ScottMcLeod.com

With exams finished, I have now completed my undergraduate degree and am officially an engineer. Most, but not all, of my marks are in, so I don't think stating the above is too much of a gamble.

From September 2001 to April 2006, I have pursued a degree in Computer Engineering. It's cliche, but those five years have passed awfully fast. The early years are fading fast, but many projects, labs and outings from that period are still quite vivid in my mind.

Describing my entire five years requires more thought and space than I'm willing to devote. Obviously I hope my experiences and the friends I've made stay with me for a long time.

My future was entirely up in the air as recently as two months ago, but I have some good news to report on that front. This summer, I'll be returning to a former co-op employee. I enjoyed the work I received while there and the people I worked with, so I'm looking forward to going back.

And this fall, I'll be attending the University of Toronto to pursue a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering. When I chose to apply to grad schools, I was apprehensive about my chances of admission. But my apps went well and, after weighing a choice of a few schools, I know I made the right choice to attend UT.

I'd gladly take off the entire summer to travel, do Europe, maybe go back to Bermuda, but reality bites. Car payments and insurance, exempli gratia. I hope to do a week or two of Europe at the end of the summer, finances permitting.

In store for me this summer: a few running events (10km, maybe a half-marathon), convocation, a conference where myself and three others will be presenting a research paper, and enjoying the many cultural excursions Toronto in the summer can offer.

I'm still alive.

Since the last update, of the things I can remember off-hand:

• Aug, '05: had a good vacation in Ottawa; saw and learned much


• Aug - Dec, '05: had a great work term working for a tech startup in the Toronto area. Made the most of my time in the big city; checked out all of its attractions that interested me


• Oct, '05: ran in the Oktoberfest 10km run, placing ~80 of ~600 with a time of 43:40 in my first competitive race


• Dec, '05: entered a tennis doubles tournament with my pops and finished as finalists, only losing in the final


• Dec, '05: enjoyed the holidays back home with my family


• Jan, '06: began my final (!) academic term of university; with 5 challenging courses and 5 substantial projects, the term has left me with quite the workload


• Feb, '06: received my iron ring, the uniquely-Canadian symbol of a qualified and obligated engineer; I plan to wear it with pride (until I lose it)


• Future: grad school applications in progress, full-time applications in progress (read: I don't know yet!)

My feet!

Oh my feet are killing me after a full day spent walking around the city. I'll have more to say about what we did on our first full day here in a later post.

On Tuesday night, our first here, we checked out a bit of the downtown scene and watched the Sound and Light Show, a slideshow presentation that projects Canadian-themed images and video with accompanying dialogue directly onto the Centre Block building. Pretty cool idea. We grabbed dinner at D'Arcy McGee's, an (obviously) Irish pub. What makes this one different from every other British/Irish pub is that it was actually designed and built in Ireland before being shipped to Ottawa. The decor and atmosphere did seem pretty authentic, although having never been to Ireland I can only guess what that may be.

Another full day of museums (read: walking) awaits us today followed by a dinner in Ottawa's ByWard Market.

I wrote my last exam this morning. As is the norm for our class, it was interrupted by a fire alarm (it happened in three of our finals in 3A). Someone in our class either (a) never gets enough studying in and wants a few minutes more, or (b) is simply a jackass.

Regardless, the term is over. It was a tough term, but that was due to an increased amount of responsibility I took on outside of my courses. I could ramble on about the term but don't feel like it and I know no one wants to read about it.

I did have 3 shitty things happen to me over a stretch of 3 days. On a Wednesday in July I woke up to find that my nice Sony car stereo had been stolen. Either the bastard picked the lock or I left a door unlocked. At least the window wasn't smashed in; the only artifacts are some dangling wires and a gaping hole where it used to sit.

The next day I received an email from my potential landlord telling me that, out of the blue, he decided to sell his house and move halfway across Toronto. Oh, but I was welcome to move in with him, his wife, young child, and visiting parents in the new house. It's just too bad it would have quadrupled my distance to work. Please.

And then that Friday after class I returned to where I had locked my bike to find it gone. In a possible warning sign that I blatantly ignored, there was a cut lock identical to mine lying on the ground next to the rack. I noticed it but locked my bike up anyway. But wait, there's a positive to this story! He left me my helmet, which I locked to the bike. What a final, suffocating kick to the nuts.

I had a depressing walk home that Friday evening. But whatever. $200 bucks out of my pocket and it never happened, right?

I'm off to Ottawa tomorrow for a vacation where I plan to immerse myself in culture before beginning work on the 15th. The 6-hour drive should prove to be a little dull with no tunes, but that's what talking is for!

I must be doing something right.

Friday at work I found out I've been given an office for the remaining three weeks of my work term. Someone came by to move my stuff from my old cubicle to new office Friday afternoon. The office certainly affords more privacy and space than my cube but more importantly lends me an air of status I didn't previously have.

Err...I'll level with you: I was moved because a new full-timer started today and he wasn't about to be given an office. Sets bad precedent, ya know? So they gave it to a co-op instead. I'm not sure if that's better but I'm not complaining.