I somehow managed to lose my sunglasses in the past few weeks. I’m not really sure where they might have gone, but if you happen across a pair of Quicksilver Eddie sunglasses with a black frame and grey lenses, they’re probably mine. Right in time too…I could really use some sunglasses right about now. 🙁
So you know that period of time between taking sleep inducing pills and actually falling asleep? Yeah, that’s where I am right now. It’s quite exhilerating. It’s great because I’m just waiting for that moment when my body simply wants needs to konk out…but I’m not there yet. I don’t know why this is so exciting, but it is. You’re probably thinking that I have a pretty boring life, and perhaps you’re not wrong, but still, this is too much fun not to mentcahl;k;nnm sleeeeeeeeep
Woot. Fixed the blog…it had me worried for a while, but it turned out to be pretty easy. Anyway, back to my conference, and back to your day. 🙂
In case it’s not apparent, I’m currently in Montreal at CHI 2006. The last few days have been a blur, and at this point I’m quite exhausted.
As a student volunteer, I’m required to work 20 hours this week. In return, I don’t have to pay conference registration fees (~$450), and I get a free hotel room for a week (~$1,000), which I’m sharing with Richie.
In the last 2 days I’ve finished about 17 hours of work. This has made me quite tired, but the work has been interesting.
Yesterday I was in a workshop about collaboration…which was not all that collaborative. Maybe it was just me…but it seemed like everybody in the room was bored. This morning I was in a course that was taught by Karen Holtzblatt, the queen of Contextual Design. I was reminded in that session of all the mistakes one can make when doing an interview, and how to alleviate those problems. This afternoon I was on “quick response” duty…which had me complete a number of tasks in rapid succession. I like helping, to a point…it makes me feel important, but soon I want to start attending sessions that I’m interested in…tomorrow, hopefully.
Definitely the best part of the conference so far is bumping into people from my past and hanging out with my IU friends. It’s just starting to hit me that this is my last opportunity to be a student volunteer, since I won’t be a student anymore in a week or so. That makes me sad…being an SV is an experience that cannot be fully expressed. It’s just a bunch of fun.
Anyway, i’m tired, so I’m out. Peace.
Just a reminder…many of you are probably lost at rss sea already…update your rss link to this one:
Well, I did it. I’ve been talking about doing it for a while, and now it’s done. Today I switched from MovableType to WordPress as my blogging tool. Here’s why:
When I click the submit button on a new post, then try to view my blog, I would get an error, but when I hit reload, the problem would be fixed…until today. Today the error message came, then decided to stay. I was then confronted with a question: upgrade MovableType or move to WordPress?
I headed over to the MT page to download the latest version of MT…but it seems that they just want to put up roadblocks for their users…it was really hard to find the free version, then once I got there I would have had to register in order download the file. Alternatively, I could install a brand new version of WP with about 5 clicks via a tool on my hosting service called Fantastico.
Obviously, I went with the latter. I hope this turns out to be a good choice. Here’s to the future of Notta Blog! Buhbye MT, hello WP. 🙂
(I’ll personalize the template in due time.)
Hey Everybody! I made it to CHI in Montreal! I’m relatively tired, but am feeling good. I’ll do a catch-up post later, but for now I’ll just be adding links too cool stuff I see. Let’s get it on:
Retrievr – This is awesome! Draw a picture and it will find photos that resemble what you’ve drawn.
The Memory Project – Supporting and enhancing memory with the help of technology
Happy Bday, buddy.
This is for you! (but everyone should look 😉
As they say, “When it rains, it pours.”
Today has been a stellar day. I’m tired, but it’s an extremely good tired, and things are starting to look up.
First, a question: Who on earth has the brilliant foresight to put half neked pictures of himself on his blog only a few days before a big, important job interview? Me, of course. Great idea that was…anyway, I don’t think it caused too much trouble, likely because the people at the company are cool.
Speaking of which, I had my interviews today with ThoughtWorks, which was actually kind of fun. I’m pretty comfortable in interview situations, I have found, and have a somewhat “take it or leave it” approach. If the people like me, then that’s great, but if they don’t, I probably wouldn’t enjoy working there anyway, so I just go ahead and act like myself. The people I spoke with were brilliant and fun, and I think I’m pretty well suited to the type of work I’d do there. So yeah, I’ll let you know when I get more info…who knows…there may be other job situations on the horizon as well. 😉
I came home tonight from Chicago to a quite full inbox, filled mostly with great news. First, this program I’ve been working on for my User Interface Design class is coming along swimmingly. My teammate uploaded the latest version, so I downloaded and tested it…AND IT LOOKS AMAZING! I am so impressed. We should pat ourselves on the back. I still have some more work to do on it from my end of the bargain, but it’s looking good thus far.
In another email, I found out that I’ve been bumped to “Active Duty” with regarts to my CHI 2006 Student Volunteer status. That means I don’t have to pay $450 to get in to the conference. Perfect timing…I was really banking on this, and got lucky. I’m really pumped.
Tomorrow is THE day. Big deal day. It ain’t over ’til the fat lady… day. It’s capstone presentation day. I’m ready. So ready. Ready to rock, ready to roll. In the morning I’ll go for a run, then finish up my capstone website, then do a practice run through. My presentation is from 4:30-5 in Informatics 107, if you’re in the area. Hopefully we’ll get it on video, so I can spread my words across the internets.
Anyway, this long long day must come to an end. I’m off to bed. Big smiles all ’round.
