Nicole Olivia Sellers

I'm very happy to announce that birth of Nicole Olivia Sellers. I hope that I have the details correct, but she was born at 1340h yesterday (Nov 29th) and weighed 8 lb 7 oz. Mother and baby are doing well. Adam and Sheryl have asked me to be the god father for this child as well. Yay! ;-)

I believe that brings the kid count up to 4 in 23 months (2 each brther). I have a feeling that there will be a pause now. But the kids are a lot of fun. ;-)

The middle name is after my grandmother Olive, and I think that my grandmother is very happy with that. There always was some tension between Sheryl and my grandmother, so maybe this will help bring things closer. We'll see. I'm just very happy for my bother and Sheryl.

Listening to: Bif Naked - Lucky

Lots of news

I was going to use as a title all of the things that has happened in the last few days, but I have decided to split it up into 2 posts, and there is still too much to say for this one.

1) Note: when going to a job interview and you are going to ride the bus, it's a good idea to bring your wallet that contains all your money, bus pass, bus tickets, ... *sigh* Yes, so the day that I am going to a job interview and do iron ring, I forgot my wallet. That also contained our iron ring tickets. I had to beg people at the park-n-ride to get tickets to get downtown 'cause I couldn't possibly go home and get downtown the the time that I needed to get there. I'm glad that there are some pople that carry tickets and are really nice. (I wasn't going to ask for money)

2) My interview went okay. I am still disappointed that they are even interviewing people instead of just giving me the job, but I guess they have to look out for themselves too. Thanks everyone for your support. I should hear back by the end of next week (right before exams). :-|

3) Robots demo went okay. The thing sort of worked when the TA watched. I think that there is a universal rule that if there is the tinyest possibility of something screwing up, it's going to be when you demo it.

4) Iron ring went okay. It was lots of fun, and I am really glad that I have reached this milestone. I think that it will be harder for software engineers to gain as much credibility as the other engineers at first, but eventually it will become the norm and just like you wouldn't build a bridge or engine without an engineer, you are not going to build software without one.

5) Eggs. Thrown from cars. At people walking down King Edward. Not cool. Some kids were doing that Friday night. I got hit in the arm, and the egg splattered over me and Laura. It's a good thing that my winter coat is so thick and my drunkeness also numbed any pain. I'm just glad that they didn't hit either of us in the face... that would have hurt a lot (espically since they were going like 60 kph toward us when they threw the egg). No harm done though, I just need to wash some clothes now. I know people do stupid stuff, but if you are going to throw eggs from cars, at least throw some bacon and toast too.... I mean really!

6) Not wanting to leave on that note, I just wanted to say that the party was great, and I'll be posting pics soon. Kibbee has posted some pics already, and there is a scarry close up of your's truely. I look trashed, but I am not...

Listening to: Starsailor - Good Souls

Things are looking up

Now that things are drawing to a close, things are looking brighter (even though it's night... I know...). I have an interview tomorrow with an updated resumé (thanks everyone); projects are being handed in, even if not done well, but done; it's my iron ring cermony tomorrow (interesting side article); and most importantly, I have found my watch. Yes, I had thought that I had actually lost something, but alas I did not. Yay!

I have a distinct feeling now that I have found something I am going to lose something now. Maybe just my sanity. Ah well... I wasn't using it anyways. ;-)

Listening to: The Tragically Hip - Freak Turbulence

oh-oh... is it really 80%?

I emailed my possible boss today to see what is happening about a job. She said "I am interviewing for the role of Junior developer"... she indicated before that she wasn't going to do interviews... *sigh* Maybe it's a really good thing that I am trying to keep my options open. I just don't like it when my "backup" becomes upsure. Not cool... ah well. I'll deal with it. :-|

My mom pointed out something. If I finish like 30 minutes early on my last exam I'll be done on the 12th hour of the 12th day of the 12th month. Weird. Will I call it "forgetence day"? (you know... 'cause I don't want to forget all the stress etc. from school...). I mean, what are the chances of that? Like 1/30? Woooah! (hee hee...)

I seem to be having a lot of trouble with my Tripod site lately... It sort of sucks too. I can't FTP in anymore either. For some reason the ls (or LIST) function doesn't work, I am getting proxy errors hitting the files in cgi-bin, ... I guess you get what you pay for eh?

Update: I have an interview on Friday at 9 am. (man, that's going to be a long day...)

Listening to: Collective Soul - Everything

Sometimes I just wonder

There are terms that are used all the time that may not be politically correct anymore. Including some that are used for computer hardware, but does that mean we should ban / change them? Maybe, but to me that is along the same lines as getting rid of knowledge. Do we want to forget what people are capable of doing to each other because it is offensive? Perhaps I am just not in the group of people that would (or should?) be offended, so I just just shut up. Shutting up now.

On a totally different note, if anyone finds a way to spell check text boxes in a browser, please let me know. I'm just too lazy to look right now. I guess I should start putting in the same amount of effort into blogging as I do as emailing. Ah well. :-|

Listening to: The Tragically Hip - Scared

I'm going to miss it, and I am not...

I'm sitting here in SITE thinking about in a little less than 3 weeks I should not really have to sit at school, eating pita pit, drinking Tim's coffee served by staff who are not happy about working, while waiting around for a class that I do not want to go to. And yet, I think that I will miss it. Weird eh? So much has happened to me in the last 4.5 years. Things have changed, and so have I. But, like most things, I still feel mostly the same. I am (hopefully) smarter and a little wiser, more open minded, more accepting. I don't know if I have reached all those goals. I know that my spelling isn't any better. I guess we all have to have those things that never change. ;-)

I really can't believe how much time has gone by. I remember like it was yesterday that I was still in elementary school, highschool, etc. Some people I don't talk to any more, others I am still in close contact with. It's all stages in life I guess. And the weirdest thing, people I know are getting married... people my age are "grown up". Does that mean that I am? Probably yes for the simple fact that I am asking myself that question, instead of being positive of the answer. The more I know, the less that I am sure of. Weird. Oh-oh, time for the class that I don't want to go to. I must say au revoir.

Still smiling

After a trip to the dental sergon I still have all of my teeth. "Painless dentistry" he called it. Painless except for the bill. Ah well. They want to pull my wisedom teeth, but not for 1.5-2 years. Which translates into they still want my money, but they don't need it right now. No, I'm not cynical....

There has been some debate over on kibbee's site about IP. Is stealing software wrong? Is stealing music wrong? Is stealing movies wrong? Is stealing books wrong? Yes. Is there a difference between downloading it and taking it out of a store? Not too much, other than the actual cost incurred by the person you are taking it from, but in theory it is the same. Does this mean that I don't download software, music or movies? No. (well, in thory I would if I had a highspeed connection). But I try not to.

I don't think that it matters *too* much if you do, or do not get property this way. As long as you recognize it for what it is: stealing IP. You can't say that you just steal this one type of IP because you feel that it is over priced, or that you don't use it that much, and that makes it okay. Right or wrong, I don't really care, as long as you call it what it is.

Maybe I totally misinterperated what Kibbee said, and it sort of set me off, but sometimes I just need to rant.

Can you spare some modivation sir?

One thing that I am sort of right now is modivation. I just can't seem to focus on getting my projects and assignments done. It's like pulling teeth, my own. I'll just have to imagine how hard that would be, but after watching Surivor with Tom Hanks, I can guess that it would hurt a lot. That, and I am a big wus.

However, after saying all that, I am going to try and knock off two assignments tonight: security and Parallel. If I can get those done, then I can work on my parallel project for the next couple of days when I don't have family obligations. We'll see how that goes. I'll I have to do now is get rid of this headache.

Listening to: Collective Soul - Collection Of Goods

I can't win

So, I have been having trouble getting to sleep till like 2-3 regularly (and sometimes 5) lately. My dad's big solution: get up earlier will make you more tired and go to sleep earlier. I don't like this for one reason: I get so much work done when everyone else is asleep and the house is so quiet. The dogs don't even bark at this time of day. So not getting to sleep till late has some drawbacks too, but whatever.

Today (I guess it was technically yesterday) I went to bed really early because I had a killer headache and didn't think that I could actually get anything worth while done. While this might have been a good idea at the time, it means that I only slept in to 0130. *sigh* I just can't seem to win.

On the plus side, the house is really quiet* and I'll probably be able to get some work done. (* -> quiet except for my dad's snoring... I got tired of listening to it, hence why I am on the computer now.)

Listening to: Village People - Kung-fu Fighting

About a week left

Yes, I am almost done. And as I think that everyone knows, I am *almost* there. So close... I can almost taste it... (it tastes sweet, with just a hint of lemon). It'll be good to not be in school anymore. I don't think that I will return. In fact, I mean not to.

I just have to get what is left now, a little here, a little there, and I should be home free. I really hope that it snows a lot after the 12th. Just so that I can sit around and enjoy the snow, enjoy the cleanness of it, the brightness, the coldness... I looked out my window this morning and had to make a conscience thought of whether it was spring or fall, because it could be either looking out the window. I knew at that point I should have just gotten back into bed 'cause my brain was only running on like 20%.

When it is all done, I'll have a chance to just read for a bit, just watch some movies, just sit around. Then I'll have to get a job before I am no longer able to make car payments anymore... I should work on my resumé, but I think that I am just going to go to bed (after I work on 4000).

Listening to: Semisonic - Chemistry

Last... midterm... EVER.

Well, having now said that, I am sure that I am going to get a TON of midterms at some future time now... sheesh. But, now that that's over with, now it's just 5 finals (and like 4 projects, 3+ assignments, ...). But small steps. Every thing I do, the closer I get to being finally done.

I love getting things in the mail. Sometimes I even like getting bills. Well, no, that's a lie. But I like opening envolupes. ;-) (and yes, I meant to speel it like that...) I guess that I should start sending more things by mail... other ppl probably like getting things like that. This year I am really going to try to send x-mas cards. Again. I think that I have a chance of getting it done this time though...

Thanks everyone for your feedback about my resumé. It's a great help. I will shortly be over hawling it... I got my dad to look at it, and he totally trashed it. I guess that he's seen a lot of them... I'll have to work with him and get some advice. I guess that it's better to get family to trash your stuff, rather than a potential employer. :-|

Listening to: Rage Against The Machine - I'm Housin'

Resumé

It's way past time that I get my resumé together. I have messed around with Word trying to get something that I like the look of, and I think that I haev finally found something. Could everyone do me a favour and check it out if you have time? I am giving up for tonight 'cause my brain is pretty burnt and Word isn't even able to give me suggestions anymore about how to make my sentences make sense (so I am blogging... hee hee...).

Anyways, check out my posted resumé and give yourself a laugh. Any and all suggestions are welcome. You can either post suggestions or email them to me. ;-) Thanks all. Off to bed for me now...

Update: I changed where my resumé is because Tripod checks the refer, so if you just click on the link, you can't get the doc.

Listening to: Joan Osborne - What if God Was One Of Us?

Two Towers - Extended ed.

Ya, you read that correctly. ;-) At home waiting for me is the boxed set of the LotR - Two Towers Extended ed. Oh ya. :-D And it has "43 minutes of new and extended scenes". Woo-freaking-hoo! But the thing is, I have not even gotten though the Fellowship ex. ed. yet... I will sure have a lot of movie watching to do after the 12th when I finish.

Now I just have to figure out how to get to bed with all this coffee sitting in my gut... *sigh*

Listening to: Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra - Rootbeer & Licorice

Almost done...

I feel the end drawing near... school is almost done, the labs are closing out, and all we have left seem to be the big projects which are probably going to bite us in the ass. And for some strange reason, I feel like I was productive today because I got one assignment done. I haven't met other deadlines that I set out for myself... for some reason I just couldn't get the modivation up. I need days off once and and a while, and during school I never feel that I really have one off. At least this semister isn't so bad with only 5 courses... it's nice to go out gracefully, rather than with a bang.

The LotR - The Fellowship of the Ring is great. I was watching the extended version again after I watched The Secret of NYMH, which is another great movie. My sister didn't like it as much as Finding Nemo. Blah! I guess the kids of today don't appreachiate classics... Maybe one day she'll like it... some things you need time to really get, like Shakespeare or cottage cheese. (hahaha...)

Listening to: Bif Naked - Sophia

House 2, Trees 0

With all this crazy wind, trees are dropping around my house like flies. The one that we were really concerned about hitting the house has come down, and no damage to the house. In fact, I don't think that we would have been able to make it fall so perfectly if we tried, so I'm happy about that part. As I was in the bathroom I heard another *thump*, and the 20 foot bearch stump that we had holding the bird feeders has come down (and luckly it missed taking out the deck). Ah, more firewood than we know what to do with.

On the drive home I had the shear wind hitting my car sort of sideways, which not only makes it really hard to drive, but it also partially ripped off the heat shield that was between my exhaust and my gas tank. So, off to my brothers to fix that since my other bro. has taken all our ramps etc. That and the fact that my bro has a garage, which really helps in weather like this. Needless to say after all this I have parked my car in the meadow far away from most of the big scary trees.

Listening to: Underworld - Born Slippery

Look Ma! No cavities!

It's been a while (over 2.3 years) since I was last at the dentist. And by luck, nothing wrong. Well, almost. It looks like I have 2 wisdom teeth up, and 2 more on the way. One looks like it is coming in on an angle and it going to hit another tooth. I'll just have to watch. They are setting me up with a specialist and they are going to evaluate it then. If things need to get pulled, I'll either have to get it done after Dec. 12th (I don't want to be writting exams with a painful mouth), or I'll wait till I get a job that actually has benifits. That might be soon after I start, or late, I really don't know how that sort of thing works. I guess that I'll have to figure that out soon since I am almost totally "grown up". I think that I am, but while still living at my folks house, I still feel like a little kid somewhat.

On a different note, I saw a bunch of guys that I have have not seen at the dentist today. It's weird... I don't think that anyone really has changed too much. The guys seem to be still the same. I sort of wish that I had stayed in touch more with some people from highschool, but maybe it's good to just visit sometimes. ;-)

And everyone is talking about how everyone is getting married now... all the people that we know. I guess I am entering in that stage where all my friends are getting spouces instead of just getting boyfriends and girlfriends. Oie. Getting old now... I think that I'll go watch my new Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Extended version. ;-) hee hee... so happy... ;-)

32 days to go!

It's one of the special days... only 32 days till I am done school (hopefully). Yay! Okay, that's it. I'm out.

Listening to: Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches

Ford Focus != 4x4

To those people that don't know, a Ford Focus is not a 4x4. Who knew? The problem started at the new Eagleson park in ride. It's very dark (at night ;-) ) because they don't have the lights hooked up yet. Well, as I was going to leave with Laura, I decided (I don't know why) that I wanted to go out the other enterence because I thought that it would be more direct. And here is the point of failure: I assumed that the walk ways at the new parking lot would be like the ones at the other. They are not. At the old one they are walk walks that you can easily drive over (I have seen many cops and others do this). At the new one they are not.

Not that would have been such a problem if I hadn't driven onto the freshly seeded mud. I would say ground, but it was just mud. About 8 inchs thick. My little car that was never meant to go off roading suck like a stone into this sticky, wet mud. *sigh* I tried to rock it out before I realized how bad it was, so I just dug myself in. I saw a small board around earlier so I went and got that to try and shove it under the wheel to get some trackion, but that didn't help.

SO, really embarrased and frustrated, I was thinking who in my family I should call. They'd all make fun of me, so it was just a question of who would make the least fun of me. As I was pondering this, a guy about our age pulled up in a Jeep Cherky and asked if we needed help. Apparently he could see the weird angle that I was at from driving by, so he stopped in to help.

I was very, very thankful for this guy. I didn't even have anything that I could be towed out with, but he had just bought a tow strap that day. Sweetness. It took about 3 seconds to pull me out, and that was that. I owe this guy a lot, and I doubt that I'll ever see him again. I guess that I'll just have to pay it forward.

Listening to: John Williams - Confrontation With Count Dooku

That hobbit sure can sing

Well, Laura and I thought that John Mayer looked like a hobbit (sort of) from where we were sitting. Our seats were pretty good if you ask me... nice and close on the side. I'm glad that we were not on the floor, or I'd be standing the whole time. Aside from being lazy and wanting to sit, concerts are one place where I am self-concious about my height. I feel like I am pissing off the people behind me 'cause "now they can't see because the tall guy stood up". I don't want to ruin anyone's concert experience, especially by getting in their line of sight.

The concert was excellent. I would easily go again. The opening act was wonderful. It was just some guy with a couple of guitires and something that looked like an acordian attached to a table. I can't remember his name, but if you know it, please post it in the comments... He had an album for sale, but as soon as it ended the whole place emptied out looking for it... they sold out before we were able to pick up a copy. He said that he would autograph it. I think that he'll be big, so I sort of regret not being able to get it (and signed). It's like seeing 4 guys playing on a roof called the beatles and just walking on 'cause you had somewhere you go... Most of the time you never know when you are in those "important" situations.

John Mayer was awesome. Hands done, no bs. They did solos where he was just playing is guitire for like 5 minutes in the middle of a song. Amazing. I think that the place should have been sold out, but it wasn't. Maybe next time.

Listening to: Robbie Williams - Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

Ugg...

Threads in java were bad enough, but threads in C are horriable. But I don't think that I can blame it on doing threads, but I will blame it on the language itself. I am SO used to languages like Java that do all sorts of checking for you so that you don't do dumb stuff like exceed your array limits, over write memory of something else, or (AGG!!!) have things declared multiple times and it using the "wrong" one. Oie. I feel like crap doing it because I am totally hacking just to get it done. I don't think that I ever want to see this again. Oh, another thing that I am too used to is exceptions. I'd MUCH rather have an exception be thrown and possibly kill the app compared to having it just fail silently. Grrr... Maybe I just suck, but I totally do not agree with Joel about exceptions. Ah well.

I'll be posting some pictures of my halloween when I get them from my dad (note: one day I will have my own digital camera. It will be mine, oh yes my precious....). Peter showed me a pic of what Andrea looked like at his party. Cool!

I am really looking forward to this week. I seem to only have (right now) two assignments due Monday, with the rest of the week clear. Which is good because I am going to see John Mayer (I hate flash sites) on Tuesday, and see The Matrix on Thursday. I'm going to see it again with Laura (most likely, if she wants to go), so it's all good. I love seeing movies again, which is probably why I like buying them. Already I have planned to see LotR - Return of the King twice. Probably more. You never know... I'll be SO happy when I finish in like 39 days, I'll probably want to see it all the time. I think that for a Christmas gift, I am going to ask for The Fellowship extended edition... they cut out so much, and I want it all!..Bwahahahaha!!

Listening to: Portishead - It Could Be Sweet

me == dumb?

After just going over quickly some of my posts I have noticed a pattern. It looks like I don't proof read my stuff. I do most of the time though. It's just that when it is fresh in my head I can't see the errors. (let's not talk about spelling erros here). I guess that anyone that reads this thinks that it was written by a 10 year old. *sigh* I hope that the people that actually know me know that I am not a total idiot. Just partial.

Listening to: Zwan - Honestly

Halloween

Nothing warms the hearts of my family more than the screams of children on Halloween. As long as they are not too young. This year we had the party at my brother's place in Almonte and it was great. His street is really small (only 7 houses). Four had kick ass sets ups with grave yards, loud music, lots of lights, etc. My brother's neighbour is a DJ so he has all the cool toys, like a smoke machine, tons of flashing lights, great sound system, etc. The guy rented a bunch of scary movies this last week and mixed sounds from those. You should have heard the part of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. It was great...

My brothers have finally done something that they have been talking about for like 10 years. They took the chain off the chain saw and ran around with it running like the chain saw masicare... SO funny. The only thing is that you have to make sure that there are not really young kids around when you do it. It was so good... he'd hid in the shadows and wait till after the kids got the candy and then scare them.

For a big part of the night Laura was maning the door while I was in the "jail" near the bottom of the stairs. Most people were looking at me as they got close to the door, but then they focused on candy. They did not see the foot peddle by my feet. Bawahahahah!! My brother was really smart. He took of lenght of pipe (about 4 feet) and put some holes in it and hooked it up to the air compressor. So when you hit the peddle the people get a blast of air. If this wasn't enough, they also hooked up the strobe to the same peddle. So you hit the peddle at the right spot, you get a blast of air and a bright flashing light in their face. hee hee... so much fun. SO many teenaged girls screamed. hee hee...

I think that the best part of the night was when like 3 ladies brought up their really small kids. When kids that small came I didn't do the light / air thing, and I took off my mask so that they wouldn't be scared. So the kids when up the stairs and one of the mothers stayed at the bottom. *evil laughter* I hit the peddle at that point I the lady jumped like a foot. I was killing myself laughing, and she was so-of laughing while she was embarrassed that I scared her. She walked over to me and smiled and muttered under her breath shithead. That made my day right there. Ah, I can't wait till next year...

Listening to: Massive Attack - One Love