Make schedule from syllabus - a rough estimate of what we did last time.

Two spreadsheets - week

day

topic

subtopics

labs, homework, projects

Note to self: We really need to keep better notes about teaching. I'll have an expected schedule, actual schedule and comments.

If it wasn't obvious by now, the SFiles mailing list is pretty dead. I'll be merging those into my planner archive Really Soon. =)

So, Dominique Cimafranca, rest assured that the messages in the SFiles archives - and this website - are meant for public consumption. If you're into browsing through other people's mail, might I recommend Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock? ;)

Cross-reference: CurriculumReview#2

On the wear-hard mailing list, uberborg Doug Sutherland mentions

Developing Voice-only Applications in the Absence of Speech Recognition Technology
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/savoir/pubs/savoir.html

and

Caiviar is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System based on CAPI. It runs on Linux and Windows systems, and supports Text-To-Speech (most notably Realspeak and Festival), multithreading, Barge In, 3 Party Conference, G3 Fax etc. It has a very simple interface, allowing fast creation of Telephony applications, like e.g. Voiceboxes, Authentication systems, automatic Callcenters etc. Languages supported include Java, C++ and Perl. The source code for Caiviar is freely available.

http://www.quiss.org/caiviar/

TTS+Caiviar HOWTO http://www.quiss.org/caiviar/TTS-Caiviar-HOWTO

On the Compsat2003 Yahoogroups, Cha Gascon has this extremely wonderful post:

A Call for Applicants

The department chair of DISCS, Dr. Mercedes "Didith" T. Rodrigo, is seeking for an undergraduate student, preferably not a senior, who is willing to dedicate his/her time and effort to undertake a designated task. That is, to search for wearable computing gadgets, paraphernalia and related technologies here in the Philippines and abroad (something like the wearable computer gadgets that Sacha Chua has, featured in the poster of "Reboot" Compsat Launch Party), which may have relevance in computer science, technologies that may be of use with the department and the students and has potential for further research and development. This is an official position in the department.

Must have the following:

- internet access (to research wearable technologies online)

- know-how in online ordering / purchasing of computer gadgets

- compare prices, recommend products and technologies

- willing to compile reports, price comparisons and summaries

- willing to do extensive canvassing of wearable gadgets and

technologies, where and how they could be bought here in the Philippines and abroad

- willing to go shopping!!

The chosen one will receive a salary from the department however the exact price wasn't disclosed to us.

Interested applicants may email me at cha_gascon @ yahoo.com. Please include your name, contacts, how you could be an asset with the department in relation to the task stated above. Apply ASAP. Email to me, not to the egroup so as to avoid inbox clutter.

Wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful! =) I am sooooo excited. =D

My mom and I had a somewhat stressful discussion about the vagueness of my employment. To wit: I know that I am going to teach, but I don't know under what terms or even how much I'll earn. (Whoever goes into teaching for the money is nuts, but it would help to know how much rent I can afford!)

I guess what stresses me out is the fact that at 10:37 PM in the evening, I can't do anything to improve the situation, and all these questions are making my department seem so bad. The CS department is really nice (although a bit disorganized), although yes, I'm somewhat peeved that they can't really bend the rules for me. <wry grin> Case in point: after bugging the finance department for a little over a month, I've just recently been told that faculty housing is going to be nearly impossible for me to get because I already have housing in Manila. Makes sense. In fact, I felt somewhat guilty about having stayed in the dorm for so long, taking up a slot that may have let someone from the provinces study in Ateneo instead. The main thing that stresses me out, however, is the possibly firm stance my parents might have on the necessity of on-campus housing.

My mom seems to be softening a bit - she was offering to help me search for an apartment or a 'bedspacing' arrangement. However, this didn't prevent her from checking with another school that was looking for teachers (an IT school - I want to teach computer science, not information technology!), which of course completely freaked me out. I spent the next half hour having a nice good cry with my kitten. I really, really want to teach in Ateneo because I'm more used to the school culture and I'll have a better chance of being allowed enough latitude to experiment and possibly make a difference. I _hope_ my parents won't make me choose another school, but if they express strong disapproval...

Another source of stress is the vagueness of the terms of my employment - aforementioned lack of information about such basic things as salary and job expectations. From the way things have been going around the department, I'd probably do more than your typical fresh-grad teacher. Me? Typical? But how does one consider these atypical things, then? I already do the work gratis, but it would be... somewhat nice to be appreciated, or... at least meet someone else who is as into these things as I am.

Maybe I should just set my sights on the Most Outstanding Junior Teacher award. I'll need a lot of luck and practice to get that.

My mom basically thinks that they're taking me for granted. I'm supposed to be the best in the Philippines, but there's a very, very fine line between asserting that I deserve more than this... and being completely annoying and arrogant.

All I really want to do is teach. And learn. And have fun. And help other people learn and have fun. Not necessarily in that order.

Mental note: Be much more assertive.

How assertive can I get, anyway? <wry grin> I can't very well threaten not to teach in Ateneo, because everyone knows I really want to do so. I guess the better approach would be, "Wouldn't that be the professional thing to do?"

Or something like that.

<sigh>

Update: Okay, now that I've gotten my employment jitters out of the way, I can concentrate on preparing for class. =) I really, really love our school.

This is, after all, my journal. Not a strictly utilitarian and informative blog, but rather a site where the usual M-x remember'd stuff might find itself interrupted by a cat story or, in this case, a lot of mumbling...

Sleep. I should probably sleep.