I won't let Facebook take me alive!

For a while there, I was checking Facebook daily, but I suppose two days in a row doesn't really count. Turns out there's a UW Euchre club group. I'm now an admin, even though I oh-so-rarely use Facebook. I've just never really been an admin before...

This past weekend wasn't as productive as it should have been. I'm at the point in the physics course where I have to learn stuff I didn't know in High School. Seeing as how the assignment is due Wednesday (tomorrow), and I need to scan the assignment on campus during the day, and I have euchre tonight, it looks like whatever I have finished up until this point is what I'll be submitting, which happens to be three of the six questions. The real killer part is that I won't get the assignment solutions back in time to study the assigned questions in time for the exam (on the 8th). Then I've got to work on Crypto before Thursday so I can ask questions after class to finish the assignment for Tuesday, and Graph Theory is due on Friday as well. Assignments sort of crept up on me; I never saw it coming.

I can't view my blog from the lab here, so you'll have to forgive me if I repeat anything. I found my gloves that I lost a while ago. Turns out they were sitting in this lab the whole time. Over the course of a week, no one stole them or threw them out or anything. Just goes to show how little this lab gets used I guess. Since I bought new ones, and Andrea loves them so much, I gave the old gloves to her She seems to have taken quite a liking to them.

I got some of my grad stuff out of the way, but I guess I still have a bit more to do. I requested my three reference letters. All I really need to do at this point is send in my applications and wait. To do that though, I need a statement of interest, and before I finish that, I want to know if I have a chance of doing the NSERC research program during the summer. To know more about that, I'm waiting for the NSERC person at LU to get off their ass and let me know if any of the math profs have research interests in graph theory.

My parents want me to apply at more places like Manitoba and UWO. I really don't care that much about grad studies though, so I'm only going to apply to LU and UW. If the both accept me, I'll proabably just go to LU for laziness reasons. That is, if there is a prof with graph theory roots who will supervise me. Sure, LU isn't nearly as prestigious, but the way I figure, once I get a real job, I'll never see Thunder Bay again. Might as well get some time in before I do that.

I'm really looking forward to playing Catan with Sheena! She told me she's been wanting to play board games but can't find anyone. Good to know there's someone to do that with at home. Maybe we'll play some poker too. Maybe I should invest in another game or two at J&J...Bang! might be a good addition to my collection. No one here would play it with me, but I could say that about nearly EVERY interest I have.

I'm not entirely looking forward to exams next month, but I guess I never really am. I'll have very little time to study for Physics on the 8th. I'll have to put lots of time into Linguistics on the 13th since I've missed so many classes. Graph Theory on the 15th shouldn't take so much time since I'd say I have a pretty good grasp of the course material. Crypto on the 18th will be gruesome, I'm sure, but if I can get some decent studying done without putting it off too long, I should bo ok. Of course, the fact that I can't use Nathalie as an aid on the final will probably set me back a few points.

My schedule for next term got a little better. I found out about a CO course being offered next term, Network Design. I dumped Coding Theory for it, and now my schedule will be Crypto, Network Flow, and Network Design from 11:30-1:30 on MWF. Of course Euchre will mean I still have to walk to campus four days a week, but I still vastly prefer this schedule for both its relevance to graph theory and compactness.

I think I'm going to have to go get a donut. I'm pretty hungry.

Listening to... Fugazi - Lockdown
Link of the moment... FINALLY got this in the mail!

Aparently I'm too ugly for the other three

I've been working myself silly lately, but I'm not entirely sure I've really made as much progress as I should have. I did my marking all in the first two days, and did my physics assignment in the course of about a day, but CO485 is killing me. I'm not sure when the last time was that I spent so much time on an assignment. I have a feeling I'll be handing it in with some questions left unanswered. I'm hoping to confer with Nathalie today, but I'm not sure if she's looked at the entire assignment. It looks like the tables might be turned for a change, where I'm the one who has it done way ahead of time.

Clubs days went well. Waking up early enough to be on campus at 8:30 was no fun, but it's not as though I was put under any strenuous work. We got at least 70 new people sign up, and it's very likely that another 20 came after I left on Friday before lunch. Of those, I'm not sure how many will actually show up to meetings, but it looks like we should have a turnout at least as large as other terms.

I think the weekend is where all my juicy info comes from. On Saturday, I went to the Watsfic games day, at abuot 4-5PM. There were a fair number of people already playing game. I wouldn't say that I got an overly warm welcome, but I made myself visible enough to warrant being invited to play a game (Princes of Florence). None of us knew how to play, save one or two of the five players, so I didn't feel like I was slowing things down too much. I came in dead last, by a fair margin, but I enjoyed learning the game.

During the game, Nicole phoned because she was in town. I told her I could meet up with her in the plaza for supper at about 8, and we did. At 9PM, I headed over to the speed dating event and signed up. They told me I'd be in the "second round", so I played some DDR for a while with Nicole and Carissa. After working up a sweat, I headed back to wait for the call. Eventually, they herded us in, ten guys and ten girls. Each 'date' lasted only three minutes, and I found it difficult to get a good impression from each girl. After all was said and done, I gave a "yes" to four of the girls, and eagerly awaited a reply from the Warrior Weekends staff. After that, John and Julie appeared as if from nowhere, and they said they phoned Nicole as they were on their way back from bowling. We headed home (I opted out of Superman Returns), and started watching LotR: tTT on CBC. Not much else to say about that.

Yesterday, I got a reply from WW, saying that I got one match, so now I've got the email of a girl who supposedly would like to get to know me a little better. Unfortunately, I'm pretty well busy until next weekend, what with thanksgiving leaving me little time to get any assignments or midterm studying done.

There's a new show in my Monday line-up: Heroes. I caught the first episode, and found myself a little intrigued. To be honest, I found the first episode pretty dull, but I'm curious to see where the series is headed. The second episode did a bit more to catch my curiosity, and I figure since it's on right after Prison Break, I might as well give it a go. I've realized that Monday is my TV night, as there's not really much else on any other night. Sure, I'll watch CSI if I'm home on Thursdays, but it's not enough to say "no, I don't want to miss CSI" if someone has a better idea. Family Guy on Sunday is the highlight of my week as well, but half an hour isn't much of a line-up.

I started fiddling a bit with my euchre system. I've got two spreadsheets filled with paid members and game scores, as well as a score sheet to bring to meetings. I've yet to set up the database aspect of it yet, but I don't think there's any need to have stats after only one meeting.

I think I had the epiphany the other day that I enjoy graph theory the most out of all the CO disciplines. I enjoy doing math-like proofs, and graph theory is chock-full of that stuff. I'm disappointed that I'm unable to take CO442, as it's only offered in the fall term, and I'm currently doing my last fall term of my undergraduate degree. I'm still debating donig grad studies. Unfortunately, I'd be forced to take some courses I'd rather not (optimization courses, etc). Isn't that kind of funny to think about? Not only am I interested in Math, and not only am I interested in Combinatorics and Optimizatin, but I'm interested in Graph Theory. I'm sure that most people in the world didn't know that math could be broken down into so many disciplines.

Tomorrow there is a lunch for students and staff in CO, giving the students a chance to meet some of the profs. I'm going, mostly for the fact that it's a free lunch. I also realize, though, that if I apply for grad studies, I'll need three reference letters. I think my best bet is going to be with Willard and Tasic, since I've had two classes with them each, and I did very well in all four of those courses. For the last one, I'll probably choose either Richter or Menezes, since they're teaching me this term. Whatever...I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Well, I've spent entirely too much time NOT working on my CO485 assignment, so I'm gonig to head over to RCH and work on that until the class starts.

I don't know when I'll update next, since I'll be in Tbay next Tuesday, but it shan't be very long.

Listening to... Refuse Resist - Sepultura
Link of the moment... I signed up for this stupid shit by request, but I'll NOT be one of the 60% that log in daily, nor of the 85% that log in weekly.