Perhaps its time to change the title of my blog once again; it started out as Chris' Almost-Daily Updates, has now moved to Chris' Weekly Updates, and is probably more accurately described now as Chris' Monthly Updates. But I digress.
I've officially gotten back into my busy mode of living. I'm constantly switching tasks, but only occasionally do those tasks include taking the dog for a walk or to the dog park, or playing computer games, or cleaning the house. Mostly my time is being occupied by homework and job searching.
Homework this semester has taken the rhythm of focusing on one project for one class for a few days solid, turning that in, then focusing on something different. It's a little hectic doing this because it constantly feels like I'm working on things at the last minute. I'm probably still spending an appropriate amount of time on each assignment, but its always close to the deadline. Senior project has been going well so far; I really did find a great team. The five of us have been consistently working together, communicating well, and hitting deadlines. We're at somewhat different skill levels, but we've been specializing to compensate. We have one guy who's been focusing on the WebGL pieces, which is nearly incomprehensible to the rest of us. I'm sure we'll all get better at it, but I imagine he'll really be the expert by the time we're finished. I've been taking on pieces that make us more efficient and effective as a team; I've been writing documentation for the version control system we're using, and I'm currently setting up our testing and deployment automation.
As for the job hunt, I've been searching for a job to step into once I graduate in May. I spent about two weeks straight in a business suit. A few weeks ago was the Fall Career Fair here at CU, and I met many employers there. I've had a few on-campus screening interviews, as well as a couple of on-site technical interviews. In fact, last Thursday I got to fly out to Boise, Idaho for an on-site interview with Clearwater Analytics. They are a company that specializes in financial analytics for corporations. In particular, many of their clients are technology companies. I think I did pretty well in the interviews there, but I'm still waiting to hear back from them. While I was in Boise, I took some pictures of the downtown area; you can check them out here. I've also been looking for part-time work here in Colorado, so hopefully something there will pan out soon.
One last bit worth mentioning. A couple of weeks ago, I got my GI Bill tuition money. Since my university bill had already been mostly paid off with grants, I went on a bit of a shopping spree. Last week, I decided that it was time to invest in an e-book reader. Since Ashley and my friends have already done their research and bought the same device, I followed suit and got the Barnes and Noble nook. It reads the majority of e-book formats available today, and many books can be "loaned" to friends who also have the nook; they get the ability to read that title for 2 weeks, while you're locked out of reading it. It was great for the airports last week, and I suspect I'll get a lot more use out of it.
My second big purchase was Friday night. Long story short, I decided it was time to break my old prejudices and buy a Mac. I've been using a combination of Windows and Linux for years, so this was a bit of a stretch for me. I ended up buying the absolute cheapest Mac laptop I could find, a 13" MacBook. So far I'm pretty impressed. It does everything I need it to do, which prevents me from carrying both my netbook for taking notes and my monstrous 17" HP gaming laptop for working on 3D programs in senior project. I'm still not a total convert, but I am really glad I bought a Mac, and I'm getting more comfortable with the OS, the multi-touch gestures and the keyboard shortcuts. I'm now firmly convinced that Macs are useful even to people who aren't pretentious snobs with goatees, aspiring to be independent film screenwriters (though I haven't really thought that way in a long time).
P.S. Along those lines, check out the MacBook Wheel as reported by The Onion. "I'll buy almost anything if it's shiny and made by Apple."
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