ati on the way up....

great stuff for ATI handheld
Things looks to be booming over at 66 triverton (or wherever that building is). I'm sure a bunch of our pey friends will be in hot demand once they graduate. Congrats!!!

concertS!

Forgot/Lazy/Busy to post about this any earlier..

Firstly, the vic choir.

TONS of fun.. it really was a great time. Thanks to all those who made it out and randomly screamed words of encouragement throughtout...

I was a bit nervous at the beginning... yes.. but eventually it all went away and it was cool. There is supposedly a video floating around somewhere, but I have yet to get a hold of it. If and when I do get it.. after a visual inspection to ensure it's not too embarassing (I don't want to see it on ebaumsworld), I'll post it somewhere. I will definitely be back next year.

Secondly, nocturne..

Overall it was lots of fun and there were some great performances. Crazy Train... WOW... Random songs to which I have no idea what the lyrics mean (by you know who).. Grrrreat... PO.. incredible (obviously) but also very funny of course.

Last year PO delighted us with a very cool rendition of some classical piece of music (forget the name), which was out of this world.. but what it made it really great was the ending. A long chord, followed by PO taking the guitar off and bowing, while the chord was still going. Sort of cool.. but a lot more funny.

This year PO shared his true colours. There was head banging.. YES.. head-banging. Some enthusiastic movement around the stage and some other stuff I missed while I looking around to confirm I was not the only one finding his antics amusing.

Great times indeed..

those who read this.. don't forget the end of the year nano party. YOU CANNOT miss it. E-mail myself or beyondchatsworth if you're down.

all for now.

the hardest part

posts come in bunches.

partly motivated (I'll admit) by seeing a few very well-written posts by some friends.

Thursday, thursday, thursday.. by far the best time I've ever had at a concert and arguably the best at the ACC.

coldplay is incredible live.. not to mention having an insane atmosphere at the ACC.

so.. a recap.

We got there about 8:15ish, a little into Richard Ashcroft's set... too bad.. cause I didn't know he was once the lead singer of the verve!.. I didn't used to be a big rock fan.. but even I knew some of their songs. We did catch most of the set though.. including a rendition of "bittersweet symphony" which was grrreat.

then a super long break to coldplay (45 mins). We, being opportunists, were up on the balcony (first row though!) and saw the floor in our sights. Led by Q-man we made our way on a wild chase to find the way down to the platinum area. After some backtraking and going through the same gate twice, we finally found our way down. The key is to pretend you belong, so random conversation with a friend coupled with timing it just right (just when someone else is showing their ticket). It worked like a charm. We bypassed two checkpoints and made our way onto the floor. We were all "yah man!.. wooo. we made it!..", then we quickly realized.. we actually didn't :( They ran a tight-ship. Everyone was at their seat and the isles were completely clean. No mobs, no place to lay low. Just a bunch of random security ppl with flashlights. We realized we had no chance and quickly made our way back to our seats, just in time to catch coldplay's opening number.

High energy and great music from the start. They played all of my favourite songs (even Yellow and the Scientist), were treated to a Johnny Cash cover and incredible lighting/video effects. I thought it's supposed to be all about the small concert scence, small club, intimate setting...etc.. True, it has its benefits, but the big crazy sports arena/stadium has its benefits too. .... "Lights will guiiiiiiiiiiiide you home" with a sea of lighters and cell phones across the ACC.. wow.. WOW.

----

umm.. also want to mention how great having a mentor can be. I was dt for a meeting on friday with my mentor from three-lettor company acronym. He gives absolutely incredible advice and a joy to talk to. If you ever have the opportunity to enter into any sort of mentorship relationship, jump at it. It gives you a candid opporunity to discuss your personal goals, ambitions, problems whatever..

that's all for now..

ahhh.. why not

if anyone still reads this... wow..my hat's off to you..

in honour of choir (performance at the end of the month - 31st! - free admisson - isabel bader - 8:00pm)

I'll structure the posting.. (the blog pretty much writes itself once you get some structure)

doe... a deer.. a female deer.
umm.. a deer -> hunting -> Cheney -> corporate america -> business strategy?
okay a big stretch.. I'm reading "co-opetition".. supposedly applying "game theory" to busness.. ummm.. okay... sort of working with competitors is more beneficial than being at war with them. It's a bit long-winded at times, but it has opened my eyes to some new things. I definitely recommend.

ray... a drop of golden sun
Summer!.. coming.. YEAH.. summer is great. Last summer was tons of fun at work. No one really did anything, we played basketball and beach volleyball everday and we always left early. Makes me think what it would be like to move to a warmer climate. But then there's the whole, can't feel pleasure without pain type deal and I'd eventually stop appreciating the summmer. SCREW THAT.. if I get grad school in california.. I'm gone.

me.. a name.. I call myself
Me.. what's up with me... work is chill.. I've been trying to take on new tasks and have been mildly successful. It's hard to pick up good work as people, frankly, are reluctant to pass it off as they want the thunder for themselves. Yup.. office politics people. So, the work I often get is what we term "bunk". I figure I'm going to continue to try to build up my soft skills, get running again (going for 5k in april and 10k in may), get working on my sort of nano market survey and just continue to have fun (it is pey after all).

far.. a long-long way to run.
School seems very very far away. Meh.. I'll take care of it when it comes around. Some people are looking forward to it, others dreading.. me.. indifferent. We'll see how this changes in a few months.

sew.. a needle pulling thred..
umm.. yeah.. I'm not going to talk about clothes or some crap. I'll mention 24. GREAT!!!.. as usual. I'm following it religously. Prison break is coming back too. Watch out for Mondays ppl, watch out.

la.. a note to follow sew..
Skule nite was GREAT yesterday. shinpads did an incredible job!.. some parts were a bit risque.. ie. chubby guy in a thong, and another in his underwear. But definitely some very very funny scenes.

tea.. a drink with jam and bread..
makes me think of "god in running shoes" guy who drinks tea everyday at a certain time like the british.. way cool!.. GREAT to hear about the job offers and grad school acceptances. YEAH ENG SCI!!!.. my main source on the developments in the nano realm has been hornyhasmter (thanks man!).. WE MUST have an after exam party before we split ways. WE MUST!!

that willl bring us back to doe..!

that's all she wrote folks.

peace.

like old times..

In the SF comp lab posting.. just like old times.

we gotta wait it out for the n sci dinner so hornyhamster recommended I post.. and here I am..

let's see..

some notable things that come to mind.

Yes.. I'm in a choir. A lot of people have heard from one way or another about this. It's nothing too spectacular and no.. I won't break into a number just for your listening pleasure. BUT.. there is a concert in about a month and I will let you know about when and where. You are all more than welcome to witness a spectacular performance.

No.. I lost the apprentice competition at work. I CAME IN SECOND!!!.. AHHH!!.. our team of two smoked mr. 666 buddy (not beyondschatworth).. but I lost out to my fellow teamate when it came to a vote of the audience. I really didn't stand a chance and those that were there would confirm this. You see, we were given a chance to explain ourselves to the crowd. My teamate seemed a bit shy, so I (thinking I was being a gentleman) decided to go first. I pulled the normal BS "It was fun, learned a lot, all for charity.. blah blah...", got a nice round of applause at the end.. thought I had a chance. THEN... her turn. First lines "You know.. being a girl in engineering is hard.. with so many guys around.. it's similar here.. but I've done my best".. BAM. I was soo done. The sympathy vote!!.. DAMN DAMN... so I lost. No shadowing the VP for a day, so no supposed fame... BUT BUT.. coming in second came with some decent raptor tickets.

Yes.. I was at that amazing game last wednesday and also the one with the free chris bosh bobblehead. The first time was courtesey of the free raps tickets from apprentice, the second time through a ticket deal at company X. Both times were great. We snuck up on both occasions to see two great games (untypical of the raps I know) with great seats. I don't think I've ever seen more exciting basketball, let along watching it live!!.. great times indeed.

Yes.. I think I've figured out thesis. I'm going to try to do some cross company x project with a prof in ece (keeping those business doors open) with some experiemental stuff with another prof in chem (hopefully!..). Keeping both options for at least another 6 months or so.

No.. mr. jesterhat wasn't as great at badmin as I had expected (sorry man..). Good, but not extraordinary. Perhaps it was the shorts... he has refrained from wearing his real badmin shorts (the short short type) thanks to our relentess jokes.

Yes.. that's all the time I have.

Till next time..

correction

craziness at three letter acronym company has subsided.

We finally did have that honest, open meeting on the downsizing.

and it looks like my job role will change thanks to this reorganization. Yeah!. just when I was starting to get bored.

happy new year!

yah.. been a very long since my last post. It's not that I haven't had the time, it's more that I haven't had anything to procrastinate from.

but.. one day before I head back... a bunch of work to catch up on... and here I am. It's a mix of me taking on too much at work and just the general oddness at three letter acronym company that leaves me wasting away my last holiday.

at work they tend to sort of "ignore" or let the bad things go quiet but openly acknowledge the good things, even if they're much smaller.

for instance, a promotion in the department is met with a meeting of all the top people, congratulations all around, a small speech etc.

but.. the laying off of a few key ppl and the voluntary leave of my immediate boss, someone who has been at the company for 18 YEARS!.. does not even merit an e-mail. tsk... tsk.. I must find out through hush hush conversations and through simple deduction (eg. passwords being changed and accounts being reassigned). whatever.. only 8.. actually 6 more months to go..

back to new years.
I've never been a fan of new year's resolutions. I don't think you need a particular date to be setting goals for yourself, but if that's what people need for motivation then why not. I recall a entreprenuer info session at the career centre back in first year that was of a husband and wife team who built a very succesful company from scratch. The man made it very clear that setting goals for oneself is very important. And even more importantly WRITE THEM DOWN, somewhere... anywhere. If you don't, you'll continually make compromise after compromise. The takeaway, write down your goals for 2006.

all for now.. one of my new years resolutions is more posting for 2006!.. actually, not really.. but I will do better than one every two weeks. I promise.