J . M A I L

But it’s a dry cold.

I thought I would take a few minutes on a lazy Friday afternoon to update my blog without any real objective or goal. So where do I start… I am settling into my new life here in a new city. My classes are going well, I have submitted assignments in both classes so far. I realized just yesterday that maybe my marks don’t matter so any more. Marks probably will help when I apply for scholarships but to be honest I am unlikely to get low marks in a grad school class, and to be even more blunt, being an opinionated native English speaker in a computer science grad class tends mean I will do well marks wise.

Some thoughts that I have had this week:

• Everyone is too uptight when it comes to citations and rewording things from other authors. I was reading Gladwell’s new book and got to to thinking about the topic. I realized how often, when citing other people. I feel that they first author to say something often says it best and changing a sentence just to change it is often pretty silly.
• I looked up some people on Facebook today that I hadn’t in a while and I think I feel good that they are doing well. What good would someone else’s unhappiness do me? If anything, other people having a good life gives me/us all hope that everyone can have a good life.
• I am down to one pair of jeans and so I will likely go get another pair this weekend. I get the feeling my parents will pay for them and that feels weird. Not that they never give me money but that they seem much more willing now that I am living back at home. I guess I am actually costing them less by living at home than I did while I was living in Guelph.
• I am trying to decide what I am looking forward to these days. If I get Lasik eye surgery this month (I have an appointment, just waiting for some government money to come in) then I don’t know what I will set my sights (no pun intended) on next. I think I am generally happier when I am waiting for something in the future to happen. The only other thing I am really looking forward to is getting a window cubicle in my research lab, it’s really pretty when the sun is setting.
• I have been thinking about girls, as I often do, and I have mixed feelings. Is there any rush now that I am in the next stage of my life to meet someone? I forget what that that falling in love elation feels like and it much harder to miss something I don’t remember. Maybe life is just simpler on my own.
• I want to get bigger again but I find my will power lacking a bit compared to the past. I get a lot of satisfaction from the results of going to the gym but that satisfaction is not producing more motivation for me right now.
• I much prefer Calgary weather to Guelph weather. This dry air, while the cause of some problems, makes leaving the house every morning much nicer.

I also want to say, to my friends who have having relationship problems right now (you know who are you), things will get better with time, you guys are all pretty awesome, and I have no doubt at all that things will get better for you before you know it.

e-hug,

J

School @ UCalgary

I have been in Calgary for a week and am really impressed with the university so far. The people, the facilities, the ideas, the classes, and the perspectives are are so different from what I am used to.

To start with, my classes seem really awesome. Qualitative Research Methods for System Engineering seems like it will really expand what I thought I knew about qualitative research. While I thought I was more of a qualitative researcher all along, rather than a quantitative (numbers) researcher, I think I might have been wrong all along. I really hope this course will help to really learn to study people without the idea that I always have to be able to numerical categorize my findings.

My other course, Software Planning and Release, will be interesting in that I will learn much more about best practices for software planning and I think this will be very important for web applications I work on now and will develop in the future, I kinda see my future as a movement towards focusing on development of web tools and apps.

From talking to my new advisor here I realize how much of usability mind set I have. I approach problems with a “fixit” attitude or with the idea that I will find problems to resolve or with the goal of improving systems. What I have never really focused on is creating COMPELLING systems and this is something I think I will learn here. The closest I have gotten to this in the past is making interesting things, I think this is the next step beyond just making good/interesting systems.

The iLab area, where I work out of, is a show piece for the university and I have already been warned, as we all have, to be ready to demo all the time as the president of the university makes this lab the first stop when showing people around the university. There is so much technology in this lab, Microsoft surface tables, giant displays, miniature hardware ect and so many research projects in so many areas it’s a bet overwhelming at this point. I do really like my computer and dual 24” displays at my desk though :)

Further, I learned that I will have a lot of opportunities to go to conferences, learn, and meet new people while I am here. If we publish here we go to the conference. We can even go to conferences that are important for our field that we may not even present in. This is very different from what I am used to and a very welcome change.

I will have the opportunity to take actual design courses here in the fall and work with different materials beyond just computers and I really really excited about that.

All the said, overall the University here seems nice although different. There are a LOT more people here and the building are much bigger. I am learning my way around and have even starting going to the gym here.

I am super excited to come and see everyone this coming week in Guelph/Toronto. That said, I hope you all can come out at some point and visit me here as well.

I will start updating this blog more regularly, the recent lack of posts just reflects how busy I have been the past little while.

Home Away From Home

I am now in Calgary. I will be back in Guelph to defend but I am not sure when, I will update FB/Twitter when I know more.

My last few days in Toronto were really great. I saw almost everyone, had a lot of laughs, talks, and great meals.

I want to thank everyone again that helped me move during my last days in Guelph. I can’t wait to be back there to see everyone again.

I miss Dave the cat.

Now that I am in Calgary I have so many things I want to buy it’s kinda crazy.

It is gonna take a while to get used to living at home again. I am living the basement which is ok. I can see myself trying to find a new place pretty soon though.

I will keep on updating this blog over the coming month with details about what is happening here, happening with my thesis, and my travels back to Guelph.

Happy 2010 everyone.