back by popular demand

As I write this, I could work on my operating systems project for another 6 minutes and still turn it in on time. But it wouldn’t work any more then than it does now. So it’s turned in, and now I finally have a bit of what you might call free time.

In reality, it’s not really all that free. I have a project due on the 18th, another on the 24th, and midterms on the 21st, 24th, and 29th. But at least the next thing in front of me has a due date that’s a week from now.

So let’s see…where did I leave you off, gentle reader? Beginning of October, I believe. I’d just learned that the aforementioned operating systems project had been moved back a week (and a good thing too; I still only managed to get it mostly done even with the extra week). But I had plenty of other stuff to deal with as well. So here’s a quick rundown of the time since then, not counting class time.

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gauntlet #1

We all knew that it would come to this at some point.

It was only a matter of time, I knew, that a one-week or two-week period would come along that would just be so loaded with stuff to do that I would feel absolutely inundated. Then I would truly know that Ph.D. does indeed stand for Piled Higher and Deeper.

Those two weeks have come.

In the next two weeks, I have a homework assignment due in one class. I have a project due in three of my classes. I have a midterm in my hardest class. A couple of weeks after that, I have a project due in the fourth class.

This past Friday night, I actually did work on a project. This was a first for me in all my years of school. Beforehand, Friday night was sacred, a time to celebrate the weekend having come. Unfortunately, I knew that I couldn’t do that this particular Friday.

I started working on my CIS 6930 project. Why? Because I’d done everything that I could on my COP 5725 (databases) project, and I didn’t know how to start my COP 5615 (operating systems) project. I actually got it practically complete by the time the night was over, and finished it up Saturday evening after football (which I will not give up no matter what deadlines loom).

This still leaves me with my COP 5615 project, which I started working on this morning and for the most part have worked on all day. Then tonight, I looked on the course announcement page and saw the magic words.

“The deadline for project 1 has been postponed to 10/10.” Woo-hoo!

Now, this doesn’t mean that I stopped working on the project. It just means that I didn’t have to remind myself to breathe every now and then while doing so.

catching up

It’s been a while, I realize. At least it has been for me.

Let’s see. So what’s happened since I last posted?

  • Got back my first homework grades. It’s nice to know if I completely fail everything else in COP 5615, I’ll have a 1.88.
  • Actually read textbooks. What is this? You’re not supposed to have to read the books.
  • Solved at least 10 crosswords.
  • Played in quite a few boggy-pong games. Realized that this is a game that Alabama’s BCM could have fun with, except that Bill would kill everyone in it.
  • Paid huge first bills for power, home phone, and cell phone. Account goes way, way down. Remembered that I’m a college student – having less than $200 in my checking account is a way of life.
  • Discovered there’s a cheese that I don’t like – Monterey Jack.
  • Car had a radiator go out. Fixed.
  • Went to my first Florida football game – a torrential downpour almost the entire game. Wore my rainsuit. Was one of only three in my party with a rainsuit.
  • Car had a headlight go out. Fixed.
  • The first two tellings of the “cycle of death” story occurred, with predictable results.
  • Car had a tire go flat. Fixed.
  • Actually been associated with a school that beat Tennessee. Now if it can only happen again on October 26…
  • Found what I believe will become my church home here at UF.

Amidst other things. But that’s what comes to mind right now.

in rememberance

I was one of the lucky ones. I had three and a half more hours in the old world than most did.

At approximately noon on September 11, 2001, I awoke and started my daily routine, the first thing of which involved breakfast. I don’t remember what I was getting. I just remember saying good morning/afternoon to Mr. Guy (what I call my grandfather).

“Boy,” he answered, “have you seen this about the plane flying into the building?”

I hadn’t, I answered, and continued to get whatever it was I planned to eat. Then I went into the living room to see what he was talking about.

Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry anymore.

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so it all comes down to this

Ever since May 19, 2001, my life had been in somewhat of a suspended state. There have been times that I’ve had the opportunity to move in a certain direction, but for some reason or another, things didn’t move that way.

I interviewed with several companies. Sometimes I got dinged. Sometimes I got called back and offered a position, only to find it already filled later. I even had an offer for what would have been a relatively interesting job that would pay me, someone with no work experience, reasonably well in a tough economy. But I knew that it wasn’t right for me, no matter what the pay.

God started guiding me back to graduate school around late November of last year. He took my eventual goal of becoming a professor and thrust it into center stage, opening doors along the way for the dream to come true. He provided the means for me come to my first choice of graduate schools.

And now the time is almost here. Tomorrow, I have my first day of school in over 15 months. Granted, it’s just one class. But I’ll be officially back. And I know that the upcoming four years (at least) will be memorable for many reasons. I’m looking forward to it. Given the friendships that I’ve already made, I won’t be walking the path alone.