Version 2.0

SccHarpGirl · 10-07-2007, 01:55 PM

Hey Lauren,

Yeah, it's a tough call - it's really expensive to go, but I don't want to not go and then not be able to go back. I've just kind of decided for now to focus on school, and doing the best I can, and let whatever's going to happen, happen. I e-mailed the stats advisor for University of Auckland over a week ago and haven't gotten a reply yet...so we'll see.

It's Thanksgiving weekend up here in Canada! Even though it's not my thanksgiving I'm more than happy to partake in the feasting. I am not very much of a meat eater, but I do enjoy turkey and NOT just because I was poked in the eye by one as a preschooler at Farmer Dan's Pumpkin Farm and as such have a grudge against all turkeys (though I'm not going to pretend that doesn't factor in...)

Friday after my crazy, crazy week I had Pamela over and we cooked stuffed pumpkins. They were quite good! We also watched Supernatural. I'm not much of a TV watcher but I'm getting hooked on this show. It's just so fun.

Saturday I went over to my friend Bryn's place in Cote des Neiges. Her boyfriend from Boston smuggled a 13 lb turkey (not a live one) across the border because turkeys are cheaper in the US. There was I think 7 of us there, so a lot of turkey to go around (and a lot of other stuff, too). It was such a pleasant evening. Lots of good conversation and hanging out.

Today I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to write a paper for Organizational Behaviour, then I"m going to go to mass tonight. Nice and low key. Tomorrow my friend Nicole and some of her friends are having a big thanksgiving dinner. It's a little sketch - I don't know most of the other people who are going to be there, and it's at her friends' apartment who I've never met. But there's nothing like Thanksgiving to meet new people so I figure I'll go, and if it's super awkward I can bail.

Back to the paper writing. Have a terrific weekend, everyone =)

SccHarpGirl · 10-08-2007, 05:42 PM

Just got back from Thanksgiving round 3 and I am unbelievably full. As much as I do like Turkey I'm glad American Thanksgiving is another month and a half away...I'm kind of ready to be done with it for now.

I could write my paper or I could curl up and watch episodes of Supernatural while dozing off. Hmmmmmm

**Rainer.** · 10-08-2007, 08:16 PM

Tuuurkey coma.......

SccHarpGirl · 10-08-2007, 08:53 PM

Totally.

And I just remembered I have ANOTHER thanksgiving dinner (at church) next Saturday.

At least i don't mind eating turkey. I was pecked in the eye by a turkey at Farmer Dan's Pumpkin Patch when I was like 4 and as such I love thanksgiving, as in my mind effectively it's revenge against turkeys.

**Rainer.** · 10-08-2007, 08:56 PM

Ouch. I was bitten by a monkey once... I suppose that's not quite the same thing. However, I have not eaten any monkeys lately.

SccHarpGirl · 10-09-2007, 07:40 AM

How did you get bitten by a monkey??

**Rainer.** · 10-09-2007, 06:41 PM

Well, I was in Vietnam, and people thought it'd be funny if I fed the monkey.

And it bit me.

SccHarpGirl · 10-09-2007, 10:51 PM

I'm sorry! That sounds painful

I hope people didn't laugh when it bit you!

SccHarpGirl · 10-09-2007, 10:58 PM

What a freaking nightmare.

So I was working with my groupmate on our Operations Analysis case at 8:00 tonight in the library. I go to bring up a file, my computer makes a popping noise and shuts off. completely. I can't do anything to revive it and it won't respond to any power source. I suspect that the power source has shorted out or a circuit has blown (I've been having some issues powering it up for a couple months now).

So I'm left with a computer that might as well be a rock since nothing happens when I push the power button.

And I have an essay due tomorrow. That was completed. That is on the hard drive of that computer. And I have an optimization linear program also due tomorrow, that thank the stars I e-mailed to a classmate to see if we got the same answer, so he was able to e-mail it back to me.

And I had to meet and talk with that Operations Analysis group about our assignment due Thursday until 10:45 at night because I could not get them to understand that I was having a CRISIS and that I had an essay due TOMORROW that had to be completely rewritten, because there's no sure way that I could have the info off of that hard drive by tomorrow morning.

So it's midnight and I'm in the library and I'm freaking out because I've got to get this paper done.

I thought things like this were only excuses people made to cover why they didn't get their work done.

Oh yeah I e-mailed my CCs (Course Counselors...the ones who are collecting and grading the papers) and explained my situation, but emphasized that it wasn't an excuse and I would still turn my paper in (in some form...) but I felt they should be aware.

Now I have to buy another laptop because 3 out of my 5 courses are largely computer based with specialty software (Regression uses R which is only available in the compsci labs, Operations Analysis uses igrafix process 2003 which isn't installed on any computers I know of, ditto for Applied Optimization which uses Lindo and Lingo which aren't on any comps because they are ridiculously outdated). I'm not sure where I'll get the money for this but I need to find it soon because I absolutely have to do well in school this semester...

Oh yeah I lost my favourite necklace today too! I was wearing it and then I realized halfway through the day it wasn't there any more and I retraced my steps halfway around campus...no sign.

This just hasn't been my day.

***Art*** · 10-10-2007, 02:42 AM

Ooof. Rough day.

If you can find anybody with a laptop and even just a bit of mechanical/technological knowhow, there is hope for your paper... Unless it is too late for that.

Laptop hard drives are nearly always removable. That means, you find the panel on the bottom that contains the hard drive, take it out, put it in another laptop, and you should be able to at least print your paper. I hope something works out for you. :/

Rough day.

SccHarpGirl · 10-10-2007, 02:34 PM

Yeah, my Dad suggested that too - find someone with a similar computer and swap out the hard drive and rescue my info. I just thought that I wasn't sure I could find that (most of my friends I could think of have apple comps) before the paper was due, and felt it was a safer bet to rewrite it. It was a reflective paper, not a "cite everything under the sun" paper, so it wasn't impossible. I got the paper done by 3am and then got up early this morning and finished my linear programming case. Now, I think I"ll go from there. I'm exhausted.

SccHarpGirl · 10-10-2007, 08:26 PM

I am very intrigued by this: http://www.vaticanboardgame.com/COD/index.php?id=1256

I love boardgames. My sister Monica and I built this one based on this website and it rocks:
http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/boardgame/lotrgame.htm

The rest of today was not half bad. I made a total idiot out of myself in OB today, not once, not twice, but a grand total of three times. Oh well, it's all in good fun. And I"m too tired to care, really.

I e-mailed my regression prof a question before realizing that he'd already sent the entire class a message with the answer. Another brilliant move.

On the plus side I got an answer from the advisor at University of Auckland, who said that he thought I could get in to the Graduate Diploma in Statistics. The financial office got back to me too saying that if I held a passport I'd be considered a citizen for tuition purposes (heck yeah!). The advisor asked me to send him my transcript and he'd take a look at it and give me more advice about what I could expect about admissions at U of A. I still don't know what I'm doing but it's nice to know that that could be an attractive option.

I'm just waiting here to see if groupmates e-mail me. We are missing a big chunk of our assignment due tomorow, but Mike and I did most of what we have now, so before doing the rest I'm going to wait and see if the other two group members can kick it into gear and generate anything useful.

Oh yeah I sliced open my thumb attempting home surgery on the laptop (lesson learned: a knife cannot be substituted for a screwdriver without painful consequences) so no harp for a couple of weeks while it heals

**Rainer.** · 10-10-2007, 08:33 PM

Ouch! my sister had similar power/laptop issues. Her laptop was eventually taken by us to a sort of shady repair place... they didn't do very well.

SccHarpGirl · 10-11-2007, 09:54 AM

On the plus side, when you don't compulsively check your e-mail every .00002 seconds, it seems like you get tons more e-mail. Think about it...while you might get 8 e-mails in a given day, if you check it all the time the ratio of new mail/no new mail is small, but if you only check it a couple times a day ti seems like every time you check it there's tons of new messages.

Sleepy today.

***Art*** · 10-11-2007, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SccHarpGirl

I am very intrigued by this: http://www.vaticanboardgame.com/COD/index.php?id=1256

I love boardgames. My sister Monica and I built this one based on this website and it rocks:
http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/boardgame/lotrgame.htm

The rest of today was not half bad. I made a total idiot out of myself in OB today, not once, not twice, but a grand total of three times. Oh well, it's all in good fun. And I"m too tired to care, really.

I e-mailed my regression prof a question before realizing that he'd already sent the entire class a message with the answer. Another brilliant move.

On the plus side I got an answer from the advisor at University of Auckland, who said that he thought I could get in to the Graduate Diploma in Statistics. The financial office got back to me too saying that if I held a passport I'd be considered a citizen for tuition purposes (heck yeah!). The advisor asked me to send him my transcript and he'd take a look at it and give me more advice about what I could expect about admissions at U of A. I still don't know what I'm doing but it's nice to know that that could be an attractive option.

I'm just waiting here to see if groupmates e-mail me. We are missing a big chunk of our assignment due tomorow, but Mike and I did most of what we have now, so before doing the rest I'm going to wait and see if the other two group members can kick it into gear and generate anything useful.

Oh yeah I sliced open my thumb attempting home surgery on the laptop (lesson learned: a knife cannot be substituted for a screwdriver without painful consequences) so no harp for a couple of weeks while it heals

U of A sounds amazing. Really amazing.