The Pencil Guy » uwa http://hourann.com Hourann’s illogical blog Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:46:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Valé, Mike http://hourann.com/blog/2009/10/23/vale-mike http://hourann.com/blog/2009/10/23/vale-mike#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:07:32 +0000 azza-bazoo http://hourann.com/?p=637 There are many reasons I’m grateful that Facebook returned the news feed to its former coolness today. But perhaps the most important is that it was how I learned about the passing of Mike Neville, who at UWA was the person most responsible for getting me working with computers at all.

I echo Alex’s thoughts — he was a great bloke who’ll be sorely missed, and he absolutely deserved more time. But with what time he had, he was a dedicated mentor to many, and I always valued his counsel; more management-ey types (for he was never really one of them) would’ve probably used platitudes like “change agent” and “thought leader”.

And he believed in technology’s power to be at once cool, and able to change the world. Even with something as small as the home page of Facebook.

]]> http://hourann.com/blog/2009/10/23/vale-mike/feed 2 End of uni, egad! http://hourann.com/blog/2006/11/05/end-of-uni-egad http://hourann.com/blog/2006/11/05/end-of-uni-egad#comments Sun, 05 Nov 2006 11:24:50 +0000 azza-bazoo http://hourann.com/blog/2006/11/05/end-of-uni-egad
  • Briefly: while I am happy with the verdict in the Saddam Hussein trial, I’d argue that capital punishment is hardly the best way to deal with him. I thought the idea was to create a climate of international justice, not one of revenge killings by the victors of war. Then again, the trial’s hardly been perfect overall.
  • Meanwhile, my first & last exam yesterday actually went better than I expected (which hopefully isn’t a bad sign?) and I’m going to miss the caffeine-fuelled cramming with my comrades in our corner of the Scholars’ Centre leading up to it.
  • So this means that … yikes! I have actually finished (both of) my degrees!
  • Somewhat fittingly, my exam (i.e. last ever activity at UWA) was in Engineering Lecture Theatre 1, the same room as my first ever lecture at UWA. I ended up sitting pretty close to where (I think) I was in that class, too. Oh how I miss the days of Maths 101 …
  • As for next steps? Over post-exam drinks at the Queens last night (rather than the uni tav, damned Saturday exams!), several of us decided that feminism, while generally awesome, needs refashioning within a broader social justice agenda and with a more modern PR stance that is better reflective of its wide ambit. Consider yourselves warned. Vive la révolution! ;-)
    • ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2006/11/05/end-of-uni-egad/feed 5     Finally! http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/27/finally http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/27/finally#comments Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:12:47 +0000 azza-bazoo http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/27/finally The first East Asia Summit: potential challenges to greater regional cooperation

    Six months, 13 116 words … and as of this afternoon, it’s all over.

    Today has been an insane day — frantic panic to finalise my referencing, followed by a minor crisis when printing, then an awesome afternoon at the End of Semester Show, and the first fun night out I’ve had in ages.

    I am now going to sleep. A lot. If you’re trying to contact me, don’t expect a prompt response :-)

    ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/27/finally/feed 4     Confirmation of my impending doom! http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/07/confirmation-of-my-impending-doom http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/07/confirmation-of-my-impending-doom#comments Sat, 07 Oct 2006 07:55:01 +0000 azza-bazoo http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/07/confirmation-of-my-impending-doom Of late, many people have asked me how my thesis is going, and my standard answer has been “behind schedule, but under control. I feel, however, that impending doom is not far away”.

    But thanks (or curses?) to Bernard, I now have confirmation that horror is upon me, in big red letters! I think this has tipped me over the edge and into the land of “completely terrified” …

    The Thesis Countdown Timer (for UWA engineers and politics students)

    ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/07/confirmation-of-my-impending-doom/feed 2     My Monday checklist http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/02/my-monday-checklist http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/02/my-monday-checklist#comments Mon, 02 Oct 2006 04:18:43 +0000 azza-bazoo http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/02/my-monday-checklist
  • Four thousand word essay written in two days: check.
    (Actually I should be more precise: four thousand words of dribbly and incoherent stream-of-consciousness ranting, check.)
  • Impressive Eagles win that I had to miss on account of said essay: check.
  • Remaining alive despite having had about 30% of my RDSI (recommended daily sleep intake), due to several factors including said essay: check.
  • Change of leadership in Japan that was supposed to confirm one of the points of my thesis, but has actually invalidated it: check.
  • Leaving previous employer on account of being generally overworked: check.
  • Confusing, horribly eventful, and altogether up-and-down birthday last week — from being surprised by Awesome Helen with cake, to being stressed over not completing stuff on my last afternoon at work, to catching up with other awesome people at lunch, to being forced out of the Social Sciences building by a fire alarm at 8.30 pm, to forgetting to do a bunch of crucial tasks, to ROFLing at Adam’s take on Monty Python: check.

    • Now with all that out of the way, I feel like I might actually get something done now!

    ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2006/10/02/my-monday-checklist/feed 3     Down with the old building! http://hourann.com/blog/2006/07/09/down-with-the-old-building http://hourann.com/blog/2006/07/09/down-with-the-old-building#comments Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:21:37 +0000 azza-bazoo http://pencilguy.dview.net/blog/2006/07/09/down-with-the-old-building I shall chalk up my lack of posting to suddenly falling ill in the last few days, and to my attempt at clawing back from a position of behind-schedule-ness (with, alas, only limited success). But while I’ve been at UWA all week, I did get a chance to pull out my camera, as a response to the constant crunching sounds of demolition equipment bringing down the old Chemistry building.

    The new chemistry building behind the half-demolished old one   Trails of rubble left by the demolition gear   It's 1.12 in a top floor lab

    The once-busy UWA chemistry entrance   Backhoe framed by trees and grass

    On the one hand, it’s kinda sad to see labs in which I spent so very many hours back in first-year reduced to rubble. On the other, I’m glad to see such an ugly building taken away from the campus … although I’d be far more glad if it hadn’t been replaced by an even uglier building.

    ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2006/07/09/down-with-the-old-building/feed 1     An eerie anniversary http://hourann.com/blog/2006/05/13/an-eerie-anniversary http://hourann.com/blog/2006/05/13/an-eerie-anniversary#comments Sat, 13 May 2006 07:04:16 +0000 azza-bazoo http://pencilguy.dview.net/blog/2006/05/13/an-eerie-anniversary Today is May 13, which means it’s exactly one year since the ‘black Friday’ city-wide gridlock caused by the water-main-onto-freeway incident.

    Yesterday, there was gridlock along Mounts Bay Road (near the hospital) just before 6pm, so it took half an hour to get from UWA to the Busport. On Wednesday, also around 6pm, there was congestion on Mounts Bay Road near the Swan brewery, again slowing my UWA — Perth journey to more than half an hour.

    Coincidence … or conspiracy?!

    ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2006/05/13/an-eerie-anniversary/feed 1     Small Miracle #4235 http://hourann.com/blog/2006/02/14/small-miracle-4235 http://hourann.com/blog/2006/02/14/small-miracle-4235#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2006 05:22:29 +0000 azza-bazoo http://pencilguy.dview.net/blog/2006/02/14/small-miracle-4235 I can’t believe I’m about to write this.

    Today, I was actually impressed by Transperth management.

    For months I’ve been getting mildly annoyed waiting at the Busport for the infrequent, often late services between Perth and UWA. (Buses are only frequent during semester, but people come on campus all the time.) Yesterday and today, they finally did something about it and got some guys who (I think) would have been running down Mounts Bay Road empty anyway to pick up everyone going to UWA. Woohoo!

    Meanwhile, it’s Valentine’s Day, Shannon Noll is on the office radio, and I still can’t get our Macs to reliably connect to Microsoft Active Directory. Grrrr.

    ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2006/02/14/small-miracle-4235/feed 0     Procrastination, yay! http://hourann.com/blog/2005/10/14/procrastination-yay http://hourann.com/blog/2005/10/14/procrastination-yay#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2005 07:40:00 +0000 azza-bazoo http://pencilguy.dview.net/blog.cgi/m05/procrastination.html Sitting in the library while I should be essay-writing, I’m presently feeling …

    • relieved that the essay-o-doom that I had due this morning is done ― twas slightly rushed but I think I gave the topic a reasonably thorough treatment. I must say, it’s rather cool to be doing a degree where I get to write essays about pictures of naked women ― and no, not that type of picture you dirty sod :-P
    • worried that there are two more essays-o-doom due in the next five days, particularly considering my progress is, um, not too great …
    • annoyed that the people sitting across from me (in the library, do recall) can’t stop talking to each other, right under a sign saying “silent study area”! Fair enough if you see someone and whisper to them for two minutes, but it’s been a bloody hour!
    • happy that in the space of thirty minutes today I randomly ran into three awesome people who I normally never see at uni, all in the library café.
    • freaked out (still) by the random stunt I witnessed yesterday: while I was at the main UWA bus stop at 6pm (the crowd waiting there was bigger than normal, not sure why), four guys wearing identical overalls pulled up their car onto the grass median of Stirling Hwy in front of us. They pulled out a jack and spare tyre as if they had a flat … but they didn’t. They started to jack up the car (on grass, so it rose all of 2cm) right after slowly stripping off their overalls to reveal bare chests & boxers. One of them took it all off and paraded nude along the median for a few minutes, then jumped back in the car and drove as the bus came. I am not making this up (honest!). What the?!
    ]]>     http://hourann.com/blog/2005/10/14/procrastination-yay/feed 4     Party photos and Nobel Prizes http://hourann.com/blog/2005/10/04/party-photos-and-nobel-prizes http://hourann.com/blog/2005/10/04/party-photos-and-nobel-prizes#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2005 15:07:00 +0000 azza-bazoo http://pencilguy.dview.net/blog.cgi/m05/party-photos-nobel-prizes.html Thanks to all who made it to my party last weekend and a thousand rabid monkeys to those who failed to come. (Actual rabid monkeys are optional, but only because of budget cuts, not any sort of kindness on my part.)

    Some of the hilarity that occurred is captured in these photographs taken by Cara, Daniel, and Korin, which you might like to peruse … well maybe.

    In other exciting news today, the dude who lectured me in Molecular Biology yesterday just won himself a Nobel Prize! This is the first Nobel to go to a UWA person (no longer can the unis of Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne claim exclusivity!) and indeed the first to go to West Australians, which I think says more about northern-hemisphere bias than anything else ;-)

    Sadly (but not surprisingly, considering past Aussie Nobel winners) all the major news sites ? even Aunty ? have dropped the story from their front pages already. Apparently bombs killing two dozen people are a bigger story.

    Better yet, Yahoo! News is listing this in their Oddly Enough section just cause they hadn’t heard the story that’s circulated round Perth for ages, that Barry Marshall ate some Helicobacter pylori when no one believed him that they caused stomach ulcers. Meh.

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