I played Hockey on Thursday night, and man, what a night. My skating and stickhandling skills have improved so much in the last couple of months.

Unfortunately due to travel and due to ice being unavailable for a week after I got back, my stamina took a hit, so I haven't had the energy I had when I was playing 4 times a week in April and May. Regardless, when I have some energy out there, I'm having a lot of fun and doing more than I've ever been able to.

Thursday night was insane. I scored three goals, all of them nice. The first one was a quick one-timer wrist shot in the slot that went in five-hole.

The second goal, I swear I have never scored a nicer goal in my life and if I ever score one nicer I will have to pinch myself. I got the puck near centre-ice, picked the right defenseman (the one to my left, a very good player I might add), skated around him hard on the outside, cut hard right towards the net at the goal line, on my backhand (I shoot right), faked that I was going to go around the back of the net with the puck and then as I'm going behind the net I tuck the puck into the net just inside the post. I honestly could not believe what I had just done. My goalie at the other end of the ice was standing with his arms raised yelling, and the best player on our team (a younger guy with energy to burn and moves galore who played competitive hockey at a high level) had a huge smile on his face and said "man, that was beautiful!".

I didn't know where to go or what to say, I was speechless. So I went to the bench and sat down.

Later I scored a nice goal on a semi-breakaway, moved left but snapped the puck top-shelf right into the top-right corner of the net.

Three goals. I can still hardly believe that it happened. The real shame is that Cheryl and the kids weren't there to see it, and there's no video, so I'll just have to keep the memory alive in my head.

I love playing hockey.

Thread: 2 replies. reply Last updated: 2:23 PM

Countless times over the last 3 and a half years, when I've mentioned to someone that I returned to University, the conversation goes like this:

"So what are you doing nowadays?"

I went back to school in '04.

"Really, what are you taking?"

Computer Science.

"Nice. Getting your Masters degree then?"

Not yet, undergrad right now. I left university in my 2nd year, and ended up working for 10 years. So it was time to finish what I started.

"I totally understand, you gotta have that piece of paper."

... umm, actually, I went back to learn more Math and Computer Science theory so I can do cooler stuff. I don't care about the piece of paper.

(Confused stare)

Unfortunately, a B.Sc. in Computer Science doesn't mean much, unless you get it from a really great school like MIT. A lot of the nearly-graduating undergraduates I've met can barely program and are seriously scared of taking courses like Operating Systems, Compiler Construction, Programming Languages... basically anything that requires actual programming and thinking, especially if writing C (gasp!) is involved. That's not to say they're all like that, there are plenty of amazingly talented students too.

Check this out... (that is, if you know how to program and know a smidgen of Math)

Worse Than Failure: F'd Factorial

For those who aren't programmers, trust me, they were being polite when they even bothered asking the person the second question. How do those people graduate with a CS degree?

This is pretty much exactly why I'm not overly excited about getting "the piece of paper". There are enough boneheaded graduates like that one that being labeled a "CS graduate" isn't all that appealing.

So, what I'm getting out of the experience is the experience, the knowledge, the time to think, and the perspectives all of those things led to. It's been great.

Thread: 4 replies. reply Last updated: 4:43 PM

YouTube: Microsoft Surface Parody

This is pretty funny. It's easy to pick on technology like this, but when the price of this thing comes down to the price of a nice PC or TV, they will fly off the shelves. I want one, that's for sure!

Why can't Microsoft be as good at software as they are with hardware? Sigh.

Thread: 0 replies. reply Last updated: 11:09 PM