Last Day!

Today is my last day of class at the University of Waterloo!

Bunch 'o' Stuff

Ok, here's a quick rundown:

• I have three days of class left, counting today
  
• I have an MSCI presentation in about an hour
  
• I have a power quiz and a power assignment due on Thursday
  
• I HAVE A JOB OFFER FROM ASECO!!! I'm going to call them today to find out more.
  
• AccuTemp wants me back for a second interview, which means I could basically have that job too. It's in Kitchener, but the Aseco job is so much cooler. Ack!
  
• Today we have a class pizza party
  
• Thursday we have a class house party
  
• The fish tank looks really cloudy
  
• I'm taking care of a small aloe plant for M
  
• I have a huge 443 assignment due Thursday
  
• I went to Novacks and looked at backpacks for Europe and Bruce this weekend. I Found something nice called the PineRidge Trekker.
  
• M posted a huge post for the first time in a month!
  
• Danielle, if you're reading this, any idea when we'll get to see your wedding pics?
  
• I'm supposed to get both my class composite and my official Gradball pictures this week. Update: I get them on Thursday!
  
• I'm climbing the CN Tower with M on April 23rd. Want to sponsor me? Click here: http://wwf.ca/ and search for Victor Rodriguez.
  
• M and I went to an orchid show in London this weekend. Unfortunately I don't have pictures because I forgot my camera in Waterloo.
  

That's it for now!

Tired...

Ugh! I was up until 4:00 am trying to fix my computer.

After plugging in my camera to download pictures, the computer locked up as it sometimes does when I try to use the front USB port. After rebooting however, I couldn't connect to the internet. Opera, Sunbird, Thunderbird and more wouldn't load at all. Other programs would start, then crash after a few seconds. I tried everything I could, then finally went to bed, leaving the computer running scandisk. I woke up at 9:00 and started again, and I *just* got it working. It turns out it was all because my firewall was messed up. Ugh.

Consequently, I also have a midterm tomorrow, in lieu of a final, in my MSCI class. Priorities...

On the bright side, Mel's coming over tomorrow and staying until Sunday!

2 Weeks

I have 2 weeks of school left, and neither of them are even full weeks! I'm done classes *for ever* next Thursday.

This weekend, M and I went to visit RJ and Becky at their apartment in Toronto. What a nice place! They've decorated with a lot of taste and made the most of a small space. Warren is still in charge though. After eating some snacks that Becky prepared, the four of us walked outside for a bit, then made our way to a bookstore. We spent some time there and M and I managed to find the Bruce Trail map book we've been planning to buy for our trip.

M and I then took the subway North and then walked a few blocks to Alleycatz where we were celebrating the close birthdays of M and Monica. Thanks Sabeen for organizing the whole thing!

Pictures: http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=sudslpr.gt6a52j&x=0&y=-gwikqk

Busy

My week is shaping up as follows:

• Wednesday 9:30am - interview with Cargill foods - Link
• Wednesday 1:30pm - CLAS 105 essay due - Link
• Wednesday 5:30pm - ECE 443 midterm - Link
• Thursday 8:30am - MSCI 331 assignment due - Link
• Thursday 2:00pm - interview with Aseco in Oakville - Link

Sunday, a group of us are meeting to discuss plans for our trip to Europe at the end of the semester. I also have a couple of new Lost episodes to watch. Priorities...

Gradball

Gradball, the Engineering "prom", was held on Friday March 4th at Bingemans. I had stayed in Mississauga the night before (see previous post) and spent the day at M's house while she was at work. I was supposed to study all day to make up for behind way behind, but I ended up having a long nap instead. Meanwhile M was sending me emails about what a long and stressful day she was having. Poor girl :)

I picked her up from work at 4:00 and we headed to Waterloo again. 4th trip in 2 days, and 2 more trips were to come. Since she had come straight from work, M changed in the bathroom at Bingemans. She looked super good though, in a dress for the third time since December.

We mingled for a while, took lots of pictures including one with a professional photographer. Speaking of which, when are we getting the pictures from Danielle's wedding? Anyway, we made our way to our table where we were sitting with Lynn, Jaiden, Erick, Selena, Dave, and Jon. Each table's centerpiece was a bowl with a goldfish in it, but more on that later.

Dinner was alright. I traded M potatoes for zucchini, and the red wine was actually decent. The chocolate cake for dessert was great though! I'm fighting hard not to adopt M's sweet tooth.

After dinner there were a few prizes given out, including one to Sharmini for being the best-dressed in a dress she designed herself. Then the EngSoc awards were given out, which took way too long. Finally, they started the music and the dancing.

After a couple of hours of dancing in the crowd, swing dancing on the side, and relaxing in a comfy chair in the hall, we went back to our table. Selena, Erick, and Jon had taken it upon themselves to save as many goldfish as possible, since a few people were eating them live. Our table ended up with a collection of bowls, glass beads, and of course, fish. Fourteen of them are now in my living room in varous jugs.

We stayed until 12:45am, when we headed to Mississauga. I spent the night again, and M had me out, as promised, by 2:00pm the next day. This day was also our 7-month anniversary. Back in Waterloo, I started working on the list of school work that has been slowly growing. This is going to be a busy week. I have a midterm on Wednesday, three assignments due, and two interviews. Ok, enough of a break. Back to work.

My pictures: http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=sudslpr.qe08hmz&x=0&y=-960elb
Chris's pictures: http://gallery146820.fotopic.net/c454694.html
Kevin's pictures: http://www.orangefever.net/photos/index.php?album=2005&start=103
Nelson's pictures: http://www.orangefever.net/photos/index.php?album=nelson&start=0
More pictures: Gmail user/pass: elec2005@gmail.com/gradball
More pictures: Gmail user/pass: elec05@gmail.com/gradball

M's Birthday

On Thursday, March 3rd, I drove to Oakville to get M out of work early (again). We drove to Waterloo as she tried to guess to what event I was taking her based on a few clues. She guessed it when she read a sentence in a notebook I gave her, but I continued to pretend she was wrong and I think she was actually starting to doubt again by the time we arrived.

We went to the CUBE Bioengineering Symposium 2005: The Role of the Bioengineer for the 21st Century. This was a series of talks about, well, bioengineering. M was actually part of the team that organized the event last semester, but didn't think she'd be able to actually attend.

While most of the presentations weren't actually bad, they could have been much better. Personally, I found the presentation on tissue engineering by Dr. Michael Sefton to be the most interesting. Dr. Sefton spoke about his research on growing replacement organic hearts, and showed a video of tissue "beating" in a dish that was simply amazing.

After the seminar, we went to M's student house to visit her brother and her roommate. After spending some time there, her, Steven and I went out for dinner (a second dinner for M and I) at Mel's Diner. After finding out it was M's birthday, the waiter brought her a huge version of the traditional Mini Mel.

We took Steven home, headed to my place so I could pack an overnight bag, and then went to Mississauga for the night.

California

Last weekend, on about 24 hours notice, M and I went to Mountain View, California for my interview with Microsoft.

On Thursday, I drove to Oakville to get M from work but ran into a huge traffic accident near the Guelph Line. I ended up sitting in traffic with the car off for over 2 hours! When I finally got to GE, we drove to Pearson Airport and got there only 45 minutes before our flight was due to depart.

In Pearson, M kept setting off the metal detector. After she emptied her pockets and took off her shoes, they finally used the wand and found that her hair band was setting off the detector. My suitcase was searched and my nail clipper were confiscated. I can't believe I forgot to take them out of my traveling case. I'm glad I remembered to leave my Swiss Army knife at home.

When we sat down at the gate, we noticed other people there as well, so we figured we were fine. Then they called our names over the PA so we realized that those people were there for the next flight.

We made it to San Jose Airport, via Chicago, with no other major incidents. M took tons of pictures from the plane (she managed to get a window seat on both planes). We grabbed pizza in Chicago when we found out that American Airlines no longer serves meals on their flights. They will, however, sell you a box of crackers, cheese, and cookies for $3USD.

On Friday we woke up early due to the time difference. Looking outside, the first thing we noticed were palm trees. We couldn't get over palm trees in February! The next thing we noticed was the hilly area in the distance, which was our first taste of CA mountains. It was also quite warm - around 15 degrees Celsius.

My interview had been rescheduled for 10:45am and one of the Holiday Inn staff drove me short distance to the Microsoft campus. Since I didn't know the interview length when I left, we planned to leave messages for each other at the hotel. M spent the morning to early afternoon walking around the Palo Alto shopping district. Palo Alto is another small city in the area between San Jose and San Francisco.

The interview ended earlier than I was told when I first arrived - around 3:00pm - and so we met back at the hotel room in Mountain View. We then asked for some advice from the friendly desk staff at the Holiday Inn and walked to the train station. We took the train to San Francisco, about a one-hour trip.

To keep this brief, we walked all over the San Francisco downtown for about 7 hours. We saw Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz Island, the trolleys, and Lombard Street (the windiest street in the world). The entire city is made of hills, and they are steep! You are virtually never walking on flat ground. There are these strange (to us tourists) intersections that are four-way stops for the cars, but the trolleys go right through them, sometimes stopping right in the middle of a lane to let off passengers.

We caught the last train back to Mountain View at midnight, so by the time we ended up back at the hotel it was nearly 2:00am. With an 11:56am flight the next morning, we called it a night. The next morning, we once again raced the airport with 45 minutes to go, but again we made it. We ended up flying over both the Rockies and the Grand Canyon on the way back, and of course M took tons of pictures.

We stayed in Mississauga on Saturday night and then went to Woodstock on Sunday. I read a chapter in a textbook for school while M read Atlas Shrugged. My "reading two-days" were over. The next morning we drove to Waterloo since I had school. Then we drove to Mississauga after my night class and again stayed there. After driving M to work in the morning, I came back to Waterloo. And to think, on Wednesday morning, I had no idea any of this was going to happen...

Pictures: http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=sudslpr.9opr31n&x=0&y=-hddk2m