The Long Road

Archives: May 2004

Friday, May 28, 2004

Jobmine is the new webased app UW has implemented to replace our old Access system. Access was very deeply flawed. First was the terrible hierarchy of menu options that led nowhere, and this is still a part of Jobmine. I suspect that the layered structure is there because employers, students, and admin all use the same app and we're all given different and appropriate options to select from. It's nice that the app is dynamic enough to do this but it seriously would not hurt to hard code one single line that would safe us from clicking through 4 pages just to get to the content. There is already a lot of frustration when the servers are bogged down, but that is much worse when you have to navigate through slow loading pages that have no content.

Another complaint involves the fact that the system is not updated in real time and has to go through daily shutdowns to do so. It is aggravating to have to get all my job hunting and applying done before midnight. Sometimes, it would be nice to browse for jobs at 2am.

But those are old problems; new problems include the fact that after applying for a job you have to resubmit your search and go to the page of results you were at. Again, this leads to a lot of unecessary waiting and navigating. The server load would actually be lower if the app kept passing a string of all your search criteria to the non-search pages so that when you return, you'll end up where you had left off. Just passing this one variable would save anywhere from 1 to 6 pages of db querying and page generating and loading.

The positive thing about the Jobmine, and it's a huge positive, is that we no longer have to deal with paper resumes. Electronic submition of resumes is a significant improvement. There is no longer the need to spend 20-40$ a term on making photocopies nor the running around every second day to make those last minute resume drops at the co-op building, which included a lot of waiting in line and pushing your way through waves of people. Or having to deal with dropboxes so crammed of resumes that dozens were hanging out.

The ability to withdraw applications and the fact that you get applications back upon cancellations or rejection make the co-op process a lot more student friendly than it has been in the past. There's now no fear in "wasting" an application (we only get 24) for a job that you don't think you have a chance in getting.

Overall, I think the process is a lot better and friendlier but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. Why UW insists on using Peoplesoft software is beyond me.

Posted by Rayne @ 10:49 AM EST [Link] [4 comments]

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Some emotions can be safely exhibited at work, while some can not. Emotions which may be displayed at work should fall within an "acceptable range". While it can be perfectly acceptable and understandable to have a bad day every once in a while, it is not acceptable to let your emotions get in the way of how you deal with your clients and coworkers, especially in the service industry. Conflicts, no matter how heated and irrational should always be resolved without damaging a relationship.

Emotions can be contagious, and more so in extreme cases. An intense negative mood can affect others around you and not only lower your productivity but that of others by creating a sombre environment. Intense positive moods can also lower your productivity but they are less likely to result in a work place where everyone around you is on edge and also unproductive. Someone’s personal life, and the emotions raised from it, should not negatively infringe upon their professional one. However, the suppression of all emotions is excessive and unnecessary since most emotions will not get in the way of either work or “professionalism”. Positive emotions may even contribute to increased productivity and job satisfaction. A completely emotionless workplace would be both impossible to achieve and work in. Ironically, the extreme emotions which should be suppressed are also the most challenging to deal with. For example, the intense sadness that would be associated with the loss of a loved one would be nearly impossible to disguise in any environment; under such circumstances, employees would certainly interact differently with their coworkers and clients.

Although it seems strong-handed to force corporate culture and values onto those who are unfamiliar their ideals of service and behaviour, it is not unreasonable to expect employees to conform to the company’s values. Consumers in our society are used to being treated with respect and courtesy when dealing with any representative of an establishment; employees should be able to meet these standards or risk alienating the customers. All companies have a vested interest in how they are perceived by the public and employees are one of the most important contributors to their image. As such, workers should not let external factors interfere with their ability to do their job to their employer’s standards.

It is, however, questionable to manufacture a positive environment in which all employees are cheerful in a transparent effort to make the consumers leave with a sense of contentment. While the suppression of negative emotions is challenging in and of itself, it would require even more effort on the employee’s part to fake a cheerful demeanour on top of it. Such masquerades are obvious to most patrons and would be counter productive in fostering an upbeat atmosphere as they would leave the employee emotionally unstable and the patron questioning the sincerity of staff.

Posted by Rayne @ 10:52 PM EST [Link] [5 comments]

Saturday, May 15, 2004

The thing I value most on a web page is functional simplicity. Sure high-res pictures are nice to look at and add a lot of flair to a page, but they can be very distracting from the content as well as taking forever and a day to load. Flash is the same, the loading times are just not worth dealing. I've had friends visit this site who then asked "why aren't there any pictures", referring to geocity (my favorite web design whipping boy) style obtrusive backgrounds, and animated gifs up the bandwidth.

I'm all about simple, uncluttered elegance (although that sidebar's starting to get too big for its own good). Maybe it's a CS thing? Looking around at other CS'ers pages, it's obvious we all share the same design sensibilities; that or no one's aesthetically inclined (very possible). We've been trained to produce nice, clean, and efficient code and that probably filters to page layout and content as well.

So I've been working on a website for a friend's wedding. I'd like suggestions, criticisms, and praises. Please.

Posted by Rayne @ 04:36 PM EST [Link] [5 comments]

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Aesthetically, the DS is a huge step backwards for Nintendo. The GBA SP is one of the slickest, sexiest, pieces of hardware you can get, while the DS looks like a throwback to the old Tiger brand one-game handhelds.

The addition of a second screen is somewhat interesting. At the very least it will be a convenience to have lifebars and stats on the second screen while the main one remains uncluttered (much like the Gamecube-GBA dynamic in certain games), but that is hardly a good enough reason to have a whole new console. The fact that the second screen is touch sensitive does open up many possibilities but this is a case of hardware driving software and developers will have to be very creative to make use of the second screen in a practical and fun manner. When Nintendo introduced the analog stick and force feedback to consoles, their potential contribution to gaming were quite clear, the DS' second screen so far remains little more than an intriguing novelty.

The most interesting aspect of the DS will be its marketing. Nintendo's stance is that the new handheld will co-exist alongside the existing GBA and not replace it outright. The handheld market has historically only been able to support one system at a time, it is practically wishfull thinking on Nintendo's part to hope that it can achieve success with 2 systems concurrently as well as sufficiently differentiating the two so as to not confuse the marketplace. With the DS able to play GBA games as well as it's own content, it will no doubt eat away at some of the GBA's potential customers. Nintendo needs to announce that DS is officially the GBA's successor or risk splitting its consumer base in two.

More than anything, the DS seems like some random ideas thrown together in a half-hearted attempt on Nintendo's part to create some noise in order steal attention from Sony's pending PSP (basically a portable PS2, if Sony's 72-million-polygons-per-second hype can be believed).

Posted by Rayne @ 07:23 PM EST [Link] [19 comments]

Sunday, May 9, 2004

The ultimate goal of artificial intelligence seems to be recreation of the human mind. Rationalisation being that the human mind is the most complex and advanced one we know of and have a working model for.

I'm as yet undecided in which is more egotistical, thinking that the human mind is the only goal worth pursuing or that it is impossible to replicate. Someone once said that unless there is a physical law stating that something cannot be accomplished then science or nature will find a way to do it, and you really shouldn't not concur with that.

Plausibility aside, say that we were able to create a machine that functioned in every way like a human, but worked at the speed of a computer. With processing speeds doubling every 18 months, such a being would be able to evolve at the speed of technological advancement and would certainly not take long to surpass humans who are limited by nature's slow progress. In this regard, a technological being would be much closer to bacteria, able to evolve pass any obstacle well within a human's lifespan. Machines are made to do things better, faster, and more efficiently than people. To have a human like machine is, inevitably, to have a better human.

It is the height of conceit to believe that any sufficiently advanced robot (as vague a description as that is) would desire to be exactly like us. Fictional automatons are always depicted as exhibiting some misguided need to belong when they are clearly superior, their only "flaw" being a lack of some human trait. I don't see the need nor usefulness in trying to teach a program something as human as humour. The duplication of human behaviour in machines seems to be more of an end onto itself, a challenge to digitize something we can only vaguely understand, and a monument to our egos.

Posted by Rayne @ 02:32 PM EST [Link]

Thursday, May 6, 2004

I seem to find it very hard to correct someone who thinks they're absolutely right. There's a saying about idiots thinking they're always right, but I can't find the exact wording of it. In any case, this guy in karate class thinks he's the shit. He thinks he's got all the techniques down and that he's good at them when he clearly is not and everyone but him can tell that he isn't. The guy even presumes to correct ME! While it's true that he has the main idea of most techniques understood, his execution of them is very sorely lacking. When he has to throw a punch, he doens't so much throw a punch as put out a closed hand in front of him. It's very frustrating to watch, there's neither flow nor power in his movements, he sorta just goes through the motions while thinking to himself that he's good.

We were discussing the upcoming grading yesterday and all felt that we hadn't learnt enough yet to make it in time but this guy was all confident that he could take it and pass. The rest of us just sorta gave each other knowing looks. How can this guy not realise that he's terrible? I can easily picture him going up to some guy and saying "don't mess with me, I know karate" and get his ass handed to him in a matter of seconds.

He tried to teach one of the less experienced yellow belts the Mawashi Uke block yesterday but was doing it very incorrectly so I stood behind him in full view of his unwitting pupil doing the block correctly again and again. But when the pupil brought up that I was doing it differently the guy was like "yeah, don't listen to him, I'm right". So that no one gets any ideas, I know that I'm right because I get a lot of extra one-on-one training with a green belt, and this guy only goes to class and suddenly thinks that he's the Karate Kid.

New topic. Yesterday in the msci tutorial, we had to do some ice breaker activities. One of them was the thing where you have a name tag put on your back and you have to ask others questions to find out who's name is on your back. Instead of being a politician, celebrity, or sports star, I was Batman. Took me 4 questions. Muahahahaha!

Posted by Rayne @ 12:50 PM EST [Link]

Monday, May 3, 2004

If there is one emotion that characterizes last week, it is overwhelmingly guilt. There were 3 days of drinking, 4 nights of eating out, way too much money spent, and worst of all, a huge decline in physical activity. Due to the lack of students on campus during the last week of april, the facilities were closed early everyday at 6; much earlier than I even get off of work at. As I've mentioned before, not doing exercise for even a day makes me feel terrrible, it was much much worse not doing anything for the better part of a week.

I think guilt motivates me to work. On thursday, I ran outside for almost 4k causing much joint pain; also went to karate where we sparred the whole class. Now in addition to this term's cut lip, injured shoulder, sprained thumb, and littany of bruises I can add a black eye. Ah the pain! All is well once more.

There is an actual goal for all this exercise now (aside from looking good), dAN and I have formed tentative plans for biking from Ottawa to Montreal at the end of August. That's about 180km in a day. I seriously doubt that I'm in good enough shape to pull it off right now, but hopefully by the end of this term I'll have done enough cardio that I'll be able to handle it. It's most definately something I'm looking forward to doing after exams are done with.

Posted by Rayne @ 01:15 PM EST [Link] [15 comments]

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