2 posts tagged “computers”

I have been informed that Mac's ARE PCs as PC stands for Personal Computer and a Mac is a personal computer after all. I knew this but one must be precise. Said informant has also told me that any computer that is not a Mac is therefore a "!Mac" with the computer term for 'NOT' being a '!' symbol. Very funny.

According to wikipedia, PC's seem to be split into two categories. IBM compatible PC's and Non-IBM compatible PC's (Macs, etc).

I'm not going to remember to say IBM compatible PC's.. and as the School of Computing has "Mac labs" and "PC labs" then the little information filled birdie can deal with me saying it that way. :-p

LOL Bloody Geeks!

Ok, so it's been too long since I've written. I'd just like to start by saying this. I used to live in Westbury, which is a tiny incy wincy town of little significance unless you live there. It's rural and in the middle of rural Tasmania. There's various stories about bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc from most rural places in Tasmania. It's not the most pleasant place to live unless you're white, male, a farmer and your grandparents were born here. (Which is not to say Tasmania is evil or the like.. just parts of it are about 40 years behind the rest of the world). I hated it, it made me sick. I moved to Launceston, which is a city in the north of the state and somehow ended up by sheer luck in the middle of a neighbourhood full of uni students and migrants.

Today I realised you know you're in an ethnic neighbourhood when you walk by a neighbour's recycling bin and spot an empty 5kg bucket of Feta Cheese. Who cooks with feta anyway? And who the hell cooks with THAT much?? Geez..

Anyhoo..the Sony presentation went well. The guys from my team left me to do the talking (I wasn't complaining) and we had a good response. We all slipped back into our comfort zones at the afternoon tea and congregated in our respective groups, (i.e. students and everyone else). We were discussing how to break into the other group and we all noticed that the two reps from Japan had sat with Jacky Hartnett (the coolest of the Computing lecturers) and they were sitting at a table by themselves. We decided that "Hi! Would you give me a job?" wasn't the best way to approach the Deputy Senior General Manager of Sony Corp. This was about the time that I got bored so I just want and sat with them and looked interested in the conversation. The look on the other students faces was classic. The reps were lovely and we chatted for a while.

Oh and while we were waiting for the reps to arrive Robert borrowed my MP3 player and during the presentation one of the Sony reps picked it up, checked if it was one of theirs (it's not) and put it down like it was diseased.
Damn! But at least it looked like it was Robert's and not mine. :D

The graphics assignment. Well, I'm not talking about that. The assignment 2 specifications have been released today and I feel like crying.

I had a mini crisis this week. My software engineering team were bickering again, I had assignments coming out of my ears and I'd just had enough. People were at me to do this or that.. and why hadn't I finished this? Had I handed this in? Plus, more assignments piling up. I couldn't see where to start so I didn't. And that just made it all so much worse.

You see computers are not my passion, they're a means to an end. I don't code for the fun of it unlike some of my classmates. I don't get obscure programming concepts quickly unlike some my classmates. I don't retain stuff during lectures unlike some of my classmates. I don't do tests well (I flunked the Mobile & Ubiquitous Computing mid-semester test). I don't replace my operating system with some obscure, practically unsupported OS just for the fun of it. I don't know what the hell all the little tweaks are on Mac machines. I am a computing student because years ago my mother told me I needed a "meal ticket" and I decided computers pay best.

So this week I felt like I was being held under water, living someone else's life. Trying to fit into someone else's mould of what a computing student should be. Just trying to keep up with everyone. I wanted to curl up in bed under the covers and sleep until semester was over. Which, when I think about it, was a very cowardly and childish response.

So what did I do, I hear you ask? I finished what I could in the time I had left before certain deadlines and talked my way out of the rest. (That's one thing I am good at, talking my way out of things, liaising with clients, customer service, etc.) I only have about 6 weeks (exams inclusive) until it's all over. And then I'll be on holidays for the next 3 months.. guaranteed I'll be ready for my honours year and whinging that semester should be starting soon, as I said.. it was only a mini crisis.

So this week I have to make a start on 3 large programming assignments, keep up with my software engineering project work, design a website for my sister, go gyming, try not to knock down too much work.. I need the money. There was something else too but I forget what that is. No doubt I'll remember the night before I was supposed to have it done and will have to pull an all nighter.