The Ball Season Has Begun

Posted Fri, 11 Nov 2005 18:48:12 GMT to Posted in ,

As some of you might know, I enjoy going to formal events. Weddings, balls, whatever, you invite me to a function where I can get spiffy and wear a suit, and I am there.

Ball season has once again begun, and better than ever. Things kicked off last night with the DASSS/DSS Formal Ball. Much fun was had in between drinking, dancing, and conversation with various arts students. I am very glad that I was invited and went to this.

Upcoming:

Friday, November 25th – Snowball

You should all come. Seriously. Buy tickets from the CS Infodesk. I’m going to be MC and all that.

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DCSI

Posted Sat, 01 Oct 2005 08:40:19 GMT to Posted in Tags

The 4th Annual Dalhousie Computer Science In-house Conference (DCSI) was held last Thursday and Friday. How was it? In theory, it was packed with speakers, including a distinguished keynote speaker. In reality? I can’t say much about the talks, as I didn’t have time to attend any.

Why was I so busy? Well, I agreed to do some stuff as Social Rep for DCSI, such as running BBQs and receptions. However, I also expected to be helped by the DCSI volunteers. Unfortunatly, since the Volunteer Coordinator did nothing, there were next to no volunteers. This resulted in the BBQ starting up late, and me setting up the reception stuff all by myself (note, this meant that sound equipment stayed in storage, no way in hell was I dragging that out and putting it back in, especially since they probably hadn’t even thought about music).

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The Term Has Definitely Begun

Posted Tue, 27 Sep 2005 12:07:09 GMT to Posted in ,

So now we are definatly into the start of term. First batches of assignments done, or near completion, schedules laid out, various meeting held, summer projects finished, and most importantly, the first Geek Beer has been held.

For what was the first geek beer, there was a pretty decent crowd. Lots of new faces, lots of old ones. Lots of good music (and not so good music). Plenty of entertaining acts (those that left before 10 missed out). Hell! I even made a profit at the bar!

The last part is fairly important right now. Last week, I found out that I have a massive bar bill from over the summer to pay off because a) for some reason the bar bills were not being payed and b) they somehow lost money at every single geek beer, and didn’t correct that in any way.

But I am sure I will be able to come up with something. If things work out like I expect them to, there will be Geek Beer all term still, and a kick ass Snowball too. All my other plans however…....... yeah, let’s scrap all those other things I was looking forward to doing. Ah well, you can’t have it all.

Maybe next year I should become VP External, so all I have to do is go to DSU meetings and everyone else’s social events.

But come to Geek Beer. The more people that are there having a good time, the more worthwhile all these ‘technical difficulties’ that I have to deal with become. Besides, it’s Geek Beer, do you really even need an excuse for cheap alcohol?

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4 Days Vacation Is More Than I Usually Get

Posted Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:32:28 GMT to Posted in Tags , ,

So I had a few days off before classes started. As this was 4 more days than I usually get, I decided to sleep in, play video games, and hang out with people before things got back into full swing.

Right now, I have various things I need to get done and am working towards doing them all. Work term report (just needs a little spit and polish now), TigerEvents initial public release (I’ll have a big story on that later), planning the social events on the term (the more I get done now, the sooner things fall into place), various other things…....

But I have decided to cut down. A chair position I was nominated for? Sorry, no time. The Inform stuff I was doing, which included a proof of concept, two presentations, and a DCSI abstract (which reminds me, I need to rework that abstract just a bit before this Friday)? Well, as interesting as it was, I am not interested in the joining it with a 3D engine. As all my work was pro bono, I have decided I can no longer give it the proper attention and would like to redirect my efforts elsewhere.

Classes are good so far. Networking and Crypto are so far just a review of Network Security, but the syllabii DO say they will be covering more. Initiating the Technology Venture (revamped Entrepreunership class) I don’t have an opinion for yet. But having no tests is a plus. Intro to the History of Science? I need to remember to arrive early and get a seat near the front to aid in comprehension.

I’m still stuck with Aliant. Due to wiring Eastlink can’t put high speed internet in my building. No internet = no Sean. But Aliant is slowly getting on the ball. I mean, when people call me, they hear ringing, as opposed to a ‘this number is no longer in service’ message. Too bad I don’t have a dial tone in my apartment. Doubly so as my buzzer is supposed to be tied into my phone. Aliant has assured me that a technician will be by tomorrow and I will be able to make calls. Will my internet be working, or will they have forgotten to connect that again?

All in all, once the above problems are taken care of, this should be a really awesome term. I am looking forward to it.

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A Place Of My Very Own

Posted Tue, 06 Sep 2005 17:01:04 GMT to Posted in Tags

So at the moment, I am basically all moved into my new apartment. Everything is unpacked and/or put away in their respective places. Looking around, I realize I still have more room than I need, and feel the desire to fill it. Maybe I will get a futon or something.

I would just like to take a moment to thank my helpful and professional moving crew, for without them I would probably be sleeping on the streets; and those visitors who helped motivate me into putting everything away NOW instead of over the course of a month.

The phone thing still isn’t resolved, but I want to ask the landlady a few questions before making my ultimate decision. In the meantime, hey! Unsecured wireless accesspoints! Who said Microsoft never did anything for me?

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Aliant, Infuriatingly Consistent

Posted Sun, 04 Sep 2005 15:04:25 GMT to Posted in Tags

Back in the day of being a 1st year student, new to the city and its ways I entered into a pact with Aliant for them to give me phone service and me to give them money. Over the years, I found it was easier in many ways to just switch my phone service over to my new residence, keeping my phone number and options. Almost always, however, my high speed internet fails to be switched over properly (and is always the result of it not being switched properly at the main switch, which they discover after sending out a tech).

This year, however, was quite a different experience. Yes, this year Aliant decided to go all out and screw up my phone transfer completely. Anyone calling my phone number gets a message stating that the number has been moved to a new number. Calling this new number gives a message stating that the number is not currently in service. I have no dial tone at my apartment either, so things are completely messed up.

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New Jersey Day....... Well The Rest Of Them

Posted Sun, 04 Sep 2005 13:38:52 GMT to Posted in , Tags , ,

So writing 2 days behind turned into 3 turned into 4 turned into….... well, a week.

Things were pretty busy between diagnosing hardware problems (old power supplies dying really screws things up, you know?), software problems (no matter how many bugs you fix, running software in the field will always bring about more), and a combination of the two (what happens when you write code for a winch when you don’t have a 100% working example in the lab to test important things, like almost everything except movement).

End result: lots of code changes, lots of issues corrected, a lot of end user usability concerns written down. All in all this was pretty much what everyone expected going into this, and since nothing catastrophic happened, everyone appears quite happy. I had an awesome (though really tiring) time down here and am very glad I made the decision to. In the end, I learned a few new things, and came up with several ideas on both how to improve the user interface of the project as well as how to set things up in order to allow a trip like this to run more smoothly from the development side (I will be writing about some of those later).

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New Jersey Day 2 - RU COOL?

Posted Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:21:36 GMT to Posted in , , Tags , ,

Actually at the Rutgers University Coastal Observation Oceanographic Lab Station (also known as the RU COOL Station) today . I found out what the old Leo15 station used to run on. A Sparc 5 workstation. Though considering some of the old computers are old DELL machines, I think the Sparc 5 was probably a fine, fine choice at the time.

Apparently this place used to be an old coast guard station. Its a huge building. I can’t understand why there is no one here. Unless, of course, they all took a day trip to Atlantic City. Ah well, from the looks of things, if there are any hardware problems that will require the hardware team needing to take things offline for several hours that I will at least be able to try my hand at fishing.

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The New Jersey Adventure - Part 1

Posted Sun, 28 Aug 2005 13:30:26 GMT to Posted in Tags , ,

Note: I am now into day 3, but all the entries are going to be at least 2 days behind

So today I flew to New Jersey. I am, as you can imagine, both excited and a little nervous. Not as much as I was earlier, when it was 15 minutes before boarding and my supervisor, and the only programmer not on vacation, has yet to show up. I’ve been told that it is usual for him to show up right before the flight takes off.

Then Montreal: I managed to make my way through customs. It was pretty easy actually. The customs officer asked me about my wire, and when I told him that it was a cochlear implant, he knew what it was and had a little chat. Once I answered a few of my questions, I was through. One of my coworkers went right after me. He apparently told the custom’s officer “Oh, I am working with Sean” and the custom’s officer just said “Ok, have a nice trip”. I thought that was amusing, but after thinking about it, it is a little scary how simple a person can potentially get through.

We decided to head into Atlantic City for dinner. As all of us wanted to drink to a degree, we got a cab. The cab driver was not only the cab driver, but the owner of the cab company and the dispatcher. Listening to him talk to us, take calls, and dispatch cabs was like listening to a “Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie” skit (many of which I think are funny).

Next up was a mexican restaurant that was a large step above Mexi’s in service and entertainment. This is probably due to the fact that it was a REAL mexican restaurant with actual Mexican oweners. Chips were replaced when they ran out. Serving sizes were the same as Mexi’s. Live mexican singing, which was performed with much spirit.

And then the boardwalk. With casinos, tourist shops, fortune tellers, and massage parlors. And its beach bars, one of which had this awesome band that played a nice selection of 80s music. The sights, the sounds, the plethora of people, it was fun.

I have already decided I want to save up and go on a vacation somewhere…..... different from Nova Scotia, when I don’t have work, class, or any other responsibility other than to have fun.

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If I'm Not Working Or Sleeping, I'm Working

Posted Fri, 19 Aug 2005 17:30:14 GMT to Posted in , , Tags

Reporter: “Sean Smith, you have just finished correcting 12 semi-critical bugs, what are you going to do now?” Sean: “I’m going to Disney World New Jersey!”

So….... I have just finished a large stint of bug testing and fixing. Some last minute testing turned up a crop of bugs that were semi-critical and required resolution. The more frustrating part was that several of them were hardware problems, not software problems, due to someone blugging in an obviously damaged ethernet cable into the communication bus.

Due to my efforts, my relative familiarity with large sections of code, and the fact that most of the programmers are now on vacation (one on Maternity leave until the 4th, one on Vacation until then, and my supervisor just started a one week vacation so he could spend some time with his family), I was asked if I could possibly go to New Jersey with several other members of the team, to help with the deployment at Rutgers University.

Hmmm…..... let’s see….... I haven’t traveled anywhere besides to Ontario and back since my high school years. If I DIDN’T go, I wouldn’t really be doing much except waiting for bug reports and probably finishing up my work term report. I am supposed to move, but thanks to my compliment of truly amazing friends, I am putting my stuff into storage early and then moving into my apartment when I get back.

So yeah, I am heading down to New Jersey from the 27th to the 2nd. It should be an adventure.

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