Hard work paying off

Things are really starting to come together for Mikado. Once we were all into our costumes, it was much easier to get a feel for what to do on stage. And then we found that the length of the auditorium we practice is 60 feet, the same size at the Winspear stage.

Job search is not going as strong as I anticipated, but with the amount of spare time that I have... well, I suppose I could just give up blogging altogether. That wouldn't be a good idea though. I like having an outlet where I can record the going-on's of my life, and also, when I have time, ruminate on the finer points in life. Or not.

My in-laws also noted that their neighbours have put up a Olds Cutlass for sale. $1500 OBO. I would like to get a car, especially with baby coming, but I want to hold off on purchases like that until I get an engineering job. Or... maybe an AM position. I don't know if I'm going to pursue that though. I'm sure if I asked for advancement, there wouldn't be much to it. I am Rogers certified now. Yeah! I was a little surprise when I found there was two new courses. Finished those up quick, because I'd been waiting for months to get my certification!

However, any management position would be a serious investment in time and effort on my part. It's not like I'll go AM and then, oh I'm done now, two weeks later. Then again, some management experience is better than none. Plus, management experience is a very good thing to have on an engineering resume.

I'll ponder on this tomorrow as I ride the train to work. Since I don't have a car. Yet.

Red Zone

I didn't think that I would get so frustrated with this play. I know that I get perturbed with some of Tiana's behaviour on a usual basis, but I take it with a grain of salt. Today, I could feel myself heating up like an atomic pile. I was just about ready to shout out for silence, but that would be counterintuitive. I don't know if it was just a matter that I wanted to get on with it, and get out, or if I just couldn't stand the criticism to everyone in general and to some individuals, or if I was just perturbed with the performance of everyone else. The fact that I'm in the chorus is kind of good, but not. The entire chorus looks bad if one person looks bad.

It might also be the fact that we are going to be performing in a little over five weeks. We are running out of time, and unless we get things right, and right now, we are not going to be able to perform. Plus I'm a little put out that some people have not done choir singing before, and therefore do not know how to get the proper lung volume necessary for loud sound. Loud and in tune. There's the rub.

I am very tempted to get another cell phone. It would be a Nokia 3220, and I would prefer that it was on PayGo. I know that Fido does not carry that model of phone, but that's just the point. It's on the Rogers network, and we could put it under a $100 voucher that is good for one year. Rather than getting minutes month after month, once a year, or maybe every 10 months. A lot easier on the mind.

Interview aftermath

I don't think I got the position with Finning. Is it because of the fact I slapped the resume together last minute? Or is it more of the fact that I didn't realize that the supervisor that they were looking for is someone with a P.Eng? The big thing that hit me in the face was the interview. I didn't quite expect that my trip to their office would take only 20 minutes. I thought I would have to plow through rush hour traffic, however the traffic was going into the downtown core, and I was heading away from the core! Oops. Not the worst mistake, because I got there fifty minutes early instead of ten.

Next surprise was the two Human Resources people that we present in the interview. I thought it was just going to be a one-on-one interview with the Branch Manager. Surprise! Then I found out the job requires a) directing two teams of people, six or seven people each, and b) the EEs that work for Finning are all located in Calgary and Vancouver. This might be bad, since I am an EIT, and need to work under an engineer with P.Eng. certification. APPEGA might not even approve of myself working remotely under an engineer out of Vancouver. Hence, I might have to relocate.

That was another thing I discovered quick, give direct answers. One of the HR persons asked me if I was willing to relocate, and I said, "If I must, I must." A bit too ambiguous for their taste, because she asked again, "Would you be willing to relocate?" I just said, yes, and from that point on, any of the questions they asked me I gave the quickest and most direct answer I could think of.

"Have you done any work with switchgears?" "No."
"Have you worked with synchronization panels?" "I did work with one in the lab, with which we synched a generator motor to the grid."

Then there was a point in the interview where it was just me telling them why they should pick me for the job. Crickey, I was not ready for that! I thought that if I did have to do that, if would be at most 30 seconds, not 10 minutes. Also, the HR questions had me turning things over in my head trying to think of the best idea to use, and to come up with one in the least amount of time. I remember my answers, but I don't remember all the questions. How'd that happen?

Question one, I answered that I deal with a problem customer who wanted a refund on a set of wireless headphones that she wanted to return because they cut out the sound from the speakers on the TV when the headphones were on. I thought that there could be a way around that, but I was very wrong, and she wanted a refund. However, the receipt was outside refund date, even for a Christmas present. Then she tried playing a trump card in which she had already tried to return the headphones, and so we should restart the 30 day refund window when she tried to return them previously. However, I didn't remember when I talked to her. I did remember talking to her, barely, but I had no idea if it was before the new year or not. If it was before the new year, we were still out of luck, because it was Jan 28th. At this point I had done all I could do, and she also wanted to speak with the manager. Why these things happen when Jon isn't there I don't know, but Liz did her best to difuse the situation by offering store credit. After the customer turned that offer down flat, things got a little ugly. To the point that we gave her information to contact head office, and she didn't want that either! She wanted the district manager to call her. And then she still would not leave. There weren't any raised voices, but we called security to come remove her. Security arrived a bit late, because she decided to leave before they arrived. I would almost say that was best for everyone. In retrospect that wasn't the best example to tell at the interview! It was the most recent one I could think of, but not the best. I then told the brief episode of when I gave someone a $10 credit back on their purchase because the car they bought went on sale the week after they bought it. It was within policy, although it's not widely know, nor published, and I ran the transaction through, and everyone walked away happy.

I figured that was a bit limp compared to the long winded disaster story I told, but that was the best I could come up with.

The other question addressed how I withheld jumping to conclusions. I think. I told the story about I was a little put out by the irate behaviour of one my co-workers, but I held my tongue and later found she was worried about her boyfriend being on the front line of a NATO operation in Afganistan. I also told them about the time when I was roofing and we were getting the tile load on the roof in the rain. Three hours into the job, my jacket is soaked, I'm soaked, and my spirit is dampened as well. Then this guy I don't recongize comes onto the roof to help. He looks at me and my friend who was just as wet and miserable as me, and says, "It's raining, eh?" Part of me wanted to scream, "NO @#!& SHERLOCK!", and another part thought it best I hold my tongue. The side of reason previaled and I'm glad it did, because by the end of the day, I was still wet, but I was joking and laughing with the boss's son. That and it's just bad to swear at someone on site. Well, in regards to vulgar language, my grandfather would inform people that they didn't need to display their ignorance before him.

Last question was about championing an idea. For that I decided to talk about my decision to get married while I was still in school. I knew it was the right thing to do. I didn't know exactly how I was going to pull it off, and I certainly didn't anticipate the things that have happened over the past three and a half years. Yet if I had to do it all over again, I would. Some thought that I should wait until I was done school, and established in a good career before I went into making life changing decisions like that. I took the opinions into consideration, and I still went with what I thought was the right thing. If it wasn't for Caitlin, I'm not sure if I would have been able to pull through the episodes we've faced. Then again, would life have taken the same path?

No matter. After all that rigorous mind mashing to figure out that my chances of getting this level 6 (on a scale of 1-12, 1 entry level, 12 senior exec) job with a salary of $58k - $75k, was not good, we came to the last part of the interview. I felt like I had just written a really bad exam, and they wanted me to ask them questions. I told them what I was thinking, that most of my questions had already been answered, and I think I asked some kind of rag tag question, but it was weak, like how I felt.

If I do get the job, they'll call me in seven to ten days. They still have some other interviews to do. In the mean time, I'm going to check CaPS, PlacePro, and some other places. This job search is far from over.

Close call

I never thought that I would have the nightmare of getting a call back for a job you didn't think that you would get. Getting a call back is great, but if you applied to the job and forgot what the job was about... Yeah. Fortunate for me, I found the job through the Career and Placement Services at U of A and they keep hard copies of their job postings. I'm not sure for how long after the date has closed, but it was long enough for me to come by and get a photocopy of the posting!

I'm going to head off to the LDS Employment Center and do some practice interviews. A friend of mine recommended it, and it helped him land some jobs to boot. If it worked for him, it should work for me. Seeing that there is a lot hinging on this interview, I should be as prepared as I can.

Another happy thought is that there is room to think in our apartment again! My mother-in-law came by and helped organized about half of our apartment. You never realize how much room you have until you clean up! There was a heap of stuff that I forgot we had, and some stuff I posted on Freecycle. I don't know if I'll get rid of it or not, probably because I mentioned that I would prefer pick up only. If I had a car I would drop stuff off! Or if I was on my bike again. It's the middle of winter right now, and I don't want to destroy my bike with the adverse weather conditions. Although it has been very mild for January. I'll wait until March to get back on the saddle. Maybe April.

Until then, I have DDR to keep my fitness level up! After the spat I had with my manager, I realized that I can't play DDR at the level I want to, and so I resolved to wait... until I got to my in-laws. They have no trouble with me bringing along my PS2 and the dance pads, and using their 51" TV, so long as no one else is using it, and I'm not playing it in the middle of the night. I thought that my sister-in-law would be willing to let me use her PS2, but silly me didn't realize the hassle that it took for her to set it up in her room, and the hassle it would be to take it down. Okay. If that's the way it is, I would just bring along my hardware and use that! And I did. Rather, Caitlin and I did. She took the console and the games, and I brought the dance controllers and the cords.

What's that? A typo? Because I only have one dance pad? Mais, non. Recently, Friday actually, I found out that one of my co-workers is a huge gamer, and had a dance pad that he was no longer using since he sold his DDR games in order to buy an XBOX 360. He might get the DDR games again, but it was easier for him to sell it to me for $20. HEE HEE! Now I can play double! I was also hoping that I could do some two player rounds, but maybe next time. It's not like those things have an expiry date on them.

On the same note of video games, Caitlin and I went to go see Video Games Live. I wrote about this in the baby blog and I'll leave it at that. I got to get going, and I've been sitting in front of this iMac at the SU computer lab long enough. I was surprised my Campus ID still worked. Probably will until April. Meh.

Caveat Rent-or

For Christmas, I got a PS2. More of a grad gift, but still, it's in the house, and it's great. Got the digital output hooked up to the amp, and we got some crazy sound pumping. I was also able to obtain a copy of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA, and it included a dance pad controller. One stupid thing I forgot.

The game is really noisy. If it's not the music, which you can turn down, it's the hoping around. I would think that was the tip off to my manager, who happens to reside in the apartment directly below me. Getting a knock on the door at 11pm is never a good thing. Being told that such activity is inappropriate at ANY time was also a good kick in the head. Furthermore, this comment about the anytime parameter for the noise factor (which is law, another kick to the head) is backed up in the lease as well, and recommended that I read it. For some odd reason, I cannot find the lease. I'll have to ask for another copy, because I was sure that I had it in my briefcase. The welcome package was there, as was the inspection sheet.

Caitlin agreed that I was a little loud with the game, since she called for me to turn it off and come to bed. Twice. I never responded. Next time that happens I hope Caitlin will take a bit more of a drastic or dramatic measure.

This really is not fun. For years I've had this dream of having a home version of DDR. Well, congrats to me, I have it. What sucks is that I may not be able to play it the way I want and still keep my apartment. And I was thinking that my biggest problem was keeping the dance pad from sliding out from under me.

Funny fact: When I bought DDR SuperNOVA, I was also given a Gilette Fusion razor, free. This perplexed me, because you usually don't find personal hygene supplies in a video game store, never mind free products sponsered by the manufacturer. Then again, this might be the start of something more. Next we'll have Nivea sponsering some facial cleansers, and then Old Spice sponsering to ensure that gamers a least have deoderant on hand.

Yea Eddie!

Sung to the tune from the theme song of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"
Now this is the story all about how
Alberta got flipped, turned upside down
I'd like to take a minute and then you'll see
How Ed because the leader of a party called PC

East of E-town Ed was born and raised
On the homestead where he spent most of his days
Milking cows, farming, and workin' real hard
And a-shootin' some gophers out in his backyard

When a couple of voters said, "Be our MLA!"
Ed started making headlines in the cabinet
Ralph got in one too many fights
And the Tories got scared
They said, "You're retired and you're out of your lair!"

Ed jumped in the race and when voting came near
The odds looked bad and he was in the rear
If anything, Jim thought Ed wouldn't make the pledge
But Ed thought, "Nah, forget it.
Yo, homes: to the Leg'!"

He pulled through the 2nd ballot, came up with a win
And yelled to old Ralphy, "Crack out the gin!"
He looked at his kingdom, he was finally there
To sit on his throne as Alberta's next premier.

-Originally published in the Getaway, Dec 2006

One of the few things that I actually found funny and NOT offensive in the Getaway. I was going to see if I could find a link to the actual article, but I don't want to link to the Getaway due to the nasty nature of the crap they publish in the joke issue. Plus I don't even know if they have it online, and I don't want to waste my time finding out. Time for sleep.

Oniomania

The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither wit nor courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our duty to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

- Robert F. Kennedy

Things at work are starting to heat up. The oniomania is starting to grip the populace, and it's going to get crazier the closer we get to the 23rd. I have a funny feeling that's going to be the peak day, since it is a Saturday. Christmas Eve we are going to be open 9:30am-5:00pm. Boxing day is going to be pandimonium, plain and simple. I have no idea what kind of things were are going to be doing, what sales we are going to have, but even if I did, I couldn't post them in my blog. But hey, I have a funny feeling that making money will not be difficult for the month of December.

I also got an information about the employee health benifits package now available to me since I've been with Source for six months now. Now I'm kinda glad that I stuck through the school year working. Almost cost me my degree, my marriage, and my sanity, but I have a funny feeling that's just a taste of things to come.

Pleasant surprises

Even though my finished essay was a mere five and a half pages, I handed it in anyway. I couldn't think of anything else to write, and it was close to the deadline to boot. Turns out that although I thought my essay was much shorter than required, it was actually just about the right length. This is because of one little detail that I forgot about, and didn't do, which extended my paper within the 10-12 page requested length. I didn't double space it. After I got home, I double spaced it and discovered that my paper covered 11 pages. Actually with the endnotes, it spilled over to 12 pages. I would have put all the endnotes on the same page, so it's just as well to say that it was twelve pages long.

Class was pretty quiet since it was about a) Battlestar Galactica, which I know little about, and b) a Compendium of Canadian Science Fiction, of which I only read one story! Sadly, most everyone else in the class was on the same boat as me! Really embarassing. Next week it will not be the same, for we will be discussing Calculating God, the novel that I based my essay on. So next week I won't be sitting there looking over my schedule for the week.

Looking over my schedule for the coming week, I noticed something scary. Of the two assignments that are due on Friday, I only have about seven hours to work on them. I hope I'll be able to coordinate with some of my classmates, or at least get some competent work done on my own.

Oh yeah, and my final in C Lit is in EXACTLY two weeks. Meaning I have to start studying this week.

Maybe I should just stop sleeping. Wait. That would get me back in the hospital and into another quixotic quandary that I'd rather avoid.

Why couldn't the Christmas rush be in April when Christ was actually born, or at least January or February when I'm done school? I now know why I rarely worked during the school year pervious to this. The only other time I worked during the school year was when in 2003, and that was at Advanis where they didn't care what I did at work so long as I still had a decent flow rate, and even that they didn't care too much about. Nevertheless, I worked less than 10 shift there throughout the entire Fall term, and after midterms I think I put in two shifts.

Gah.

Well, I'm going to try to start the EE 430 right now before I head off to bed. Even though I need sleep. This is going to be a horrid week.

Five days.

Knockdown

Just finished up my final essay for C Lit 342, and man was that thing a dozy. Here's the initial draft for the email that accompanied my essay to my prof's inbox.

At first I thought writing this essay was going to be a simple matter, since my personal beliefs coincide with much of what Calculating God is about. I wasn't exactly correct in that line of thought, and I struggled to write something I would feel comfortable with.

I put forth my best effort to compile this essay, and I hope you find it to be a reflection of my efforts throughout the year.

Thanks,

Steven Clark

P.S. I fear I might have shot myself in the foot with that last comment.

After reading over the email I reconsidered writing the comment about shooting myself, and comparing the essay to my efforts in class, and I edited those bits out.
It's really hard to write something that you feel very strongly about, but remain detracted from it as well. I really hope I do well in this class, because I don't want to come back and do this again!

Nice as it is to get that essay done, there's no time to rest on my laurels, if I had any. I have two assignments due Friday, which happens to be the day of the Ultrasound appointment. I'll be missing EE 404, and will only have enough time to get to campus hand in the assignments, and maybe attend ECON 204 before I have to head off to work. All my shifts start at 3pm this week, which is good, but bad. It gives me more time on Tuesday and Thrusday, but cuts the time on Wednesday and Friday. I'm going to have really shoddy assignments this week. Hmmm... One might wonder how that is different from any other week. Stupid one.

At the cost of working a Sunday shift, I did get time off work on Saturday to attend the Iron Ring ceremony. w00t!

Five days.

Another step closer to the ring

Today I got sized for the Iron Ring. Oddly enough, before the sizing, I had to read and sign a document that outlines what it means to wear the ring. There was a spot for another signature, so I assume I'll be receiving the doc at the ceremony next Saturday. Next Saturday. Oh wow. With the assignments that I have pressing down on my brain, I don't think much about future events like that. But... wow. Nine days and I'll have the ring.

I also found out that I can have guests at the ring ceremony. Two guests, that's all. I had a guest list planned out in my head already, and the top two people are:
1. Caitlin (of course)
2. My dad

After that, I considered my father-in-law, and after that... well to be honest, I didn't think I would be able to invite more than three people. Heck, I didn't know if I would be able to invite anyone. Surprise surprise.

Nine days.

Not as I hoped

I just talked with a former classmate of mine, and he applied for the Rates Analyst & Implementer as well. He has an interview tomorrow. I do not. Methinks that I'm not going to get one either.

I'm starting to wonder just how long I'm going to be working at the Source.

There's another line of employment that was put in my eyes. A certain Drew LaHaie mentioned that Intuit is still hiring, and that all I need to do is go to the website and apply directly. They're looking for Quality Assurance people, and I think that's something I can do. Looking for mistakes, crashing systems, and debugging. Again, it's a stepping stone.

Hopefully I won't land in the water trying to cross the creak from university to the workforce.

Job Hopes

I need to keep my mind open for job oppurtunities. Turns out that a friend of the Tolleys has a brother who is one of the Vice Presidents at EPCOR. Let's see... I married Caitlin, Caitlin's parents are involved in the Beaumont Drama Club, of which Martin Stout is also a member, and Martin Stout is the brother of Richard Stout, Vice President of Regulation for EPCOR Utilities, Incorporated, one of the co-chairs for the 7th Alberta Power Summit. I called up Martin and gave him my phone number. Perhaps he'll be able to arrange a time to introduce us.

Maybe my application isn't such a write off after all!

Time will see.

You want what?

Should have guessed that university employers would want to see my transcripts. They serve as a better filter than any kind of cover letter software. Nevertheless, when I read the posting for the EPCOR position, there was no mention that transcripts were to be included, hence I didn't. With good reason. They are not the most impressive thing! Unless they are looking to see which courses I've taken, and how well I did in them...

I think my chances at getting an interview, let alone a job, dropped signifigantly when I hit send.

Time will tell.

TGIM

It's kind of weird that I look forward to Mondays. Most people don't have a Compartative Literature course through, and I feel sorry for them. Then again, those same people might feel sorry for me because of the essay that I have to hand in two weeks from now. Nevertheless, it a cool course, and my day is definately looking up.

I just dropped off the assignment that was due today, and I sent off the job application to EPCOR. I should remember to carry the cell phone with me in case they call, but I believe they set up the interviews through the employment office. Meh.

The big thing right now is to form a thesis for my essay. I'm basing it on Calculating God, and the challenge is finding a core theme to write the essay around. Science facts overlaps with theological beliefs; they are not seperate issues. This is what I took from Sawyer's work. The force of gravity is ever so close to forcing earth to collapse on itself, the curious wonder that is the physical properties of water, and the base structure of DNA. I seem to remember in scripture that God is bound by physical laws as well. There may be some standards that existed before the world was. That's not addressed in the book, so I can bypass that. I suppose all I need to do is take excepts of the book to back that up.

I was trying to think of something along the lines that you need to have an intersection of religion and science in order for them function optimally. For instance, you have the creationist who believe that the world was created over a period of 144 hours, no more no less. I personally think that's a crock. It's said that the Lord created the world in "six days". A day to God is not necessarily 24 hours. Our days are measured by the axial revolution of our planet. Just because God created the Earth, doesn't mean that he was living on the planet, and setting his watch to the local time. My assumption is that He would work on a certain thing, and once He was done, He called it a day. Literally. It might have been 10000 years, but under the project timeline, it was called Day 1. So why would the seventh day be included? Most people I know take some time off between massive projects.

Now to get that into 10 pages, and I'm set.

Much better now

Wednesday, I was in distress. I was worried about my courses, about my job prospects, and also about my family. I actually spent some time at the Student Distress Centre to help with the maddness that was chewing on me and it helped quite a bit. After talking with the volunteer, I had my feet on the ground, and some information about the Academic Guidance Centre. Yesterday I signed up for an online workshop about overcoming Exam Anxiety. Included with the purchase is a free 45 minute one on one session with one of the staff in the office. I'll have to arrange that appointment for next week, but I'm waiting until I know what the work schedule is for next week before I do that.

Oh, and yes I did get the exam back. Much to my surprise, I didn't get the worst mark in the class. My mark was higher than the 28% I got on my EE 430 midterm, a sore embarassment, and I didn't get the lowest mark in the class. Rather my mark of 40% earned me the third lowest ranking on the midterm. Sadly enough, I know who got the lowest mark, and he was none too happy about it. We went and played some Gunblade to help get the dregs out of his mind, but we both know that we need to really shine on the Final, or else we are hooped.

It can be done. It will be done. Now I just need to find a copy of the assignment, since I have misplaced mine. I'll email Koval. He's good about things like that.

Congratulations! You're an idiot!

Just finished the second half of the EE 404 - Reliability - midterm. Wow. I thought that studying yesterday would help me be prepared for the onslaught of knowledge testing, but that was a bust. For the one question that I figured out a last minute answer which I was quite confident of, I may have done wrong because most people don't have answers which match me. That could mean anything, but I've come to note that it usually means that I was wrong. Then the second question I thought was pretty straight-forward, until I realized after walking out of the exam, that the graph was not a sucess density plot, but rather a failure density plot. All my answers were wrong, only because I didn't do the final step of reversing the answer.

I am failing this course. Is this because I don't know what's going on? Is it because I don't do the work? That would be a no on both accounts. I'm not completely clueless about the material, but I don't refresh myself on a daily basis as to what it is. I find that I get frustrated easily, and when I'm frustrated, I don't concentrate, because I'm screaming inside. Most of the language used I prefer not to hear or read, yet I always seem to tolerate my indiscrepencies. Most people would say just stop and take a breath. I stop, forget what I was doing, start from the beginning, get lost again, get frustated again, shut down, and the cycle continues until either a) I find the correct answer, b) I find a solution that quiets my demon, or c) I run out of time and it doesn't matter what kind of solution I have.

Some people will work on something until it's done. I can't do that. I only seem to work until I hit an impass (ie. I don't know what to do next). That's not entirely true. Sometimes I'll work through an impass, especially if it's some kind of writting assignment. Lab report, Gateway article, or even the reading journal. Even doing blog, I write until I can think of nothing else to write, or I revamp until I find something that sounds more of what I was going for.

After the midterm, I was poring over the notes, trying desperately to figure out where I went wrong, and why other people got the answers they did. For the life of me, I couldn't do it. Every calculation that I did resulted in the same result that I wrote down on the test. I don't even know if I got the project right or not. All will be revealed in due time. We'll get the test back, and I'll see how much trouble I'm in. WHY? Because of the instant society we live in perhaps. Should I blame society on my idiocy? That would be unfair. It's my fault I didn't review. I could have stayed at home and studied on Sunday. I could have spent more time last night reviewing procedures and notes. I should have done that. It's just when things seem so easy, that when I don't do them. Or is it? Getting an engineering degree isn't so simple. I've been at this for over five years now. It's not just something that I picked up and boom there it is. I've worked at this for a long time, bit by bit.

Even so close to the goal, I'm still in a state.

I'll have to mention this to the doctor tomorrow when I go in for my monthly I'm-not-crazy-give-me-more-drugs visit.

All Hallows Eve

Even though I had to work, there was trick or treating at the mall. Lots of kids, lots of candy (we had to do five candy runs and we still ran out well before the scheduled time to end the trick or treating), and I still managed to do okay on sales. My AM took some wicked pics. I would almost say that I should get a new phone so that I could spontaneously take pictures like that. Meh. Have to sleep, and tomorrow I have the second half of a midterm.

Laters.

How did I make it this far?

It's a good thing that I decided to take a look at my notes to figure out how close, or how far, I was to the actual answers for the exam I just finished. Or rather the exam that just finished me! Nah, I'm still living and breathing, but now I'm not filled with the desire to scream profane explitives.

I hate exams. I really do. I tend to blank out, can't think of anything that we covered in class that seems remotely close to what I would consider helpful, and then in the end I just spew out anything that I can think would be close to what the right answer could resemble, because at that point I'm willing to write anything down, and I usually do. Oftimes I've written comments on how much I loathe exams, and how I should reconsider what I'm doing. I did that again on this exam, almost making me wonder if I should have gone into the Arts instead. But then again, we all know what happened when I took Drama 149. I'm thinking I should stick with sciences and engineering.

I do enjoy writing, but that's just it. I enjoy it. J.R.R. Tolkien enjoyed writing, but as a hobby, not a profession. He was an Oxford professor for the most part. I also hate working under deadlines, but I wouldn't get anything done if it wasn't for them. Gah. Speaking of which, I have an assignment due tomorrow of which I've only completed one quarter. I'll see what I can get done tonight, and I'll also see if I can find another pencil, because I broke the pencil I have now during the exam I just wrote. It wouldn't be that bad, aside from the fact that it was a mechanical pencil! Grrr...

New Toys

I didn't so much find new toys as I found new applications for iPaq. Avantgo is a wonderful little site that allows me to keep up to date with the news and weather. And it's free! That was actually something that I picked up from someone at church. Then I discovered The Core Pocket Media Player (link might not work)from a customer at work. I really like it aside from the fact that it doesn't play .avi files as well as I thought they would. Meh.

And then of course I have discovered the greatness that is YanCEyWare. I want to get a job that brings a lot of money in my direction so I can donate a massive amount to this guy. Wow. This software makes scriptures very easy to study from, and there is also a multitude of other good books to read. Classic literature such as Charles Dickens, Count of Monte Christo, Portrait of Dorian Grey, Odessey, Iliad, the complete works of Shakespear, and the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe are a few of the numerous titles.

I also have a CD coming my way because I found a spelling error in Vue Weekly. I don't know which one I'll get but I looked through the list of albums they have available, and I picked out five.

1. Weird Al - Straight out of Lynnwood (Hey Al! I'll have you know that I'm not a Canadian Idiot)
2. Dreamer - Soundtrack
3. High School Musical - Soundtrack (Haven't seen this, but I thought the songs were catchy)
4. Five for Fighting - Two Lights
5. The Last King of Scotland - Soundtrack (Haven't seen this either, but I like soundtracks)

I'll be getting an email soon from them and I'll find out the details then.

Another interesting link here. It's a brilliant commentary on the power of dreams and monsters.

And another year passes

One year older and wiser too. Happy Birthday - to you! I'm now 28 years of age, and I constantly wonder if this is where I truly wanted to be. I can't imagine why not. I'm almost done school, I have a wonderful wife, baby is on the way, and the prospect for employment never looked better!

Nevertheless, I was a little shaken after I read this article about the oil and gas industry. This is probably due to the fact that I'm looking to apply for employment with one of the said oil and gas companies. Getting on board with a utility would be the way to secure long term employment, and Alberta is the place to get a job like that.

Then there's the other side of the coin in which the abundance of money has crushed the infrastruce of Fort McMurray. I would be just as happy to find some downtown property and live in Edmonton. With my job, I might go all over the world. Europe, Saudi, State-side, who knows maybe Australia. It's just an odd feeling that I have a reasonsibility to society to implement the education I've aquired for the sake of something good, like powering homes and busineses. I've spent the past five years of my life figuring out what goes into making electricity, and energy is a huge market right now.

I like my job at the Source, but if there's no power for the electronics sold nor operating towers to sustain the wireless networks, I might as well work at McDonalds. Oh wait. There wouldn't be power to keep the building running. Hmm...

Good thing I ride my bike to work. I'll need some sort of generator to keep the heat on during the winter.

I need sleep.