I'm not dead

(The title is not a reference to Pink's album of the same name. That said, she's all right.)

So! First post of 2007 and it's already more than 1/12 over. I guess a ton has happened since I've been back on campus. Some good, some bad, but either way I'll just be putting my head down and powering through, one way or another:

- Courses are 'interesting'. Some classes are genuinely so, others...not so much. E.g. Quantum is great. Math 301...horrid. etc. etc. I guess it averages out to a tolerable level nonetheless.

- Participated in WEC again this year, and it was hosted here in town...came third in Communications, which I'm decently happy with. It means I'm not going to CEC again this year, which I'm also fine with -- it's in Saskatoon, and on the other hand I'm also insanely busy with other things...

- Project Lab! So, as a 4th year fizzer I'm working on my first of two senior projects. Right now I'm working with the ECE department here on campus to characterize the frequency response of a new kind of diode laser. The project itself is interesting, but very esoteric (we were able to fill 4 minutes of a presentation merely by defining the terms in the project title)...so I won't really go into detail here.

- Speaking of lasers and optics -- I'm going to the first annual optETH winter school on optics! Best part: It's a free trip to Switzerland! I didn't think that I'd be headed back so soon...but awesome!

- Onto music: In a week I'll be performing with Shannon in the annual Physics department concert! We'll be playing Schubert's Fantasy in F minor for piano four hands...I'm really excited. Last year's social night duet debut was lots of fun (if somewhat sloppy), and hopefully this time around it will go well!

- I'm playing with the UBC Jazz Ensemble again. Lots of fun, and the pieces are nice and challenging. Had a first concert this week, which went decently well...

- This year I am also putting together and directing the pit band for the Gage/Fairview musical. It's proved somewhat of a challenge, especially to find wind players...but hopefully things will work out okay. I've got to get the music out to the band before reading week!

Anyway, this was just intended to be a quick update on what's happening right now, and to assure those 1 or 2 people who do read this thing that I haven't quite gone postal yet...maybe more later.