Ode To Ayla

Woot!

I'd like to say this was a product of being bored on the ferry, but in truth I thought this was a really good idea regardless.  I make no claims to its quality, but I do like it.

Characters they come and go, I've enjoyed a fair sum
But for now, I'd rather just talk about one

From the times prehistoric
Comes a woman, most prolific

With flowing blond hair and clothes made of fur
This cat packs much, much, more bite than pur

Stronger than any man, and respects strong women
Truly the pinnacle of human physical condition

She does not use weapons, for her a fist is fine
For no weapon can do damage: nine-thousand nine-hundred and ninety nine

She was born before the time of magic
but to the core - her triple kick is tragic

Alas she is not just might, but charming, all the quicker
from the two headed snakes she takes a mega elixir

And though it's sometimes easy to miss
she also has a healing kiss

Alas she may not seem the brightest, at that may at times be worrisome
but she's actually quite smart - she just talks in third person

And let's not forget, because this point is not moot
In a contest, she can drink an whole lot of soup

When her people where endangered by the reptites - so radical
She called from the sky, the mighty pterodactyl

And when charged by lightening like some god damn human dynamo
She can beat the shit out of the black Tyranno

And here once again she proves she is stronger than them all
I know of no one else – admittedly indirectly – who can cause a red star to fall

Yes! Strong, fierce, might and morally just
And while I'll only use marle lucca, robo and frog if I must
In Ayla, I place my absolute trust

So when it's the fated hour and it's time
The clock  set for 1999
As long as we have Ayla, everything'll be fine

Because while la may mean fire, and vos may mean big
Ayla owns face

"Ayla fight while alive! Win and live. Lose and die Rule of life. No change rule"

— Ayla

Published! - Mind the Gap! Bridging the Dichotomy of Design and Implementation

Hi Everyone!

I just got word from the 4th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Computational Science and Engineering.  Aka SECSE 2011 and our paper Mind the Gap! Bridging the Dichotomy of Design and Implementation has been accepted!  Not only that, but our reviews were quite positive!  The best part is that this is one workshop of many which is at ICSE 2011.

Which this year, is in Hawaii!  Woot!  Hopefully this will get me there.  I have another paper in the works for another workshop in Hawaii and hopefully I hear about that one soon in a couple of days.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll be 2 for 2.

This is my first ever publication, which is awesome!  Looks like my academic carrier is off to a reasonable start.  I got to work with some great people and hopefully that will continue.   Everyone has to start somewhere and I apparently have started here.  Today, I had my first ever publication.  I'm also chilling in Portland enjoying great food and hospitality.  Tis a good day.

Thanks to everyone who helped out! Especially Donna and Yvonne!

I am so very excited.

-Liam

Thoughts on Grad School While I Warm Up my Curry

Made curry last night.  It worked out.

This point of my life has been extremely intense.  I've never felt so stressed out, nervous, excited, tired, awake or frightened before.  There have been very few points where I have felt this taxed and rewarded.  There is so much going on. It's hard to describe

Research has been good yet breakneck - though I am in a bit of a lull right now.  We managed to get two papers into conferences in Hawaii!  SECSE and IWMSE 2011 to be more precise .  One is based on my honors project and is pretty much all me.  The other is with a small team of us.  Both are kind of heavy for different reasons.  I think they both turned out pretty well.  I'm first author on mine, so here's hoping!  I had a lot of help from Andrew Brownsword who has awesome insights into performance and optimization.

Teaching is a very interesting experience and continues to be really rewarding.  I'm learning a ton every day.  Maybe someday I'll sort it all out and write some lessons learned, but first I have to figure out what those are.  It's super fun running a CSC lab - especially in 110.  You have a lesson plan, but we also get to add our own spin/creative variation. It's cool when people understand things or get legitimately excited.  Computer science is often pretty boring, but it really doesn't have to be. Making it fun and bringing people over to the dark side is pretty awesome.

In terms of actually coursework, I don't do a whole lot.  I'm in advanced cryptography, which appears to be working out.  It's interesting, but really theoretical, which isn't really what I'm into.

I'm also doing a grad seminar with a focus on being an international researcher.  Every Thursday we go in at 8:30 am and talk to folks in the UK.  That's kind of cool, but I think I need to know more about being a Canadian researcher before I branch out to the rest of the world.

Anyway, that's me for now.

-Liam

More on Usage Based Billing

Hi Everyone

The CRTC has been asked to reconsider their billing rules. So far the CRTC is digging in its heels and reacting to public pressure with disdain.

We urgently need to send a clear message to CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein that we demand access to an unmetered internet. Enough is enough.

Seriously people, it costs Bell a penny per GB and they want to charge you 2 dollars for it.