Being so close to the end of my degree (at least, unless I decide to do a minor in something or pursue a joint major at this late stage, as mentioned in an old post), I’ve been thinking of things to do before I decide to don the cap and gown to walk across the stage to graduate and step into the “real world” (TM).

I am currently at 108 credits with 3 credits in progress this semester. Assuming I pass CMPT 419, this means I would have completed all my CMPT requirements for graduation and will need to fill in 9 credits worth of coursework.

Of course, in addition to courses, there is also a desire to go and do some more co-op. I hope to make use of the opportunity to explore the various options more. I have yet to do some software development in a work setting, but knowing only Java and fairly basic C that got me through CMPT 300 (Introduction to Operating Systems) is detrimental, which means I need to get myself more experience with other languages that are used in development in areas other than the Web.

In the past, I have mentioned the possibility of using co-op as an opportunity to explore the world (ie. Japan via the Canada Japan Co-Op Program). Perhaps that can still be a reality, but it really depends on how things work out with my academic decisions. If all else fails, there’s always the JET Programme after I graduate.

But in any case, there are a few courses that I would like to take before I leave university, either out of interest, a perceived need, or just something that is useful. I share a list below.

CMPT 379 – Principles of Compiler Design

Reasons: Good to have, Interest

A course traditionally considered to be stupidly hard due to the amount of coding you will need to do. Making use of the course as an opportunity to get good practice with a C-like language (ie. C, C++, Objective C, etc) would be most beneficial. Plus, that talk on parallelism from an architect who works at Electronic Arts a while back has made the course that much more appealing.

CMPT 401 – Distributed Systems

Reason: Useful

Given how we have things like Folding@home or SETI@home, which are examples of distributed computing projects with computing power that exceeds that of the most powerful supercomputers today, we can see distributed systems take on a bigger role in the world around us. Plus, given my interest in Web stuff, knowing about the various necessary things to consider should I decide to distribute servers about would be useful.

CMPT 454 – Database Systems II

Reason: Possible interest

Being a person who enjoys working with information, taking a course that deals with the implementation of databases would be quite interesting. Plus, I did OK in CMPT 354

MACM 442 – Cryptography

Reason: Interest

This course has been on my to-take list for the longest time and next semester has given me the opportunity to do so. It’s just one of those cool little things that you can possibly turn into a hobby or something. I can’t really explain my interest in the subject because I can’t really explain it with words. I just like it.

General Course Outline: http://www.math.sfu.ca/courses/macm442.shtml

That’s the list so far. Maybe we’ll see more on that list in the future. Maybe not.

Who knows?

While in class today, my prof mentioned hyperplanes. Not really remembering what those things were and having Internet available, I made use of Wikipedia and looked up hyperplanes.

After running through the page somewhat, something caught my eye in the “See also” section: a link to an article named the ham sandwich theorem.

“Surely this must be a prank.”, I said. It turns out I was mistakened and the ham sandwich theorem, also known as the Stone-Tukey theorem, is a legitimate theorem that talks about dividing n objects in n-dimensional space in half with a (n-1)-dimensional hyperplane. The ham sandwich theorem is for the specific case where n = 3. If n = 2, it would be known as the pancake theorem.

Where do these people come up with these names? Mathematicians must have been quite hungry back then or something, akin to the modern poor starving student.

Got kind of bored, so I created a Facebook account. I don’t plan to use it frequently like some of those crazy people out there who manage to get addicted to it and the information about people it provides. Still tweaking around the privacy settings and all.

So anyway, go add and don’t send me useless application invitations.

For this semester, I am only taking one class. However, in an attempt to restructure my life and its priorities, some things have changed to move towards the goal of better academic performance.

I started to get restless over my mediocre grades sometime between the break, considering how most of the people I know get fairly decent grades. By decent, I mean that their GPA is at least above 2.4. I am pretty sure it’s not because I am a poor academic by any means. At this point in time, however, after reflecting on just what I have been doing in the past few years in university, I have concluded it might just have been my lack of focus on school and too many other things to do, which contributes to stress levels that get me burnt out to do well.

So what I am trying out this semester is a strong focus on school with ample amounts of time to destress to prevent the burn out. Unfortunately for other commitments, this just means less time for those. After all, personal/professional development tops my list at this time, given my desire to get some unique experiences in before graduating, like international co-op opportunities like Coop Japan or various co-op experiences in government and public service in places like CSE. Places outside of Vancouver and outside my comfort zone. Places that challenge me in various ways and give me opportunities to be truly independent, fending for myself and such.

I don’t exactly want to continue being in the CS academic probation either. Despite our academic advisors being awesome people, I don’t want to have to talk to them every semester just to register in upper division CMPT courses because it means there is a chance (although admittedly a very low one) of not being able to register for the courses I want. But yet, having mediocre grades (C range) keeps me nowhere near getting out of CS-based AP. Hopefully my greater focus on academics would help with getting myself out of this and towards a better GPA.

As for the one course, this of course is CMPT 419, Special Topics in Artificial Intelligence, with the topic being machine learning. It’s been quite interesting thus far and I hope to be able to maintain my enthusiasm for the course throughout the semester so I can accomplish my goals as stated above. Greg Mori stated quite clearly that this is a math heavy course, which would be something to focus on, since my math marks have not been stellar in any case.

Luckily, there are opportunities to review with a math review session tomorrow and a bunch of free time brought about by the single class.

Now, people might now go “Dom! You have so much free time now! Go do X for Y!” I am going to be clear right now and say “No.”. I need my free time to do various things that fit in with my goals for better academic performance and professional development, so see me either studying or working on some projects that either have been hanging back or learning new skills that would be useful to achieve my career goals. Some examples of such projects include:

• Get more practice in writing C
• Learn how to reverse engineer things through crackmes
• Finish my Scout group’s website
• Create a badge administration web information system for Scouts
• Online game

Of course, life will need to be kept in balance, so efforts will also need to be made to go out and have fun with friends more, which is also something I have not really done much of, but absolutely necessary to keep me sane, as I have discovered as of late.

Co-op finished last Friday. The week included a farewell lunch at Himalayan Peak, the Indian restaurant on campus, as well as four classroom visits in one day, which was quite exhausting to do. No matter how hard I tried, it was a struggle to get work done during that last week.

Outside of work during that week was Anto’s going away dinner because he’s going off to Waterloo to work at RIM for four months. After dinner, our group of people headed over to CHQ to play around in the arcade, which included playing some vertical shooter (never caught the name) with Anto, Initial D with Amy, Time Crisis 4, Taiko: Drum Master with Amy, some other rhythm game involving three buttons with several people, House of the Dead 4 with Anto, and Ghost Squad with Tadashi. Turns out I’m really bad with rhythm games. I also tried out that tank driving game based on World War II. I ended up calling an air strike on myself because I’m such a noob >_<, but it was fun nonetheless.

Once I got home on Friday, I found a Steam message from Dan telling me that Civilization IV was 33% off on Steam. And so, I bought the Civilization IV Complete Pack for USD $39.95.

However, I could not really get any rest for that weekend. That is because on Sunday, we had the 12th Annual General Meeting and Anniversary Dinner for the 99th Saint Francis Xavier Scout Group. Being the project coordinator for this meant that I was pretty much running all over the place on both Saturday (to rehearse and prepare) and Sunday (to oversee everything to ensure that the event ran smoothly and assist if something did explode in our faces). Surprisingly enough, the event ran quite smoothly, despite the last-minute nature of many things in the planning and preparation process. I did not really start the planning process until a month or so before the actual event, things got delayed and pushed back (mainly due to poor management from yours truly), and various other things.

Mom left for her pilgrimage on Monday, so I basically did the driving for the day. Woke up early, drove out to Richmond, had breakfast, saw her off at the airport, then dropped off dad for work and went home. Pretty much, the day was a maintenance day. Fixed up my bike so I could actually use it, then I started to try to fix that computer that was mentioned in the to-do list post. That in itself was a challenge because it’s got Chinese Windows XP installed, and I don’t really read Chinese all that well, even though I am Chinese. Basically, the problems with the computer mainly revolve around errors popping up when the system boots up (and from the looks of it, these are the application encountered an error and crashed type messages). Usage history from the users states that the errors started when they tried to install the TELUS eProtect software. I think I am going to toss it out and install AVG instead. Might as well go with what you know works for things like security. They are also using Spybot Search & Destroy for their anti-spyware needs, which I will keep around because it works. Haven’t done that yet because I wanted to actually spend the week enjoying life and taking a break from things.

Started getting lazy on Tuesday and lounged around for a quite a bit. Had a meeting at night though for more program planning for the next two months of Scouts. Not going to post details here because I know some of them read this blog. You’ll find out tomorrow what to expect!

There was a SFU Open House meeting on Wednesday that I went to because I am coordinating stuff there for Computing Science. Since my bike is ready to be used, I took the bike out for a spin. Good weather out too, but I just am not in good enough shape to bike much, which kind of sucks considering how I could actually do the distance from school to home (a 45 minute commute by bus/foot) back in high school by bike. As a result, I cheated quite a bit, and only biked the distance from home to Commercial Skytrain Station and from SFU to Sperling/Burnaby Lake Skytrain Station. Turns out it’s really beautiful at Burnaby Mountain Park. I should head over to that field more often – it doesn’t take long to get to from campus.

Went out to Havana for dinner with a few people from the co-op job on Thursday, which was pretty good. We then went all the way across town to Sweet Obsession for dessert. Very, very yummy cake (I had the White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse). They also have an interesting tea blend called the Sweet Obsession tea blend, which is basically an Earl Gray with jasmine.

After I got home, I finally started to play my recently purchased Civilization 4 with expansions. My God is that game addicting. I ended up playing from 9-10 PM until 4 in the morning because I did not look at the clock. >_>

Not really looking forward to going back to school so soon, but the time is coming. At least I’m only there for two days a week. I should get some golfing into the week at the nearby pitch & putt course at Kensington Park..

I just wish I had a longer break.