Tag: Informatics

Nothing To See Here

Well, I don’t really know what to say. The networking midterm was interesting. I think I did alright, probably better than most, but still below my standards. *sigh* Oh, well. Also, in another topic of great news this week, I was not accepted the Peer Advising program this summer. So, yeah, summer school here I come. That’s ok, but I was disappointed when I got the nice but rejecting email from FYP. I thought that I was of the material/caliber to do that job, but I guess not. That’s fine, they’re missing out. Their loss.

Anyways, this past week I have found myself listening to a bunch of my old favorite CDs that I have on my iPod. I remember listening to bands like Live, Our Lady Peace, and Sister Hazel on a daily basis. Now, it just seems to be newer stuff that I listen to. But, listening to older music just brings back memories of times that were simpler and easier. Maybe that is why I am listening to them right now? I mean, life is an organized hell right now, this week will be grueling.

So much to do, and only so much time to get it done. I have been setting little goals for myself, but I always seem to come up short recently. Maybe it is because when I become overwhelmed I just shutdown and go into studying hibernation. But, the goal for tonight was to finish off my CSE Project. Well, that didn’t happen, but I went and saw Miracle with Jai. That was well worth the saved anguish. Quality flick if you are into the following: Hockey, Herb Brooks , the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team, and well… Hockey. I thought it was sweet because I was friends with a kid back in 5th and 6th grade and his dad was on that team and I got to try on his Gold Medal. So, it was sweet to see this movie and to have some sort of connection with it.

Besides the stellar details above, things are not that bad. I get to hang out with cool people on a daily basis and I have it way easier/better than most. I should be thankful. I’ll just roll with it as things don’t go my way. I’ve done it before, now should be no different.

Thought of the moment: Just Bounce.

Suck it up

Well, the next week will be interesting. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. I’m not so concerned that I won’t get it done, because I will, it is just that I will be spending more time than usual on school. Yes, this should be expected since I am at an instutition of higher education, but I rarely ever work this hard. Yup, I manage to do well despite the lack of work I put into things. Last quarter I had the “no studying after 5pm” policy, and it seemed to work out well. I had my best quarter ever @ UW. But, this quarter it has all changed to “just get your studying done before you fall asleep” policy. So much to do, so little time. I just figured that I’d kill some time before my 341 test by posting… here we go…

Recursion

Ok, today I spent a good three hours with the Info people working on this lame ass CSE 373 homework. Not only did it suck big time but we found that recursion sucks. If you don’t know what recursion is, well basically it is a function that calls itself over and over until it meets a condition that will make it stop calling itself. So, in basic terms it’s like this: You are told to say count up one at a time over and over until you reach one hundred. When you reach one hundred you just say, “Ok, I’m done.” With the frustration of recursion we found the following funny quotes funny:

– Suck me recursively until NULL.
– Love me recursively.
– Recursion sucks @$$!
– CSE 373 sucks recursively, forever and ever.
– Eat me recursively.
– Annoy me more recursively. (Like this is hard to do ;))

Where has all my time gone?

Ok, not that this is a really interesting topic, but hear me out. Initially when this quarter started I was taking 18 credits (which is 3 over a full time student). I figured that this would not be so bad because of the course content that I was registered for. But, after only one day in my IS class, I realized that not only was this class not what I had thought, but it totally sucked. So, in the wisest decision that I have made all quarter, I dropped that classtaking my schedule back down 13 credits.

Now, 13 credits seem like not a lot of credits to be taking. Well, yea, you are right. It is not that much. But, for some reason my INFO 311 prof likes to assign a ridiculous amount of reading for every class, and I think I speak for many when I say that some of it is quite boring and not simulating to read at all. So, spending all of my day off from class this week reading for 10 hours straight was not exactly my type of fun. But, wait Ryan, you went boarding on Saturday, then a party that night and another party for a friend the next night, so what’s your bitch about? Well, ok, fine… I did have fun this weekend… Ask some people that were there on Saturday…

But, it just seems that school is consuming me with things that are not as interesting to me as they were last quarter. I mean, I really enjoy the Informatics major, but some of the material is not really in what I want to get out of the program. Nevertheless, I have to take these classes because they are apart of my graduating. Also, on top of all the reading I have the unfortunate displeasure of taking yet another CSE class. I hate CSE with a passion and I think that this professor would rather bore us to death than do anything else. But, againI have no choice, and I will pay for it.

I guess I am just frustrated with how my time is disappearing this quarter. I am having less time for myself and more time that is being dedicated in the TE Lab, reading, catching up, doing CSE, or doing other stupid stuff. Also, with me starting a job tomorrow (Wed) I know my time will be more valuable then ever for myself and for those that I want to spend time with. So, with that said, I think some change is in order in where my commitments are and where they should be. I am pretty close now, but I just feel that if I can’tgo all out, I should just stay home and pass on the torch to someone else.

Wow, have I been busy. I must say that the past few weeks have just flown by. I have had hardly any time to myself and to do just whatever. From orientation, to the FIG, to classes, it has been a pretty busy past couple of weeks. The best part is that I think it will stay like this most of the quarter now that classes ahve picked up and the 18 credit workload is going to pile up.

But, besides all of the work that I have to do, I am really enjoying my time back in Seattle. It is nice to be back and it is a great place to be (contrary to what others may thing). The apartment that I moved into is beyond nice and it makes it easy to want to spend time there. However, I don’t know how much time I will have to spend there this upcoming year.

The people I am living with should work out. But, it is only the 1st week and I am sure that something will come up during the course of the year that will drive me nuts. However, I am sure that I will get over it and will compromise to make the living arrangements work out.

Also, it’s nice to be in Informatics. People have been asking me if I would leave Informatics to go back to the Business School. Well, I really don’t think so. As much as I wanted to get into the Business School a year ago, that has all but faded. I think that not being admitted the first time really dissapointed me and I gave up on that program. But, what really makes it hard is that Informatics is only 70 people total in the program. Not the 600 something in the Business program. So, I feel a little more wanted by this program knowing that I was one of 35 people out of 115 that they looked at to be admitted. This is not to say that I will never go back to the BSchool, but I don’t plan on it being anytime soon. I will accept my spot and have it appear as if I will double degree, but I don’t know if I’ll ever take a class in that major. Is it a tough decision? Yes/No. But, I think that I will enjoy Informatics more, and being in a program that is only 35 people on a campus that has 50,000 people daily on it, makes a big difference and gives a better sense of community. Which is one of the things that I am not feeling in the Business School.