| April 12, 1961
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[Apr. 4th, 2009|04:52 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
On April 12, 1961, a young (27 year old) Russian man (to borrow a now-hackneyed phrase) boldly went where no man had gone before - into space. Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit the Earth; in the 48 years between then and now, many others (men and women, of many nationalities & ethnicities) have followed, and have stayed there much longer than Yuri's hour and a half or so. With luck (and maybe some help from Elon Musk and Richard Branson), an even larger (and more diverse) number will join them over the next 50 years.
Every year since 2001, a world-wide collection of parties and events, called Yuri's Night in honor of Mr. Gagarin's voyage, has been held on April 12, to celebrate the beginning of 'the Space Age' and the idea that, once you're looking down from space, we're all Earthlings sharing a single planet. Apparently, this year the organizers have decided (for whatever reason) to expand to a week-and-a-day-long thing (which, to me personally, seems to water it down a bit, but whatever), and today is the first day of that extended period.
I won't be attending the "official" Seattle-area party at the Museum of Flight (though I did go to the 2004 party at the Space Needle, and it was fun). I'll probably just be at Noc Noc next Sunday, but I plan to raise a glass (or two) to Yuri, and to human ingenuity. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 2nd, 2009|06:20 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
Yesterday I began to create a resume/profile on Monster. I say "began to" because after something like 45 minutes struggling with the site ( ...[cut for long snarly rant of rantiness]... )
I am now nursing a fiery spark of burning loathing for Monster. And yet... I suppose it may have been worth it, as I've already got a voicemail from a recruiter at a temp-staffing agency. (Specifically the agency that is the biggest source of contract workers for the company that declined to hire me full-time last week, naturally...) Which, I suppose, is why Monster can get away with being such an oozing cesspool of awfulness -- if it gets people jobs, they'll keep using the site even if the UI makes them want to vomit. |
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| ... |
[Mar. 27th, 2009|03:32 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  disappointed | ] |
Well, crap.
Just got word back about the interview I had on Monday... and I didn't make it.
Back to the drawing board, I guess.... Anyone know of any entry-level (and preferably non-web-dev) software dev positions that are open? |
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| Interviews |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|11:53 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | optimistic | ] |
So, I got to do the job interview routine yesterday. Four technical interviews with a couple of different sub-teams within the same group. Everyone seemed fairly like-able, I don't think I made a complete fool/ass of myself at any point, and there were no crash-and-burn issues. Some of the whiteboard-coding questions (one extended problem per interviewer) I stumbled a little on -- generally, my first-draft code had bugs that I pointed out as I wrote it, but in some cases it took a bit of prompting for me to see how to correct them, and on the first one we ran out of time before I could work out the specifics of the solution (though I did convey the general idea and we agreed it was just a matter of working out exact details). I think my performance improved as the day progressed, though, which is promising for future interviews if this one doesn't pan out. I did get asked if I had any questions about the company or the team often enough to start feeling self-conscious that I didn't have any... but whatever.
Overall, it went well enough but not fantastic, so I can't really judge anything about how likely it is for them to make me an offer. We'll just have to wait and see -- my recruiter should have the word for me within a week. |
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| The end of the world |
[Mar. 20th, 2009|05:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
I am now done with all class sessions, labs, exams, projects, papers, assignments, et al., that are necessary for me to complete my degree. It's completed. Over. Finished.
Whew.
(I suppose I haven't officially graduated until grades get filed and various administrative processes grind their way to completion, but I'm done with everything that I need to do...)
I guess I should be feeling elated and ecstatic... mostly I'm just feeling relieved. :) Maybe I'll be a bit more excited later... or maybe I'll just start stressing about my interview Monday morning instead.... |
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| 1 down, (~1.5)+(<1) to go |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|10:52 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
Just finished the only final exam this quarter that I had any anxiety about -- "Greek and Roman Classics (in English)". Didn't do stunningly well, but I'm confident that it's enough to pass, which is all I care about now. (This was my last distribution requirement -- I need to pass this class and to finish enough overall credits in order to actually graduate now. Not that I'm worried.) The class has actually been pretty fun, though a fair bit of work -- I've finally now read (parts of translations of) a number of works that I've read about for a very long time.... and several of them, I now want to read properly without the time-pressures of classwork getting in the way.
I still have a class project demonstration (with a "dry run" / "dress rehearsal" beforehand) for my embedded software class (an unholy bastard offspring of cellular automata, Dadaist poetry deconstruction, Burroughsian cut-ups, and emergent behavior, with some dozen-plus pairs of students contributing separate implementations of a common spec -- it's been a *lot* of fun to work on, though it remains to be seen if the result is interesting or merely cacophony...).
And Friday afternoon I have one more exam.... a straight multiple-choice bubble-sheet exam that's intended to match the mid-term in length. (The mid-term didn't take an entire class period, let alone the double-length final exam period...)
And then I'm done. (Well, then I get to prepare for the interview circuit next Monday....)
.... I guess I need to find something other than schoolwork to talk about now.... :) |
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| Hey, I'm still alive! |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|04:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | productive | ] |
It seems that I've been neglecting this for far too long. Yeah, I've been busy, but that's a shoddy excuse. I miss having conversations; I will be trying to make more time to keep up & stay connected with everyone.
In fact, making more time should become easier fairly soon -- I am only about a week and a half away from being done with school. As in, done done -- all requirements completed and degree earned. Student no longer. Ready to rejoin the work force.
And what timing for that! So far, I've only had one noteworthy response to all of the resumes I've passed out, and I'll be interviewing there on the Monday after finals week (which is next week). I'd prefer to keep a little professional/personal separation and not make it too easy for potential employers to connect me with my personal online presence so I'm not naming names, but it's at the large software company that most of you are probably thinking of (and where many of you are/have been employed). If that doesn't pan out, well... my job hunt has been targeting a particular subfield so far, I'll just stop being quite so fussy and broaden my search a bit.
In other, more status-quo-ish news (or would that be definitionally non-news?), ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jadine and I are still together & still living in the same place, and I'm still trying (and mostly succeeding) to get to the club on a fairly regular basis.
Also, I am still a dork. :) |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 13th, 2007|05:54 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  jubilant | ] |
Aaaand, that's all (for this quarter), folks!
My last final of the quarter was this morning. I think that all three of my finals went pretty well, despite two of them being at 8:30am (I am *so* not a morning person), and I'm feeling pretty good about where my overall grades should be.
I am also feeling very relieved to not have any more school-related deadlines or homework to worry about for a while. I'll be starting my co-op internship in January, but I have a few weeks off to... uh... try to get somewhat caught up on all the housework and related projects that have been getting backlogged for months now... ah well. :) |
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| Breaking stuff |
[Nov. 27th, 2007|10:34 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  geeky | ] |
My archaeology class this morning consisted of a demonstration of flint knapping -- well, okay, they were actually using obsidian more than flint, but same idea, just prettier. *tap-tap-tap* *CRACK!*
Now I wanna go break rocks too. Apparently we'll get to use many of the same techniques in lab on Thursday, but we'll be using a "fairly soft rock-like material" -- rumor is that the material in question is chocolate. At least the flake scatter won't be a complete waste, there.... :) |
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| Holiday celebrations |
[Nov. 5th, 2007|12:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Future Sound of London - Papua New Guinea | ] |
"Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot..."
All I can say is, those Brits sure know how to hold a grudge. :) |
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| I'm not dead yet... |
[Mar. 10th, 2007|07:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Snog - Corporate Slave | ] |
Been a while since I posted anything significant. This is mostly because I've been busy as hell with schoolwork for the past couple of weeks. (See especially the two-session digital logic lab (theoretically about 6hrs of work) on which I and my partner spent a total of over 20 hours each...) This week in particular, I have been quite the anxious little stress-monkey...
Right now, though, I've reached the eye of the storm -- yesterday was the last day of classes for the quarter, all assignments are done and turned in, and I have a few days to study and catch up on sleep before my finals on Wednesday and Thursday. (Except, of course, that there's piles of stuff that has been put off because of the schoolwork which also needs to be done as soon as possible...)
Also, I think I'm probably insane. I actually signed up for an 8:30am class next quarter... yeesh. |
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| My god, it's full of 'car's! |
[Feb. 15th, 2007|09:51 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | geeky | ] |
Ahahahahha!!! I am dying with the laughter here! :D
Okay, um... this probably leaves most of you puzzled, 'cause how many people actually know Lisp? But still... |
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| plans for Spring quarter |
[Feb. 12th, 2007|11:20 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Cruxshadows - Cruelty | ] |
So, I'm trying to figure out what courses to take next quarter (registration opens in about a week). There's two CSE classes that I'm definitely taking (322 - formal models, and 378 - machine architecture & assembly language), but that's only seven credits (I should be at 15-16 credits).
I'm tempted to also take CSE 403 (software engineering), but this is somewhat likely to lead to overwork and burnout, especially given that I'd need to pair it with another 5 credit class.
Likely schedules would be:
1) Ling 200 (Intro to Linguistic Thought), with either Clas/Relig 445 (Greek/Roman Religion) or Ocean 200 (Intro to Oceanography). Or CSE 403 if I decide I'm a masochist. (Total of 15 credits, or 16 w/ cse403.)
2) Drama 101 (Intro to the Theatre) and Clas 430 (Greek/Roman Mythology)... or CSE 403. (Again 15/16 credits.)
3) Ling 200 *and* Drama 101, for a total of 17 credits. Who needs free time?
(The Greek/Roman Religion class focuses more on the rituals and everyday practices, rather than the stories of Mythology. I'm already familiar enough with the mythology that that class would almost be disengage-brain... except that I'd need to follow enough to know what the prof. wants in papers, etc.)
I'm still disappointed that Egypt 410 (Reading Heiroglyphics) isn't being offered this quarter -- I'm *so* taking that class when it is offered. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 2nd, 2007|07:06 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  satisfied | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mlada Fronta - XB-33 | ] |
Finished my second of three midterms today (the first was Wednesday, the last is next Friday). Both of them were almost suspiciously easy -- I finished both with 15+ minutes to spare, compared with last quarter where almost every exam was a race against the clock to get close to finishing... Surprisingly enough, the midterm is already graded and the grades published online, and, uh, I guess I don't need to worry about having completely missed something that would've made it an actual challenge. (I still don't exactly have a lot of free time this quarter, but I'm feeling *much* less stressed about school than I have in the past, and I think at this point that I can safely expect to be getting all good grades this quarter.)
Yesterday I stayed home sick with a cold. I'm feeling (mostly) better today, but am still debating with myself whether it'd be a good idea to go to the club tonight. I'd really like to see folks, but I don't want to be an infection vector... |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 26th, 2007|04:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | nerdy | ] |
For the next phase of my Data Structures project, I need to implement one of several different "pointer-based" heaps -- a leftist heap, a skew heap, a binomial queue, etc. I'm torn between writing a skew/leftist heap (which would be dead easy, but not very interesting) and writing a binomial queue, which would be darned nifty but also a pain in the ass to write in Java. (I think I could do it pretty damn easily in SML....)
Of course, I do need to come up with some sample Java code for a potential internship, so maybe I *should* do the niftier thing and then use that as my sample... |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 25th, 2007|01:00 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | geeky | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Royksopp -- What Else Is There? | ] |
How geeky am I, you wonder? (Okay, you probably don't, but bear with me...)
This morning, as I was in the middle of the usual argument with the alarm (via the snooze button)... the thoughts that kept filling my half-awake brain in the periods in between the alarm screaming at me...
... were about how to write an inductive proof that inserting 2k + 1 elements in increasing order into a leftist heap will result in a balanced/full tree structure. (This being one of the homework problems in my data structures class.)
Despite them being a lot of work, I'm really enjoying my classes this quarter. Even though I keep finding myself wanting to write my data structures projects using SML instead of Java... but that would be too easy. :) (And let me just reiterate -- I loathe Java's syntax for generics, and it aggravates me that so much about it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere, so every time the compiler barfs I have to fix it by pure guesswork trial and error methods. Bleah.) |
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silly