Away, away...and the 100th post!

So, this weekend, I decided to switch up and do something totally different than what I would usually do on a weekend. I left town. Alex snatched me away up to Baltimore and we hung out with all of her folks--Malachi, Carl, Jessica, Marc, Ricky, and her parents. That was pretty fun. Yeah, I would go so far as to say it felt like I had gone on a vacation. So, big ups to my new friends in Baltimore. And yeah, I know school just started, but I was already starting to get annoyed with certain goings-on here on campus.

Lately, I've been getting back in the groove of campus organizations, and everybody knows that that means meetings. At IBM, I learned to not like meetings. And it's not because meetings there were often and horrible. In fact, it was the polar opposite. For me, as a lowly intern programmer, I attended more workshops than meetings and the meetings I did go to really seemed to have a purpose. Some of the meetings I've been to here on campus have been downright mind-numbing because often I end up walking out scratching my head about why the hell I had to roll out of bed from a nap or something for a meeting. lol.

Obviously, I live the wired life and I'd much rather do things by email and correspond only when absolutely necessary in person.

Speaking of the wired life, I've embarked on a bunch of newness to start the year off absolutely right. I'm going to be pushing schoolwork further and further out of the picture as the semester goes on. Big plans, indeed. In fact, one of them was solidified in a phone call on the harbor in Baltimore. Yes, I'm stepping up.

Now, I know I have 21 credits distributed over 7 classes, but this semester is going to go my way no matter what anybody says. So, if you have something to say about doing what you want, but still having a maximum (without additional cash being needed by the University) course load, you can go ahead. I ignore naysayers nowadays.

Watch me.

...Just Ajaxin' it...

Ah, yes. The power of the extraordinary...the power of...web tricks! Yeah, so I've taken a nose-dive deep, deep into some new technologies/frameworks/gizmos/etc. that are taking the web by storm.

Either way, check that ish out. More later. Umm...yeah.

Policy decisions and the first week of school.

So, after jumping off a cliff and deciding to return to school for Spring 2006, the first full week of school is over. And, boy, was it interesting. First off, I partially got to get over why I was so sad to leave school for a semester anyway...not seeing any of my friends. I've been hanging out a lot with Edwin, Diana, Ebony, and Kim. They're not the only people I missed, but they're some folks I always wondered about...like..."I wonder what (insert name here) is up to?" So, it's good to see that most folks are doing great. However, there is still a list of folks I haven't seen yet.

Oh yeah, I camped out in the financial aid office on Wednesday in order to get them to disburse my loans. Who would have known that doing things on a semester basis would have caused so much crap in terms of scaring the hell out of somebody that's never had to fully deal with the financial aid office? I've had them hang up in my face once, but that was nothing. Since I came to school on a full scholarship, my first year I had somebody that I could call and offload my gripes and miseries upon. Truthfully, I never made full use of this person, but she was there.

After some student financial services jiggery-pokery, I have settled on having 21 credits (the institutional max without any extra charges) distributed over 7 classes. Not only is this going to be optimal, it's going to be fun! I have 21 credits of stuff I actually care about:

• BLAW 305 Business Law 1


• SYCS 350 Structures of Programming Languages


• SYCS 440 Object Oriented Programming


• EECE 211 Digital Systems Design


• AFST 101 Intro to Contemporary Africa


• INFO 396 Project Management


• INFO 398 Information Systems Consulting

See, fundamentally all of this stuff will end up being fun for me. I suspect it will be a 4.0 semester. That will be great since it will probably help me to get another Trustee Scholarship which will hack away at half of my tuition for next school year. Also, I'll be learning much more. Most of these classes are things that I've never ever touched upon (except obviously the OOP class), so being in this mode of learning all new material is going to be absolutely great. I can truly manage my personal algorithms a lot better, so none of these should be a problem.

Personal algorithms?

Yeah. Personal algorithms. lol. This is basically how you accomplish things. Over the last 7 months, I've really come to terms with not trying to do everything like other people do it. Everybody has a different way of doing things, so in short, you've got to do you. lol. Now, I never figured I'd say that, but it's become excruciatingly obvious that this is what must happen.

You can't have the rest of the world leading you around by the nose, dictating what you can and can't do, etc. This sort of jiggery-pokery got me in trouble a couple of years ago and as I've gotten smarter (this occurs everyday), it's become exceptionally obvious that you've got to go against all of the randomness that life throws at you. Do what you need to do.

Nowadays, my personal algorithms dictate that I do not become overly influenced by what other people say or think or believe. And trust me, these three are distinct. Just because you say something, doesn't mean you believe in it. And just because you believe in something, that doesn't mean you'll say it (or express it in some other way). More or less, I've sunken into a deep state of mental programming (elsewhere they call it neurolinguistic programming) where I really can't be stopped or swayed by anything unless I allow this. And if I don't, then that's all there is. I think this sort of thing will be especially helpful this semester.

So...?

I've got big plans for everything that I've had my hand in in the past, but have only had a peripheral involvement with. Namely, I'll be working harder to contribute back to whatever spheres of influence I can work my way into. Most importantly, I've been cooking up a series of classes on knowledge I've gathered up over the years, along with some gems I picked up during my time out of school. Topic specifics aren't exactly clear right now, but by mid-February, one session of a class with one of my groups will have already taken place. Stay tuned for details!