This is just a quick update to let you know I’m still around and that all is well. I’m currently up at Hamilton and this is week two of my summer research. Research goes well, even though working with Visual Studio 2003 and programming in Visual C++ is a far different from Cocoa and Xcode. All in all though, it’s good experience and I’m pretty happy to be doing the research that I’m doing (it involves cell phones and Bluetooth but that’s as far as I want to discuss it at the moment).
The weather’s been pretty good recently and it’s given me the opportunity to do a lot of running and biking - almost too much so as my knee’s begun to ache (I believe I may have strained a muscle). Afternoons and evenings fly by, yet are always enjoyable. In less than a week, I’ll be heading off to San Francisco to attend WWDC and I can’t wait; it will be a nice change to get away from Hamilton and head to a city as interesting and photogenic as San Francisco.
You might have noticed the new section ‘Daily Del.icio.us Distractions’. This is a new feature of my site that I’ve been wanting to incorporate for a long time. Many a times there’s a link or discussion that I think might interest my readers (friends, family, and fellow nomads) and this gives me a quick way to post it on my site without too much effort. Moreover, it allows me to be lazy about it and just give the link and a title instead of a full post. At first updates to the list might be slow as I get used to posting them but hopefully, within a week or so, this should be changing every 24 hours at the least.
I’ll post an update later in the week as I get ready for WWDC but for now, it’s bed time. Good night!
This is one of those all encompassing posts that have little structure and simply allow me to clear my mind, providing links of interest and generally blowing my own horn. The topics will vary, the contents will be short, and generally, I’ll feel a whole lot clearer once the post is up.
›› I just finished watching The Village with Sean. A very interesting movie full of suspense. As usual, there were the standard twists but overall, it was quite good. If you get the chance, you might want to watch it.
›› Activities for today included going to the Utica Zoo and watching fireworks out on Minor Field. The camera travelled along to both events although few shots came out - too many of the zoo pictures have the metal cages covering up the animals and without a tripod (and a wide-angle lens), the firework shots are blurred and mostly out-of-frame.
›› McEwen served an international dinner today, showing that Bon Appetit, Hamilton’s caterers, can actually cook. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a meal so much on campus before. Highlights included a crepe bar with fresh shrimp, shrimp salad, and tender meat. Perhaps this is a farewell for us summer residents who, starting Sunday evening, will need to cook for ourselves!
›› Grades came out today and this semester has been the best I’ve had so far at Hamilton. In Algorithms, a required computer science course that discusses the different types of algorithms and methods to accomplish sorting, searching, and text matching, I received a B+. Likewise for Economic Development that discussed the major economic problems facing less developed nations. In my Russian literature course that included readings from Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol, and more, I received a straight A. Finally, to top things off, in the Electronics and Computers course I took, I received my first ever A+ at Hamilton! So, two B+’s, an A, and an A+, yielding a semester GPA of 92.5!
›› WWDC is only two weeks away and I can’t wait. I’ve signed up for Track 1 on student Sunday, meaning that we’ll be focusing on the more basic development in Cocoa and learning about the Core Foundation. I’ll probably know quite a bit about this but I feel more confident that this will suit me more as I haven’t been programming in Cocoa, or even in any other high level language, for some time.
›› I received on Wednesday the book I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson and have fallen in love with it. The book is a collection of columns written after Bill Bryson returned to the US after two decades in Britain. I feel almost at home in many of the passages as I too can relate to the topics he mentions…
›› Chris has finally figured out his name for his soon-to-be announced hosting company, so if you’re looking for some hands-off hosting that will be decently priced, you might want to contact him.
›› Deadwing, Porcupine Tree’s latest album is quite good. After listening to it almost non-stop for the past 24 hours, I’ve grown to like it quite a lot and enjoy the mix of melodic, soft sounds interspersed between harder, louder, angrier tunes. For instant gratification, the album can be previewed and bought at the iTunes Music Store.
›› Speaking of Apple, anyone who has purchased a PowerBook or iBook in the past year might want to take a look at their battery. Apple’s posted details of a battery recall program that seems to have come about after 6 consumers reported their batteries catching on fire.
›› Tomorrow I hope to head over to the local cinemas and see episode III of Star Wars. From friends who have seen it, it sounds like it will be a good movie and the New York Times even rated it as better than the first movie in the series! Also, John should be bringing back his sister’s mountain bike back to campus (yes, it’s a men’s bike) and if all goes well, I’ll be buying it from her to alleviate my travel woes on campus - at least during the warmer months.
Last night, Sean, John, and I headed to Club Tundra in Syracuse, NY to listen to one of my favorite bands, Porcupine Tree. Neatly categorized as prog-rock, the band of four played a set that lasted just over an hour-and-a-half which included songs from their new album, Deadwing, as well as a substantial amount of songs from In Absentia and Stupid Dream. I hadn’t yet heard their new album, and luckily, it was just as good as their others. To top things off, they finished up the show with a ten minute encore that included my all-time favorite song, Trains.
I’d have to say that this was perhaps my favorite concert that I’ve been to. The venue was small enough to make you feel part of the crowd (and lose your hearing from the speakers), but airy enough to give you some room to breathe. The band was dead-on and apart from a string breaking in the final song, the show went perfectly. Oh, and to top things off, Steve Wilson’s British accent was much better in person, definitely adding to the songs. If you have a chance to see them while they’re on their current tour, I highly recommend it. Plus, the majority of the venue’s they’re playing at are small and as such, inexpensive!
Wow, this past week has been quite hectic! After a really busy beginning of the week, where I pulled two almost all-nighters, wrote twenty pages combined of papers, gave a presentation, finished a project, and took a take-home exam, I was able to break away from campus and head to my parents’ home in the city. There, I spent three days walking in the park, spending time in Borders (perhaps one of my favorite locations in New York), eating ethnic food, and generally trying to relax after quite a trying semester. As of now, at least for a few days, I’m fairly free. No research, no work, and almost no commitments. I’ll probably post a longer entry later in the week, but as of now, I’m spent. However, I don’t want to leave you empty handed so here’s the link to my latest picture gallery of some shots I took in Central Park…
›› Central Park May ‘05: Pictures
I’ve finally gotten accomodation squared away for Apple’s WWDC conference in San Francisco this early June. For less than $50 a night, I’ll be spending six night at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency located in the Embarcadero. How was I able to swing this, you may ask? Using Hotwire to search for a hotel and then applying the coupon code GIFTCARD06 to chop off $10 a night for up to five nights. Granted, the total price that I paid was just under $600 but since I’ll be sharing a room with two beds with a french student who is also attending WWDC, the cost was halved. A web site that came in extremely handy in finding this deal was Better Bidding. Through its forums, I was able to figure out how I could get a really good deal!
In retrospect, I don’t think I could have done much better for my trip to San Francisco. As of right now, including plane ticket, accomodation, and conference ticket, I’ve spent $300. Granted, the conference ticket fee of $1600 was waived and I was able to use frequent flier miles to fly for just $10 in taxes from Syracuse :-) When I compare the almost $600 I spent last year, I feel quite good…
Oh well, this is going to be a short post as I’m in the middle of writing some papers for my various finals. Once those get done, I’ll be sure to post more. Anyway, if you follow the link, you’ll get a nice image the depicts my summer plans from June to August…
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