All Things Yummy

Currently listening to: Maroon 5 - This Love

No school, but I’m busier than ever. This morning, I visited Orchid Automation factory to talk to an engineer there with my professor about possible project for USRA / Graduate Studies. Lots of interesting stuff to look at I also have meetings with various chairs of engineering departments to get money and few other external contacts that I’m trying to follow. It was interesting to see some of what we learn in actual application. Good stuff.

I heard back from E&CE Graduate Office saying that they’ll be recommending my application to Engineering Graduate Committee, so I think I’m pretty set.

Thinking about all this, though, makes me wonder whether I really want to be an Engineer. We are the only profession who are working to make ourselves extinct… As my dad says, unless you have your name on the door of the company, then you really don’t have job security… Hmm, maybe I should be going into something like Law then? My accountant and lawyer back home were both engineer graduates, who couldn’t find jobs so became accountant and lawyer (after he became pharmacist). On the other hand, I’ve already worked down the path of Engineer and I’d like to follow it on to the end (ie, Doctorate). If I get tenure, then that’s probably the ultimate job security… Bah, so many things up in the air, not enough time to think about it.

Hmm, marks are online. I did far better than I had ever expected to, since I wasted so much of my time reading James Clavell novels during the finals. Good good. Hopefully 427 marks are high as well… I made some stupid mistakes in the exam.

Someone rang the door bell couple of minutes ago… I sneaked a peak and it looked like she was selling stuff… so I hid and didn’t respond… Heh, I’m evil

Lots of things happening. I went and bought textbooks for next term today. I had a meeting about USRA/Grad School with my advisor today, with two more scheduled on Thursday and Friday. I need to go and ask for money from bunch of different people, as well doing all the other solar car stuff. The solarcar office is miraculously clean, though, which is wonderful. During cleaning, we found stuff from 1993 and before… it’s amazing how much old stuff was in that office. We filled an entire garbage dumpster thingie.

I’ve finished reading through most of James Clavell’s Asian Saga. I am now getting tired of his style… He is better writer than, say, Ludlum or Clancy… but he has his own annoying quirks as well and it’s finally getting to me.

Hmm… other things of note… I’ve stopped using Outlook. I use my blackberry for scheduling and Thunderbird for mail. Slowly weaning myself away from Microsoft Dependence.

Hectic day today - ECE318 Final, ANTH 102 Final, then ECE380 Review, capped off with Midnight Sun Meeting. I have to sit down and study for ECE380 now. :p

I don’t know what to think about the exams written today. Hopefully I didn’t do too badly. I’ve already sold both the books, so it’s done and over with now. The first one’s usually the worst one, because you can’t afford to forget anything from any of the other courses… Preparation is harder too because you have to somehow divide your attention among the different exams. Now that two of the courses are out of the way, there’s two that I can permanently remove from my brain. I sure am glad that one of them is 10 series. Hmm… remind me why I decided to take 413 again.

Currently listening to: Beau Brummels - Just a Little…

I had my last lecture today. I have 4 exams next week, then I’m (more or less) footloose and fancy free. 3B was the most hectic term I’ve had so far. Pre midterm, it’s not so bad… but University of Waterloo, as always, figures out a way to kick it up a notch.

I’ve got conditional USRA grant (University approved me, but NSERC needs to approve it), so I’ll be in Waterloo during the fall doing some researching on Interative Learning Control / Repetitive Control. Sounds interesting enough.

My course load for 4A is as follows:
ECE413 - Digital Signal Processing
ECE457 - Applied Artificial Intelligence
ECE488 - Multivariable Control
ECE750 - Distributed Systems

I haven’t heard back from graduate studies office, so I have no idea how any of that is going… or whether I’ll be receiving any scholarships. Bah!

One thing I’ve been thinking, though… Just why do I want to do grad studies? Maybe it’s because I’m afraid of change. Maybe I’ve just gotten accustomed and comfortable with academic life, stress and crazy workload and all. I’ve been going to schools for 95% of my life, and I just don’t want to commit to something completely different just yet. Also, I still don’t think I understand enough… I wouldn’t be opposed to doing grad work at some other University, but the thought of working full time somehow terrifies me.

Hmm…

Onto a completely different topic. I’ve been watching quite a bit of Korean movies lately - Wow, Korea really has changed a lot. It seems a lot more liberal and… different… from how I remember the place. There’s a korean proverb that says “Rivers and Mountains change in a decade” and that’s exactly what happened… or maybe I have changed. Who knows. .

And lastly - To do, if I have some free time. Make a bot to talk with humans, using the power of Google. It’ll be interesting if I ever get around to it.