Exams are nearly Over......long update!

Well, my exams are now almost over. Had my third exam this afternoon and now my final exam is on the 25th of June. Bio-Informatics is left and frankly Im not too worried. My performance in the course so far has been very good and the course doesnt really interest me. When I first read the course description, I was expecting (and even looking forward to) pattern matching of different DNA chains and writing programs to facilitate this. Unfortunately the course hardly touches computer science topics. The only IT related work in the course involved accessing websites and databases in various genetic websites and using pattern matching programs ALREADY made to analyse results.

In otherwords, it may be interesting to biologists with little knowledge in computers but I cant say the same for IT people interested in Biology. The course deals with tremendous amounts of Biology data which, to someone like me is as alien as using simple Unix commands is to a Biologist. The course could have used a better balance of both IT and Biology content to facilitate the two different mind sets that are taking the course.

The other three subjects I took this session were Principles of Programming, Foundations of Computer Science and Engineering Project Management. Now, I know the first two sound pretty simple for someone in his 2nd last session but given my circumstances, I think it was a wise desicion.

Principles of Programming turned out to be quite a challenging course. I was warned by other students that the lecturer, Eric Martin, gives some crazy assignments. I was laughing like 'Hah, yeah yeah' back then.....but now Im laughing at my attitude back then. There were some tricky and challenging puzzle solving assignments right after a deceptively easy first assignment that totally got me off guard. I recovered with the third assignment and gave a relatively good performance in the final.

Foundations of Computer Science ended up being my biggest frustration. Dont let the name fool you. There is no programming in this course. This course is really Descrete Mathematics! and me close friends will fill you in on how I feel about Descrete Mathematics....but if you dont know me, I'll tell you now me and maths dont mix. If I had the choice and had I known better, I would never have gone towards Mathematics, but when I was young I was ignorant of many things. Heh....man I should have been a doctor.

My frustration with the subject lie with the new assessment system given the shorter 12 weeks sessions. There was only one mid-term and one final. midterm was 40% and final was 60%. Thats it, 2 assessment items (and both exams!) are supposed to tell the university how 'good' you are. I totally disagree with this structure as it really makes it a one shot deal and kills the 'teaching for the sake of parting knowledge' aspect of learning. Add to this the fact that the exam was just a duplicate of the practice exercise and you have no need to attend a single class. Infact, I KNOW someone who scored 92% while hardly attending any class!

The last subject, Project Management was.....fun. The course was handled by to female professors, one of them was a PhD. Though, for two project managers, the course was mismanaged alot in my opinion. There were so many frustrating instances where not only me, but many other students had no idea what we were supposed to be doing during our last hour tutorial portions of each class. This was due to the professors telling us looooong stories which many of us lost interest in or due to their lengths, were lost in their complexity, only for them to suddenly throw a question at us which required that we listened into the story....wouldnt it have been easier to tell us first that this loooong tale your about to throw at us IS what we are going to spend the next hour trying to solve? This and other pitfalls in the tutorial portion really hampered the experience and learning outcomes of each lecture and its sad as this tutorial portion was the most important part in terms of getting close to 'hands on' experience as a PM.

Whew! that was the course info for this session and now only ONE more session to go insha-Allah!

Now I'm in my room and I have Surah No 35 playing on my windows media player (Sheikh Shuriam is reciting). Listening to him always reminds me of my life back in Saudi Arabia. It also reminds me of my recent trip to Saudi Arabia and my Umra with my Mother in Febuary this year. In particular it reminds me of the cities of Makkah and Madinah and the holy feeling that fills one who enters the cities. It is true that one feels so close to God when in Makkah, especially when in or near to the Haram. This recitation of the Quran is one of the many 'suveniers' I picked up during my trip.

Now! on to some more important things! like entertainment! =P

I saw The Incredible Hulk and found it to be a good movie. It will inevtably end up being compared with Iron Man, Spiderman, and Batman Begins and isnt quite to their standards. Dont let that stop you from seeing the movie. It is action packed and filled with little treats and cameos that comic fans will really enjoy. It sets up the Hulk franchise like it should have been set up in the prior movie and now one can only wait for the inevatable sequel. (i seem to be using the word inevatable alot ever since Agent Smith nearly immortalized the word for me in the Matrix trilogy). Once the action starts, it's fast and true to the hulk material. In short, this movie deliveres as an action movie.

[SPOILER]
I also like how Marvel is now cleverly and slowly merging their different characters into one world. Iron man DOES appear in this movie and parts the same message that Nick Fury gave him at the end of Iron Man to General Thunderbolt. There is also the scene with Samuel Sterns being infected with Banners blood and his brain enlarging. Fans will regognize Samuel Sterns from the Hulk comics as his arch nemises, The Leader and his introduction was handled very well. Expect to see him in the sequel. Doc Sammson also makes an appearance, though he hasnt developed his powers yet. Doc Sammson is the super hero psychiatrist from the Marvel universe who was also infected by gamma rays if I remember correctly while helping to cure the Hulk. His inclusion as a temporary love interest and his appearance in one of the trailers as Banners Shrink hint to him having a bigger role in later films.

Finally, letting the Abomination live was a smart decision! Just like it was a good decision to let the Sandman live in Spiderman 3. Directors and Writers are slowly realizing that these villans have the same fan following as their hero counterparts and deserve more than just a one movie stand.

[END SPOILERS]

Anime News:
Still only catching the latest Bleach episodes these days. Its currently going through a filler arc, but I must say it is quite interesting for a filler arc. Way better than any Naruto has been able to cough up over the years. The characters are all well animated and I loved how they used the cool Bleach action theme music before big fights in this filler. This filler further attests how well and better Bleach has gotten over the years and how it has now totally outclassed Naruto which was its only competition.

After Reading the latest manga entries for Naruto and Bleach I can say Naruto is loosing steam on this front as well. The pace is really slowing down with way too many flashbacks and Jirrayas fate was hardly felt. Bleach on the other hand had another great volume as usual. The flashback episodes, interesting as they were, are now over for the time being and we are now back to the thick of the action, cant wait for the next volume!

Gamming News:
Yeah, so I have my Xbox 360 now. Ive played and ended GTA IV and I DO think the game is over rated...a little bit. Id still give it over a 9 but a 10/10 in my opinion isnt something one should give titles so easily (something that seems to be happeneing alot recently). When Legend of Zelda Orcania of Time got a 10, I thought it deserved it and after playing it I believe it did. The game changed Zelda and brought it into the realm of 3d for the first time and it was implemented near perfectly. It had one of the best combat systems Ive ever played in a 3D adventure game. It had this open world with day and night cycles and horse you can ride! it actually had you playing a kid first and then the older Link, the bosses were huge and nearly all memorable fights....it had so much more and deserved a 10 for giving something so fresh.

GTA IV on the other hand is a great game, nearly perfect for a GTA game but its more of the same. Its San Andreas 1.5 with a better shooting and covering mechanic and graphics. It doesnt really blow your mind like Zelda did back then. Maybe game developers should remember the good ole days of Golden Eye, Zelda, Soul Caliber before they think again of giving a game a 10, which really should be given to titles that stand the test of time. GTA IV will be forgotten once GTA V comes out....trust me.

E3 is around the corner (Early July I believe) and I cant wait to see what Microsoft have up their sleeve. Im a big JRPG fan and felt the original Xbox could have used alot more. It was for this reason alone that I bought the PS2 much later on. Now, we have Star Ocean 4 on the way, Last Remnant, Tales of Vesperia, Too Human, Fable 2, Spectral Force, and Infinite Undescovery. Thats 6 rpgs of which 5 are JRPG's this year and Im sure Ive missed a few in that short list.

Ive played and ended Halo 3 as well and thought the game was great. Ended the trilogy on a very good note and now one can only wait and see what MS and Peter Jackson are cooking up for the franchise. Ive yet to get my hands on Lost Odyssey but rest assured....it is only a matter of time.


I have once again written WAY too much, but given the exam alot has happened and I havent even scratched the surface!

This is Haris signing out.