The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:
I've been re-elected! Now I have another year of all that work and committees and stress.... Why did I do this again? Thank you to everyone who voted and supported me! I'll do my best to make the school a better place!

The people elected:

1. Jacob Machina
2. Janna-Lynn Weber
3. Sameer Monsour
4. Shehbaz Khan

The Bad:
Finally went to the doctor about my sore knee. Its been bad since about March but I thought it might get better so I didn't do much about it... plus I was in the states where health care is expensive. Its worst than I thought it was. Apperently I have Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. It was probably triggered by working out, caused my knee to become unbalanced one way or another. Which causes friction and swelling. Now when I bend my knee there is significant grinding and occational popping. (It's gross).

I'm on anti-inflammitories, I had xrays done. Also because right leg is so hurt, my left leg is over compensating and now is significantly stronger than my right leg. And Thus, I'm supposed to do physio. Thankfully the University Health plan covers 80% of the cost for a physiotherapist.

The Ugly:
aka - The really bad news...

A friend from my computer science classes, Blaine, has been in the hospital for about a week. He had two major surgeries on his back. Apperently there was a large tumour near his spine. Whatever is left after the second surgery will be hit with radiation. He's going back to Hamilton (i think) for rehab, and will likely get his entire semester refunded. I'm thinking about you Blaine. Good luck with everything!

So Very Tired

Tuesday kill me.

I am so very tired today, I honestly couldn't keep my eyes open in networking. It was horrible. I didn't have coffee... but I'm trying to not depend on coffee if I can... I'm working on all my addictions.... Except for the internet addiction, unlike Vince I don't mind my internet addiction.

I could/should go to the gym today, however I had a decent excuse... On Thursday I've finally made a doctors appointment for my knee. I'll see if there is anything they can do for me, hopefully I'll still be okay to work out eventually. I'm betting they are going to send me for Xrays.

I couldn't get to sleep last night. My mind just wouldn't shut up. There was a million things I was supposed to do today but somehow I have them done already ... or they aren't that important to me.

My roommates and I are thinking about moving. Not for the shear joy of moving ... but because the neighbourhood we live in is a little to sketchy and the landlord has pushed us a few too many times. Trying to see if we can get something bigger and better for the same price.

That might be all the updates I have for now. The election is tomorrow and altho I haven't done a lot of campaging I'm fairly confident in my position. Hopefully the people will pull through for me.

Weekend GReunion

I was waiting for Vince's pictures before I posted about the first GReunion.

On Friday Vince came to give at talk at the University of Windsor for the CSS but more importantly he came to visit me. The talk was great and decently attended by the students. We then had the rest of the day to do all those great Windsor things... ...

Once we got talking we realized that Mark is pretty close (Ann Arbor) and we should give him a call... surprisingly he was able and willing to come to Canada for a bit. Turned into an even bigger Reunion.

Windsors not too exciting and a little sketchy downtown but we did it up, even hit the casino for a bit and ended at Tim Hortons for some people watching. Full details are in Vince's post.

It was a great weekend I had a lot of fun and I'm glad that Vince and Mark could come out. It's a little depressing how boring I find Windsor to be and that I usually doing go out on weekend.

Quote of the night: "Telus?... is that a Canadian Word?..." -- The Blond at the Casino

Vote ME!

The Election is on... I'm running for CS Undergrad rep at the Computer Science Council. There are 4 positions and 8 people running... I've been doing it for 2 years already and feeling that I'm starting to make a difference. I'd love to continue cause its been really fun and I think that I've been a good representative. I've sat on a variety of committees and always voice my and the students opinions.

On another almost unrelated note, I received a package from Google today. I am officially a Google pizza ambassador. I got another free tshirt... says "I'm feeling Hungry" on the back... Its pretty cool!

In other news:

• Mr. Vincent Cheung is giving a talk at my school tomorrow. Should be fun.
• I have a part time job at the university now.
• Usability Testing will start up again in the next few weeks.
• I have too much homework already.
• There is a meeting with the First year CS Students next week that I get to co-host.

6 AM Wake up Call courtesy of the Police

I forgot to add this to my post yesterday but Monday morning at 6 am there is a loud banging on our apartment door. To me it could have been 3 am and I thought I was dreaming... about the third time it happens I get up to check to see whats going on. Michelle is already up and at the door... but they are covering the peep hole.

Us: Who is it?
Them: The police.

humm... alright... Tyler the big strong guy in the house gets to open the door because really it could be anyone. All three of us were still half asleep and in our pjs. Outside the door was three policemen.

Them: We got a call about a noise complaint... ...

The three of us look around. Uh Sir, we were sleeping. Anyways they ask us some stupid questions and then go away. It was weird.

Back to the Gym

Nothing like a weekend of shopping, for jeans no less, to make you want to run to the gym.

All the women in my family and I spent the weekend shopping, during our annual shopping bonding trip. Went just across the border spent two night and a ton of money. Had some good food, Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Panera to name a few. And we had even more laughs. Really love doing that trip, super happy that my sister could make it home from BDA.

I ended up spending far too much... but it was worth it. Bought the new super mario bros... pretty addicted to that now.

Anyways. Like I was saying. There's nothing like going jean shopping to make you want to go to they gym. So today I went to the gym, just easing into it. Spent 30 minutes on the bike, I'm not as bad off as I thought I might be. Didn't do much else, but this is only day 1.

In other news, I bought my last textbook and now I have reading to do. Ah the life of a student.

Becarful in Parking Lots

So... Heres what happened.

So I'm in a parking lot, and theres someone on the right with her blinker on... So either there is a car she is waiting on or shes just waiting for someone to show up. Anyways, I go around her very slowly to see watching to see if i can tell what shes waiting for... all of the sudden there is a bicycler infront of my car... and then on the ground...

Everyone is fine. The car is fine. I'm still freaked out.

My parents didn't really like the story tho.

So How's School?

My first week of school almost completed school is going as expected. A little slow and looking like its going to be a lot of work. Most of the classes are good, the profs are pretty nice and they all seem to know my by this time. All of comments seem to be the same...

Them: "How was it? How was your summer?"
Me: "Great. I had awesome time!"

etc.

Anyways. I got a few of my textbooks... Still missing one that I'm not sure what to do about. At the university bookstore it cost twice as much as it would from amazon. But I'm not sure if it will get here fast enough... anyways.. this is life.

Also, I still have a job with the university. hurray for spending money! and Hurray for being able to practice usability and the such over the winter. I can't wait to get back into it. I'm still waiting for reality to make sense again. I still feel like I'm playing catch up.

She's Growing up!

My little cousin, before I went away for the summer.

My little cousin at her First birthday party! Shes so cute, but getting so old already.

In "The Bend" for the Weekend

Spending sometime at home in the bend this weekend. Currently sitting on the patio and having a root beer.

The first day of classes went well. In one class we were asked to do short introductions of ourselves and I mentioned where I worked this summer...got the attention of everyone in the room for sure. "That was You!?!?" Pretty funny stuff. I think people know of me... but they aren't able to recognize me yet. I'm also trying to minimize the amount of GClothes I ware on a daily basis.

First Class of the Year

Sigh... my first class of the year... 8:30 in the morning... "Computer Networks"

And there was no Coffee...... .... ...

It was one of the only days that I really wanted/needed coffee and they didn't have any.

WPA -> WEP -> WPA == SAD

Point 1:
A major selling point for me on the DS was that it could be played online with friends around the world. For example, Sean and Other interns who also have a DS. To play my Nintendo DS Online my wireless internet has to be encrypted in the less secure WEP. (note: I hear this is the same for the wii)

Point 2:
Michelle's computer has been Very slow and needed to be formatted and started again. So today Matt was able to spend some time doing that. And Wiped it clean right back to Windows XP Home (Pre SP2). So a) it needed 59 updates when it got back here and b) it was having difficulty getting online.

Because of point 1 and 2 I decided to change my wireless from WPA to WEP.. Fairly simple and Connected on all computers almost right away. Unfortunatly, it only lasted a few minutes on the laptops at any given time. Both would be kicked off randomly. Very sad. I was however able to play a quick round of marioKart DS with Brian online before I realized that being kicked off every few minutes really was very annoying. I'm sure people on msn were ready to kill me.

After about 4 hours of trying to fix it to get a solid connection I ended up going back to WPA just to be able to use the computer. I stopped trying about half an hour ago. Maybe tomorrow I'll try again, There are still some tricks left but I'm pretty tired right now.

School tomorrow ... I wish I could say I was excited... but I really haven't looked at my classes or got anything ready. Going to try and take the laptop ... see how that works for me. I'm betting I'm just going to be distracted anyways.

So I suppose I need a new name for the blog? At least for a while anyways. It might make more sense to start over on a new blog... but i'm fairly sure that the new blog would fail and I would just stop writing.

Unpacking...

From the Flight Home

So this is my entertainment on my flight home. It’s almost a little too cramped to type but it’s do-able. It keeps my mind off the time, which seems to be creeping by. Currently listening to my shuffle, I’m not sure what I would do without it.

So, like Vince, both my bags were overweight somehow. 54 and 56. I didn’t quite realize how much they charged for an overweight bag. And now I know. Also, the first flight in the morning has no real need to be 3 hours early… or even 1.5 hours early like I was… since nothing is open, no ticketing, no security nothing. Anyways, it gave me a little more time with Sean.

It was so hard to walk away at the airport. That’s all I’m going to say about that. It just sucked.

Reflection on the summer: It was a great summer. Excellent experience and made me grow up a lot actually. I feel much more confident now in myself and in my direction in life. As well as with Sean (which I was pretty confident in before). I made some really good friends that I know I’ll keep in touch with, and hopefully I’ll see them again. I missed my family and friends at home and when/if I do it again I will make a little more effort to keep in touch with them.

I learned that sometimes even when you plan and plan it doesn’t go right or someone else gets a better deal. The bike…. Then the car… is a good example of that. I was so sure I would be okay with that bike. And I’m sure if I would have somehow been able to stick with it I wouldn’t have put on the GWeight. The Google 15 is much like the Freshman 15. At least now I’ll have time to head back to the gym (I hope).

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. I’m not sure I’m ready to go back to school I’ve been out of it for so long I’m not sure I’ll remember how it works. I’m actually worried about being able to motivate myself to do homework. I like the fact that I am able to leave work at work and have my nights to myself.

I’m already scheduled to do a few talks when I get back to Windsor, which is fine with me. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to say and I think I’m going to use the rest of the flight to try and work that out… but I’m getting more comfortable with my public speaking. I’m sure the class will help some too.

This summer I got time to think about my future and where I want to take my career. I have a few ideas but I think the first step is a masters program in HCI. A few times this summer I wished that I knew a little more about my field. Specifically, when people were naming names of researchers that everyone else seemed to know. I’m not sure where I’ll do my masters or even if I’ll try working for a few years first. I have a little time to think about that.

I suppose that’s enough for now… If I think of anything interesting I’ll …uh… let you know?

The End???

So the story is not over just yet. Today is packing, and moving to San Jose and then tomorrow is flyng. Which looking around the apartment is craziness to think about right now.

Anyways, A few people have been asking if I am going to continue the blog when I get back. I'm never really sure what to say. I like blogging but most of the fun is because there are people reading the blog. I'm worried I won't have as much interesting content when I get back and because of that I feel that I won't blog as often.

So I'm putting the question to my readers.

Should I continue? Will you keep reading?

I know there are those out there who read daily but never comment... This is the one post you should comment on.

This will probably be the last post until I get back to Canada.

Last GDay

Its been a great summer. I am so full of good food its not even funny. There are some classics that I'll be eating when I get home like... Real Oreos, KD, Tim Hortons to name a few. Tho, having one touch coffee makers is something I will miss.

The team here is awesome and you can't ask for any more than that.

So today I have to pack up my desk... shread the super secret documents... sign my life away again and move on with my life.

Hopefully I'll be back again soon.