Home sweet home

I am back home for the Holidays after working 7 months in California. Boy, is it good to be home! I missed my parents, so seeing them again was great. All the amenities I took for granted while I lived at home are now back in the game. No cooking, washing dishes, laundry, or clean up; none of that here. I can sleep in and wake up as late as I want to. Getting into my old bed, being in my room, seeing my home again, feels really great.

In the few times I've been out since coming back to Toronto, I've noticed a few things that jump out at me as an observer, of the differences that exist between California, where I've been living in the past half year, and TO. Things which didn't cross my mind before when I was living here. Ya it's a weird feeling coming back after such a long time ...

Anyway, in the short time that I'm here, I'll try to spend and enjoy as much time as possible with my folks. Also try to catch up with some old friends. It'll be another 6-8 months before I get back, so gotta make the best of this holiday vacation.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS !

Thanksgiving weekend roadtrip

I just came back from the roadtrip we took for the extra long (American edition) Thanksgiving weekend. We drove to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and stopped by Las Vegas, Nevada.

Driving right through the night, we arrived in Grand Canyon early Thur. morning. I got about ~2 hrs of sleep that night in the car. But the tiring journey was definitely worth it, to see one of the 7 natural wonders of the world! If you haven't seen the Grand Canyon, trust me, you have to check it out, it's one truly amazing sight.


We decided to hike one of the trails along the Canyon. It was actually quite a lot of fun. The trail is literally going straight down the edge of the canyon, if you slip and fall, well... that's it. Can't help ya there. Going down was fun enough, but going back up ... that was a real bitch. I still get winded just looking at the pictures.

Next day, we made our way to the Fabulous city of Las Vegas. On the way, we stopped to stare at the monstrous structure that is the Hoover Dam. This thing powers pretty much all of the desert area in the Western US. It's scary and awesome at the same time. It's one of the seven civil engineering wonders of the US. Gotta pay my respekt!


We spent the next day and a half in Vegas, which coincidentally also included my birthday, Nov. 26. Vegas is always fun. Some underage illegal gambling, hitting up the Aladdin buffet, spending quality time with my hombres at DejaVu Showgirls, were all good ways to celebrate.


In the end, we collected a hella lot of mileages on our rentals, saw beautiful sights, came away with awesome times and good memories. Some photos found here.

Welcome to the Shark Tank

A bunch of us Actel interns, plus one Altera intern, went to watch a San Jose Sharks game last night at the hp pavilion. Sharks vs. Flyers. The game was quite entertaining, but lost enthusiasm near the end. San Jose won the game blowout style 6-1. That was the score by the end of second period, so the third was kind of uneventful. Nevertheless, seeing 7 goals scored was "niiiiiiiiiice", as Borat puts it. Interestingly enough, none of the big names got in on any of the action. Forsberg, Gagne, Thornton, Cheechoo, they were all really quite throughout the game.

The really cool part of the night was 1) everyone in the audience scoring free pizza from Round Table for the Sharks scoring 4 or more goals. 2)For one of those audience participation contests that goes on during the game, our section got picked to compete against another in a dance off contest. Basically, whichever section dances the best wins the prize. Thanks to some hip old dude who really tear it up, out entire section won $10 gift certificates to Dave&Buster's. He was sitting close to me, just one row behind. Now, what you're suppose to do, is grab one ticket and pass the rest on, but everyone was taking 2 or more. The stash even came back to me by the end. So in total I earned $40 worth of Dave&Buster's fun. All this for a $25 ticket, not too shabby.

This and that ...

T'was an interesting weekend. On Saturday morning, when I went to Fry's to buy a new alarm clock, I saw Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard (before the scandal), giving a free talk. She also stayed to sign her new book: Tough Choices. I was there, in perfect timing for the signing line-up and the talk. Didn't go for the book though: couldn't spare $18.


Saturday night was really fun at Golfland USA. It's a mini-golf place plus arcade right next to my place. We spent almost 3 hours there from 9PM and on. The holes were surprisingly tough, but really fun; like the Candystand golf. Definitely worth going back again.

On Sunday, we went to the Mazda Zoom Zoom Live testdrive event at the Oakland Alameda field. Good thing it was 18 over requirement, unlike the Taste of Lexus. It was really packed, so many people showed up. There were only 4 courses, so the wait-time was killer. The cars that I got to drive were: Mazda 6, Miata, RX-8, & CX-7. It was fun to drive them on the closed courses without a single care for the car. The cars themselves were pretty good, but nothing amazing. Same with the event; I was kinda disappointed by the overall organization: too much standing in line and too little sitting behind the wheel. Still though, I liked the sweet feeling of driving new cars.

Never thought I'd say it, but ...

I am now officially homesick. Due to the fact that I am actually sick. I don't know what caused it, but being completely taken out for the whole weekend is not pleasant, at all. I got my suspicion on the canned chicken soup or the dust in our place, but damn, my stomach got really screwed up, I had to vomit 7 times last night. Today, I even missed the intern vs. ex-intern paintball competition. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

The season's a-changin'. It's getting cold in California and for the first time in over 4 months, it rained last week. It's a good thing I changed new windshield wipers a couple weeks ago. I guess the summer has come to an end, but I'm interested to see how fall, oops I meant "autumn", looks like in Cali. Reflecting back, I must say, it was a really fun summer. Coming here to Bay Area, starting real work, finding a place to live, cars, and all that independence stuff, exploring California, and having a good time with the gang.

Last Monday, Michelle and I went to see Mariah Carey (or MC as they call her) at the Oakland Arena. Busta Rhymes opened for her, and was pretty good. Mariah's performance was also not too bad. She sang a lot of her old top hits songs, which was good for me, because I have no idea about her recently songs. I'm not that big of a fan of Mariah, but it was certainly fun times.

Lake Tahoe

For the Labour Day long weekend, we went to Lake Tahoe. We rented out a cabin, and a couple cars, and left straight after work on Friday night. We didn't arrive at South Lake Tahoe until midnight.

The cabin was pretty damn nice, except that contruction was going on around it, so gas was cut off, thus no hot water was available. When we complained the next morning to the management, they upgraded us to a giant cabin nearby. The new place had 14 beds, a jacuzzi, cable tv, barbeque, games, the whole sh-bang. On saturday, some of us went on ATV tour, but I went hiking instead. It was damn tiring, without water. We went to Stateline that night to enjoy the buffett and the small casinos on the Nevada border. Penny slots all the way!

On sunday, we went kayaking in the Lake. Quite a few of us fell in, fortunately I was able to balance myself the whole time. It was refreshing. That night, we drove 2 hours north to Reno, Nevada, the biggest small city in the world. It's the old school version of Vegas. The place was a little disappointing overall, especially considering I got kicked out of one of the casinos there. So not gnarly, dude.

The next day, we rented a power boat and a tube and went crazy all over the lake. Some of us got bruised and cut and had our shorts ripped off from it. I didn't do the tubing since I can't even swim, but I drove the power boat around, which was pretty exhilarating. I posted photos some here.

New guitar

I've finally got around to getting myself a guitar. I've long wanted to learn to play a guitar, but was always held back by something; work, money, time. I figure now that I have some free time on my hands, I could pick up the guitar as a hobby.

The guitar I bought is a brand new Epiphone. The sweet baby's perfect for me. It sounds great! (after I spend 15 minutes tuning it) I also learned that I have fat fingers, since almost every chord I play my fingers are touching a string it's not suppose to. My goal is to become fluent at it by the end of the year, such that I can play songs smoothly from the top of my head. I'm visioning myself with a pickup guitar at CalTrain stations playing some Coldplay, collecting Washingtons in my bucket.

Las Vegas

Our final stop was the crazy Las Vegas, the city that never sleeps. Everyone made a big hype about Vegas, and it certainly did not disappoint. We were there during the 4th of July long weekend, so The Strip was crazy packed.

The first night, we watched Cirque du Soleil, KA. The tickets to this show were $125 each. The show was pretty amazing, it was a total surround stage setup, and the actaully stages people performed on were totally gyrational. It was tilting and moving 360°, and at one point the performance was done with the platform tilted at 80°. The technical effects are absolutely second to none, some totally rad scenes were performed. All in all, a fantastic show, definitely worthy of checking out.

We walked down the main Strip and check out almost all the hotels/casinos. This is believe it or not a whole day affair. It takes a loooong time to walk around everywhere and it gets really tiring by the end of day. Here are things I noticed about the different casino and hotels:

• the most luxurious: Bellagio
• the biggest monster: Caesar's Palace
• the cooliest themed: tied Luxor & Treasure Island
• the best one no-one's ever heard of: the Venetian
• the one with most hot chicks: Mandalay Bay
• the bully: MGM Grand

What's a trip to vegas without buffets? We ate at a different buffet each day we were there, with the last being the best, the Bellagio Buffet. We went in at late lunch and stayed 'till dinner. Another absolute necessity in Vegas? the strip clubs. We went to the DejaVu one night, and this was by far (and I mean far) the best club I've been to. Anywhere. Most my friends would also agree. I had front row seats to jello wrestling match, which was a real treat. I don't think I can go anywhere else now after this.

On the 12-hour drive back home, we went through Yosemite National Park. This was a beautiful park with tons of mountain/snow/valley scenery. Too bad I slept through almost all of it.

San Diego

Our next destination is the southern-most city of San Diego. It's about 30 min. away from the Mexico border, and the city of Tijuana. Since the legal age in Mexico is 18, I went across the border on two nights, since I wouldn't get in anywhere in San Diego anyway. I also just wanted to check out what Mexico was like.

To which I respond extreme disappointment. Tijuna was very run down and ghetto. When we went to strip clubs, it felt really dirty and I had constant thoughts of a loooong shower. I didn't really feel like staying and if anything, the club turned me off.

Now back to the civilization of SanDiego. We caught the sunset at LaJolla beach the first day there. The interesting part is that, the water was actually warm here. All the other beaches, a dip was comparable to ice water, but here we stayed in the water for 30 min enjoying the warmth. We took a cruise around the Harbour and also checked out the University of San Diego campus. It was a beautiful campus; very clean and cool architecture all around. We spent a full day at the San Diego Zoo. It's pretty famous, but after looking through it all, it seems like any other zoo to me, except they have pandas here. Worthy to see nonetheless.

the OC

Right below Los Angelos county is the infamous Orange County. This is where Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and Laguna Beach all lie. Newport Beach is where 'the OC' takes place, Huntington Beach is where Hollister CO. gets all it's inspiration from, and Laguna Beach is obviously where the show 'Laguna Beach' happens.

I must say Newport and Laguna are the two best beaches I've ever been to in my life. Everything about them is superb. Definitely wouldn't mind going there again, but next time, I gotta slather on hella lot of sunscreen. Going to all these beaches everyday did a number on my skin, I got burned on my shoulder and feet quite bad. Right now is the peeling-skin-stage. And the chicks, oh the hot chicks . . . wow. I was secretly hoping to catch a glimps of maybe a cast member from Laguna Beach, but... I don't think that happened.

Once away from the beach, the city themselves are quite impressive too. The residents here are mostly rich, which is reflected in the upscale downtown areas and starring at the huge houses on the hills was fun too.

LA

Next, we came to LA. It was really overwhelming, because there was absolutely endless stuff to do here. Every corner of this giant metropolis offered something unique to check out. The 3 days we were here seemed really short.

We first checked out Malibu beach. Again, awesome beach, worthy of its famous statuary. We hung out in Hollywood quite a lot. Visited the Universal Studios Citywalk, Hollywood Boulevard, where all the famous entertainment landmarks are; such as the Kodak Theatre, Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theatre, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Some of us toured the NBC studio and lined up for taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, while others went to see the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I was sooo close to getting into Leno. In a line up of 400+, there were only 15 people in front of me before they filled up. While in Beverly Hills, we drove to the Playboy Mansion. It's actually quite cleverly hidden so as to avoid random visitors like us. It was gated real good, and we couldn't see much of the property, but the fact that we were at the gates of the Mansion is story enough. We also went to Long Beach, only to find a freakish scene of total absence on the stretched-out beach. We did however find West Coast Choppers. This is the bike shop where Jessie James works on the show Monster Garage. Pretty rad display of rides there.

One thing I have to mention though: driving in LA is absolute horror! the highway gets jammed on Sunday nights at 8, people honk at random, and no one gives any room. I was so glad when I drove out of LA.

Santa Barbara

Our first stop was the beautiful Santa Barbara. Just as important as the destination is the route to get there. We drove down the gorgeous scenery of Highway 1. It does not get better than this; wind blowing in your hair, California tunes cranked high, mountain side curves along the coast and the Pacific ocean to your right the entire way. This road is actually where a lot of car commercials are shot.

The small city of SantaBarbara is very lively with the college crowd. Everyone from UCSantaBarbara comes downtown to party at night. We were only here for one day, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere. Unlike other places we visited, majority of the crowd here is around my age, which was very good at the beach. Surprisingly, the sand was so hot, it was impossible to walk bear feet.

SoCal 2006 roadtrip

Whooooooooo!!!
I just came back from an 11-day roadtrip all through southern California and Las Vegas. We went to Santa Barbara, Los Angelos, Orange County, San Diego, and last but not least Las Vegas, Nevada.


All this came together with most of us Actel new interns, with some of the old ones too, who planned most of it. There was a total of 21 of us, renting 5 cars. Driving through Cali is absolutely awesome! It's great to be on the open road, but riding on the California west coast is way above anything. I'll describe each destination separately, and here are some of the (above par quality) photos I took along the way:

• album 1
• album 2
• album 3

Moving to new apartment

This weekend, Will, Joe and I moved into our new place. Our 1-month stint at Oakwood came to an end and it was time to move on...

Our new apartment is awesome. It's a townhome complex called Willowbend in Sunnyvale. This is where we'll spend the next 12 months. Our apartment is 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, living, dining, balcony, etc., but it's different than everyone else's in that it's two floors; bedrooms upstairs, everything else on first floor.

It was a hell of a job moving all the furniture this weekend. On Saturday, we went around to 5 old interns' apartments and U-Hauled everything into the living room. On Sunday, we organized the furniture into separate rooms, but it wasn't easy getting beds up the ridiculously narrow stairs to second floor. I originally bought a queen size bed, but there was no way to fit it through, so I traded it with my good buddy Jacques' double, which is actaully quite a bit better. I also like all the other furniture in my room; a desk, dresser, cupboard, floorlamp, chair, and drying rack. The whole room cost close to $200, but it's a pretty complete set.

Santa Cruz Beach

The beach is a religion in California. On recommendation of the old interns, we headed to Santa Cruz beach today, being a long weekend Memorial Day. It's a 40 min drive away, but we made an hour and half trip out of it.


The beach itself is beautiful. It's not as big as I thought it might be, but it was still way better than any beach in Toronto. I really need work on my tan. It was super crowded when we arrived, but was pretty spread out by the time we were leaving. The water was surprisingly calm, but cold as hell. None of us fully dipped in the water. Another cool thing about this place is the 'Boardwalk'. It's like a carnaval fair, with food, games, and rides, located right on the shore. Overall, a really fun day on the beach. Here are some pictures.

San Francisco

We went sightseeing in San Francisco today. It was our first weekend together, and of course we had to make our way to SanFran. Just to make things more justified, it was George's birthday on saturday and Michelle's today.

We left Mountain View around noon and took about an hour to get there. Obviously, it wouldn't be a trip if we didn't get lost. The places we visted were: the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Dwarf, Lombard Street, Full House houses, Chinatown and ChaChaCha. The unfortunate thing is, we missed the last Alcatraz tour, which was at 2:15. This definitely has to be made up for. I personally would like to go through the downtown area again. There's sooo much stuff going on.

Here is the link to my facebook album for the day.

California Dreamin'

The Eagle has landed folks. I am now in Mountain View, California. I arrived in San Francisco on Saturday morning. The flight here was very smooth. From the airport, we were picked up by a limo service to our corporate housing in Mt. View called Oakwood. This place is sweeet, it's basically a resort. A fully furnished 2-bed, 2-bath apartment, tennis court, basketball court, swimming pool, jacuzzi, barbeques, game room, excercise room, free breakfast every morning, and happy hour every Thursday.

I started work at Actel on Monday 22nd. First day and a half was the intern orientation, which was mostly HR paperwork. Got my rental car and a bank account opened up. I only get the free rental for a month, and have to share with my roommate, and it's a Chevy Aveo, but hey, I'm not complaining when it's free.

I still can't believe I'm here in California. It's hot and sunny outside. Life is good.

OW Ow ow oW OW

My entire lower face is in severe agony right now, due to getting my wisdom teeth pulled out this morning. I had the operation done at 9:30. They said it would be about an hour, but actually lasted 2 hours. During the entire procedure I was knocked out by anesthetics through my arm and some laughing gas at the begining. Overall, the surgery went quite smoothly.

I couldn't feel anything below my upper lip when it was done. Almost the entire mouth was numb, but now that it has wore off, all I feel is the stinging pain of my swollen jaw. It's so swollen, I actually look different. I look like I have a very broad jaw, like Chuck Norris. My best friends right now: Tylenol3 and antibiotics. And I can't eat anything, my mouth can barely open to drink water. This will probably last for another couple days before the swelling goes down and I'm able to use my mouth a little bit.

I just pray there won't be any post-operative problems or complications, like an infection or anything like that. I only have until next friday before I leave, so it's quite critical that my recovery is full, and without any complications.

Preshness

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, finally done exams! And no more exams for another 20 months.

This term's exams were that bad, I think I did good on most of them... I think. It was super busy at the very start of exam session, due to everything cramming together, and it was super lazy at the end, because of all the time I had to study for courses that don't need much studying. Even though the exam period was exactly as long as December's, I wasn't as anxious about finishing it. I guess Christmas time really had me on my toes back then. I do have reasons to be just as excited now though.

To reflect back on this semester, the best way to describe it would be how relaxed it was. This term's workload was surpringly low. Shocking, isn't it? As always, with more free time means more time wasted on stupid things. I'm definitely not naming them. One thing that primarily occupied my mind, and I 'm sure many others as well, were the PEY internships. Applying to jobs, doing interviews, waiting for offers, the whole process was quite tiring.

I now have about 2 weeks to get ready before leaving to California. A few things I need to get done before going:
+ pull my widsom teeth out; since I won't be seeing a dentist for a whole year, better to get it done now
+ clean up my desk, room, and other parts of the house
+ learn how to cook
+ get a fake ID that says I'm 21
+ meet up with friends to say goodbye
Alright, let's get to it.

New laptop

I bought my new laptop today. And wow, is it a sweet-ass machine.
It's a Toshiba Satellite. Intel Centrino PentiumM 1.73GHz, 1 GB memory, 80 GB hard drive, 15.4" screen, thin and sleek. Basically, it's everything that I need and want, I love it.

My desktop has served me very well until now, but I really do need a laptop in California. My dad owns a Toshiba, which he's had for the last 6 years, and it's still working fine! I'm sure mine will endure just as long.

Actually.... now that I think about it, I never officially announced it on this blog. I will indeed be going to Actel in California for the year-long PEY internship. After that mishap in the first round of interviews, I landed another position with them in the second round as the Verification and Validation Intern.

Preparations have been well underway, such as the TN visa application in Buffalo, which turned out to be a good hour's worth of stories, much to my annoyance at the time for the amount of precious clocks it took out of studying for my first couple exams. Speaking of which, I'm almost done, just one more. Wednesday at 9pm, that's my 'Saved by the Bell'. But having this luscious new laptop sit here on my desk next to the work doesn't help very much.

Two for the price of one

V for Voluptuously-awesome

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having"

I saw V for Vendetta tonight, and it totally blew me away. The film was great on so many levels. An amazing storyline, tons of action, politically charged, a real message underneath, and a super hot chick; what more can you ask for? Watching in IMAX made it even better.

credit: legofish.com

Facebook fasting

I'm going to try an experiment. For one full week, that is between Mon. Mar. 27 - Sun. Apr. 2, I am NOT going to use Facebook. No wall-writing, no messages, no friend-confirmations, no stalking, no nothing.

It'll be a cool challenge to test my self-control. I have 6 important interviews this week, so what better time than now. I did the 30-Hour Famine a couple years back, but I have the feeling this will be even harder than that. MSN Messenger, you're next.

Skule Nite 0T6

Another awesome year of the Skule Nite show! I saw it yesterday and I'd say it was well worth the $10 and 3 hours of my afternoon. I pity the fool who missed it. Hilarious as always. Although I did think it had a bit too many penis jokes. It wasn't like last year's "one-giant-story", but rather a series of sketches that commented on/connected with previous ones in small ways, which was a nice touch. The musical numbers were great too, especially the Indian one.

I went with a non-engineering friend, and I'm not sure exactly how much of the jokes she actually got. The more funny ones were general enough for everybody, but an inside-joke is always a good laugh. Another great thing about it is seeing your friends and the people you know on stage. Their hard work really showed. Great job guys!

End post with one of the funniest skits:
"I speak 18 languages: C, C++, Perl, Python, .. Polish, reverse Polish....
so if you equals equals interested,
call me ... "

p.s. thanks for the Godiva chocolates Elena!

The holiest iPod in the world

I thought this was really cool.

The Pope just got a 2GB iPod nano; preloaded with the Vatican podcasts. Who knew they made weekly podcasts? and the fact that the Pope, who stands for conservative and all traditional views, would have an iPod is pretty funny and awesome at the same time. I wonder what his playlist is like ....

Good to see him join the party with the exlusive list of big-time 'celebrities' like George W. Bush and Queen Elizabeth who also own iPods.

Go Canada Go!

Wow, Canada did so well at Torino 2006. 24 medals? that's crazy. w00t!

Pretty much all of Reading Week, I sat and watched the Olympic games. I was definitely not disappointed, and the entertainment value was extremely high. My family just completely stopped everything we were doing when the figure skating finals were on. Of course, a little disappointment from the men's hockey side, but wayyy overshadowed by everything else that was accomplished.

Proud of the Canadian athletes and proud to be a Canadian. Go Canada Go!

Spoke too soon

I guess my celebration was premature. It turns out I did not get offered to the Actel position after all. After talking to the manager and his team twice on the phone, an interview, and an informal breakfast later, along with the verbal confirmation, in person, that I would be offered the job, it still wasn't official...

I called the manager immediately after the rankings were released and his explanation was that after much debate amongst the team, they decided to switch their decision last minute to someone else. Of course, I was totally devastated. What hurts most is, he told me so early on that I was guaranteed the position, that I practically failed the other interviews I had lined up on purpose. And I totally stopped looking for other jobs altogether. I mean, if he wasn't so positive about it, then I would have been more cautious and gave a damn about the remaining interviews. It would have definitely turned out differently. I suppose it's my fault also for letting my guards down.

Another disappointment is the fact that the rankings were due by the company a full week ahead of time before they were released to the students. So the manager changed my status on the position and didn't even inform me about it. Hence, I was lead to believe a lie for an entire week between the time he submitted the decision to the time it was released. I guess California really is the home of shattered dreams.

Now that I've had a week to digest this, I'm over it and holding a more positive attitude. The next round of job postings and interviews is starting and I hear there are a LOT more coming out this round, around 300 - 400. With that big of a number, there's gotta be some high quality positions I can set sights on.

California, here I come!

*cue in The OC song*

We've been on the run
Driving in the sun,
Looking out for #1.
California here we come
Right back where we started from

Back at the beginning of the year (last September), I thought to myself "Man, wouldn't it be sooo awesome to live in California?". I kept dreaming of it since then, but never really gave a thought that it would actually happen, so soon.

Well, PEY has given the me chance to do exactly that. I've been doing interviews all this month, for 12-16 months internships for next year. I had 3 with ATI, and another 3 so far with Actel. Actel is a FPGA company located in Mountain View, right in the heart of Silicon Valley. To my honest surprise, Actel really likes me, and wants to hire me. The Sr. Manager of Technology Development likes my interest and enthusiasm and sees it as a great fit in their department. We spoke in three different occasions so far, and yesterday he gave me an offer. And I love the position! Of all the ones I applied for, this is the one that's perfect for me. It's in the Flash Technology Development, in which I would help in the design of their Flash device, which is the main product out of Actel.

More details will surely come, but right now, I'm extremely happy and thankful for this opportunity. Think about all the experience I'll gain at Actel and the fun I'll have in California. I'm super excited! Can't wait.

iHeart my iPod collection

*Droolz*

Liver damage report, stat!

It's been a pretty long while since I posted an entry. This would be my first since starting the new term. As you might have guessed, I have been quite occupied. But not in the sense I usually tend to use that word. I can actually say many non-academic things have been on my plate in the last little while. I feel like this will turn into a long entry, so I'm gonna make the reading somewhat easier by highlighting the main theme of the paragraph.

Ok so, let's see.... first week back to Skule was Godiva Week (ERTW!). It was hella fun, especially the Chariot Race. I missed a couple of the big events, but I still managed to hang out in the Atrium so much that I drank for 6 days in a row; something I've never done before. Don't get me wrong, the amount consumed each day wasn't big, but by the end I was beat!

The second week was burned up entirely by interviews. I had 3 interviews with ATI for various 16 months PEY positions. All 3 positions are hardware ASIC related. I'm actually surprising bad at these interviews. This came as a real shock to me, but I really suck at answering technical questions, under the spotlight. My inability to correctly solve simple questions really jabbed my confidence, and ultimately now my chances of landing the job. I have a few interviews with Actel this coming week, so hopefully I will do much better.

This past Saturday was UTEK (University of Toronto Engineering Kompetition). I chose to help in organizing this event. Our team of 9 had to go through grueling 8am meetings every week since Sept. to sleepless last-minute preparations, all to hold this one-day annual event. To sum the day up, it was hectic as hell and many things could have gone a lot smoother. In the end, it was a success. I feel quite bad for Rob, the chair of UTEK. The night before, he had to change a flat tire at 2am in the raining morning; during the day of, he lost his laptop which contained 3 years worths of work that wasn't backed up, and Jose's wallet was stolen too; and to top it off, he practically emptied his bank account in preparation for this (which will be reimbursed of course). However, our big feast afterwards paid-for by the Alumni office, made all the grumbling and the stress worth it. Good times that night.

Last but not least, my school work. This term has been quite easy-going. So far, my hands haven't done the dirty business with my textbooks yet, and I've been wasting an incredible amount of time watching season 1 of ROME. Wow... that show is sooo good, I can honestly say: the best dramatic TV series, ever.

I will try to update my blog more often, so as to not make such a big void in my archives.

A new term

So tomorrow starts another term. The 3rd year Spring term. After a 2 and a half week break, I feel ready and excited to go back now.

The downer is last term's marks are posted and boy, are they disgusting. The lowest average ever since coming to university. I was expecting low marks, but still, to actaully see it scripted in my record, it's a different story. And I just realized how much this will hurt my chances of admission into grad school. When applying next year, the marks they'll look at is obviously the 3F and 3S terms.

Therefore, this means I must perform almost flawlessly this time to balance last term's Quasimodo of a mark. I do feel this term looks easier than last. The courses sound interesting and I'm excited for another run at Skule. Here's my timetable:

Happy New Year!

May 2006 bring everyone happy times and lots of blessings.