Brian's World

Happy Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween, I hope everyone had a splendid evening trick or treating or attending a Halloween party. Personally I did none of the above. It was very unfestive and depressing. I know that I wasn’t exactly trying to make it festive, but I’m not in a position to do a whole lot. I ate my usual two hot dogs for dinner, the same thing I’ve eaten for every halloween I remember (ok, maybe one hot dog when I was little) but that used to allow me to eat fast and get outside quick.

Instead I worked on a computer science project, I’ve figured out the best approach to it but unfortunately I’m stuck on one small part.. but I’m really just out of time. I think I can take a 30 on it because I already have 150pts… and I assume another 50 are coming… plus 30 = 230.. and there are 3 more projects for me to get another 20 points on (250 = A)

This weekend was rather yucky. Six Flags cancelled because they were afraid of the rain, we called them back to find the offices open and there was no word about closing the park from the people working the phones. It was very “oh these are HS kids we can blow them off”ish. I did play laser tag, I like that game. I hope the show went over well, we ended up filming in the middle of nowhere about 3 times until we got it right.

I’ve decided certain departures are bad and need to not happen.

Oh yea, yesterday South Hadley High School has a “chemical spill day” so everyone got the day off. Katie came out here to visit for the morning/afternoon which was very pleasent. I felt bad because I had a previous committment with RPI TV to film the student senate meetings. If you know me, you know I have a wierd twisted dedication to filming/getting things on air at all costs. Its a bad habit most of the time, unless the production is for you.. then you like having me on your side.

My next thought is about a job. I heavily dislike not working or not having a source of my private income. I dislike having to use a debit card and then have my parents scrutinize all my purchases. Unfortunately I don’t have much “real-world” work experience. I’ve never worked in food services or hospitality. I’ve worked as an “Assistant Network Administrator” at my high school where I ran a “ghosting” setup, deployment, and configuration operation for approximately 250 computers. I’ve also worked as “Technical Assistant” in the local Cable Studio, where I pretty much filmed shows, programmed them to play, and held down the fort when the manager took a vacation or two.

I’m thinking about a few ideas right now… If I’m smart, I might try my hand at some “Topcoder” competitions that have cash prizes… the downside is that I probably won’t win compared to the other kids out there. Its hard for a freshmen to compete with seniors majoring in CS. My other thoughts are around campus, I can’t drive anywhere (no car), so I see that as my only option. Unforunately I can’t find any good directory where jobs might be listed *that would fit me*.

I have a CS lab in about 30 minutes.. its about searching.

Umm yea, I think I have a tv show to watch or something.

Cya later!