I care not for this "homework" you speak of

I've been putting off these assignments for too long. I tried starting the Network Design assignment just now, and it actually cause me mental anguish to try to do any of the questions. If I don't wake up tomorrow morning with some sort of newfound enlightenment, I think I'm going to just ignore the very existence of these assignments and take a 5% and 2% hit to two of my marks. Right now, I just feel like coasting out of this university. I only need to pass these three stinking classes to graduate, and aside from getting a "conditional" acceptance to grad studies (which are still just a reason to not get to working), I don't see how getting a 90 in these classes will be any different from getting a 70. It's yet another one of those ruts that I seem to fall in to every few weeks.

I don't really understand why I'm more lazy this term than last term. Last term, I put a lot more time and effort into euchre related stuff than I do this term. Now I really only update the website when I need to, and I don't ever contribute any strategy articles anymore. I'm spending less time on my three classes this term than I spent on my four classes last term (granted, I did shit all in Linguistics). Perhaps it's just the winter weather that's weighing down on me. Walking to campus is certainly no treat anymore. Not to mention that I don't have any breaks between classes on campus, which I would put towards working on assignments. Maybe if I started eating breakfast I'd be a bit more productive for the rest of the day.

The recent games day has resparked my interest in board games. The actual event itself was pretty uninviting. I waited about two hours from the time I got there before I played any games. I suppose I got there just when people had begun a few lengthy games. What really bothered me is that no one so much as recognized my presence while I was waiting. They're not very inviting people.

I did get to play a tutored game of Puerto Rico, and I thought it was a pretty good game. It's very involved, in that every decision you make has an impact on every other player. I'm thinking of laying down a sizable wad of cash at J&J again. One could argue that I haven't gotten much use out of my four most recently purchased games. The way I figure, I'm going to wind up buying most of these games sooner or later, and J&J doesn't usually have sales (and if they do, I never hear about them), so I might as well buy them sooner than later.

Nicole is coming this weekend. I'm looking forward to the visit, because she has the wonderful property of wanting to do things that I mostly enjoy. In fact, there is not enough time to do all the things I'd like to do: play some board games, go bowling, play Mario Party, etc. It'll be a nice relaxing break, whether I actually finish either of my assignments or not.

Listening to... System of a Down - Violent Pornography
Link of the moment... I'd like to play this game sometime, but I can't justify buying a $50+ game.

Our hero returns after a short hiatus

13 days since my last post? Egads! I'd apologize, but I certainly have nothing to apologize for. I owe you all nothing, you hear me? NOTHING.

I can't say much has happened in the last two weeks, really. I went to the Silver Spur last weekend, with John's sister Maria and her boyfriend, along with John and Julie. It wasn't particularly entertaining, but nowhere near as bad as that one time I went to Scuttlebutt's (*cringe*).

Tonight I went to Polar Jam '07. There were six bands in six hours, but I wasn't really up for a six hour commitment, so I missed the first two bands (Intransit and Saigon Hookers, two bands I was particularly looking forward to). I saw The Junction (thumbs up), Brassmunk (if I had any more than two thumbs, they would all be down for this overly generic hip-hop), Idle Sons (recognized one song, most of their others were generic verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar solo/chorus, but overall enjoyable) and Thornley (great performance as usual, but their Come Again/Big Wreck setlist is getting a bit stale). It was an outdoor concert, so during most of the bands my toes were painfully numb. I was even wearing two pairs of socks! Not the warmest night we've had lately, most of the bands were complaining about it.

Today, I decided to try to get some sleep after getting back from classes. About half an hour into my rest, I heard a crowd of people, and assumed Hugh had some people over or something. Then I heard them come downstairs. Then I heard my door open, and saw some people poke their heads in. They seemed pretty shocked to see me, and I asked them what purpose they had in my bedroom, uninvited. It turns out that our landlord decided to give some people a tour of the house, without giving us any prior notice! I'm pretty unimpressed with him. Even if he los tour number, he should at least come to our house before he brings anyone else with him. What an ass.

My weekends seem to be chock full of things to do. Tomorrow I plan to go to campus to play some board games with Watsfic. Next weekend, Nicole is going to be in town, and I'll be going to a concert with her on Friday night. She said she might be going to a party on Saturday night, but if not, I'm sure we'll be doing something together. Maybe mario party, perhaps bowling; we'll see what the weekend has in store for me.

I'm not all that impressed with my assignments lately. I have two due next Friday, and I'm not entirely sure how much I will be able to finish by then. My big work days will be Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, but I like to be essentially finished by Tuesday so that any problems I can't get past on my own can be solved on the Wednesday before the assignments are due. I took a look at Network Design, and it doesn't look too difficult. The bigger challenge will be Network Flow, since the questions deal with STUPID linear programming and matrix representations of graphs. I don't understand any of it, and I've noticed that staring at the page does not do much for me.

I finished Okami, after 34 grueling hours. I've started up a new save in my favourite game of all time, Final Fantasy Tactics. This year, it's ten years old, and still as engrossing as ever. Judging by my previously saved game of 50+ hours, it might take a while to beat this game. After playing Okami, I stand by my opinion that a short game (10-15 hours) with lots of replay value is more enjoyable than a long game (30+ hours) that relies more on its story than variety in gameplay.

Well, I should get some sleep. Our landlord is showing the house to people tomorrow at 2PM, so I should try to get up early to get a bit of cleaning done (I wouldn't want people to think I live a slovenly lifestyle!)

Listening to... Tool - The Patient
Link of the moment... Kudos to [station on channel 5 in Waterloo] for putting this on after The Simpsons at 5:30

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.

You know who I miss? Serial Joe.

Time for my regularly scheduled Tuesday afternoon post. Today has been a pretty filled day for me. I woke up earlier to get to campus at 10:30 so I could pick up some supplies for the euchre meeting tonight (none of the other execs could be there early enough to set up). When I picked up "the goods", I fired up a physics lecture I put on my Zen so I could try to get back on schedule with the lectures. Then Linguistics, as usual, followed by lunch, and then another t-e-r-r-i-b-l-y p-a-c-e-d physics lecture, and a Nathalie-filled Cryptography. And now here I am, preaching to my wonderful audience of (what I expect to be) three.

I'm a little disappointed at the moment...it turns out that euchre night and mathsoc games night is the same night, during the same timeslot. I suppose my existence as an exec of the euchre club obligates me to favour the prior, but perhaps in the future I could play games at 6, and when that game ends, clock in my time at the euchre club. If the gods are smiling on me, mathsoc will change the games night schedule.

I've been doing a pretty good job of staying on top of work (or so I think). Every day I have about an hour and a half to work on campus, away from the syren's call of my computer. So long as I keep throwing physics lectures onto my zen, I should never be at a loss for work, and the time I spend on the work on campus turns out to be pretty productive.

I baked up a storm last night. Well, just muffins and cinnamon rolls, but that's two more things than I usually cook on a given night. The rolls were on sale; 8 small ones for $2.50. They're really tasty, but any less than two makes for nothing more than a taste.

For all of you who are wondering what I did after beating Paper Mario (ie no one), I chose to start up a game in Dragon Quest VIII. It's got really nice graphics and music over my other main choice, Shadow Hearts Covenant (which I am also looking forward to playing through).

This last Friday, I was pretty well bored to tears. I was home alone for a while, and for some reason was not in the mood for sitting in front of the TV (be it TV, games, or a movie), so I just sort of sulked around the house for a while. On Saturday night, I visited the Medieval Faire in Waterloo Park. I got to see a few choreographed and even unchoreographed displays of weaponry and armor, among other events set up mostly for kids. I didn't really walk away with anything besides the program, but it was time well spent in Waterloo,, seeing something that I wouldn't be able to see in Thunder Bay. I'm glad I got to do some things like that in the summer.

Later on in the night, some of us hopped in John's car and drove to Brantford so Nicole would stop asking us to. We went bowling (where I got the high score and an impressive shot), and then to Boston Pizza where I got a piece of cake (hey! I already ate supper....I'm not a pig, really). After that we drove around looking for a bar, and found one. As usual, I sat around wondering exactly what the draw to such places was. The majority of us sat around at a table, complaining about the music, paying for overpriced beer, while some others got up and danced (besides picking up questionable people, dancing is the only other reason I can imagine people would want to go to these places). I can't say I had a good time, but I had a time nonetheless.

Phil (from Calgary) phoned me the other day. We had a nice chat about video games (he being one of a very few people who I can have such talks with). Aparently he's making some very nice green at his new job, because he was telling me how he was going to play a game on his 62" TV. He says he got some nice furniture, a fully paid pre-order on a PS3, and even a new truck, so it sounds like he's definitely doing well for himself. I can't imagine he'd have half of what he has if he'd stayed in Thunder Bay (though he doesn't have me, and I'm worth more than any amount of money).

There's a Warrior Weekend this weekend, so I guess I'll be going to it alone once again. They're showing three movies I haven't yet seen (Click, Pirates 2, and Superman Returns), and on the Saturday, they're having a speed dating event. I am both looking forward to and dreading the speed dating. I would really feel more comfortable if I could find someone else to bring with me, but I don't really know anyone who would be willing.

This Thursday and Friday is clubs days, so I expect that I'll be sitting at the euchre booth. Mr. President hasn't delegated any hours yet, but I've volunteered myself for all of Friday, and aparently the parts of Thursday where he has classes, so I will probably be doing a fair bit of sitting.

I've been typing pretty furiously, and I have really tapped my brain on non-video game related matters to dicuss, so I think I'll go find something else to do before grabbing some supper from Brubakers.

Listening to... Nothing...
Link of the moment... WW schedule

Another update from MC20XX

Tuesdays are looking like a good day to update the blog from this MC lab. Normally, I'd be sitting in the SLC Great Hall doing homework, or sleeping, or playing GBA during this hour and a half, but it's way too packed to find a chair. I miss the Summer term in that respect; the extra crowd on campus doesn't do much for me (although it does mean more events during the term which is a good thing).

This morning I scanned my physics assignment, and when I get home I'll put it all into one PDF and submit it electronically, but I'm not too sure how convenient that method is. I don't have much of a choice though, it's probably the most convenient option I have, unless I start getting assignments done ahead of time.

I'm getting towards the end of Paper Mario:tTYD, and I've started playing X-Men Legends with Andrew. Unfortunately, he doesn't play games nearly as often as I do, so any progress we're making in that game is minimal. I could play it single player, but the real joy of that game is playing it with friends.

I acted as a good roommate would this morning: I took out the recycling (which had been put off for far too long lately), and I did most of the dishes that were in the sink. It's like the work never ends.

It looks like Nathalie might be switching classes and taking Crypto with me. It looks like I have a reason to show up to class! Classes aren't nearly as good when you don't have anyone to ask for help when you get stuck with something.

Nicole came to visit last Friday. Good to see her. We went out to a pub and a bar, both of which I didn't find particularly fun. I just don't see what we did there that we couldn't do at home, aside from order an expensive plate of nachos and listen to some bad country music.

Time again for some useless banter about video games about which no one but me really cares. The Nintendo Wii has been given a release date (November 19th) and a price ($249US). On top of that, extra controllers will cost $40 plus $20 for a nunchuk attachment. Games will be $50 each, and only a handful will be ready at launch (I plan to buy Rayman and ExciteTruck, though we'll see what happens when the day comes). That's all, I'll stop boring you.

Unfortunately, I don't have much else to excite you with. I've got one hour left in 24, bought some gingerbread cookies, and am getting my bike fixed tomorrow. That's about it.

Listening to... (High) Visibility - Helmet
Link of the moment... I think I might want to watch the six Star Wars movies again. Is that nerdy of me?

SQLing

Well, I guess that Databases assignment wasn't so bad. I'm not sure all my answers are correct, but they seem as though they should be. Plus, now I can fake my way through Microsoft Access. I guess I can throw that and SQL on my resume now, plus that Euchre database is looking a bit easier to do.

I was going to clean the shit out of this house, but the Dollarama is closed due to Canada Day. I need a mop head, bucket, and a few other small things. I was hoping to get all my chores out of the way today so I didn't have to worry tomorrow. I've got my marking done and now CS338, CS234 can wait until Wednesday and Thursday night, so that means the only thing that should be on my mind for the next three days is my individual section of the case study.

I've already clocked well over 10 hours on Guild Wars in the last few days. I finally got one (actually two) of my characters into what is referred to as "Post-Searing", where the map is drastically changed from what it was in Pre-Searing. It used to be nice and luch, which I really like in games, but now it's more of a wasteland. The game is much harder after this point; you really can't play by yourself. I joined some random guild, but still used the AI-controlled party to do my quests since not many of the members were online or responding.

I went bowling last night with the mathsoc people. By mathsoc people, I mean the guy who organized it, and two of his friends. I felt a bit out of place, but I got four free games of five pin. Lino had some righteous BO. I think it got on my clothes.

I'm debating phong Nicole or not. I have no one else to hang out with, but I'm not sure if I'd rather play NES with her (which includes 2 hours total drive time) or stay in and play more GW.

On a parting note, are you ever gonna get your blog back up Paul? How else will I hear about Spiderman 3 news with personal commentary?

Listening to... Bedouin Soundclash - Eloween Deowen
Link of the moment... God, I need better ideas for links

Update #1 - Birthday Hijinx

Well I guess I have a moment to recap some stuff.

Wednesday (my birthday) wasn't a particularly good day. Classes crawled along as usual, a handful of people sent me some e-cards, and we got to go out for Chinese food (which was probably the highlight...it was really good). I was feeling really tired all day. Just before bed I figured I'd have a game of chess with Hugh (who learned how to play only last week), and he beat me. I could have easily checkmated him too, but I didn't see the move until Andrew pointed it out after the game.

On Friday night, I went bowling with Nathalie, Steve, Laura, the roommies, Nicole, and Nicole's friend Sofia. I didn't do as well as I usually do in the first game. I have the uncanny ability to place the ball about a half an inch to the right of the head pin every time. Half an inch cost me about 6 or 7 strikes, I'm sure. John got the high score of something like 190 after getting five strikes in one game. Hugh got a turkey, but since we were paying by the hour, he didn't get to finish that game.

Afterwards, we headed back to my place and we waited around for the second car to get back. When they did, they waited around upstairs doing god knows what to my cake, and waiting for Julie and her friend Agnes to come. When they finally did (after me trying to keep Nathalie, Steve and Laura entertained), I blew out the 22 candles on my cake and we all had a slice with some ice cream.

We followed that up by playing an 11-player game of Cranium. We couldn't fit nearly that many people in the now-furnished living room, so we played in John's relatively massive room (which also worked out since we were in need of some A/C). My team fell behind early, but caught up late. We weren't in the dash for first place, but I blame that on being on the team of three. We did pretty well for ourselves though.

After that, it was past midnight, so I dropped off the UWP people and came back for a game of Mario Party 4 (notice, not MP6) with Nicole, John, and Hugh. That kept us up until 3, which was likely not in our best interests since we were going to Niagara Falls the next morning.

Overall, I give this birthday 8/10. The 24th wasn't a great occasion, but the fact that we got 11 people together for games at my place more than compensates for it. Plus, I can consider Niagara Falls a little birthday trip.

Listening to... Snapcase - Gates of Steel
Link of the moment... This looks like fun, I'll have to keep an eye out for it

Mario Party 6 must go

Andrew's home for the weekend, and Hugh, John, and Nicole went to some bar last night with John's sister and her friends. I took a stand and stayed home to get some work done (in lieu of being able to get a hold of Laura). I did some marking (which I actually find enjoyable), and got to bed at 1:30. They came back at 2 AM, and started playing Mario Party with what I am certain were not their late night inside voices. For lack of being able to sleep through it, and not being one for asking anything for myself, I went upstairs and watched them play it out until 3:30. So much for getting up early today to get some work done.

I feel like I have an awful lot of work considering I only have three classes, but I guess it's mostly just this one assignment for ENGL 119 due Wednesday worth 10% of my final mark. I can't believe they'd only give a week's notice for such an assignment.

I think I may have changed my mind from a Zen Vision:M to a Zen MicroPhoto. The differences include ~$100, 22GB, and the ability to play video. With 8GB I could store 1/3 of my music collection, which is likely all I'd really need. I doubt I'd watch much video on the go, but I suppose $100 is a small price to pay for staying on the cutting edge of technology. It all depends on if my parents are willing to shell out a nice gift for me. Hell, if it weren't near my birthday, I'd buy one myself (to hopefully make me seem like less of a spoiled white boy).

We're still waiting on furniture, but Andrew says his dad can drive down next weekend with a van, so hopefully that pans out. Until then, we continue to use cushions on the floor (generously donated by Julie).

I've been waking up at 11:30 consistently these days. I'm going to start setting my alarm for 8:30 every day, but of course I couldn't get up today since I was up late last night. Hopefully that will benefit my sleep schedule after a week or so. I seem to keep falling asleep in the evening.

So I guess the big news in my life these days is that I got a shoe rack. Yup, big news. No longer is our closet plagued with unorganized shoes.

Listening to... Winamp Radio
Link of the moment... $20 is a small price to pay for long term protection