originally posted may 21, 2001

halfway home

Year two is over. It's been another wild ride, but I'm ready and raring to go for another two. As another side benefit, I get to enjoy three weeks at home before beginning my ten-week internship at Computer Associates's world headquarters in nearby Islandia, New York. Before going on to that, let's take a look back at some of the topics of interest this past academic year.

how can I help you?

In September 2000, I said good-bye to my friends at the Office of Admission, where I had worked for half a year as an office assistant. While it was fun to give tours and meet with prospective students, the endless shredding and filing made my work days pretty tedious. What's worse, the office was only open normal business hours. Seeing that I attend class most of the time during the business day, my time commitment was limited. I found myself coming late to some classes because of the tight schedule I made. I sent my resume out to an estimated 20-plus departments all over the school, looking for work. Eventually, I decided on working at the Language Learning Resource Center, a small computer and A/V lab run by the Modern Languages Department. Working at the University Center Information Desk came as an afterthought, since the coordinator asked me whether I could do a single Friday night (9:00 PM to midnight) shift once a week. Between the LLRC and the Information Desk, I would be working about 13 hours a week. Most of this time would be spent just sitting behind a desk, in front of an Internet-connected computer, with enough desk space to get some homework done. This arrangement worked well.

Things kicked into high gear in the Spring 2001 semester, as I expanded my desk hours to just over ten per week, along with 11 hours at the renamed "MLRC" (Modern Language Resource Center). While I had no problem with doing homework during my desk shifts at the low-traffic MLRC, I began to appreciate the frenetic pace of the Information Desk during peak shifts. My ability to take chains of phone calls, manage various paperwork, deal with bitter know-it-all customers, and handle the popular Virtual Cluster did not go unnoticed by the daytime office staff, either.

Working over 20 hours per week, in addition to a 54-unit schedule (one "unit" is defined as one hour per week of work, in or out of class), proved to be quite stressful during peak times. Seeing that doing homework at the Information Desk was nearly impossible during the day and early evening hours, I pulled many late nights. Fortunately, during some of the most stressful times, co-workers were able to fill in for me. Working with partners became difficult, as my busy schedule allowed for only a few free hours during most evenings. While I was able to get tasks done, there were times when burn-out looked imminent.

In some ways, working at the desk actually worked to reduce stress: it was a steady stream of queries to which I knew the answers almost immediately. Unruly patrons would give me an attitude, which would easily be settled by standard bureaucracy. Responses like "I'm not allowed to do that," "I don't care if that's how you've always done it; it's against the rules," and "You'll have to talk to (some other organization)" helped me to ward off abuse by bitter callers. It also gave me an idea about how best to deal with customer-service people, knowing at least in part about how they operate. Perhaps all this hyper-efficiency is just the start of workaholism, seeing that the Information Desk eventually would eclipse the MLRC as my part-time desk job.

This semester, after an overall enjoyable year, I decided to conclude my service at the MLRC and move on to being a Teaching Assistant. Next semester, I will take a few morning shifts at the Information Desk and hold office hours in afternoons and evenings. (Expect my schedule to be updated soon, so that I can be tracked more easily.) The idea is to concentrate desk work in the mornings, particularly weekend mornings, when I wouldn't be doing anything productive anyway.

As a nice footnote to working so many hours at so many desk jobs, I've forgotten how to answer my own telephone. Several times during the past few months, I've picked up a phone and not known whether to say "Good morning, language lab," "Information Desk, how can I help you?," or just "Hello." Although I sometimes stammered to get it right in Pittsburgh, only after I arrived back in New York did I actually answer the phone incorrectly. It was embarrassing, and perhaps a sign that I've been working a bit too hard over the past few months.

no one said it'd be easy

Only now will I admit that I had a certain ulterior motive for taking my new jobs: by working at a public desk, I could see and possibly meet more people. I wanted to meet more people outside my immediate, closed circle of Computer Science majors. Well, I got just slightly more than I bargained for in the fall of 2000.

For a year and a half, Carnegie Mellon has offered Language Online courses, designed to cater to students with too much time to attend a language course during the day. Seeing that language courses are not required for most majors, the concept of earning credit for work performed on-line is quite attractive to students at the nation's most wired school. The appeal stretches to other local colleges as well. Shortly after I began working a Tuesday evening shift in the fall of 2000, a student from a local all-girls college had cross-registered in a Language Online course. She came in after the weekly Tuesday evening meeting, and wanted to get some work done. I helped her out, she smiled, and said "I guess we'll be seeing more of each other" as she left.

Normally, I would be flipping out at this possibility, except for one minor fact. This woman was most definitely not for me. She was very flirtatious and very curious, but her personality could have been used to strip paint off of high-rise buildings. She was not, by any stretch of my vivid imagination, good looking. Yet she continued to hit on me throughout the semester, effectively asking me out in a roundabout way as I watched a Yankees playoff game on one of the lab's televisions. Fortunately, I was going home that weekend for mid-semester break, so I had an excuse. In fact, I either made an excuse or had someone cover my shift for every Tuesday that semester, until this woman didn't show up in the lab any more.

I don't know what's more tragic: that I finally found a woman who would disprove my previous position of "I'll date anything," or the irony that such a woman was not a student at Carnegie Mellon.

It's just the bitterness talking, ladies. Don't let this discourage you. :)

Elsewhere on the dating circuit, or lack thereof: Jessica, the Pitt student whom I met at a College Bowl tournament in December, is still happily dating a friend of mine. I'm not bitter about that -- I'll be up front about that much. However, our speaking terms have gone from wide open to tightly shut on a seemingly random progression. After arriving home in New York and unpacking my computer, I talked to her briefly. Her last message to me, timestamped 11:01 PM on May 12, reads "just so you know, I'm not talking to you any longer." At nine days and counting, this could be the start of yet another long trend.

Recent events, some of which were outlined in previous postings to this web site, have led me to appreciate the concept of "friendship" without any prospect of romantic interaction. That's something to live with as I head into year three, I guess.

close-quarters interaction

Last August, I was fortunate enough to gain placement into West Wing, arguably the nicest housing arrangement on campus. While the central location and air conditioning are attractive at first, my first year there wasn't without its problems. Drinking, within my suite and around the building, is rampant. Many of the upperclassmen living in West Wing are already 21, so there's not much that can be done to stop them. Of course, the under-21 crowd is empowered by this as well, as evidenced by overzealous celebration of events like Spring Carnival and the last day of classes. There is not much of a community among West Wing residents, as people rarely interact with others outside their suite. I didn't get to know some of my fellow residents until I met them in classes and clubs. We were both surprised to learn that we lived in the same building, and never noticed it.

There's a lot of "buts" about living in West Wing. Air conditioning is available, but the cold Pittsburgh climate means that it's only useful in the very beginning and very end of the school year. Laundry is available in the basement, but the machines are old, easily broken, and not often effective. There's an elevator available, but it is very slow and not worth the time unless something heavy or bulky needs to be transported. Cooking one's own meals is an important part of being independent, but (a) there isn't so much as a water fountain on any floor, and (b) the closest thing to a common kitchen is a miscalibrated stove shared among 300 people.

I could pick nits with West Wing for hours, but it remains the best living situation on campus in my opinion. My roommate, a fourth-year CS major, was very helpful in resolving issues I had with my computer. However, months of obsessive forum use made him come off as a bit assertive when it came to many issues, such as which operating system to use or which components to buy. Many of his comments were negative and retroactive ("You did/bought/installed THAT?") which led to some minor hostilities. My roommate didn't own a computer, so we both had to share mine. That wasn't too much of a problem, but sometimes I didn't feel comfortable with kicking someone off of my computer. My roommate and I had often polar-opposite sleep schedules, which was nice because we effectively had a single most of the time. Sometimes it became annoying when one of us was trying to work while the other slept, but we managed. Next year, I'm pulling in an entering-sophomore economics major who has his own computer and sleeps per a relatively normal schedule, so I should see a pretty drastic change in how we interact.

Being back at home, I'm back on a different schedule. I now sleep at least eight hours a day, I don't have to worry about taking my key-card with me if I go to the bathroom, and the food is free. My computer is once again on the Internet, sparing me the horrors of dial-up access. Along with the fun of cable modem access, there is 100-megabit connectivity with the two other computers in my home. Result: my brothers don't do their homework, but play Unreal Tournament with me all afternoon instead. I love being such a good influence.

class-by-class

Year two is over, and my optimistic projections for grades have for once come true. My GPA overall has risen 0.12/4.00 to settle at 3.48, although my in-major GPA is still slightly too low to mention here.

15-213: Introduction to Computer Systems

This will be quite possibly the most hacking-style course I'll take in computer science here. I don't mean "hacking" in any malicious sense here, but rather just the practice of whipping up code that serves a purpose rather than analyzing theory. This is the type of stuff I thrive on. Despite a little dip in grades on the last few labs, I managed to beat the minimum by a scant 0.9 percentage points for the A. Final grade: A.

21-125: Maple Lab

Simple enough. Final grade: A.

33-224: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe

In a sea of A's, this course proved to be the spoiler. After effectively missing one homework, I decided to meet with some more competent classmates to better learn the material. The extra help boosted my homework average, but I gave it all back after taking one look at the massive brick wall that was our final exam. Final grade: B.

80-242: Conflict and Dispute Resolution

I was very surprised at my final outcome in this class. The secret: participate, participate, participate. I probably haven't made any friends in this class, but friends alone don't determine performance. A late-night finals effort put an end to this humanities course once and for all. Final grade: A.

82-272: Intermediate Japanese II

Well, I never believed that Japanese would get so hard so fast. Working to the point of exhaustion on our final project, my partner and I produced a mid-day presentation that was the shortest and most sleep-inducing of any presented that day. Despite its lack of anime content, the presentation was well-received by the staff members present. Either that, or I succeeded in spite of the presentation. Final grade: A.

82-273: Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture

This course proved how capable I am of writing tons of information under pressure. Most of the typing for my 11-page final paper was done between 5:30 AM and noon on the day it was due, under conditions best described as outright panic. I never got to read the most-likely "colorful" comments in response to my presentation, but I think I'm better off just calling it a semester. Final grade: A.

Overall

At 3.83/4.00, I made the Dean's List for the first time in my university career. This also marks a rare occasion where my mid-semester GPA is exactly the same as the final GPA (astronomy and conflict resolution changed places in between). I'm very happy with the way things turned out, although I'm anything but eager to do it all over again.

what's to come

Here's a preview of what I'm looking forward to in the fall.

taking the '&' out of 'T&A'

So under some peer pressure and curiosity, I decided to become a TA next semester for 15-200, Data Structures. Data Structures is a CS course geared for non-majors (mostly business and science types) who have completed the introductory courses. This is the last CS course most of these people will take, so things are dumbed down a bit from the CS/Engineering majors course 15-211. It should be a fun experience to see all the stuff TA's have to put up with. Hopefully, it will also yield plenty of fun stories to tell as well.

moving right along

Two more CS classes: Databases (15-415) and Algorithms (15-451) make up my major curriculum next semester. Databases is more application-driven, while Algorithms will complete my core set of courses. Databases is my first course outside the core set.

Along with two major courses, two minor courses will be a part of my schedule. Advanced Japanese I meets only three times a week, once fewer than its four predecessors. Structure of the Japanese Language is taught in English, but analyzes the language in ways even Japanese people don't often explore. Hopefully this will last longer than my previous linguistics class experience. I dropped my last foray into the field, "Language and Thought" (80-181), after about three weeks.

what you say !!

My advisor wouldn't let me take three computer science or language courses in a semester, so I'm taking 57-117, Choral Ensemble for Non-Majors. I haven't sung anything in a choir since high school, so I'll be a bit rusty. The real hardship comes in August, when I have to actually audition for the course. At only six units, this course will be my lightest in the semester.

possibility

As always, I'm keeping alive the possibility of going to Japan next spring or summer. More on that as it develops.

Well, that's it for year two. I'll have Something to Do in two weeks time, but until then, it's back to doing a whole lot of nothing here at home. See you next month!

Back to May 2001, or to the year 2001.