Posted: 10/16/2008 9:54:00 AM
WFH!

Why do I enjoy WFH (Working From Home) more than being in the office? Well, let's see, the coffee is better, the air conditioning works properly, I can't get trapped in the hallway for a 15-minute impromptu meeting, and the list goes on. Though I have to admit face-to-face is much better when collaborating. No form of instant messaging, virtual meeting, et cetera, will take the place of sitting down with people face-to-face.

Posted: 9/11/2008 10:34:00 PM
Wii Madness!!!
Ever since we got our Wii a few weeks ago, our living room has become one of the hottest music venues in the country. Armed with the drums and guitar, we take on song after song on Rock and then switch to the serenity of fairways with Tiger Woods in between sets.

Rock Band is more of a rhythm and coordination game than an actual this-feels-like-I'm-really-playing the [drums/guitar/bass] game. If you are a musician, you have to get past that, and once you do it is a very rewarding game; lots of great songs. Tiger Woods '08 has a very real feel to the swing and the putting is extremely difficult (unless you put the game on the lowest difficulty).

Overall, the Wii is a great gaming console if you can find one. Though the PS3 plays BluRay discs, the Wii holds its own with the interactive experience and backward compatibility with many of the Nintendo classics!

Posted: 9/9/2008 1:46:00 PM
New iMac!

This is the best thing I have ever done for my drumming (and my ears for that matter). The Vic Firth drummer headphones cancel out all of the overhead, high frequency noise from your drums and allow you to plug into your iPOD, metronome, or monitor. The best part is that it REALLY DOES WORK!

When I play drums I hit pretty hard. The faster I play, the harder and louder everything becomes. Plus, my drums are enclosed by a Plexiglas shield, so the noise gets trapped and exaggerated in there with me. The first night I sat down behind the kit with these headphones on I was completely blown away by how much the noise was eliminated. Even better: I plugged into my iPOD and had to turn it only halfway up to get a perfect blend of the recorded music and my live drums. This has been something I've attempted to achieve for years. I've done everything from MiniDisk players (eliminate skipping), to home theatre receivers and so on. I've NEVER been able to get that blend. Always I've struggled with my drumming overpowering the music and have had to stop and get back on track with the music. The worst part was the constant rattling of my ear drums, leaving me half deaf after each gig or practice.

Now when I practice I leave without my ears ringing and I feel that I've actually had a solid practice! In fact, I didn't have my headphones yesterday and the volume from my drums was unbearable. I can't believe I use to torture my ears like that all this time!

As of July 28th, I am officially finished with school and have achieved my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science! It has been a strenuous journey that began in January of 2006 and continued through relentlessly until now. When I look back on everything that has happened during this time, I can't believe I actually made it through. Much of that is due to Jamie's support and motivation to just keep on pressing through to the end. There were more than a few times when I was completely prepared to throw in the towel, but Jamie helped me hang in there. I'll never be able to thank her enough for the countless nights of being alone while I've been at class, and then countless weekends spent out and about while I sit at home hunched over a textbook. Thank you so much babe! I love you!

I want to thank all of my friends, family, and colleagues as well. You have all seen me through this journey and motivated me so much. Your support and encouragement has meant more to me than I could ever say in writing. To my family: I look forward to making up for all of the time I could not spend with you all. To my friends: Thank you for putting up with me having to opt out of hanging out in order to do schoolwork and study. To my colleagues: Thank you all for putting up with my tired mornings after long nights of studying.

And here begins my retrospective...

The first year of school was pretty much a breeze. After transferring in my Associate's degree, I took a look at all that was left and it split down the middle between Computer Science courses and general courses. So, I decided to ease into this thing by taking all of the general courses first. The year of 2006 was a blast with Sociology, Literature, French, History, and Biology. The teachers were great and I was having a blast learning new things and reinforcing old knowledge.

The second year was met with a huge surprise that would prove to challenge me in a way I had never been challenged before. I received a call from the EDP (Evening Degree Program) office telling me that they were closing down the Computer Science program. Therefore, I would need to start taking all of my Computer Science and math courses immediately and back-to-back. I was in for the surprise of my life!

Beginning in January of 2007, I was placed directly into Assembly Programming. From there it was Computer Architecture and Design, then Data Structures, Advanced Programming, Programming Languages, Calculus I, Calculus II, and Linear Algebra. The Computer Science courses, condensed into 8-weeks a piece, meeting on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 6PM - 9:30PM proved to be very challenging. I spent most of this time stressed out, frustrated, and feeling helpless for some breathing room. It seemed like no matter how much time I put into an assignment, it wasn't enough time. And if I focused too much on one class, my performance in the other class suffered. In retrospect, I realize that I was learning HUGE lessons in time and stress management. Honestly, there were nights when I would come home from class, cloaked in heavy despair, and tell Jamie that I was simply done. There were other nights when I would get so stressed that I would pull into the parking lot at HPU, sit for a moment, and then blow off class to read books at B&N down the street.

The math classes took my stress and frustration to a whole new level. I had a professor, who will remain nameless, who was from south of Earth. It was an absolutely terrible experience. The professor simply wanted to put zero effort into teaching us the material and leave everything up to us. In addition to minimal direction, the professor piled on the assignments greedily and handed out tests that were mental brainbusters! Towards the end of the math courses (each of which were headed by said professor) we had to have an intervention involving the Dean and the department Chair to veto the way this particular professor wanted to run things in Linear Algebra. The math courses got to the point where nothing was ever good enough for the professor and the professor graded based on nothing more than what he felt like given each student. No grades were ever recorded in a book and each night the professor would walk in bleary-eyed and complain about being tired. I found out the hard way that it is endlessly frustrating when you're giving 100% of what you've got and the professor is giving 0%.

The start of 2008 brought with it a fresh energy and motivation to take on school. My Senior Seminar proved to be quite fair and enjoyable, thought I can't say that I didn't spend a few hours pulling my hair out! My last months this year were great. In May I went to Sweden and missed the first part of my Theatre class, which proved to be both enjoyable and educational (and easy). In June I went to Vegas and missed the first part of my last semester, which included Stats and Global Political Economy. To my surprise, both professors ended up exempting me from the final and letting me take my current average as the final grade. I was more than happy to oblige!

Now, I look forward to reclaiming my weeknights and weekends! Here's to another chapter in my book finished and a new one beginning.

//Chris