What a great two weeks it has been! I haven't been blogging much, but that's because there's been so much to blog about. ;)

I moved heaven, earth, and final exams to get to the Global Network of Technology Evangelists conference held in California on December 4, paying for the trip out of my savings. It was well worth it! I got to meet all sorts of interesting people. Now I just have to make sure I keep in touch with them. =)

It was great walking around San Francisco, too. I stopped by Ghirardelli Square to pick up some absolutely wicked drinking hot chocolate, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Exploratorium. I'm really such a geek. I can't go to a city without visiting its science museum... <laugh> That was fun. The tech get-together I went to in the evening was cool, too. I really like the idea behind Like.com, and I was amused to hear how some fifty engineers and PhDs had to learn the difference between wedge heels and kitten heels!

I'd forgotten how stressful flying could be, what with all of the security stuff. I'm glad that Simon Rowland took me to the airport and Wayne Young picked me up on the way back. Company really makes such a difference; the commute would've been soul-sucking in this gray weather!

Schoolwork's winding to a close, too. I've passed my second-to-the-last requirement and will work on my last one over the next two weeks.

With all of these things, though, the IBM lab's a little nervous about my research progress. I've been working on things; I just haven't been talking about it enough, I guess! (Strange, huh?) I've uploaded a more detailed copy of my schedule to the intranet and sent links to my manager and developer sponsor, who can use the schedule to keep track of my deliverables and milestones. Proper project planning and all of that. I hope that reassures them enough to extend our funding so that I can continue until August, my projected completion date.

I learned a lot about interpersonal relationships, too. I don't know if it was because I was so stressed out about the end of the year, but I had come so close to breaking up with Simon a number of times over the past few weeks. We're both learning a lot in the process, and have so far decided to keep going. I'm learning to think even more positively. =) Strangely enough, I suspect that the long-distance relationship we'll have over the next six weeks might actually be easier. =)

That explains my earlier sad note about some things for which Google has no answer. I'm still learning a lot about life and relationships, and neither Wikipedia nor Wikihow can really give me insights. I'm profoundly grateful for all of the friends who have expressed their concern and support, though, and who have helped me come to a better understanding.

I dropped by The Gorey, the new house being shared Quinn, Leigh, and Jed, who are among my closest, closest, closest friends in Toronto. Their place is awesome! I'm so envious... I've drafted my 2006 Christmas letter / annual report, and will figure out how to get it printed and sent out. Jed told me that I couldn't cheat and send just one copy to their house. <laugh>

Oh, and I found the salmon flakes my mom's been asking me to get for my dad! =) I checked all the supermarkets in Chinatown.

So, plans for next week:

Work: Aside from classes on Tuesday, next week pretty much belongs to IBM. I need to give a presentation on mashups as part of Hack Day University on Monday. I have a meeting with a potential user group on Friday, and will hack madly on my prototype in order to get it into somewhat presentable state by then. Life is good. I'll probably be up at IBM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Social: The Toastmasters Christmas party is on Tuesday. On Thursday, I'm having coffee with a motivational speaker who's a friend of a friend. On Friday, I might catch up with one of my friends over dinner in the Danforth. On Saturday, Simon gets back from Florida. On Sunday, I might have a little going-away party. How and where, I still have no idea. Graduate House isn't easy to entertain in because I have to fetch guests myself, through several keyed doors. Note to self: next year, find an apartment or house that will let me just buzz people in...

Maybe I can borrow someone's place for a going-away party. Or maybe I should just declare visiting hours at the Linux Caffe, or something like that... ;) I'll bring my computer so that I can plan dinner or coffee with people for next year. Yeah, that sounds more like it. Linux Caffe closes at 5 on Sundays, but maybe I can ask David nicely.

Life is good.

Random Emacs symbol: test-completion - Function: Return non-nil if STRING is a valid completion.

Kudos to Juan Gonzalez for telling me about Insurgelicious, a thought-provoking blog that often discusses the Filipino diaspora. I should check it out during the holiday break.

On Technorati: filipino

Random Emacs symbol: cons-cells-consed - Variable: Number of cons cells that have been consed so far.

My e-mail client *must* be lying to me, but it seems that I'm at inbox zero, at least for my main inbox. As you can see, some of the messages were pretty old... <blush>

Random Emacs symbol: muse - Group: Options controlling the behavior of Muse.