ludicrousity

Wow... it's been over a month since my last post already? I must be super special and busy or something!

Well, first thing is first.

CN TOWER CLIMB FOR WWF
I'm climbing the CN Tower for the World Wildlife Fund again! Last year I did it in 17:19, this year I'm going to try to tie. Anyone wanting to climb is welcome to. It's Saturday April 23. I'm going to try to climb early (like 7am) to avoid the crowd. If you want me to wait for you at the top, let me know! I'm probably not going to want to go the entire way beside someone, cause I haven't yet... If you don't want to climb, you can donate to the animals, too! You can sign up or sponsor me (you gotta search for me) at the same site, wwf.ca/cntower.

BRUCE TRAIL HIKE
Also, at the end of summer, Victor and I have started plans to hike the Bruce Trail as far as we can in whatever time we have between my last exam and my first day of work. We're not sure what he's going to be doing then, and he might have just started a new job. No matter, though, we still have tons and tons to plan out.

COOL SHTUFF
This past March, I got an article published in the Medical Physics Journal. It's called Dosimetric effect of collimating jaws for small multileaf collimated fields. Yes, I know what it's about. I'm the second name of three on the list, and I took the measurements and had the results explained to me while I worked for the GRRCC. Heh. I'm published!
Also, working at GE, I got my first design implemented. They're changing the carton they're putting lightbulbs into, and I got to design the carton loader for one of the machines. Basically, I added a moving suction cup. I get to take the project from beginning to end, getting everyone to do stuff for me. So far, everything's been ordered, machined, installed and programmed. I tested it on the old boxes, but they rip easily... one carton got jammed, and stopped production for a couple hours. Oops. It was working when I went home the day before! I can't wait to see it work on the new boxes.
Oh! I also go my first bit of java script working. Up in the top left corner, the countdown to IRS... I made it myself! Cool, eh? IRS is the celebration of getting our engineering rings. It costs around $40000 to get the right to buy it for $25. Woo.

FLOWERS
It's spring time! Flowers will be sprouting soon! I've already planted a bunch in little cups just waiting for the ice to melt. I've planted these sunflowers. One type is supposed to stand 7', the other is only 5', but dark red. I also planted some ornamental grasses. One's supposed to stand 15', and the other, while only 7', has a big, pink feathery top. My 'loo neighbours are going to love me... what an excuse not to mow the lawn! ("It's ornamental.")

BIRTHDAYS
It's everyone's bday this season! Everyone remembered my birthday this year. Thank you, all! Props to Victor, Maddy, Harshan, and Sabs for organizing stuff. I got 3 bday parties this year. V picked my up, drove me to 'loo, and took me to the CUBE bioengineering symposium on my bday. We got to see a bunch of people speak on bioengineering. There was one guy going on about having a small business that got bought out by GE, and how great both small businesses and GE are. There was one pharmaceutical lady who was all "our drugs are good". And the guys with the most interesting topics had a very strong accent. But it was still fun, and for $5, we got a lot of free stuff, including food! And I now have a prof I can bug to do some 4th year project stuff. He and Steve took me to Mel's Diner for dinner, and while they were plotting to get me a milkshake, the waiter broght me a huge thing of ice cream free!
Harshy and Maddy threw a "surprise" dinner for me at Boston Pizza (you know, the place with the cockroaches..) Maddy emailed me to tell me where it was, then changed the location without telling me. Fortunately, I hadn't checked my mail! Harshan called me and told me he was taking me to dinner. Victor was all like "but... it was supposed to be a surprise... I was doing so good not giving you a hint..." It was awesome though. So many people showed!
Sabs organized a dinner at AlleyCatz (a jazz place on Tuesdays) on a Saturday. We got to listen to live music at a really fancy place. They had a neat menu, including stuff like alligator. Hmmm.

I get to go to AlleyCatz again tomorrow (on a jazz tuesday) for Danielle's bday! I only need a ride there now...

And Sepa's bday was on the 22. I hope all you folks remembered to call him, too. (If you didn't and want to, lemme know and I'll give you his #.)

CALIFORNIA
This was the major bday gift I got. From Victor. He wrote a big thing on his blog about it, but so will I.
He called me on the Wednesday at work to say "Can you get the next 2 days off? I have an interview for Microsoft in California on Friday, and can you come?" My boss was unimpressed, but said "you only live once" and gave me permission. Flight turned out to be for 4:30 or something. I went to work in the morning, and Victor was supposed to pick me up early, and then we go to the airport. He ended up stuck in major traffic, literally parked on the highway, for several hours. He called me from other people's cell phones a bunch to let me know what was happening. We were so scared we would miss the flight. Fortunately, neither of us had to check our baggage. He sped all the way to the airport, no cops, and we made it... we got the the boarding entrance just as they called our names as a final call for boarding. Crazy!
The Friday, while Victor was interviewing, I asked the hotel manager what there was to do. We were in Mountainview, which is next to San Jose. In between is Palo Alto. In the other direction is San Francisco. He gave me tons of maps, showed me where to go in San Fran to see all the cool stuff, and said "the last train back leaves at 12pm. Make sure you catch it, cause it'll be expensive getting back otherwise." He gave me his cell number AND his residential number, and said if we did miss the train or if we got lost, just call him, and he'd make sure we got back no prob. Wow. So, my first trip was to Palo Alto. I couldn't go to San Fran without Victor! Palo Alto has this HUGE shopping complex. Gigantic stores like Bloomingdale's and Macy's were rampant. Doors were wide open, and all led outdoors. There were so many gardens and statues in the walk ways. by the way, it was february, and there were flowers (like bird of paradice) and palm trees. Wow.
So, San Francisco is the most hilly city ever. Looking at the houses, they each stand a little higher than the previous one, and it has this really cool layered look. I don't think the pics we took turned out. We took the Caltrain there, and walked around the city. Union Square is the big center of the city. It's just this one city block which is paved. You stand there, and look around at all the big buildings around... Danielle, it's the perfect dance ground! You can drive under it, since there's 7 layers of parking there! We didn't drive, though, and I'm so glad of that. Crazy streets! I said it's a hilly city? I'm not joking. Standing at one intersection, we were on flat ground. Looking down 2 streets, there was a sharp uphill, looking in the other 2 streets were sharp downhills. People in the city all looked really fit. Crazyness: the lights blinked red, like at a four way stop except in the middle of the intersection. Cars stop, peds cross, cars go. Lots of traffic; cars are backed up at the lights. There are street cars that drive right into the intersection, and only stop when it reaches the middle. The thing about the street car, people can get on and off at will, and just stand on it dangling over the sides. You give the driver 2 bucks when you get on. When it reaches the end of the line, there's a circle in the road that spins 180° around so it can start driving the other way. Also, cars were parked perpendicularly at the side of the road, sideways to parallel parking.
We climbed a lot of hills. Lombard Street is in the guiness book of records as the crookedest street in the world. Victor and I tried to climb it, but realized it was dangerous cause we couldn't see cars coming around the bends. There were stairs at the side, so we climbed those. It's not only curvy, it's steep. At the top, there's a sign saying "5mph max". Victor and I ran down the hill faster than that. The site from the top was really cool, too. We were at the top of the city! We could see the really cool skyline of the financial district... one building you could see through!
We walked several blocks till we reached Fisherman's Wharf, the area along the waterfront. We walked to the end of a pier, and saw the lights of the Golden Gate Brige, though it was night. The ocean was just beyond. We could see Alcatraz all lit up, too.
We saw some really cool art along the streets on the way back. One picture shifted while you walked past it. We stopped, and a small crowd gathered while we all tried to figure out what was up. Turned out the painting was 3d, it stuck out about a food at strange angles that made the rooms and bookshelves in the painting move. It was cool. There were so many art stores, it was almost like going to the gallery. Coool.
The plane ride home was cool. It was another race to the finish line. We called a cab an hour or so before we needed to be there. The cab showed up 15 mins later. He was stressing getting us there so much. I feel bad for him now. We had no troubles through customs and probably got through in 10 mins or so. We got to the entrance with time to spare. We got to fly over the rockies. The mountains don't seem so big from 30000ft, though. The pilot flew south for a bit, and we flew over the Grand Canyon!!!! The plane wasn't crowded, so Victor and I kept seat hopping to get the best view, cause no one else seemed interested. The second half of the flight, we got two tickets that weren't next to each other. We tried to switch them, and ended up with two tickets that didn't exist. We ended up with two seats next to each other in the middle rows. I would have been kicking his seat the entire way home. Someone gave their window seat up for me, and sat in the middle for the 5 hour flight. I owe that guy!
Victor didn't end up getting the job. I guess that's good, cause there's no decision about whether to go or not. We're going to have to visit again, though. There were some cool parks nearby like Death Valley and Yosemite, and there was a lot of wine stuff we didn't get a chance to check out.

GRADBALL
Victor's Prom has come and gone. I had to get dressed up AGAIN. Sharmin, a girl in his class and a friend of mine since grade 7 was there. She won an award for nicest dress.
The centerpieces were goldfish. There was a guy going around eating them. Victor's roomie Eric took a bunch off other people's table for his gf. The guy who was eating them was pissed, cause he couldn't get them. They ended up staying at Victor's house. I gave them food (cause I had extra), and Victor brought a 10gallon tank from his house. The fish are happy and growing well. Even the ones that were kissing the bottom when they got home are well. If anyone who was at gradball didn't get a fish and wants one (not for eating!), lemme know and I'll get one for you. They have 11 now. (They already gave 2 away cause someone asked.)

Other than that
I've been keeping myself busy. There's always something to do. And the number of books I've read... I'm slowly making a scratch in my "to read" list. This past month, I've read Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand, Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card(for the second time), part of Old Man's Toy - A. Zee (a book about gravity), and I've just started on Life of Pi - Yann Martel.
If anyone has actually read this post as far as this... WOW. I mean, it's taken me forever to write, and I appreciate you caring enough to read it all, but wow. Are you actually that entertained by my writing? :)
Well, thanks!