Enjablog

JoCo didn’t turn left, but it was still pretty awesome. Ian and I went to the Birchmere last week to support JoCo’s benefit for the Lung Transplant Foundation. His booking agent recently had both lungs replaced. Did you even pause when you read that? He had both lungs replaced.

The agent was there and he made some jokes about surgery… and robots, monsters, etc. It was pretty cool all around.

The opening act was Chelsea Lee. She was an interesting character. Her voice was amazing, but her lyrics needed a little maturing — whoa, I just looked her up and she’s 17. Her songs were very similar and would all do fairly well as the first quarter of a JoCo song. A little melancholy, relationship-y… But then no robots. Or monsters. Or villains. In between songs, she and her guitarist (Todd Wright, according to the internets) were funny and bantered. So if they could work that into the songs, they would have suited the crowd well.

On my way home from work today, I tried to think back Before Google and remember the lengths to which I had to go in order to keep my life organized.

- Email: Yahoo and VT for personal, downloaded to Outlook before I transitioned to Thunderbird. My address book was never the same after that.
- Calendar: Yahoo and Outlook synced with my PDA (Handspring Edge)… until I switched computers and stopped syncing. Then I had a mix between Outlook, a paper calendar that I sometimes remembered to carry around with me, and my rapidly failing memory.
- Pictures: I have piles of actual photographs, CDs of pictures developed at CostCo years ago, and digital pictures dispersed between a few old hard drives that have never been sorted/labeled/transferred. But all my photos from the past 4 years have been labeled and tagged in Picassa. I’ve even made use of the facial recognition option to mass tag my photos.
- IM: I have at least 6 accounts on AIM, an account on ICQ (is that even around anymore?), Yahoo, MSN… and probably others. And about 3 years ago, I started phasing out friends who didn’t use gtalk. Well, not exactly phasing out. But I stopped using my AIM accounts and anyone who didn’t make the transition pretty much fell off my radar of people to keep in touch with.
- Blog: I was a dedicated Blogger user for a long while until I decided it didn’t provide all the options I wanted. I think that was all resolved soon after I switched to WordPress, but I haven’t really been back to do a proper comparison.
- Documents: Shared documents. *Awesome.* The big one for me here is wedding planning. But I also use this for a professional society — on-going action items, minutes, agendas — school, keeping track of plants, sharing my will, etc. Before? I wouldn’t even bother. But if I were forced to, it would just be emailing documents back and forth with no form of config control.
- Maps: Mapquest, yahoo, paper maps that were out of date and you had to look up using an index and page # & coordinates. Once mapquest and yahoo maps came around, things weren’t so bad, but streetview is just so much better.
- Scholar: Sure, the internet made trips to the library for research mostly unnecessary, but where do you find technical papers? And professional reference materials? This saved me weeks of time on one of my projects last semester.
- Health: First, I had to learn that you had to bring a prescription to the pharmacy and then wait for them to fill it. Then, I learned that you could call in advance and pick it up later. And then there is online re-fill with auto-reminders.

And now my phone… I spent years trying to get my contact lists in order. Switching between email programs and syncing between multiple devices created hundreds of duplicates that I never managed to get back under control. I never knew which email address, phone number, or other contact info was the right one for a person. I’m still having moderate difficulties distinguishing between people’s mobile and home/work numbers, but I’m at least able to contact the person I intended to contact.

I spent one evening going through my gmail contact list using the merge contacts feature and I now have a functional list online, on my home computer, and on my phone — all up to date.

I do have some serious concerns for what will happen to my life and my ability to be a functioning member of society if all my google apps suddenly went away. But until that happens, I can look back fondly on my years of piece-mealing my life together and appreciate how spectacular my life is After Google.

Cupcake, the new Android update for the G1, came out yesterday and I’m all kinds of pleased with it! Features I’ve noticed so far:
- on-screen keyboard – convenient, but will take some getting used to if I intend to use it for more than just filling in the occasional form field
- calendar widget – great!
- browser favorites and history tabs
- notification bar includes subject line of emails now
- removal of line separators in call log = less scrolling
- gtalk has different bg color
- a general prettier look to backgrounds and menus

I’ve also been getting a little out of control with downloading apps and comparing apps with friends to decide whether my current apps are good enough to make the cut. I’m not anywhere near running out of space on my phone, but I don’t want to have a phone filled with junk before I start removing things.

A big thank you to all the people who serve or have served in the armed forces!

And in honor of those who will serve to protect our planet and way of life, Ian and I went with his bro, sis-in-law, and TLD to watch Star Trek today. It was enjoyable for the masses, but it was also still a good movie. So, feel free to go watch without betraying the memories of Star Treks past. :)

I have this addiction to social networking sites. I remember thinking it was a cool idea when sixdegrees started… then there were friendster, myspace, orkut, facebook… I never use these sites for anything useful, but I just want to fit in. ;)

So, of course, when my realtor invited me to join linkedin a few years ago, I jumped at the opportunity to join yet another social networking site. Because why not?

Now, at the same time that I’m joining every online whatever possible, I go to great lengths to keep separation between my online and offline personas. My “professional” email address is different from my work address, which is different from my personal address, which is different from my mailing lists address.

This is all starting to get a little muddled though… Fortunately, I had enough of a clue to use my professional address for linkedin because I got an invite to join Boss^2′s network yesterday. I know him; we even work together from time to time. So, sure, I add him.

Then I check my email this morning on my way to work… and I have another linkedin invite. From the CEO of my company. Well, I can’t not add him.

But if these people start adding me on facebook and twitter, that’s where I draw the line. Good thing my blog is so boring. They’ll never read this… ;)

Just about a month ago, I bought a bag from Timbuk2. I had been referred to their site and products by a couple people, but didn’t find anything that was just right, even though they have plenty of options to build your own bag.

I am coming to terms with the fact that I’m too busy to design and implement a bag that’s durable enough for my needs… So, I went back to check out the site again and found that they have a mini messenger bag option (Eula, x-small — being discontinued). I don’t know if they had it before and I didn’t notice, or if it was a new thing. In any case, I went for it and I am so pleased with it!

I took a picture of all the stuff I try to carry around with me, but never seemed to have enough space for in my bag… until now:
- hands-free set for phone, including headphones to listen to music
- keys
- flashlight
- current bus book (Anathem by Neal Stephenson)
- plastic bag, just in case
- badges for work
- wallet
- business cards
- umbrella
- pen, pencil, sharpie
- pile of quarters Ian handed me yesterday
- phone
- bandaids, just in case
- eraser
- thumb drive
- going out chapstick (sparkly)
- regular chapstick (not sparkly)
- fish oil pills/meds
- hair tie
- ziplock baggie… just in case
- mirror
- pirate buff
- Dash bus schedule, which I probably use ~once/month. But when I do, this comes in handy. Hm. Now that I’m thinking about it, I should probably just take a picture of the pages I need and store them on my phone. That’d be much smarter…
- composition book that I use to run my life when google’s busy… or when I just feel like writing stuff on paper instead of typing
- small microfiber towel (for wiping off wet seats on the bus/metro)
- earrings
- necklace
- calculator

I don’t know why I am compelled to carry all these things with me, but I do. And now I can. The bag is incredibly light, so even with all this stuff, it comes out just a smidge heavier than the large book I’ve been carrying around lately.

My umbrella pouch easily clips to the strap on the bag, so I can leave it out when it’s wet. My phone is always with me, so I can trust my alarm on there to remind me when to take my meds… which are conveniently in an adjacent pocket in my bag. My life is so incredibly organized these days!

I highly recommend this bag if you’re looking for something casual and small-ish, but still find yourself needing the flexibility to carry around a notepad or manilla folder every now and then. Or if you enjoy having a book with you at all times.

Only downside: velcro is super loud. It’s very functional because I overstuff the bag and I never have a problem keeping the bag shut. It’s just loud when I’m trying to sneak in and get something out of my bag on the bus or in a meeting.

Dimensions: 12″ x 8.5″ x 3.5″
My pattern: Argyle Socks Spice

Woo! This just in:

It counts for credit and toward your degree. Apparently project courses don’t have grades. For everyone!

So… I think this is good for me! *phew*

Still a little confused as to why my prof didn’t know this ahead of time, but maybe it’s a new policy.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get reimbursed at work for a grade of “E”.

Ian and I had been considering going out for to the Post Hunt this year, but hadn’t really gotten a team together. So when Mindless told us that he and Chu were looking for a team, we were convinced!

Ian and I arrived a few minutes early, so we had just enough time to stop by a few of the tents to see what was going on before venturing into the crowds for the opening clues.

We started at the debate puzzle where the two participants were debating House Bill #98999 and emphasized how we needed to focus on the TEXT of the bill. The key was accountability.

In high spirits, we solved that and moved on to the Memorial of Failed Monuments. I didn’t bother fighting through the crowds to get a good shot of the middle statue, which was a vacuum cleaner:

That one took a few minutes longer, but we were soon pleased with our find. “Boo-cannon,” “Hoover,” and “Eyes-an-hour.” Buchanan, Hoover, Eisenhower. Next!

From there, we went to the statues… which we were clueless on for a good half hour before deciding to move on to the other clues and come back to this one (I’m not sure what I did with our clue sheet, so this is the gist of it):

According to Native American legend, Earth was originally pooped out of an eagle.

PLUS

It is believed to be the world’s largest freestanding polyp.

MINUS

Little Alice enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Henry, but always kept a sledge hammer close by in case he got frisky.

We were slow going on the next clue, which was handed to us by a silent man. It wasn’t until we realized that he was this week’s feature First Person Singular that it all made sense.

The last of the main clues was back at the start, where [fake] money was being thrown out to the crowds. Ian solved this in about 15 seconds, which only lead us to be suspicious of the puzzle/answer. But it was the only answer that made sense.

With over an hour left, we headed back to the statues and waited for Mindless and Chu to arrive. Once they did, we went over the thought process we had gone through and all continued to scratch our heads until it was time for the Final Clue.

The music started up: “Old MacDonald had a farm…”

And we were told to “turn that around in our minds.”

The 1337 puzzlers that we are, we paired that up with one of the other answer clues to call a phone number telling us to find, “an important message immediately after 4.”

That’s about as far as we got. We doubted ourselves too much because of our missing clue. And as it turned out, we could’ve gotten to the next step with what we had, but the missing clue from the statue puzzle was key to move on from there.

All in all, a fun day. But those statues sure did stump us! In the end, we were supposed to go to the locations of the statues on the map and not just look at the map. It sounds kind of obvious now, but we thought all the information we needed for the clues was at that location. Oops.

Next year, though… I think we’re getting better. And we made a lot more progress than our team last year. Maybe we’ll even make it to the part where we leave the main stage area for the final puzzle next time. :)

Despite all my entries about school lately, I have been up to other things…

I went to Ian’s company outing thing yesterday and got to visit his coworker’s alpaca farm! We got to meet many of the alpacas, their pet pig, the ducklings and chickens, the horses (including the surprise pregnant one!), and the miniature donkey (so cute!).

Plus videos of his coworker’s wife spinning some string out of alpaca fur, their pet pig wandering around outside, and the miniature donkey hanging out in the stable with the horses.

Response from my prof: “I thought you just took it for fun?”

I think I’m going to cry. Why would anyone just take this for FUN??

So, uh.

I just went to check my semester grades and I have a few issues. It turns out the design course I was enrolled in was an equivalent credit course. I haven’t quite clarified what that means, but so far it looks like I don’t get a grade in this class, nor does it count as credits toward my degree. Not good.

On the other hand, it turns out that we got failing to mediocre grades on at least 6 assignments. So… maybe I don’t want this grade counted.

I really don’t know what to do about this … assuming there was anything I could possibly do about it at this point anyway.

And I know the whole “there’s no I in team,” etc. etc.. But I can’t be expected to do 3 people’s work, nor would I expect that of my classmates. This was intended to be a 6-person group, but having more than one dud kind of detracts from the quality. Especially when the rest of the group is working on areas that take their full attention already. Admittedly, the easy sections shouldn’t have slipped past us in as poor quality as they were. But for goodness sakes.

I’m pissed. About the grade, about the credits, about the people… I can’t believe I put myself in a position where my educational future was dependent on these people. I’m not coming off of probation. And my other class suffered for this, continuing to help me not be off of probation.

Sigh.

I want my semester back.

Here’s a map I put together to show my adventure getting to work this morning. It took almost 2 hours including cleaning up and getting settled into the office, but I think it’d be closer to 1-1.5 without all the detours. Which is pretty close to how long it takes me to get ready and take the bus now.

View My adventure in a larger map

Click through to the larger map to read my story by map.

I ended up biking about 12 miles. The original route that I mapped out was just under 10 miles… But that route had no adventure!

Two good nights of sleep later… I’m feeling a little more generous toward my classmates. But it’s also peer review day.

How honest should I be?

I am so done.

Some more gems from our design report:

“Next, all the modules were brought into Model Center via the analysis server, put in the order which you will want to integrate and linked to the input file and each other where applicable. ”

“What all of this means is we are taking the broad perspective where all the possibilities are looked at, and that the large design space is narrowed down to a set of non dominated designs, and from those non dominated designs a small subset is chosen to go forward with into Concept Development.”

“Min Op Damage Worse Damage Cases” [a figure title]

“The below tables and figures” [a "sentence"]

And then there was the 1-paragraph section I received at 4am today (3 days late):

“The OMOR for this design is .305, and while the desired OMOR is 0, this is not bad at all.”

“The good thing though is that even though the structural failures have the worst consequence risk, their probability of happening is not big, so, overall it doesn’t create that much of a risk.”

I’m glad he has a good handle on what is good and not so bad. But my real question — why did this take him 4 hours to write?

And then there was the guy who edited my sections… First, combining my 5 paragraphs into one. Not by removing repetitive sentences or consolidating text. No, no. He just removed all my line breaks. Then, he made a correction to my appendix title from RAOs [Response Amplitude Operators] to RAO’S. Because that possessive plural really needs to be capitalized too!

If you’re going to be dumb, go do it on your own time. Don’t make me have to re-paste in my own sections because you wanted to look like you were helping.

But, on the bright side, I am SO done.

And I’m done with group projects for school. I guess I’ve been lucky though. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a group before where there was anyone this unhelpful. Because it’s not just the unhelpfulness… it’s the undoing of the work other people have done. Or preventing other people from working on something because you “have it covered.”

Now I just hope that this was enough to pull me off of probation. I’m a little worried…

Do my classmates even know how to read..?

But the design spiral used in Concept Development is not as simple as the ideal design spiral, so instead of simply going from one step to another in a linear fashion; once a configuration is chosen for each of the steps one has to start working on several other steps that will in turn affect several other steps.