Harley Update v. 2006.03.25

It seems that I have been feeling the need to blog again. Sooooo, here we go... Let's cover the basics...

Last weekend I was at CSCBC 2006, and it was quite an experience. I'd never been to Kingston before, and my knowledge of Queen's was indeed quite limited. There were a lot of interesting presentations and keynotes, most notably Dr. Randy Ellis' presentation on computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery. In fact, I recommend checking out his work, or at the very least a video of some of the incredibly cool stuff he has been working on. I was blown away by the kind of work they're doing, and while it's not necessarily the kind of thing I would be working on, it was incredibly fascinating to hear about it from such a leading player in the field.

More so than the presentations, I found it was a great opportunity to meet some great new people, both those from Queen's (especially the organisers, all of whom did a fantastic job) and those from other universities across Canada. It's a nice feeling to get to go drinking with a ton of Canadians from across the country. I never thought I'd wind up dancing, though, but there's photographic evidence to prove it. ;)

While there, I had a sick roommate, which is a shame because he never got to present his poster while there, but the worst part about it is that I think I got sick from him, because from my first Monday right up until yesterday (Friday) I have been sick as a dog. Never before have I had such terrible, pounding headaches, nausea and general feelings of bleah. Not a very happy camper at all. But I'm finally feeling better, just in time for Skrud's birthday party at Ye Olde Orchard. Pub food for all! Then tomorrow night it's off to Hurley's to hear my monthly Irish storytelling... I should post about that sometime... That'll be next. :D

Now Playing: Rammstein - Benzin (I really need to get a better feel of this new album...)
Now Reading: My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist - Mark Leyner (This is one bizarre book, that's all I can say!)

Deep Space Nine

I've gotta be honest. I was not a Star Trek fan until Voyager was off the air. Luckily, my stepfather purchased (over the course of two or three years) all of TNG and Voyager. I watched it all, enjoying everything quite a lot. I've become a big Star Trek fanboy.

The one series I had never watched at all, though, was Deep Space Nine. I'd always heard most Star Trek fans bashing it, and my stepfather wouldn't even buy it. So, a while back I opted to buy the Chinese release off of eBay, but I got screwed over by a Shanghainese scam artist who took my money and never sent me my DS9. It took a good deal of time getting pissed off at eBay to learn that they wouldn't get me my money back. Visa, however, was much more accommodating and got me all the money back, with no $20 fee like eBay has.

In the end, I acquired the whole series elsewhere *cough*torr*cough*ents*cough* and have been watching like a demon. Quite a lot of fun. I am enjoying it much more than I expected to.

I like the characters, I like the way it's grittier than the polished, clean-cut TNG. While Voyager toed the line, DS9 has a much rawer sort of feel. I'm quite happy with it. Though it will never hold as special a place in my heart as good ol' TNG.