Christmas Letter
I wrote this originally right at the end of Finals week. I did not quite finish it up and then forgot about it. So I wrote the last few sentences and decided to publish it now. Enjoy!
My sister, Suzanne, asked me to proofread her Christmas letter the other night, and it got me thinking maybe I should write something like that. I, however, do not write letters for which to mail to people. I barely even know how to mail a letter to someone. So what do I do instead? I throw it on my blog for everyone to read!
The year started out pretty calm for me. My spring semester consisted of five major courses of which my two computer science classes were projects. Needless to say, I did not do much other than hide in my room reading or working with a team in a computer lab. When I did have a little free time, I found myself playing Call of Duty 4 on the PS3. I managed to get a 4.0 gpa for the semester which was the first time since I had lost my 4.0 overall the year before.
The summer was spent living in an apartment in downtown Des Moines with Chris Tuvera, a lifelong friend of mine. He was working an internship as a programmer at the Casey's headquarters in Ankeny while I worked an internship with Principal Financial Group. I was still in Information Services just as the year before, but I was on the Web Infrastructure team this time. My cubicle was about three rows down from my one the summer before. The job turned out to be an absolute blast. My team was really laid back and liked to have fun. I spent most of the summer writing small Perl scripts to help administrate and manage the environment Principal's static content web developers work in. Congratulations to those who actually understood what that last sentence meant. As of this point in time, it is looking like I will spend next summer working with the same team. My time outside of work was spent playing more Call of Duty 4, going to Iowa Cubs baseball games, or hanging out at my sister, Sheri's house. I also finally invested in a pair of left-handed golf clubs so I could get in on that action. I had a lot of fun playing on a team in the annual Principal IS golf outing.
As the summer drew to an end, I went on vacation back to good ol' Okoboji, Iowa with my mother and Sheri's family. Jamie, Sheri's husband, and I got in a solid eighteen holes of golf where I managed to get my first par on a 280 yard par 4. Let me just say it was pretty. Jamie and I took Jake, my 2 year old nephew, mini-golfing several times at the resort. By the end of the week, he was actually starting to get the hang of it. I still remain the family mini-golf champion. We spent an eventful day fixing bike tires so we could go on a bike ride. Jamie and I also introduced Sierra, my 10-month or so old niece, and Jake to the Star Wars Trilogy. The kids loved it to the point Jake requested on his own to go as Yoda for Halloween. I suspect I am forgetting something that was highly exciting, but the latest school semester makes it easy to forget things.
After vacation, I settled into my new apartment in Cedar Falls for the fall semester. My roommates consisted of AJ, Bobby, and Jared. AJ has been my roommate since we were randomly placed together our freshman year of college. Bobby is another vocal education music major who was good friends with AJ. Jared was our fourth when we needed four people for the apartment. He had lived on the same floor as AJ and I in the dorms for a year as well as being a music major for part of the time. We all get along well even if Jared tends to hide in his room more than hangout in the living room with the rest of us.
We have had a couple parties, but most of our time has been spent with friends playing Rock Band on the PS3. Our goal is to have completely beat the multiplayer band tour by the end of finals week. Then I will buy Rock Band 2 for next semester. I also went to as many UNI home football games as I could when Sierra and Jake were not throwing killer birthday parties. The season was topped off with a semi-final playoff game versus the Richmond Spiders in the UNI-Dome which was televised by ESPN. Curt, Jessa, and I made signs and waited the couple hours it takes to get front row seats for the game. I assume everyone knows it ended in a 20-21 lost for the Panthers. I have yet to watch my entire recording of the game, but I know I was on television once in the third quarter as well as the very end. Apparently, ESPN decided I was the person to zoom in on after the game to symbolize as the disappointed face of the UNI Panthers. Perhaps topping off the fun for the semester were two rock concerts I attended. The first was a Nine Inch Nails concert in Cedar Rapids which Jame and I drove down for. We got some amazing seats in the third row, directly straight out from the stage. By not being on the floor, I got to enjoy all the AMAZING special effects without having to make sure the old man, Jamie, was not killed by the mosh pit. A couple weeks later, a group of my friends and I went to a concert in Waterloo which had appearances by State of Shock, Papa Roach, Seether, and Staind. See the link for details on it. The best part of all the last two weeks is that Jessa and I are now officially dating. It turns out that if you can find a girl willing to run around until 3am every night, you can wear her out enough to get a date with her!
My classes this semester have not been terrible. I am taking Databases, Networking, Programming Languages and Paradigms (otherwise known as PLP), English History to 1688, and Exploring the West: History Seminar. All the classes have taught some pretty cool stuff except perhaps databases which I knew going into it. PLP was probably the most rewarding. Not only did I learn a lot about programming languages, but I have gotten along really well with the professor, Dr. Wallingford. It is turning out my undergraduate research may fall along the lines of this class with the professor acting as my advisor. I managed to get A's in everything except English History in which I got a B. It was pretty much what I expected. All in all, 2008 turned out to be a pretty awesome year.
My sister, Suzanne, asked me to proofread her Christmas letter the other night, and it got me thinking maybe I should write something like that. I, however, do not write letters for which to mail to people. I barely even know how to mail a letter to someone. So what do I do instead? I throw it on my blog for everyone to read!
The year started out pretty calm for me. My spring semester consisted of five major courses of which my two computer science classes were projects. Needless to say, I did not do much other than hide in my room reading or working with a team in a computer lab. When I did have a little free time, I found myself playing Call of Duty 4 on the PS3. I managed to get a 4.0 gpa for the semester which was the first time since I had lost my 4.0 overall the year before.
The summer was spent living in an apartment in downtown Des Moines with Chris Tuvera, a lifelong friend of mine. He was working an internship as a programmer at the Casey's headquarters in Ankeny while I worked an internship with Principal Financial Group. I was still in Information Services just as the year before, but I was on the Web Infrastructure team this time. My cubicle was about three rows down from my one the summer before. The job turned out to be an absolute blast. My team was really laid back and liked to have fun. I spent most of the summer writing small Perl scripts to help administrate and manage the environment Principal's static content web developers work in. Congratulations to those who actually understood what that last sentence meant. As of this point in time, it is looking like I will spend next summer working with the same team. My time outside of work was spent playing more Call of Duty 4, going to Iowa Cubs baseball games, or hanging out at my sister, Sheri's house. I also finally invested in a pair of left-handed golf clubs so I could get in on that action. I had a lot of fun playing on a team in the annual Principal IS golf outing.
As the summer drew to an end, I went on vacation back to good ol' Okoboji, Iowa with my mother and Sheri's family. Jamie, Sheri's husband, and I got in a solid eighteen holes of golf where I managed to get my first par on a 280 yard par 4. Let me just say it was pretty. Jamie and I took Jake, my 2 year old nephew, mini-golfing several times at the resort. By the end of the week, he was actually starting to get the hang of it. I still remain the family mini-golf champion. We spent an eventful day fixing bike tires so we could go on a bike ride. Jamie and I also introduced Sierra, my 10-month or so old niece, and Jake to the Star Wars Trilogy. The kids loved it to the point Jake requested on his own to go as Yoda for Halloween. I suspect I am forgetting something that was highly exciting, but the latest school semester makes it easy to forget things.
After vacation, I settled into my new apartment in Cedar Falls for the fall semester. My roommates consisted of AJ, Bobby, and Jared. AJ has been my roommate since we were randomly placed together our freshman year of college. Bobby is another vocal education music major who was good friends with AJ. Jared was our fourth when we needed four people for the apartment. He had lived on the same floor as AJ and I in the dorms for a year as well as being a music major for part of the time. We all get along well even if Jared tends to hide in his room more than hangout in the living room with the rest of us.
We have had a couple parties, but most of our time has been spent with friends playing Rock Band on the PS3. Our goal is to have completely beat the multiplayer band tour by the end of finals week. Then I will buy Rock Band 2 for next semester. I also went to as many UNI home football games as I could when Sierra and Jake were not throwing killer birthday parties. The season was topped off with a semi-final playoff game versus the Richmond Spiders in the UNI-Dome which was televised by ESPN. Curt, Jessa, and I made signs and waited the couple hours it takes to get front row seats for the game. I assume everyone knows it ended in a 20-21 lost for the Panthers. I have yet to watch my entire recording of the game, but I know I was on television once in the third quarter as well as the very end. Apparently, ESPN decided I was the person to zoom in on after the game to symbolize as the disappointed face of the UNI Panthers. Perhaps topping off the fun for the semester were two rock concerts I attended. The first was a Nine Inch Nails concert in Cedar Rapids which Jame and I drove down for. We got some amazing seats in the third row, directly straight out from the stage. By not being on the floor, I got to enjoy all the AMAZING special effects without having to make sure the old man, Jamie, was not killed by the mosh pit. A couple weeks later, a group of my friends and I went to a concert in Waterloo which had appearances by State of Shock, Papa Roach, Seether, and Staind. See the link for details on it. The best part of all the last two weeks is that Jessa and I are now officially dating. It turns out that if you can find a girl willing to run around until 3am every night, you can wear her out enough to get a date with her!
My classes this semester have not been terrible. I am taking Databases, Networking, Programming Languages and Paradigms (otherwise known as PLP), English History to 1688, and Exploring the West: History Seminar. All the classes have taught some pretty cool stuff except perhaps databases which I knew going into it. PLP was probably the most rewarding. Not only did I learn a lot about programming languages, but I have gotten along really well with the professor, Dr. Wallingford. It is turning out my undergraduate research may fall along the lines of this class with the professor acting as my advisor. I managed to get A's in everything except English History in which I got a B. It was pretty much what I expected. All in all, 2008 turned out to be a pretty awesome year.
Labels: Miscellaneous
posted by Shawn Sparks at
8:47 PM
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