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[Nov. 4th, 2009|08:23 pm] |
Ooh! Bonus to my "My enrolment is screwed" saga! ...Well, less of an issue than the ITPS one, but still amusing.
I'm still on the old version of the course. This is giving me fewer and fewer options as I go along. Whatever.
Guess what I have in the way of options to complete my submajor?
Well, hmm. *looks at MyStudentAdmin* There's... Data Mining Algorithms (Notice how they cleverly used the same subject number to bypass sanity checks!). Or there's... Data Mining Algorithms. (Unless I want to take a Project, anyway... Yeah, no.) I was tossing up whether I wanted to do that subject or not. I guess that makes the decision for me, whether I like it or not.
Additionally, I found where eRequests are supposed to be filed. ...Too bad that visiting the page gives me a "Service Unavailable" message. WTF is with these time-limited websites, anyway? I thought a core tenet of the web was "Do stuff any time you like, because nobody has to be physically watching the transaction".
*grumbles*
-Mmaster |
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[Nov. 3rd, 2009|11:00 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Meet Me On The Equinox, Death Cab For Cutie | ] |
Evidence of the total disconnect between the arts faculty and the rest of the universe.
Mm: I got told that my photos for assignment 4 were "Not Safe For Work".
Photography teacher: What's that mean?
Mm: .....
-Mmaster |
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| This is why our document QA process is working at an incredibly glacial pace. |
[Oct. 26th, 2009|08:32 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | The SITP Skype meeting. | ] |
Patto: Mmm, sausages.
Brett: What?
Patto: I just got told that sausages are ready.
Semps: My sausage is always ready for you, Patto.
Patto: ...Thanks, Semps...
...This is typical of most SITP meetings...
-Mmaster |
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| RAGE. RAAAAAAGE. |
[Oct. 21st, 2009|10:56 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  Fury. | ] |
Whoever invented data mining should be shot.
...Whoever invented buggy Java-based data mining software that just hangs instead of telling you what the Hell's gone wrong, and then never tells you how to fix it?
Yeah, you can be eaten slowly by lepers using only forks. They'll start with your eyeballs.
Goodnight.
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| Yes, yes, I know. He's in design not IT. Still... |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|10:25 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Pygmalion 2.0 SP1, Tom Smith | ] |
Mm: The website you post our marks on isn't compatible with Linux.
Photography teacher: Oh. ...What's Linux?
...The other thing that keeps screwing me over is when they say "VisCom" (Visual Communications) I keep thinking they're saying "BisComp" (Business Computing). ...I am so very much not an arts student.
Now to go home and collapse, and hopefully come up with the answers my SITP group wants by 7pm.
-Mmaster |
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| Sister Psychic, can you tell me, does it ever get better? |
[Sep. 27th, 2009|09:35 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  irritated | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sister Psychic, Smash Mouth | ] |
Today my "It sucks to be me" hat came in handy. As did my "I don't work here" shirt.
I had some uni work to do. On a weekend. Self-inflicted injury, but still not one to improve my mood.
Since the Internet at home is busted (I think I hit the cap again), I went in to Uni to do stuff there.
Things going okay till 6. Suddenly no website not connected to UTS or Google was accessible. Since I was supposed to be having a Skype meeting at 7, this was a little inconvenient. There wasn't much I could do about it, though, so I just connected as best I could. Eventually Skype died permanently, and they forwarded the call to my mobile. I think I now have no Skype credit. *sigh*
I caught a cab home. The cab driver was listening to 2GB. The evening shock jock was suggesting that we should ban people from walking the Kakoda Track, since people keep dying. "Maybe soon we'll even have schoolchildren walking it! Where's it going to end? It's not like you're experiencing what the diggers did! They had bullets shooting past them!"
...This irritated me. The attitude seemed to be, "Why take let people take risks?". I think that if they're suitably prepared and wish to go, they should be able to do so. ...Not my scene, but I know others who are interested.
So, I asked the cab driver to change channels. He switched to 2UE. It was The Psychic Hour, or whatever they call it.
"Hi Cherine. Do you think that if I move house, it will be better for my health? I'm having trouble with the stairs in my current home."
...Lady. If you're having trouble with the stairs in your house, then move. You don't need a psychic to tell you that.
...I may dislike Dad's radio in general, but at least it's better than the alternative...
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[Sep. 18th, 2009|11:30 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blah | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Tech Support For Dad, Tom Smith | ] |
I had been wondering why the data mining notes had a picture of Bonzi Buddy on the first slide of every week.
...Then I realised that it was, in fact, perfectly appropriate.
-Mmaster |
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| Of course, I've been here longer than anyone. |
[Sep. 7th, 2009|09:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Hip Shop, Paul & Storm | ] |
I want a tshirt that says "If you don't hate Uni, you haven't been here long enough."
-Mmaster |
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| One more for the footpath, then we walked home holding hands. |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|08:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | To Absent Votes, The Lucksmiths | ] |
Today felt incredibly long. I'm having trouble even remembering what day it is; Wednesday, right?
Plugged my new 1TB hard drive into my hard drive enclosure (with intent to let it format the drive while I was out for the day), only to discover that either the drive or the enclosure is busted and I have very little in the way of finding out which. Sigh. Anyone got an enclosure I could borrow?
Nine o'clock SITP lecture, that didn't really tell us much we didn't already know. Except when / where to meet our tutor.
Ten-thirty tutorial that kind of went in circles as we realised that our respective schedules were hopelessly incompatible.
Two hour brainstorm with SITP team mates that also went kind of in circles, but slightly more productively.
Fifteen minute break in the ProgSoc room chatting to Rob, who was looking very dapper for an interview.
Two hours standing in the photo lab trying to catch up on the stuff that's due Monday. Nothing worked, and then I managed to scratch my negative. :@. Great.
Dropped my photo gear off at ProgSoc, then headed to McDonald's for a quick bite of lunch. By this point, it was nearly 4pm.
Headed to work to complete something Fabian wanted done. Two hours later, finished and headed out the door.
...Also? Still coming off a cold. Just to make the day even better.
...*collapses*
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| Three project-based subjects? What was I thinking? Oh wait, I wasn't. |
[Jul. 31st, 2009|11:40 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | frazzled | ] |
| [ | music |
| | So Nice So Smart, Kimya Dawson | ] |
The good? No exams this semester!
The bad? Oh god I will get no sleep D:
BRB, dying
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[Jul. 14th, 2009|05:20 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Blog Like It's The End Of The World, Tom Smith | ] |
Whoo, Uni results are apparently out early. They're supposed to be released tomorrow.
Results:
Database Programming: 85 (High Distinction)
Project Management: 75 (Distinction)
Photography, of course, hasn't finished, so its results haven't been released.
I calculated a quick overall average for subjects I've taken thus far, which amounts to a high credit (73-74.5, depending on whether SDP counts as one subject or two) but not quite a distinction.
I'm pretty happy with that. Not sure if I deserve it, but that's a worry for another day.
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[Jul. 8th, 2009|09:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | drained | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Hey Stephen, Taylor Swift | ] |
Thank goodness.
I ran into Chris S. this afternoon at Uni, and he told me that I didn't fail PMP. Apparently it was a close run thing, but I passed the exam - and since I already had 50+ marks that puts me into credit (possibly distinction) territory.
Now I'm paranoid that everything else will fall over because that somehow managed to work out.
...Alternatively, he's just toying with me because he wants to see me cry. I wouldn't be surprised. (Yes, my tinfoil hat is very stylish.)
I now need to find time to print six photos to an acceptable level of quality. I have next Wednesday. And possibly the Wednesday after, though that's the day they're due, so it's not a good day to be relying on. Especially if everyone else will also be relying on it.
...Stress is making me tired. I should eat something then go home. Instead, I plan to visit EGG, then I probably won't move for a while... Blah.
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[Jun. 19th, 2009|09:38 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  stressed | ] |
Well, I don't think anyone could have classed that as having gone well.
There were four questions, at ten marks each.
One of them I had no idea what the question was about (as in, I knew the name of it, and pretty much nothing else). I wrote something for it, but I'd be surprised if it garnered any marks at all.
One of them I was reasonably proud of the answer for, but my abysmal performance on the previously mentioned one means that I'm now paranoid that I didn't answer that one correctly.
The other two were sort of in the middle, I knew what the item was, but I'm not sure whether I actually answered the question in context (and he was big on IN CONTEXT, from what I recall).
I'm sort of hoping that between the three I actually answered with something relating to the question, there are enough marks to pass me so I don't have to do the subject again.
I think I'll go cry in the corner now.
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[Jun. 10th, 2009|09:55 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | okay | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Fear, Lily Allen | ] |
One exam down, one to go.
It was okay. Not brilliant (insofar as an exam could ever be 'brilliant'), but not terrible either - I got at least something down for most of the questions, even though some of the answers were guesswork. I took up the entire time (including my extra time), but I didn't really want to rush it anyway. I actually spent a little time making sure it was formatted properly that might have been better spent answering things, but it was at the "I can't think of anything more to say, but don't want to leave in case inspiration strikes" stage. (It didn't. But at least it meets a slightly higher standard now - I believe typed exam answers tend to be held to a slightly higher standard than handwritten ones, because they subconciously think you should be able to check your answers. Which really sucked in Year 12 when we were writing with Wordpad and thus didn't have spellcheck.)
Question: How soon can I be bothered going home to my empty house? Parents left for the UK this afternoon. I haven't eaten dinner, but I'm not particularly hungry, but I've probably just missed the 10 o'clock bus, and according to Google, it's currently 8 degrees outside. Oh, and I stubbed my toe this afternoon and am unable to walk comfortably. On the other hand, I really need sleep.
Whee...
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| *facepalm* |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|11:13 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | frustrated | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Greg's Last Day, The Starting Line | ] |
Why can't Laurie even create sample code that compiles?!?
-Mmaster |
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[Jun. 2nd, 2009|01:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas, They Might Be Giants | ] |
Interesting...
The class received an email from the Photography teacher:
<snip>
Could you please bring with you a small paint brush size 0000 or 000 or 00.
Whatever you can get your hands on. We will be looking at retouching images
along with dodging and burning next week. Also, if you can get yourselves a
bottle of ink for retouching this would be helpful as the university doesn't
provide ink. It lasts a long time, you could go half with someone and share
it. Again, Vanbar stocks them. A basic black and basic grey is what you
need.
<snip>
I went to Vanbar, checked it out, and found out that they no longer stocked it. So I sent her an email asking if she knew any other shops that might have it.
This was the response.
try teds or foto riesel maybe ring them rather than go there. also try oxford art supplies 93604066 is there no. i think. or eckersleys
Interesting jump in grammar!
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| Acronyms, he doesn't speak them. (Also, apparently, innuendo.) |
[May. 28th, 2009|03:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sand, Da Vinci's Notebook | ] |
The DBP assignment involves a system named the Financial Settlement System. Laurie refers to it as "FFS".
We have to make a package.
...Yes, that is what it's for!
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[May. 27th, 2009|10:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Title Of The Song, Da Vinci's Notebook | ] |
One assignment down, one to go. The second has barely been started, and I want to finish it before the weekend - I have other things that I really need to be doing this weekend. This could be a fun few days...
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| Whee... |
[May. 26th, 2009|01:39 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sunday Morning Coming Down, Johnny Cash | ] |
Home just before two AM, and we didn't even finish. It's a good thing it's due Wednesday.
I can has sleep tiem naow?
-Mmaster
EDIT: And then I forgot to disable my 7 o'clock alarm... *whines* |
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| Amusement! |
[May. 23rd, 2009|12:03 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | 29, Gin Blossoms | ] |
We're being encouraged to ask questions on UTS Online for clarification with the assignments.
This was a question Semps posted:
Going on from the content in some of the Lectures, namely Project Evaluation and Estimation, the two attached letters seem to indicate that we shouldn't be taking on this project.
The first letter from Chris to...er...Chris mentions that there are key dates for milstones that need to be adhered to, "require delivery at set times!" (i.e. Time boxing) and the tone of the internal memo with such phrases as "We can't afford to be out much in our calculations, as we need this contract." Seem to suggest political implications that we need to consider, something that is outlined as a problem in the lectures.
Further more, the memo also seems to be indicating that the price to win estimating technique is being used, "We will have to price our tender, with little or no margin based on your calculations" that has also been outlined as being an "Absolutely STUPID!" ( lecture slides not me :)) technique.
Should our project plan therfore be constructed as
1. Resign
2. Search Seek job adds
3. Apply for suitable advertised position
4. Organise interview
5. Start new job?
Obviously there will need to be some padding on step 4 to allow for reiteration.
Thanks
Andrew
And the response:
It comes down to what problem you are trying to solve.
If it's to get a degree, then you have to pass PMP and it's rather difficult to pass PMP without doing this assignment or a variation of it :-)
We try to make the assignment as interesting as possible. We realise it's not very realistic but we are catering for a variety of backgrounds / knowledge / experience. I've seen a PERT chart with 5 nodes and one where they had devised 374 nodes. Estimates range from about 1 week to about 6 person years. I've even seen a lovely chart where the students paid about $250 to have it printed and laminated at Kinkos. We've refined th eassignment over the years which is why some bits of it probably are in need of a bit more attention. I can promise you that in the real IT world you'll get offered many projects that are worse than this. Resigning and looking for a new job won't help you pay the bills.
We're not looking for perfect answers. We know they don't exist. We are looking for evidence that you've thought about what you're doing and can say why you've done it that way. We're hoping that you actually learn something that will be useful outside the academic environment.
We also hope you have fun with the assignment :-)
"Okay, the project sucks, but it could be worse!"
Sigh. :P.
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