Adventures in Proctology (And Other Random Things)

So, I've been meaning to write something about the state of being a student again, but I've been a bit remiss so this could end up long and rambling as a result.

Anyway...

I've been back to school for about a month now and am starting to get settled back into a bit of a routine. With only two courses, it's much more laid back than when I was an undergrad, a bit moreso even than when I was doing my Masters since I had three courses per term (for the first two terms) at the time. Even with marking, it's not bad since marking (so far) is pretty easy, just boring. Eventually I'll have research to do as well, but I'll probably be pretty much done my classes by the time I really get into that full swing, and I expect I'll be taking at most one course at a time after this term anyway (unless I see more than one thing that I really wan't to take).

As to the courses I'm taking, the Networks course is one of the ones that I've often thought, in retrospect, that I'd have liked to have taken when I was in undergrad (a lot of the 4th year courses are also cross-listed as grad courses) compared to a couple of the courses I did end up taking (databases, I'm looking at you) and, so far, that opinion seems to have been confirmed. So, it's nice in a way to be able to actually go back and take the course.

The other course is about colour in computer graphics and is not cross-listed as an undergrad course (though there is an undergrad in the course). So far it's been pretty interesting with lots of stuff about how people perceive colour. Haven't really gotten into the computer graphics bit yet, but I'm sure we will eventually.

As to the TAing, I'm marking for a first year CS course for non-CS majors, so it's easy (as noted above) but dull. The annoying thing is that they use scheme in the course and I'm not really fond of scheme. The first midterm was this past week, so we spent a couple days marking exams (half days for me as I had classes and whatnot). Again, it was rather boring, but we got some free pizza out of the deal, so that's ok.

In regards to the midterm, I had my first experience proctoring an exam as well. It was, well, uneventful which, I suppose is good, since I don't think I'd really have wanted to deal with anybody cheating or fire alarms or anything, but as a result it was rather boring. I mean, two hours of watching people write an exam in not exactly the most riveting thing in the world.

I did, however, find myself thinking that "proctoring" sounds somewhat like "proctology" and wondered whether or not they shared the same root. I rather doubt it, but the thought amused me nontheless.

So, yeah, that's my first month of returning to student life. It's also been a bit interesting reacclimating myself to the unix/linux environment that the school uses since I've been pretty much exclusively in Windows land for the past five years. I'm a bit surprised how much I actually remember, but it does seem to be coming back relatively quickly.

Anyway, that's enough for today.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

Full Spiral

Today was my first day back in school as I start my PhD at UW, having come full circle, in a way. It's really more of a spiral, though, since I'm not back exactly where I started, as my last time at UW was as an undergrad, so I am moving up in the world! In a manner of speaking, anyway.

The first day was largely uneventful, overall. I went on an epic quest to get office and lab keys, my student card and the like, going up several levels in the process no doubt. No classes today, since the class I've signed up for this term doesn't start until tomorrow, and I'll probably end up sitting in on some other classes as well before finalizing my courses for the term.

I had expected being back on campus for the first time in about eight years as a student to feel stranger than it did, but then I suppose that I'm on campus often enough for things like FASS, orchestra and CTRL-A that in a way it almost feels like I never left, in a way.

Anyway, it seems like I should have a reasonably slow first week or two to ease myself back into life as a student.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

Interesting Times - Piled Higher and Deeper

So, it's been an interesting week. More precisely, I've had two interesting Tuesdays in a row. Firstly, last Tuesday, was my anual performance review at work, which was somewhat unexpected. I say "somewhat" because it's that time of year so I knew it would be happening sooner or later, but when it happened it was more or less a "surprise! You've got a performance review in an hour!" sort of thing. Whatever. It was fairly painless and they decided to toss some more money at me (not literally).

What made last Tuesday more interesting, however, was that later that evening, I got an e-mail from one of the graphics professors at UW (University of Waterloo) inquiring about my PhD application and if I was still interested. Of course, I replied that I was, and I presumed that, since the prof had taken the trouble to contact me, there was a decent chance of getting an acceptance.

Well, this afternoon, being the following Tuesday, I received my acceptance letter from the department. So it appears that I will by starting my PhD (read: piling it higher and deeper) in January. Not exactly the normal time to start, but that's what worked out, and I'm not really complaining.

The somewhat ironic thing, is that I'll be taking a pretty hefty pay cut from my current salary, but then, if it was about the money, I wouldn't have applied in the first place.

Freak Out,
-TFitC