Sean Turns On
I am, as some know, a very binary person: I seem to be either "off" or "on." Another word, perhaps, is "manic-depressive," but I prefer binary. Dichotomous? Anyway.
The last month or two (ever since, really, the end of the semester), have been a very lethargic slump -- a lot of moping around punctuated with periods of sleep. Sure I've been somewhat physically active, but flatlining mentally.
But the the switch has finally been pulled, and I'm into a full-fledged flurry of manic activity.
I finally have a job for the summer (but rather than being the catalyst for my activity, it's actually been one of the last things to fall in place). It's at the Alberta Wilderness Association, and should prove interesting. So far it's been largely clerical (managing mailing lists, database work, etc) but the job description, as it were, promises a lot of variety over the remainder of the summer. About once a week, the AWA holds a booth at various Farmers' Markets around town, which I will be staffing. There will also be a good deal of field work -- trail maintenance, wildlife counts and so on. One of the requirements was that I have a tent and sleeping bag and "am not afraid of meeting bears." Oboy! There are also a couple fundraisers (charity auctions, etc.) which I will be helping organdize... generally a bunch of PR work. Telephone stuff, unfortunately, but whatever; I can hack it.
I'm also running a bunch of programming tutorials for people at the school. Doing some prep work with frosh, getting them up to speed for September. Also working with some of the older students. The UofC Compsci policy is to "teach" Java in the first couple of years, then for the later courses, use whatever language is best suited to the task. Which is, in general, fine... except that a lot of the students then hit classes where they need C++, but since all they've been taught is Java, they don't know anything about concepts such as performing garbage collection, the difference between objects and object references, and all manner of like concerns. So I'm running tutorials for a few of them to get them "up to speed" with things they will need to know in some of their later courses.
In addition, seeing as how I'm probably not going to be able to 0wnzor any kittens any time soon, I've signed up to volunteer at the Calgary Humane Society. They have a need for volunteers to take on such roles as "bunny exerciser" and "cat cuddler." Sounds right up my alley! Kitty!!111!1!!!
Finally, I've been just generally "exercising" a lot more in the last week or so. Mostly on the bike -- what else? -- I've taken trips out to Airdrie, Cochrane and a bunch of other places recently. Just to see what's out there. Sometime in the next month or so, I'm planning on a little experiment. I'm gonna work up my bike muscles a bit, then try and see how far I can go in 24 hours. The plan is to start at 10AM or so, head East on the Trans-Canada, and see where I am at 10AM the next day. It'll be interesting. It won't be at all scientific, of course; I'm just curious. I'm hoping for Medicine Hat, maybe the Saskatchewan border. If the winds are cooperative, maybe even Swift Current? Anyway, I'm looking forward to the experiment.
Um.
Stampede in another week, wo0t! ministerphobia is coming up; possibly starslab too (if he can get time off work). Something else I'm totally looking forward to. If nothing else, it'll give me a good excuse to check out some of the restaurants in town that have piqued my interest in the last year. (Yep, that's me. Always thinking wit' me stomach...
)
Hum. Manic moods always threaten long posts that no-one wants to read. So I figure this is as good a place to stop as any.
"I gots da Best. Hallowe'en costume. Ever."
The last month or two (ever since, really, the end of the semester), have been a very lethargic slump -- a lot of moping around punctuated with periods of sleep. Sure I've been somewhat physically active, but flatlining mentally.
But the the switch has finally been pulled, and I'm into a full-fledged flurry of manic activity.
I finally have a job for the summer (but rather than being the catalyst for my activity, it's actually been one of the last things to fall in place). It's at the Alberta Wilderness Association, and should prove interesting. So far it's been largely clerical (managing mailing lists, database work, etc) but the job description, as it were, promises a lot of variety over the remainder of the summer. About once a week, the AWA holds a booth at various Farmers' Markets around town, which I will be staffing. There will also be a good deal of field work -- trail maintenance, wildlife counts and so on. One of the requirements was that I have a tent and sleeping bag and "am not afraid of meeting bears." Oboy! There are also a couple fundraisers (charity auctions, etc.) which I will be helping organdize... generally a bunch of PR work. Telephone stuff, unfortunately, but whatever; I can hack it.
I'm also running a bunch of programming tutorials for people at the school. Doing some prep work with frosh, getting them up to speed for September. Also working with some of the older students. The UofC Compsci policy is to "teach" Java in the first couple of years, then for the later courses, use whatever language is best suited to the task. Which is, in general, fine... except that a lot of the students then hit classes where they need C++, but since all they've been taught is Java, they don't know anything about concepts such as performing garbage collection, the difference between objects and object references, and all manner of like concerns. So I'm running tutorials for a few of them to get them "up to speed" with things they will need to know in some of their later courses.
In addition, seeing as how I'm probably not going to be able to 0wnzor any kittens any time soon, I've signed up to volunteer at the Calgary Humane Society. They have a need for volunteers to take on such roles as "bunny exerciser" and "cat cuddler." Sounds right up my alley! Kitty!!111!1!!!
Finally, I've been just generally "exercising" a lot more in the last week or so. Mostly on the bike -- what else? -- I've taken trips out to Airdrie, Cochrane and a bunch of other places recently. Just to see what's out there. Sometime in the next month or so, I'm planning on a little experiment. I'm gonna work up my bike muscles a bit, then try and see how far I can go in 24 hours. The plan is to start at 10AM or so, head East on the Trans-Canada, and see where I am at 10AM the next day. It'll be interesting. It won't be at all scientific, of course; I'm just curious. I'm hoping for Medicine Hat, maybe the Saskatchewan border. If the winds are cooperative, maybe even Swift Current? Anyway, I'm looking forward to the experiment.
Um.
Stampede in another week, wo0t! ministerphobia is coming up; possibly starslab too (if he can get time off work). Something else I'm totally looking forward to. If nothing else, it'll give me a good excuse to check out some of the restaurants in town that have piqued my interest in the last year. (Yep, that's me. Always thinking wit' me stomach...
)
Hum. Manic moods always threaten long posts that no-one wants to read. So I figure this is as good a place to stop as any.
"I gots da Best. Hallowe'en costume. Ever."