I’m finished with my Senior Seminar class. I had to give a twenty or so minute presentation to the class on a topic of my choosing that is somehow related to my major. I chose to give a presentation on Next Generation Networking which consists of a set of technologies ( VoIP, SIP & IMS ) that some telecom providers are migrating to. You can find out more about it from Wikipedia and the general internet.

The important part is that I got an “A” for the course. I now just need to get four more “A”s and I’ll be satisfied.

• Awesome Song of the Moment: Fatboy Slim - Bird of Prey

I have definitely been enjoying Hollywood’s recent endeavour to intentionally put out movies with very thin plots. They don’t try and convince themselves or their audience that the movie is anything more than 90 minutes of blowing stuff up. I like being able to go to a theater and completely veg out for a little while watching bullets fly and bombs explode.

In terms of veg-factor Smokin’ Aces was up there. The plot was effectively crap, but it wasn’t marketed as being “deep”. The star-studded cast was all right. I like the fact that Common had a role which I think suited his persona extremely well. Alicia Keys however needs to stay away from Hollywood and get back behind a piano in some New York lounge. It didn’t try to take itself to seriously so it was exceedingly humorous. Overall, it was a good time.
A movie that I saw when it was still in the theaters, that was a plotless manfest, was Crank. Considering that there was essentially no plot at all, it was an awesome movie with exception of the ending. I can suspend disbelief only so far before I just get annoyed. I found it somewhat odd that they used Google Maps as scene transitions. I can see that they were trying to be “topical”, but I felt that it was completely unnecessary to toss the Google logo in the corner like they did. Aside from those little annoyances, it was a total veg-out film.

Disclaimer: I don’t just watch veg-out movies. I like movies with deep emotional content. Requiem for a Dream & American Psycho are some of my favorite movies.

Till next time…

• Awesome Song of the Moment: The Roots - Star

It was brought to the forefront of my attention recently that I have only three months left until I’ve graduated. While the complete weight of the situation hasn’t yet hit me, I’m definately feeling some of the pressure that comes along with being finished. I have to go out and get a real job now. I’ve been working on my resume for about a week now. I had gone to Northeastern’s career services and I received some suggestions about what I can change. I’m still a little concerned that it isn’t quite “there” yet though. During co-op, the employers were fairly relaxed in their resume guidelines. I’ll be in the real talent pool now. I do however have an excellent network of people that I can talk to who can critique my resume for me. I’m hoping to start getting the resume out by next week.

• Awesome Song of the Moment: Nas - Hip Hop is Dead

So how about this whole issue with the no liquid carry-ons(in the context of aircraft)? It’s a little crazy. They just think they are trying to make explosives, but really they are plotting to contaminate our bodily fluids!

Is there anyone (since I only think Jay reads this I think this is pretty much directed towards you) who would be interested in competing in Imagine Cup 2007? Last year, me and two friends made it to the semi-finals in Redmond, WA and it was great. I want to get much farther this time. They are holding the finals in Korea this year and I want to be there! If you are interested or you want more information just email me: stephen -at- touqen.com

Later

I walk away from my email for five or so days and I end up with 400+ spam messages. Tsk.

So a bolt that connected the sway bar in my car to the right lower control arm is no longer where it should be. Now the car leans to the front right rather wickedly when I turn left. The right side of my car has been having some serious issues. The turn signal housing is cracked and full of water, so I don’t have a front right turn signal. The sway bar isn’t connected anymore and the rear right tail light is missing. Oh what joy.

Hey,

Is anyone down with seeing “The Magnicificent Seven” on July 14th for free down at the Boston Harbor Hotel?

I’m sure my friend Jay would enjoy this, though he probably already knows about it. There is this awesome site that I came across called TV In japan. It has clips from some of the tv shows and commercials that are shown on Japanese television. They are quite interesting. It’s a stark departure from the crap they often show on tv here in the states.

Also, I’d like to gauge anyone’s interest in going to the MFA next week or the week after. They seem to be having an exhibition about Japanese Art from 1860-1940.

Hmm… It also seems that Seu Jorge is playing a show at the Museum, but it’s sold out. That’s a little upsetting. I wish I had known about it sooner. Perhaps I’ll have better fortune next time.

So It is finally summer-ish type weather here in the Boston area. The weeks of rain have finally given way to just several days of consecutive rain interspersed with absolutely beautiful summer days. So it has come time to come up with some summer plans — What should I do with all the time that I now have available ( I’ve quite my part time job )? I have a few ideas that I’d like to act on.

1. I really want to learn to go sailing. Now that I’ve learned how to swim reasonably well I want to go and finally hit the old charles river.
2. I want to get a bike and go riding. There are a lot of trails and quite backroads in northern Mass. and New Hampshire that I’d like to explore.
3. I’d like to play more raquet sports. I have both a tennis racquet ( which I’ve never used and that upsets me) and a racquetball racquet (which has gone underused these past few months).
4. I want to take in all the sights and sounds of Boston at night. In the 4 years (nearly 5) that I’ve been in the area I haven’t fully taken advantage of all the resources that are offered by the City. There are movies down by the waterfront, and the museums, and jazz shows at Ryles and Scullers. There are many many other events that I have yet to even discover their existence of.
5. I want to visit New York. I’ve driven through New York an innumerable number of times, but I have yet to actually visit the city. I’m planning on taking a weekend and just going down there this summer.

I hope for this summer to be one of my best. And I’m always looking for activity partners so hit me up if you want to do something. I’ll almost always be down.

“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
– Dame Edith Wharton