Me and the Atkins diet

Early december i decided to go on the no-carbohydrate diet. And for two weeks i managed to do it, but oh my goodness it was hard. Felt weak and at a low energy level all day, even a near fainting spell in class (i just gave them an exercise and sat down the rest of the period).

But it worked. Lost 4 pounds in a single week.

However, during the second week, i developed an ulcer, the easiest way to get rid of is to keep your stomach full.

So there goes my diet, and i gained weight as my body was already used to the low food intake, and then here comes the holiday season, with all the parties, and all the food...

Sigh...

An exercise in futility.

Geekworld

Gosh, I just had this funky dream.

Just came home from a nice christmas party at Sacha Chua's place (she's home from canada for the holidays) with Dom, Clair, JM, Diane and Mike and I had such a great time that I dreamt about it.

Anyway, the dream was just us talking, except the universe had a funky 3d effect: heavy thick lines around things like those 3d fillers that cartoon network is showing. We were walking through town and someone (I think it was sacha) said that she had a YM message so she went to a nearby spot on the wall and the bloody ym client appears on it.

As it turns out, everyone was online in a seamless online 3d environment where people connect via multiple clients. Someone was telling me he was connected via a cellphone, one was through a fancy linux client at home, one was chatting at a computer store, one was over IRC.

Matrix-like, the cool thing about the place was the way communication via the network had a physical equivalent of a device in geekwhorld. Someone wanted to send someone else a program and it appeared in geekwhorld as a black swissknife that he held. And the act of moving the application was as simple as reaching over and handing it to him (although in the dream, it magically moved from one hand to another ala startrek).

To interact in the world, you go to an eletronic store to get devices (for free). The ipod (to listen to streaming audio) was a big walkman. To listen to streaming audio, you walk around town looking for people up on a soapbox and to listen to what he was saying (or the streaming media was broadcasting) you wear the earphones. And the cool thing is you can participate.

And a funny thing is walking around, there was a sign on the road saying that "I cant connect can anyone help me" and our group went up to the sign to help the person out (via the ubiquitous chat clients).

There were events going around, i cant remember what they were, but it seemed like a festival atmosphere. We all ended up at a coffeeshop and continued the conversations we had that afternoon.

The weird thing about the dream was people kept telling me that they were really online, and it was not a dream. Someone said that the experience was more real if you slept in front of the computer and had headphones on, but i knew that i was dreaming and not in front of the computer, and i was supposed to wake up in a few more minutes for simbang gabi.

Since I knew I was dreaming and that i would forget when i woke up (which often happens), someone told me to write on a napkin the name of the online community we were in (something about it opening an editor behind the scenes) but as i was asleep and not in front of the computer, i volunteered to reach out for my phone (which was on a nearby desk. And i texted the name, so that i could contact them when i woke up so we could hang out a bit more.

And when i did, i was holding my phone, and it said geekwhorld (with the h).

I googled it up. Nothing, of course. It was only then that i was convinced that it was a dream. (or is it? jm is online via yahoo messenger. O_o). But it would be cool if it was real.

The future of online communities? We'll see. But nothing beats hanging out in real life with friends. :)

The last bastion of reason (or after the lantern parade)

2am after the UP Baguio Lantern Parade...

I cannot believe that I am one of a few people who aren't passed out drunk. Although I am an occasional drinker (and believe me, I drink a lot), I decided to pass on the alcohol because I was hanging out with friends who were non-drinkers. And I actually was having a good time just hanging out by the bonfire, and listening to the bands playing, in the cold cold night.

Then the problems started.

The show had to be cancelled due to some untoward incident. Rumor has it that someone was stabbed but later, news came that the guy who was supposed to be the stabee was ok. Hopefully it was just that, but the student council decided to suspend the show, just to be on the safe side.

Then i go up to the office to see really really drunk Computer Science students spouting Math theorems to one another. "I'm not drunk! I'll tell you what the derivative of tan^-1 is!" At least its just that now. An hour ago it was a little bit of unrulyness. It was up to the non-drunks to diffuse the situation, though it was mostly my students who talked them down.

Then someone comes up to me worried. A freshman student was passed out at one of the offices, his first time drinking, and of course he drank too much. We got a bit worried because he had barfed over his jacket and all over the floor and that he was shivering a little even though he was in a warm room. I have no experience in this, good thing i found a teacher who knows about these things. Our student was breathing normaly, so we left him there (did fix his jacket though) as he was comfortable enough passed out on a couch with other people. Its just going to be a bit sad when he wakes up tomorrow finding out he was in bed with three other guys. How's that for a lesson on drinking. XD

Its 3:30am and things are winding down now. Still wide awake, keeping watch, too late to go home anyway. The problem is that at 5am im going to go to church for Simbang Gabi and tomorrow (well, later this evening) I have an overnight Christmas party with my friends 255 kilometers away, which I will move heaven and earth to go to. ^_^

But I'll probably not drink there, not this time. XD

UP Baguio Lantern parade

More on this later... Just wanted to put this here before i write about what happened after (which i want to write now)

My Celestia Demo Video

Something I hacked together for a presentation. Its a demo video about the Celestia free space simulator, to the tune of Sid Meyer's Civ 4 soundtrack. It's really nifty! Please check it out!

My Celestia video

What are the chances?!?

For our Christmas exchange gift for the Deparment of Math and CompSci, i picked myself. O_o Of course i picked a new name, now I'll be giving a gift to the Chancellor of UP Baguio.

What are the odds? XD

(Well, out of a department of 18 teachers, it would be 1/324)

Software Engineering class

Im teaching software engineering class this semester. Of course its the usual project based class, but this time i decided to follow three different software process models for my three groups.

One group will be doing the classic Waterfall model, but I made it so that they would be releasing a prototype during the semester before the final deployment. Another group would be using the spiral development pattern, with three prototype releases during the semester. Finally, the last group will be using extreme programming with prototypes every two weeks.

Since they are using different software process models, the groups will be having different documentation submissions. I still havent worked out the details yet, but before the christmas break, the waterfall group and the spiral group will be submitting a formal requirements document while the XP group will be submitting user stories with acceptance tests included.

At the end of the semester, I'll have all the groups together to discuss their experiences with the different process models.

Gosh though, one of the things i lack as a teacher is how software is developed in the "real world." It would be great if i could give a glimpse of what happens outside in my classes.

Level UP!!!

Got promoted! I didn't expect it at all when the letter came today. After five years of being an Instructor 3, I am now an Instructor 4. ^_^

Only get additional P200 a month, but its ok, just the rank change is ok enough for me.