Mike Conley's Blog

Note:  As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a hostel in Warsaw.  It’s 5AM, and the cable to connect my camera to a computer is buried at the bottom of my backpack.  So, while there are photos to go along with this story, they’re going to have to be added later.

June 15 – 2:45PM EST

I’ve been to Pearson Airport in Toronto a few times before, but only ever to pick up some passenger after they’ve come back from a trip.

I’ve never been one of those “departure” people.

Well, today was my day.  And man, it was confusing.

It started off smoothly enough.  My Dad, girlfriend Emily, and her sister Cassie, had brought me to Pearson to see me off.  I was able to get my boarding pass from a machine (which was nice and easy), after finding fellow passengers Reid, Anj, and Olya.  What a relief to see those three, because I honestly had no idea where I was in the airport, and had no idea what was going on.  Pearson is huge, and I was only in Terminal 1.

After our goodbyes, I stood in a line to get my carry-on bags scanned.

That was my first mistake.  Wasted 20 minutes getting to the front of that line, only to find out that I had to go to another line somewhere else in the airport to check my stowed luggage.  So there was some momentary panic while I raced around the airport, trying to find the right place.

So, lesson one:  it’s always OK to ask when you’re way out of your element, and it usually makes things go faster.  I knew this already, but this was a clear-cut example.

3:20PM EST

After some more running around, and a trip along a few moving sidewalks, I made it to our departure gate, where Olya, Reid, and Anj were already waiting.

View at Picasa Waiting in Pearson to take off15-Jun-2009 16:15, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.026 sec, ISO 64

View at Picasa 15-Jun-2009 16:16, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 4.7, 5.8mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 64

View at Picasa Not our plane, but it was my first time seeing a double decker, so I thought I'd take a picture.15-Jun-2009 16:37, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 7.67, 16.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 64

View at Picasa 15-Jun-2009 16:38, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 4.7, 17.4mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 64

View at Picasa 15-Jun-2009 16:39, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 4.71, 5.8mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 64

Eventually, the rest of our comrads showed up.  And now, for your edification, here’s a list of the UCDP people who were flying with me that day:

• Anj Mulligan
• Reid Linforth
• Olya Ryabets
• Jiv Parasram
• Ryan Cooley
• Chantelle Hedden
• Alexi Marchel
• Yev Falkovich
• Peter Freund
• Alex Rubin

After a lot of sitting around and waiting, we board our flight.  After even more waiting, the plane begins to move.

Take-off:  6:00PM EST

Our plane took off at exactly 6PM EST.  We were half an hour behind schedule.  Already, my companions were taking bets on whether or not we’d miss our connecting flight from Frankfurt (not Brussels, sorry!) to Warsaw.  We only had 50 minutes once we had landed in Frankfurt, so it was going to be tight.

Anyhow, we’re in the air.  And I’m excited, of course.  I haven’t been in a plane since a flight to Toronto from Miami in 2004, and I sure as hell haven’t flown outside North America.  This was going to be a new experience for me.

View at Picasa 15-Jun-2009 19:06, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 4.7, 5.8mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 64

View at Picasa My inflight entertainment console15-Jun-2009 18:35, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.385 sec, ISO 100

It didn’t take long for three minor disasters to happen:

1. I had packed a bag of mixed nuts/cashews in my carry-on.  To my dismay, when I opened my backpack, I found that the bag had exploded and that my carry-on was filled with loose nuts.  A bunch spilled on the floor, and immediately I began worrying about other passengers who might have nut allergies…all it takes is a whiff, and bam – out like a light.

   View at Picasa Trailmix disaster15-Jun-2009 19:30, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.81, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

   Anyhow, Ryan Cooley helped me clean/conceal the mess as much as possible, and I did my best to clean up the mess inside my bag.  Reminded me a bit of this story I had written earlier in the year…

2. The pen I’ve been keeping my notes with started leaking.  Ink all over my hand, and some on my shirt.  Yech.  Luckily, I brought spares…
3. The instructional safety video, which was supposed to be broadcast to the screens in front of each of us, did not work in my row.  It looked like scrambled cable.  Had to crane my neck to see it on someone else’s screen.  Not too bad, but it’s a bit discouraging when the mandatory safety video doesn’t work.

The flight was mostly eventless.  Besides some minor turbulence (which freaked out one of our more sensitive flyers), there wasn’t much to do.  My Dad had let me borrow his noise-cancelling headphones, which were awesome.  I listened to classical music on XM radio while I wrote my notes.

6:37PM EST

Food started making its way down the aisles, and it smelled pretty good…

But then we hit a patch of turbulence.  One of my companions is really not into flying, and so we consoled them while the plane shook around us.  The calming thing was that the flight attendants looked calm as ever, and kept handing out food.

I chose the pasta.  And a Canada Dry ginger ale.

View at Picasa Dinner! Tasty.15-Jun-2009 19:44, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.81, 5.8mm, 0.5 sec, ISO 141

I hear a few of my comrads are already taking advantage of the free beer/wine/spirits on board.  Hilarity ensues.

6:52PM EST

Great meal.  Pasta in tomato sauce, a bun, some veggies in dressing, and chocolate mousse for dessert!  Felt very pampered and content.  Was reminded again of this Louis CK video.

And it’s even better knowing I haven’t paid a cent for it!  Free always tastes better…

7:00PM EST

Around this time, I figured out that the in-flight mapping system wasn’t working, and I had no idea where we were.

I trusted our pilot knew where he was going.

Also around this time, Yev started saying that the shadows were getting longer…the sun was going down…the shortest night of my life was coming.

I’m reminded of a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey – the scene near the beginning (after the ape fights), where a character is flying to a space station.  Our flight feels futuristic.  Maybe it’s the lighting.  Maybe it’s all of the video screens winking at me.  Maybe I’m just over dramatizing it.

View at Picasa Night-time on the plane15-Jun-2009 21:38, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.5 sec, ISO 250

Or maybe it was that Phillip Glass music I was listening to…

At this point, I’ve decided that I’m bored, and that I’m going to watch an in-flight movie.  After some deliberation, I choose The Watchmen, which I had already seen, but didn’t mind watching again.

8:10PM EST

It was pretty dark outside our windows at this point.  Yev seemed to think that we were over Greenland, but how she could tell that through all the cloud cover, I have no idea.

I kept watching the movie.

9:15PM EST

At this point, I decided to get up and walk around a bit.  I stretched.  Our trip to Frankfurt is about half over.  So is The Watchmen, for that matter, but I decided to try to sleep instead of finishing it.

11:00PM EST

I had no luck sleeping at all, despite amazing noise-cancelling headphone technology.  I rolled about.  I chatted with my travel mates.  I listened to music.

It was starting to get light out outside.  The sun was coming up.

I don’t think anyone slept that much during the flight.  I saw a few people dosing, but that was it.

View at Picasa Rubin clocks out. Jiv is not amused.15-Jun-2009 22:51, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100

I knew that I’d have to stay awake for as much of the following day as possible, so it was a bit discouraging to be unable to sleep.  I pretty much figured I’d spend most of the next day in a daze.

11:20PM EST

Breakfast arrived, and according to Yev, we were flying over land again!

View at Picasa It's getting late, and we're over land again. Greenland?15-Jun-2009 21:15, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.81, 5.8mm, 0.417 sec, ISO 100

Breakfast is a muffin, yogurt, and orange juice.  Nice.

View at Picasa Breakfast – muffin, orange juice, and yogurt16-Jun-2009 00:26, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.5 sec, ISO 250

Muffin was good, but non-descript.  No idea what flavour it was, but I liked it.

When they brought the food, I asked the flight attendant what land we were flying over.  He said he had no idea, but that we would be landing in about an hour.

Maybe if I knew how fast we were going, I could figure out where we might be.

I found it strange that the captain never really addressed the passengers.  Never told us the route, altitude, speed, etc.  Things are changing, I guess.

11:45PM EST

It was almost midnight back home, and the sun was rising where we were.

View at Picasa 16-Jun-2009 00:40, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.81, 5.8mm, 0.085 sec, ISO 100

I had no idea what time it was.  My body felt very confused and disoriented.  I felt like I’d been up all night, and I guess I had been…all 3 hours of it.

June 16 – 12:25AM EST

We began our descent around here.  Phase 1 of our journey was about to end.

Why do all pilots sound the same?  Always with that croaky voice… or maybe it’s the microphones that they use.

Lots of turbulence going down, but it was a smooth landing.

June 16 – 3:15AM EST, 9:15AM Local

I still hadn’t adjusted my watch yet, and that was starting to freak me out.

So, the main event was that we missed our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Warsaw.  We were about 20 minutes too late.  50 minutes is not even close to enough time to get processed at the Frankfurt airport.

Alex explains:

View at Picasa Missed our connecting flight? You bet!16-Jun-2009 03:02, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.182 sec, ISO 100

View at Picasa Yev is so meta16-Jun-2009 03:02, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.094 sec, ISO 100

So Frankfurt airport was my first taste of Europe.  My impressions?  Honestly?  Not that different.  I didn’t feel like I was in a foreign place, really – except I couldn’t read any of the advertisements.  Everything else had English attached, so that was nice.

After some chit-chatting with Air Canada, we were booked on a later flight.  There was a lot of running around, lots of in-between-destinations stress, and we almost missed that flight too.  But we made it.

View at Picasa Getting our new flight16-Jun-2009 03:34, FUJIFILM FinePix A345, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.11 sec, ISO 100

A couple of casualties though:

1. Ryan Cooley left his windbreaker on the plane that brought us from Toronto
2. Reid Linforth lost his watch during the security check in Frankfurt.  That really sucked for him.

At this point, I could really feel how tired I am.  My body was buzzing.  I had been awake since 9:30AM EST, and it was 3:22AM EST at that point.

The plane we took from Frankfurt was much, much smaller than the one from Toronto.  It was only going to be flying for an hour, and it looked like a lot of the passengers took this trip every day.  I tried to nap on the plane, but no luck.

4:08AM EST, 10:08AM Local

We were on route to Warsaw.

We were served some kind of cheese sandwich for our in-flight meal, which was good.  Really wasn’t sure what was in it, and sure didn’t take a picture.  Why?  I was starving.  Scarfed the thing right down.  Hadn’t slept, hungry, grumpy.

There was lots of turbulence in the smaller airplane.  Pretty shaky.  Kinda scary.

I wiped my face with a lemon scented wet-nap to wake myself up, and had a cup of tea.

Eventually, I got into a conversation with the lady sitting next to me about theatre.  She was a Bulgarian business-woman going to some sort of seminar.  We talked about Poland, sight-seeing, and Bulgarian theatre.

And then we landed.

And we were in Poland.

Click here to go to Part 2: Dazed in Warsaw

Click here to go back to the Prologue

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WordPress 2.8 came out yesterday.

I clicked the update button, and all hell broke loose. I glanced in the directory that held my blog, and it was empty. My heart sunk.

Luckily, my database survived. So, my posts are here. My downloads, sadly, are not. This will be rectified eventually.

Give me time, and this thing’ll be back to normal soon.

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I don’t plan on doing much pontificating, or ranting on this blog, but I thought I’d talk about this.

Here’s a scenario:

You have a friend who is throwing a party, or a get-togther, or something.  They’ve sent you an invitation, and tell you that they “hope you can make it”.  For some reason or another (it could be any reason, really), you can’t actually make the party, and say “Sorry, I can’t be there!”.

At which point, your friend completely rejects your decision, and starts questioning you on why it is that you can’t make it.  They try to find solutions for you, just so that you can show up.  They just can’t take “no” as an answer, and leave it be.  It just doesn’t sink in for them.

That really pisses me off.  And it doesn’t have to be an invitation to a party, either.  It happens anytime someone gives you a choice, and then rejects your decision. This is not a choice – it’s the illusion of a choice.  The only way it seems like a real choice is when you choose in the other person’s favour – in which case, everything is peachy-keen.  Choosing otherwise, however, becomes a hassle.

It gets even worse if they try to punish you, or shame you for your choice.  “Oh come on, don’t be a jerk…”, “That’s lame, dude…”, “You’re really letting us down…”, etc.  It sort of implies that you (the person who was given the choice) are not capable of making the “correct” choice, or are not capable of forseeing the outcomes of the choice.  To me, this type of behaviour, while not intentionally malicious,  is highly manipulative and disrespectful.

The best situation, is when the other person simply respects your choice.  They might question you on your choice out of sheer curiosity (“are you doing something else that night?  Oh, that’s cool, no worries…”), but no struggle.  I refer to this as “giving outs”.

For example, anytime I invite people over, I do my best to “give outs”.  I say something like, “want to come over?  If not, that’s cool – I just thought it’d be a nice day to hang out”.

Honestly, I think it’s just a matter of courtesy and respect.

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Today, I wrote my first and last final exam for this semester.

So my undergraduate career appears to be finished.  I’ve gotten confirmations of program completion from both the Computer Science and Drama departments.  New College is holding out on me with their blessing, but I think it’ll arrive in the mail soon.

I won’t be going to convocation – I’ll be in Poland.  I’m not that upset about it – Poland is totally worth it.

Besides, I have a Masters degree to complete now – my parents can go to THAT convocation.

Now For Celebration Rituals…

I’ve completed many a school year with my friends, and over time, rituals have formed to celebrate the end of the work.

In grade school and high school, it usually consisted of a symbolic “note toast” (the burning of our most hated assignments) along with a barbeque, and camp-out party.

Somewhere along the line, things changed for University.  Now, when one of us completes their last final exam, we’re given license to crank Sisqo’s Thong Song (usually restricted in our household for just this event) and dance up and down the halls.

If you’d like to celebrate with me, feel free to crank this wherever you are (NSFW):

Alternatively, the Thong Song can be replaced with either:

MOP’s Ante Up (NSFW):

Or Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough:

Since I’m finishing my undergrad degree, I’m totally going to rock out to all three.

Feel free to join me, remotely.

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Today, in my apartment, was spring cleaning.

As I helped Doug, one of my roommates, plunge a putrid black foulness out of the bathroom sink, my mind wandered, and I got to thinking about something that’s been bugging me for a few days:

In my User Interface design class (CSC318: The Design of Interactive Computational Media), we were given lots of tips and ideas on how to make our software interfaces easy to use, and invisible.  If we do our job right, the user should not even notice the interface they use in order to get what they want.  For example, a well designed doorknob is more or less invisible to the user – they just know they want to get to the other side of the door.  The only time they really notice the doorknob is when it stops working.

Which brings me to the other side of my thought:

I was reading something on CBC.ca about how Bell was changing their network so that competing ISP’s that use their network can no longer offer unlimited bandwidth.  Bell’s argument was that this would reduce network congestion, something like that.  Don’t quote me, I’m paraphrasing here.

Naturally, there was plenty of outrage in the comments.  Plenty of people posting about how Bell’s service is terrible, and that they’re less interested in network congestion, and more interested in handicapping their competitors.

All of this is just scenery, by the way.  What I’m getting to, is one particular comment that was posted, where someone complained about the “culture of entitlement” that we have, and that of course we should be billed for the amount of bandwidth that we use, just like we’re billed by how much water we use.  The user went on to say something about how we’re all spoiled brats, and that when we ask for something unlimited, we’re asking for others to pay for it.

Now, I neither agree nor disagree with this user.  I don’t know much about this Bell thing, and that’s not what I’m writing about.  What I’m interested in is this idea that we’re in a culture of entitlement, which immediately makes me feel like a spoiled brat.

Remember that video I posted a while back?  Everything is amazing, and nobody is happy? If you haven’t, take a look.  It more or less sums up this “culture of entitlement” idea.

So how does this relate to UI design?

Well, when we create something so easy for our user to work with, aren’t we just contributing to this spoiled culture of entitlement?

By making our software so blindingly simple, aren’t we catering to this mentality that things should “just work”, which fuels the outrage when things “don’t work”?

I know.  Part of my job is to make things that just work.  I know that.

But don’t you see where I’m getting at?  We’re making really cool technology, and really cool gadgets – but take a look:  doesn’t it seem like we’re all becoming a bunch of spoiled techno-brats?  Don’t we become howling imbeciles when our iPhone won’t work, or a web page loads slowly?

One of my Professors, Greg Wilson, taught me that when two options look bad, it’s more or less about trade-offs.  I guess that’s what we have here.

Because I’m completely split on this matter.  My UI self is saying “Yes!  For god’s sake, make it simple for people.  Make the interface invisible so that the user can get their work done.”

The other half of me is wondering:  what is happening to our culture?  I see people walking around with laptops out, demanding wifi and groaning when it doesn’t work, getting frustrated with their highly sophisticated phone, and getting upset at a global network of computers for having “congestion”.

I see this “culture of entitlement”.  I’m not sure that I like it.  And, regardless, I’m not exactly sure what I can do about it.

UPDATE:

I’ve thought about this some more.

This “culture of entitlement” idea…why do I get the feeling that this isn’t new?  If we look back at the older generation, of course they will call ours a “culture of entitlement”.

But what if we go back even further?  If we were to go back in time to, say, the 1950′s, and ask the old folk if the young people were part of a “culture of entitlement”, what would their answer be?  Probably yes.

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but it seems inevitable:  the older culture will always think the younger one is spoiled.

Everything is amazing, and nobody is happy.  Of course things are amazing, and of course we take things for granted.  I don’t think that will ever change.

Meanwhile, while I’m typing this, I’m working on a state of the art piece of machinery.

I guess that makes me one big ol’ hypocrite.

But I think that’s true of anyone who starts complaining about the “culture of entitlement”.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

Another Update: In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have used the term “culture of entitlement”, since it seems to have a more sophisticated meaning than I originally intended to convey. Maybe I just meant “culture of spoiled people”.

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I haven’t written in a while.

That’s because I:

• Completed my Voice paper
• Completed my Voice assignment/presentation
• Completed my CSC301 assignment/presentation (great job, guys!)
• Performed in DRM400 scenes (Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night)
• Wrote my INI304 final test
• Set up and helped run an entire festival of theatre events
• Saw a host of amazing DRM200, DRM300, and DRM403 scenes
• Had my last Voice and Movement classes here at the UCDP.

It’s really almost over.  I spoke to one of my classmates, Jiv Parasram, about how it feels to be almost done.  We both agreed that it’s a bit like being in the 15th round of a boxing match – incredible, we’re still standing, and the punches are starting to slow down.  It’s a bit numb.

But there’s still more ahead.  I have to:

• Set up the final end of year bash for the UCDP!
• Finish my JFK/CIA connection evidence analysis paper!
• Write my CSC301 final exam
• Help the UCDP Student Wellness committee draft some documents for next years’ Admin Team and student body
• Prepare for my sisters wedding
• Go to a bachelor party!

In other news, today I got a letter in the mail from the drama department, stating that I had successfully completed the program requirements.  Now I just need one from the Computer Science department, and New College, and I’m all set to get my degree.

Not too shabby.  Almost there.

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Well, it’s official:

This summer, I will be working on OLM for the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto.

I will also be going to Poland for 2 weeks, and maybe even do some camping…we’ll see.

Just wanted to announce that.

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Once, somewhere, someone said “live life one day at a time”.

That’s basically how I’m approaching my school life, seeing as how an onslaught of due dates and final presentations is rapidly approaching.

So, in stark contrast to my proposal to “live life one day at a time”, I’m now going to list what’s going on and coming up.  You may have seen this list before, but there are updates now.

• Due tomorrow is my Movement class final project – a site-specific self-scripted work.  I’m working with two excellent partners (both are phenomenal dancers, contact improv’ers, and collaborators).  What we’ve come up with is a physical retelling of the Orpheus “descent into the underworld” myth, staged in a cramped, dusty old stairwell in the Playhouse.  Hugely physical, and lots of fun/tricky movement stuff on stairs.
• Tonight, I have to memorize half of a monologue, based on a letter from a Mir astronaut to his son back home
• Friday is the start of the UCDP Theatre Festival.  The Theatre Festival is essentially a showcase of final projects, works in process, etc.  I’m in a few of these, and I’m certainly involved in the set up of the events as well.  Here are the Facebook events:
  • Friday Apr 3 @ 8PM-10PM:  Opening night – Playwriting Showcase and Reception
    • I’m playing a small part for a staged reading of a student play
  • Saturday Apr 4 @ 2PM-5PM and 7PM-10PM – Recognition, Revenge, Renewal
    • The DRM300 class show off their work on Greek plays – I love this stuff.
  • Sunday Apr 5 @ 2PM – 6PM – Inscribe Yourself: Actions and reACTIONS
    • Among some other awesome presentations, the DRM400 class (that’s my class) is presenting scenes from Twelfth Night!
  • Monday Apr 6 @ 7:30PM – 10:30PM – Toronto Part 1: Home Grown Theatre
    • More awesome presentations, and the DRM200 class delve into some Judith Thompson plays!
  • Tuesday Apr 7 @ 7:30PM – 10:30PM – Toronto Part 2: Home Grown Theatre
    • Great presentations, and more DRM200 scenes!
  • Closing Night!  Thursday Apr 9 @ 5PM – 8PM – Guerilla Theatre Showcase
    • UCDP students show off what they’ve been doing outside of class!
• I’m helping the new UCDP ATD, Una, figure out what it is that I do before I leave!
• My INI304 paper, analyzing evidence that connects E. Howard Hunt with the JFK assassination in Dallas is due next Monday.
• There is an INI304 test on the same Monday as the essay is due
• Voice final project is coming up soon – not worrying about that just yet though
• My CSC301 final project is moving forward, but I need to keep plugging away at it.
• I still don’t know what I’m doing, work-wise, this summer.  Still trying to work that out.

Am I freaking out?  Not really – I think things are going to work out.  Just have to take it one day at a time.

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I’ve received lots of praise and pats-on-the-back for my acceptance into Grad School here at UofT for Computer Science.

However, there’s another side of the coin.  While I was still mulling the decision, I mentioned it to a few people here and there, and sometimes I got a strange look…like I’d agreed to have a lobotomy, or take experimental medication or something.

Believe it or not, I’m still getting it from time to time.  It’s strange.

At one point, I posted my Grad School status on Twitter, and got back the response “Don’t!  It’s a trap!”  Trap?  Really?  Have aliens taken over the school?  Am I unwittingly joining some bizarre cult?  Am I going to get pushed down an empty elevator shaft on my first day?  Awful hazing rituals?  What’s going on?

What’s wrong with Grad School? I’ve asked a few people this question, and gotten the following (paraphrased) responses:

1. You’ve been in school too long.  Get out now and enter the work force!  Don’t you want to have fun?
2. Grad School is expensive.  You’re going to go deeper into debt.
3. If you choose a thesis/subject that you end up disliking, it will be an awful experience
4. Work first.  Then go to Grad School.  Just trust me.
5. You’re educated enough – you don’t need a Masters degree.  You’ll learn everything you need in the field.
6. The courses are super hard and boring.

Here are my responses, in defense of Grad School – they’re numbered to correspond.

1. Who says Grad School isn’t fun?  I really enjoy the field of Computer Science, and this is my opportunity to do some cutting edge research.  The whole point of a thesis (I believe) is to focus on something in the field and make it my own – to master it.  This means background research, thesis, experiments, conclusion, the whole bit.  That’s the science part.
   Also, there’s a self-serving economic payoff:  Bachelors degrees are going down in value.  Lots of people have a B.Sc.  A Master’s degree stands out, and will bring higher pay and more interesting jobs.
   My uncle once said that his days in Grad School were the most educational because of the people that surrounded him, and the conversations that he had.  I think I’ll find that here, and it’s exciting.
2. Believe it or not, I’m actually getting paid to do this.  Sure, I owe the University a chunk of money.  Thankfully, the Department of Computer Science is paying for it, and I should have enough left over to live a modest lifestyle.  Living like a student for one more year isn’t so bad – it could certainly be worse.
3. Why would I choose a thesis or subject that I don’t like?  From what I’m told, the first few weeks of Grad School are spent scouring around with a supervisor, trying to nail down a thesis subject.  I plan to do one better, and try to nail a thesis subject down this summer.  Once I’ve got it nailed down, I’ll do the background reading, and try to figure out some interesting experiments.  It’s easier said than done, but I’m not going to be stupid enough to pick a thesis on something I really can’t stand.  Am I going to do my thesis on complexity theory?  No, of course not.  Am I going to do it on how to teach software engineering students design patterns in a more visual, animated way?  Who knows, maybe.
4. This answer assumes that I haven’t worked before.  I’ve worked.  I’ve been out there.  “You haven’t seen the real working world”…well, maybe I haven’t, but I’ve seen something that’s probably pretty close.  Working three summers at the school board hasn’t been a cakewalk.
   Some might argue that working for a while before going to Grad School will help me to gain the discipline necessary to work in an unsupervised environment.  Well, I have to tell you, I was barely supervised at the school board.  They gave me a task, and I did it to the best of my ability, with little-to-no oversight.  I set my own schedules, I dealt with clients directly.  I can work on my own.  I can manage my time.  I know how to work hard.  Don’t give me that “real world” crap.
5. Like I said in #1, a B.Sc. isn’t what it used to be.  Lots of people have them, and it’s probably becoming less useful as a marker for separating the wheat from the chaff.  It’s only 17 months more work, but I think the payoff is going to be considerable.
6. Maybe.  Thankfully, I’m only taking two a maximum of three per semester.  Workload does not frighten me anymore – I’ve been overloading myself for years, and I’m fine.  I’m not at all saying that Graduate School courses are going to be a breeze – but, and I hope I don’t sound arrogant,  I’m more-or-less used to doing the practically impossible.

Have I missed any reasons for not going to Grad School?  Do my rebuttals miss something entirely?  It’s a bit of a moot point now – I’ve already accepted the offer.  But if there are any interesting reasons that I missed, I’d love to hear them.

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Well, it’s official.  Today, I handed in my acceptance form for Graduate Studies here at the University of Toronto in the Computer Science Department!

Now I just need to keep my cGPA above 3.2…

Assuming that I get my B.Sc. without incident (because who knows, maybe the University will fight me for it…citing missing courses, insufficient credits, etc.  I’ve checked all of this with New College and the Drama/CS departments, but I’ve been here too long not to be ready for bureaucratic tom-foolery…), I think I’ve got an interesting year or so ahead of me.

This summer is already looking quite busy, but here’s what I’m looking forward to next year:

Interesting Courses

I’ve been leafing through the Graduate course calendar, looking for courses that sound good and fulfill my breadth requirement.  Here are the courses I’ve underlined as “interesting”.  Note that I haven’t checked the timetable at all to see if these conflict with one another.  They just sound interesting:

• 2125H – Software Development Tools and Practices:
  This course is an introduction to software consulting practices. Students will be paired with clients whose problems require advanced knowledge of computer science to solve, and will then work under the direction of the course instructor to develop and deliver useful results. Topics will include requirements elicitation, scope negotiations, deployment concerns, and disaster recovery.
• 2412H – Computer Algebra
  Algebraic theory that underlies symbolic and algebraic manipulation by computer. Chinese Remainder and interpolation theory, fast algorithms for computations with integers, polynomials and power series. Newton and Hensel iteration, polynomial and integer gcd algorithms, factorization of polynomials, the fast Fourier transform, solving systems of polynomial equations, Gröbner bases. The Maple computer algebra system.
• 2426H – Fundamentals of Cryptography
  Rigorous definitions of security for pseudo-random generators, digital signature schemes, secure hash families, and public-key encryption.. Methods (including number-theoretic conjectures) for constructing these secure cryptographic primitives. Methods for using secure primitives to achieve secure session-key exchange and secure sessions.
• 2511H – Natural Language Computing
  Introduction to techniques involving natural language and speech in applications such as information retrieval, extraction, and filtering; intelligent Web searching; spelling and grammar checking; speech recognition and synthesis; and multi-lingual systems including machine translation. N-grams, POS-tagging, semantic distance metrics, indexing, on-line lexicons and thesauri, markup languages, collections of on-line documents, corpus analysis. Python software.
• 2529H – Computer Animation
  The primary focus of this course is on kinematic and dynamic techniques for character animation. Topics include physical modeling and simulation, motion planning, control and learning algorithms, locomotion, motion trajectory optimization, scripting languages, motion capture, and motion editing. Students will implement algorithms and interactive animation tools and then use these to produce motion for animations.
• KMDI1001 – Fundamental Concepts in Knowledge Media Design
  Knowledge media are systems incorporating computer and communications technology that enhance human thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and learning. Examples include the Web, email, instant messaging, knowledge management systems, digital libraries, collaborative virtual environments, video conferencing environments, and webcasting systems.
  This course reviews the emerging field of knowledge media design, and the use of digital media for communications, collaboration, and learning.

I’m also looking into the possibility of hopping (back) over to the Computer Engineering Department to see if I can take ECE568H1 – Computer Security.  My general dislike for engineering courses notwithstanding, this still sounds like an interesting possibility.

(Note to self:  the word “notwithstanding” just felt right to put there, but is that correct usage?  I have no idea…)

Thesis

Well, it’s no surprise – a Master’s student is expected to produce a paper in order to graduate.  I have absolutely no idea what I’ll be doing my thesis on, but the number of possibilities is exciting.

It’d be nice to somehow merge Drama and Computer Science into a thesis – and I think it’d be an appropriate finale for my career here at UofT.  It’s something to mull over while I have time, anyhow.

Launching OLM

OLM is going up in the fall.  Whether or not I work on it this summer, as a TA, I’ll probably be using the software to mark and return student code.  “Eating one’s own dog-food” might be appropriate here – though I prefer, “eating the sandwich I just helped to make”.

Drama

A lot of my friends from the Drama department are either graduating in June, or staying on for one more year.  A bunch who are graduating are staying in the city, and the prospect of doing some work with them outside of school is exciting.

We’re all very spoiled here at the UCDP – modest budget, multiple rehearsal spaces, etc… working on our own stuff outside of school might be a very humbling experience.  Humbling as in, rehearsing in alley ways or rooftops, and using an audience holding flashlights instead of our own lighting grid.  Cool.

Operation: Party Mansion

This one is still in the works.  Some buddies of mine from highschool (who are also my roommates) are looking to buy some property in, or around downtown Toronto.

This may sound ambitious, foolhardy, and naive, but we’re serious, and a lot of legwork has already been done in order to get this moving.

Ideal scenario?  Next year, I’ll be living in a big house with my highschool buddies.  And isn’t that living the dream?

Anyhow, as I was saying, my Grad school papers are in, so my brain is going to put that on the backburner for a while.  Now I have to focus on my CSC301 midterm for this Wednesday, and an evidentiary analysis on CIA/JFK Assassination links for INI304.

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