IT WAS A PLEASURE

Most of you know I was a TA for the first time this term. I’ve tutored high school students one-on-one before but this was the highest level of education I’ve been involved in as an instructor. This was also the largest number of students I’ve had at one time as well, totaling over 40 students in my tutorial.

I met with them four hours a week for the last three months. Over that time, I think everybody got to know me quite well. Sometimes you don’t even remember your TA’s name, I think every one of my students knew my name.

They had their last tutorial last Wednesday. I had to give them a quiz, which probably wasn’t the best way to end things, but I think they all did alright.

As they handed in their papers, some of my students were thoughtful enough to make some comments to me. Several of them thanked me for being their TA and shook my hand. I really appreciated this. A few even wished me good luck with my degree. It’s nice to know they remembered that I’m a student too.

One guy even said that out of all his TAs, I was the best in the bunch. I asked him how many TAs he had and he said three. This made me feel good. As engineering students, they’ll see a million TAs in their academic career and I hope for at least him, I’ll have set some standard.

One young lady said that I was “awesome” and I should teach. I thanked her for her comments. A lot of people have said I’d make a good instructor, but I don’t see myself teaching elementary or high school students. The only other option is post-secondary, and they usually don’t let you teach at that level without a doctorate. Unfortunately, I don’t really see myself doing a PhD.

At the end, I felt a sense of responsibility for these students. I hope that even in the littlest sense I was able to impart some wisdom, some indication of what you need to do to survive as an engineering student.

Most TAs are evaluated by a form that each students fills out. I will not be getting such feedback. The course I TA’d is unique in the sense there are several instructors and the standard forms don’t fit the mold. It’s really too bad since I’d like to improve on what I did this term.

Before I gave the quiz out, I told my students it was a pleasure having them this term and I wished them good luck with the rest of their career at UBC. I’ll probably won’t TA any of them ever again.

About an hour after the quiz was handed out, they had all left. I was a bit sad to see them go, but next term I’ll have a whole new set of students to meet.

DAY LATE, DOLLAR SHORT

It’s nearly five am. I shoudn’t be up and it’s probably not a good idea to be blogging now either. Oh well. This is what happens during final exam time.

I’m a day behind my study schedule for my AI final exam on Thursday. I did not do a lick of studying on Saturday. Instead, in the afternoon, I wound up somewhere downtown, food shopping, and sniffing Rhonda’s bread on the Aquabus. I got back at 5pm and a sane person would have ordered in and started studying for the night. Instead, I somehow wound up at Earl’s for dinner. Yep, it was good company and food all around. The meal was smooth as Merino wool. So a sane person would have started studying at 9pm when I got back, but instead I played Trivial Pursuit till midnight. And there my friends was my day.

I sorta live by this rule these days. If I have two competing options with what to do during the day, I use the rule: Ten years from now, which option would I remember more? Just about about everything is more memorable than studying, thus my choice on Saturday. I didn’t have this rule in undergrad, and it probably accounts for my unrealistically high (given my mental capacity) undergrad GPA.

I tried my best to kick some ass today, but I’m not sure if I made up a day. I’ll probably have to go hard again tomorrow. You know, I was at this stage of studying yesterday, I’d be in great shape. What’s done is done though and you can’t change the past.

What? No, I can’t. I haven’t even warmed up! Alright, alright, I’ll sing you a song.

Good night folks!

A REQUEST

Um, only a few people out there can do this for me, but I’d like to ask anyways.

Can someone show me around EAX? I just want to see what it’s like. It can be after hours, doesn’t have to be during the day. If it’s easier during the day, then that’s ok too.

If you’d like to do this, can you send me an e-mail or give me a call? Thanks.

WHOOPS

All term I’ve been working on this project for relational database course. My partner and I have implemented a DB for a car rental agency. It’s pretty neat, you can reserve, rent, and return cars. You give it a date and location and it’ll give you what cars are available.

Anyways, as part of our evaluation, we have to demonstrate our system to the TA. There was a sign-up form going around class to fill out. My partner and I thought we had filled in Thursday, 3pm. Oddly, even though the form came around twice on different days, neither of us wrote our time down.

So, today we agree to meet at 2:50pm to get ready for our presentation. I get to the lab a little early around 2:45pm. The TA immediately gets up and walks over to my workstation.

“Hey, are you Erwin Tang?”

“Why yes I am, you must have seen my web site erwintang.com… what item of yours do you want me to sign?”

“Yes, I am.”

“You and your partner were supposed to be here at 2:30pm.”

He shows me the sheet. Well, I’ll be darned, he’s right.

“It’s ok, we still have fifteen minutes, I think that’ll be ok.”

I enter into a slight panic. My partner is no where to be seen and he has the script of events we were going to run.

I get the login incorrect because I’m so flustered. I finally login and start our application. I run through several events from memory. The TA seems somewhat impressed. I don’t even get through half of what I intended to do. He stops me.

“Looks like you get full marks.”

Um, ok. He gets up and leaves. I logoff and wait for my partner in the hallway.

He arrives five minutes later.

“Ok partner, let’s get this demo done so I can go home.”

“Not so fast cowboy.”

I explain it to him. He’s grateful I was there. We both thank each other for the good work we put into the project. The project is now over.

I’m so glad I went early.

MYSTERY POST

This post is going to make no sense, but I have to get it off my chest. It will only make sense to one person in the entire world, and I have no idea if he even reads my blog or even knows about my site. I don’t care, so here goes…

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I have gathered information from e-mails and phone calls. You do not realize I know about your goal. My knowing will not impact you. I believe it is an admirable goal. I’d be really happy if you were able to reach it. Though I cannot say anything, I silently cheer you on.

What you do not realize, what is so critical now, is that you are not alone in attempting to reach this goal. You have an adversary, a competitor that is right under your nose. It is my belief that both of you are blindly unaware that each of you are striving towards the same goal. Sadly, both of you cannot share this goal. It can only go to one of you.

It is important that you realize that your opponent is formidable. They have an impressive set of skills from which to draw upon. The power they yield is stunning. It cannot be discounted.

I tell you this, not to scare you or to discourage you, but to make you realize the challenge ahead of you is great. Though great, it is not impossible. You must make every effort to gain an advantage over your rival. Any misstep will cost you dearly. I guarantee your opponent will not misstep. So careful and great are they.

I have observed (by many means) that you have recently taken steps backwards. This setback is completely your fault. You cannot afford to hurt your chances at this point. These mistakes were preventable, it is in you to catch yourself, and stop them from happening. Think back to when you were doing so good with that. Learn from previous mistakes. Do not forget the lessons of the past.

I would not say time is of the essence, but certainly making the right steps in the next little while is of the utmost importance. This is going to sound hokey, but reach out with your senses. Try to detect your opponent. They too can detect you, so it might be wise to find them first. A small possibility exists they already know about you.

Many obstacles (time and space among them) prevent me from talking to you directly about this. I fear I will not be able to give you any more help on this. I can only now sit back and hope for your success.

Perhaps someday I will be able to openly communicate with you about your struggle. I hope it will be under good circumstances.

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Ok, so that’s the end of that. I know I usually post about wang flies and stuff, but my blog audience is so wide (relatively), this was the only medium I could use to possibly get my message through. I assure you, we will return to your regularly scheduled programming next post.

COVER ME – THE SEQUEL

It’s Sunday night. I’m starving. I’ve had a piece of pizza and dinner to eat all day. I skipped breakfast and lunch. My body knows this and doesn’t let me forget it.

I managed to resist my hunger pains until around 12:45am. I knock on Patrick’s door. We decided to go McDonald’s.

On the way there, we pass by L-Lot in front of SJC. We notice that there’s a car in the lot with the ignition and lights on, ready to leave. It’s a little late for L-Lot traffic, but whatever.

We go to McDonald’s, eat, and walk back. It’s about 1:40am or so now. We pass by L-Lot on the way back. The same car is still there with its lights and ignition on. There’s a dude in the driver seat, but it’s kinda hard to see much else. The car is about 25 – 30 feet from us. Patrick and I both think this is strange. It’s a long time to be idling in the lot.

“Erwin, let’s check it out.”

“Why do we always find strange cars in parking lots?”

We walk down the path a bit so that we’re behind the car. It is odd that the car hasn’t moved since we left. Patrick says we should approach the car. I tell him I think that’s a bad idea.

We decide to go back to SJC and grab our standard car inspecting equipment. Minutes later, we’re back in front of SJC, me with a tennis racquet and flashlight, and Patrick with an aluminum hockey stick.

Patrick wants to approach the car, but I want to take a more cautious approach. We decide to circle the car using the paths on either side of L-Lot. It gives us plenty of separation between the car and us, but allowing us to see into the car.

Patrick and I do the circle. I can’t see anything, the windows seem tinted. Patrick says he thinks he sees the driver moving his head once in a while, but other than that, he’s motionless.

This is getting weirder by the minute. I decide this is probably better left for Campus Security. We retreat back to SJC. Patrick doesn’t want to call. I ask him why.

“Because I don’t want to give away my name. They’ll steal my identity.”

I tell Patrick that I’ll deal with him later. We go back to my room and I call security. I describe the situation to them. They tell me they don’t deal with vehicular issues. I’m instantly transferred to the RCMP on campus. Whoa.

I give them my report and they ask me for my name, address, and phone number. Patrick is freaking out in the corner because I’ve given away all my info. He starts looking for aluminum foil to deflect the signals from the spy satellites overhead.

The dispatcher tells me they’ll send a car out.

Patrick and I race to the second floor kitchen. It faces L-Lot and a has great vantage point from which to see it play out.

We get to the kitchen. The lights are out. We keep it that way. I make my way to the window. It’s a spectacular bay window that affords us a great view of the lot. I feel like I’m on the bridge of some ship.

The car is still there. Lights and ignition on. We hop onto an adjacent table and wait. And wait. Five minutes go by and no car. Where the hell are they?

Then I see the lights of a car coming down the road next to L-Lot. It’s an RCMP cruiser! Instead of going into L-Lot though, it cruises right by it and stops at the entrance of the Fraser Parkade, which is also in front of SJC.

“No, no, no!!”

I feel like John McClane in Diehard when he’s watching the fire trucks turn back.

The cruiser is just stopped.

“We should go down there and tell him.”

“I ain’t going down there. Those are the cops.”

I run downstairs to the front entrance and dash across the street to the cruiser. I go up to the driver side window.

“Oh hey, were you the one that made the call?”

“Yes, it’s over there, right there.”

“The silver sedan?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, I’ll take a look.”

I run back to SJC and back up into the kitchen. Patrick joins me.

“Um, I was right behind you buddy.”

From the window I see the cruiser slowly pull into L-Lot. He slowly goes behind the car, then pulls into a spot parallel with the car several feet away. He then pulls out and turns his cruiser so that it’s now pointing directly at the side of the silver sedan.

Suddenly, the driver of the silver sedan hops out. So he wasn’t dead. He comes around his car towards the cruiser. He looks ok. The constable gets out of his vehicle as well.

They both are standing and talking. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn’t this.

The talking goes on for a minute longer. Then the silver sedan guy goes back into his car. The car goes no where. The constable gets back into his cruiser and drives off.

And that was it.

Patrick is amazed.

“What? That’s it? What the hell was that?”

I remember all the work I have to do.

“Oh well… I gotta get back to my work.”

What a bit of a letdown. I go back to my room and I get in my PJs. Ten minutes later, my phone rings.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Erwin, are you the one that met me outside?”

“Yes.”

“This is Cory from the RCMP. I just want to tell you what happened. The driver was ok, he wasn’t drunk or in need of medical assistance. He was just waiting for his brother and wanted to get some sleep. I want you to know that you did the right thing and that if you see anything else suspicious like that, please don’t hesitate to call us again.”

“Ok, thank you Cory. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

So, all that excitement for a dude waiting for his brother. This is why it pays to stay up late and go to McDonald’s. Take that early risers.

GO TIME

It took me from 8pm to 2am to read and take notes for nine pages from my AI text book. That’s just unacceptable. It should have taken me an hour… tops. While I was “studying”, I managed to watch an episode of Punk’d, talked to Rhonda on the phone, had Sarah come over for a chat about on-line purchases, made the post you see below, watched Letterman in the background, and surfed nearly continuously on the Web.

When I was done at 2am, I went upstairs to clear my head. Miriam was still in the study room. I went in to see how she was doing. She’s handing in her thesis soon and is busy making last second corrections. We chatted about how stressed she is. I tried to convince her everything would be alright. I’m not sure if I succeeded. What I did take away from our conversation is how much dicking around I’m doing. Miriam is finishing up her M.A. thesis and I can’t even read nine pages from a text book in an hour.

I have a big assignment due on Friday, a project demo on Thursday, and a final exam nine days from now. I know it’s go time, but I can’t seem to step up to the challenge. Maybe I need more food.

Hey, I found something interesting while wasting time tonight. Click here, I swear it’s pretty cool and work-safe.

I’M FAMOUS

Some of you know that I have a basic tracking tool that keeps stats for the more popular pages on my web site. I look at it once in a blue moon. Tonight was one of those rare moments. I took a screenshot from the tracking tool. It’s shown below. Look who visited!

There were eleven hits in total from Pixar. They were looking at my Return of the Jedi page. It appears someone linked to it from an internal Pixar messaging system. Wow!

To think that some of the people that were responsible for Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story, and A Bug’s Life have seen my web site is really cool.

This is up there when some people at Lucasfilm came by.