Thursday, October 05, 2006

The chocolate cake at lunch today? Orgasmic.

Gosh, ever since the conference opened last night with a reception and poster session, it's been a blur. A awe-inspiring, sometimes-choked-with-admiration, inspiring blur.

I mean, I've been to two GHC's before, but because I finally have an idea of what I want to be, sessions are relevant instead of just "Huh, that's kinda cool!" surveys.

Last night, the crunchy chicken taquitoes and beer aside (of course, just mere observation of alcohol and it's spectacular effects on conversation fluidity) I talked with three poster presenters who will may have an effect on my immediate future.

1. AI and HCI: a PhD student from U of T fused my two prospective research interests into one!

2. Integrating role models and CS professions into first year courses: I walked away, stupidly grinning, with a simple solution to the whole "first-years don't know what CS is really about". Greg, you don't need all those CMPT 120 labs to be about programming, how about dedicating a portion to all the "soft stuff" you can't fit into lectures? Of course! The labs! Who woulda thunk? (you probably have already, so give it to me straight - why not?)

3. Erica from UBC had been carrying an indescript white tube around since Vancouver, and I finally found out the gold that was inside. Guess what! She works with chinese character layouts on cellphone keys, permuting the possibilities such that her layout is more efficient (using her scheme of cost calculation) than the varying layouts currently provided by cellphone manufacturers today.

Holy crap and the "So, You Want to be a CEO?" session? Rocked. Hard. They love doing the stuff I love. But they say they are also able to come home and be with their families, and not spend the whole night doing e-mail. It's actually possible. I'm gonna do it.

Also, I met two ladies today who have French minors and did study-abroad in France. Am I surrounded by me-clones?

Edit: Just listened to a Microsoft senoir researcher also did a study abroad in Paris. We're everywhere!

ghc2006

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Erika on winning the ACM Ugrad Poster award -- way to go!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Angelica. Wow you made a post with me and my project in it!!! I feel so honoured! And thanks Amanda!

Hope that you've enjoyed your trip. Keep in touch!