those that said "Tool Time", you're unfortunately wrong, but you get a consolation prize redeemable until five seconds after you read this message.

Anyway, epiphany #3: The taste of the food that you have just cooked is proportional to the number of dishes you'll have to do afterwards. I made pasta and made the sauce mostly myself (the tomato sauce was store bought and spiced already, but other than that, it was all me), and then realized just how much needed to be cleaned up afterwards. Oh, well. Such is life.

Epiphany #4: You can drain pasta without a strainer. After unsuccessfully trying to find ours, I was trying to find some way to drain spaghetti and lo and behold, it's possible. I found the strainer later that night, so it was all in vain, but it's still cool to know.

Work's been interesting. I dunno how much I can say due to me finding out a few weeks ago that I had to sign some kind of an NDA, but right now the program I'm working on is looking mighty spiffy in several ways. I'm also becoming more independent on the job and trying to ask for help a lot less, and so far I've been surviving.

--
Current music: The sound of silence, and not that Simon and Garfunkel song

Yesterday was tomorrow.

2008-02-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

Confused yet? Here, let me explain. When you want to start something new, the best day to start it is not Monday, but "tomorrow". Well, as of yesterday, I started riding my bike to work, and it works really well. It worked even better when I put air in the tires this afternoon. :P

Oh, and I got "hit" by a van yesterday. The "hit" is in quotes for a reason. The van was moving into a parking lot at probably less than 20 km/h and was hitting the brakes, and I was hitting the brakes as well on my bike, and there's also the fact that it didn't really "hit" me, more like the right side of the van barely touched my left arm and didn't even knock me off my bike, I'd say that I got out of it just fine. Because I know people might be worried, I'm not hurt in any way, shape or form. The lady that barely touched me apologized a lot (and I kept saying it was okay and that I wasn't hurt) and we both could have been a bit more careful, but if you ever needed a good reason to start shoulder checking on right turns, that would probably be it.

In other news, I played some part (though not the only part) in starting a Super Smash Bros club at UVic. I never expected it to happen, though I've always wanted it to, but now here it is. There's some good competition out here (just the fact that a lot of the people I play are as good as and in some cases a bit better than me might shock people that have played me before), though I would love to see some uberpro guy come in and be able to consistently destroy me. I'd love to see how far I still have to go.

--
Current music:

Matt's Cooking Epiphanies™

2008-02-18T22:08:00.001-08:00

Epiphany #1: When making leftovers that require assembly (eg. taco salad), it's really useful to make sure you have all the ingredients before you start making it.

Epiphany #2: Taco salad without tortilla chips or cheese is actually pretty good.

This may or may not become a regular feature. Having had regular features in the past, I know they don't last long. Though I might continue with this on a "whenever I feel like it" schedule.

--
Current music: I had 106.5 on a little while ago

INTERNET GET!

2008-02-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

I was going to do some sort of a Zelda "da da da daaaaaa" pose, but you can't really hold up the internet in your hand, and I've already done enough damage to computers lately. :P

Anyway, yeah. Internet. The people upstairs were nice enough to let us use their wireless, so I'm really happy about that. It means I don't have to go to UVic and stay there late just so I can get my fix. And I get it on my awesome iMac instead of my in-need-of-a-new-hard-drive-yet-again laptop. And I can use Skype without having people look at me funny (not that I've done that in public). Oh the benefits...

Oh, I should have mentioned this a while ago, but we have a Wii in Victoria now. We've had it for a while, but we just got a TV last Sunday, and the Wii is currently being lent out right now, so I actually haven't had a chance to play it yet, but we still have the Cube here. Now that we have the web in the house right now and my copy of Smash is preordered, I'm ready to take on the world come March.

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Current music:

Updates

2008-02-04T17:32:00.001-08:00

Small computer update - the computer does work in general, but I'm still avoiding using it too much unless necessary, and I'm back on the school computers for most of my stuff. Today I haven't had any problems with it so far, so that's a good thing. I might need a new hard drive (again) if worse comes to worse.

Concerning reading break in two weeks - I don't have one, unfortunately. BUT, I'm going to do what I can to be home the first weekend of it (15-17th) and maybe the second weekend, so I'll be around.

--
Current music:

Uh oh.

2008-01-30T18:22:00.000-08:00

Computer keeps freezing. Won't type more before it freezes again. Not good.

--
Current music:

2008-01-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was interesting. I experienced a moment that I've always wanted to happen to me ever since I started bringing my DS to UVic - come across a complete stranger playing the exact same game as me and challenge them to a match. Now I can say it's happened, and that I lost. :P

And this morning was interesting as well, but not in as good a way. So, I leave the house only to see the bus I'm supposed to catch pass right by, but I know I can probably catch it at the next stop, so I book it. Almost there, I realize my backpack pouch containing my laptop is open - the hard way. I hear a loud noise and all of a sudden, Tingle (yeah, I named it now, reasoning here, and the desktop is Link) is on the street. It appears to be okay, other than the plastic took a bit of a beating (and I'm typing on it now), but I was getting really nervous. It's okay. It's been through a lot worse. This time I was lucky, as it was in sleep mode. No spinning hard drives or anything, which has happened to me on different occasions, one involving an external hard drive with my backups on it :(. No need for the ER this time, I don't think, thankfully. :P

--
Current music:

2008-01-21T18:02:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting week, other than work. I got to go home last weekend, which is always a nice refresher (and it's great to know that coming home when I'm working is not an impossibility). Unfortunately, because of that, I'm without an iPod for a while, since I forgot it at home. Not a problem, but my headphones were attached to said iPod, and headphones are very useful things. I ended up getting a cheap $5 pair of earbuds on the ferry and I'm no audiophile, but the quality leaves much to be desired. Oh, well. It'll last me.

--
Current music:

2008-01-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

The mountain was great. The morning was okay, but it got even better when I decided to rent goggles (I never knew how useful they can be - I've never needed them before). There was a lot of snow blowing around, and it made my morning a lot worse than it could have been, but it worked out in the end. I was able to go down a blue path without too much of a hitch and with out zigzagging too much, which just completely made my day. There are two other trips planned this year, and I'd like to go again.

--
Current music:

Update

2008-01-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

I realized I haven't talked about work yet. It's actually pretty interesting; what CanAssist is is a group of mostly engineers who make technological solutions for people with physical or mental disabilities. The project that I'm working on is an onscreen keyboard that can be operated to a fairly large extent using only nine buttons. The biggest trick is in its word prediction algorithms; when you type in a word, the program does its best to try and figure out what you're going to type in. It needs improvement, and that's my job. I've been getting a lot of help, which is great, since it's in C++, which I haven't touched much, and it's written in the Qt library, which changes a lot of the basic commands I'm used to more than usual and adds a ton more. It's not bad once you get used to it, but the hardest part is trying to work my way through code that I didn't write myself.

In other news, I still have no internet at home (but I'm hoping to by next weekend), but I do have my laptop again, so I can actually use a computer of my own for the web right now.

In other other news, I'm going skiing tomorrow! I'm off to Mt. Washington for the day, and it's going to be great.

--
Current music:

2008-01-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

Random thought: I saw on a T-shirt somewhere: "Remixing a song is like realizing you were wrong." Well, I've got a nice counter-argument: "Remixing your own song may be like realizing you were wrong, but remixing someone else's song is like telling the original artist you're right."

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Current music: some of my own stuff - remixes, ironically

Moved in again.

2008-01-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

Oh, and the blog is linked from Facebook now, so if you've just discovered I've been secretly documenting my life for over two years (and I just realized I missed another blog-iversary), welcome! Happy stalking. :P

Pics will come eventually, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

So, it was a bit confusing at first (it took a while to actually get my own keys for the place due to a small lack of organization), and there's some stuff that still needs to come in (like a bed, but it's either already there right now or is coming today - I slept on the couch last night), but other than that, I'm pretty much settled. There's no internet right now, but there are talks to get internet somehow (there's a cable thingy in my room, so I can call Shaw if I wanted to, but there are other alternatives, too).

Work was interesting today. The program's a bit complicated, and I think it needs a bit more documentation, but I'll survive. I just need some time to get to know all the different functions (it's a completely new library to me, but it makes a lot of sense nonetheless). Commute's not to bad by bus, haven't tried biking it until I get a key for my bike lock.

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Current music: none, heading home soon

APOCALYPSE NOW

2008-01-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

I finally gave in. I'm on Facebook now. Anyone in my network (UVic or Abbotsford) can find my name and add me, so if I haven't added you as a friend yet, add me and I'll do likewise.

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Current music:

Merry belated Christmas and happy Boxing Day!

2007-12-26T20:56:00.000-08:00

Best wishes from all the blog's staff. Yesterday we celebrated the birth of Christ! Today we celebrate commercialism! :P

First off, my gift to friends, family, and the internets: A new song. I finished it yesterday. For those that got it before a few minutes ago, get it again, since I forgot to tune my guitar before recording yesterday (I got up at 6:30 on Christmas morning. Yes, I know I'm 19, and no, I don't think you're ever too old to do that) and it sounds horrible, and thanks to GarageBand's "enhance tuning" feature, I fixed it up nicely, though pitch bending on the guitar sounds like a slide now. A small tradeoff, though.

This year's stash was interesting. I asked my parents for something useful rather than something fun, and as a result, I got clothes in my stocking, but to my surprise, I unwrapped a set of Bose Companion 3 Series II speakers. My brother got an (8 gig) iPod touch, which I immediately proceeded to drool over, and my parents told me I can trade in the speakers for an 8 gig one, 16 if I pay the difference. Decisions, decisions... but I'm probably gonna keep the speakers. Even 16 gigs is not enough to hold everything in my iTunes library, and that's before I start putting lots of movies on it, and as cool as the touch is, the novelty wears off after a bit and now it's just a really expensive toy, though the fact that you can get WiFi on it is a huge plus, even if the web browser doesn't support Flash, and possibly Java as well. The speakers are just awesome, though I haven't opened them yet (I'm still deciding).

My Boxing Day stash turned out well, too. I picked up a Cube memory card (I'm taking ours with me, since we have the Wii at home, and I need a new card, and it's twice the size of our old one, which, if you've seen it, is really big), Elite Beat Agents, which is awesome, though the choice of music is sometimes questionable (Believe by Cher? There has to be a song - any song - that's better than that). I might import the Japanese versions - they use J-pop and all that stuff, which I've heard works a lot better.

--
Current music: none

What is this new sense of power I have?

2007-12-21T14:08:00.000-08:00

I have a credit card now. No, I haven't used it for anything yet, but I might soon.

--
Current music: see last post

Break time!

2007-12-21T13:58:00.000-08:00

I finished my last exam the other day. I think it went pretty well, despite my work habits towards the course. I figured if I got an 83-ish on the exam, I could still get an A+ in the course easily. Hopefully that's what happens, as I couldn't do large parts of two questions, but I think the rest makes up for it.

In other news, I have a place to live for January. It's what was originally planned; I'm moving in with Dave into that one house. I get my own room, and everything else is pretty much shared, but it works. I move in on the 2nd, and start working on the 3rd. Yeah, it's early, I know.

Oh, and I'm home! I got back on Wednesday, and I'm amazed that I made the round trip to Victoria on my own. That was the farthest I've ever gone solo.
--
Current music: Relient K - Merry Christmas, Here's to Many More - I got their new Christmas album yesterday, and was disappointed to see that 10 of the album's 17 tracks were from their last Christmas album. The new tracks are still good, but they could have released it as an EP or something and made it cheaper.

2007-12-19T05:39:00.000-08:00

Just a small househunting update: I'm pretty sure I'm guaranteed a place to live, the only thing that really matters right now is the price. I think I've whittled it down to maybe three choices: a basement suite for about 700 bucks a month, my own place (like a miniature house) on the property that Dave told me about for hopefully $450 a month (I'll explain more in detail if I get in), or living in the same building with Dave for $375. The problem with the latter two is that it doesn't come with internet, but there are ways around that. For the price I'm getting, it's not too hard to just take care of it myself.

Anyway, I'll be home either today (Wednesday) if I'm lucky, if not probably Thursday or Friday. We'll see what happens.
--
Current music:

2007-12-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

Oh, yeah. Marks are coming back. I'm surprised at what I've been able to scrape so far. Despite completely screwing up one of my elec assignments as well as me botching a midterm in stats, I managed to get A's in both classes (which, for the latter, no one in my section got an A+ on, so I'm kinda relieved). Again, not A+'s, but still really good nonetheless. That's three classes so far that I've done pretty well on. So far, so good...

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Current music:

Househunting time

2007-12-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well, I was home last weekend to pick up our van (for moving out purposes) and I'm back today (alive, which is amazing considering I've never driven onto the ferry all by myself), and now I've got a daunting few days ahead of me. I've got what I consider to be my hardest exam come Wednesday, and the guy that was supposed to call me for the house hasn't gotten back to me yet, so I'm starting on a plan B right now; finding stuff for myself. It's a good thing UVic has their own listings for off campus housing (that I completely forgot about until today) otherwise I'd be in really deep water. I'm looking at at least one place tomorrow; it's for room and board, the rent is decent ($725 a month, which isn't bad considering I'm making $2500 a month before taxes, and it comes somewhat furnished and with utilities, wireless internet, and cable) and it's a bike ride away from campus, which means I don't have to rely on the bus system (which isn't to say the buses aren't bad here; they're much better than Abby's). There's also some other stuff I'm considering. I'd prefer a bachelor suite, but I'll take what I can get right now.

I'm done Wednesday, but I might have to go back on my promise that I'll be home that day. There's still a lot to account for coming up. I've got till the end of the week to find something, which isn't much time, but it's still very doable.

update: I knew the call would come eventually. Dave finally called me a few minutes ago and I'm checking the place that I'd be living in sometime soon. I was panicking about it, but it worked out in the end. I'm pretty sure I've got a place to live now. Yay!

--
Current music:

Random Internet test

2007-12-15T02:44:00.000-08:00

Spawned from a vgmusic forum topic:

Take it here.

--
Current music:

Another one down

2007-12-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

I wrote elec today. I know it didn't go perfectly; I forgot one of my formulas (but came up with something close) and I made a small math error somewhere. But other than that, I think it went really well. I'm hoping that those were my only two mistakes.

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Current music: I had a bunch of Christmas songs arranged in an 8-bit fashion going on a while ago

2007-12-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

I wrote my stats exam today. I think it went alright, but I was second-guessing myself on a lot of the questions. Hopefully in the end, it went okay.

Three more to go. Elec on Monday, math next Saturday, and comp sci the Wednesday after that, then I'm free for about two weeks. I think my break is still shorter than all the other school's breaks, but it could be worse. At least I don't have the last day of exams.

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Current music:

2007-12-06T01:55:00.000-08:00

A bit of good news: the final software engineering 265 marks came in today. I was amazed to find that not only did I get one of the 5 A+'s in the class, but I also managed to get the highest out of those A+ marks. w00t!

And before you ask, there was no final exam. All testing happened in the ten quizzes that happened throughout the term.

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Current music:

2007-12-05T00:43:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get excited for January. I have a job (though I'm kinda unsure about it; I haven't had a reply since I accepted the offer and I missed a call to my phone Monday afternoon, and I think I may know who it's from, and I haven't had a call since), and the other part is coming together really quickly all of a sudden. There's this guy from Sunago that I'm friends with and he needs a roommate for next term. The rent is cheap ($375 a month) and it's really close to campus so I'm probably going to take it. It's amazing how God provides when you're unsure about what's going to happen. Now I probably have somewhere to live in the new year! Yay!

That being said, exams are starting soon (my first is on Friday, I think) and I'm really nervous about stats and comp sci. I blew my third stats midterm because of some misprints on the exam, something that was brought up but I didn't pay attention to, and it really screwed up my answers, making me lose a good 25% on the test. And I lost other marks because the standard calculator that they force you to use (I understand the banning of graphers, even ones with clean slates, but can't they use a better scientific calculator? I had a much better one in high school that didn't know any more math than the ones we use now, but it had a few useful extra features, like more memory for storing things and the ability to go back farther than one past entry) It really sucked, but if I'm ready for the final and I do really well, it might bring my mark up more. There's still a chance at a good mark. I just need to be ready. Comp sci is just memorization. It's also the last one for me, so I have plenty of time. The rest are gonna be fine, I just need practice. And old exams. I'll be fine, I think.

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Current music: A Mario Kart 64 Frappe Snowland remix - it's got Jingle Bells at the end!

I normally shun reality TV, but...

2007-12-03T19:03:00.001-08:00

It's kinda hard to do that when your favorite band gets on one of them. This is great for the band. They're really good, but the one thing they need is publicity. Everyone I've talked to about them has never heard of them before I mention it and it's nice that they're becoming more well known. They're in the top 5, too, and I think this is gonna be huge for them if they win. Not as much as if they had won American Idol, but still something really great.

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Current music:

Home stretch

2007-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

Things are looking up right now. I'm done all the homework that needs to be done this semester, and now it's pretty much just studying for exams now. I'm out on the 19th, and I'll be home not long after that, especially if I can get the van for taking things home.

Oh, and I have a job now, by the looks of it. It's for CanAssist, a UVic-based company that provides software solutions for people with special needs. It's actually a development job, something that I'd personally rather do over testing, so hopefully it'll go well. Now I need to find somewhere to live in January...

And TSO last Friday was great. It was an amazing light show. And I guess the music was good, too. They had one set of lights that did all sorts of crazy movements that looked really cool. It's hard to describe, but it was one of those hanging light things except it took on a lot of different positions. And they had fire, too. The music was also really good, though I kinda wish they had more than three dynamics: p, mf, and ffffffff. Highlights include them playing what I like to call the "house song" with an interesting set of lights (though there was no actual house) and a lot of colored fire, a keyboard duel with their two keyboard players (one was playing classical, one did jazz piano, then all of a sudden one of them starts playing Linus and Lucy and the band joins in after a bit (though they didn't do the whole song), and them doing the Carmina Burana (fixed the spelling error), something that I've never heard the band do. It was really cool.

Almost there...

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Current music:

Busy busy busy...

2007-11-29T00:55:00.001-08:00

This week has been fairly stressful, and I'm not even done it yet. My interview on Tuesday went well, and I hope that I get the job offer, even if it means I have to find a place.

I still have 3 different homework assignments due on Monday, 2 midterms on Friday, and now, 2 interviews as well. While this is a really good thing, too, I also have to change plans and take a later boat this Friday so I can see TSO. I think I'll be okay, but still...

This weekend doesn't look very relaxing either with the workload I've got. And I've got to go back on Sunday at the latest because the university thinks it's a good idea to start exams on a Wednesday, instead of a Monday. I don't understand why everything involving classes has to start on Wednesday, especially classes after Christmas break. Why the heck do we get shorter breaks than the public schools? Then there's exams. They're fairly spread out, so I have plenty of time to study, but I'm starting to feel a little nervous. I'm done on the 19th, but depending on living plans, I may not be home till the 22nd, if I have to move all of my stuff back home. Otherwise, I'd just keep it in Victoria for the time I'm gone till I have to move in, which is becoming more and more likely. It's probably a good thing, because once my workterm is over, I still have a place once studies start again in May.

Sorry if I sound like I'm complaining; I'm just tired. Things still seem to be going alright, but they definitely could be better. It's tough, but I'm surviving.

--
Current music: none. Yes, I'm aware that I leave this blank a lot. I need to listen to more music.

We interrupt this post to bring you this special report:

2007-11-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

SNOW!

That is all.

--
Current music: none

Almost there...

2007-11-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

Well, this is the last full week of classes. I've got class on Monday and Tuesday (sigh) after that, then exams.

Oh, and I'll be back home this weekend. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is coming to Vancouver next weekend, and I'm going out there with a bunch of people to go see them. Should be a lot of fun; it's been a while since my last concert.

Things are almost done; my biggest assignment of the term gets taken care of this week, and I've got two midterms left. Yay!

--
Current music: Zelda 2 music - I found a sadistically difficult hack for it a few days ago and I'm trying to get through it

2007-11-22T19:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been trying to find work left right and center now. I finally got an interview with someone (ShipConstructor Ltd., they make software that, well, you can figure it out). It's based in Victoria, which means I'd need to find somewhere to live, but work is work.

I'm also looking at the possibility of working for 8 months. I asked the co-op office about it and how it would affect my courses, and the biggest thing it might do is delay my grad date. However, if that happens, I see a silver lining that comes with it: I actually have time to take electives! Maybe taking Music 105 might come sooner than I think!

--
Current music:

age++;

2007-11-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Actually, that joke's pretty old. Let's try something else here:

ldr r0, =Age
ldr r1, [r0]
add r1, r1, #1
str r1, [r0]

There. That feels way nerdier than before. (and for anyone that cares, it's in ARM assembly)

I guess there isn't very much to say. I'm 19 now, which puts me at the legal drinking age, not that I've been looking forward to that or anything. The biggest reason I don't drink is that I'm scared of doing something that I'm going to really regret someday, and it's not something that I ever want to happen to me.

Anyway, other benefits include getting a credit card (something that I plan to do this Friday, when I actually have time to do it), so I can finally buy things online without having to ask my parents to borrow a card. Though, I think as a university student, I can get one as long as I can prove I'm a student. Anyway, there have been stuff that have caught my eye recently that aren't in most stores, like XKCD's regular expressions shirt (something I've been waiting a while to get, now that I actually know regular expressions), DMHO's first album, which seems to really be evading stores very well, and other stuff as well.

And no, I didn't win the computer. I did come really close, though my answer would have still been wrong and apparently we could only answer once. It's too bad, because that would have been an awesome birthday present. Now I can stop obsessing about it and get back to what's really important. The question was very evil, though.

Anyway, 19. Yeah. Good stuff.

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Current music:

Weekend after weekend after weekend after ...

2007-11-16T01:27:00.000-08:00

Yay for recursive titles!

The long weekend went well. I didn't do as much work as I had liked, but it still worked out in the end (though today was really busy for me).

I wrote another comp sci midterm today, and boy, was I a nervous wreck for it. But even then, I'm amazed. I got the majority of the I/O questions, the one part I was really nervous about. I think it went well. Not perfectly, but well. (and this time I'm sure of it)

I also had to complete three assignments, and you know, I'm really surprised with how it turned out. I was stuck on an elec question earlier today that I got tonight quite easily. A math question that I got stuck on last Tuesday fell before me tonight, as well. God really must be watching out for me because I really didn't know what to do today and somehow, it all manages to work out.

That being said, I'm not out of the woods yet. I've got a rather large comp sci assignment due Monday, and a large writing assignment due in less than two weeks. AND I still have to find work. Almost there...

On the bright side, there is still good news among all this. A few weeks ago, I entered a contest to win a $3000 computer. The premise is quite simple: rummage around the site for a while, answer ten questions, some of them trick questions, and if you get them all right, you get entered into a draw where 13 names get drawn and on Friday at 4 pm, one more question will get sent out to those 13, and the first one to get it right wins the PC. Well, a few days ago I found out I'm one of the 13. So, if you want to help me win a big, expensive computer, be around at 4pm today (Friday) to help me figure this out.

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Current music: none

I don't know what the heck I'm doing in math 122

2007-11-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

... but I must be doing something right. You know how I said a few posts back that even though I wasn't sure about some of my answers, I noted that I'd probably get a perfect score, like the first time? Guess what happened. :D

I also wrote my stats 260 midterm today. It went okay, I guess. I hate it when I have to resort to guessing a multiple choice question, though. I didn't have enough time and I completely blacked out with some simple formulae. All in all, it went well, but I'm going to have to pick it up on the third midterm. I'm also somewhat angry that there was a practice midterm that was based off of it and I didn't know about it. I'll definitely do better next time. I'm also really angry when I solved a complex integral to figure out the expected value of something, wasting precious minutes, only to re read the question and find out the answer was already given to me. Those moments suck.

That being said, I'm looking forward to the weekend, despite the fact that I have a midterm on Thursday and a few assignments due on Friday. I wish I didn't have to do it, but that's the way life goes.

Anyway, I'm leaving in a half hour. Hope to see everyone at home soon!
--
Current music:

It's almost time.

2007-11-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

I've got an elec midterm today, a cover letter assignment to do tonight, and a stats midterm that I am so not ready for tomorrow. I think it'll be fine in the end, once I actually get to work. But after all this is done, it'll be worth it, since I'm finally able to go home for a few days... only to come back and write a comp sci midterm. Who schedules a test the day after a break?

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Current music:

that thing that happens at the end of the week

2007-11-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

I wrote my math 122 midterm today. Though I was really nervous about it (there were proofs, and not the kind of proofs I like doing), I think it went fine. Most of it was pretty easy, and the hard questions were okay. I don't think I got a perfect score, but we'll see. Though, the last time I said that, I got the only perfect mark in my section... I could get lucky twice, can't I?

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Current music: A Phoenix Wright - Justice for All medley arranged for orchestra

Shtuff

2007-11-02T00:39:00.000-07:00

Oh, yeah, I should mention, my reading break is not this weekend, but next weekend. I've got the Monday to Wednesday after Remembrance Day off, so I'll be home for those five days. Just in case people wanted to know.

In the meantime, I've got at least three midterms coming up, so I've been preparing for that.

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Current music:

im in ur computer upgrading ur os

2007-10-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

I just got Mac OS 10.5 today, and it's installed now. So far, no apps have broken yet, which is a good thing, but we'll see where this goes.

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Current music:

Weekend 2: The Sequel

2007-10-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

I'm glad it's Friday. It means the week is over and I can relax. Well, for today, at least. I'm probably gonna go for another DDR night (as long as I feel awake enough for it, but it'll probably happen) but tomorrow, I've got to get to work. I've got three assignments due on Monday, and I've only started one of them. It shouldn't be too bad, just really time consuming. At least tomorrow's a sleep in day.

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Current music: none

(insert some witty title about weekends here)

2007-10-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

Wow. I just went downtown again for more DDR/ITG (actually, it was all In the Groove, but they're practically the same thing, but one's better), and it was awesome. This time I remembered my flash drive. The best part about that? Custom songs. In the Groove works really well with Stepmania (figures, because it's just a heavily modified Stepmania engine), so I've got a lot of stuff that I can put on my flash drive that I'm finally able to play on a real pad. There's some great stuff out there, though I need to get back in shape again. I think I've decided I'd like to go twice a week (Monday and Friday seem to work well) so I can actually get some exercise again. I also beat Sakura again. I'm pretty sure it's the pad that's making me do it. Last time I went, I did it on a real DDR machine, and I just wasn't able to beat it, though I got really close. This time around? First try, no problem, though I wasn't too sure at the end. Oh, and I beat my first ITG 9 tonight, which are usually harder than the average DDR 9-footer:

And say what you want about the rain, but after being there for two hours, you treat the fact that you're outside in the pouring rain for ten minutes waiting for the bus as a blessing. :P

Anyway, it's the weekend. I don't have anything due Monday, but I should probably get some work done anyway. We'll see how things turn out.

Wow. Re-reading what I just wrote, it's a good thing that wasn't for a writing assignment or anything. Sorry if it's a bit disorganized or hard to follow.

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Current music: none

2007-10-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

Oh, yeah, Mac OS X Leopard finally has a release date: the 26th, next Friday. I've already preordered. Not only do I probably get it on release date, I get it for 89 bucks before taxes (the official site, even with my student discount, sells it for 115). I'm already excited.

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Current music: Relient K - Be My Escape

I got my comp sci midterm back.

2007-10-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

I got a 56. I can definitely say that before the exam, I was really nervous about it, and even after the exam, there were some questions I wasn't sure that I had given or even knew enough detail, and I know there was one where my answer was differing from a lot of other people's, and for some reason, it was giving me a sinking feeling. I can't say I wasn't shocked about my mark, though I am happy the bonus questions were fairly easy.

Oh, by the way, that's not a percent. If you want to know the percentage, divide it by 55, and multiply by 100%. Did I get anyone there? :P

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Current music:

Whoa

2007-10-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Since when did the arcade downtown get an In The Groove 2 machine? The speakers are blown, but it's better than nothing.

I guess I've gotta start bringing my flash drive downtown...

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Current music: A lot of musicians including JJ Johnson, Nat King Cole, and Les Paul - Blues

2007-10-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

I don't make video game posts that often, so bear with me for the next few paragraphs if it's not your thing.

So, I'm actually hyped for what's coming out pretty soon. A few months ago, there really wasn't much coming out in the near future for systems that I either have (DS) or have the potential of playing at some point (Wii, PS2), but in the next few months that's going to change.

Yeah, Super Smash Bros. Brawl got delayed to Feb 2008. That's not that big a deal for me, as I wasn't going to get the chance to play it in December, anyway. Besides, Melee's still great, so there's no point being so impatient for a game that's taking a while to come out, when there's something that's still really good right now. I just hope that I'll be on a work term at home when it does come out, though. If I were still at school, it would fall right in the middle of my reading break, so that would have been great, but oh well.

Actually, I'm way more excited about the DS, mainly because I actually have one with me. The next Phoenix Wright game comes out this month, something I'm really looking forward to. But the most exciting thing for me is that there's a new Advance Wars game coming out. Just barely announced a few months ago, there has been a truckload of news about it in the past few weeks. The most exciting thing about it for me? It actually has online play, as well as an online map sharing system. They've also completely overhauled the graphic style, and set it in a new universe, and the storyline's a little bit darker than one might expect. That being said, it really doesn't matter that much to me. I mean, it's online. That's all I really need. And it comes out in January, only three months from now. How cool is that?

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Current music:

[/nervousness]

2007-10-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

I wrote my comp sci 230 midterm today. All in all, it wasn't that bad. I expected all of the questions that were on it, and I think I got good answers on all of them, including the two bonus questions. That being said, I'm not sure how detailed some of my answers were supposed to be. We'll see how it goes.

On a related note, why is my room so clean? I did some cleaning up yesterday and somehow (save for one corner, which isn't too bad), there isn't anything on the floor. How did I manage that?

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Current music:

Random fact

2007-10-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

3.9% of this blog's 406 posts (including this one) contain the word w00t.

This concludes our random fact.
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Current music: Crush 40 - What I'm Made Of

Another week, another weekend.

2007-10-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

Actually, despite what happened on Tuesday, the week went quite well. I got my midterm scores back. Elec went fairly well (about 23 out of 28) but I'm trying to argue some marks back (in some cases, just trying to bluff my way through). I got a 21 out of 26 on my first stats midterm, due to two multiple choice questions worth two marks each, and that means a lot on a test that doesn't have very many marks. But Math 122 went really well. I was the only one in the class that aced it. w00t!

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Current music:

2007-10-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was interesting. To start, I lock myself out of my room. This is actually a lot better than last year, where I did that twice in the first week. Then, forgetting it's Tuesday, I forget that a lab I had (which was optional) starts at 2:30 and not 3:30 like classes I have on most other days of the week. And then later that day, after being happy enough that I finished my comp sci assignment, I look at my desk and see the elec assignment (which I stayed up the night before to finish) that was due two hours earlier with no possibility of late marks. It's not that big a deal, (I'll make it up on the another midterm or the final or something) but it still really sucks.

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Current music: none

laptop--;

2007-10-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, I'm without a laptop for a few months. Yes, it's my fault, but not in the sense that you think (for those people that remember what happened about a year ago). See, Joel's laptop died recently, he can't afford a new one, and he needs a computer for the online class he's taking, and since I just got a new desktop and don't really use my old three and a half year old laptop (which was mine for two years) much anymore (it's been in a drawer almost all week), I decided to lend mine to him. It doesn't affect me that much, and it sounds like he needs it more than I do. I'll probably get it back around Christmas.

Anyway, the weekend's been good. I felt lazy all weekend, and it's coming back to bite me with an assignment due tomorrow, but it'll be alright. The last week will probably be as bad as it'll get for awhile.

Edited for clarity. Just to reiterate: I still have my nice, shiny, brand new computer. However, the old computer is the one currently not in my possession. I wouldn't give this thing up so soon (especially with Guitar Hero 3 coming out for Mac, and me actually having a computer that can run it)

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Current music: Switchfoot - This is Your Life

(Long) weekend!

2007-10-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I got back tonight. Midterms went well, better than I expected, actually. Elec 255 was okay. I got answers to all the questions, though I may have lost a mark here and there due to dumb stuff. Math 122 went fine, though I couldn't remember one of the implication rules that we had to use (why do we have to memorize in a math course?), so I guessed, and hopefully it's right. Stat 260 went surprisingly well. I was really nervous about it, but it went fine. I answered all the questions (though the method I used on one of them was a bit shady, while still correct), and I was the first one out, even after going through the test twice. I don't know about 100% for any of the tests, but it came pretty darn close.

Anyway, the weekend's gonna be great, though I have an elec assignment due Tuesday. It's not too bad, I just have to do it here.

As a side note, it feels weird to be back on good ol' 1024x768. After seeing really high resolutions on the iMac (the default is 1680x1050), this feels really small.

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Current music:

2007-10-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

My C SC 230 class just got a whole lot better. The biggest reason for my change in attitude was that we got a new prof today. He's actually really good, at least compared to the other guy. He's been in the industry for a long time, and he's programmed the simulator for a particular processor we're gonna be working with, so he really knows his stuff. I think my interest level went up by a factor, of, say, if you were to convert this entire post into binary and compare the lengths. (which, by the way, you can do here)

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Current music: Corey Doak - Windfall

Weekend...

2007-09-30T23:57:00.000-07:00

Actually, despite knowing the workload I had, I still managed to find some time to myself as well. I got my elec homework done yesterday (it's due Tuesday), and I got a resume and cover letter done for co-op. There's a games company in Burnaby that I'm looking at, but the application is due Monday at 10 am, which means I need to get up early and have my co-op advisor look at it quickly before I can send it off. It looks like a good job and I think I'll be able to get it, but we'll see. As for other options, IBM is still a possibility, though not it Vancouver just because they want 8 month work terms, and I want 4 so my courses line up right. It looks like there's a good IBM position in Ontario that doesn't want you to have a work term under your belt already, and I'm actually seriously considering it. Yes, it's the farthest I've lived from home, but it looks like a really good job. If I don't get either of those, I dunno what I'll do, but there are still plenty of opportunities.

On a completely unrelated note, someone in my building got a GameCube and Smash Bros, so I had some fun with that tonight. There's also a tournament coming up for the N64 version (emulated), and I've been practicing up for that. It's nice to be able to play someone that not my brother for once. There's some decent competition here, too, though I'd like to play more 1v1s, even though that's kinda hard to do with a lot of people.

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Current music: Casting Crowns - The Word is Alive

Irony at its finest.

2007-09-27T20:54:00.001-07:00

Reason for this interjection? With one question to go in my comp sci assignment (after working on it all afternoon, the most productive I've been since I got here), I find it's been canceled. It's gonna get reposted this weekend, and hopefully with similar questions so I don't have to redo the whole thing. I'm not sure if this class or the C SC 160 class I took last year was worse.

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Current music: Tony Bennett and Celine Dion - If I Ruled the World

Taken verbatim from my comp sci assignment:

2007-09-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

Why C is very popular as a systems programming language in applications such as embedded microprocessor systems? Write at least half page. Attach one sheet of paper, with your ID, printed and well formatted, for your answer. You will be evaluated on many items, including thoughtfulness, grammar, and spelling.

(bolded stuff is my editing)

Oh, and I discovered how difficult it can be to use bitwise operators on a floating point number. Thankfully there are ways to get around it, but you've got to be really sneaky about it. I feel so stealthy right now...

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Current music: none

Calm before the storm

2007-09-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

I can say that as of now, classes are going pretty well (though I got a B- in an in-class memo assignment. It's alright, it wasn't worth that much and B- was the class average as well, but I can do better than that). But as the post title says, it's gonna get pretty interesting in the next week. I've got at least two midterms next week, maybe three, and I haven't studied for one of them yet (STAT 260). I've also got a software engineering assignment, a computer science assignment, and an elec assignment due at different times next week (two of which I haven't received when I checked the web sites earlier, but they're still due then). It's going to be an interesting next few days. Things are finally starting to pick up. I've been waiting for these moments, though not necessarily excitedly. Strap in, it's going to be a heck of a ride.

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Current music: Ben Charest - Easy, Bruno, Easy

New song!

2007-09-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

After a bit of messing around with GarageBand this past week, I decided it was time I actually did a song with it. I had a bunch of free time today (class ends at 1:30 for me on Fridays), so I finished a song that's been in my head for a while. Guitars are me, drums are from one of the premade loops (with some of my own editing - I didn't realize how easy working with a staff in GarageBand is), and the bass (if you can hear it) is something put together in two seconds in Guitar Pro - you can tell if you looked at the part.

Anyway, here's the link. Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.

Zelda - Kakariko Mosh Pit

edit: I made some small changes in the part after the key change to make it more interesting at the end. The link is the same. I'm not gonna make you redownload it, but you can if you want.

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Current music: Guess. I dare you.

Arr, I almost be forgettin'!

2007-09-19T00:48:00.000-07:00

September 19th be Talk Like A Pirate Day! Today be the day to be talkin' like pirates! Enjoy yerselves out there! Hopefully all the fine people here be feelin' like talkin' like pirates on campus today. Arr!

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Current music: Relient K - The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (it be fittin', don't it?)

Home! With computer!

2007-09-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

I got home last night (barely) after finding out my computer was delivered last night. When I say barely, it means that not only did I just make the boat (the difference between the time I found out and the time I left was ten minutes, with a one hour wait at a bus stop), but my dad, on a business trip to the island, just made his boat as well, and we met down at Tsawassen.

Anyway, the new Mac is awesome. I've already opened it (in fact, I'm using it right now) while keeping as much of the original packaging on it as I can (including the plastic sticker thing in front of the screen to protect it, which kinda screws up the screen. Right now, the best thing is that it's fast. Quicksilver does not take a second for the window to pop up and a few seconds to search through the records to find what you want; it happens instantly. Most graphics-heavy flash does not lag nearly as much anymore. It's great. I really like the new keyboard. It's pretty much a regular keyboard with MacBook keys (and yes, it is that thin), and it works really well. For some reason, typing feels a lot faster on this thing. I can't wait to get it back to Victoria, where my guitar (I bought a cable to connect the guitar to the computer the other day, and if anything, being able to properly record (with Garageband!) is one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to on the Mac) and external hard drive await.

Oh, and now that I have a second computer, I was debating naming the iMac and the laptop. Yes, I'm that much of a nerd. I thought of a good one for the laptop, though. It's old, it's a bit slow, it's annoying to use a few times, and while it's still really useful (notably, it's portable), if there's any other alternative, I'd probably use that instead. Therefore, I'm probably gonna name the laptop Tingle. I dunno about the iMac, though.

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Current music: Relient K - I So Hate Consequences

2007-09-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I have the iPod in my room now, ready to be sold to whoever wants it and is willing to give me $150 for it. It's never been used, or even turned on, and I only opened it to cut out the UPC code for rebate purposes. It should work just fine.

And the computer should be in my grasp pretty soon, if it comes tomorrow. The package tracker says it left Memphis this afternoon, so it actually might be home tomorrow, and if my mom is around to pick it up, I'll be home this weekend to come get it. It's really down to the wire, though, as I probably won't find out till the last minute.

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Current music: none

2007-09-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

I know you're probably all tired of me talking about this (and I know I've been posting a little more than usual lately), but I just got an email saying my computer's been shipped and should be here (or, home, at least) by the 14th. That's this week! Yay!

On a side note, I've discovered I'm obsessed with notification software. Let me put it this way: Vienna, my RSS reader, is following 20 different feeds (some news, some blogs, some webcomics), and updates every five minutes. Every time there's a new article, Growl tells me. If I get sent email, I'll know of it within a minute. My packages are being tracked through a Dashboard widget (and if it updates, Growl tells me that, too). It's all a real timesaver, but sometimes I wonder if I'm taking this a bit too far.

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Current music: Joker - Heat Blur

I must be both the luckiest and unluckiest guy in the world.

2007-09-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

I swear, random weird things keep happening to me. First Apple screws up my order, which got fixed really quickly. Today I found out what happened to that 383 dollars that vanished. I go to the bank to ask about it and they said it was a cheque that was written some time ago. This looks fishy to me for one big reason: I have never written a cheque in my life. They bring it up on the computer, which has a scan of the cheque, and it turns out it definitely wasn't me that wrote it, with the name and signature being completely wrong. After showing some ID, they said that the money would be back in a few days. Talk about relief. If I hadn't checked my bank account last Saturday, something I hardly do, I would have completely missed it. God really must be watching out for me. :)

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Current music: none

Should I start with the good news?

2007-09-09T18:27:00.001-07:00

This weekend's been interesting, in both good and bad ways. I'll start with the good:

I got some Math 122 homework done
I found the notes from last summer's C SC 230 class (behind a password, too!)
I got a USB hub, which has already been useful
Everything except the computer itself has been shipped on my Apple order

And now, the not so good:

I go to church this morning (at 11) only to find out there's only one morning service now (at 10), after walking 35 minutes to get there
I randomly check my bank account last night to find out after all my books have been purchased, another $383 was taken out of my chequing account (the one I don't touch except for books and my monthly spending allowance) sometime during or immediately after the Labour Day weekend and I am quite certain I didn't spend it. I may have to stop by the bank tomorrow to figure it out, and I'm worried that someone got into it (the recent PIN pad scams at a Vancouver mall a few weeks ago scare me a bit, since I went shopping in Vancouver not too long ago, and used my debit card).

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Current music: none

Whiteboardpedia

2007-09-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

I got some whiteboard markers (finally) after being shocked last Monday that the ones I bought then were permanent, so I decided to have some fun. Shamelessly stolen from here, but I still think it's cool.

Click for full size.
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Current music: none

Weekend!

2007-09-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well, now that the worst of the computer stuff is taken care of and I can properly get excited about my new computer coming (which will probably be in a week or two, in which I'll come home and pick it up if it gets here after my dad comes next week - it's getting delivered home just to be sure it'll actually get here), I can look forward to the weekend. Or, some part of the weekend where I'm not working. I should actually do math homework this year, for one thing. I've got an elec assignment due Tuesday, though I don't know if I know enough to do it yet. I've got to do something in the way of shopping, not only for basic stuff (I need a soap container and non-permanent markers for my whiteboard), but also to get ready for the new computer (I bought a new USB hub today, as I have a printer, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, and other stuff I need to cover for, and and I don't know if I have enough USB ports to take care of it, but I still need to get Parallels, as well as a cord so I can connect my guitar to my computer - I can't wait for the latter because it means I can finally record things properly).

Oh, I went down to the co-op office today to get a form filled out, and I got a nice surprise today: all software engineering students are usually able to get co-op placements. This means I have a great chance at getting not only a job, but also the job I want this January. Things are looking good right now.
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Current music: Relient K - Forward Motion

I'm getting an iMac!

2007-09-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

It's on order now, but something's up. For some reason, it put two iMacs on order instead of just one (though my dad has a receipt with the right amount of everything on it with a proper total), which is fairly important, because it's an extra 1400 bucks on order. It shouldn't be a problem, I can probably call Apple to fix this, or I can return it if I need to, but this is annoying me a lot right now. I'm curious to know how much is billed on my dad's Mastercard right now.

Anyway, I hope to have this resolved soon. Maybe the computer store can help me. This is not something I'd expect from Apple. With any luck, though, they might send both iMacs and only bill for one. That would be great.

edit (9:40 am the next day): Okay, there are some serious problems going on right now. First off, I can't cancel one iMac because the .Mac subscription I ordered with it has already been prepared for shipping. Second, Apple's return policy states that I can't return custom configured products, and I upgraded the hard drive to a 320 gig from a 250 gig. I can't call Apple yet without being prepared to hold for a while (something I can't do with class in less than an hour), and I hope that they'll be able to fix the order. All this over a mistake, while I have proof that shows that I only ordered one (before the order got changed and right after the order was made, it listed exactly what I got, with one iMac, and only a $1569 total, on a page that said "please print this page for your records"). Let's hope my call with Apple later today will go well.

Edit 2 (2:42 Friday): Wow, that was surprisingly easy. I spent longer on hold than I spent having to take care of the order, and I didn't spend that long on hold, either (the hold music went through two whole songs). It looks like I can just return it just fine once (and if) the second computer comes in, but the biggest thing is that the computer has been canceled and that's 1400 bucks that I don't have to spend. The .mac subscription has already been shipped, but I can return one of them and get the $99 back, I'm sure. Thank you, Apple, including Paul, the guy I talked to, for making this really easy for me.

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Current music: none

In Soviet Russia, class fails you!

2007-09-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I've attended at least one lecture session for all of my classes so I think it's time I brought about some opinions about them.

Math 122 looks easy, though I know I'm going to eat my words. We start with my least (and worst) favorite part of math 12 (combinatorials and stuff), but I think it'll get a bit interesting later. The prof looks pretty good, though.

Engineering 240 is a writing class, despite its name. It's exactly what I expected it to be, though one of the assignments should be interesting. We're gonna have to give a set of professional instructions on how to do just about anything. I already know what mine's going to be. I'll give a hint: it starts with an "s", and then it's followed by a more different "s".

Stat 260 is a simple enough looking statistics course, though I want to see some number crunching before I make any opinions about it. The prof looks decent.

Elec 255 looks alright. It's a class on signal processing, or, in layman's terms, converting some form of electronic input to some form of output. It looks interesting, but all we did was complex numbers today, which I already know (it's used a lot in electrical engineering).

Software Engineering 265 probably looks most interesting out of the classes I'm taking. It's programming, but it's more about techniques for good programming as well as group projects. We're doing C again, though starting over from scratch, we should go through it more quickly than last time, especially with a better prof. However, we're also doing Python later in the term, which I don't know that well.

And just when I thought I was home free with not having to worry about bad profs, I just had comp sci 225. It's about computer architecture which means it's a bit more about hardware than coding, something I don't really know about too well. And the professor is horrible. He goes off on tangents a lot, he stutters a lot and he's got a strong East Indian accent. He sounds like a smart and nice guy (he's got a Ph. D), but I don't know how well he can teach. And I don't think there are other options for lecture hours for me, so I may be screwed with that. But hopefully, things will be alright.

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Current music: none

New iPods!

2007-09-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

They look pretty good, especially that touch screen one (essentially, it's an iPhone, minus the phone, but it's still got internet capabilities, like the ability to access the iTunes music store from the iPod, as well as Safari). I've got two gripes, though. One is that I can't get the education discount on the new models (though that was expected). The other is the large price of the touch and the amount of space that you'll get for it. 8 gigs for 329 bucks? The most you can get is 16? I realize it's new, expensive technology, but still...

That being said, I know what I want for my birthday or Christmas now. I was even considering the iPod classic (80 gigs is a lot of space for movies), if the touch is too expensive.

One thing that intrigues me now is the lack of white products Apple sells now. The original iPod was white. iBooks and MacBooks were only white for the longest time, as was the iMac, and the iPod shuffle. Now it seems the only thing you can get in white is the MacBook (iPods are grey and black now), and there's even a black option for that, as well. Note, I'm not counting accessories.

Anyway, I'm probably gonna get the computer online now, get the free (last gen) nano and try and sell it off, I guess. I'll still save money in the end.

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Current music: none

And so it begins...

2007-09-04T21:43:00.001-07:00

Things went from okay to pretty good in the last two days. I'm starting to connect more with a bunch of the people I knew last year (though there was an unfortunate coincidence of meeting a bunch of my friends that I haven't seen in four months waiting outside my room without any notice whatsoever as I was getting out of the shower, in a bathrobe), but I'm feeling that I'm starting to get to know some of the people here, as well. That and two nights have passed without anything bad happening (I'd rather not explain my reasoning as to why that's a good thing so far).

Anyway, classes start tomorrow, and there are very strong rumours that new iPods with touch screen capability come out tomorrow (and I'll probably upgrade if it's any good and if they'll give me the student discount). So far, things have been great.

edit: Dang. I was reading the (fine print on the) rebate form for the student rebate and it looks like it only works on the iPods from this generation. What the heck, it's worth a shot, I'll try anyway.

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Current music: none at the moment; it's quiet hours and my door is open, so I don't want to disturb anyone

2007-09-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm here. Everything's unpacked, and I'm pretty much settled in here. The room actually is really great, compared to last year's (one of the older buildings on campus). The room walls are painted, the closet's not in an awkward corner, there are drawers under the bed, I get a good view on the second floor, and more. I kinda wish the desk would face the window, but that's a minor gripe. Pictures are up on the flickr page if you want to see the new room. You'll notice it's clean. Maybe it'll stay that way this year. :P

It's quiet right now. The first years are all doing their orientation thing, which is most of the people here, so it's kinda empty, other than the occasional person moving in every once in a while.

Oh, and despite what I said about waiting a little longer, I tried to get my iMac today. No luck. The computer store's all sold out. I think I'll try and get it online. I was debating getting an older model (same size, same price, no cool shiny metallic look), but the graphics card is a bit dated even though the processor is 0.16 GHz faster, so I dunno about it.

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Current music: Casting Crowns - If We Are the Body

2007-09-01T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's just about time. Most of my bags/suitcases/bins are packed and just about ready to go. I leave in four and a half hours (if you're looking at the time of the post, no, that's not a typo) to get on the boat, unpack, move in, hopefully make some attempt at socializing, and maybe even sleep, if I'm lucky.

Anyway, it's been a great four months. I got baptized, I got a job that was much better than the one I had the past two years, I went to a lot of cool places the Sunshine Valley, Agrifair, the PNE, and the Berry (Beat) Festival, I got to hang out with a lot of great people, and I even got my N in the process. Sadly, the painful realization that comes every time I'm dreading something is that no matter how far away it seems, sooner of later, it's going to happen, whether you want it to or not. Of, course, it goes the same way for good things, too. :D

Anyway, for everyone I'm leaving behind, thanks for the memories this past bit, and I know I'll see you guys again. For everyone I'm coming toward, see you soon.

And, since I have this flickr account now, I just might take more pictures. I'll have dorm pics up eventually, for sure.

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Current music: nothing playing, but MercyMe - Homesick comes to mind quite well. And I haven't even left yet.

Offbeat news is one thing...

2007-09-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so what happened is some guy on an internet forum made up some story that a ninja challenged a bunch of Shaolin monks to a fight, and won. Keep in mind this is a made-up story, and I'm sure I've seen more ridiculous on the internet. Well, the Shaolin temple in China is retaliating... by suing the guy that made up the story.

I want to believe this is real, and I'm pretty sure it is (April 1st was a long time ago), but I can't find the original forum post anywhere...

2007-08-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm officially done working today. It was a good run for the past twelve weeks, but I'm glad it's over. Now I get a one day break (for packing, of course) before I go off on Sunday. sigh...

And I've finally decided on the computer. I'm gonna get a new iMac, complete with that free iPod nano that they give to students, and sell the iPod off. That way, I get over $200 back, more than I'll save if I wait for Leopard to come out and upgrade that way. I've gotta do it quick, though (the iPod offer expires in a few weeks), but Apple has confirmed a new announcement for September 5th, so I'll at least wait a few days for it.

Of course, I thought I was sure about the desktop, so we'll see what happens...

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Current music:

I hit a DDR milestone last night.

2007-08-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

But first, a little bit of backstory.

Rewind to a little over five years ago. It was my first time ever playing DDR. I sucked. Pretty much all of the bad habits that beginners had, I did. But I liked it enough to want to do it again sometime.

Fast forward to two and a half years ago. I hadn't really done much DDR since then, just the occasional play when I saw a machine, and I think I failed on the first song anyway, when someone brings it to a party. I refused to play at first, thinking I still sucked from back then, but eventually , I got a game in. And that's when I realized that I didn't have those bad habits anymore, and could beat a song on Light fairly easily. Excited about this, I did everything in my power to get a home version for myself, and that Christmas, my dream came true. After spending the majority of Christmas that day playing with it, I started to beat songs on Standard, and eventually Heavy after a few days until I could get about 6-foot songs (note, the difficulty goes from 1 to 10) beaten. I started going to Castle Fun Park to play on the arcade machine there, which was a big step up for me.

Eventually, though, I had thought I had peaked. I managed to stick around the 8-9-foot range, and I was usually exhausted after one song. Well, last night, that changed. I guess the biking to work did something to me, because I beat songs like Candy*, Tsugaru, and even Can't Stop Falling in Love (Speed Mix), which I had never passed before, easily. So, I took my game up another notch.

I beat my first ten-footer last night. And it wasn't Bag.

Okay, so it wasn't a Max, it was Sakura, which is a bit easier. But it still counts. w00t!

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Current music:

2007-08-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

I went to the PNE yesterday. Good fun, considering I went on more rides than I thought. I went on the wooden coaster for the first time. I didn't buy the picture afterwards, but let's just say you can tell it was my first time. Everytime I stopped feeleing nauseous from the previous ride, I go on another one and it comes right back. Good thing my stomach didn't retaliate.

And I saw a DDR Supernova machine. On free play. I didn't get much time with it (and only one new song), but the time I did spend was pretty good.

Oh, and I'm looking at a new computer right now. It's either a refurbished MacBook or a desktop computer, running Linux. This is what my dad's getting for a new PC, and I might go likewise, if I see something on their site that I like.

sigh... six days to go before I have to go back to UVic. But only four days of work left!
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Current music: