Saturday, June 30, 2012
Summer in Waterloo
In my last post, I detailed my life during the my work term. I just realized that almost two months have passed by since then, and I am roughly 4 weeks away from the end of lectures for the Spring 2012 term.
Since I have already arranged to go back to Loblaw for my next work term, this term I did not have to go through the usual pain endured by UWaterloo co-op students, commonly known as JobMine. That move, I believe, was for the best, since my current courses do not appear to be pulling back any punches.
Academically speaking, this term might turn out to be my most turbulent yet. Started off with a standard set of five courses, Linear Algebra II (that I had been trying to avoid so far), Intro to Actuarial Mathematics, Intro to Combinatorics, and two computer science courses covering Logic & Computation and Software Abstraction and Specification.
The actuarial science course started off well. The instructor pointed out that only those who find this course interesting should ideally continue on the path of an actuary. Truth be told, the content in the first couple of weeks or so was fairly interesting. However, the number of formulas kept increasing and the content steadily started becoming more boring...
Meanwhile, Linear Algebra II... now this one was a constant thorn in my side. I wouldn't blame the instructor... the content just flew way over my head. Went into the midterm having little to no idea about I would fare in the exam... Saw the math adviser afterwards, and agreed with his idea that the best course of action would be to drop the course, to avoid taking any hits to my average...
Combinatorics has some neat applications (especially when thinking in terms of CS), interesting enough that the proofs and computations were bearable. The Logic course was something that I had been dreading (due to nightmarish stories by former students of the course) but it turned out to be better than the others, mostly because we have an excellent instructor (compared to profs who usually teach this course). The programming course remains my favorite to date. I accept that it has its high-stress moments, but there is this unique sense of achievement when you complete a CS246 assignment, unlike my other courses...
The way I saw it, CS steadily became more appealing to me while my interest in actuarial science declined. Not the best idea to pursue a career in which I am not interested. Therefore I decided that some important decisions were in order.
Here's how it goes: I started off pursuing Actuarial Science. In the 2A term, I turned towards a Joint ActSci-CS. Finally, 2B, I decided to let go of ActSci, and put my efforts into pursuing CS. Let's see how things go from this point forward.
Enough about academics. On to happier stuff.
Recently (well, not really recently) I have started actively following all sorts of tech developments, especially in terms of consumer products (phones, tablets, PCs and the like). I've found that Twitter is an excellent platform for this type of thing. I've been following a Canadian tech blog, Techvibes, which held a giveaway for an HTC One S. And I won!
Here are some pictures of my new phone (close-up shots since I have no inclination to show off the clutter on my desk!)
The HTC One S currently has Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich installed, with HTC's Sense 4.0 UI. Initially, the phone was locked to Telus (I am on contract with Fido). Took me a few hours to root it and extract the unlock code (didn't feel like paying for it), thanks to a few excellent tutorials online. See the end of post for links to the tutorials I used.
So far, using Android has been a rather enjoyable experience, especially compared to my older BlackBerry Curve. Compared to iOS, it is highly customizable, but I feel that there is a certain "roughness" about it, something not really present in iOS. Currently, I have multiple operating systems co-existing across different devices... really enjoying the variety.
The camera on the HTC One S is awesome! Plus, it has a pretty decent built-in photo editing app. I recently started a Project 365 with the phone.
Here a few shots from the project, the rest of which can be followed here
I just hope that HTC provides an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the One S soon.
Went to Canada's Wonderland last Saturday. Had a awesome time! Rode the Leviathan, Canada's tallest and fastest roller-coaster
The weather is pretty hot these days (I know, I know, 36 degrees isn't exactly that hot, but still, coming from a negative 20, it is). Recently replaced my stand fan... the new one's much more powerful, and blows around every bit of paper (or any lightweight thing, for that matter) in the room. Fun...
Well, I guess that's all I have for this post. Can't think of anything else to write here.
Until next time...
Take Care.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links for HTC One S Rooting and Unlocking:
Thanks to all of the authors of the instructions in the links above!
I used a combination of all of the above instructions, additionally Googling whenever I got stuck (or when something did not appear to work). Bear in mind that you risk bricking your phone.
Note 1: For some reason, I had to root the phone twice before it was properly rooted.
Note 2: In the last link, the author uses the Terminal Emulator within the phone. I was not able to use that, so I used an alternative method which involved connecting the phone via USB to my netbook, and executing the relevant commands through the Linux shell terminal. Unfortunately, I did not document the exact procedure.
Since I have already arranged to go back to Loblaw for my next work term, this term I did not have to go through the usual pain endured by UWaterloo co-op students, commonly known as JobMine. That move, I believe, was for the best, since my current courses do not appear to be pulling back any punches.
Academically speaking, this term might turn out to be my most turbulent yet. Started off with a standard set of five courses, Linear Algebra II (that I had been trying to avoid so far), Intro to Actuarial Mathematics, Intro to Combinatorics, and two computer science courses covering Logic & Computation and Software Abstraction and Specification.
The actuarial science course started off well. The instructor pointed out that only those who find this course interesting should ideally continue on the path of an actuary. Truth be told, the content in the first couple of weeks or so was fairly interesting. However, the number of formulas kept increasing and the content steadily started becoming more boring...
Meanwhile, Linear Algebra II... now this one was a constant thorn in my side. I wouldn't blame the instructor... the content just flew way over my head. Went into the midterm having little to no idea about I would fare in the exam... Saw the math adviser afterwards, and agreed with his idea that the best course of action would be to drop the course, to avoid taking any hits to my average...
Combinatorics has some neat applications (especially when thinking in terms of CS), interesting enough that the proofs and computations were bearable. The Logic course was something that I had been dreading (due to nightmarish stories by former students of the course) but it turned out to be better than the others, mostly because we have an excellent instructor (compared to profs who usually teach this course). The programming course remains my favorite to date. I accept that it has its high-stress moments, but there is this unique sense of achievement when you complete a CS246 assignment, unlike my other courses...
The way I saw it, CS steadily became more appealing to me while my interest in actuarial science declined. Not the best idea to pursue a career in which I am not interested. Therefore I decided that some important decisions were in order.
Here's how it goes: I started off pursuing Actuarial Science. In the 2A term, I turned towards a Joint ActSci-CS. Finally, 2B, I decided to let go of ActSci, and put my efforts into pursuing CS. Let's see how things go from this point forward.
Enough about academics. On to happier stuff.
Recently (well, not really recently) I have started actively following all sorts of tech developments, especially in terms of consumer products (phones, tablets, PCs and the like). I've found that Twitter is an excellent platform for this type of thing. I've been following a Canadian tech blog, Techvibes, which held a giveaway for an HTC One S. And I won!
Here are some pictures of my new phone (close-up shots since I have no inclination to show off the clutter on my desk!)
 |
| HTC One S - The Box |
 |
| HTC One S - The Front I |
 |
| HTC One S - The Front II |
 |
| HTC One S - The Back I |
 |
| HTC One S - The Back II |
So far, using Android has been a rather enjoyable experience, especially compared to my older BlackBerry Curve. Compared to iOS, it is highly customizable, but I feel that there is a certain "roughness" about it, something not really present in iOS. Currently, I have multiple operating systems co-existing across different devices... really enjoying the variety.
The camera on the HTC One S is awesome! Plus, it has a pretty decent built-in photo editing app. I recently started a Project 365 with the phone.
Here a few shots from the project, the rest of which can be followed here
 |
| Biology Buildings, UWaterloo © Osama Sidat |
 |
| Apple Stabbed © Osama Sidat |
Went to Canada's Wonderland last Saturday. Had a awesome time! Rode the Leviathan, Canada's tallest and fastest roller-coaster
 |
| The Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland © Osama Sidat |
The weather is pretty hot these days (I know, I know, 36 degrees isn't exactly that hot, but still, coming from a negative 20, it is). Recently replaced my stand fan... the new one's much more powerful, and blows around every bit of paper (or any lightweight thing, for that matter) in the room. Fun...
Well, I guess that's all I have for this post. Can't think of anything else to write here.
Until next time...
Take Care.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links for HTC One S Rooting and Unlocking:
- Unlocking the bootloader (HTCdev)
- Unlocking bootloader and installing ClockworkMod Recovery (XDA dev forum)
- Root Instructions for Linux
- HTC SIM Unlock
Thanks to all of the authors of the instructions in the links above!
I used a combination of all of the above instructions, additionally Googling whenever I got stuck (or when something did not appear to work). Bear in mind that you risk bricking your phone.
Note 1: For some reason, I had to root the phone twice before it was properly rooted.
Note 2: In the last link, the author uses the Terminal Emulator within the phone. I was not able to use that, so I used an alternative method which involved connecting the phone via USB to my netbook, and executing the relevant commands through the Linux shell terminal. Unfortunately, I did not document the exact procedure.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Life during the Winter 2012 Work Term
It's been quite a while since my last post. Not that I was totally busy or anything... just far too lazy to sit down and write something!
Last time, I mentioned that I would be starting work in the following week. Started off in Loblaw on January 3 (from what i remember). Honestly, in the beginning, I was unsure of the role I would be playing in the team I was part of. In the early days, I moved around quite bit. First week, frequently changed seats on the main floor, next few weeks in the basement, and then back up again. To most, this would be an annoyance, as it would require moving your stuff to a new place every other day. I kinda liked it, since it gave me the chance to meet different people on the project, and also kept my work from getting monotonous... Over time, things became clearer, and I was able to see how the stuff I worked on impacted others within and outside my team.
Working in such an environment felt quite new to me. No more fretting about course assignments or midterms on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis. Sure, some tasks at work were more grilling than others. But the best part was being able to leave work at the workplace at the end of the day, and being free of anything to do with work until the next morning.
A significant part of my experience was that I was blessed with an awesome boss and a great team! They were able to challenge my skills, and help me improve upon them, each in their own way. I learned a lot! If they are reading this (they know who they are), this is for all of them: I really appreciate all you did :)
Whenever I was during a thinking process at work (or feeling a bit bored), I worked on this doodle. It grew over time...
Got a pretty decent place to live in Brampton. Nice house-mates, and by far, the cleanest place I've lived in, in my four terms here in Canada.
Since I had a greater arsenal of cooking utensils available at my disposal, I was able to experiment a bit...
Finally restarted gaming on my PC by getting myself Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. Got through the single-player within 12 hours of buying the game... now just working my way through the multiplayer... (Though it seems that my gaming hours will be drastically cut short, now that I'm back in university.)
Photography during the term was not as frequent. I did experiment with water splashing in a glass. This was made possible by using the glass table-top of my writing table, and borrowing a couple of glasses from the kitchen...
Also got a chance to visit the Toronto AUTO Show. Really wanted to see a Porsche, which unfortunately wasn't there. Of the whole lot, my favorite was the concept showed off by BMW:
Lately, I've been experimenting with low angle shots with my Panasonic FX-150...
Oh, and did I mention I was sharing the house with not one, but two cats? Never expected that to happen, I thought I had to bury my love of cats for a long time when I left the ones back home...
Ludwig was lots of fun... Quite often, I'd find him curled up on my room's windowsill, soaking up the evening rays of sunlight.
Last night I was there, the cats held a meowing competition outside my door at 1.30 a.m., presumably to say goodbye or something...
All in all, it was a wonderful term... Can't wait to go back in September...
As of now, I'm back in Waterloo. Just moved in on Sunday. Had my first classes of the term today. So far, the weather has been a bit rainy and overcast. Will put up a post about my new place and classes and all in a couple of weeks... probably once I've taken some pictures of the room and house, and had a better feel of all my current courses...
I guess this is all for now. Hopefully, I'll have another post up here in a few days (or weeks, hopefully not months this time).
Good Night (or Day)
More of my cooking here
For more photos of the water in glass project, check this
To check out other shots from my low-perspective photo project, see this
Toronto AUTO Show pictures here
More pictures of Ludwig will be up as soon as I'm done with the processing. Keep an eye out on my Facebook photos (or my Twitter feed)
Update: Ludwig's photos have been uploaded! See them here or here.
Last time, I mentioned that I would be starting work in the following week. Started off in Loblaw on January 3 (from what i remember). Honestly, in the beginning, I was unsure of the role I would be playing in the team I was part of. In the early days, I moved around quite bit. First week, frequently changed seats on the main floor, next few weeks in the basement, and then back up again. To most, this would be an annoyance, as it would require moving your stuff to a new place every other day. I kinda liked it, since it gave me the chance to meet different people on the project, and also kept my work from getting monotonous... Over time, things became clearer, and I was able to see how the stuff I worked on impacted others within and outside my team.
Working in such an environment felt quite new to me. No more fretting about course assignments or midterms on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis. Sure, some tasks at work were more grilling than others. But the best part was being able to leave work at the workplace at the end of the day, and being free of anything to do with work until the next morning.
 |
| A Mug of Hot Chocolate © Osama Sidat |
Whenever I was during a thinking process at work (or feeling a bit bored), I worked on this doodle. It grew over time...
 |
| My Epic Doodle! © Osama Sidat |
Since I had a greater arsenal of cooking utensils available at my disposal, I was able to experiment a bit...
 |
| Cutting Up a Green Pepper © Osama Sidat |
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| Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce © Osama Sidat |
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| COD MW3 © Osama Sidat |
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| Glass in Water © Osama Sidat |
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| BMW Concept Car © Osama Sidat |
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| Steeles Avenue, Near Shoppers World, Brampton © Osama Sidat |
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| Returning from Work © Osama Sidat |
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| Am © Osama Sidat |
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| Ludwig © Osama Sidat |
Last night I was there, the cats held a meowing competition outside my door at 1.30 a.m., presumably to say goodbye or something...
All in all, it was a wonderful term... Can't wait to go back in September...
As of now, I'm back in Waterloo. Just moved in on Sunday. Had my first classes of the term today. So far, the weather has been a bit rainy and overcast. Will put up a post about my new place and classes and all in a couple of weeks... probably once I've taken some pictures of the room and house, and had a better feel of all my current courses...
I guess this is all for now. Hopefully, I'll have another post up here in a few days (or weeks, hopefully not months this time).
Good Night (or Day)
More of my cooking here
For more photos of the water in glass project, check this
To check out other shots from my low-perspective photo project, see this
Toronto AUTO Show pictures here
More pictures of Ludwig will be up as soon as I'm done with the processing. Keep an eye out on my Facebook photos (or my Twitter feed)
Update: Ludwig's photos have been uploaded! See them here or here.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Life In Twenty-Eleven
A summary of my life in 2011...
A year ago, I started this blog. One of my first main pieces of writing was Life in Twenty-Ten. This post is similar, a flashback of the events of the year that is almost over now...
January: Started the year with a visit to Toronto. It was a pretty overcast day, but nevertheless, got some good photos.
Despite having a snow-less New Year's Eve, my return to Waterloo was followed by a fresh bout of snowfall. Spent some time of my first weekend at Columbia Lake, which is at the north side of UW.
Started off the term with Calculus II, Linear Algebra I, Macroeconomics, Computer Science and Probability, along with the accursed PD2. Sometime by the middle of this month, I initiated my efforts to find work for the upcoming work term...
February: The job hunt continued. Despite a fair number of applications, I was only called for a couple of interviews, neither of which had any fruitful results. The academic workload increased steadily, nothing out of the ordinary...
Had the Reading Week at the end of this month, just after a midterm. Did nothing much over my week off, except relaxing a bit and trying to take some creative shots...
March: This month brought along more job applications, and subsequently, more rejections. Along with a whole bunch-load of midterms. Not fun.
April: Along came the final exams for Winter 2011. My anxiety levels about getting a co-op job took an exponential rise. At this point, I started looking at all available options that I could consider to rescue my summer work term.
Exams weren't too bad. As soon as they were done with I packed up my stuff and abandoned my abode at the time (since I had absolutely no idea where I would be based in the summer term). Job hopes were kept barely alive by daily newcomer postings on JobMine...
In the last week of April, I visited Niagara Falls for the first time... Awesome Experience!
May: Had my first birthday away from home. Thankfully, I was with family at Brampton... had an awesome barbecue dinner!
Since CECS allowed a minimum of 12 weeks of co-op work, I waited out the majority of this month, applying here and there, attending interviews and visiting job fairs. It was rather frustrating. In the end, I called up the career advisor, and asked her if I could put my backup plan into effect (going back home for an internship). She agreed, since I was running out of time...
After a couple of days running around town, getting stuff for loved ones back home, I embarked on a 14-hour long flight... to home...
June & July: The feeling of seeing family again after almost 9 months is indescribable... Looking back now, not getting a job in Canada and coming back home for the summer was all worth it...
Can't believe how much I missed bothering this guy...
Had a haircut the very next day of my arrival... 'Twas the longest I had ever kept it... Couldn't bear it in the Karachi heat!
A large majority of these months consisted of spending time with family, experimenting with new tricks at work, and preparing for the Actuarial Science Probability Exam (which was thankfully successful in the very first try).
August: Ramadan and preparation for the trip back to Canada started almost simultaneously... Successfully ended my co-op term and sent the evaluation to CECS...
September: Spent Eid with family. Almost immediately after, for the second time, left my home and family behind...
I was rather lucky to get a room at my old residence, after making more than a dozen calls... Commenced Fall 2011...
This term, I had Calculus III, Financial Mathematics, Statistics, Financial Accounting and Computer Science...
October: By now, it was apparent that the 2A term would be quite different, and a lot more tough compared to previous terms. Every day brought along new challenges. The problems were compounded by the less-than-adept profs for Stats and ACTSC.
I had also started applying for jobs for the Winter 2012 co-op term, this time a lot more aggressively. Got my first interview with ManuLife Financial; rejected...
November: After 102 applications, and 3 interviews, I was finally employed for my next co-op term: Organizational Change Management Co-op at Loblaw.
December: Classes ended in the first week, closely followed by the final exams... most of which were a nightmare, with the exception of Financial Accounting. The worst was ACTSC 231, which was a real killer... In any case, I was really glad to get over with the exams...
Results came out just around December 23-25... Not pretty at all, making it a really bad term as far as academics were concerned...
Enough about the exams...
Got a chance to photograph the CN Tower while out with family at Toronto earlier this week...
Coincidence: Just like the first day of the year, visited Toronto (once again, twice in this past week) on the last day of this year...
Keep reading ...
A year ago, I started this blog. One of my first main pieces of writing was Life in Twenty-Ten. This post is similar, a flashback of the events of the year that is almost over now...
 |
| Walking on the frozen lake... |
Despite having a snow-less New Year's Eve, my return to Waterloo was followed by a fresh bout of snowfall. Spent some time of my first weekend at Columbia Lake, which is at the north side of UW.
Started off the term with Calculus II, Linear Algebra I, Macroeconomics, Computer Science and Probability, along with the accursed PD2. Sometime by the middle of this month, I initiated my efforts to find work for the upcoming work term...
February: The job hunt continued. Despite a fair number of applications, I was only called for a couple of interviews, neither of which had any fruitful results. The academic workload increased steadily, nothing out of the ordinary...
Had the Reading Week at the end of this month, just after a midterm. Did nothing much over my week off, except relaxing a bit and trying to take some creative shots...
 |
| Toonie © Osama Sidat |
 |
| My Old Sunglasses © Osama Sidat |
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| The US side of the Niagara Falls © Osama Sidat |
Exams weren't too bad. As soon as they were done with I packed up my stuff and abandoned my abode at the time (since I had absolutely no idea where I would be based in the summer term). Job hopes were kept barely alive by daily newcomer postings on JobMine...
In the last week of April, I visited Niagara Falls for the first time... Awesome Experience!
May: Had my first birthday away from home. Thankfully, I was with family at Brampton... had an awesome barbecue dinner!
 |
| My Birthday Cake! |
After a couple of days running around town, getting stuff for loved ones back home, I embarked on a 14-hour long flight... to home...
June & July: The feeling of seeing family again after almost 9 months is indescribable... Looking back now, not getting a job in Canada and coming back home for the summer was all worth it...
Can't believe how much I missed bothering this guy...
 |
| My Lil Bro! |
A large majority of these months consisted of spending time with family, experimenting with new tricks at work, and preparing for the Actuarial Science Probability Exam (which was thankfully successful in the very first try).
August: Ramadan and preparation for the trip back to Canada started almost simultaneously... Successfully ended my co-op term and sent the evaluation to CECS...
 |
| My room in Fall 2011 |
I was rather lucky to get a room at my old residence, after making more than a dozen calls... Commenced Fall 2011...
This term, I had Calculus III, Financial Mathematics, Statistics, Financial Accounting and Computer Science...
October: By now, it was apparent that the 2A term would be quite different, and a lot more tough compared to previous terms. Every day brought along new challenges. The problems were compounded by the less-than-adept profs for Stats and ACTSC.
 |
| Cooking Experiment: Egg-in-a-Basket |
November: After 102 applications, and 3 interviews, I was finally employed for my next co-op term: Organizational Change Management Co-op at Loblaw.
December: Classes ended in the first week, closely followed by the final exams... most of which were a nightmare, with the exception of Financial Accounting. The worst was ACTSC 231, which was a real killer... In any case, I was really glad to get over with the exams...
Results came out just around December 23-25... Not pretty at all, making it a really bad term as far as academics were concerned...
Enough about the exams...
Got a chance to photograph the CN Tower while out with family at Toronto earlier this week...
 |
| The CN Tower, Toronto ON © Osama Sidat |
Coincidence: Just like the first day of the year, visited Toronto (once again, twice in this past week) on the last day of this year...
 |
| The GO Terminal at Union Station, Toronto © Osama Sidat |
I am really looking forward to starting work from next Tuesday. Hopefully, it will all turn out well...
I will end this year with the following prayer:
Dear Allah,On This New Year, And The Years To Come,Grant Us The Serenity,To Accept The Things We Cannot Change;The Courage, To Change The Things We Can;And The Wisdom, To Know The Difference.A'ameen
Sunday, November 27, 2011
As Fall 2011 comes to an end...
Finally! A great wave of relief descends upon me as we inch towards the end of term. Classes after next week, and although there are still the final exams to deal with, I'm really glad to see the back of this term... It has been quite a hectic one...
Of all the midterms, Statistics was the most notable... Class average was a low 42%. Though I don't see how the professor expected any better, given the way he teaches... In an extremely Umbridge-like fashion, the prof expects us to prepare for exams using the (extremely pathetic) notes alone, without providing us with any relevant past exam questions or extra problems for practice.
On a happier note, I am now among the "Employed"! After some 90+ applications and 3 interviews, I was finally selected as a Co-op for Organizational Change Management at Loblaws, Inc. for the Winter 2012 co-op term. Goodbye JobMine, meet you next summer!
A bit of photography from the past few days...
I guess that's about it for this post... I guess the next post will come sometime after I'm done with exams...
Until then, take care.
Good Night (or Day).
Keep reading ...
Of all the midterms, Statistics was the most notable... Class average was a low 42%. Though I don't see how the professor expected any better, given the way he teaches... In an extremely Umbridge-like fashion, the prof expects us to prepare for exams using the (extremely pathetic) notes alone, without providing us with any relevant past exam questions or extra problems for practice.
On a happier note, I am now among the "Employed"! After some 90+ applications and 3 interviews, I was finally selected as a Co-op for Organizational Change Management at Loblaws, Inc. for the Winter 2012 co-op term. Goodbye JobMine, meet you next summer!
A bit of photography from the past few days...
 |
| Pocket Watch © Osama Sidat |
 |
| Kinder Memories © Osama Sidat |
 |
| Convergence © Osama Sidat |
I guess that's about it for this post... I guess the next post will come sometime after I'm done with exams...
Until then, take care.
Good Night (or Day).
Thursday, November 10, 2011
A Random Piece of Writing...
Hello there!
The last time I blogged, I was one week into the Fall term. Starting off my second year at university. Settling into my new place. Ready to take on the term...
Fast forward a month or two...
Lets just say it has been a really hectic term so far. Photography activities are at an all time low, with a huge backlog of shots accumulated in Lightroom, waiting to be processed. Midterms are now over, with one exception, which will take place sometime late next week.
Have been applying to a load of jobs for the next term. Just hoping it all works out in a timely manner.
I have developed a new fascination for tech stuff, by keeping up with the latest news on Twitter. Lately, I've been spending a lot more time on Twitter than on Facebook... Follow me @SammSid
After a whole lot of debating (in my own head) about netbooks vs tablets, and simultaneously, Android Honeycomb vs iOS, I finally settled on the Apple Ipad 2. Got it from the new Apple Store that opened in Connestoga Mall in Waterloo. So far, it has been an awesome experience. The iPad's primary use for me currently is web browsing, Tweeting, email, and reading PDF files for assignments... Lately, I use a Bamboo Stylus for rough work, calculations and notes. I've also been taking all my Financial Accounting notes on Evernote.
I just felt like writing something tonight. Hence, this blog post...
Anyways, until next time...
Keep reading ...
The last time I blogged, I was one week into the Fall term. Starting off my second year at university. Settling into my new place. Ready to take on the term...
Fast forward a month or two...
Lets just say it has been a really hectic term so far. Photography activities are at an all time low, with a huge backlog of shots accumulated in Lightroom, waiting to be processed. Midterms are now over, with one exception, which will take place sometime late next week.
Have been applying to a load of jobs for the next term. Just hoping it all works out in a timely manner.
I have developed a new fascination for tech stuff, by keeping up with the latest news on Twitter. Lately, I've been spending a lot more time on Twitter than on Facebook... Follow me @SammSid
After a whole lot of debating (in my own head) about netbooks vs tablets, and simultaneously, Android Honeycomb vs iOS, I finally settled on the Apple Ipad 2. Got it from the new Apple Store that opened in Connestoga Mall in Waterloo. So far, it has been an awesome experience. The iPad's primary use for me currently is web browsing, Tweeting, email, and reading PDF files for assignments... Lately, I use a Bamboo Stylus for rough work, calculations and notes. I've also been taking all my Financial Accounting notes on Evernote.
I just felt like writing something tonight. Hence, this blog post...
Anyways, until next time...
Saturday, September 17, 2011
First Week of Fall 2011
What's up everyone!
Fall 2011 has kicked off in full force. Classes have started, and it really feels like I'm entering the second year...
This year, I've got MATH 237, ACTSC 231, STAT 231, AFM 101 & CS 136... I didn't want to have an excess of math courses, so limited them to three, and took the latter two as hopefully useful electives...
MATH 237: Calculus, something to do with multiple variables. Professor Kohandel seems to be okay, the first lecture was a bit fragmented, but subsequent lectures were better off. Time will tell how we fare in this course...
ACTSC 231: Mathematics of Finance, related to the SOA FM Exam (that is next up on my list of actuarial papers). I expected this course to be more exciting, but Professor Freeland just goes on and on and on... and the examples are rather bland. Oh well, I guess will have to turn to the text for this one...
STAT 231: Intro to Stats. Stats can be dry, but when a prof just reads of the slides, that are actually provided as course notes, it becomes really lame. Right now, there's kid stuff like pie charts and histograms, but there's bound to be some challenging stuff further down into the course...
AFM 101: Financial Accounting. Prof Duane Kennedy is pretty good. So far, I'm enjoying the course. I rarely read up course material before class, but this class is one instance where I did, 'cuz it was interesting and pretty clear. Really hope to make this course count...
CS 136: Elementary Algorithm Design & Data Abstraction. Am I crazy for taking this course since I'm not a CS major? Maybe! Despite that the assignment problems can induce strings of curse words, I find programming to be fun and challenging. Gordon Cormack teaches in a nice, slow kind of a way, which makes it easy to connect the dots...
Well, this is kinda it. My course rundown...
I've been accepted as a Teaching Assistant for Math. Gonna be marking first year quizzes/assignments!
Thursday Night: Turned up Larry Smith's ECON 101! As usual, it was awesome!
Cooked up my tuna & spaghetti dinner yesterday, this time included a few additions from here. Turned out pretty good!
Roamed around for a bit in the University today. Wanted to take photos of the new Mathematics building, the M3. It's pretty neat, and for a change, it has lots of windows and sunlight (unlike the MC, affectionately known to Mathies as the "jail-house").
More photos from around UW (all shot today) can be found in my Facebook Album.
Looking forward to UWPC meetings... I just hope I can fit 'em around my schedule; might be easier this time, since no late evening classes...
So, that's it for this week. Lets see when the next post rolls around...
Until next time...
Good Night (or Day)
Keep reading ...
Fall 2011 has kicked off in full force. Classes have started, and it really feels like I'm entering the second year...
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| University of Waterloo - Uni Ave Entrance © Osama Sidat |
This year, I've got MATH 237, ACTSC 231, STAT 231, AFM 101 & CS 136... I didn't want to have an excess of math courses, so limited them to three, and took the latter two as hopefully useful electives...
MATH 237: Calculus, something to do with multiple variables. Professor Kohandel seems to be okay, the first lecture was a bit fragmented, but subsequent lectures were better off. Time will tell how we fare in this course...
ACTSC 231: Mathematics of Finance, related to the SOA FM Exam (that is next up on my list of actuarial papers). I expected this course to be more exciting, but Professor Freeland just goes on and on and on... and the examples are rather bland. Oh well, I guess will have to turn to the text for this one...
STAT 231: Intro to Stats. Stats can be dry, but when a prof just reads of the slides, that are actually provided as course notes, it becomes really lame. Right now, there's kid stuff like pie charts and histograms, but there's bound to be some challenging stuff further down into the course...
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| STAT 231 © Osama Sidat |
AFM 101: Financial Accounting. Prof Duane Kennedy is pretty good. So far, I'm enjoying the course. I rarely read up course material before class, but this class is one instance where I did, 'cuz it was interesting and pretty clear. Really hope to make this course count...
 |
| Professor Kennedy © Osama Sidat |
CS 136: Elementary Algorithm Design & Data Abstraction. Am I crazy for taking this course since I'm not a CS major? Maybe! Despite that the assignment problems can induce strings of curse words, I find programming to be fun and challenging. Gordon Cormack teaches in a nice, slow kind of a way, which makes it easy to connect the dots...
Well, this is kinda it. My course rundown...
I've been accepted as a Teaching Assistant for Math. Gonna be marking first year quizzes/assignments!
Thursday Night: Turned up Larry Smith's ECON 101! As usual, it was awesome!
Cooked up my tuna & spaghetti dinner yesterday, this time included a few additions from here. Turned out pretty good!
 |
| Spaghetti with Tuna Sauce © Osama Sidat |
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| Mathematics 3 - New Home of ActSci & Stats Depts © Osama Sidat |
More photos from around UW (all shot today) can be found in my Facebook Album.
Looking forward to UWPC meetings... I just hope I can fit 'em around my schedule; might be easier this time, since no late evening classes...
So, that's it for this week. Lets see when the next post rolls around...
Until next time...
Good Night (or Day)
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