February went by in a blur … trip to London for birthday, Sven & Mandy returned from Japan and promptly hosted a Movie Day, then they were in my neck of the woods a few weeks later and we went to a Danny Michel show in Toronto. And throughout [...]]]> Oh website, how I’ve ignored thee.

February went by in a blur … trip to London for birthday, Sven & Mandy returned from Japan and promptly hosted a Movie Day, then they were in my neck of the woods a few weeks later and we went to a Danny Michel show in Toronto. And throughout the month, I was slowly gearing up to really get going on my Master’s research essay. Reviewing notes, realizing I didn’t have enough material, digging deeeper for more sources, trying to read through it all.

Outside of work, March was pretty much dedicated to researching & writing. Finished taking notes, organized said notes appropriately, then a couple of weeks for actual writing. Sounds simple enough, but I’m not a quick writer at the best of times. And really, weekends were far more productive: by the time I get home from work, make supper, eat it, clean up afterwards, + any other chores, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time. Especially since I’m not one to just jump right back into where I left off … have to get back into the rhythm, so to speak.

I finished it off during the first weekend of this month, pretty much sticking to the schedule I had set out for myself. It has since been officially signed off on by Profs Lawless and Thompson — they only had a couple of minor suggestions between them, besides catching some typos, so revisions weren’t much at all. The paper now appears as a credited milestone on my transcript, so the only thing left is for Prof Lawless to sign my degree completion form, then that’s it!

In other news, I’m not only a biostatistician by training, but now also in name. Yes, after much waiting on other things to fall into place I’m now full-time (as opposed to being on contract) at GSK. The official title is Biostatistician I, in the Global Biostatistics & Programming group.

So that’s a mini-update for now. Hopefully I can get around to other updates as well as general site improvements.

My multicolor pen. Anyone who has seen my notes from class will understand. I don’t have the neatest of handwriting, and [...]]]> It’s hard to believe that I have a mere five days of classes left. Ever. Over the past few weeks I’ve been making mental notes of the little things I’ll miss.

My multicolor pen. Anyone who has seen my notes from class will understand. I don’t have the neatest of handwriting, and years ago my note-reviewing consisted of deciphering monochromatic blobs of characters. But with a four-color pen and some diligence, my notes are a work of art. Blue: page titles, main text. Red: dates, page numbers, margin notes, underlines, example questions. Green: text for notes/theorems/etc, example solutions, figures and graphs. Black: subsection titles, note/theorem/etc titles. It’s a very involved system, which appears to be coming to an end.

I’m very particular about storing my notes: 2” D-ring binders. I can usually fit three courses worth comfortably in these, clearly marked, with orderly dividers for the sections within a class. I have a shelf for my stats notes, and one for applied math, both full. My stats ones might be handy to keep accessible for the time being, but as I’ve found over the past year, that’s not so much the case for AM.

Can you tell I’m anal?

As I complete my last set of assignments, will I have much opportunity to use LaTeX again?

When I started grad school, I rewarded myself with a new clipboard. In 5+ years of use, the one I picked up during Frosh week was looking pretty ratty. But I don’t see myself using one on a daily basis anymore.

I’ll miss not going to the Bomber, not watching football games where we inevitably get creamed.

Just as I’m comfortable getting around on the 6th floor of MC and orienting myself with the rest of campus while up there, that knowledge will fade from memory.

I’ve never printed anything on campus. I have a $40 allotment being a grad student; maybe I should find something frivolous to use it on.

The cheap food at the C & D will be fondly remembered. It was only in fourth year that I started frequenting there, and it didn’t take long for the selection to grow tiresome. I’ll give them credit that things have been much improved the past couple of terms. Better variety and quality.

I’m sure there was more, but I’m tired and will stop here.

I can’t believe how quickly these past couple of weeks have flown by. Sven and Mandy are now out in BC, hanging out for [...]]]> In the fine tradition of the pigeon-rat from The Simpsons, the janitor on Scrubs this week alluded to Leonard: half-kitten, half-monkey. Now where can I get me one of those?

I can’t believe how quickly these past couple of weeks have flown by. Sven and Mandy are now out in BC, hanging out for a bit before leaving for their teaching gig in Japan in a few days. Luckily we were able to get together beforehand. Last week Sven and I caught A Very Long Engagement at The Princess, where coincidentally enough his only other visit was to see another Audrey Tautou movie with me: Dirty Pretty Things. On the Friday night I went to Sven’s parents’ place with them, where we got in a final round of Mario Party 6 plus some other games.

The next day, Billie and Ryan came down from Ottawa to pick up a few things, so I mooched a ride with Sven that night and we went to London to visit with them. We (eventually) met up with them, Laura, and Deana at Laura’s place. Never rely on a girl’s schedule that involves a “quick” trip to the mall. We played some Trivial Pursuit (some sort of DVD version) before going to Billie’s mom place and breaking out Cranium (P-R-I-M-O edition … it’s a long story). Sven and I crashed there for the night. I got a ride back to Waterloo in the morning, but before Sven left town I made sure that he experienced at least one meal at Mel’s.

Once I got back to my place I watched an episode of Buffy (now onto season 4) before planning to take a nap and then getting down to some work. Well, I went to sleep at about 12:30 … and woke up a little over 6 hours later. I guess I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep the previous two nights.

Monday involved something of a field trip! I’ve spoken with one of my profs (Richard Cook, a great professor not to mention extremely helpful) a couple of times about job possibilities in the biostatistics field. He works regularly with the group from GlaxoSmithKline in Oakville, and since the pharmaceutical industry is high on my list of areas I’d like to work in, he invited me to a technical meeting he was attending there. I can’t talk about the content of the meeting, but it was very interesting. It was a good chance to get an in-person view of some of the problems they work on, as well as the organization of the biostats group. I spoke with a manager about some details of a coop position they have available, so I think I have a clearer picture of what would be in store for me in terms of starting out in the industry. Now if things were to work out with that coop job, it would alter the logistics of my graduation date; but experience seems to be the key and it would be an excellent opportunity and well worth technically delaying my graduation by a couple of terms. Well, we’ll see what happens. That’s just one possibility of many I’m looking at right now.

Of course there must be balance between work and fun. Putting aside thoughts of my career, I went to see House of Flying Daggers that night. The movie, and my first visit to the new Princess Twin, deserves a separate post.

I spent a lot of time this week getting myself organized in terms of school work. The end of the first month is a good time to review and summarize material, plus I want to be well positioned for the next round of assignments in the next week and a half. With job hunting and the research paper to worry about this term, I’d like to stay ahead of the game.