Jamie's Blog

For those of you who did not enjoy college, would you leave a comment about why not? I’d be interested in hearing whether it has more to due with college or with the circumstances of life during college.

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PatientPro Design Diary

Choosing PatientPro

Comming into this project, I had several ideas that I thought might be interesting and fun to pursue.? The projects would be entertaining to design and program, yet technically impressive and nontrivial to implement.

1. Ecosystem Simulator
2. Finite State Automata and Particle Simulation
3. Java-Based Image Editor
4. Web-based Workflow Application
5. Network Packet Filter
6. Some sort of Game

The CS senior project is not only an assignment, but a competition against our peers.? Although the prize for first place is a paltry five hundred dollars, split six ways, the props for winning are a geek’s treasure!

Although I’d wanted to complete one of the projects above, I realized that these might not win us the prize.? It seemed like the team I’d formed was set on winning, so we chose to do a project that Drexel’s Nursing school had requested people to take on.? We thought that since the project had the potential to be used, that we would have a greater chance of winning the grand prize.

PatientPro is an application run on PC or PDA that allows nursing students to work with patient data while satisfying legislative requirements such as HIPAA, which safeguards patients’ privacy.

And so it begins–our final term at Drexel. Who knows if we shall
ever walk its halls again? Let’s make this term better than those
gone by, and show that we are worth this great chance at education.
If you need to return books to me, or otherwise find me while I’m on campus…
Schedule

Classes

• Business Law I
• Business Law II (Hopefully this won’t screw me up)
• Introduction to Entrepreneurship
• Numerical Analysis
• Software Engineering Workshop II

And I’m still holding out for Real Estate…

Thank to all those placed their vote in the poll! I really appreciate it that you took 1 minute to take interest in my future, as I will always be interested in yours and offer my skills, advice, and influence to you however I can.

I will try to let you all know what I decide in the future (probably between 2 and 5 years hence). I will most likely not be getting a Master and PhD in CS. It would be too monotonous, I think. True, I am good at it, but I would be good at any of the other majors because of how they are related.

Getting an MBA would be iffy, because business is probably my weakest subject, despite how often I make fun of Drexel business students. (Why Because I have little passion for it.) Also, the purpose of an MBA would be more in the interest of my career, whereas an MEng would be for my own knowledge and enjoyment. It would probably be my weakest subject.

I am leaning towards EE and CE right now, time will tell what I finally decide upon.

Please continue to vote and help me think about my future!

In other job-related news, someone called me from a consulting company today, asking if I had the skills necessary to complete some sort of 3-d Modelling software. I replied by asking how he got my cell number!

Haha…. well, after he told me, I said that although I did meet the reqs almost (honestly, only 1% of CS undergrads would meet the reqs necessary), I was too busy to sign up for the project. He then asked, “Do you know anyone who has the background necessary to complete this project” It made me laugh that the would ask someone he didn’t even know for a recommendation.

Unfortunately, practically no one I know (even the CS majors), knows enough about graphics and mathematics to do the project. Otherwise, someone could’ve had a job right then and there…. oh well!

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After talking with my dad tonight, I realized that most of my aunts may have Master degrees or an equivalent (such as a Pharmacist degree, whatever they are called). These fabulous aunts, my mother’s sisters, are immigrants who put themselves through school. In order to prevent shaming my parents, I’ll have to surpass not only them, but all of their children (one of which is a 14yr old girl who got a 1370 on her SATs last year–I’m runnin’ scared). So, if you’ve got a moment, help me decide my plans for Graduate education! It would be helpful to know that I’ll be receiving a BS in CS.

edit: of course it isn’t good to compare yourself to family members, but try telling that to your parents or relatives!!

edit: I should add that I do really enjoy learning, and I would also be completing these degrees for myself!

edit: From what Lisa tells me, Wharton is not #1 for MBAs–not that it sucks either…

edit: I don’t really think of myself as an overachiever…Rather, I think of others as underachievers…muahaha…

edit: By the time I finished 5+ Masters, 2+ PhDs (without going full time), I’d be ready to die … literally … I would be quite old.

M – Master of Engineering
PhD – Doctor of Philosophy
EE – Electrical Engineering
CS – Computer Science
CE – Computer Engineering
MBA – Master of Business Administration
MEng – Master of Engineering

My compiler class is down from 10 to 4 people. Keep in mind that this is a track class with a capacity of 30 seats.

edit: the class will most likely not be cancelled, because that would probably screw over someone in the class using it as a track class. (We are already in week 2 anyway.)

edit: a track class is a class required for a concentration. To get a CS degree, you need to have three concentrations including Software Engineering, which is mandatory. The Programming Languages concentration consists of 3 courses: Theory of Computation, Compiler Workshop I, and Compiler Workshop II. Track classes are important because they are needed to complete concentrations and graduate!

How was everyone’s first day back at school?

My math teacher, who isChinese,says “okay?” after every sentence. EVERY sentence. “This is the problem, okay? These are the variables, okay? Define the objective function, okay? It’s subject to these equations, okay? I’m going to say okay after every sentence the whole term, okay?”

This is the first year of teaching for my compiler workshop instructor (you know what that means). Keep in mind that compiler workshop is one of the hardest CS classes. Most of the hard classes start with thirty people and end up with ten (AI), but this class STARTED with ten. Who knows how many will be left by mid-term.

Senior design started, and it should be fun because I am going to boss Yang around–more so than I usually do.

Homework Update!

Work hard people! We’re almost done! Yay!

Finished

Travelling Tournament Problem [see last wednesday's entry] (cs381)
- 8 teams
- 10/12 teams not fully functional

Othello v .3 (cs451)
- added midgame save feature
- added load feature
- added test units and coverage reports

To Finish

Several Concurrent Programming Problems (cs361) due 5/31
- 1 semaphore problem
- 3 monitor problems

Lucky 13 V .2 (cs338) due 6/1
- will add random ai
- will add gui

Group Term Paper (psy337) due 6/1
- topic: verbal protocols

Human Sociology as Related to PCs (psy337) due 6/1

Bombed another exam I think… all that studying… the whole sleepless night gone to waste… and I got a 29/50 on my final homework assignment…

Ok, so I know that I don’t usually bitch about stuff, so why am I doing so now? I dunno…just bored i guess, and uninspired. Is this how it feels to be *shudders* average? Hehee….

Am I sooo pretentious? Eh… if you think.

My brother graduated yesterday night, 3rd in his class. Dude! I thought he was gonna be 1st or 2nd… I was expecting to critique his speech and such. It was awfully disappointing.

Oh Thank Heaven! It’s my last day of work! Overall, the people here were great, but I’m glad to be getting back to school.

Sunny, you’ll get your damn skit soon. Hold your darn horses. Oh, and I dunno who’s gonna be in it. You find some people.

Vi, I’ll look into the catering thing this week (I think). Fucker.

Lisa, we can spend more time together!

In my absence from the Xanga scene, I’ve been thinking about possibilities for future entries. Here’s a taste.

What with people saying I’m spoiled? We’re all spoiled to a degree. Which is worse? Being a greedy parent who doesn’t share any wealth with their children or a spoiled child who gets what he wants because his parents have the money? Hmmm…well, I’m not saying I’m not spoiled, but how about those without sin cast the first stone? Is it worse to be spoiled by a friend? Yes, you can be spoiled by friends. Ever have a friend give you anything u want? You call that love? How come when parents give children anything they want, it’s worse?

What’s with honor? Some macho guys think fighting fairly is what honor is all about. For all you at the VSA picnic who saw me grab *ahem* multiple guy’s balls while they tried to restrain me, was that a dishonorable tactic? I offer that 3 guys trying to hold me down is dishonorable, and that if a regular joe schmore computer programming nerd such as myself gets chased by a black belt with a violent temper, it is perfectly alright to resort to any means necessary to avoid a beatdown.

What’s with people borrowing books and never returning them? I’m not talking to the people i lent books to really. It;s jsut how people borrow books from other people for their classes such as econ or psy, which everyone takes. Then, they never return the book. Also, and now I’m talking more to the people who borrowed books from me, if you know ur not going to read a book u have borrowed from me, return it, that way if someone who really wants to use it wants to use it, they can! hahaha… look everyone is gonna be scared and return my books now! YES!

Also, what’s the deal with people who’ve never had dates? Even if your ugly you can get a date! It’s all about personality. No, I’m not saying if you’ve never had a date you have no personality. Maybe no confidence though? ^___^ Oh, and that excuse that you’re busy with school and work is a cop out. Why? A cup of coffee takes an hour. Go out there and meet people! Fall in love and get hurt! Then do it all over again! So fun! (This is mostly directed toward men.)

On another note…boy, I’m glad I don’t go to Wharton. My hunni goes there and it seems like she’s awfully busy. Is it just me or do any of you other Drexel people find school easy as cake? It’s like I’m still in highschool…pshh…not that I’m complaining. If I wanted to be challenged I guess I should’ve gone to MIT or something (not that I could’ve gotten in ha).

Normally, I try to make my entries full of non-stop, on-the-seat-of-your-chair action, but before you read any farther, I warn you this won’t be one of those entries. This will be of the more inane variety–similar to the other Xangian’s entries which simply describe the mundane details of their little pathetic lives. (Just kidding! Don’t take it personally!)

Well, I registered for classes today, and I have decided to take 6…yes 6 classes! Normally this would be nothing to hiccup about, but I am taking 4 CS courses, 1 Math, and 1 Econ. Here is my course list for next term:

CS270 Math Foundations of Computer Science
CS281 Systems Architecture I
CS360 Programming Language Concepts
CS480 Theory of Computation

Math311 Probability and Statistics I

Econ211 Principles of Microeconomics

Will I die from all of the work and stress? Will I whine on Xanga about it? Quite possibly! I’m getting ready for my most difficult semester ever!! The best part of the Spring Semester–despite all the work–will be spending time with my loving Lisa.