hydraulophone

This is neat:
http://www.wearcam.org/hydraulophone/

Made by U of T engineers. :)

Pluto is dead...

...a fitting end for the planet named after the Roman god of the underworld. Did you know that an 11-year old girl coined the name for Pluto? It was actually discovered by some old man, but this little girl decided over lunch that the last planet of our solar system should be named after the Roman version of Hades, and the name stuck.
Anyway, after almost a decade of heated debate, Pluto's been demoted, and is no longer an official planet. So it's down to eight planets, from Mercury to Neptune.
For more info: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060824_planet_definition.html

An article on how to fight terrorism:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/24/how_to_really_fight_.html
I don't know if I would agree with the author. Many would argue that "turning the other cheek" is what the whole world has done often enough in the past to many warring or starving countries, which has been shown to fail at any resolution. Now, I'm not referring to peoples of power when it comes to ignoring these issues; I'm talking about the media and the press. Without the pressures of the public, which comes at awareness due to the delivering media, the amount of action done on the government's side can vary, especially if most of the damage is being done on international soil. Also, just how many inflicted families would be happy to know that their sufferings aren't being (at the very least) heard by the world? I can see the author's point on what kind of effects showing an indifference (media-speaking) to their actions can have, but ultimately, I don't believe that this will stop--or even hinder--the motives behind carrying out suicide-bombing or kamikaze attacks. There exist so many parts to terrorism, that I don't think it will do it justice (:P) to keep it to a single entry (a short one, anyway), and I don't have enough background in it to even suggest a solution. And so, like many others, I can only sigh and shake my head at the atrocities of today's world. The guilt is seeping in.

To-do list

Today I have to:
- go to the UC's registrar's office to defer my fees;
- pick up my CS program assessment from the CS undergrad office;
- get Janice's gift;
- get Jen Lee's gift;
- get a 1GB USB flash memory device;
- take Joe to the airport;
- get some kind of gift for Karen Reid's bbq (bottle of wine? I think it's too formal);
- and purchase my schoolbooks.

It's almost noon, and I'm feeling ever-so-lazy. ^____^ I think I'm gonna just sit here until I have to go to Pearson. Vegetating is good.

TSO celebrates the Crystal@the ROM: March 3!

Summer vacation at last :)
Yesterday morning, two of my students had their violin examinations. Because there was a nice big sign barring teachers and parents from listening in, I stood in a nearby hallway, fidgeting away. I woke up that morning at 6am for some mysterious reason, and with my nerves, I couldn't sleep again. I think I was more nervous that I ever was for any of my own performances. :\ Anyway, their piano accompanist told me they did fine (albeit a few rhythmic booboos), intonation was surprisingly--no, luckily--good (for violinists, unlike pianists, guitarists, and most wind players, placing your fingers down on certain spots takes a lot of precision and dexterity plus a good ear, so for these kids, as a beginner, it's a game of random hit or miss.) We're all glad it's finally over, and I let them have a nice week-long break. A week. So long. I remember after my performances, I was lucky to get a 3-day break... I even had to go to my professor's home once to practice on Christmas Eve. T__T No life? Obviously. For my kids, though, instead of drudging them into what I've been through (which, I think, can only be done if they're serious enough, or, as was in my case, if their parents are serious enough), I want to leave an impression that even though it takes a lot of work to get to the level of perfecting technique automation and polishing your style and expression, the end result is an incredibly tremendous feeling of triumph (whether it be towards your audience, your competitors (heh heh), or yourself) and euphoric accomplishment. Results are mailed in 4-6 weeks. eep. Results are available online this Thursday. eeeep.
Nita comes back from HK tomorrow! Vince comes back this Saturday!! Which means.......... presents!! lol... jkjk.. I just want to see you both again safely back in Toronto.
I might go camping with Vince + Joseph next-next-weekend.. I'm excited to go, although the main purpose of going THERE is to... believe it or not... pray and be good. No electronic devices allowed. Pshhyeah right. Amazingly enough, this place is so popular that it requires a waiting list, which I am currently residing on. If space doesn't free up, then it's camping with Fei, Dexter, and company. Can't wait! I sadly, sadly, have never ridden a canoe, although I've been camping (for music.. what a surprise) for practically every summer of my life (unless I had summer school).
Shifting gears, my brother said the dumbest thing yesterday as I was taking him to Future Shop. If you don't already know, his life is littered with all sorts of problems with my parents because of his girlfriend. Anyway, we were having a candid conversation, until he went, "Jen, you know what you should do? Hurry up and get married."
Me: "....wha--"
Josh: "Then it'll be SO COOL. They (parents) won't nag me as much, and I can say stuff like, 'but Jen doesn't have to come home,' and 'but Jen gets to have kids'."

unfortunately not covered by OHIP

Electronic piano. Fixed. Thank you Lord.
Josh is $60 poorer.

rosi, phone bill, orwell (can't think of a good title. whatever.)

Yay I got into all the courses I wanted! Just a few minutes after I was done enrolling, many of my courses' waiting lists already filled up. Whew.
Use Selenium for signing up! It's so useful!!!
But if the server becomes busy, then it's back to manual typing, angry clicking and lots of frazzled nerves.
As a random, my phone bill's 200% more of what it usually is. *le siiiigh avec beaucoup de financial pain*
After I got my draft back from Greg, he joked that I write like a lawyer at times, and referred me to an interesting read:
http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/index.cgi/work/essays/language.html
It's Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language". I think it applies more to non-technical writers (so not really for us cs people), but it's pretty amusing. I use a lot of verbal false limbs and pretentious diction, and after having read it, I feel so self-conscious about my writing (for grading, anyway.) :\

Selenium on ROSI

If you've ever used Selenium, you'll know that it's a tool that helps test HTML files by automating user input. It fills in text boxes and clicks on buttons, just as a normal user would, but of course quite a bit faster.
I realized, if you start a "test" at the very first second ROSI opens when it's not busy, run Selenium, and you'll be done enrolment within 10 seconds! Hmmm... My final year, and I discover this NOW.

old school mathematics

rhetorical rut

I've got nothing particularly interesting to blog about, but I'm feeling the itch to write something, and the people I usually throw my verbal bs at are:
1. in hong kong; 2. abandoned me; or 3. in hong kong.
My arms are in a post-traumatic kind of pain from yesterday's game of "Egyptian--something", where you hit a certain card that pops up as each member of the game places down a card in turn. With six fists coming down at you at hyper speed, it hurts. Janice's hands became asymmetrically puffy (should've taken before and after photos) ^^;
Happy birthday Franz! (was his bday party last night) I saw an oooold friend of mine yesterday, which was a nice surprise. Small world. I've known him since kindergarten, I believe, and have lost contact after grade 8. And wow, some people can really look the same from infancy to adulthood :) (It can be a good thing).. An elementary school reunion would be really nice. It's been almost a decade since then. Would be interesting to see who's doing what, where, and if anyone's living large, like we all proclaimed in our final blurbs found in our yearbooks. I think I wrote that in 10 years, I'd be some kind of famous musician, or whatnot. lol.. oh how innocent I was. (I'd open my drawers to look at it again, but my four feet tall stack of books is in the way. Speaking of which, Joe, from orchestra, is giving me his hand-made bookshelf! He made it on his own for his architectural design class, and it looks great! (thanks again, Joe ^^) Looks like posting my bs on my blog is useful after all.. hehe)
Situation at home with the brother vs. parents with me (striving to stay) at the sidelines is becoming trying. (understatement.) I keep putting other things first before family, but I think I should finally address these issues. I can feel the gray hairs growing. Summer school's almost over! For the final few weeks that I have, I want to do so much... of nothing. Just sitting out on the lawn chairs, basking in some sunshine and reading or dozing or otherwise. So many people are going places... Vince and Nita are in HK, Janice is going to the Caribbeans, Joe's going to Korea (and other countries, I presume), Justine's off to New York, soon, and so on. I'd like to visit Northern Europe, Greece, and Japan.
My blog's becoming victim to my excessive verbal diarrhea. (This is what happens when you go away, Vince (grrr).) Franz just msg'ed saying he loved our air freshener we got him! haha... in your FACE people who thought it was gonna be crappy gift. I know air freshener for a car sounds lame, but it looks really sleek and in Franz's words: "i knwo this is random. but the air freshener u guys got for my car smells really nice..lol"; Yay. Plus it covers up unwanted smells like... *insert words of your choice* ;)
I wonder if people are still reading up to here. lol.. if you are, *applause*, you have nothing better to do with your time, eh? ^^ It's ok. Me neither.
I have to go to Greg's office first thing in the morning tomorrow to pick up the draft of my final report and be victim to any criticisms he will have for it. eep. He said it should be just over 10 pages long, and mine was 10x3+3 pages longer. As you can see, it is quite evident that I cannot write short passages that convey information in a clear and orderly manner.
If you don't already know, Josh obliterated my student's electronic piano while we were over at her place rehearsing. Albeit it's still in one piece, it won't turn on. He was adjusting the stand the piano rested on, and the entire thing collapsed onto the floor. The keyboard's sitting in my room, now, and I don't think he's going to take responsibility for it anymore, given that he's angry at the whole world now. Why? God only knows. Maybe he needs an abortion or something. Anyway, I called the only guy in Toronto who can possibly fix this thing, and as such, he is expensive. First hour, which includes travel time, is flat out $65. Then fixing it, replacing parts, etc. costs God knows how much more. I'm worried that he won't be able to fix it after all, and it'll cost me, or that he'll fix it, and it'll cost me my liver, heart, and lungs. My student and her family are so nice, it makes me feel even more guilty. After all, I am the teacher, he is the accompanist I supplied, soI should hold responsibility, even if I didn't touch the keyboard. They said that I don't have to fix it, and if I do, they'll pay for it. Yeah right, like I'll let them do that to my dignity. T_T
If you're STILL reading this, gjgj. I hope I didn't melt any brain cells.