Checksum Arcanius

After class yesterday, I went to the Technology Alliance’s annual State of Technology Luncheon. Google had some extra seats, and they are being nice to me right now. The keynote address was a conversation between UW CSE professor Ed Lazowska and one of the few men who can legitimately claim to be the inventor of the internet, Vint Cerf. The conversation consisted mostly of Ed asking questions and Vint responding at length. The event was enjoyable, the food quite good, and the conversation was great as well. Afterwards, I made sure to shake Vint’s hand and thank him for participating in the event. I also owe thanks to Google for the invitation.

At this point this, my day was only half over. Next came Rage Against the Turing Machine, ACM Chair Helene Martin’s brainchild superparty for the CSE department. Undergrad, grad, and faculty were all in attendance, and it was a truly phenomenal production. I helped a little by setting up and tearing down the ping pong and foosball tables, but really, this production is Helene’s seminal achievement — truly a great way to go out.

I made sure to wear my VisionUW t-shirt, and actually had a few people ask me what it was about. Being a diehard supporter of the VisionUW ticket for the ASUW elections, I of course expounded to each inquirer why they should vote for the ticket.

After clean up, I made my way back home, party winnings in hand (biking with a poster, a cup, and t-shirts must look kinda weird), and then played a bit of TF2 with Bobby before hitting the sack. Overall, a great day. Now to keep up the momentum, I’m preparing for mother’s day activities and I need to write some Capstone paper before heading off to a barbecue.

In other news, Microsoft extended their offer through the 22nd of this month — meaning I can hear back from the 5th years masters program (barely) before I tell them my decision. Amazon’s offer is good through the 23rd, and Google’s offer is good through August or something crazy like that. I now have the three offers in front of me that I was aiming for; now I need to sit down and figure out which one would be best for me in case I don’t get into the 5th year master’s program. However, only 35 people applied to the program, whereas I was expecting upwards of 60, so I feel my chances are particularly good to get in to the program now. Of course, time will tell.

As the title says, the days are just packed!

James,

It is with a heavy heart that I write to tell you that I have withdrawn from your CSE 431 class. I enjoyed the lectures and learning the material, but I felt stretched too thin this quarter, and this class unfortunately was the casualty. I feel that withdrawing now was the best choice so I can focus on my two capstone projects. Thanks for your understanding.

~Ryan

This is my first ever withdrawal from any class, ever, after the first week of classes. It wasn’t an easy decision but I think it was the right one.

Four and a half years, four servers, three jobs, two schools, and one small sampling of a life.

Today, Checksum Arcanius celebrates its 1,000th post.

That 3.72 in the last box there means that, were I to graduate now, I would be in the top 10% (cum laude), which is one of my current goals. To maintain that, I will have to do at least fairly well in my Bioengineering capstone, and not tank my other Spring classes.

I just wrapped up the second-to-last quarter of my undergraduate education!

Three more months…

As for grade predictions, lets say the following:

CSE 401 — Compilers — 3.6
CSE 421 — Algorithms — 3.6
CSE 427 — Computational Biology — 4.0
CSE 599J — Neurobotics Seminar — 3.9 (missed a day, doh)
BioEn 482/499 — Capstone — Extending one quarter…

Today is my last day of classes this quarter. However, my first class was canceled and the second happens to coincide with my Dad’s retirement party. As this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, I don’t mind missing it just once.

In other news, Joel and I just spent the last hour or so on a crazy run up to about 4 million acres in Warbook. It was a lot of work, and very intense. I can see how people get addicted to this game. As if I didn’t already know…