the world according to mayhem toledo

Monthy Python Dream

2008-11-29T07:12:00.002+08:00

I had this dream of watching a new Monthy Phython skit. It went like this (read with a British accent)

Man1: Do you know the way to St. Ives?
Man2: I don't think its proper to ask him?
Man1: And why not?
Man2: Cuz we just robbed him!
Man1: So?
Victim: Ungugh...
Man1: See, he agrees with me
Man2: No i think he just ungugh...
Man1: Didn't he say Ungugh-ugh?
Man2: I think it unguh-ugh-uunggh with the long last part
Man1: No think you're wrong i think---
Man2: Well it doesn't matter! We can't ask him.
Man1: And why not? Are we committing the act of robbery again? Is the pursuance of information an act of thievery?
Man2: Its because we left him half-dead in a ditch! You twit
Man1: Oh....
*pause*
Man1: Shall we ask a policeman then?

AFK Earthquake

2008-07-30T12:36:00.003+08:00

I was in a fleet with my friends in Eve Online when all of a sudden one of the pilots suddenly said over the fleet voice chat that there was an earthquake in their area (southern california). We could hear over the comms the rattling windows. He said he had to go out for a while and wrote these words on the fleet chat that I wont forget for a while

AFK EARTHQUAKE

He lived 10 km from the epicenter of a 5.8 ricter scale quake. But his net connection didn't go down and right after that continued playing. Cool.

Leaving for Dumagete

2008-03-25T20:04:00.001+08:00

I'm leaving for dumagete tomorrow morning. I'll be introducing the JEDI Operating Systems Courseware to teachers in Siliman University from Wednesday to Saturday.

*seafood* =P~~

Afternoon Tagalog Movies

2008-03-17T16:52:00.002+08:00

With my office PC down, i have had no reason to go to school outside of my teaching duties. Anyway, I spend the afternoon working on my home PC watching Tagalog movies as background noice while I work. And there are many many odd scenes, one of which I'll write now.

* at the end of Bote, Diyaryo, Garapa staring Roderic Paulate had its traditional 1980's choreographed dance with the actors all dressed up in of all things jar costumes and newspaper outfits dancing with the sidewalk sweepers at the Quezon Memorial Circle. Gah..

* In Wansaponataym, Shaina Magdayao's grandparents are searching for her to no avail. As they were going to leave forever (with Shaina running after them), the car they were driving turned a corner AND HIT THE EDGE OF THE SET. It had movie cameras, the lights, the cranes and worker people. They were asked to turn back and when they did, the set was gone.

I am still looking for that movie where the Quezon Memorial launches into space and two stupid cops wanted to give chase for a "theft" of government propery.

I didnt know that

2008-02-09T08:55:00.000+08:00

I've had my mac for nearly a year now and i just found out that if you hold ctrl then move the mouse wheel it zooms the screen. How awesome is that? XD

3 years worth of pictures

2008-01-30T21:59:00.000+08:00

I've had it on my to-do list for two years now, ever since i got back from baguio. I wanted to have all the (selected) pictures i had on my computer printed out.

Digitized photos are really nice and the fact that you could store hundreds virtually free but i want my best ones traditionally printed out on a traditional photo album. So just in case my hard disk crashes, i won't lose everything.

We'll of course i could still always use it, but on a long term, having actual pictures than data on a disk seems better.

Oh yeah, how many pictures? 376. Cost me P2,500. Lesson: release often XD

(browses pictures... i was so thin then...)

Further adventures of Necca...

2008-01-25T23:31:00.000+08:00

To my fellow mouseketters, Tivea's continuing her book about Necca, the fire rat. Well, nothing like a book, more of random (mis-)adventures happening after the end of the book she just finished. Ok, not even mis-adventures, just some draft scenarios that is in her head. Or whatever...

Anyway, if you liked Necca's adventures and want to find out more, maybe its worth a looksee. ^^

Tivea's site

To absent friends

2008-01-24T11:25:00.000+08:00

A few friends of mine moved abroad to seek better jobs, opportunities or basically the chance to start life anew. (One of them went to France to open up a cat shop, he now sells cats and has a mini-bookstore where you could read cat books.)

Its kind of hard to communicate over such long distances, and well, it made me realize that blogging is a way for them to keep track of what's going on in my life and the lives of friends around me who are still here locally.

So to you guys, I'll be updating a little more often every now and then to tell you stories about what's going on in our lives, and the lives of other people you guys care about, who don't blog (i'll get have them do so sometime XD )

Full moons may seem sad now, but know that, whereever you are, we will all be gazing at it together.

Take care ^_^

Goodbye to my phone

2007-07-05T18:16:00.000+08:00

I've had my old Nokia 3310 for five and a half years now. When i first bought it i was in my first semester of teaching. Now, im an assistant professor now, with a good number of teachers younger than me my former students.

My friend Switch gave me my Love Hina Sakura Saku ringtone in Feb 2002. I got my Rurouni Kenshin screensaver from my sister later that year.

I had my phone when quite a few of my close friends started their relationships. Most of them are still together, 3 years going strong, some of them are getting married soon. (Im still single though *sucks*)

My earliest message up to until recently is from April 2002, from a friend thanking me for planning to lend her my Card Captor Sakura cds (which i never did). It was deleted by my niece who wasn't even born yet when i got my phone. Now, my current oldest message is from my friend Lau thanking me for greeting her a happy valentines day in 2003. I keep a lot of my messages: 'i love you's from friends and my family, some memoriable quotes, a simple smiley face a friend gave to me. I usually only have space for 2 or 3 new messages, unless its very very special, i delete all incoming messages. Its very hard for me to replace a stored message.

My friends have been clamoring me to replace my phone for years now. I hadn't planned to yet actually, all i really want is a phone that can call and that can text and that has my old messages. Over the last few months my phone's condition has been slowly deteriorating. Garbage on the LCD, phone suddenly dying for no real reason, can't charge... Add to that the fact that with the way i use my phone, its cheaper for me to get a line, and thus a new phone that comes with the line.

Got myself a Nokia 6288. I transfered my archived messages to it, and to my laptop (i love how i could do that over bluetooth wireless, so convenient). I still use the Sakura Saku ringtone (transfered that over as well). Now i have more space for messages. Having quite a lot of fun using it, particularly the camera (now more pictures for my blog ^_^ ).

Still its sad not to be able to use my old phone anymore.

Draft Mission Plan

2007-05-18T07:09:00.000+08:00

Current mission plan

1. I love teaching. Unless my family's financial situation really calls for it, I would like to teach as long as i can. I love the feeling when my class understands a difficult lesson, see them progress through the years. Even more inspirational to see my students become excellent teachers as well. Also, with my free time, i get to do other things a 8 to 5 job wont let me do.

2. I love teaching teachers. My work for JEDI is really great as it allows me to share my teaching experience to teachers in the provinces, and start a trickle down effect in improving educational quality where its really needed. I also want to know their teaching experiences too.

3. I love freelancing. Being in the academe kind of makes me outmoded, slightly out of touch with what's going on in the field. i need to work hard with side projects to know the current trends and to earn that extra cash needed by my family. I feel better teaching if I could give examples to my students about industry practices.

4. I wont work as hard as I did. Just the one racket each time.

5. I would like to learn how to invest. I firmly believe that my extra money should be working as hard as I am. This influx of rackets wont last forever, i need to save up for the future.

6. I would like to start my own business(es). I would like to setup a franchise or a restaurant that would (over time and after a lot of effort) provide me a source of passive income.

And at the end of 4 years, i'll have the following scenarios
a. if i dont get married and my businesses fail, i'll go and work abroad
b. if i dont get married and my businesses succeed, i'll go and take my PhD abroad
c. if i get married and my businesses fail, i'll go and work in local industry
d. if i get married and my businesses succeed, i'll go and take my PhD locally

So that's it, hopefully i dont weird out again over my quarterlife crisis. But it seems that this is what i want to do with my life. ^_^

Dislocated my shoulder

2007-04-13T11:29:00.000+08:00

Yup. It happened again. Its my old Arnis injury (mario vs tire, tire wins!) where my right shoulder gets dislocated. 3 years it has been since it last happened.

This time, due to stress, i finally snapped and threw a shoe at a wall. Harmless stress relief, right? Heck its better than a chair, ala Steve Balmer.

(It finally happened. "UP teacher nag-amok, balikat, patay! Mamaya sa Saksi!")

But again, due to the force and the weakness of my right shoulder socket, my arm popped right out. I was quickly rushed to the hospital and given drugs (yup, it was that painful). It took three guys to wrestle my arm back into position. As I was waiting for them to give me the drugs to put me to sleep, it wasnt really the pain that made me feel bad. Its the sheer utter stupidiy of it all. And embarrassment, something like wanting to crawl up in a hole and die.

And it cost me 4K. And two weeks with my right arm in a sling.

I'd like to think there's a lesson to all of this. Like "don't lose your temper" or "try to relax a little bit more" or "it can all come to a complete stop" or "think about your health" etc. But I dont feel it (you have to feel the life lesson, right). I keep on replaying the moments leading up to the accident, all of it seemingly inevitable, something any sane person would do to keep sane.

So right now, the only life lesson got is "dont use your right arm to throw shoes"

Stupid, just plain stupid....

PS: Oh, and the last time this happened? I sneezed and my arm fell off. Really.

Last Week of Classes

2007-03-23T21:12:00.000+08:00

Busy week is an understatement. Death march is a nice word.

Monday, 19 March - Preparing for and attending an 1 - 7pm requirements gathering meeting in Makati. Cries of "This is MADNESS!!!" when boss leaves for a bit.
Tuesday, 20 March - Slept 3 hours to write summary of Monday's meeting. Last formal lecture day in school. Wrote a 40 pt CS 12 exam for Wednesday. 90% recycled from my UP Baguio exam (they wouldn't get leakage anyway)
Wednesday, 21 March - Slept 3 hours to finish writing exam. Had someone proctor so I could sneak off and get an hour's nap during the exam. Afternoon meeting in makati to discuss Tuesday's paper. Checked exams during lull hours.
Thursday, 22 March - Slept 5 hours (yay). Borrowed the car, meaning drove from Marikina to Manila to bring my mom to work, and then Manila to UP. Paper checking in the morning, MS Thesis defence panel at noon. Used the car to go out and buy my happy little laptop Haru-chan (talk about it next time). Afternoon MS thesis proposal defence panel. Round trip UP, Manila, Marikina for my mom. Logged nearly 60+km travel.
Friday, 23 March - Slept 3 hours. Some laptop setup (of course) but mostly checked papers. Hard core checking to deliver an exemption list for my students. Then document writing output of Wednesday's meeting. English 146 Final exam. Wrote in short concise sentences in large easy to read fonts (i know how hard it is to check essays). Breather in CS 12, had a Robocode tank battle competition. Evening, setup the lab for saturday's hands-on exam. It is 9:30 pm on a friday night waiting for my parents to drive me home. this sucks
Saturday, 24 March (planned) - 5 hours sleep, write problems for saturday's hands-on exam (thank goodness for PC^2, i can do checking on the fly). Prepare for requirements gathering meeting in munoz in the afternoon. Evening to write reports based on meeting.
Sunday, 25 March (planned) - try to get 7 hours sleep. Hopefully setup Virtual Hosts and Jahia autostart in JRDC network, Ruby on Rails on Student server, MySQL 5 and tomcat configuration on Solaris Server. Write CS 12 finals exam.

"THIS IS MADNESS!!!"

Murphy's Law 2007

2007-03-05T18:42:00.000+08:00

The stuff they said about "things that can go wrong, will?" its true. Murphy's Law is real.

I've got a lab full of students cramming for their thesis. And this morning the internets go down.

Quick call to Bayantel. (Amazing fast service, just two hours after the phone in, they had people here!) They diagosed that the line coming in through the underground line was grounded, so by noon they installed a new wire from the telephone pole to the building.

And you know that its Murphy's Law acting when just 4 hours later, the line goes down again because the MMDA decide to trim branches off a few trees. O_o Augh!

Thanks to Bayantel, they were here, again, just two hours later to fix the problem (PLDT took 2 weeks according to my students when they used to be our DSL provider). Wow! So everything's back to normal (for now, dundunduuun)

No such luck to the NEC building thesis students. Rats chewed the fiber optic line. Its been two weeks already.

I have a dream (2am thoughts)

2007-02-11T00:58:00.000+08:00

I have a dream that in 10 years Baguio becomes a Silicon Valley in the sky.

The city has already everything that is needed. Perfect weather (9 out of 12 months of the year). Temperate climate (for transnationals). Good IT infrastructure. The best city in the country to live in...

...and the best and biggest CS / IT schools north of Manila. The best students from all of the northern regions of the country gather here. Baguio is more a university town than it is a tourist town.

I left Baguio because there just was limited opportunity for software development there. Today it hit me, why can't we make the opportunities there?

I want my students and my co-faculty in UPB and UC and UB and SLU and STI and all of the other northern Luzon CS / IT schools be given the opportunity to work near home, and not have to migrate to Manila (or for that matter other countries) in order to work / earn extra. I want a vibrant entrepreneurial community of software developers, working hand in hand with big industry and with a responsive city government to utilize the already perfect setting and promote the city as a software development hub for North Luzon and for the country. Everything's already there, someone just has to act on it.

Can you help make this dream come true? What do we need to get started?

(pardon, just some 2am thoughts...)

Science Fiction and Fantasy Analysis Class

2007-02-02T19:19:00.000+08:00

Taking up English 146 now. Its listed as New Trends in Anglo-Saxon Literature. But in reality its actually an SFF analysis class under Prof. Emil Flores. Totally worth taking.

Some stuff I learned:

A discussion on Pol Anderson's Queen of Air and Darkness became two meetings about culture in a globalized world. There are two kinds of powers in the world, hard power denoting physical military might, and soft power through culture and economics.

Power through culture. Why is that when we say fantasy we mean Western fantasy like knights and elves and dragons? And by dragons, the western dragons, not the long swirly chinese ones? Its because of the sheer dominance of Western thought, at least in that aspect.

The reason why England created fairys and elves was to differentiate them from Greek and Roman literature, which Tolkien turned into Lord of the Rings. American writing in the 1800s sought to define what was american. Kim Stanley Robinson wrote about defining a Martian Literature in his Red-Green-Blue Mars novels, as to separate itself from Earth.

Asia is moving up. Korea is now having her revenge over the Japanese, K-Pop and Korean Telenovelas is now popular in Japan, their former colonizers are learning Korean so that they could translate the telenovelas directly. The same way that people in the philippines are learning japanese to watch anime better.

Disneyland in Europe is not doing so well... Because across the river, they have REAL castles. But Cowboy movies, already boring in the US, are a hit all over Europe, just because its unique.

And local cinema too! Right now, a little known 1970's film called Weng weng: For yu'r height only, staring 2'11" midget Weng Weng in a james bond parody is a CULT CLASSIC in the US and CANADA! YouTube has trailers! DVD release soon! Wow! XD XD

More stories to come. Like how 169 filipino families control 70% of the countries wealth, leaving 16M families 30%. Or how there was a 1950's filipino movie where the weakling hero transformes in a puff of smoke into a hyper-powered Nazi (complete with the SS uniform) who fights crime using Karate (ugh!).

Got my license ^_^

2006-12-05T06:03:00.000+08:00

Finally, after a month of training, i got my driver's license.

Thanks to A-1 driving school support, we had a man on the inside working the queues for us. Unfortunately, because their printer died, everyone had to wait hours before the written exam could begin.

But the written exam was fun! There were silly questions like:

Q: A policeman flags you down. What do you do?
a. Pull over and show your license and registration
b. Accelerate and ignore the policeman
c. Stop the car and argue with the policeman.

And then there's the WTF?!? question

Q. What does the sign on the left say?
a. Maximum speed, 60kph
b. Next intersection, 60 km ahead
c. Only vehicles 60 km in size and above are allowed to pass

Umm... Yeah, next time I see a car thats 60 KM IN SIZE, I'll get right back to you. XD

Anyway, after 4 hours I got my license. The picture looks dumb, but then again, the only person you'd be showing it to is the policeman (a. pull over and show your license and registration).

Too many conventions, too little time

2006-11-17T05:40:00.000+08:00

I go to Anime/SFF convensions every now and then, just to see the stuff they sell, the cosplayers, and sometimes to meet up with friends. Conventions happen quite rarely (i guess 4 times a year at best) so I've always hoped that there'd be more.

Imagine my shock when I found out that this Saturday 18 Nov, there will be 3 (yup, three!) conventions happening around Manila!!!

Animax Anime Fashion Show - Glorietta 5pm
Hero TV Anime Convention - World Trade Center, 18 Nov - 19 Nov
TOEI 20th Anniversary - Libis

I mean this is ridiculous! Its great that there are a lot of conventions but having them all that the bloody same time? What the heck?!?

The sad thing about it is that the convention population will be divided into three, there wont be that many people in a single convention. I wish that they'd coordinate something like this in the future.

Rustans? What's going on?

2006-11-08T06:33:00.000+08:00

I went around town lately, and I noticed that ALL the rustan's supermarkets are closed. From Katipunan, to Gateway, to Farmers, to our neighborhood Rustan's supermarket. Now 4 supermarkets closed is too much of a coincidence.

Anyone know what's going on?

2006-2007s2 Start!

2006-11-06T06:25:00.000+08:00

The new semester starts today! This marks my 19th semseter in UP, and the 13th as a teacher. I'll be involved in registration duties, see me harassed! XD

I might actually enroll this semester. As a non-degree, since I already graduated my MS. I just want to be able to take some of the funky new subjects being offered like creative writing, art studies, philosophy, theater 10, film 10, music classes, stuff like that.

No PE's though, i think im too old and out of shape to catch up with the kids these days. I'm slightly worried too about getting a teacher younger than me, or for that matter, would the teacher weird out if he/she finds out that there is another teacher in class pretending to be a student! O_o

The feeling of empowerment was great as I did my paperwork, I'll actually get to be a student again! Wow.

Starting Driving School

2006-11-03T06:40:00.000+08:00

Im going to start learning how to drive today. ^_^ I actually knew how to drive 5 years ago, went to the Concepcion Barbershop / Driving School (yes, its a barbershop with training cars out front). And I was quite happy learning how to drive a Honda City

But my dad wasn't. When I drove my family car (a big toyota revo) for the first time and stalled in the middle of C.P.Garcia he remarked, "um... why dont you go back to school and learn how to drive a big car?" ugh.

Well i did get back at him by *NOT* learning to drive for the last 5 years. Hehehe. If you know how to drive you immediately become the family driver. "Please drive me to the grocery store." "Please drive me to school." Etc. I feel sorry for my dad though.

I realized lately that its time that I did learn. Being 25 and NOT being able to use the car kindof sucks. This time I enrolled in one of those big driving schools (A-1 driving, which happened to be just a little down the street from the barber shop) and this time I made sure that I'll be training in a toyota revo.

Will I be able to borrow our car? Well, that remains to be seen. =)

And they all fall down...

2006-08-23T05:54:00.000+08:00

Had my first theory exam. Everyone failed. Really.

My fault actually. The purpose of the (first half) of an Algorithm Class is to teach students the techniques of Algorithm analysis. What is the O notation for? Why do we need the masters theorem? What does it mean for an algorithm to run in polynomial time vs exponential time? What's the average case analysis for?

But what i did was teach them what the tools are but not how to use them. I taught them how to solve a recurrence relation but not how to get the recurrence relation given an algorithm. I thought them what the O notation is, but not how to determine the runtime of a program. They were expecting a "solve this, solve that" exam but found an "analyze this, analyze that" type. And that's what CS 135 is all about, algorithm analysis.

Oh well, charge it to experience. ^_^

This class has always been notorious for failing a good amount of students. I had thought i'd do better but i guess i botched as well (more than most actually O_o) So I called for a retest, made them re-do the exam as a problem set, just so that they'd be better prepared for the coming exam.

Which has been delayed by a continous sequence of unfortunate events (holidays, the UP College Admissions Test). Its hard because my students are masters students (im teaching an back course for masters students who didnt take CS in their undergrad) and its so hard to schedule outside of our saturday meetings. Im way way behind with respect to the other algorithm classes. Ugh.

I dont like to be a math/cs theory teacher, but the weird thing is, i'd be happy to teach this class again next year. ^_^

Adjusting

2006-06-22T05:31:00.000+08:00

Started teaching again in UP Diliman. And things feel different.

First of all, its the crowds. The college of engineering has more people in it than the whole campus of UP Baguio. Endless hordes of students lining up during enlistment. A friend of mine back in Baguio once complained of an enlistment queue that lasted 20 minutes. The other day I was in line for two bloody hours on a hot humid afternoon at the cashier's office.

Yes, the temperature too. It does not help that the hottest temperature in Baguio is the coldest temperature in Diliman (though it does get a bit humid in Baguio). Its a good thing I'm a compsci teacher, spending most of my time inside air-conditioned labs. And Im really happy with the office they assigned to me, its small and quiet and cool and most of the time there's no one else here but me.

Commuting too, I've been dead tired lately. Just crash on the bed and sleep although I havent been doing that much work yet. Walking to school is really so nice.

Teaching all new subjects. This semester I'm teaching Competitive Programming, Intro to Programming (for non-CS students) and (gasp) Algorithms. I've been involved in competition programming since 1995 (even been a coach once) but this is the first time that I actually have to give a grade. I like teaching Intro to Programming, but i feel a bit less motivated to teach students whom I won't get to see again. And finally, I've never been a theory teacher.

And I don't know my students. If you're just three faculty members, you handle a third of the student population. You get to see the same students in different subjects, and for several years. I guess I'll miss that about UP Baguio, you could see students as they grow over the years, and feel their triumph as they graduate.

But a week ago I went and visited Baguio to get a few papers. I had wanted to freshen up so bad when I got there and almost began walking towards my apartment when it hit me: I no longer lived in Baguio anymore.

At my old computer desk, I could just close my eyes and imagine that I had classes and that I had work to do, but after I got my papers I was just surfing, just killing time. I felt totally useless. It was nice visiting friends too, but I had to go over the painful process of having to say goodbye to them again. And lastly, after a late night movie, the walk to the bus station is the same as the walk to my old apartment. And you know that its different. It really was different.

I dont belong in baguio anymore. Im just a tourist, same as everyone else. I wont get to see Minesview after a storm, hearing the howling winds raging across the valley atthe abandoned tourist spot (who in their right minds would visit Baguio during a storm?!?). I cant stay there more than a day unless I shell out money for hotels (really shell out money). Last of all I wont get to work at our labs again, there's so many things that I can still do there, but at least Im happy Im leaving it in capable hands.

Manila is my reality now. The crowds, the heat, the humidity, the new subjects, the new students, they're all part of my new life now, either I accept them, or i just move back (which I wont). So I guess this is the last time I'll be comparing Manila to Baguio, I've probably been irritating people (Im really sorry. ^_^;;; )

Densha Otoko

2006-05-31T21:44:00.000+08:00

I've been watching a J-dorama (Japanese soap) named Densha Otoko, literally translated as Train Man. Its a guy meets girl story, except that the guy is a super anime geek, while the girl is rich and cultured. they got to meet when the guy defended the girl from a drunk on a train, and by defend i mean knees shaking and promptly getting his ass kicked. But the main twist of the series is that the guy goes online to ask on tips on how to get the girl. Really.

It really hits home for me because i could really relate to the guy. Not knowing what to do, trembling as he dialed the girl's phone number for the first time, stuttering, being totally clueless, and the huge anime figurine collection in his room (something i wish i had).

I cried a lot watching the series, mostly because the insecurities Densha Otoko had are the same insecurities i used to have, and that i am still having. But at the end, when the people he met online became his closest friends, and he had to say goodbye, it was the most heartwrenching of the series.

Because he made it that far because of his friends. And he knows that. "If there was only one thing in the world i could be proud of, it is this thread, because my friends are here."

I just finished my graduate thesis. And I feel the same way. I could not have made it this far without you guys, i really mean it.

The final (imagined) scene was the girl and the guy on a train as it steamed out of the station, while all of his online friends were on the platform, cheering them on. (I say imagined because they all never got to see each other, they're close friends even if they have not met). And they pulled away into the night.

I feel like my train is leaving now, and all my friends are on the platform, waving me on. I may not have a girl on the train with me, but at least I have you guys.

Thank you so much. I am very blessed to have met all of you. ^_^

AM Radio

2006-05-15T02:16:00.000+08:00

Just a short post, im reliving a fond childhood memory. I guess all of us remember this scene when we were young, with a storm raging outside for the whole night with howling wind and hammering rain. The feeling of being so cold that you'd rather stay curled up in your warm bed.

But you still get out of bed when mom turns on the radio and switches to AM (its always DZRH at our house). There's this sense of anticipation, all ears are turned towards the radio, hoping against hope that the announcement would come. The air is filled with the smell of wet earth; the smell of air crisp and clear with the city's perrenial smog blown away, mixing with the smell of fried rice.

And then it happens. Classes suspended in all levels. You get excited, you eat breakfast, and then you crawl back into bed, falling asleep to flash reports.

Its never going to happen to us again. It is a rare storm that causes even work to be suspended (and the announcement comes when we're at work already; after going though a wet hell to get to the office you have to go though that again). But now, with the storm raging outside, and the smells coming back, and my comptuer here in Baguio streaming DZRH over the internet; it makes me wish that classes are suspended, and that i could crawl back into my warm safe bed of childhood.

100 hours left

2006-05-15T01:35:00.000+08:00

Its 1am on dark and stormy night here in baguio. Even though the storm has gone, its still gusting outside, coming and going as if it were ocean waves. I think it's 14 degrees outside, any person with a sane mind would be fast asleep curled up under the covers.

Not me. This morning i realized that i had exactly 100 hours left to finish my thesis. Just 4 days left...

You know in the movies, like those boxing-type movies, where its the final round and the hero remembers all the training that he went though to get to that point? I'm having that now. Looking back at the past year, all the stuff I've done up to now where I'm basically just running my thesis program now gathering metrics, it seems so unreal. Slowing building up the system, hammering over 10000 lines of code, bleeding over every word of my (currently) 39 page final paper (which looks soo good on latex XD ). Its just scary how, that after 5 years of masters, im almost done.

Not out of the woods yet. I still have 36 hours of test runs to do, still have to gather metrics, correlate results, write my conclusion... I remember two weeks ago, i was basically slacking off as my thesis program run on automated test data; i was simply waiting for the results to come. Then on Horrible Friday (May 6, 12 days before the deadline) i found out that for the last three days I was running the wrong program. And when I loaded the right one, it wasn't working.

It took all week last week to debug my program. The problem with debugging is that you can't give yourself a deadline to when the code is good enough. Your program just suddenly works, it could be today, it could be two years from now, you are never sure. And it feels extra bad, I was almost through, I could taste it in my mouth and it still wasnt there. It was only just this Friday when I managed to get reliable runs on my thesis. I've been gathering data non-stop since then, still have so many runs to do. I just might make it, or I might not.

The problem is the weather. Had a few power fluctuations today, and a 5 minute brownout (good thing the UPS's held the system together). Anything that can destroy UP Baguio will destroy my thesis too: my backups are in multiple computers, but all in a single building, its just too big (20MB) to back it up on a server far away. I'm also exausted from just sleeping less than 4 hours a day for more than 7 days. It's cold, Im exausted, Im afraid of getting sick. Im paranoid, I know, but I've grappled with Murphy's law before and when you're almost done, it becomes a whole lot more scarier. I feel bad too to have missed a friend's wedding.

Im really thankful for all the nice scripts that you can create linux. Most of my tests are automated now, all i have to do is to type the appropriate commands to start my thesis runs, and data gathering from multiple computers, collation and graphing (using gnuplot) all done effortlessly now. And Im actually thankful for Horrible Friday, because I thought my program was running correctly, I could concentrate on paper writing (which is exausting too, I typed for four whole days, and treated myself to a big juicy stake when it was over). Im really thankful for all that, I cant seem to think anymore. I feel like a marathon runner at the end of the race, you're just too tired for any coherent thoughts left. And that's all i really have to do now, mindlessly run tests. Once they're all in, i'd get myself a good night's sleep and finish my results and conclusion in a day.

That's just that. Everything's so last minute. Like the last round of the boxing movie, you fight for 12 rounds and you think you're winning, but a single punch could turn everything around.

Oh goodness, im just soo tired. I feel like crying. But its almost over. Just a little bit more...

I'll be taking a nap now, still an hour before a run finishes. Wish me luck. ^_^

Hello world

2006-04-19T10:23:00.000+08:00

I am hosting a seminar on line teaching tools today

Holy Week in Baguio Batman!

2006-04-14T08:12:00.000+08:00

Yes, I'm in school, for the whole Holy Week. Its not that I dont have family to go to, or somewhere to take a vacation, its just that I have thesis, plain and simple.

People have stopped going to school ever since Wednesday. While everyone else is going downhill (only tourists stay in Baguio during holy week), my daily routine hasnt changed: wake up 6am, go to school 7, stay up to 10pm, then sleep.

But its ok, Im having good progress. ^_^

And being alone in school is pretty nice. UP Baguio is really a very plesant place to stay, and with no one around, its a very very peaceful campus. I think at some point I'll just grab a pillow and sleep outdoors (the weather is that good).

Thats not to mention total control of the network (all the bandwith are belong to us!!!). And late last night, i realized that i was using nine computers: two for development, four for testing, my macintosh for downloading LaTeX, a computer for CD burning, and another one for audio streaming (its the TV server actually, but of course there aren't any shows to watch). Wow.

I'll do something to at least make this a spiritual holy week. To those who are interested, there's this book series called A Certain Jesus, an online version available here. Its is a nice retelling of the Gospels in everyday language (you'd see Jesus and the disciples as a bunch of friends enjoying each other's company, even cracking jokes and stuff) and historical exerpts (like how the last supper was done actually sitting down on mats and not on a table). You'd get to relate to the characters (as in) cuz they seem like people you'd meet on the street. Its really wonderful.

Back to work. Have a blessed holy week everyone! ^_^

A job well done

2006-03-22T20:35:00.000+08:00

I gave a farewell speech (sort of) at the end of the undergradute symposium, and gave a summary of what we have accomplished as a discipline. The following is a summary of what i said (pretty long yarn, i basically did a lot of jokes and stuff) but here's the speech that I would have wanted to say, if i were a good public speaker. XD

Three years of undergraduate research and you could see the improvement. I remember when it used to be two one semester software development projects, now its a full year of research, projects utilizing p2p networking, video streaming, artificial intelligence, image recognition, open-source development... Hayup!

Im proud that our SA's have learned how to maintain the lab by themselves. I remember how at the start lab installation was done by attaching a cd drive to all 20 lab computers to manually install windows and linux, and took over two whole days of effort. Then the next year the SA's researched network installation using networked redhat and a windows image, which took just a day. Then this year a single image spanning both OS's installation taking an afternoon. And then next sem, plans to implement a fully functional LTSP server: to just install one server for the entire lab! More time for being lazy. XD

You guys also maintain the webserver, learning to develop online applications... It wasn't so long ago that I taught you how to crimp your first network cable. Now you work so fast now that I get in their way, that's why you do all the work now. ^_^

I am happy that you have begun to take residency at our labs. You guys already consider the laboratory as a second home, spending all their vacant hours there. Yes, it may be a headache sometimes, with you all being noisy, and leaving your trash everywhere, playing games (although i confess that i sometimes join in too =P ). But you discovered the one thing that makes this all worth it: study groups.

My best example is our CS 191. I remember the first CG class last year. I taught you guys Blender basics on the side of a formal lecture. We had a nice awarding ceremony for the short clips that you guys did, basic models and textures simple animations. And that was it, i moved on. But you guys students kept on learning, researching more and more during the last year, and passed it on to the next batch of CG students. Now our videos have advanced rendering techniques like armatures, raytracing, ambient occlusion, radiocity, motion bluring, nice texturing, use of the physics engine, and other such fancy words. You basically produced work that goes above and beyond all my expectations. I hear you want to push the bar even higher, to join UP Baguio's independent film festival with a full length show. That would be really cool, we'd call ourselves "Cyber Sampaguita Pictures" or something like that.

Now, how much more can we accomplish when my co-teachers make thinking of expanding study groups for programming contests, wireless application design, game development with a dedicated research lab... Its a very exciting time to be a student in UP Baguio Compsci. Im happy that you've learned the best lesson in CS: you learn more outside of a classroom.

But you have to work to keep this. We're just four teachers, we can't preserve the body of knowlege you've all gained so far. All it takes for us to start from near zero is for all the best minds (teachers and students) to leave without passing on the knowledge. It happened before. 6 years ago we already had networking application projects, we had an LTSP server, all on primitive computers, but the knowlege was lost, gone, wala na.

So teach! Pass on the knowledge! We can only build higher if we have a broad foundation (something like that, Im not an architect).

So to you, the 2nd years (who hang out at CS Lab 1), the 3rd years (who hang out at the ILC), and the 4th years (who hang out at CS Lab 2), thank you for letting me feel good about your achievements. A job well done to you all. =)

Oh, and if you don't do your job, I'll come back up here and kick your ass. XD

Friday night

2006-03-10T19:35:00.002+08:00

I read this strip from PhDcomics on a Friday night

She took the words right out of my mouth.

My UP Baguio Computer

2006-02-24T21:42:00.000+08:00

I'll never have a setup as nice as this:

Yes, its three monitors. A center 19" with flanking 17" monitors.

Well, its not really a single computer. The middle and right monitors are attached to a single computer (twinview in X11, 2560x1024 resolution), and the left monitor on a separate system.

Why only one keyboard and mouse? Well, a friend of mine found a nifty opensource project on Sourceforge called Synergy which allows a single keyboard and mouse to be shared across three computers via the network. And it doesnt have to be just linux, my friend's setup is a linux computer + a windows computer + an iBook laptop. In fact, my own computer has a 4th monitor attached to a WinXP computer a few desks away.

And the configuration is so simple! Take a look at my synergy configuration file:

section: screens
    amuyao:
    amihan:
    habagat:
end
section: links
    amuyao:
        right = amihan
        left = habagat
    amihan:
    left = amuyao
    habagat:
        right = amuyao
end

(amuyao is a mountain in the cordilleras, amihan is the northeastern monsoon, habagat is the southwestern monsoon, so its like west, mountain, east)

To basically access another computer, all you have to do is move your mouse pointer to that computer. Of course you cant drag applications across computers, but you do have a shared clipboard.

Why do this? Well, aside from the answer because i can ;), my thesis involves distributed computing. So instead of physically getting off my seat to program on a remote computer, i just push their monitors together, configure synergy, and just move the mouse to work on the other computer!

Just two more shots, for anime fans out there, here's my themed wallpaper, the three Rayearth girls.

And of course, nothing beats the absolute coolness of my screensaver. ^_^

In the trenches

2006-02-21T21:32:00.000+08:00

No updates lately. Been very busy with thesis.

You know you've been very busy when the days seem to blend into one another. A few days back I went to school and was weirded out that there werent any people, turns out it was a Sunday O_o. If i didn't have a window, i'd lose my biological clock too.

Classes dont help, i pulled a lot of strings so that when the time came that i'd be busy with thesis, i have my students working on projects so i wouldn't have to meet them. So no more classes of a sort. Even though its still 4 weeks left.

I listen to NU 107 via streaming (see eradioportal) and there was someone who requested a song cuz she's working on thesis and the DJ asked how can someone work on thesis on a weekend?

My answer: For people doing their thesis, there are no such things as nights, weekends, vacations, or holidays.

Champion

2006-02-07T19:33:00.000+08:00

I've never been a sports fan, but I go out of my way to watch Manny Pacquiao fight. The two last fights I watched at home, the first one against Morales I watched despite the endless commercials. Learning from that experience, for the next fight I simply set the VHS to record the 6 commercial filled hours of the event, and watched it on fast forward. Got to see the best parts over and over.

But this fight i watched with a crowd gathered around a projection screen at Malcom square at the bottom of Session road in Baguio. Never mind the 2 hour commercials, or the fact that you might get mugged, or that in the 5th round of the obviously delayed telecast, the FM radio that the event organizers tuned to during the commercials broadcasted that Manny already won... It was an unforgettable experience.

Rapt with attention, everyone was hooked on every action happening. The startled gasps when Manny got hit, the cheers when he delivered those powerful blows, the roar of the crowd when Morales finally fell to the ground. You could really feel it, the excitement, the rush, the emotions of the crowd overflowing.

I guess this is what happens during any game, like the PBA (one Ginebra vs Alaska i watched at the Araneta) or the UAAP... But this time I knew it was special, because when they sang the National Anthem at the start (even if the singer slightly botched in the end), I found tears in my eyes. And i was cheering my heart out when they were waving the flag triumphantly at the end.

I realized that day that there is no greater song than that of your National Anthem; no greater sight than that of your flag being held high, when it is over a foreign land. It was great to feel a connection with everybody, that for one brief shining moment, this splintered country was cheering for the same team. You could feel it; the collective consciousness of 80 million people focused on a single man, feeling his pain, and his triumph...

Can't wait for the next fight! XD

How machiavellian are you?

2006-02-03T07:38:00.000+08:00

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead...
But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself.
You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place.
You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

How Machiavellian Are You?

I thought i was more evil than that though. ^_^

Ever read the fine print?

2006-01-18T20:53:00.000+08:00

If you've gone up to Baguio on Victory Liner buses, for an additional 5 php, you will get insurance. One time i read the fine print, and i was laughing at this clause:

Exclusions
a) any loss or expense caused by or resulting from:
(2) war, invasion, act of foreign enemy, hostilities or warlike operations (whether war to be declared or not), mutiny, riot, civil commitions, conspiracy, military or ursurped power, martial law or state of siege, seizure, quarantine; or customs regulation, or nationalization by or under the order of any government or public or local authority, or any weapon or instrument involving atomic fission or radioactive force whether in time of peace or war .

Woah. Guess they thought of everything, did they? XD

Some funny signs

2006-01-10T21:26:00.000+08:00

Some funny signs people have told me about.

1. Outside a church somewhere in manila, at the bottom of the traditional giant ten commandments stone tablet, there's a handwritten 11th commandment.
11. Bawal umihi dito

2. I got greeted by this wonderful sign upon arrival at an airport.

Welcome to Iloilo City!
No spitting on the floor

3. And finally, a picture that says a thousand words:

XD

Slight earthquake

2006-01-10T21:07:00.000+08:00

While watching King Kong at SM Baguio. Thought it was part of the effects but got a bit alarmed when the seat in front of me was visibly moving. But it lasted only a few seconds, so it was ok, but i kept eyeing the fire exit just in case.

Of course everyone knows that Baguio was hit by that terrible earthquake early 1990s. And being here and asking around makes the images i saw as a kid on TV real. There's horror stories like how Magsaysay avenue had the terrible smell of the dead for up to 6 months after the quake, and how a co-teacher of mine was saved by the daylight savings time; if they hadn't been dismissed an hour early, she wouldn't be talking to me right now.

So every earthquake anniversary, there's like a citywide fire drill (or at least, there was one on a weekday two years ago, last year it was a weekend and i was out of town so i don't know). After 1pm every establishment runs a fire drill, there's first aid demonstrationsm, and then there are ambulances going around town picking up the "injured". Its pretty cool actually.

It pays to be ready. ^_^

Me and the Atkins diet

2005-12-28T16:22:00.000+08:00

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

2005-12-24T03:28:00.000+08:00

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)

2005-12-17T03:17:00.000+08:00

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

2005-12-17T03:16:00.000+08:00

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

2005-12-07T12:08:00.000+08:00

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?!?

2005-12-06T13:02:00.000+08:00

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

2005-12-03T11:46:00.000+08:00

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!!!

2005-12-01T14:22:00.000+08:00

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.

Robot Zombies

2005-11-26T10:43:00.000+08:00

Yet another post of random weirdness. Jeff had this idea about a movie during a debate on Cyborg Ninja Pirates vs. Zombie Pirate Ninjas.

Robot Zombies. How could something that has never been alive become undead? Staring Sean Connery, Natalie Portman, and Jestoni Alarcon (as the evil robot zombie overmind). Coming to theaters near you...

Hehehehe...

Are you afraid of google?

2005-11-24T08:02:00.000+08:00

The wired news has an article about Google's current ambitions and how the big computer companies are running scared (did Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer really throw a chair across the room?)

So the question is, are you afraid of Google? Microsoft has always had rumors about world domination but what about the search engine giant? For me i wouldn't mind Google ruling the world (don't really know why though). But if it were Microsoft, I'd be running off to the hills and joining the resistance. Why is that? Why the apperance and feeling of a gentle giant? Or is it that we have already been brainwashed by subluminal messages in the Google website itself (which im sure everyone goes to) and this happy feeling is just part of a grand scheme?!? O_o

Anyway, I'd go so far as to say that I love google and the stuff that google does (GoogleEarth is sooo nifty! XD ). What about you guys?

SMS Text world record

2005-11-22T08:50:00.000+08:00

Digg had this article about a girl who won $5,000 by texting the following 160-character text message in 2 mins, 23 seconds.

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.

We can text faster than that right? The current world record though is 43 seconds by a Singaporean.

Pirate ninjas vs. Ninja pirates

2005-11-21T18:54:00.000+08:00

A new twist in the battle between pirates and ninjas: Pirate ninjas vs Ninja pirates

Ninja pirates are cooler because these are pirates that have achieved ninja powers. Pirate ninjas on the other hand, are ninjas that have fallen into piracy.

I had three tables in a geek party debating over this. Things that came up were what type of weapons would ninja pirates have (camouflaged ships, shuriken harpoons, ninjas that go "arr")

What do you think?

Tarzan vs Aquaman

2005-11-21T09:44:00.000+08:00

The other day me and Jeff had this discussion: In a flooded jungle, who would win Tarzan or Aquaman?

Tarzan is the king of the jungle, possessing higher than human strength and agility among the treetops. We arent sure if he has power to control the forest animals.

Aquaman is the lord of the sea. Almost the same as Tarzan, except that he is in water. He can control his animal friends to help him in the fight for justice.

However, if tarzan wasnt in the jungle, he's just a strong guy. Same thing for Aquaman, he's only powerful in water. On land, he's just a regular guy.

So if they fight in a flooded jungle, Aquaman stays in the water, Tarzan would stay in the treetops. They'd just throw stuff at each other, but no hand-to-hand combat. Because if they fight in water, Aquaman wins, but if they fight on land (or in this case, the trees), Tarzan would win.

Seems like a tie, but Jeff pointed out that although Tarzan is strong in the trees, Aquaman has super human strength in water. Land: Strong guy tarzan vs regular guy Aquaman. Sea: Strong guy tarzan versus super guy Aquaman. So aquaman has a slight advantage.

Next topic, which is cooler: pirate ninjas or ninja pirates. XD

First day of classes

2005-11-16T16:52:00.000+08:00

First day of classes! Im teaching Software Engineering and Computer Graphics.

And that's it.

I asked for a research load credit so that i could work on my thesis. And got one. Now my teaching schedule is just a few hours every day.

Botched the first day though. Im still feeling odd due to my colds. =(

I hate being sick.

Another Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri Quote

2005-11-11T18:52:00.000+08:00

Resources exist to be consumed, and consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None i say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill.

--CEO Nwabudike Morgan
The Ethics of Greed

How come its always me

2005-11-10T20:16:00.000+08:00

No thesis work today. Why? Because I was in school early.

Still enlistment week, and in the chaos, people needing answers or help from the computer science faculty rushed to our office to find me. Unlike all of the other teachers with their own lives, I practically live in school, 7am to 9pm every day in front of this computer.

Really.

So some problems about a new lab section needed to be opened due to excess students, incomplete records of some of our super seniors, form signing to complete incomplete subjects, assistance to upgrade a circuit breaker, a folder containing all the core computer science documents, a misunderstanding about our curriculum that has lasted ten years...

Not that i mind actually. I like running around, seeing the mess get cleaned up. Bringing order to mayhem and chaos.

I'll miss that about my job when I leave UP Baguio, how easy it is to just act and help fix things. This university is small enough so that the stuff you do has noticable effect. I know im helping.

Makes my day a bit brighter.

Though i was actually ok with errands because my last thesis build is working correctly now. ^_^

And a word from our sponsors...

2005-11-09T08:21:00.000+08:00

I sit in my cubicle, here on the motherworld.
When I die, they will put my body in a box and
dispose of it in the cold ground.
And in all the million ages to come, I will never
breathe or laugh or twitch again.
So won't you run and play with me here among the
teeming mass of humanity?
The universe has spared us this moment.
--Anonymous

Ugh! Students!

2005-11-09T08:11:00.000+08:00

How come there are a lot of people? Why are they so very loud and talking and running around? Don't they have anything better to do?

Oh, yeah. They're students. Its enlistment time. Next week, classes start.

This last week, in fact, Oct 31 and Nov 1, the only people in campus were me and the security guards. While everyone else was out on a vacation, i was here, working on my thesis.

I miss not having to worry about anything else. Just me, and my thesis, which i really want to finish soon. =(

But im a teacher, and i teach students. The reason why teachers exists is because students want to learn.

But if it were up to me, i'd just want to work on my thesis. Just so that i could move on with my life. ='{

The clouds beneath my feet

2005-11-06T07:34:00.000+08:00

As someone living in Baguio for the last two years, fog has become a bit of a nuisance. You have no idea how depressing it is here during the rainy season where the weather is gray fog or gray clouds or gray rain. I did not see the sun for a month (really). And when you spend a weekend in the lab with no one to talk to and you look outside the window you see nothing but shades of gray or worse, nothing at all... You get the idea.

But today was really nice. Going to Baguio Cathedral for the 6am mass (i hate crowds) in a foggy day i was surprised to see the church, on top of its high hill, above the cloud line. Sheer blue sky above, cloud whisps below, covering the city. Its as if the cathedral an island in a sea of white.*

Walking down the cathedral steps you're stepping onto clouds. Literally.

* well, not SM Baguio, on top of its even higher hill, but for the sake of dramatic effect i must leave that out XD

Format change

2005-11-05T19:06:00.000+08:00

Well, this wont be just a teacher's blog anymore, but an all purpose one. (riding the bandwagon now, i see ^_^). Don't really feel like making a new one since a good number of my friends are linked to this one.

Won't post regularly though. Just when i feel like it. So there. ^_^

2005-11-03T17:42:00.000+08:00

end of the semester

Well, the semester's ended. Out of a class of 43, two people got 1.0's, two dropped, and 15 students failed

I used to feel guilty about it, but during the final exam. I asked these students almost the same questions as their second long exam, such as to create a class Refrigerator that stores food in 20 shelves, food will be stored in a given shelf number, a method for getting food given shelf number, and a method for closing and opening the refrigerator. another question was given a circular queue, count the number of entries. A third was given a doubly-linked linked list

For these fifteen students, they never even got to answer these questions. One of them didn't even have a loop for the circular queue. Just a long if statement.

Gosh, as if they hadn't learned anything.

Thinking about it, these are the students that passed intro 2 on a summer class. The reason they went into the summer intro 2 class was that they failed intro 2 the time it was offered in the regular semester. And having it in a summer (5 weeks instead of 15 weeks) means that they never got to master the skills needed. I knew it was a bad idea to offer an intro course in the summer.

Oh well...

2005-11-03T17:23:00.000+08:00

i never really got to update. sorry.

after linked lists, we had the rest of OOP. Abstraction, inheritance and polymorphism. All in 4 weeks. These series of lectures i really like, i've done these so many times that i have a script for each lecture.

For abstraction i always demonstrate with the Stack class and what happens to the stack if we manipulate the internal variables. Then a real life example: we dont really need to open up a TV to make it work, in fact we shouldnt.

For Inheritance its class Car, class Taxi extends Car and class FXTaxi extends Taxi. Also, class ElectricFan, class IndustrialElectricFan extends ElectricFan, class DesktopElectricFan... etc... A lot of examples of typecasting.

For polymorphism, its always the Employee class with an annualsalary() method, with subclasses Temporary, Casual and Permanent, each overriding annualsalary() due to different tax values. Showing how a single array of Employees can still handle the different annualsalary().

A nice example that i recently got was class LivingCreature with method move() which is overridden by subclasses like class Human, class Horse, class Bird.

then i had class diagrams. and a recitation of which are legal code (superclass reference -> subclass object, which are legal parameters to this method, typecasting etc). and now all these were the basis for their next and final exam.

2005-09-06T20:19:00.000+08:00

The great link list game!

I always have this game every time i teach link lists. In this game, the class is divided into groups of more or less seven. Some of the students would represent Node objects following this class delaration:

class Node {
int i;
Node next;
}

Students representing Node objects would be holding a piece of paper with a number, representing the value of their i variable. They would use their left hand to represent the next variable, if next is pointing to another object, they would use their left hand to point to the classmate representing that node. if next is null, they would cross their arms to indicate that they are pointing to no one.

Some members of the group would be Node references. Node head (pointing to the start of the list), tail (pointing at the last node), rover (an arbitrary object pointer) and bago (pointing to a new node). They would be pointing to Node objects, or crossing their arms to indicate that their value is null.

I had them work through the different link list algorithms as Machine Exercises. First group to finish gets +2, last group gets -2, groups who get it wrong get 6/10. +2 for optimal code.

Had them work on the following:
: deleting a node at the head of the link list
ME27: inserting at head
ME28: inserting at tail
ME29: inserting at rover
ME30: deleting rover.next
ME31: searching for an object (return rover)

Managed to finish all 6 games in two hours. and the fun thing was my students got it by themselves. pointer acrobatics is so simple to visualize if you actually have people running around and acting the commands out.

and then i told them: the link list implementation of the stack is just inserting and deleting at head. the link list implementation of queues is just inserting at tail, deleting at head. and then, for their machine exercise, the rover algorithms can be used to insert and delete nodes in a linklist implementation of a database.

that sweet sweet "ah!" moment.

machine exercise 32 and 33 are just cdstack and songqueue again, this time with the linklist implementations. machine exercise 34 is a mini-machine problem, given a class Crush with attributes String name and String crush, create a simple database that allows for inputs and deleting and searching.

and so ends the second part of the OOP class
ME23

2005-09-06T20:02:00.000+08:00

Well... into the semester comes array stacks and circular queues. Made a nifty java application that visualizes (in a really cute way) circular queues. get it from here:

Afterwards ME25 and 26, CDStack class and SongQueue class. The CDStack simulates a stack of CDs. Of course you could only get and put CDs at the top, so what if you want to get a CD in the middle?

The SongQueue class has methods currentlyPlaying(), insertSong and nextSong(). This forced them to use the Queue algorithm on objects instead of primitive data types, showing that the algo works for whatever datatype.

One of the things about these two classes is that i asked them not to reimplement stacks and queues for their program. They have to reuse the existing stack and queue implementation (small changes only). They are to use Stacks and Queues as an abstract datatype without having to worry about how storage is implemented inside.

2005-08-23T08:19:00.000+08:00

Long Exam. The first one.

Made it really tricky. Some of the questions were certification level. Its not so bad, most of my students got passing scores... and the fact that it was open notes already.

But really got me was the problem solving part. Some of my students werent able to get it at all! And it was just a simple class declaration, something they've already done.

Consider this problem description:

implement a TV class that stores channel and volume. Channel can explicitly be stated, or increased or decreased by 1 (in the range 1 - 80). Volume can only be increased or decreased by 1, not directly stated (in the range 1-100). Display (print to the screen) current channel and volume when modifying...

Gosh! these students didnt even attempt to try out the problem! we've been doing object oriented programming for a month and a half now, exercises every meeting.
i've even been watching these students for a while now, made sure that they got paired with the best students in my class and watched them as they programmed.

and then im hit with this...

talked to them about it, it really seems that they're unable to get class declarations, why do we do object oriented programming. and a month and a half of this already? why didnt i see this sooner. =(

i mean, im angry at myself for not noticing their problems, and angry at them for not taking responsibility for their studies. i already paired them with the best people in the section, and allowed late machine problems so they could work on it after hours or copy from others, which i already said that they could do but be PREPARED for a time they do it by themselves.

i guess this is the time they have to have been preparing for.

augh... so frustrating.

i met with them and reminded them that my door is always open for them to talk to me if they want to, extra lessons and stuff. i also reminded them about how the next exam was more of a problem based exam than anything else.

i didnt mention the word dropping. but i leveled with them how difficult the last part of Java was to be, and that they're not ready.

they're just not ready.

my other students are really motivated learning java, some even reading up on inheritance and GUI design. they did really well on exams.

so how come other students dont just learn? i've given them all the opportunities to learn, but how come they're so behind? where does the blame lie? the teacher or the student?

2005-08-14T10:19:00.000+08:00

Its been another two week cycle.

after the fiasco of the Songlist ME, i gave them the same ME for ME20, just so that they could try the problem out by themselves. ME18 and 19 were bonus MEs just so that they could feel better with a sense of accomplishment...

ME 21 was what i called converyor belt. its a conveyor belt with 6 int slots, the method int move(int i) enters a new integer, which pushes an integer out. A public String toString() outputs a representation of the entries.

From here is the jump point for ME 22 and ME 23, Stacks and Queues. I gave this to them over a long weekend so that they could figure out the algo by themselves. Come monday, i checked their exercises and then discussed the algorithm.

the next two weeks will be stack and queue related exercies. the lesson here is that they do not have to rewrite code that they have done already.

2005-07-29T18:45:00.000+08:00

ugh, i cant believe another two weeks have past since i last wrote any entries. anyway...

for the last two weeks, my students have shown steady improvement in their ability to create object oriented programs. i mean, i could really see the difference. at first they were clueless as to what attributes to use, how to stucture their class, stuff like that. at the end of this period, things were going quite well..

me 13 was class taxi. i asked them to implement this with the following methods:

* Taxi(int initialmoney, double initialgas)
* void flagdown() - taxi becomes occupied, meter set to 30, error if method is called while taxi is occupied
* void travel(int km) - taxi tries to travel a certain distance. for every kilometer, gas level decreases by .1 liter. if the taxi is occupied, meter increases by 10. outputs an error if taxi has run out of gas
* void getoff() - passenger gets off. meter value is added to taxi's current money and gross income.
* void getgas(int liter) - gas costs 30 per liter, taken from taxi's current money, of course outputs an error if the taxi does not have any current money.
* int getGrossIncome() - returns gross income
* int getExpenses() - returns total expenses spent on gas
* int getNetIncome() - gross income - expenses
* int getCurrentMoney() - returns current money
* int totalKm() - total kilometers travelled

only 1/4 of my class was able to submit this on time

ME 14 is a Vector-type class. I asked them to implement a class SuperArray with the following methods:

* void set(int index, String data)
* String get(int index)
* void changeSize(int newSize) - changes the size of the SuperArray. values beyond the new size are discarded.
* public String toString() - returns a String with SuperArray's elements in the form {a,b,c...}

change size was tricky for them, but a good majority was able to finish the ME on time

ME15 is a free-for-all mp. I asked them to create an OOP class of their own.

Today is the end of another 2 week cycle. ME 16-17 may have been quite hard, as only 2 people (in both my classes) were able to submit it on time.

An extension of the SuperArray class, class SongList has the following methods:

* void addSong(String title, String band, String genre, int lengthinseconds)
* boolean contains(String title)
* boolean delete(String title)
* int numberOfSongs()
* public String toString() - prints out all the information per song, and total playlist time

and the tricky methods
* SongList createListBand(String band)
* SongList createListGenre(String genre)
which basically create new SongLists whose songs match the band/genre

It was heartbreaking to watch my students stare at computer screens. Some of them couldnt even get addMethod right, having problems with array declaration and use.

I dont know what to do next. i have to move on with the lesson, yet i cant as im still not that confident with my students ability. all that progress in the last two weeks seem to disappear when they're doing something by themselves. *sigh*

2005-07-19T18:18:00.000+08:00

The individual me

after two weeks of the pilot-copilot scheme, my students seem to have gotten a little better (no more late submissions). it was time for an individual exam (part of the schedule too).

i've had the problem of worrying that my afternoon students would just simply look at the submissions of the morning class so i decided to give different machine exercises for the first class.

ME 10-11 morning

create a class ATM that has the following methods

void deposit(int money) - deposits money into your ATM account
void withdraw(int money) - withdraws money from your ATM account. Money must not be greater than 10000, in the hundreds, and you cannot withdraw more than what you have in your account, including the 10 php service charge.
int checkBalance() - returns balance. this however costs 1 php

ME 10-11 afternoon

create a class Cellphone that has the following methods

void load(int money) - load Cellphone with money
void text() - text message, costs 1 php
void call(int minutes) - calls another phone. this method attempts to call for as long as it can, subtracting 8 php per minute until call is completed, or no more credit is available. in that case, this method outputs an error message showing how many minutes were actually used.
int checkBalance() - returns how much credit the phone has. costs 1php.
void transferLoad(Cellphone c, int money) - transfers money from this cellphone to c. 1 php service charge. errors on lack of money.

The individual ME is recorded as double the regular ME score. So that at least this single individual ME could have bigger weight than the group ME's.

Anyway, the results. The morning class performed well, everyone got this ME, and quite a few finished the bonus problem i gave them. Afternoon class was appalling. Only four people managed to finish the exercise. Despite my initial misgivings, i asked them to finish the problem over the break so that they'd get to see how classes are created.

The next meeting (back to the regular P-C scheme, different pairs) i switched the exercises and the morning class did the Cellphone exercise as easy as pie. The afternoon class finished the late Cellphone and the ATM exercise (but then again, they had help).

I cant move on with the lesson (Stacks and Queues next) until im sure that both classes have a good grasp on object creation.

2005-07-05T19:59:00.000+08:00

Day 5, first OOP day and Day 6

Well... Last friday i started with the first OOP lesson.

Started out from C, a structure describing a Point


typedef struct Point {
  double x;
  double y;
};

and its use is as follows:


Point p;
p.x = 3; p.y = 4;
printf("(%lf,%lf)",p.x,p.y);

Then i convert both to Java


public class Point {
  double x;
  double y;
}

and in the main class:


Point p = new Point();
p.x = 3; p.y = 4;
System.out.println("(" + p.x + "," + p.y + ")");

Then i introduce them to the concept of methods by making the printing method built-in.


public class Point {
  double x;
  double y;

  void printPoint() {
    System.out.println("(" + x + "," + y + ")");
  }
}

And the corresponding modification to main:


Point p = new Point();
p.x = 3; p.y = 4;
p.printPoint();

I then show them the advantage of this... By having a lot of points declared, then have them have to change the ()'s into {}'s.

I try to teach them that calling a variable's method you are actually inside variable. I introduce them to concepts of class and object, attributes and methods at this point in time.

Since they are C programmers and are already familiar with functions, i get them to implement a double distanceToOrigin() method that returns how far the current point is to the origin.

The next concept i have to teach myself is the ability of a method to return a Point object via method Point midPoint(double otherX, double otherY). Then a short lesson on method overloading through a second method Point midPoint(Point anotherPoint).

Exercise for this is a Complex number implementation, something that represents Complex number a+bi were i is the sqrt of -1. Methods to be implemented are Complex add(Complex anotherC) and Complex times(Complex anotherC). Also an implementation of public String toString() (didnt tell them its special use yet) just so that they get used to using toString().

Common problems that i found with my students working on this is the problem of still using the variable used to reference this object inside the object.

i.e.


Complex c,d,e;
... 
e = c.add(d);

and then inside the add method:


Complex add(Complex otherC) {
    e.a = c.a + otherC.a  //something like this
}

Another problem, which was kindof unexpected, was...


public String toString() {
  Complex result = new Complex();
  return result.a + " + " + result.b + "i";
}

Not sure how that happened, but around 4 pairs had this problem.

Anyway, i was too tired for Day 6 so i just gave them the period for their free-for-all ME.

2005-07-05T19:26:00.000+08:00

Day 5 and 6

Well... Last friday i started with the first OOP lesson.

Started out from C, a structure describing a Point


typedef struct Point {
  double x;
  double y;
};

and its use is as follows:


Point p;
p.x = 3; p.y = 4;
printf("(%lf,%lf)",p.x,p.y);

Then i convert both to Java


public class Point {
d



2005-06-27T19:01:00.000+08:00
 the new system 

The goal of OOP is not to teach programming but i really feel that at least there should be something i can do to help my students. so i started the following strategies for class.

The Pilot-Copilot system -- pair programming where one person (the copilot) is not allowed to touch the keyboard. this promotes communication between the pair. if the copilot has a better skill level than the pilot, then the pilot will learn programming startegies and the co-pilot will learn how to explain his code. In the case that the pilot is better... well at least the next meeting their roles will shift. Which brings to the second point.

The 4 meeting system -- Aside from an exercise based from the lesson, there will be drill exercises, problem solving type machine problems to practice their programming skills. The first second meeting will have the pilot-copilot system, swapping roles for the second meeting. The third meeting will be a discussion of the problems solved previously. The final week will be an individual machine exercise session, with each ME scoring 3 times more, as a test of the student's improvement over the last four meetings.

The Free-for-all Machine exercise -- on the third meeting, students are required to submit an open ME, no objectives, just a program showing how much they know about Java and OOP. Bonus points for exemplary FFA ME's, which will be uploaded to a website so that other students could see how the program was done, and thus learn a little bit more.

My students had fun today. There's a psychological support to have someone to argue with over execises.

Today's problems:

ME6:
Enter word: Mississippi
Enter letter: i
There are 4 i's in Mississippi
M_ss_ss_p_ <-- +2 bonus

ME7:
Guess a number between 1-100: 20
Too low, guess again
Guess a number between 1-100: 70
Too high, guess again
Guess a number between 1-100: 60  (+3 if random)
You got it in 3 tries!


2005-06-24T14:42:00.000+08:00
Day 3 Some Exercises


I am appalled.

Today's lesson is just a review of the constructs in C (no difference what so ever). After teaching them Integer.parseInt, Double.parseDouble, the String .equals()  method and how to print numbers i had assumed that with just a little coaxing, they'd get to be able to solve simple problems.

Problems such as these (sample dialogs):
ME1 -- Password dialog
Enter password: wrong
You got it wrong!
Enter password: right
You got it right in 2 tries!  (counter gets +2 bonus)

ME2 -- Interest problem
Enter money: 100
Enter interest: .1
Enter years 3:
Year 1 -- 110
Year 2 -- 121
Year 3 -- 133.1 
(+2 if single dialog box)
(+2 on use of special JOptionPane icons, required online research)

ME3 -- Right Pyramid
Enter n: 4
*
**
***
****

The morning class did pretty well, but the afternoon class was positively appalling. I mean, close to half the class took 2 hours just to do number one. 

And I didnt tell them exactly how to input numbers... I told them that JOptionPane.showInputDialog outputs strings, and then Integer.parseInt converts Strings to integers, etc... And a lot of them didn't get it!

I mean, they're supposed to have gone through the Introduction to Programming I course at least. These exercises were simple problems only designed to test them if they could use the java constructs and the new i/o scheme coming from their c background...

*sigh*

at least they know their constructs... im just a bit worried as the rest of the semester is going to get harder than this. im considering having review sessions for them...

I'll find out in the next meeting... After another round of machine exercises i guess...


2005-06-20T19:44:00.000+08:00
Day 2 - Datatypes and the Hello Billy Program 


They're C programmers anyway... So datatypes were quite quick:

int - still the same, but can store -2B to +2B
char - still the same, but uses unicode
float - dont use this, as float w = 3.14; produces an error (has to be float w = 3.14f)
double - use this if you want floating-point variables

boolean - true or false

Although not really a primitive datatype, i introduced them to Strings. For C programmers, the simplicity of Java Strings is pure heaven.

String s, t, u; (no more character arrays!)
s = "bobby";  (wow! easy assignment! no need for strcpy!)
t = "andrews";
u = s + t;  (they really dig how easy it is to concatenate strings!)

Had the HelloBilly program today. I call it the hello billy program because the dialog is like this:

Enter name: Billy
Hello Billy!

I mean, if Hello World is the first program, then the first program with I/O should also have a special name right? (Tell all your friends. ;)

I'd rather not use the java.io classes for user input. Pretty complicated.

Behold!


import java.io.*;
public static class HelloBillyNastyVersion {
  public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
    BufferedReader stdin = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
    System.out.print("Enter name");
    String name = stdin.readLine();
    System.out.println("Hello " + name);
  }
}


vs.


import javax.swing.*;
public static class HelloBillyBetterVersion {
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    String name = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "Enter name");
    System.out.println("Hello " + name);
  }
}


I mean, really now... Exceptions on the 2nd day of classes? Long named Java classes? Scary...


2005-06-20T19:36:00.000+08:00
Welcome to Java!


Gosh, i couldnt find this nifty video about this bald guy in bullet time explaining the benifits of using java (The java everywhere video). It would be really cool for the first day of class.

Anyway, aside from the syllabus distribution, class card submission and index card writing, and the traditional start of term speech, the first day of class featured the Hello World program.


public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        System.out.println("Hello world!");
    }
}


Then i'd introduce them to JOptionPane.showMessageDialog

import javax.swing.*;
public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"hello world!");
        System.exit(0);
    }
}

From C programmers (Turbo C actually, nothing beats a one-diskette IDE) the last example always blows their mind.


2005-06-20T19:04:00.000+08:00
Index cards

Something i got from my high school teacher, the infamous Mr. L---- (the guy lectures on top of tables, goes to school in a vampire costume, and gives an incredible RPG-type exam)

Here's the information i require my students:


     name (nickname)
   student number
   address
   mobile email
   birthday
PC comfort level - how used are you using computers? are you afraid that touching the wrong key can make it explode, install software, can you set up your own OS, assemble your own PC from components and not buy a "computer set" setup a webserver, etc...
PC Access questions - how easy it is for you to get to a computer?
   The most difficult task you've had involving computers
   Describe your last computer science class
   what was your grade?
   who was your teacher?
   how do you study?
   are you: confident/shy talkative/quiet active/passive
   favorite tv shows,movies,music,books
   if you could meet anyone in the world, past or present or future, fictional or real, who would it be and why?
   which star would you like to portray your life in a movie?
   describe the perfect computer science class?
   what other computer science concepts would you like to learn?
   what are other things about you that you'd think i need to know?
   quote
   schedule
Express yourself - this part of the indexcard (around 1/4 of it) is for you to do anything. draw, write, whatever you want (except stuff that can ruin the back part of the index card)-- this part is fun. =)
  
 

Its fun to bring this index cards to graduation parties where my students gasp in horror over the silly things they have written down. ;)


2005-06-15T13:12:00.000+08:00
Introduction to OOP Syllabus (using JAVA)

The objectives of this class are:

1. know and apply object-oriented concepts in programming
2. be able to use the Java programming language as a tool in problem solving
3. know basic abstract data types and know how they are implemented such as stacks and queues
4. be able to use advanced computer constructs and techniques in programming

Primarily divided into 3 parts, the first 1/3 of the semester deals with learning basic java, mostly from their background as C programmers from the prerequisite class (Intro to Programming I). 

The second third of the class (the 2nd 1/3) is OOP concepts: abstraction, inheritance, polymorphism. I've actually have scripted lectures for these classes, i can just go to school without any preparation. almost like a comic routine, but with a lesson at the end.

And then the last third is teaching them Java. Specifically java awt and swing, hopefully networking and multithreaded programming. Something really cool.

I give long exams for each of the three parts. Two Machine Problems (long term month long projects) too.

And then at the end of the semester, we play robocode where we program 2d tanks to fire at each other. completely java based, its a whole lot of fun where students compete for extra credit. =D


2005-06-15T12:44:00.000+08:00
The first (third) day of classes....


Did something terrible...

My classes are on Monday and Friday (which is kind of silly if you think about it, i have a longer days off in the middle of the week than weekends). Classes started June 7, a Tuesday. Didn't meet my class June 10, friday so i could go visit my parents (255 km away). Then, June 13, Monday was declared to be a holiday...

So the first day of classes for my students is actually on the last day of the second week of classes.

You get to see that you're on the opposite side of the fence when you feel bad that there are no classes 'cuz it ruins the schedule.



2005-06-15T12:32:00.000+08:00
WTF 4?!?

Because learning could (and should) be fun.


2005-06-15T12:09:00.000+08:00
First Post!


gosh! I never thought I'd actually start blogging. Gotten into a lot of trouble a few years back when a few personal thoughts became public knowledge... but i degress...

Anyway, the real reason for my blogging is to record my teaching experiences. I'm a computer science teacher at an undisclosed mountain university somewhere in the eastern hemisphere, and i've always wanted to try new things whenever i teach.

writing things down on pen and paper takes too long. placing my thoughts online would be a great record for me and it would be great if i get some ideas from my readers (if any of you are out there. ^_^;;;)

So anyway, my name is Nikholas "Mayhem" F. Toledo, and this is my blog.