Friday/Shabbat/Sunday – Days 221/222/223
March 13, 2013
This post concludes the rather uninteresting series of posts on my Spring break, but had I known how quickly my workload would ramp up, I would’ve opted for another few days of the mundane.
Friday was a day of physics, which I’m pleased to say, is clicking a little more for me. I’m still a little worried about my outcome in the class but I think I can cope with it. Thinking I had a little time on my hands, it being break and all, I played some Mass Effect 3. This poor usage of time would later prove to be a large mistake. Hillel being closed for Shabbat again meant I was once again alone cooking myself a little home meal, in this case, instant chicken soup, a little challah and some sushi. Not a bad meal, but it was missing something. Perhaps the lack of Aviva, Michal and Ariella was taking its toll.
Shabbat was even quieter, I slept most of the day, did a little reading of a newly acquired book by the ever eloquent and mysterious Douglas Hofstader (of Godel Escher Bach fame) and after nightfall, watched ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ (not bad, standard action film) and worked more on CIS 121.
The next day was also the birthday of two people very dear to me, Adi my brother and another close friend from Penn (who I know is reading this!). Calls and cards were in order, but unfortunately I saw neither of them that day.
Sunday I toiled away on Networking with my team, finding a few more holes in our implementation, worked on trying to finish up the 121 project (that didn’t happen) and then at around midnight, started on 551 which I thought was due Wednesday. At around 2AM on of my teammates for the project was getting pretty depressed, I asked him why he was so down about the project. It was then I learnt it was due at 1PM the same day. So much for getting a little extra sleep that night. I was up till 4AM coding. Engineering Hell. And the project still wasn’t in working condition.
Uncompleted tasks due Monday as of 4AM that day:
- Finish Algorithms Project
- Finish Networking Project
- Finish Security Project
- Finish Physics Project
- Prepare Algorithms Lab
- Start Networking Homework
One of life’s more difficult moments.
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday – Days 218/219/220
March 10, 2013
Well, I wish I could’ve promised something a little more exciting, but here it is raw and ready, a firsthand (and brief) account of how I worked myself into the ground. I decided that given that I hadn’t heard from most of the other TAs I would continue working on the project until it was done. Unfortunately, as this was meant to be a large scale group effort, this meant that I toiled for hour on end, eventually getting stuck on coding up an efficient but simple algorithm for calculating ‘betweeness centrality’ in a social graph (ie; who is the most central of your friends). Wednesday I switched paths and worked a little on a few other projects but slept in late, nothing more to see here, just a working boy. Thursday the same, other than a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed “As Good As It Gets” about a misanthropic neighbour, turned soulful by a gay artist, a waitress and a dog. Though it may not have been the most complex film of all time, it tugged at the heartstrings and helped to provide at least a little stress relief. The film was enjoyed with Michal Elias-Bachrach, Amalya Lehman and Sarah Morrissey, a few girl who had stayed behind for the break.
Tuesday/Wednesday – Day 211/212
March 5, 2013
Things are revving up to a dangerous level here. Too many projects due, too little time. Physics this morning was difficult as I was low on sleep but the majority of the day was spent on project work. Networking was becoming quite an issue. Rehearsal was a welcome break from work, and as previously stated, I’m really enjoying it. Tonight I also grabbed coffee with a non-Penn friend who takes dancing lessons off campus and had a wonderful time. The music selection committee for PGC met and I suggest a few of my favourite choral, barbershop and more modern pieces for consideration. hopefully at least Bogoroditse Devo will make it through.
Wednesday was nuts. I skipped all my classes to code through the day straight. Networking still wasn’t coming along at nearly the necessary pace. The group had been quite problematic and unfortunately we weren’t coming together as a whole fast enough by any measure. Some members contributed far more while others close to nothing. A complete disaster. Thus the day from 11AM to 5AM the following morning was spent desperately trying to salvage what marks we could. Pretty exhausted and barely finished with the minimum for the project, we submitted late and I, exhausted, walked home and fell asleep almost immediately for the brief few hours I would get.