Back again
So I thought I should blog again, after reading others’ blogs and feeling bad about it. I’m a horrible blogger and generally a bad person-to-regularly-update-things. I would say a lot of things have been going on and I’ve been really busy, but that’s pretty much a lie. There were some random adventures (last night for example), but nothing too note-worthy.
Work is going pretty well, minus the stress of noobs (for lack of a safer word) who don’t know what they want or what they’re talking about. As a software developer, it’s generally hard to take direction from… not much. It’s similar to: I want an apple pie. But then I want to have cherries instead of apples in this pie, and I want the crust to do flips in the oven. That’s probably a really vague and horrible example. :\ Other than that, work is better than it was last term imo. Testing Blackberries was interesting, but a tad mundane and repetitive at times. Doing what I do at home (sometimes) at work is pretty sweet.
Last night, probably the most interesting thing recently, I went to the casino in Hull and didn’t spend any money. This was the first time I had been in a casino. I must say that the entrance was much more impressive with its fountains and pretty lights than the actual casino with rows of blinking lights and whirly sounds. The restaurants and assets on the floor (tables, roulettes) were fancy though. The two people I were with toyed with the idea of putting shampoo in the fountain as we were leaving to leave a huge sudsy mess. 
Sticky&Sweet
Not-so-recently: Madonna. I went to Boston to see Madonna’s Sticky&Sweet tour. It was awesome! We planned somewhat last-minute, so we had $350 tickets. Well worth it though - we were damn close. Traveling by Greyhound for 10hrs overnight was not awesome, however. Miles and I spent less time in Boston than on the bus. I found it was okay until 3-4am rolled around. Those hours are the ones where I start needing sleep desperately.
We checked into a hostel at 6:30am, then got coffees and shopped until noon. The hostel happened to be pretty full, so our beds weren’t ready until then. Miles was dying and I was somehow hyped up enough to want to go shopping. Strange…
It was also the first time I stayed in a hostel, so that was pretty neat. I didn’t imagine Boston when I was thinking of the first time I’d be staying in one - I always imagined somewhere in Europe. We’re somewhat planning our next trip down to New York to see Equus avec Daniel Radcliffe sometime in November. Another overnight Greyhound, hostel and cheap food. We planned the Madonna trip last minute, so hopefully we can plan a bit more this time.
Now what?
I r co0l and usingz linux now. Well, debian. It’s really nice. I’m also thinking about getting an EEE PC (1000 series.) Either the HA or the SSD one. I think I want an SSD, but I know a HDD won’t be that sensitive to minor shocks. I had a nice email chat with Rachael and she really convinced me (as if I needed much more for a cute little lappie) to get one. She just got one herself.
My task list grows yet, and I rarely check anything off. Sometimes I cheat and make a task that I know I will complete within 10 minutes just to make myself feel good when I check it off. 
I have been prescribed glasses. Really minor myopia - but enough for a prescription. University blackboards and textbooks are evil. My eyes were perfect before all that 
And I think that’s it for now…
Andrew
Testing BBs = pretty mundane, especially if you’re running the same suite of tests over and over again. IMO designing tests is better since you have to think a lot more about how to be efficient and not have 2 billion cases, but I think the best part of testing is getting to talk with all the different teams that contribute shiz to the product. We’ll see how I like being a Software Developer…
Lac Leamy is awesome! I went there over the summer (twice, technically, but the other time was just for the fireworks), and was pretty pyched out. Got a drink, played some horse racing and poker too. Ended up making 40-50 bucks on the night, I think. Pretty good for my first time! I don’t know if you saw those digital poker tables, but they were pretty craaaazy. I was definitely tripping out while I was there.
Eee PCs (and all their netbook variants) are kind of stupid, IMO, especially since I have a BB. Using a 10″ screen is painful (you think university blackboards and textbooks are evil? Sheesh, try reading a website on those stupid screens), the keyboards suck, and they’re too underpowered to do anything interesting. It’s like…a computer that can only check my email and play flash games on…which I don’t need. Real laptop plz, kthx.
I do that all the time.
Rebecca
But they’re sooo cute! Your laptop isn’t that much bigger with 13.3″. Are you talking about the older ones that have the uber small screen and crap keyboard? The newer 1000* ones have a nice keyboard and the screen isn’t that small.
Andrew
“Cuteness” is hardly a reason to drop ~$600
13.3″ is 33% bigger than 10″, which is pretty significant when you think about it. Even then, I find my screen small sometimes (and my parents always bitch that my eyes are going to hell because of this laptop). Nathan (don’t know if you know him) has a 10″ MSI Wind, and while it’s not /bad/, the keyboard is still tiny, the screen is still ridiculously small, and I still find it’s only useful for checking email/UW ACE/Quest/etc. (and that’s all I’ve ever seen anyone use that laptop for).
Becky
I’ve been feeling the same about blogging recently, I can’t think of anything to write about!
I’m glad that you enjoying the Madonna concert
Must of been tiring going all of that way though, but atleast it was worth it.
School = evil. I never needed glasses before I started college either, but now I can’t read the board in class without them
Grr, I think it’s a conspiracy started by the evil opticians…
Qifan Xi
13.3″ 33.3% longer than 10″ in the diagonal, not 33.3% bigger. Area calculation FAIL!
Andrew
Uh, 13.3″ is indeed 33% more than 10″ length (which is /technically/ what I said), but yes…area fail for me.
I could do it with an intergral…I swear!