Month: October 2003

PERFECT TIMING

I prepare for the tutorials I help give the night before. I look over the material the students are supposed to have read or know for the assignment I give them. The material is usually in the form of course notes that the prof has given me. Then I look at the assignment and read it through. If I’m not given solutions (which is usually the case), I try to work through the problems myself and try to anticipate their questions. It usually takes half an hour tops.

Tomorrow’s tutorial is different. The material for the assignment was finished late, so it never made it into the course notes. The students have to download it from the course web site. The section they are on now has to do with probabilities of failure. I am currently facing two problems. First, the course web site is down. It just times out. I can’t get to the course notes. Second, I suck at probability. I took one course in statistics in my last year of undergrad. It was offered by the mechanical department and not math, which means it was a bit watered down as stats go. Also, it was a purely “by-the-numbers” type of course, which means I learned the material, got my “A”, and proceeded to forget everything related to stats about 0.0000001 seconds after I put down my pencil in the final exam.

It’s just my luck the one time I need to visit the course web site to get the notes and it’s down. I’ve read the assignment over and luckily (I think), it came with solutions. The answers make no sense to me unfortunately. They use a formula that I may have seen before or maybe I’ve never seen it all. Who knows?

Anyways, tomorrow I meet with the prof whom I help during the tutorial. Hopefully, he can explain it all to me.

It did cross my mind to go on-line and learn about probabilities and stuff on my own, but that’s way beyond the call of duty as a TA.

Good night folks!

MONDAY MUSINGS

I need more sleep. For my schedule, I’m getting a lot less sleep than is possible. Anyways, who wants to read about my sleep debt.

I have several things on my mind. First, I get a big kick out of listening to Asian people who have Australian accents. It’s a dumb thing to get entertained by, but it’s just something I haven’t heard before. Can ya tell I need sleep?

I went to Dairy Queen tonight. Thanks to Dana for driving us. It was there I determined what kind of birthday cake I want for my next birthday. I want an ice-cream cake silkscreened with a picture of Hilary Duff on it. It’s amazing what kind of cake technologies they have now.

I had hot eats at Dairy Queen tonight for the first time. I had a cheeseburger meal. It wasn’t bad at all. It had a home-cooked taste to it. I want to try their chicken strips next time.

Well, I plan on being in bed by 3am, so I leave it here.

WELL THAT WAS FUN

My weekend just ended five minute ago. It did so when I printed out the last page of my AI assignment. It took all day to finish the last third of it. Too bad it took me only about an hour for the first two-thirds.

The assignment is worth approx. 12% of the total grade in the class, so I suppose I should be glad I got it done in the first place. Burning a whole day in the process irks me though. I put aside another project I have and I wanted to do some more marking today as well. Damn. An entire day… gone.

I have about an hour or so before I go to bed. I could start marking. It’s easy to do and I know I’d get through a lot of it. Unfortunately, I feel like chilling out for the rest of the night. So, that’s what I’m going to do.

Hey, why didn’t anyone tell me there was a new trailer for Revolutions?

FOGGY COOL

One of the benefits of living right by the ocean is that you can get some pretty impressive fog rolling in from the water. Today, the whole campus was engulfed in a thick and encompassing fog. While I though the effect was great in the daytime, it only got better when the sun went down.

Everything looked very eerie. I’m almost sure the fog was even thicker and heavier at night. Buildings were shrouded in a mist of white-grey. All the street lights looked different as their lights bounced off all the water droplets in the air. It was very cool indeed.

I went on a short walk around midnight with my camera to take some quick shots. I was only out there a half hour or so, but the fog was so thick, my hair was wet from just walking through it! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before. Unfortunately, the pictures do not even come close to capturing the fog we had tonight.

DUMB

I’ve been working on the last question of my AI assignment for like two days now. I know for a fact the solution is easy and simple. The prof even said so. For some reason though, I can’t seem to get it. I feel really, really dumb.

Meanwhile, all my other work is slipping by. That’s no good. Someone who manages their time well would realize this and then move onto tasks. I’m afraid this is what I’m going to need to do. The assignment is due on Monday.

In the interim, go watch the latest trailer for Return of the King. It’s worth it.

WILL IRON FOR FOOD

Sometime around 3am, I made a bleary-eyed vow to myself that I wouldn’t touch that damn Jedi Academy for 24 hours. I had just spent two hours on a “little break” after doing some very minor amounts of schoolwork. I felt shame, regret, and remorse. I’m sure those are sure signs of addictions. I’m pretty sure I could have finished my AI assignment by now had I put that much time in it as I did with the game.

I was so tired today because I went to bed around 4:30am. I felt so bad about gaming, I put in some time on my assignment. I went to one class, ate lunch, got my haircut, marked an assignment, took a 15 minute nap, and then ate dinner.

After dinner, I partook in a little arrangement I have with my friend Rhonda. A few weeks back, we were talking about things we hate doing. We both hate doing dishes. Then she mentioned she didn’t like ironing clothes, with I actually do enjoy. The act of ironing calms me down, it’s quite soothing. You can’t rush ironing clothes, so it just naturally slows you down. It’s meditative. Sometimes while I iron, I see other places, the future, the past. Also, the goal of ironing is to remove the wrinkles from your clothes and to straighten them out. From a metaphorical point of view, I’m trying to do with my life what I’m doing to clothes. Neatness. Order. Crispness.

Anyways, Rhonda came up with the idea that if I ironed her clothes, she’d cook for me (something I enjoy too, but that she is immensely better at than I). So tonight, I ironed a blouse and a pair of pants for her. I think I did a fairly good job. I usually don’t iron for other people, so I had added pressure. Get it?!?!!? Ha ha ha…

The funny thing is both of us think we’re getting a sweet deal of the arrangement. To be truthful though, I’m getting more out of this than her. Come on! A blouse and a pair of pants for a nicely cooked dinner? It’s a steal for me. To be fair, I’ll only get her to cook an entree or something.

And I’ll finish with the weird coincidence of the night. I was leaving dinner and walking back with Michelle who’s in 2nd year Med.

“Erwin, did you work at EA with a guy named Mike?”

“Mike? Yeah, I worked with lots of guys named Mike. Mike Wong?”

“Yeah, that’s him. He found your website. He’s my lab partner. He read that you live in St. John’s and he knew I lived there too.”

“Wow. So Mike is in Med too?”

“Yeah.”

Mike Wong, if you’re reading this, congratulations on making it into UBC medical school. I am sure you are one of the very few, if not the first, to have worked as an EA tester, then moved onto med school. See guys and gals? If you work hard in your SKU, write up bugs nicely, volunteer to work lots of overtime, and be nice to your lead, you too can be a doctor someday.