J . M A I L

The Last Blogger Standing

Hi friends, where are all your blog posts? What is up in your lives? I miss reading about everyone and facebook just doesn’t cut it. Share share share :)

About me: My recent trip to Toronto was amazing. Felt longer than 8 days which is just what I wanted. I did so many different things and got a lot of relaxing time in. I saw so many people I wanted to see, some people I didn’t expect I would get to see, and maybe even made a new friend or two. Thanks to everyone that make my trip awesome. A special shout out to Marlow and Joe who provided much needed crash space. Also thanks to Mrs. Varden for an awesome final Ontario meal and airplane food :)

Now that I am back in Calgary things should be getting hectic although I am not too worried. I am doing two courses this fall: Design Studio I and Information Visualization. I will also be TAing. In October I go to Salt Lake City for Visweek, but before then I have to finish my poster. At the end of Sept is the CHI deadline which might also be a bit nutty.

After all the comments I got about being fat back home I have decided to cut a bit of weight. I weighed in at 180 pounds a couple of days ago and am gonna try to get down to around 165 before bulking again through the winter.

I am super excited about a condo that I am seeing today in Kensington. I hope it all works out and that I soon have a new place to live. Then I can worry about what to fill the place with. I want to go minimal with a lot of empty space. If anyone has good suggestions for unique furniture let me know. I am thinking an interesting coffee table will be key. If the condo is a go I will make another post with the layout to hopefully get feedback about interior design.

As for other stuff… I am hoping to get back into yoga, maybe play some hack while the weather is still good, and hopefully get into a more normal schedule where  wake up early and don’t end up going to bed at 3-4 am everyday. As lame as it is I am also really excited about fall TV i.e., It’s Always Sunny, Dexter, Breaking Bad, Californication, 30 Rock, South Park, The Big Bang Theory.

The only new interest for me lately is architecture after watching a documentary about the ROM crystal and one about Frank Gehry. The advice given that if one meets an architect at a party one should punch them in the face is interesting. Does 99 % of architecture really suck?

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What’s the word?

I am steadily working towards finishing my thesis. Revisions are consistently on the go. I should be wrapping up soon. I need to pick up the pace but I am also thankful I am making progress and that I still see light at the end of the tunnel.

I have just been up to school lately, haven’t been going to the gym on the regular and although it shows I don’t really care. I will make up for it some other time. In this respect time is on my side.

I want to start wearing more dress shirts. I like looking put together regardless of the situation.

For those out there using windows and firefox I highly recommend the Firefox Preloader. It loads and keeps portions of firefox in memory so that when you go to launch Firefox it loads much faster. I really like this.

As for desktop design, which I have been thinking about lately … I moved my taskbar to the top of the screen like a mac. I got rid of object dock and replaced all the functionality it provided me with new system tray icons. I know that the upper left quadrant of a screen is important for a number of reasons and I want to see the effect that having the task bar occupy part of that space has.

Much love to everyone and I hope I can see you all in person before the winter holidays. I will try to make a trip into Toronto after the 15th of Dec. I will be in Guelph for the entire month of December so please feel free to come visit me. I will even be around for my birthday this year.

Hugs everyone. J

sms

My thesis experiment is 70 % done and will be up and running by next week :) The new kitty is really pretty and I want to name her Isabelle or Izzy. This new laptop is awesome!

This Post.

I took a cold shower a while ago to cool off from sitting in my hot and humid apartment.  I am listening to “This American Life”, writing this post in MS Word, and am really just getting started on my day.

My sleeping pattern is odd. I wake up in the evening and go to bed as the sun rises. It has been this way for over a week. I avoid the summer heat in this way and don’t really mind missing the sunny summer days.

Tonight I have to do some Access DB work. This work has long been put off and will not be finished tonight. I wish I had never agreed to do any of this access work at all.

Living with $5 dollars in the bank is interesting. I still have my credit cards to help pay for McDonalds and other cheap forms of calories but I dislike being a mooch which I find doing more and more.

Due to a fluctuation of people being in Guelph and my sleeping schedule Guelph is very quiet socially. I did hang out with Divya tonight. Hi Div! It was fun walking through the park with you.

I don’t feel like writing about school which makes updating more difficult. I am wondering why I am even writing without much to say. I guess that is why most of my friends don’t blog anymore either. Either not having something worth sharing or not having something that they care to or want to share. Hmmmmm…. Maybe I will write more some other time.

Update Me

I just got to the red brick café for an evening of much needed work. I am going to create a test run of my methodology for my meeting tomorrow. Now this is the third methodology I have done. I hope it is the last and I don’t decide I need to change my focus once again.

I have been spending more time in Guelph recently, ie not going away on the weekend. It is an easy choice as I have no money to go away, ie I am broke, and staying in town affords me the opportunity to get work done.

The biggest hurdle to my work right now is my sleeping schedule. I sleep in far too late and far too often. It messes up my school work, it usually means I don’t end up going to the gym, and that I end up going to bed later than the night before. If I keep going the way I am now soon I will be entirely nocturnal.

I haven’t been to the gym in a while. I feel small. I look small. I don’t look lean. I don’t really look like someone that works out, I look just like a normal dude. When I don’t get to the gym I don’t get to expel the excess energy I have and I think this affects my sleeping patterns too. I definitely do not have the eye of the tiger at the moment.

Further, I haven’t been eating nearly enough. This is partially due to the sleeping situation, it’s hard to eat when one is asleep, and the money situation.

I know August started a little while back but this month there are some key school things that need to happen. It’s time for me to officially start my August a fresh as if it was the first day and I was back in a good routine.