Work had a Christmas party yesterday and one of the things happening there, besides the free food and games, was a raffle draw, for which I bought six tickets for.

So a few draws later, I now have two white poinsettias, one sitting in my office, one at home. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket..

But yeah, there have been so many free things as of late it is not even funny. At the Network Support Group open house last week (they are the guys who run FASNet), through answering questions, I won a small football from Dell, a small bottle of hand sanitizer (also from Dell), and an Adaptec SCSI Card that is currently sitting in the office. Then sometime earlier this week, Brad came by and gave me a copy of NHL 08, which was left over from the ACM draw or something.

Yay free stuff!

For today, work consisted of going down to Semiahmoo Secondary in South Surrey/White Rock and talking to several Planning 10 classes. I went with Rich from Engineering, who talked about the Faculty of Applied Sciences at SFU, with me running the Computing Science demo, which was the Towers of Hanoi problem.

Before I continue further, some people may go “What the hell does the Towers of Hanoi have anything to do with Computing Science?” Well, it teaches students about recursion and is an example of a problem that you can solve, since CS is about solving problems.

But anyway, the visits went quite well. The kids enjoyed the Hanoi problem and it is truly interesting to see just how people in the audience think it is easy, then suddenly come up and think for a long while.

So this being quite possibly the first time I had to drive down south of the Fraser from Vancouver in various points in the day, here are some observations; these may be good things to note, because I surely did not realize some of this:

• Even when you would expect to be going in the opposite direction of where the traffic flows (since people in the suburbs would be heading towards Vancouver in the morning), you still run into traffic jams. While heading down in the morning, I hit traffic problems on the Knight Street bridge as well as Highway 99 at the George Massey Tunnel.
• Despite the fact that the speed limits were 100km/h, I still found myself and others barreling down the highway at a good 120-140km/h. (I had to anyway, the traffic problems made me late by a good 10 minutes)
• Counterflows suck (when you have only one lane and the other side has three).
• Avoid the merge lane(s) if you want to go through faster.
• People will do anything to avoid the huge lines. When going back to Vancouver at the end of the day, some cars were trying to go down an already closed lane (for the counterflow) and merging in somewhere up front. So here’s a message to pretty much all drivers: if a car is going down a closed lane just to cut in line, DON’T LET THEM IN. Letting them in encourages them to do it again because they got rewarded for it. In psychology (operant conditioning specifically), they call this positive reinforcement. If you don’t let them in, they will probably not do it anymore, because they get screwed.

All in all, an interesting day. I nearly fell asleep while driving too. Kinda scary, when you’re on the highway going at 110 km/h and you find yourself drifting off the lane. Thank God there were no cars nearby and I ended up not getting into any crashes or accidents.

Well, better get to sleep. We have more classes to talk to tomorrow, this time with the usual presentation.

To summarize: I lack a work/life balance.

Maybe it’s the fact that I have kind of over-committed myself to things as of late. Let’s examine just how many hours per week of my life goes into various things… this is in an ideal world, of course.

• Work at SFU: 40 hours (8 hours a day for 5 days a week)
• Transit to and from work: 10 hours (1 hour each way for 5 days a week)
• Scouts: 10 hours (2 hours for the meeting, 1 hour for the pre/post meeting stuff, 1 hour a day for logistical planning)
• Sleep: 56 hours (8 hours a day for 7 days a week – an ideal figure)
• Church: 1.5 hours
• Work at Appnovation: 21 hours (3 hours a day)

Hours in a week: 168.

Hours I spend doing stuff: 138.5

Hours I have free: 29.5

Note that the above figure of 29.5 hours does not include time spent on doing things that are necessary, like making food, washing dishes, doing laundry, taking a shower/bath, and so on so forth, since these are variable. Since parents are out of town as of this writing, I will need to fend for myself with these things. So let’s say it takes..

• 1 hour for the morning routine, done daily (includes brushing my teeth, washing my face, shower, breakfast, washing the dishes; optional of course)
• 1.5 hours for dinner, done daily (making, eating, and cleaning up)
• 3 hours for laundry (includes putting the clothes in the washer, after doing some cleanup on messes, hanging, ironing, placement of clothes after they are clean)
• 2 hours for grocery shopping

Should we add these up, then there goes another 22.5 hours, which leaves…… 7 hours and as a result, cutting into various different things in the routine to make up for the lost time, like sleep, skipping breakfast, and so on. Obviously, this will hurt me in the long run, so I need to make changes before it’s too late.

Technically, I can do the Appnovation work on the commute, but that means:

1. I need to bring my dad’s laptop with me on a daily basis until I get mine shipped (it’s still waiting for parts as of this writing.. wow)
2. I really only merge around 5 hours, since around 30 minutes of each trip is on an actual transit vehicle; the rest of it is walking. It really depends on which routes I use to go home though.

So given all this, I will need to make some changes or else if I do actually manage to follow through on this schedule, I would go insane due to not being able to pursue my own interests and be a bit free for a bit. And to think that I will be taking one class (JAPN 200) next semester, which by an ideal schedule means 12 hours gone (2 hour tutorials, 2 times a week, followed by 8 hours for studying, if you follow the class time to study time formula where for every hour of instructional time, you study for at least 2 hours).

So back in late August, I wrote up a post saying how I am looking for a new laptop. Well, I finally ordered one yesterday, after having made enough money over the course of my current work and previous work to justify the cost.

If my reply to Yang’s comment was any indication, yes, I am getting a ThinkPad. And yes, I’m getting an X-series ThinkPad (you know, the small and lightweight ones), the X61 to be specific. And it all cost just under $1500 CDN. No shipping, just taxes and the laptop.

It pays to know people who work at IBM.

Well, where to begin?

Co-op has been going quite nicely. I’ve certainly found myself getting better with things I suck at (ie. public speaking), so that’s quite fun. We’ve visited several schools so far, including University Hill and Maple Ridge Secondary. More schools are on the way though, which is good since we can promote the really nice program we have.

I got my first ever co-op site visit today. It was quite interesting because we went over the things I’ve done so far and looked at just what my future goals are. I also saw the importance of doing the whole learning objectives thing. Two really nice things that came out of it: 1) I was given permission to do another co-op term after taking a break over summer (generally, I am supposed to do one school term at least between work terms) and 2) Harriet will vouch for me to take part in co-op Japan when the time comes (probably either late next year or 2009).

As for Scouts, as you may know, I have been promoted to Troop Scouter this year, which pretty much means I’m head honcho for an entire section. A bit intimidating for someone who would rather prefer to be in the sidelines doing the whole supporting effort thing like myself, but a good challenge nonetheless. We’ve been doing some new things, like selecting our PLs and APLs with scenarios to observe their leadership skills, amongst other types of skills. For those who aren’t familiar with Scouts, we divide up the Scouts into patrols, who are led by a PL (patrol leaders) and assisted by the APL (assistant patrol leader). I have also been taking a somewhat relaxed approach to working with my leaders, making things more in their hands and allowing them to take on new initiatives. Would it work out in the long run? Who knows, but I guess I’ll find out!

I’ve also been tasked to do Group Camp for a second year in a row. Now admittedly, last year’s planning, along with various responsibilities at school and such, got me so stressed out that I did terrible with school. Ideally, things do not go into that area this year, but I did learn over the year and I will probably start delegating things off soon to capable people.

Speaking of Scouts, October 13 is Apple Day, which means Scouts selling apples on the streets by donation. My group will be out in the Chinatown area, so if you see kids in white and yellow neckerchiefs, buy an apple from them.

As for my part-time job that I got before starting co-op through Marcel, I’ve been pretty much given the reins on the project I worked on when I started there. Unfortunately, I know I will not have much free time to do it, so I will be working on it in the various pockets of time that I have when I actually am well-rested enough.

And for those who are looking for part-time work and are capable of doing PHP/MySQL web applications, the company that I am part-timing for is hiring full-time employees. Just go to Appnovation’s website for more information on available careers.

On the gaming side of things, The Orange Box just came out and I am seriously thinking of buying it. I already have Half-Life 2 though, so that means if I do actually end up buying it, I will have one gift-able copy of Half-Life 2 available. Any takers?

It has been a while since I had to head up to SFU during the morning rush (ie. the need to get up to Burnaby Campus by 8:30 for that insanely early morning Calculus class or various other departments that think you should get classes at such absurb hours in the morning, or in my case, work). Just thought I would share some ways to beat the rush and get up there on time.

Start your trip early!

This is really one of those things that is easier said than done. Yes, you can wake up and leave the house earlier to catch some of the earlier buses, but that means leaving the cozy comforts of your nice warm bed, which constantly proves to be difficult time after time again. So what can you do to still make it on time?

Know the bus routes and catch the right bus.

There are four buses that go up to SFU Burnaby. Know their routes and note that with enough planning, you can find alternative routes on the not-so-well-used buses!

Since my route involves hopping onto the Millennium Line, there are two transfer points that I can make use of to get to SFU: Production Way (via the 145) and Sperling/Burnaby Lake (via the 144). Since you don’t get the ridiculous issues that appear with the 145 (see next point), I tend to catch the 144 these days, with nearly guaranteed seats.

Just know the schedules and you’ll be safe and on-time!

Line up properly.

This one really applies to those at Production Way waiting to catch the 145 up to SFU. The 145 employs a multi-door loading policy (unless the driver who pulls up is a door Nazi and refuses to open the other doors despite the fact there are transit employees checking fares right outside).

So you see that huge long lineup that extends to the staircase to the Skytrain station? Well, there’s one easy way that you can get onto the very next bus AND get a seat! (double bonus!) Just walk up to the bus shelter and line up for the other doors! It’s a perfectly legal move that no one during that morning rush makes use of (mainly because the huge line mostly consists of clueless first years..).

So I hope these tips will help various people beat the morning rush by transit up to SFU. Alternatively, you can just get a B-Lot pass and drive up, but that kinda gets expensive, don’t you think?

What can I say really? It indeed was a journey of happiness, being able to see old friends and make new friends during the four-day, three-night camp while getting away from the stresses of daily life and work.

This was my second time at WCCCLC and the happiness and peace that filled my soul during my first camp came back once again, except in a greater capacity. I guess part of it was me wanting to make myself a more outgoing person, so I ended up meeting and talking to a lot more people. Also, helping out with the camp helped quite a bit too. Being part of this year’s Promotion team let me meet various new faces and get to know them better as well. As well, assisting with the bus on the Hospitality team over at my home parish, SFX, which was used as a bus stop, got me to meet people and talk to them out of necessity.

Being a normally shy and quiet person, I never thought that I would have been able to be so outgoing. It really is nice to be able to meet new people and all that fun stuff and I found myself smiling and laughing all weekend. I guess I was just really really happy.

One of the quirks I had was the fact that the Taizé prayer was in the morning as opposed to evening. For those not familiar with Taizé, it is a form of prayer that focuses on reflection and reconciliation with God through music that highlights certain verses in scripture. I guess you can say that the atmosphere just was not there. But oh well, it’s something for the Core team to note for next year.

The theme this year was “Journey of Happiness: Attitude or Gratitude?” with Father Lucas Chan, a newly ordained Jesuit priest with interests in moral theology and scripture. Through the talks, he led us to discover happiness all around us. The first talk focused on finding happiness in suffering, or simply, finding happiness in anything, and slightly touched on what Christian happiness is. The second talk was focused on giving thanks and praising God in happy times and sad times. The final talk touched on the virtue of happiness, which basically has us being happy and sharing that with those around us.

It is interesting to have a second take on finding happiness in God. There are some overlapping things, such as the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but most of it is quite new in these respects. However, Fr. Chan’s talks were more scripture-based, given his interest in scripture, so we found ourselves flipping through our Bibles often.

For those who hear about camp from the promotion team: did you guys have fun? Would you come again next year? (if so, we in promotion have done our job well \o/ )

For those there at SFU, come join the SFU Chinese Catso group! (you know, the one Joseph Kwok talked about)

Back to work tomorrow, both at SFU for co-op and part-time contracting. Hopefully these experiences can help me develop myself so I would not be so afraid of speaking to groups of people, since I’ll be visiting high schools quite a bit for work to recruit for the SFU Computing Science program starting mid-September.

First things first, I will be at SFU next semester. Luckily for my sanity, I won’t be taking classes, but rather doing my co-op term with the School of Computing Science.

Lightning Round went nicely for me. The week after finals were over, I had six interviews over the span of four days for various people, mainly in the public sector side of things (ie. government and government-affiliated groups). However, by Tuesday, when I had four interviews, I already had a job offer from the school. Other offers trickled through, including one from the SFU library doing development on their projects, such as the Public Knowledge Project, as well as one from the Provincial Health Services Authority, associated with the province of BC, doing development in .Net.

All the offers had something interesting to offer and something to learn. For example, working with the PHSA would have given me a chance to learn C#. Working with the library would have given me valuable software development experience

But what set the school apart from the rest was simply because it gave me numerous opportunities to develop myself in areas that I know I am lacking in; namely people skills. Since the job is around 60-70% recruitment (of students), it gives me a chance to work on things like public presentations, which usually make me nervous.

It is with this mindset that made me decide on that for my co-op term. This starts on Thursday.

So to pass the time, through a referral from Marcel, I am working on a contract job for a friend of his, working on a restaurant guide website written on PHP with the Fusebox framework. It’s an interesting framework and I can’t really say too much about it yet, having only worked on it for a few days, mainly making fairly specific changes. The circuit system with fuses and all does seem quite interesting though, to say the least.

Well, looks like things would be busy.

I need to pick up my parents from the airport tonight after their trip to Las Vegas.

Tomorrow is a Scouting Centennial Celebration held by the Vancouver East Area (ie. the area which my group belongs to), so I’ll need to wake up early (just like the past few days) and help setup and oversee the booths our group is running.

Then on Sunday, we have the WCCCLC pre-camp meeting, then work, work, work, with WCCCLC over the Labour Day long weekend.

I think I’m going to be sleep deprived. Best get used to it..

I hate power surges.

Just finished my MATH 342 assignment and put it out for printing on my print server when BAM! power surge!

I do have my system on an APC and of course my monitor, a Daytek MV170, as well just in case stuff happens. Unfortunately, it does not work all that well and whenever it happens, my computer just shuts off.

After I try rebooting, I notice that the monitor’s light isn’t on. Obviously, the first thing that happens is panic kicks in, simply because

1. I only have one monitor (all you dual-monitor users can shut it ); besides, if I did go dual monitor, I don’t have the desktop space for it until I do a complete overhaul of my room space (ie. cleanup)
2. I don’t have the money to go out and buy another monitor
3. I have to do stuff on this machine and all the other unused monitors around the house are CRTs (eww.. placing that here would kill all the desktop space I just freed up with a small amount of cleaning)

Thankfully, a few minutes later, after shutting off the APC and letting things kind of just sit for a while unpowered, the monitor turns on again. Yay!

Well, I know what I need to do now – get a new APC or swap it out with another one  around the house.

For CMPT 470, we have decided to do our project, a Gradebook/Submission Server replacement for the School of Computing Science, in Ruby on Rails.

This will be quite a challenge. Why?

All my experience so far with Web development is with PHP. The approaches are quite different, with the whole MVC thing Rails pushes, not to mention the fact that I will need to learn Ruby.

I just so happened to choose to do CAS integration with the system. After looking at the one page of documentation of making use of CAS, I think I know how it works, but getting it done in a language I am not familiar with is going to be a pain.

If anyone have any good sites that cater to people like me, migrating from PHP to Rails, please let me know.

Another thing as well. You know how PHP has sessions? Does Rails have anything of the sort at all? Again, let me know.