Time to Rest

Originally my post today was going to be about my birthday yesterday, even though the 'party' is tonight.

My cat died this morning. He was 12 years old, suffering from diabetes and a few days ago had one too many ravenous attacks on food mistakenly left out . My assumption is the 1-square foot or so of aluminum foil he ingested finally did him in. He could barely walk anymore and was struggling and drooling with every motion. He didn't even want breakfast, which is a far cry from where he was just a few days ago. He'd run over his brother just to get at the food. Today, he just nudged his brother's shoulder (my assumption, he most likely was just falling over and hit his brother) and made his way out of the room.

He's gone now. He gets to rest and not suffer any longer. I'm taking this a lot harder than I thought. His brother's still so strong and vibrant and there was just no comparison between them anymore. He literally wasted away in front of us and was maybe 1/4 of his weight from a year ago.

My mother's taking care of everything now that it's over. The rest of my life can't hold for me to handle anything and I have to put on a brave face this afternoon for a ton of production things.

I'll miss being greeted at the door at the end of a hard day and harder drive.

Rest in peace, buddy. You've earned it.

No Boom

Yeah, the house thing didn't happen. As usually happens, it was refreshed and transferred to a new owner 7 hours after it was ready to collapse. So, nothing happened.

Pooey.

Mental Breaks

I'm working on one computer and taking mental breaks on this one. I think I mentioned before that I'd gotten a new system for my "birthday" (which is actually this week) a few months ago. I'm working on various 3D models and such on it and on this one, answering a multitude of emails and MSN chats.

I also have an online game running at the same time. It's an online RPG which has been around for a very, very long time and has some unique aspects to it: like building/designing your own home.

My character has a very nice house on the beach of an island. It's fairly quiet and kind of remote from the busier areas of the "world." I like it. I wish I could keep more stuff in it, but I'm usually hitting the maximum limit for the home. I have a second account too, with I think I bigger home. It's in a bad location, though. Not for other players, but monsters that 'spawn' right outside the door. Think of it like a log cabin in the woods, but grizzly bears enjoy sunning on your front proch.

Anyway, I've often heard of "player run" events when a house collapses due to age. Essentially, it means the owner has either moved to a new location ~or~ they've stopped playing altogether and their account is now cancelled and the house is decrepit. Whatever the case, when these houses collapse, it becomes an event because there's usually something valuable inside that people can try and grab when the house finally goes down. Traditionally, there are a huge number of player-killers waiting to murder anyone trying to grab something so the entire area turns into a gigantic battle zone. Every once in a while, though, a house collapses in a safe zone. And I'm watching one of those right now.

The way a house collapse works is that the house sign states that the house is "like new" for an hour, then it progressively gets worse. It's not an instant thing, though. It can take up to ten days as it goes slightly worn, somewhat worn, fairly worn, and greatly worn. Each stage takes 1-2 days to occur. It's usually 24-36 hours for each stage. 10:30 yesterday morning it went from 'Fairly' to 'Greatly' and less than 45 minutes ago, it finally went to the final stage: "In Danger of Collapse."

So, one of my mental breaks is watching/waiting for the house to fall. I have a characterwho's hiding just outside the house and I'll activate another character on a different account who will move in with a couple of pack horses to try and grab as much as humanly possible!

So far, there's only one other person waiting. But this final stage can be anywhere from 12-24 hours to finally collapse. Obviously, I"m "busy" tomorrow morning, but I hope it happens tonight instead.... Gonna be a long night, but it could pay off if I get something good!

My other mental break/distraction these days is the daily Sudoku in our morning paper. From Monday through Sunday, the puzzles get progressively more difficult and I'll admit I didn't like doing them when I first tried them a few months ago. 2 weeks ago, I sat down to really try and managed to finish every one through every level of difficulty. It's a good break as I can concentrate on something that's entirely different than anything else I'm working on at the moment.

And there was this lengthy useless post --yet another break! :)

Where I R

I'm losing track of days at the moment. I've been busy, very busy, with school and it eats into a lot of my time. I'm not forsaking my family at the moment either, though, as I usually take care of the kids all afternoon and evening on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This means if I'm working on my homework (which essentially is 6 hours' worth a day), I'm doing it until 2am or so. It works fine on Monday nights, but Tuesday nights are nasty because I have to get up to commute to school Wednesday morning at 5. So, if I'm lucky I'm getting 3 hours' sleep between 2am and 5am Wednesday morning. Yeah.... not good. Needless to say, I'm not getting much work done as I'm pretty tired these days by 1am.

The heat's not helping with sleep either. I didn't sleep at all Sunday night/Monday morning and then spent 2 extra hours at school in a meeting. It was a one-time-only meeting, so I couldn't miss it. It was with a producer from THE big company in the area and I didn't want to pass it up. WE had a good talk and I felt better afterward, but couldn't wait to get home and grab some sleep.

And, as if with traffice in the area, even leaving just after 2pm, it took 2 hours to get home. I have to write my rant on traffic very, very soon.

School's going fairly well, but I feel like I'm falling behind schedule now. Apparently, I'm supposed to have my first "item" complete for my demo reel by Monday. It was supposed to be the following Monday, but the instructor forgot when the holiday was so she moved everything up a week. Nurtz.

Technically I have 75% of my portfolio demo reel stuff done. But whether or not I have one 'complete' item.... I'm not so sure. Time will tell, I guess.

I am having difficulty with the one instructor from the class I've switched sections on twice. He has a tendency, after showing us how to do something in class, to say "give it a try." What he should say is "Do it. And I'll come around and see how you're doing with it." He doesn't, so if we feel it's not helping us with our portfolio items, we ignore it. Then he gets mad at us for not having it ready next class. And that comes with a lengthy lecture about our attitude toward work and how we're not going to make it in the industry if we don't do what we're told. Now we're getitng much more defensive about it, though. We've argued with him that he's showing us something that isn't compatible for a majority of the class and we're not seeing how it could be useful to what we're doing. If he just switched a few things around, everyone would listen to him and do what's asked of us, but for now... it doesn't fit. So it ain't happening.

Still thinking about my driving rant.

Schedule Changes

So, when I started my final semester, I had a class Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday afternoon.

It sucked.

After successfully challenging the latest fluff course (yay!), I got to knock off the Tuesday morning slot. Nothing wrong with having Tuesdays off, eh?

My Thursday morning class was risky. We'd heard on our first day that 'Loser Boy' had passed yet another course because the instructor didn't want to teach him again. Ugh. There are only 2 sections for this course and they both occur on Thursdays. So, I had a 50-50 chance of having Loser Boy in a class yet again this semester. Is it too much to ask for a semester free from him??

With class starting at 8:30, I was well early and set up to start my day by 7:30. At 8am, Loser Boy walked into the computer lab and I knew my day was ruined. The registration office opened at 9 and I was standing there when the windows opened, with a completed section transfer request form in-hand. My "reason" for switching sections? The traffic --in the mornings it's horrible (which I'll discuss later). So, no problem. I got my section switched (the Dean was standing there too when the office opened. As I discovered over the rest of class that day, 5 others also switched. And it was all because of Loser Boy.

So, into week #2 we go and I'm now scheduled for the Thursday afternoon class. I leave at 11 to get to a 1pm class (yep, gave myself 2 hours to get the 60km to class) and arrived a few minutes late thanks to bad traffic and skirting around an accident only to be caught by a train. Needless to say, I was incredibly p.o.'d by the time I arrived in class and some of my classmates saw how mad I was. "Yeah," said one, "I'd be mad too." This confused me because I hadn't explained to anyone why I was running so late.... then I looked across the lab and there sat Loser Boy.

He'd switched from the mornings as well.

That could be the end of the story, miserable as it is.... But, it's not. The instructor was incredibly confused as there was barely anyone left in the morning and nearly standing room only in the afternoon. He muttered that he hoped some people would switch back... and I was quick to volunteer. And 3 others followed suit.

So, there's the end. I'm in on Thursday mornings again and hopefully Loser Boy hasn't done the same. The Dean, upon receiving my request to switch back, had a good laugh --I'm sure he knows why.

Helmet.... Anywhere a helmet?

Once again, my grad project has taken on babysitting proportions once again. Although I'm the #1 guy on the team, I have 3 subordinates working more directly with departmental leaders. 2 of these leads quit over our 2-week break (and I was happy to see them go as they were both incredibly disorganized)... one of them was responsible for all the art in our project, but kept losing work that people had done. So, when we needed to refer to things, it was nowhere to be found. So, then a whole new piece would need to be done, taking precious time away from other work....

We can't find those either.

The other guy was responsible for writing up a 30-or-so-page document explaining the design process behind our project and to add a "story" to give some credence/logic to what we were doing. He failed miserably and 4 people trying to help had their suggestions set aside and never "sussed out" enough for anyone's taste. It got so bad, that when we asked him to describe some characteristics about a specific person in the design, he couldn't do it. So, he was gone too.

So, now we have 2 new people and I really wonder how much futher along we'd be if they'd been in control of their areas from the start. They're both incredibly organized and totally dedicated (but not to a fault, they're both willing to step away whenever necessary, which is good: we can't have an emotional connection or people fall apart when basic pieces are cut).

The problem now is: the 2 guys who are out are causing nothing but trouble. They're spreading rumours about things changing and generally freaking out a number of people on the project. No one likes hearing about change, but they don't seem to understand how little time we have left until mid-September. Hell, this is supposed to be done in August!

So, once again I'm dealing with children in their 20s.... I really hate it.

Through to the next round

It was late yesterday, with the course challenge deadline looming, that I finally got confirmation that my challenge was accepted.

Mine was the only one accepted. 6 others were denied. The Dean refused to review the challenge requests himself mainly in part because most students in the program complained about the class, seeing it as a waste of time & money.

As long as I'm out, that's all I care about. Mean? Yes, but there are some who really need the course... and I just proved that the squeaky wheel doesn't always get the grease.

Welcome to the real world, kids. Wear a helmet.

Waiting Game

My course challenge request is in and now I play the waiting game to see what's up. The Dean said he wouldn't look at it --even though he's been talking to me for over a month about expecting me to challenge. He's passed it off to a career counsellor to see if I have enough to challenge.

If he doesn't act as an advocate for me, I go above his head.

The class was actually scheduled for this afternoon, but I didn't bother going. Even if after fighting for the course challenge, I still probably won't go. If I don't officially graduate because I wouldn't take a course that has no meaning to my program --so be it. It's just another lame-ass excuse of a class this school has forced us to take.

If I'd known a year ago about course challenges, I would've skipped a couple other horrible Tuesday classes too.

Grr. More on this (get it? moron?) later...

Forum for all

I'll admit I regularly check a number of forums for sites of interest. I check a couple of hockey forums (although I tend to stray if there's too many Go Leafs! posts) and I check a great deal of comic book forums. Those ones surprise me the most. I remember when I was a kid one of the reasons I was told I had excellent spelling skills was because I actively read. I read comics and some books, but mainly comics. But reading those forums.... ooh me head!

I have to say, though, that there's been some mighty fine quotes of late:

From a comics forum, on a thread regarding 'Da Vinci Code and the Holy Bible:

"I read the Bible. But I'm a comic reader. When Jesus died, I said to myself 'No way is he staying dead.'"

And from a hockey forum, regarding free agency signings:

"Anyone who uses the phrase 'most stupidest' must have a point."

Sorry, I just had to share because they've had me giggling for hours.

A Pox..... Now

My daughter's best friend came down with chicken pox a couple days before my last semester ended the second week of June. So, one of my "plans" over the break was to take care of my little girl with yet another illness. Sure enough, just before my break, she got sick.

It wasn't chicken pox, though. She had an ear/throat infection, which she gets at least twice a year. So, we just waited for the spots to appear.

On Saturday, I made the traditional pancakes and strawberries for our Canada Day breakfast (been doing it for about 7 years now). My daughter cam out of her room.... covered in spots. She's got the familial timing down, proving once again it's hereditary. Yep, 2 days before I return to the mega workload and stress of my graduating semester, I have a very spotty little girl.

If anyone saw "There's Something About Mary" and Woogie got those nasty boils around his eyes, including one right on the edge of his eyelid.... picture that and you have my baby girl. And, of course, one that close to her eye can't have any calomine lotion on it. So she has to suffer with that one.

So, now according to plan, my son should have the pox around mid-July, just in time (there's that timing thing again) for his birthday. And he's going to be one miserable S.O.B. when he gets them.

My in-laws said he'd be miserable and I simply replied he'll be exactly the same, but with spots.

I Thought Monday was a holiday...

In Canada, our big holiday is July 1, not July 4 like it is in the US. Most places --every place, but my school-- close down on the Monday when July 1 is on a weekend. But, yeah, I'm at school. They shut down on June 30th "for the sake of the students."

Nice.

It's 7:20 and I'm having a bad day.

I got maybe 3 hours' sleep last night (more about that in a later post) and left for school at 6 this morning. My carpool partner moved an hour closer to the school, so he hops the bus to get to class. No more HOV lane for this hoser. Leaving at 6 means I have 2 and a half hours before class starts, which should be just enough time. Forgetting we're the only place open today, it took me about 45 minutes to get here.

So, now that I'm here I can print off my course challenge request. Oh, but wait! Apparently I have no more print credit left. It's day 1 of a new semester and I can't print anything! Then, I figure I'll just put the information on my memory stick and submit that to the Dean. No can do. My memory stick is no longer attached to the lanyard. I've lost it and the homework that was due this morning. Yeah, homework due at 8:30 on day 1. And it's all gone.

I check around campus (I'm one of only 2 people here right now) and it's nowhere where I've walked. I check the car, but seeing as how I only sat in my car, it should be obvious it isn't on the drivers' seat. So, I call home and my wife searches around. No such luck. She checks the garage, but there's nothing there either.

I'm swearing.

I go
back to the car and start rummaging through the trash under the seat (oops --gotta clean that soon) and when I move a gas receipt, something heavy falls from the side of the seat. Sure enough, it's my memory stick somehow caught between receipts from last week's road trip (more on that later too).

So, now I have my memory stick, but no print credits "left" with which to print.

Argh.

And I'm still not looking forward to this semester.