RAMBLING ON

We'll be going into the third week of the term on Monday. Up until this point, I really don't feel like I've done a lot of work yet. I'd like to look back upon a day and say, "Yeah, I got a lot of stuff done today."

It's clear to me that I'm less disciplined compared to when I was in undergrad. It's a tradeoff I'm willing to live with now. The only negative is that I don't get as much work done and I'm less efficient.

I'm going to try to use most of my Saturday to work. With the exception of playing a little ball hockey, I'll be working my ass off. I'm concerned that I might falter when the Canucks game is on, but I guess that's where my commitment will be tested. I remember last year I was in my room 26 consecutive hours. If I wasn't sleeping I was working. I hope that guy returns soon.

Yeah, it was a really good idea for me to audit that Animation Physics class. I read through the second assignment and it's probably the hardest assignment I've seen in my entire life. No joke. It involves making thousands and thousands of particles, and then modeling their behaviour. As they fall due to gravity, you have to simulate how they would react if they collided with a solid object. The math behind collision detection is pretty daunting. I never realized that until now. It will take me several weeks to fully understand it.

I've been having trouble napping all week. I just can't seem to fall asleep in the afternoons. I feel too tired to work, but I'm not tired enough to fall asleep. I'm caught in this zombie state. It's very unproductive. I've never had this problem before. The next time this happens, I'm tempted to power through it with some Coke or something.

Ok, I'll leave you with a sorta of request. How many of you have seen the movie Old School?. Hey me too! Bed, Bath, and Beyond!!! Um, anyways, so there's this band that plays during the wedding scene. You know what I'm talking about. They're called The Dan Band. All they play are covers of women's songs. They recently released a CD with a few of their songs. I'll be honest and say that I can't find these tracks on file-sharing. Does anyone have their cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart? I mean the cover version from the CD, not some crappy clip from the movie. If you could help me out, I'd really appreciate it.

Good night!

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THE SEARCH IS OVER

First, I'd like to say how nice it was to see Greg Williams and Erin at the Village today. It's always a pleasure to see either of them. Thank you Erin for your interest in my blog.

So now onto our regularly scheduled post...

Many of you out there have been following my long-standing quest to replace the three-quarter length black nylon Banana Republic coat I lost almost a year ago. I wrote about my loss in my post entitled "Lament for a Coat". You might even know that I tried to find a similar coat on Ebay. My search lasted for weeks before I stumbled upon one that was my size.

When it came up, I was determined to win the auction. I told everyone I knew that I was going to get my coat back. When the time came for the auction to end, the price went up astronomically. It was way beyond what I was willing to pay, even given my obsession. I let the coat slip past me. I was bummed for days.

After a while, I got back on my horse and kept looking. A few days later I found another coat, same style and size. The only problem was that the seller had taken it off the auction with no explanation.

I e-mailed him my story and asked him to re-consider selling the coat. One entire month went by before he responded. In the meantime, I had resigned myself to having lost the coat for good. His e-mail gave me hope. He told me that he had been wearing the coat until he found a replacement. Now that he had another coat, he was ready to sell. Unfortunately, others had sent him similar e-mails inquiring about the coat. He told me that I should make him an offer.

I gave him a very reasonable offer, but nothing crazy. After a week or so, he contacted me again. He had chosen me to sell the coat to. Now, I could have easily been jumping for joy, but I knew it'd stupid to be that happy way before I had the coat in my hands. This purchase was going to occur outside the auspices of Ebay and I would not fall under any of their protection schemes. Anything could happen before I got my coat.

I agreed to purchase the coat after making sure the collar was the right type. By now I was getting the impression that the seller was a stand-up type of guy. His e-mails were always courteous and professional. I think he might have even understood how much this coat meant to me.

Meanwhile, I told not a soul about this. No one. Everyone I knew understood I was always looking for my coat. They'd ask me if I'd have any luck. I'd always say no. I didn't even tell my closest friends whom I usually tell anything about my life. I didn't want to jinx it. Eventually, one person did find out... Sarah. One night she came to my room lamenting the poor and fraudulent ways of Ebay purchasing. She had just begun to use Ebay and a mailing snag delayed her first purchase. I told her not to worry because it usually worked out and that's when I told her my secret. I swore her to total secrecy. Of course the next day at dinner she starting blabbing about it and I had to swiftly kick her underneath the table. I wasn't very subtle about it because Rhonda asked me, "Are you trying to kick Sarah under the table?"

Privately, I chastised Sarah for talking and I made her feel shame. Ha ha ha... anyways, I sent the payment via Paypal and waited for confirmation. The next day, the seller told me he sent the package via USPS Airmail. This was November 16th.

I waited about one week before I got antsy. I checked my mailbox everyday after that, usually several times a day. Sarah would ask me about it and I would have to tell nothing had come. After two weeks I started to get worried. I e-mailed the seller and asked him to re-confirm the address. It was bang on. I phoned Customs Canada. They told me there was a huge backlog of mail items to be processed. Bummer. Nearly four weeks in I phoned Customs Canada again. They told me whatever backlog existed had been cleared. I was referred to Canada Post. So I phoned them. I was told that any item mailed from Indiana to Vancouver would have arrived by then. I started checking the on-campus mail depot on a daily basis.

I was feeling very dejected about this. I e-mailed the seller again. Wisely, he had sent it with insurance. I told him that we'd probably have to start a claim and that he should get the receipts ready. He replied he would but that he was dismayed it had turned out like this.

By this time my exams had ended and people were leaving for the holidays. On December 16th a ton of people left. The next morning I checked my mail. There was a note in my box, "There is a special package waiting for you at Mailing Services. Please present this card when you arrive."

It had to be it. I nearly ran over to the mail depot. I kept my joy in check since anything still could happen. It could be the wrong size, colour, or style. I gave them the card and I was handed a medium-sized box. There was a Customs Canada sheet on it. It read, "Processed on December 16th". Either Canada Post took a month to deliver it or Customs took a month to process it. Mofos.

I took the box home and placed it on my bed. I took off my Taiga jacket and put it aside. I grabbed a pair of scissors and took the pointy end to the pieces of tape on the box. For a moment there, I felt like Det. Sommerset at the end of Se7en when the box gets delivered. Anyways, I took a deep breath and then opened the flaps. Whatever it was it was wrapped in a plastic see-through Gap garment bag. It was black.

I pulled the garment bag out. Inside it was a black, three-quarter length nylon Banana Republic coat. I quickly looked the things that would make or break this deal... the buttons, the collar, the stitching, the lining, the pockets... it all passed inspection. This was the coat I had been looking for.

Almost cautiously, I slipped it on for the first time. It felt like an old friend had come back to see me. For the next twenty minutes I sat and walked in my room with it on. It was all good. I went on a short walk with it to the SUB and returned. I then took it off and hung it in my closet.

I returned home for the holidays soon afterwards and I wore it maybe a handful of times there. I returned to UBC and then it got extremely cold. Everyone came back from holidays and I waited for the right time to debut my coat. The cold pushed that day back several times until Tuesday night.

It was Bryan's birthday outing for dinner and the weather was warm enough for me to bring out old Betsy. Some people noticed the coat while others did not. I tried to be low-key about it because after all, it's just a coat. Albeit a coat that I've been looking for for months.

There's no doubt I am glad I have it back and to be honest, it's a nice looking coat.

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SETTLING DOWN

So I think I've got this business of my courses settled. There's no way I can take Animation Physics for credit. I'm going to audit the class. I was told by the prof to get a formal audit standing, I'd have to attend the lectures and read the papers but he won't quiz me on them. Seems simple enough but I'd like to skip the odd lecture or two. Today I went and I was dead tired by the first hour. I was ready to fall asleep at 10:30am. It was exhausting. My other option is to do an informal audit. I'd just sit-in and listen, there'd be no formal requirements on my part. Of course, it wouldn't show up on my transcript, but it wouldn't matter if I got a lot out of it. I'll have to decide what I'm going to do soon. The final drop date is on the 19th.

The other class I'm taking for credit seems to be going well. The first assignment came out yesterday and it seems completely reasonable. It's a mix of theory and some programming. I'll know how geometric modellers and CAD systems work after this class. Maybe I can work in Tools and Libraries after I graduate? Hopefully? Maybe?

Alright, I have to go, I have to be up at 8am to be at a lab meeting by 8:45am. We're discussing a paper I don't even understand. It's too bad since I read the whole thing in preparation. Good night!

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ALIENS : THEN AND NOW



One of my favourite films of all time is Aliens. It featured a great story, a wonderful script, good actors, and believable visual effects. Combined, it left a memorable mark in my early teenage years.

Even my younger sister liked the movie and at the time, you wouldn't think a little girl would. We were both impressed with the performance of Carrie Henn, the then child actor who played the character Newt. My sister and I would go around reciting her lines to each other, "They mostly come out at night... mostly...." and "Ripley, she doesn't have bad dreams because she's just a piece of plastic."

With the release of the Alien Quadrology set and individual DVDs, the whole Alien series has been revisited. On Friday, I bought the Aliens : Collector's Edition DVD set. It contains one of the most entertaining DVD commentaries I've had the pleasure of hearing.

It's a busy commentary, featuring several cast members (including Henn), the producer Gale Anne Hurd, effects guru Stan Winston, the man himself James Cameron, and many more. The most interesting commentary from Henn, the other cast members, and Cameron.

Actors Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, and Jenette Goldstein were recorded together. They seemed to have a blast doing the commentary. Paxton noted right after his death scene, "the movie just goes downhill after this".

Cameron goes into many of the technical details of making the movie, as well as how he quelled a near-rebellion on set. He seems almost jovial at times and none of the infamous Cameron on-set angst shows through. Did you know that Cameron would have shot Aliens in an aspect ratio 2.35:1 now if he had the chance?

Henn's commentary was truly interesting. She related the experiences of being the only child actor on the set of Aliens, giving us neat anecdotes along the way. In one particular scene, Paxton is called upon to swear up a storm. After the scene, he would repeatedly come up to Henn and apologize, "I am so sorry..."

Henn never made another movie after that and that was her decision. I wondered for years what happened to her. I read a few years back she became a schoolteacher. The DVD was the first time I have ever seen the adult Carrie Henn.

So, if you're even just a casual fan of Aliens, I'd recommend it as a rental at the very least!

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OPERATION : COIN FREEDOM

Several weeks ago, I was at the vending machines here at SJC when I noticed something. There was a shiny coin stuck in the gap between the pop and food machines. It was way in the back, far too deep for any arm or leg to reach.

I made note of this and vowed to get this coin in the near future. I'd forget about it, but when I returned to the machines, I'd see it lying there, time and again. I thought someone would surely beat me to it. None did however.

Tonight, I liberated the coin. A photojournalist (me) embedded in this operation, documented the actions. I took a hockey stick and put some masking tape on the end. With the far reach of the stick, the coin was extracted on the first try. I am now $0.10 richer. The photos are below:

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