Week 5: June 23rd - June 29th
Sunday:
I went to church with my family in the morning. We had a nice lunch, and then my dad took me back to the airport. Incidentally, the Atlanta airport is just a teeny bit busier than the Raleigh one. Bet you never would have guessed. It is way more complicated getting through security now, but at least I didn't get pulled aside for a random check. That would have been tedious. A short flight later I was back in Raleigh and Laura picked me up at the airport and filled me in on her horribly lonesome weekend without me ;-).
Monday:
Very interesting day. In the morning, Annie led a software engineering requirements reading group where they read and commented on a paper about creating a framework for security policy. There were a ton of people (over 15, I think), and it was a good discussion. It wasn't the liveliest discussion ever, but it was helpful to have people's comments immediately while reading the paper. People would read and then anyone could interject when they had a comment or objection. It took about 2 hours to read the whole thing. After lunch, Laura and I actually left for the rest of the day because we moved out of the house we've been staying in. No need to delve into the details, but Laurie graciously offered for us to stay in their basement, so we moved all day yesterday. Now we're in a much better living situation, so we're happy campers, to say the least.
Tuesday:
In the morning, we had our security discussion group, in which we talked about another chapter of the Building Secure Software book. I also made copies of the surveys I had done, and we read through them so everyone could comment and make suggestions. Everything that was said was helpful, and afterwards I talked to Laurie about it. She said that now I should write out an explanation of what information I hope to gain by asking each question, so we can have a clear understanding of what needs to be asked and what can be eliminated. So I get to work on that now. She also gave me a book on refactoring because she wants me to come up with some examples of some bad code that would need to be refactored that she can use for her classes. I also did some more editing of the paper that Nachi and Prashant are writing.
I played volleyball again, and this time, my team actually won several times :-). We played six games, and each team won three games. If we hadn't been so exhausted, we probably would have had a tie breaker, but I know I certainly had had enough after that much. I really enjoyed it though; they are always fun games, and I'm getting better.Wednesday:
I still don't have my computer, which is tragic. I did a lot of reading in the morning because I still wanted to finish the book on security in e-business. It's an interesting book and helpful for general knowledge. Kimberly (Laurie's daughter) brought sushi for lunch, and she shared a few pieces with me, which was quite enjoyable. After lunch, a group of seven of us got together to read Nachi and Prashant's paper out loud. The purpose was for us all to tear it apart, basically :-). Everyone had very good comments, and I can see how it's a very valuable process to go through. Tons of flaws are unearthed with that many people critiquing. The paper will improve vastly as a result of all the diverse input. It did take several hours, though, and we never did completely finish. It was very helpful for me to see what different people noticed about the paper. Now I have a much better idea of the necessary components of a technical paper (as opposed to English papers, which is what I usually write).
After a lovely dinner, I watched some more baseball. Having a TV is probably not good for me. I watch entirely too much baseball (if it can even be said that there is such a thing as too much baseball, which I doubt). My Braves are playing so well right now. I don't even have to fuss at them (much) when I'm watching. Laura is threatening to limit me to one game a week. I suggest she just learn to love it. I'm only ever able to watch the last three innings anyway. :-)Thursday:
I started reading through the refactoring book to get a feel for what the examples Laurie wants me to write will need to look like. For lunch, Nachi and Prashant took me to an Indian restaurant. I've never had Indian food before, and I really enjoyed it, but I won't even attempt to write the names of any of the stuff I ate :-). It was a buffet, and there's tons of stuff to choose from, so I tried everything and ate until I was stuffed. But they were both shocked at how little I ate. I tried to explain that I usually just eat a sandwich or a bagel for lunch. Nachi said that if that was all he ate for lunch, they'd have to carry him out; he'd have died of starvation. In the afternoon, I got my computer back!! So I got to install everything on there for the third time, and I finally updated my web page a bit.
Laura and I were nerds that night. We spent three hours going over the Computer Science GRE, and we aren't done yet. We are working through all of the problems, making sure that we completely understand how to do all of them. It's incredibly helpful working through it with her because thus far, she has known the ones I didn't, and vice versa. We only got through the first 25 questions (we're being very very thorough). Annie suggested that we do this when she found out we were both planning on working through it, and it looks like that was a really good idea.Friday:
It seems like everyone is gone already on vacation for the 4th of July (really only Laurie and Annie are gone, but that does seem like everyone). I worked on the justifications for the survey and read some more refactoring. I also had to pick up a book from the textiles library which ended up taking a million years. First they couldn't find the book, then I proved that it was supposed to be there, so they found it, then of course my ID wasn't in the system so I couldn't check it out, so they entered me in the system which of course took forever. In any case, they were very nice, so I'm not bitter at all, but it did take awhile.
We went to see The Bourne Identity. I thought it was ok, but it wasn't the greatest. When we got back, Laura and I worked some more on the GRE. There was a huge storm, and as we were working, lightning struck the house (or very close). It was too dark to fix anything, so we decided to wait until the morning. We were scared that it fried our computers (since they had both been on at the time), but fortunately they were both fine.Saturday:
It was a busy relaxing-day. Laura and I went to the pool as this is the last weekend I can work on my tan before Shawn's wedding. I'm glad too, because I'm tired of just sitting by the pool. They need pool chairs that are more accommodating for reading while you're laying out. My tan is decent, and that's all I needed. We had a really good dinner out and then went shopping for jeans (since I tore a hole in the knee of my favorite pair). I walked into the store, tried on one pair of jeans and then bought them. That has never happened before. Last time, I literally tried on 40 pairs until I found the one I liked. I was pleased. (We also each bought a pair of jeans at the Gap because they were on sale for $10 - I love sales). Then we went home and trudged through some more of the GRE. We are being very very thorough.
Note: It has come to my attention that Laura made a comment in her journal about being glad the cable was out because that means she doesn't have to watch baseball anymore. I would like to point out that a.) I only ever watch a few innings anyway, b.) I have only been able to watch this past week (which isn't much when you consider a whole summer), c.) she doesn't have to watch, and d.) as I am such a good friend, I would never express pleasure if my dear friend Laura was suddenly deprived of something that she loved. But I guess that's just the kind of person I am. It's too bad Laura is just unable to reciprocate.
But I have confidence that even Laura will become a baseball fan by the end of the summer. Good taste takes time to cultivate. Or something like that.