My time is short tonight, so I'll cop out by linking to someone else's blog. In his latest post, Frank tells us he ate some partially raw BBQ chicken for dinner. I did some reading and yes, some Japanese dishes do include chicken which is only partially cooked.

I'll eat pieces of salmon and tuna sashimi until they close the restaurant but I'd never willingly eat a piece of raw chicken, even if it's "supposed" to be that way.

0 Comments

I learned something today. Here is how the lesson went. Before I had lunch today, I went to the bank to deposit some money into my account. The funds were in an envelope. After reaching the bank machine and punching in the right keys for a deposit, I transferred the money from my own envelope to the CIBC deposit envelope. I've done this more times than I can remember. I've never had a problem with it before.

Here's where things went wrong. For some reason, I did not notice that I left behind a single $20 bill in my original envelope. The deposit envelope by now had been swallowed up by the machine. The actual amount of cash deposited was $20 less than what I had keyed in. I looked to see if the bank staff could help me. The line-up was huge and every bank employee seemed busy.

I decided I would go home and phone the CIBC call centre as they rarely are busy and maybe they could access the system on their end. I called and explained the situation to a real, live person. I was put on hold for a few minutes. This is what I was told. The representative couldn't really do anything for me right now. He placed a message in the system which stated I had called about the problem. More alarmingly, he also told me that once the discrepancy was noticed, my bank card would most likely be put in a restrictive state and I wouldn't be able to use it. I was warned that I should probably get some cash out of my account to last the next few days since I might suddenly find my card would be useless. Great. I asked if he could predict when it might be put on hold. He said it could be anywhere from tomorrow to the next seven days. Great.

If and when my card is disabled, I am supposed to call them back to remove the hold. The only positive is that I can call back everyday to check if the hold has been put in place. Yay.

So like some crazy game, I might not have access to my money anytime from like tomorrow or the next seven days.

Let this be a lesson to you, check the damn envelope before you seal it to ensure all the cash is in there.

0 Comments

So back it up a few months when I was looking at the calendar. The university had just come out with the dates of the congregation ceremonies. I read the date of my own ceremony... May 30. I thought to myself, "Hmmm... so when I'm sitting in the audience waiting for my turn on stage, I'll already know how the last Star Wars movie turns out."

Well, that turned out to be true. As I sat there in the Chan Centre on Monday I remember thinking yep I was right. The whole event turned out to be speedy and efficient. Before I knew it, I back at my apartment with entire family eating chicken yakisoba. Of course, I had returned with my degree in tow.

I will admit the granting of my Master's degree seems less monumental compared to my undergrad degree. I think part of the reason is because my first degree was a huge, life-changing undertaking. I learned a lot about engineering, university life, and just being an adult in general in those five long years. Getting that undergrad degree was tough. There were a lot of rough patches along the way. Juggling seven courses a semester nearly the entire way through basically made me stressed out from the second week on. I've also realized that when I was in my late teens and early twenties, I just didn't have a lot of tools to handle life like I do now.

Upon reflection, at least for now, obtaining my undergrad degree still remains my greatest accomplishment of my life.

Back then, I just wanted to survive, to finish my degree. I didn't really think about life after UBC. The goal was just to get it done.

This time around, things were a little bit different. I knew from the start I wanted to get a Master's degree to help me get a specific job in a specific industry. So, in that respect, Monday was just a part of a larger plan. If I may borrow a baseball analogy, it was the seventh inning stretch in a game that would at least go nine innings.

Things were also easier with this degree because of familiarity. Sure the academic material is at a higher level, but a textbook is still a textbook, exams are still exams, and homework is still a pain in the ass. In short, the game was being played at a higher level, but I already knew the rules.

I will close by making one more comment. If by some strange twist of fate, I never work a day as a software engineer in the video game industry, I will honestly not look back at my degree as a waste of time or money. Why? Because I got to live at St. John's College. I'm not sure if I express in words what that place means to me, or more specifically what the people that I met mean to me.

I am sure if you've been reading my blog for a while you will know that I've befriended some great people at my time at SJC. I had a lot of fun there, more fun than I've ever had in my life. I would count my two years there as the two best years of my life thanks to my dear friends.

So maybe it's the popcorn talking but if you had to make me choose between what was more important and valuable to my life, my Master's degree or my time at SJC, I think I'd have to take SJC.

I first started thinking about completing a Master's degree in the late summer of 2001. Here we are in May of 2005. I did it. I'm not sure what else I have to say about that.

For reading this far, here's a picture of the hood (with me wearing it) that signifies my M.Eng. degree (scarlet with deep blue cord).

0 Comments

I have returned from my parents' place where I spent post-graduation. I left my degree with them. I have some stuff to do here right now but I'll be back later.

0 Comments

Today, I officially get my M.Eng degree conferred upon me at the 1:30pm graduation ceremony at the Chan Centre. The event will bring to a close my latest academic adventure.

Since I also received my undergrad degree from UBC, I don't feel quite as excited about this ceremony as I did for my first degree. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite satisfied with my accomplishment, but I'm more acutely aware of the lengthy speeches this time around. Nonetheless, the whole thing shouldn't take any more than an hour and half from the time I sit my ass down.

If you're interested, the hood of my degree is fully lined in scarlet with a dark blue cord. The undergrads get a single, thin cord of colour, but I'll be pimped out today. Of course, nothing can top the regalia of a PhD student with bright colours that distinctively say, "I kicked all your asses."

While only my family will be there live to witness this grand ceremony, I invite you to watch if I trip while I walk across the stage through UBC's webcast of the event. The video stream starts at 1:15pm but you can join in anytime. My guess is that they'll start calling out names around 2:30pm. I'll be among the first to be called. Turn it on and leave it running in the background, it'll give us something to talk about when we see each other next.

Well, I'll be back when I get in my hands the most expensive piece of paper I've ever paid for.

0 Comments

The month before before Revenge of the Sith came out in theatres, the largest Star Wars convention in at least three years took place in Indiana. Called Celebration III, it was a dream gathering for any Star Wars fan. Even the plaid-shirted one himself, George Lucas attended.

I was going through the endless online photo galleries that fans have posted. There are lots of very cool pictures. Here's an interesting one: a collection of fans in "slave girl" Princess Leia outfits.



This next picture is amazing. The guy below is in fact not Hayden Christensen though the resemblance is super uncanny. I've included a still photo of Christensen himself for comparison.





Seeing all the photos of the props and toys made me wish I could have gone. If you're interested, here are some more photos from the convention.

0 Comments